A Bit of Progress

I finally feel as if I'm getting back into the swing of things. Sometimes life just whisks you off without your consent and you may as well enjoy the journey.

 The older I get, the more of a homebody I become. So, I figured I really ought to be making some kind of progress with all of these projects in various stages of completion now that I am able to catch by breath from the wild ride that was January. I've had various requests (ie:loving nagging) asking that I share some of what I've been working on so here you go:

I pieced this baby quilt together with the Fun Flowers line I bought back in November when we were in Amarillo. Still needs a border, but I think it makes a bright, fun quilt for a little baby girl:

While I was in Texas and perusing the aisles of "Memories by the Yard", this "Quite Contrary" fabric caught my eye for a baby quilt and I pieced this top:

I think it will be perfect for DD's piano teacher's baby arriving in March.

I stitched this up yesterday. I should have made the whiskers brown too:

You have no idea how soft this little guy is! I attended an embroidery class on Friday and although, we were supposed to be working on combining digital designs, I went off on a tangent, as I am wont to do on occasion, and fell into the world of quilted applique using Minky blanket. I brought home a CD and DD immediately requested a quilt filled with the little critters. LOL. I have to admit that they are insanely soft and darling. No matter that she is 17. I do think I'll add one to a couple of the baby quilts I have in the works.

I also made 17 of these blocks:

I still have about 19 more to make, but ran out of the background fabric. Happily, it arrived today so I am back in business. I bought the entire bolt of this scenic fabric and plan to use it for the back of this quilt as well. Who knows, there is a lot of fabric. It may end up in a number of quilts and then I will be so sick of it that I will wonder why I ever bought it in the first place. However, as of now, I still really like it. I'm debating on the sashing, but I'm leaning towards a rich brown.

Here are the 5 completed blocks for the Granny Square quilt I am working on.

This was on the cover of the October issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. It was designed by Moda Lissa and I am hopelessly in love with it. It belongs on our bed and one day I hope our bed will be in a little log cabin where this quilt will finally be in its rightful place. Each block measures 9" square so I'm thinking it may be a while...a long while, before I have enough blocks for our King-sized bed. In the meantime, I have hundreds of 1 1/2" fabric strips covering every hanging surface available.

And finally, a finish or two! They are small finishes, but finishes nonetheless! I sewed on the binding for this baby quilt while I was away too. I made one like this a year ago or so and had enough leftover squares cut to stitch up another.

I finally sewed on the bindings for these little XL Hot Pads while I was at my Mom's. I am a great fan of many quilty blogs and I found this great tutorial here: Spun Sugar Quilts

These were originally made as Christmas gifts, but alas, my sewing machine ran off during the holidays and I was unable to complete them. However, I now have them tucked away for next year and am telling myself that I am ahead of the curve instead of woefully behind it. So those of you who I exchange gifts with and read my blog, note to you: Do not make these. You will get one for Christmas. Hopefully you will have a memory that is similar to mine and forget you ever saw them by next December and you will be completely surprised. If your memory is better than mine, just pretend. After all, you are my friend and friends do these sorts of things for each other.