Oriental Bento Box was completed last weekend, just before I started working again.  Hopefully this coming up week I will be able to get into more of a schedule and find some time to quilt.  Anyway – Oriental Bento Box measures 50 1/2″ square and is the 18th quilt finish for the year.  It is machine quilted with free-form Baptist Fans with the gold fabric as the binding.

Today I plan to start the machine quilting on this quilt –

I found a design I like for the diamonds in Angela Walter’s book Shape by Shape.  This one has been waiting way to long to become a finished quilt.

Marlene

The last stitch was taken and now Ripples is a finished quilt.  I like the bright colors and how the pattern shows off the fun fabrics.

Ripples measures 65″ x 78″ and is my 17th completed quilt for the year – only 8 more to go to meet my goal.

Marlene

I finished the last hand work on the Mini Wolf applique wallhanging yesterday along with the eye.

In the picture it looks like a button, but it is fabric.  The first circle I cut out was of white – white fabric for white of the eye, right?  Well it was way too bright and stark, so I knew that I needed something different.  After looking everywhere else, I finally found a strip of the background fabric in the strings bin.  Gotta love those strings!  So this fabric for the white of the eye is a circle from the lighter part of the background fabric.

Mini Wolf is the 16th finish for the year, so I am on track to complete 25 quilts for 2017.

Now it is back to the machine applique of all the petal shapes on the Honey Bee blocks.

Marlene

The last of the hand stitching on Long Time Gone was completed yesterday evening.  Since my border was wider than the directions, my quilt measures 69″ x 69″.

I am very happy with this quilt.  I like the colors, the contrast and the fact that – except for a couple of fat quarters – all the fabric came from my stash.

The plan for tomorrow is to get the backing & batting ready for Ripples.  I have a couple of projects that I want to get finished, then it will be time to complete the Lincoln block quilt top.

Marlene

This quilt top was pieced in 2011 and I started my blog in 2012, so this is the first blog photo of the Gray & Purple Hexagon quilt.  It shrunk an 1″ with the machine quilting and now measures 38″ x 48″.

I am so happy with the machine quilting on this quilt and – as you can see – all the chalk washes away.  My 2017 goal of 25 finished quilts is on track with Gray & Purple Hexagon as my 14th finish.

Next up is Long Time Gone.  The plan is to start the machine quilting by the end of the week, so I had better get started on the quilt sandwich.

Marlene

Rainbow Braid is completed – this is the 13th quilt finish for the year.  All the fabric for this quilt came from my stash (happy dance, happy dance) and the Thermore batting has a nice soft, drapey feel to it which I did not expect.

I am already planning the next quilt using this quilt-as-you-go technique, but before I can get to distracted with it I need to finish the Long Time Gone quilt top.

Happy Donut Day,

Marlene

Buried Treasure is now a completed quilt.  Yeah – number 11 for the year.  Because of the high contrast in this quilt, I used monofilament thread to machine quilt a meander motif.  This project turned out even better than the idea in my head which is always a wonderful thing.   I plan on keeping this one at my house for now.

Marlene

The last stitch in the binding for the Apple Core quilt was taken today.

The border turned out even better than I thought it would.  It looks like the middle apple cores were appliqued onto a border.

The quilt turned out a bit smaller (43 1/2″ x 53 1/2″) than I thought it would, but that information will help me calculate the size of the next one.  I have now machine quilted 9 of the 25 tops that is my goal for this year.

Time to start on the next Long Time Gone block.

Marlene

Yesterday the last of the binding for Nifty Thrifty (67 1/2″ x 79 1/2″) was completed – the 8th finish for the year.

I machine quilted Baptist Fans with a medium dark gray thread and am very pleased with the result.  Nifty Thrifty is going to spend some time on my bed before I even consider finding it a new home.

Any sewing time today and tomorrow will be spent on the Apple Core quilt top.

Marlene

We now have owls with bright gold eyes staring at us from the wall.  Whoos-It (20″ x 21″) is now officially completed and the 7th quilt finish of the year.  It has been fun making and finishing small wallhangings for this quilt hanger.

Last Thursday and Friday was busy spent machine quilting Nifty Thrifty.  Right now I am hand stitching the binding down.  It should be finished in the next couple of days and then I will post a picture of it.

Marlene