Updating!

Hard for me to believe that it has been so long since I posted a blog entry. I have been quite busy trying to get some projects finished for Christmas, some of which I did finish and some that I didn't. I also started working part-time in November. One of my volunteer jobs was working at the Home Care dept of our local hospital. It started out as 4-6 hours one day a week, then went to twice that, then after Thanksgiving I went to paid temporary part-time - 24 hours a week. That may slow down some in January since the people I was helping to replace are expected to return.

First, for what I did get finished by Christmas -
1 and 2 - The Surrounded quilt and matching pillow for my son and his wife. We started working on selecting pattern and fabrics for these projects in June. Quilt pattern is from Four Paws Quilting and the pillow is Fallen Leaves from Cindi Edgerton. I machine-pieced the quilt and pillow-top and a friend did the long-arm quilting on the quilt. I machine-quilted the pillow-top with a variegated blue/violet thread and backed the pillow with the back of a pillow that came with their sofa.

3 - ABC book for granddaughter. The pattern I used for this project came from a summer issue of McCalls Quilting. It uses RJR So Sweet So Soft fabrics, including the panel with the letters on it. I quilted some on each letter and used some the collections' fabrics and some that I had used last year in her green and violet quilt and patchwork puzzle ball.

4 and 5 - Two quillows for my grandsons. In mid-November I got the idea to do some quillows for Jack and Atticus. The fronts of both are a Cars panel with Cars fabric above and below the panel. The back of one is part of a duvet of Buzz Lightyear and the other one is a sheet of Backyardigans - these are their respective favorite characters at the moment. The pocket is from the NASCAR flag fabric that is part of the Cars collection. I machine quilted them - first big quilts I've done on my machine - doing some stitching around the Cars figures in the center panel and around Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater in the other panels. One I added a binding to after I quilted it and the other one I "birthed" and then quilted. Can't say which process I prefer - both took way longer than I had expected!! We had our Christmas with our kids and grandkids on the 23rd, so I gave them the quillows then, but had to take them back at the end of the day to finish up. We saw them again on Christmas Day at my mother-in-law's house and by that time I did have them both finished. Here is Atticus wrapped up in his at his house, with the Surrounded quilt in the background.

The main project that I did not get finished was the Van Gogh for one of our daughters - see my posts from October 11 and 17 . I still have 1 trunk and 2 tree-tops to add to it. I have been stuck for some time about exactly how to do the tree-tops. For the trunks I have quilted the fabric to look kind of like bark (using batting and muslin) then appliqued the trunk to the quilt. I will do the same for the other trunk, and am trying to decide on the treetop. I felt so bad that I couldn't get it done in time to leave it with them for Christmas but I just ran out of time. I'd love to be able to make another trip down to deliver it when I finish it in the next week or so, but since they live in Marietta, GA and we live in Central VA I will probably have to have Fed Ex deliver it. I had also planned to do a 2nd pillow to go with the Surrounded quilt, but after doing one and seeing it with the quilt I'm not sure they need another one in the same fabrics. We'll be talking about that.

Here is a photo of me with the T-shirt quilt - I finished it a couple of months ago but we have not yet hung it in my husband's office. He wanted a picture of me in front of it to show how big it is.