Back In The Saddle, I Hope

Hey Ho!  I will try to do this blogging thing again.  I fell off the "blog/horse" last year and have been having trouble getting back to it again.  Mostly because I really wasn't doing much that was blog-worthy.  At least I felt that way.  So, a new year, a new decade and hopefully I'll be a more successful blogger.

My broken ankle has healed up beautifully.  I'm able to do pretty much whatever I want now.  I am more careful about how I do things now though!

"Positive Vibes"
60" x 80"

I did finish my Plus Quilt in time for the quilt show.  I'm very happy with it.   And it was lots of fun to make.  It was a very easy pattern to do.  The hardest part was deciding how to set the blocks.  LOL
You can see more about the start and the process of this here and here.

Back of the quilt

I had Sue Bradbury of Pretty Threads Quilting quilt it with an all-over pattern and I really like the look of it.  You can really see the quilting design best on the back of the quilt.  I used something from my stash for the back.

I had three leftover blocks (because I can't count, I guess) and I set them in the back.

I love the way the V&Co. Ombre Dot fabrics change color across the quilt.  I set the colors in diagonal rows.

I used one strip of each of the seven colors I used for the binding.  I had just enough!

More photos, just because.  I just love those Ombre dots fabrics! 

And all of my low volume fabrics make me happy too.

I didn't do as much quilting as I would have liked this year.  I was lacking focus, I think.  But I did accomplish some things.  

The start of the 1st scarf

I re-learned how to knit!  I've learned about 6 times now (first time in High School Home Ed), and it never "stuck" for me.  But now that I've forgotten how to crochet, the knitting seems to be working for me.  Hee hee!  Between You Tube and my son who knits, I finally "got" it.  I'm not ready for anything too fancy yet - I tried and it didn't go well!

Finished Scarf!

I have finished one scarf and am now working on another, which is just straight knitting.  I was a little disappointed with my first, because I think the color blocking of the yarn is too large, but it's still warm and cozy. I used a free pattern called Little Checkerboard Scarf from Ravelry.  

 I do enjoy the process of knitting the best.  I wanted to knit to keep my hands busy while I watch TV, but I have to look at what I'm doing!  Hopefully the next scarf will finish a little more "artsy" since I'm using nicer yarn.  

I have more quilts and projects to share with you, but I'll save them for my next blog post.

Meanwhile, Happy Quilting!

A Finished "Squirrel"!

This post has been a long time coming.  I've actually had this quilt finished since August of last year so it could be in the guild quilt show, but I didn't have time to do a post nor did I have decent photos of the quilt.  Finally the stars have aligned!  I've finally managed to get some decent photos and I have time to post!

"Falling Crumbs"
80 x 95 inches
hanging at the quilt show

First, an explanation for my post title.  You'll see a Squirrel! logo on my left side bar.  Quiltdivajulie at Me and My Quilts blog came up with the idea of a quilt project that you just HAVE to DO! that is just like a dog chasing a squirrel!   I'm a member of the Squirrel Club and that's what this quilt was for me.  A Drop Everything and Do It Right Now project.

You can read about when I started this quilt here.  I got  the top finished really quickly.  And I managed to find 9 yards of fabric in my stash that would work for the back, most of which I used.  It's a not great colors and outdated plaid fabric from a long time ago, but it worked and I didn't have to go buy any fabric.  Yay!  I had it quilted by Sue Bradbury, a local quilter, who did an awesome custom job for me. 

The quilt ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would be!   Some of that was because I used larger crumb blocks and some of it was because it just needed a border. And that border grew and grew!

And that border used up even more crumb blocks!  The whole quilt just kind of grew on me.  LOL

I decided to go with the turquoise for the border because that color of blue was in the quilt a lot and it has become one of my new favorites, again actually.  And then I couldn't find a binding fabric that really worked, so I decided to use a rainbow fabric.  It just seemed to go with the quilt the best.  I've been saving that fabric a long time and I'm glad I used some of it.  It will go in other projects eventually as well.

I love the design Sue quilted in that corner square!  And I love feathers, so I'm glad she used them all over as well.

It was a lot of fun to make this, and I'd love to make another with this pattern some day.  Maybe using actual charms? LOL

This was the fastest quilt finish I've had in a few years, and it feels good to not have a project linger. 

Here are just a few more shots to show off some of my crumb blocks.  I've used up most of my backlog of crumb blocks now - it must be time to make some more!

We're supposed to be having "Snowmageddon" this weekend here in the Seattle area.  We had 5 or 6 inches of heavy, wet snow last Sunday and Monday, most of which hasn't melted yet due to our below freezing temps this week.  There is a lot of snow still on the trees too.  We could get another 6 inches from this storm.  I hope we don't lose too many trees/branches.  

Taken Monday Feb 4.  

This kind of snowfall is really unusual here in the Pacific Northwest.  So far, we've got about 1 1/2 inches this afternoon and then the snow stopped and hasn't started up again yet.  Update: It's snowing again, heavily!  We are all set with everything we need for a few days and don't need to go out anymore.  As long as we don't lose power, we're all set.  I'm hoping for some good sewing time!

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation. (a day late!)