Quilts 2024

 

 

Here are the quilts I made in 2024. I am so thankful for the blessings of a good husband who supports me in all I do and for the supplies and fabrics to have lots of fun making quilts!

 

We have been preparing for the arctic blast due here early in the week. Not looking forward to it at all!

 

I hope all is well in your part of the world and that you have a wonderful tomorrow!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Flower Garden

 

I am documenting now the pretty things outside. Mainly because I know it will look nothing like this next week. I am not excited about the polar vortex we are promised. I am not a fan of cold weather. However, sometimes you just don't get to choose! LOL!

 

I've been working on another quilt. I know that is not a big surprise, but I like to document the quilts I make, so here we go. This one is for a special friend of ours. She is such a great blessing to us, and we love her a lot! She gave me a little idea of colors she would like and I've done my best to give her at least some of what she wants. 

For anyone who might be interested, the flower prints are cut into 6 1/2 inch squares and the gray/burgundy quarter square triangle blocks in between are also 6 1/2 inches, turned gray side up in one row and burgundy side up in the next.  There is a 1 1/2 inch burgundy inner border and a 2 1/2 inch outer border of Lotus Blossom, one of my all time favorites in all colorways.

If you want beautiful floral fabrics, it's just really hard to go wrong with Kaffe Fassett/Philip Jacobs designs. They are the best!

 

 

So here we have it: FLOWER GARDEN.

 

I sent my friend Sandy a picture of it on the quilt frame when it was close to being finished and she said, "You made a flower garden". 

That's a pretty good name for it, isn't it!

 

This was a daily page on my new Mary Engelbreit daily calendar. Not necessarily advocating this, but it did strike me as funny! And sometimes a laugh is a very good thing. 

I hope you are having a good start to this new year. A lot of how it turns out is going to be up to us. Not all, but still a lot. I am going to try to keep a good attitude and to continue to be thankful for all the many good things in my life. They are all from the Lord!

You know, you are some of the good things! I am so thankful for the friends I've made here in blogland! I'm glad we "met"!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

Gather Up The Fragments

 

As I promised, I want to tell you about this quilt.

 

It all started as leftovers from this quilt.

 

 

It was made of alternating 9 inch blocks. The stripes were a bunch of 2 1/2 inch strips cut to size. 

 

There were lots of bits left on the strip sets, so I cut them into 1 1/2 inch strip sets, sewed them together to the right length, and set them with 2 1/2 inch blue strips.

 

 

Here they are before being sewn together.

 

And if you are not familiar with the blog title, 

 

John 6:12

When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

That was Jesus talking and I thought of it immediately. I hate waste, and have a hard time throwing away any bits of fabric.
 .

 

Don't you love that cuddly texture after the first wash and dry! It is backed with a really pretty royal blue flannel (which you can see at the top of this post) and it is so soft and comfy. 

It is going to church with us in the morning and will go home to its new owner. I'm pretty sure he will like it!

I hope you are having successful adventures in your world. You are all so creative. I really love visiting your blogs and catching up with all the lovely things you've been doing!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas and Thereafter

         There were many of the Tilda Jubilee Christmas hearts made and gifted to friends at church. So much fun!

 

I love Christmas, don't you!

 

 

This little guy is a gift I gave to myself! I purchased him from Gene Black 

 

Doesn't he look happy? He makes me happy!

 

I am definitely not a minimalist!

 

 

 

This one is finished now! I will post about it soon. I promise.

 

Hope all is well in your world, and that you are finding things that make you happy. 

 

Our God is so amazingly awesome. As magnificent as He is, He still cares about each one of us! And for that I am extremely grateful!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

Two Little Quilts

 

How is this for a bright quilt! It looks even brighter because the sun is shining through it.

 

And just for something totally opposite I put this gentle print on the back.

 

I really like it. To me it is a happy quilt.

 

 

 

Here is the second quilt, and as you can see, the sun is shining through it, too. There are some really interesting fabrics in this one. It should be fun for the children to discover them all. (You can enlarge the picture to get a better look by clicking on it.)

 

The backing is this lovely green flannel. Calm.

 

Both of these quilts will be going to the nursery at our church. They will be, I think, fun and comfortable for the children to enjoy. 

Inside we are getting ready for Christmas, and outside chickens are enjoying the sunshine, and so are the plants.  I have so many things still to do, but little by little they will be done.

I hope your preparations are coming along nicely and that you are having lots of fun in all you do! It's a good life if you don't weaken!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Where We Are Today

 

Yes, I did actually finish this one and it has been delivered. Gloria loves it! And that is the main thing. She is such a blessing to us always.

 

I finished also this lovely blue and white, which is a Helen Phillips design. It is backed with a perfect match blue flannel. As you might guess, Mr. Muddling has claimed it!
 

I love the complicated, scrappy, many fabric quilts so much, but this simple blue and white was very satisfying, too.

 

 

The view from my kitchen sink! The metalwork rooster outside was a gift from our son years ago. He always makes me smile. (I meant the rooster but the son, as well!) And look, a new African violet - a pink one!

 

And you KNOW I like my chickens!
 

 

My boy Buddy is having some health issues. Doing a lot of praying for him. I love him SO much!

 

Chrysanthemums are blooming like crazy out there. I am enjoying the color while we have it.

 

Probably most of you quilters already know this, but just in case.... When you are joining two pieces of quilt batting with your sewing machine, if you cut a regular drinking straw, bend it and then put it over the machine foot, it will not try to grab the batting! Made my life much simpler.

 

I had been eyeing (drooling over) the Tilda Jubilee fabric for a while, and when Fat Quarter Shop had one of their GOOD sales, I bought a half yard pack.

 

                                I have been having fun making some little cuties.

                      And ridiculous as it may be, I could not bear to throw away those      cute little bits I had trimmed.  So, I cobbled together this little piece, which I love!

So, yes, this is where we are today. Still muddling and still having a good time doing it! God is so good to me, and to us all. I truly am thankful for my life and my family - both biological and those of us who belong to the blogging family!

                                                Hugs and kisses and lots of love,

                                                                   Elaine

 

                     

Quilt in the Making

 

Here I am again at last. I will show you a little of Gloria's quilt I've been working on this long time.

 

I have cut so many 6 1/2 inch half square triangles! Thank you Accuquilt Studio 2!

 

 

And I kept adding them to the design wall.

 

 

And soon that design wall was full.

 

 

So I added the other design wall and kept adding half square triangles.

 

 

At last! Now to sew it all together.

 

 

All sewn together and ready to load on the quilt frame!

 

 

The quilting is started!

 

 

Many hours later the quilting is finished and I am congratulating myself that the quilting is done, when I notice that I have sewn one of the blocks in upside down. I seriously thought about just ignoring it, but I couldn't.

 

 

And once you see it, you can't UN-see it!

 

 

More time ripping out the quilting stitches and removing the offending block.

 

 

New block sewn (since I had torn the old block) pinned and hand stitched into place. Quilt was reloaded and re-quilted in the spots I had to rip out.

 

 

All quilted now and trimmed. Binding is cut, so maybe soon it will actually be finished. 

I hope I haven't bored you too much with all this "how the quilt was made" stuff, but sometimes I think we need to share the truth that these quilts don't just happen. And sometimes we make mistakes and have to fix them.

It is like life, isn't it? None of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes. I try to admit it when I do and I try to make it right. I'm so thankful that I am not in this life alone. The Lord has promised never to leave us and never to forsake us. I'm glad, because I need His help all the time.

I hope your life is good and that your mistakes are few and easily remedied!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine