Paper Piecing

Recently my Father-In-Law and quilting Sister-In-Law came for a visit.  

Since we live on opposite coasts we don't get to visit often, but when we do, 

we ladies spend some time quilting. 

Our styles are different, but we don't let that get in our way, 

it just adds to the appreciation and admiration I have for her work. 

She specializes in hand quilting and does it both beautifully and fast. 

I can hand quilt, but rarely do. 

As I'm thinking about it, 

I realize I have a quilt half quilted from eight years ago. 

Yes, eight years ago!! 

My oh my!  

I'm embarrassed! 

Enough of that, I'll just pretend I didn't just realized that and move on.  

While she was here she wanted to learn to paper piece.  

I am not an expert. In fact I've not done that much and although 

I love the results of paper piecing I don't like to do it. 

I keep a large three ring notebook of patterns and ideas. 

We went through and picked a Lone Starburst from Anna at Six White Horses.

She picked a few fabrics from my stash and we got started.  

It was the perfect pattern to learn on. 

Not too many pieces and not too few. 

The repetition helped to get the concept, because we all know 

paper piecing can be confusing. 

It didn't take long before we had all the pieces.

I think it turned out great!  

This isn't the best photo, but the light ring around the star is a nice mellow yellow. 

It's just beautiful in person.  

Thanks Anna for a perfectly wonderful and lovely pattern 

and thank you Diana for bring dad and visiting with us for awhile. 

Have a wonderful week  : ) 

I Must Conquer....

I've always admired nicely knit items. I learned very basic knitting 

as a young girl and didn't remember much of it. 

For my birthday, a few years ago, my mom retaught me to knit.

When she wasn't near by and I needed help, I turned to the internet.  

There is so much great knitting info available!  

I'm still learning, but I fell in LOVE with knitting!  

I 'm giving socks a try. 

Well, I've started them about seven times, 

even changed yarn for a mental fresh start. 

These are now looking pretty good. 

I've gotten past the gusset, the heel turn, the heel and .......really? 

One sock is looking a bit large. 

Seems I have too many stitched on the needle after the heel. 

Oh No!  Upon checking the other sock I have too few?  

UGH!  

How did that happen?!  

I WILL succeed, I WILL conquer these socks! 

I guess I'll start over, but meanwhile, I'll go back to some quilting for awhile. 

Here are a few Bee blocks

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Have a great week everyone ; )

Got One, But Not The Other

It's been a busy month and I just realized that sadly 

I forgot to post a September goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

Ugh!  

I was on a great roll up until then.  

I got in a minor car accident on the first of the month and 

I guess my mind was preoccupied. I thought I posted something. 

Oh well, I'll focus on October's goal and 

be ready to post.

Have you been over to Happy Quilting? 

Melissa has done a great job with our Quilt Along and

tomorrow is the parade of finished quilts.

There are so many participants and lovely quilts being finished, 

you won't want to miss it. 

I got my Quilt Along Star Surround top done, 

but not completely finished, so I won't be parading.  

Since I rarely purchase anything larger than a quarter of a yard 

 this top will have to go in my to be 

layered and quilted pile until I can get a backing. 

This is Hope Valley on dark grey Kona.

 64 X 64 

I love this 16 inch quilt block. 

Now on to other projects. 

Happy Stitching.  : ) 

Lovely Finishes Goal Met

It's time for my end of the month post for 

A Lovely Year Of Finishes. 

I completed my goal for the month. 

All 384 inches of binding. 

Fingers are a wee bit sore, 

but I'm happy to be done!  

I took a couple quick photos for this post, 

but I will take some proper photos and post them soon. 

Hopefully the recipient of this quilt will get a good sneak peek

and love this quilt as much as I do.  

Hoping to get some 

stitching in this weekend. 

Finished Stars

I'm on target with these little stars. 

They are the 8.5 X 8.5 star centers for our Star Surround blocks.  

They took a little longer than anticipated, 

but all are done by the Sunday night deadline. 

Bring on Monday's assignment.  

Happily Stitching Along 

A Peek At My Week

Whew! 

I got my flying geese done for the Star Surround Quilt Along. 

It was a lot of trimming.  

Last week I decided to enlarge the quilt by seven more blocks, 

going from nine to sixteen and this week while trimming, 

I wondered what I was thinking.  

My piles are a bit messy, but overall I don't think they look too bad. 

I'm ready for tomorrow's step.  

I also finished up a couple of bee blocks. 

For me, its a bit early, but making string blocks is so messy, 

I wanted to get on it right away.

Two together, don't they look great?

I've only gotten about 15 inches of the binding done on this super large quilt. 

Its 91 3/4 X 100, so I've got a long way to go. 

I'd bettered get going!

 I have to have it done by the end of the month to meet my goal. 

Well, that's it for my week peek. 

I'm off to put a movie on and work on that binding : )

What have you been up to this week? 

Happy Quilting

Goal Setting and A Quilt Along

Ok, so its August and I must post about my August goal. 

Actually, I can't believe its August and I've linked up with 

A Lovely Year of Finishes for the past seven months, 

meeting my goal each month. 

It's been a wonderful accountability experience for me.  

So here's my August goal

Get the binding on this big, heavy quilt.  

It,s on the larger side of queen size and I anticipate some sore fingers. 

I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it slow.   

Also for August, the Star Surround QAL I joined is starting to roll. 

We've just begun making our half square triangles. 

I originally posted nine fabrics and planned on nine stars, 

but once I got started I decided I'm probably going to really love this quilt 

so I added more fabrics and went with 16 stars. 

 

Come and join the Quilt Along. 

Its not too late!

You can make one large block or several smaller ones. 

It's your choice. 

Melissa has them all planned out beautifully!

Happy Quilting : )