I've been busy (but not blogging)

I keep thinking I'm going to write a blog post, and never seem to get around to it. Instead, I read or knit or quilt. Which is good because those things all bring me joy, but it means that my record of my quilting progress is not up to date. Usually I go to my blog to figure out, "now when did I make THAT quilt?" but since I haven't posted in MONTHS, I'm at a bit of a loss. Let's see if I can piece together the last seven months or so - I've been productive! In June, I tried my hand at longarm quilting for the first time. The recipient was so surprised - I love it when the quilt is unexpected like that!

I finished a baby quilt for a baby born in late December, and went back to the longarm to quilt it while also quilting another scrap quilt that I made over a decade ago:

I chose to quilt this baby quilt for a baby due in February on my own domestic machine (I guess I never took a full completed quilt photo):

I finally finished hand quilting my niece's baby quilt - regular quilting in the white, big stitch quilting with embroidery floss in the colors (she's going to be 4 in April):

Throughout it all, I made a couple of bee blocks each month:

I've been working on my Scrappy Trips Around the World quilt, thinking it will go to a friend who will be having surgery in March,

but I've also been thinking I might want to make them a plaid and denim quilt instead like this one: This weekend, I'm headed back to the longarmer to quilt this one for my twin sister who has made noises about the fact that she'd like a snuggle quilt for the couch. I love this one so I'm happy to keep it in the family.

And that's about it for my quilting the last couple of months. Lots of knitting and reading, too, plus I moved to Indiana in June. Never a dull moment, I tell ya!

Black and White

 I just found out a co-worker is expecting their first baby.  You know what that means, right?  Yup, dropped everything else and started a baby quilt!  Inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest, I got my first nine blocks sewn up today.  Blocks are 6.5" unfinished.  I don't think I'm going to add a border, so this will likely end up around 36" square.

Working on this also made it easy to complete a black block for my scrappy bear claw quilt.

In other sewing news, I also sewed two buttons on today.  I've been putting it off forever (literally for years with the pajama top) and it only took about seven minutes.  Why do I hate mending so much?

Yesterday and I finished knitting my first mitten and made sure to cast on the second right away.

And since it has been so cold, I curled up on the couch to continue hand quilting this Starburst quilt so the quilt could warm me while I worked.  I have yellow, pink and blue finished with purple, green, red and orange left to go.

It looks like we are about to get more snow, but since we are a boarding school, there's no chance of a snow day.  Oh well, I'm just not ready for this crafty weekend to end!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Other people's scraps

 No sooner did I finish cutting up scraps from one friend,

than another box of scraps arrived from someone else!

I've been in SCRAP HEAVEN, cutting for my modified rail fence, 

my 2020 Scrap Buster Challenge quilt,

and my scrappy bear paw quilt, and cutting all leftover scraps down to my precut sizes.  I've also been knitting some mittens as part of a #mmmittalong on Instagram.

Irish Hiking Mittens on Ravelry from mystery yarn

Man, making makes me happy!  I don't so much mind being confined to the house when I have fabric and fiber to play with!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Lots of stitching going on!

I had hoped to get lots of creating in during my winter break from school...and I did!  It started with a mad dash to make a memory quilt for a friend who lost her beloved dog.  I had six pages of printer fabric sheets, so I found some photos of her pup online and made a quick quilt for her.  She is TALL and I wanted her to be able to cuddle in it, so it is pretty large, about 65"x 98".  I can't make a quick quilt that big using my usual little pieces, so the blocks are huge, each finishing at 31.5" square.  What a departure for me!  Probably not something I'll do again, but she really appreciated it so mission accomplished.

Preparing to baste for quilting...

After that, my desire to sew was gone, so I spent a lot of time knitting:

RBG Ornaments

Christmas crowns for my nieces

Socks for my sister-in-law

A Shoulder Cozy for my mom

More progress on my Excavation Blanket

Using up more sock yarn scraps in my Coziest Memory Blanket

And then, just like that, I wanted to sew again!  I joined a Block Exchange and have already completed and mailed January's blocks:

Mother Hen Block

I made two blue Bear Paw blocks  - this is the year I am determined to finish this quilt and give it to my stepfather.

I've been working on this since October 2019 - what's taking me so long???

I've been chipping away at my scraps.  With this bag of scraps and this tin of HSTs,

I am making this modified Rail Fence.

Hmmm...might reverse the HSTs on half of the blocks to see if that makes them all seem continuous...

And making blocks based on the 2020 Scrap Buster Challenge from Border Creek Station.

Haven't decided on a layout yet, just playing around as I add blocks

I'm sad that vacation is over but I'm glad I had so much time to create, create, create!  Now it is back to work, work, work.

Happy New Year, everyone!  I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Life goes on

My heart quilt made it to my friend last Saturday.  She called me on Sunday to tell me how much she loved it, and how much she loved me.  She died on Wednesday morning.

My heart is broken.

I cried and cried some more.  I talked to friends and hugged my family.  And finally, yesterday, I went back to what always gets me through hard times.  I fired up my sewing machine and started a new quilt.

I've been wanting to make a quilt for my step-father for years now.  I've started several, but never finished one.  Yesterday, I started another one.  Here's hoping I stick with this one and get it to him sooner, rather than later.  He's one of those people I don't see nearly enough, don't tell that I love him nearly enough.  I want him to have a quilt from me so he knows I love him even when I'm not there to say it.

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.