Another finish

I'm excited to have a quilt finished already in January. It's all bound and ready to use.  The sun was shining bright when I got home from work yesterday so I made my husband stand on the deck with this one so I could get a picture.

This was the mystery quilt from Saturday Sampler last fall - and I chose an autumn theme. This pattern is one that I think I would use again when I have fabrics that I want to use in large pieces rather than cut into small pieces.  And it is a nice size for a sofa quilt to cuddle up in.

What is this?

Can you guess what this is?  It's a secret - something added to a round robin project for guild. The suspense is building month by month.

Playing around

I couldn't resist playing around just a little with a few of the scraps left over from the buffalo pillowcase fabric and some of the other scraps I got from a friend.  And I ended up with this 17" square that is big enough to use as a pillow front or maybe will continue to grow and become something totally different.  

The quilting adds so much

It is always amazing to me when an average quilt is transformed by special quilting.  Can you see the word "autumn" showing up along with the leaves?  

I'm in the process of binding this mystery quilt from last fall, which was one of those quilts that I liked, but didn't LOVE.  But when I picked it up from The Pin Cushion after the gals quilted it, the stitching just blew me away!  It's transformed.

Sunday sewing

I spent a couple of hours sewing on Sunday and a bit more time doing a little organizing.  This pillowcase is done and it was made from some of the fabric I got from my friend on Saturday.  The only thing pulled from my stash was the yellow accent strip. 

I also made a couple of bindings for quilts that are ready to bind, and I got the green binding attached to it's quilt. So that will give me some hand work this week.

Fabric in and fabric out

I haven't kept track of fabric purchases vs fabric used in past years, but have been kind of curious about how big my addition may really be. So - at least for awhile - I'm going to keep track.  And I added to the stash BIG TIME on Saturday morning, although there is no guilt attached, which I'll explain.  

First of all - this was all free.  A good friend decided to downsize her stash by getting rid of everything she had lost interest in making or finishing.  She invited friends over for coffee and shopping her stash. This is what I came home with: a whole kit and pattern for a baby quilt, a couple of small panels, and some odds and ends of other fabrics that will fit right in with mine.  There are also 3 blocks that may just become a pillow right away. And there is a 4 yard cut of floral that I'm going to donate to the church quilting group to use as backing.  So I brought home about 15.5 yards of fabric total.  4 is going out immediately to the church. And the baby quilt kit totals about 7 out of the remaining 11.5.  I need to make 2 baby quilts by mid-summer so this is perfect.

So in adding up my actual purchases with this acquisition:

Fabric in since Jan 1:  about 21.75 yards

Fabric out since Jan 1: about .75 yard

So - the stash is winning by 21 yards

But part of my purchases was backing for 2 quilts that are now quilted and ready for binding so as soon as those are done I'll add that yardage to my "out" column.

I owe my friend lunch - at least - in return for all of this great fabric.  And she feels "lighter" and has a less cluttered sewing room to enjoy.  Plus what's more fun and relaxing than coffee with friends and a couple of hours of conversation!!

Elephants in the room

Two blue elephants are now hanging out with the green ones, lavender ones, and yellow ones.  I'm making these from 30s fabrics from my stash and have lots of fun colors to choose from.  Brown and pink may be the next ones. That would give me 12 blocks.

I'm not exactly sure yet what I'm going to do with these elephants. My younger daughter really wanted an elephant quilt after I made one for her sister a couple years back.  So maybe that is the ultimate goal. Or they would make a really cute baby quilt.  My goal is to make enough to actually do something with them.  So depending on what I do I'll probably need more than 12 elephants.

This block pattern is one I found online several years ago at the Milk and Honey Quilts blog. I've linked to her pattern because it is so well written.