A Tumbler Finish

I've had this tumbler quilted for a while now, just couldn't quite seem to get the binding done.

But today I've remedied that situation and it is done! How about these classic Thunderbirds for backing?

This Dancing Nines got quilted last night. I still need to trim and bind it.

I started work on this one, had it all laid out on the design wall, but a visitor to the sewing room decided to walk behind the design wall (Doesn't that sound fancy? It's just a piece of builders foam with batting on it. LOL!).  Those pieces are now webbed together so there will be no more accidents like this.

In case you wonder, the visitor was one of these innocent looking little darlings. 

And, if you look past the quilt you can see that the storage shed is coming along quite nicely. Mr. Muddling does good work! Maybe we can get the roof done next weekend. It has been a bigger job than we thought it would be. Isn't that always the way of things! It is going to be a wonderful thing for us though. We'll keep the yard tools in there instead of the garage. I had to sacrifice part of the fig tree. There just was not room for all of it and the shed, too. It seems to have forgiven me for the pruning it got. I just finished eating some fresh figs!

I'm trying to get quilts finished for both the USO and Quilts of Compassion.  My friend Sandy and I have a total of nine completed. Hopefully we'll finish a few more and get them out of here! It IS a blessing to me to have the means and opportunity to bless others with the work we do. I'm thankful for that.

I hope you're having a really good weekend and that there are things in your world that are making you happy!

Hugs and kisses,

A Comfort Quilt for My Friend's Friend

My friend Darla asked me to make a comfort quilt for a friend of hers whose husband had passed away in December. She wanted this quilt to be made of some of his shirts and she wanted flannel on the back.

I will just confess to you that I did not want to make this quilt, but I did repent and I got it made. Look at those two big "bumps" in the backing.

I included two of the shirt pockets, and for them to be functional they could not be quilted.

This is how I reminded myself NOT to quilt them!  Masking tape.

Inside one of the pockets I put a little heart made from fabric from two of the shirts. This is one side.

This is the other side. 

A collage of the design process. By the way, that little lazy Susan type cutting mat helped SO much! There were lots of wonky blocks needing trimming. There was not enough fabric in the shirts provided to do what I wanted, so I added in some gold with white stars. It and the backing, a pretty gold-y/yellow flannel are both from Connecting Threads. I like their flannel a lot, it's been the best quality I've found.

 

A not great picture, but still the natural light coming in the window this morning gives you an idea how very cuddly this one is.  I hope it is a comfort to Darla's friend.

 

Our weekend is over and Mr. Muddling heads back to work bright and early in the morning. It sure will be lonely around here without him, but he'll be back!

 

I do hope your week is exceptionally good in every way!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Another One Ready for the USO

This little happy quilt is all ready to go with the next bunch of quilts to the  USO lounge for our soldiers at the  local airport.  It was made with some of those four patches I have made as leader/enders, and since those finished at 4 1/2 inches, I used rectangle squares that were the same size. (Wanda gave a very clear tutorial of how to make these simple blocks here.) I combined four of each of those units to make a bigger four patch and alternated them. I like it!

And here's a shot of the backing - a pretty Jinny Beyer print setting off a row of patriotic teddy bears.

You can get a little better look at what the backing fabric is like in this inside shot.  The binding is a red/blue ombre stripe. 

I have two more quilted that I need to get the binding sewn on. Mr. Muddling has been on vacation this week, though it hasn't been much of one for him. He had intended to fabricate a storage building we had delivered here as a kit, but then the rains came.  Our son came yesterday and helped (a LOT), and it has made good progress. There just seem to be a lot of things unexpectedly not included in the kit that necessitate trips to the hardware store, which in turn always seems to include more necessary purchases. Since I, oh so often, find that to be the case with fabric and related purchases, I understand. I'm just thankful Mr. Muddling also understands the valid need (LOL!!) for a large cache of fabric.

I do hope the rainy weather has not impacted you badly and that you are having a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Three More Finished!

Does that feel good or what! Yes, it definitely does feel good. These three are all finished and stacked up waiting for a bigger pile to donate. I told a bit more about them in this blog post.

The churn dash blocks Deb, aka Wonky Girl, sent. I bordered this with a shades of blue stripe, which I also ran through the backing. You can see that in the picture above, bottom right.  This one will go to the USO at the airport here in Houston. 

This is one I made quite a while back, now it has its binding and is ready to go It will go to Quilts of Compassion for their next "deployment".

The backing is a funny kind of print, but I like it. You can see the nice feathers Peggy quilted in this shot.

This one is Mary Johnson's pattern "Four Patch Stars". The link will take you to the page for that pattern. She has lots of patterns and they are free, and more importantly they are very clearly written and easy to use. She is a generous blogger!

I like everything about this one. The border is a red, white and blue print given to me by Wonky Girl, another very generous blogger, and there's even a red, white and blue stripe for the binding.

The backing is a pretty blue on blue print, don't remember where I got it, but I had a lot. I also backed Deb's churn dash blocks with it.

I have more on the quilt assembly line (I don't really have one, it just seems as if I do sometimes!) I'll let you know when there's another finish. 

It is a beautiful, sunny and very hot day here in Houston. Summer has arrived.  I'm not tired of seeing the sun yet. All those rainy days made me appreciate dry weather. Of course I'm also really thankful for air conditioning!

I hope your week is starting off well and that it's a good one for you!

Hugs and kisses,

The Saga of a Little Quilt

This little quilt (49 1/2" by 58") has had quite a few hands involved in the making of it. I had made a lot of the rail fence blocks last year from 2 1/2" strips I'd cut from all sorts of fabrics.

You might remember I made "Chicken Strips" from some of those rail fence blocks alternating with framed chicken print fabrics. (You know I really LIKE this one!)

Then my friend Phyllis took a stack of those rail fence blocks and put them together into this one. Both of those quilts went to Quilts of Compassion last year.

I had given my friend Sandy a stack of those same blocks (yes, I do get carried away making blocks sometimes) when she took a quilt top I had made to have her sister Peggy quilt it for me. 

Peggy sewed the rail fence blocks together (You can see she put one of my sixteen patch blocks in there, too!)  and quilted it!  I got the binding sewn on and now this one will be going to Quilts of Compassion when we get a stack of quilts ready.   Wasn't that a fun little journey of lots of people working to finish one little simple quilt. I believe it will really be a blessing to whoever gets it!

Peggy added this pretty Maywood Studios fabric for a backing and did a beautiful job of quilting it!

Meanwhile at Muddle Manor, the skies are gloriously clear and everything is growing like wild. Of course, it's hot, too, but I'm not even going to complain. I am so happy to see the sun again!

I do hope you are finding plenty that makes you thankful!

Hugs and kisses,