Some More Merriment and Merrily

I've been sewing more frequently this year but not with much enthusiasm, but that's OK, I'll get there, and I am finishing some projects which always feels good.

After I pieced my Wooded Whimsy tree quilt I noticed I still had a lot of Merriment and Merrily fabric by Gingiber for Moda, particularly the animal panels.  I couldn't think of another quilt that I wanted for my house using that fabric, and I already pieced 3 quilts for family members from those lines, but I do get requests for quilts for auctions and raffles and the like so I decided that making a donation quilt would be a good use of my time and the fabric.

For the pattern I decided to use Starry Eyed by Angela Mitchell.  It's a free Moda Bakeshop pattern from 2011!

This is my first Starry Eyed quilt using Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda.  One of my top 10 favorite Christmas fabric lines of all time. 

I added a few of the small animal panels to Starry Eyed II because they're my favorite aspect of these lines.  That Gingiber really knows how to draw some  endearing winter forest animals. 

So here is Lifetime Quilt Number 296

I've named it Starry Eyed II

The pattern is by Angela Mitchell and available here. 

It finished at 80" x 80"

The blocks finish at 16"

The pattern called for 5 rows of 4 sixteen inch blocks (20 blocks total), I went 5 x 5 (25 blocks total), because I like square quilts. 

It has approximately 951 pieces. 

Here's Starry Eyed I, Lifetime Quilt Number 78!!!  It's still one of my favorite Christmas quilts and gets used every holiday, an oldie but goodie.  It's hard to believe I've pieced over 200 quilts since piecing this one.  

I used some of the bigger animal panels for the backing of Starry Eyed II, it's ready to be quilted and when someone says "Hey Thelma, do you have a quilt to donate to our cause?", instead of panicking and sewing 20 hours a day for a week and begging a quilter to quilt the top to meet a deadline,  I'll happily say, "why yes I do".  

I am so behind on my blog but am determined to get all my quilt finishes from the last couple of years documented, so be on the lookout for some posts about quilts you may have seen on Instagram but not here.  

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Finishing the year with a finish

I finished a quilt!

This was a fun project, great pattern, Christmas themed stitching during the month of December, and allowed me to continue my current obsession with trees, but even with all those pluses it still took every ounce of concentration and focus that I could manage to get it done.  I don't think I ever sat down for longer than 30 minutes anytime I was in my sewing room. But now it is done and I'll have a new Christmas quilt to enjoy next year. 

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 294

The pattern is Wooded Whimsy by Coriander Quilts by Corey Yoder

The fabric is a combo of Merriment and  Merrily by Gingiber for Moda

It finished at 65" x 65"

It has approximately 1,029 pieces. 

This is the pattern.

The pattern has 6 rows.  You may have noticed my version has 5.  Hello, my name is Thelma and I'm addicted to square quilts. 

I have no quilt plans for 2021,  no long lists of quilts to make, I've never been so lost in the 15 years I've been quilting.  I'm thinking  I'll start off the year with a good sewing room reorg.  Maybe I'll look through all my books and patterns and come up with that list and a plan.  It's been ages since I've participated in a sew along, maybe some camaraderie is what I need.  Whatever it takes I am determined to make 2021 better.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, I know my posts have been infrequent, I'm hoping for more enthusiasm for everything in my life in  2021. 

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Winterberry

I've made some progress on my goal of making some winter themed quilts this year and I think this may be the last one, for now at least, Spring is just around the corner and I'm ready to play with some colors.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 276

The pattern is Winterberry by Erica Arndt for Erica Made Designs.  

It finished at 65" x 71"

It has approximately 1,372 pieces

The fabric is my go to red and white, Moda Bella Solids, 9900-16 Christmas Red and 9900-98 White.

The mitten blocks were quite a challenge for me.

It took me several attempts to get enough pieces to align how I liked.  I've made this block before and don't remember the struggle.  The directions were perfect, it's not the pattern, it was me.

But now that's it's all put together I'm feeling much better about the whole project.

The pattern is available here.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a girlfriend in Arizona, she took me to a pottery shop where I fell in love with all the bright colors used in the wares, I'm planning to jump start my spring inside by working with the same color palette. I think a simple 16 block hst sampler will be a fun and easy project after Winterberry, no more mittens for me!

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Ho Ho Ho, My First Christmas in July Finish . . . . .

I'm off to a great start on my Christmas in July sewing.  

I've had a quilt with nothing but Santa hats floating around in my head ever since I pieced Bonnie's Christmas Cheer quilt pattern.  (LTQ # 235). 

I didn't have a good idea of what I was going for when I started, so I just pieced Santa hats and threw them on my design wall until inspiration hit.

I thought the hats needed some separation so I added the "Ho Ho Ho" and thought I was done.  I liked the nice clean look, but the size bothered me.  It was too long for the width for my taste.  And I thought adding a hat to create rows of 5 hats would overpower the Ho Ho Ho.

So I decided to add some little presents to each side to increase the width.  

And thought it would be fun if the presents danced.  I pieced enough presents to dance down both sides, but decided I liked the look of just the presents on the left, and called it done.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 254

I've named it Ho Ho Ho

It finished at 62 1/2" x 75 1/2"

It has approximately 546 pieces

The red fabric is Sno by Northern Quilts for Moda

The silver stripe fabric is Bonnie and Camille Vintage Holiday for Moda

The Santa hat pattern is by Bonnie at Cotton Way

The present pattern is a freebie from Moda Bake Shop called "Christmas Present" designed by Kristina Brinkerhoff.

The "H' is 11" x 7", the "o" is 6" x 5".  It's just a font I copied from my computer.  

Feel free to copy my idea and make your own Ho Ho Ho quilt, you'll just need Bonnie's pattern for the Santa hat block. 

I'm really motivated to piece as many Christmas tops as possible this month, the more I make the more I have to giveaway.  I have a long list of family and friends waiting for a Christmas quilt, but I'm keeping this one!

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First Finishes for 2019

No one was more surprised than me when I looked at the last date that I blogged, October 25th!  I don't think I've ever skipped an entire month since I started blogging, let alone nearly 3! All is well at my house, just busy with the holidays, some traveling, and some company.  Happy times.

Thanks to all who checked on me, I should have posted a quick blog update that all was well and to check back in, I just kept thinking I would sit down and write up posts on my latest finishes.  I do have some catching up to do but to just get things rolling I decided to blog about my first finishes for the year, I"ll go back and update the last of my  2018 finishes another day.

This is Lifetime quilt # 240 and my first finish for 2019

The pattern is from the Christmas Figs Book and I used the Christmas Figs fabric too.

This quilt finished at 79" x 79" and has approximately 1,753 pieces.

Those blocks finish at 16" and were fun to piece, the pattern instructions were wonderful.

I started this project early December with hopes of finishing up before the end of the year, but when  January rolled round and I still had Christmas decorations to pack up plus this quilt to finish I was tempted to put it in a project box, I had had enough of Christmas.   Instead I stuck with it, finished it up and am now so happy that I did.  I'm not one to have UFO's hanging around and I didn't want to start the new year with two.  Two?  Yes, I thought this pattern would make a nice quilt for the Christmas festival that auctions one of my quilts each year.  I loved the pattern and thought it would make a great quilt for the event but knew it would be a hard one to giveaway, so I made two of most of the blocks as I progressed through the book, one for me, one to donate.

The pattern calls for 5 rows of 4 blocks, for a quilt that finishes at 79" x 97", that's a little big for my taste, so for my quilt I just went with 16 of my favorite blocks.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 241, the quilt I plan to donate to my local hospital and that has 20 blocks, like the pattern. 

It finished at 79" x 97" and has approximately 1,980 pieces.

I swapped out a couple blocks and changed one but for the most part it's like the pattern.

I'm so happy to have it done so I can get it quilted before my deadline this fall.

Both quilts use the same background fabric, the difference in colors must be the filters I used on my phone.

I think this book is great, if you didn't buy any of the Christmas Figs fabric this pattern would work for any fabric, I don't think it has to be Christmas themed fabric.  The book also has about a dozen small project patterns that are just as cute as the quilt.  If you've not bought the book it's available here.

Next up is to finish my Fig Tree Autumn Splendor BOM, I just received the last month in the mail.  This top is the quilt I plan to donate to my hometown library for their annual raffle, which is in June, I need to hustle.  But then my sewing obligations for 2019 will be met and it will feel great.

More frequent blogging to come, I promise.

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Peppermint Lane Finish

I met my goal of piecing 6 holiday quilts this year for some special friends and family.  This is the quilt that got me to 6.  

The pattern is Peppermint Lane by It's Sew Emma for the Fat Quarter Shop.  I made just a couple of changes.

First, I substituted brown dot fabric for my gingerbread men

And I replaced the gingerbread house in the pattern with Bonnie's Santa hat, which I fell in love with while making Christmas Cheer. I'm thinking next year I should make a quilt top of nothing but Santa hats, festive mittens, and maybe a mug of hot cocoa thrown in for fun.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 236 - Peppermint Lane

The pattern is by It's Sew Emma for the Fat Quarter Shop.  (available here)

The fabric is mostly Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It finished at 55" x 69" 

It has approximately 884 pieces.

I'm leaving off that outer border called for in the pattern.  I like the cleaner look this top has without it.  But to add a little sparkle I'll use the silver stripe fabric from Vintage Holiday for the binding.

I now have one week to piece my traditional October halloween themed quilt, I don't know what it will be, other than fast and easy.

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Christmas Cheer/Peppermint Lane Mash-up

Here's my latest Christmas quilt finish.   I started out making Christmas Cheer by Bonnie for  Cotton Way.  But once I got a few blocks made I looked at the finish size of that quilt and decided  I didn't want a quilt that was 77" x 88", so I omitted a few rows of blocks from Bonnie's pattern and added a couple of blocks from It's Sew Emma's Peppermint Lane pattern and a tree block I put together myself.  

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 235

The patterns I used are Christmas Cheer by Bonnie at Cotton Way and Peppermint Lane by It's Sew Emma for the Fat Quarter Shop.

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It finished at 70" x 71"

It has approximately 932 pieces.  

Bonnie's pattern is available here.

Peppermint Lane is available here.

Here's how I pieced the trees, each strip is 2 1/2" wide.  You need 5 green rectangles, 2 1/2" x 4 1/2", 2 1/2" x 6 1/2", 2 1/2" x 8 1/2", 2 1/2" x 10 1/2",  and 2 1/2" x 12 1/2". You also need ten 2 1/2" background squares for each green rectangle. Add two 4 1/2' background strips to the first row, two 3 1/2" background strips to the second row, two 2 1/2" background strips to the third row and two 1 1/2" background strips to the 4th row.  The tree trunk is 2 1/2" x 2", add two 5 3/4" background strips.  Each tree  block should measure 12 1/2" x 12 1/2".

Just one more Christmas quilt top to go to meet my 2018 goal.

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Falalala Lucy - Last Finish for 2017

Nothing like wrapping up the holiday season with a holiday finish.

This is my third Lucy quilt but my first Falalala Lucy, the other two are Halloween Lucys.

The reds and greens are just an assortment from my stash, some Christmas lines some not.

The red and white background fabric is from the Merrily line by Gingiber for Moda.

I had a horrible time trying to get a good picture of this quilt, maybe the sun will shine again and I'll give it another shot.  It's been so dreary here, I don't mind the cold or snow, but the days of no sunshine are depressing.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 218

I've named it Falalala Lucy

The pattern is Lucy from the book Miss Rosie's Farmhouse Favorites.

It finished at 76" x76"

It has approximately 1,889 pieces

And this is just a little happy accident that made my day.

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Merrily Finish

I'm alive and well, but when I checked out the date of my last blog post I understood why so many folks sent me emails asking how I was doing!  I've been on the go but I've been doing some sewing too.  

One of my Year of Thelma goals was to travel each month of the year, which sounded great in January, and really has been fun, but it's involved a lot of planning, packing, traveling, and unpacking, over and over. 

My August destination was Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Here I am at the top of Pike's Peak.  If you've never been to Colorado Springs I recommend it, it was my first visit but I hope to make it an annual trip. 

On one of the few days that I was home I answered my phone to this, "Hello, someone gave me your name and said you made quilts.  Would you be willing to make a queen size, Christmas themed quilt with hearts for our November fundraiser?"  My first response was, "You don't sew do you?" I tired to negotiate a lap size quilt but only a queen size would do, lol.

After weighing my options I thought using the animal panels in the Merrily by Gingiber for Moda family of fabric would make a big quilt go together very quickly and make a nice looking quilt, one that would appeal to folks and raise some money.

I decided to use the Thicket pattern from my Quilters Camdy Box as inspiration for a Merrily quilt.  This is my pattern, each square is two inches finished.  

I divided the pattern into 4 quadrants, to make it more manageable. 

I put a 1 1/2" wide frame around each panel and threw them on my design wall.

Then I filled in the space with squares.  I did this 4 times.  To save even more time I used jelly rolls for those squares. 

I think I enjoyed making the trees the most, and changed them for each quadrant.  

I used the trees from the free Merrily pattern by Moda as my starting point.  (click here for free pattern)

The geese in the pattern finish at 2 1/2" x 5".

I also pieced geese that finished at  3" x 6" and 2" x 4".

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 210

I've named it Merrily

The pattern is inspired by the Thicket Quilters Candy Box pattern.

It finished at 92" x 108"

It has approximately 1,821 pieces

In the end I went with just one heart, in keeping with the theme of the charitable event, I hope one is enough. 

Even though this project was a rush job, and even though I've sworn off huge quilts, this Merrily fabric was fun to work with,  and I really enjoyed those animals visiting my sewing room for a few weeks.

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One Last Christmas Finish

Sometimes when folks stop by my blog they wonder where I get my time to do so much sewing, especially this time of year.  While I am retired, any retired person will tell you they just don't know where they found the time to work, they're so busy now.   Spending time in my sewing room is time I earn, it's where I go to relax, it's time I need to unwind and escape.  Additionally, if I'm in my sewing room I'm focused and making the most of my time, no distractions, and I put my social media addiction on hold. I also usually listen to a book or music while I sew, which makes my sewing time even more enjoyable.  Why am I monologuing about my sewing time?  Because while I was busy decorating, shopping, wrapping, and cooking, I squeezed in some time to work on this tree quilt.  Projects like this are the perfect projects to work on when all the other parts of your life are hectic.  I like a good challenging quilt pattern as much as the next quilter, but when my life is challenging I prefer that my sewing project is not.  This has been the fun jingle jingle in my last few busy holiday  days.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 192 - Candy-land Christmas Trees

The pattern is Trees by Amanda Jean Nyberg for Crazy Mom Quilts. (Available here)

It finished at 52 1/2" x 60 1/2"

It has approximately 468 pieces.

For the fabric I just picked some pieces from my stash, most of it isn't even holiday themed fabric.  I was needing a little pink in my Christmas this year this did the trick.  I'm keeping this quilt, it will look perfect hanging in my sewing room next Christmas.

I love the trees so much I'm sharing a closeup of each one, enjoy.

Keep this project on your radar when you're looking for a fast quilt that is also fun and relaxing.

Best wishes to you all for a blissful holiday season, thank you for being such an important part of my quilting life, quilters are the best.

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