Good Night Irene – Kelly's Kwilts

April Completions

I really need to start posting more, not just when I complete (or set) my goals for the month! It’s been a crazy month, getting things ready for the end of school year, teacher appreciation gifts, business items that need to be done, the list just goes on and on.

I did manage to finish Good Night Irene, put the last stitches in it last night while the kids started watching a movie. Threw it on them for a photo, then the dog got in the way. 🙂 Needs a good wash and then I can write on the label. Very happy to have this one off my list of to-dos. This was started January of 2014 and was supposed to be a SAL, well little Cassie was born and quilting, heck sewing!, was just not in the cards. Finally finished the top March 28 last year. I have GOT to stop letting these tops sit so long!

The commission quilt that was supposed to be done for May has been changed to May of 2019, so there’s nothing to work on for that anymore. I will probably get it done over the summer, along with the one due in October. The fabric is here and I can work on it when ever I have some free time – HA!

I did also get the 9 designs stitched out for my blue and white quilt for the guild quilt show. Not sure when I’ll finish the blocks or the alternate blocks, but at least I’ve made a little bit of progress on them! Maybe next months goal will to be to cut out all the pieces and start making blocks? We’ll see!!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts.

March One Monthly Goal

This isn’t the best picture of it, but almost a year ago I finished piecing Good Night Irene, a SAL that I participated in in 2014. Now, it took me a long time (obviously) to finish the quilt, because 2014 was the year that my little Cassie girl arrived. I had a hard time sitting in front of the sewing machine and then once she arrived, sewing time went out the window! Anyway, my goal for the month is to get the backing sewed together, I have the fabrics sitting here ready to be cut and sewn, and then get it basted. IF I have time I’d like to start quilting it, but since Cassie turns 4 in a little over 2 weeks I’m not sure I’ll have the time! I was really hoping to get this done in March, it just didn’t happen though. Hopefully I’ll have more time than I think and I’ll have it all done before the end of the month, yeah right what am I thinking!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts.

March OMG Finishes

Hexagon Diamonds 032617 I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but I did manage to finish both of my OMG items this month. We did have a really busy month, so much going on! I was planning on basting my hexagon diamonds quilt during the day at our guild meeting location, however I spend the entire morning at the hospital having a pulmonary function test done – turns out I have asthema! *sigh* Anyway, this past weekend I decided to bite the bullet and get out my old hand quilting PVC frame and start basting. It took 3 episodes of The Quilt Show and a trip to Joann’s for another box of pins, but it is now basted and I can start quilting it.

Good Night Irene 032817 While I was working on piecing 2 commission quilts, I worked on the border blocks for Good Night Irene. I’m happy to say that it is now 100% put together and ready for quilting! Not the best picture, but I can’t lay this out in the kitchen or the dog will be all over it! Linking up to Elm Street Quilts.

Today I spent the day quilting the 2 commission quilts that I need to finish. I have the bindings ready, hanging sleeves on them and I am just waiting for the information for the labels, once they are printed I can get them finished and sent to Wisconsin.

Tonight I plan on relaxing with a heating pad on my back and working on some hexie basting for yet another swap I signed up for and hopefully work on the next block for the hexie swap quilt, I’m almost halfway done with the green block.

Many Projects

Dear Jane 031217 I’ve been working diligently on various projects today. Some cutting for hexies, some cutting for bow tie blocks and getting them matched up and ready for sewing as leader/enders, commission quilt work (2 tops now ready for basting and quilting), and some work adding borders to 2 different quilts. I’m not showing one of them because it’s one of my OMGs, and I want to save it for the end of the month. I have FINALLY added the borders to my redesigned original Dear Jane quilt. The problem is I can’t decide if I should add another border to it or not. I’m planning on doing a simple meander on this since the fabrics didn’t excite me. I don’t want to spend a lot of time quilting this one. The EPP one that is in progress will most likely get some special quilting – once I figure out how to do it! 🙂 So tell me, what do I do with this? I know I’m going to use the muslin for the backing, but do I add another border or leave it as is? I just can’t decide!

Design Wall Monday – 03-06-17

Commission Progress 030617.jpg I started working on the last 2 commission quilts for my friend. I got all of the blocks cut out and put together for both quilts, I just need to get them put together. These quilts go together so quickly that I don’t mind that I’ve made so many of them. My friend is coming to visit this weekend, so I’d like to have the tops done before she gets here.

Good Night Irene 030617 While I work on the commission quilts, I’m working on the border blocks for Good Night Irene, which has been in progress since 2014. I slowly worked on the top during 2014, but it was hard with a newborn in the house. The border blocks are just simple 9 patches, and use 162 white squares and 162 colored squares. My 2.5″ square bin doesn’t even look any emptier! I finished half the blocks needed, I hope to finish the other half today.

Cassie 030617 Cassie is LOVING playing with fabrics. She asks at least once a day if she can play with them. Sometimes she wants the 2.5″ square bin, sometimes she wants “her fabrics”. I have a container full of fabrics I’ve collected for her, including 3-4 Minnie Mouse fabrics. At some point I’ll make something with them, haven’t decided yet what it will be. I might wait until she gets her big girl bed and make a large quilt like I did for Alex. Her birthday is in 2 weeks and she’ll be 3, I still can’t believe how fast the last 3 years has gone by! I bought her some Minnie Mouse sewing cards for her birthday, I’ll start her sewing with something easy for her little hands.

Linking up with Patchwork Times.

Dear Jane Update and March OMG

I finished the last block in Row B!! This one too awhile, so many tiny pieces! I spent a lot of time this week working on prepping Row C, picking the colors is fun, I’m trying to spread them out in the rows. Once I finished B6, I finished putting together Row B with the sashing and then I put Rows A and B together. OMG I am loving how it looks! I started piecing the first block of Row C yesterday while I was waiting for Alex’s bus and I would have worked on it more last night, but by the time we got home from Mother/Son night at his school I was exhausted!

Row A-B

Good Night Irene 071015 I did a good job on my February OMG, now it’s time to chose March’s goal(s). This is a busy month for us, every weekend is booked – out of town guest next weekend, Cassie’s birthday party the following weekend. I think I’ve decided that my goals this month are to finish the border on my Good Night Irene quilt (started in 2014, centered completed July 2015) and to get Hexagon Diamonds basted. I really want to start quilting it and get it finished this year, it’s been sitting here waiting since July 2014! I have the backing and black batting, I just need to baste! I should be able to do it during the day on guild day, since we have the building all day and there are lots of large tables. I’m pretty sure I can work on Good Night Irene border blocks while I work on the last 2 commission quilts that need to be done in the next month or so (still waiting for a due date). Hexie Diamonds 123115

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Good Night Irene Update

I have FINALLY gotten all the center of the quilt put together. When I originally signed up for the SAL and designed it in EQ I was going to put a border of just one fabric on it. I decided I didn’t have anything I liked or wanted to use for the border and I’ve now designed a border with 9 patches to go next. After I finish working on my next commission quilt I’ll get back to this one. I’d like to get it finished and put in the “to quilt” pile.

I’ve decided to work on Bonnie Hunter’s leader/ender project this year since it’s tumbler blocks. I have SO many 2.5″ squares that have been cut over the years that I needed to do something with them. Cutting them just a little into tumblers is so easy and I can easily make some kind of quilt out of them. I just ordered a template from Missouri Star Quilting Company and after a discussion in one of my Facebook groups, I found out that Sizzix makes a die for cutting 2.5″ tumblers (4 at a time) and it will work on my Studio, so I happened to find that die on MSQC as well and ordered it. I need an adapter to use it in the Studio, so until I find out the thickness and either buy one or have daddy make me one I can use the template.

We finally got together with our friends so we could give the girls their birthday presents. I’ve had them done and sitting here wrapped for over a month! I made them Mondo bags in their school colors and I’m happy to say they loved them!

It’s getting late and I want to get a few more things done before bed, hoping to be working on projects more and being able to post updates!

Project Update

I’ve gotten a few more hexagon diamonds completed, I’m now up to 36 diamonds completed and 18 flowers. I’m still trying to decide if I want to put a corner together now or wait until I have all the diamonds completed. I’m actually now thinking of waiting so I can decide how I want the diamonds laid out in the design. I could do a rainbow effect, or just randomly place them. Still plenty of time to decide since I still need 122 more diamonds!

I managed to finish the border block pieces for Good Night Irene, I now have all the pieces ready to put together. However, this will now be set aside for a bit because I got the rest of the fabric I need in order to finish Alex’s quilt. I bought the 4 yards (maybe too much) so I can do the piano key border and probably also a scrappy binding. Now that I have the kids in bed for naps (Alex is STILL sick!) I can get to work!

Design Wall Monday – January 26, 2015

First up is my design wall/floor. I finished all the 16 patch blocks for Good Night Irene and cut the 44 4.5″ blocks I need to finish the pieced border. I just need to sit and sew the triangles on one corner of 40 of the newly cut blocks and then I can start putting it all together. Glad to see this finally coming together, it was a sew along from last year that just didn’t happen.

So Saturday when I was sewing and Alex had gotten up from “quiet time” he said he wanted to sew like me. Made my heart melt that he was interested in something I was doing! I told him we could make a blanket for his Glomer (glow-worm) that he takes EVERYWHERE! So yesterday he picked out 6 4.5″ squares and we sewed them together. I just put the backing on the top and sewed around it, flipped it inside out and then sewed around it to close the hole up. He helped with almost all of it, started to get bored by the time we got to sewing the last go around. But he’s proud of it and has been carrying it around with Glomer since we finished it.

So I meant to actually post this yesterday, and link to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post, but never got around to actually opening my laptop and doing a post. Just went to the page and it’s still open for posts! Yesterday was spent working on Hexie Insanity while we watched the Cavs beat Oklahoma City Thunder. I really am loving the peace that comes over me when I work on hexies. There’s no rush, no deadline, just time to work and relax. Not a lot of time for relaxing with 2 kids under 5, but we make do! Hopefully I’ll have some more progress to show with this quilt soon. Today I cut some white 2.5″ squares down to 2″ and some scrap white from the Good Night Irene project so I could start prepping some white hexies. I also signed up for white on white fat quarters in our guild exchange so I will have some nice variety coming all going to this project.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, check and see what others are up to!

On a Roll!

Oh my am I on a roll this week!! I have the center of Alex’s quilt completed, I just need to add a thin black border and then a piano key border after that. Unfortunately I need more fabric for that so it will have to wait until hubby’s payday. I put it on his bed the other night so I could decide whether the borders were needed or not, and I just want to put the piano key border on the sides and bottom, it’s not needed on the top at all.

I’ve been using my Good Night Irene blocks as leader enders while working on Alex’s quilt, and I’m flying on getting them done! I have 8 more of the 16 patch blocks to do and then start working on the pieced blocks that make up the first border. I need to cut out the white squares before I can put those together though. Maybe by the end of the weekend I can have it all put together and figure out something for the final border from the stash.

Plan on working on some hexies later today, going to take my car for a major wash inside and out, so I’ll be working on them while I wait.