Stars and Bars Quilt

I don't even remember when I started this quilt, but when I saw the pattern, I knew I would make it in patriotic colors as a QOV for a veteran. I don't even remember what it was called...maybe Star and Bars. This is the pattern cover:

I don't have many in-process photos as I'm not home and don't have access to my pictures. I found this one on an earlier blog post from 2017 so it's been a while. The backing is this great eagle print from probably 5 or 6 years ago, but I always thought it would be perfect as a background or backing and I have used it for both on other quilts:

                                   

So most of these are finished shots. It took me 2 weeks to hand stitch the binding on this one. I worked on it a little each evening as I sat and visited with mom. I didn't have any navy thread at mom's so I just used what I had which was gray, but in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter a hoot.

I changed up the pattern a little, removing a star and moving one - I think. I'm just like a fish out of water when I'm away from home so forgive me my memory lapses. This one finishes at 58 x 68:

I used the same fabric for all of the stars. It's an older print from Connecting Threads. And then I just pulled fabrics from my stash for the strips.

 Jackie quilted a loose serpentine pattern that I suggested across it. I rarely request a particular pattern, but this one popped into my head and I like the way it turned out:

And I actually have trees to pretty up my quilt photos here!

If you HAVE to live in town, this is a pretty good spot to do so:

You'd never know that Hobby Lobby (and just about anything else you'd ever need) is just 2 miles away:

                            

This one may stay here in Texas. This is a military town and all of mom and daddy's friend are retired military and I think every veteran ought to have a QOV. I think I just added a whole lot of quilts to my list.

January Sewing

Since it's already the 24th, the January sewing isn't going to amount to much. With the exception of joining my Quilt Squad group last Saturday, and stitching on a binding, I haven't done any sewing since a few weeks before Christmas.

We had an old worn out office chair in the office that I finally threw out so my sewing chair ended up as the new office chair. That left me chair-less in my sewing space so I began the hunt for a new chair. My sewing machine table sits on top of another table. That puts my sewing machine at 34" and a regular office chair never really was quite high enough. I always padded it with pillows so during my chair search, I decided to go with a drafting chair. Buying something like this online is a gamble and I hemmed and hawed while I compiled my list of possibilities. A chair is such a personal choice. Thankfully, this one is just right for me although it's got a modern look that looks out of place in our home. The armrests sit farther back than I am used, but I don't really even need the armrests and they can swing down and out of the way, and the back is not adjustable, but I actually love that for sewing. It's very supportive.

So now that I've got a place to perch, sewing can commence, and yes, I can still reach the foot pedal. :) And I'm finally carving out a little bit of time to play with fabric. I've got a few things to finish, but my UFO list is in pretty good shape. My main goal is to get everything back from the quilters' and finish those.

When I was cleaning and moving some random items around the other day, I picked up the project box that had these blocks in it and it became the first project I'd work on this year.

 I had worked on  this stack of leader-ender blocks last year and started piecing them into a top today. I never did empty my box of 2 1/2" squares, but I'm thinking I may be adding a patchwork border in hopes of leaving me with an empty box.

The inspiration for this quilt came from Lollyquilts...she called it Crayon Box:

As I sewed, I started thinking about quilts I wanted to make this year. This one has been on my list for a few years:

It's called Saddle Tramp and it pretty much fits the bill when it comes to my love of scrappy quilts.

I also need to add a border to Stars and Strips and get it to Jackie:

Then I ran across this table runner that needs to be quilted:

And I've had this Valentine's Day table runner top hanging in my closet for a number of years:

Time to see if I can get it finished this year. That ought to keep me busy and out of trouble for the remainder of January. I can count on the busy part, but don't hold me to the out of trouble part. :)

What I've Been Working On

Sewing around here happens in fits and spurts. No sewing for 10 days and then I hit upon an hour or two a couple of days in a row. Saturday was a Quilt Squad sew day in town. I opted out. It's what social hermits do. :) Such a great bunch of ladies, but going to town is just painful for me and there was plenty that needed doing around here.

I went in on Tuesday to help with the extension office Christmas Joy Holiday Showcase at the Civic Center and that was all the socializing I could handle in one week. Those ladies worked hard to put on an impressive program. All I did was show up for the afternoon program and help restock the snack table for the evening presentation. There are 4 stations and everyone rotates every 20 minutes. A ton of projects, recipes, and ideas are presented at each station. So many that I was overwhelmed, but they send you home with a spiral bound book containing every project.

 My hat goes off to our home economist, Shannon, and everyone that made it a success. I was not even remotely thinking about Christmas before I stepped into that Civic Center, but I felt as if I had been transported to the North Pole once I arrived. It messed with my "No Christmas until after Thanksgiving" mentality.

Bulls were gathered and put out with their respective tribes this week:

And this project was pieced and is now ready for borders:

Chiddlers will be coming and going for Thanksgiving. Their visits will be short but sweet and I am thankful that they want to make the 4 hour drive to be home for such a short time.

So I won't be starting anything new before then, but I'll have a finished quilt to show after Thanksgiving. Just waiting for my quilt holders to arrive. I'll bribe them with pie. Works every time!