Quilts for 2 of my boys

 Hello All,

Spring is here for N. Cal. We are still expecting some wet weather next month, but for now the roses have new leaves, the oaks are starting to bud, the almond has been in bloom, the grass is green... it's very lovely here this time of year. We do need more snow pack, so I hope our April is going to be a very wet one.

I have got Jeds' quilt top all put together.

And while I am waiting for another yard of backing fabric, I have started on Isaiah's quilt.

Isaiah is going to be 9 on Monday and he is 4'7" tall now, he's going to be another tall child for this house (they all take after Dad that way). He only has his baby/toddler quilts, so it's time for a bigger one.

Isaiah loves puppies, especially black labs. I'm glad I was able to find this panel. I'm pairing it with some bright, colorful geese....

These puppies want to be stars....

I have 6 different puppy pictures, two of each colored star. I am pairing them with some red pinwheels. There will be 2 more puppies that wont fit in the quilt, so I'll make some pillow cases with them.

These are large blocks, finishing at 18". So I hope this quilt will be big enough for him for a few years, at least....they grow so fast, don't they?!

I hope to have Jed's quilt finished by the end of April, wish me luck! And have a great day.

I'm linking up again with my good friend Pat from the scrapatch. Thanks for the link up Pat!

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

Christmas in July blog hop!

Hello Everyone,

And welcome to my stop on the blog hop. A big thank you going out to Samm and Carol, for their great ideas, blog hops and cheering.

I love Christmas :) The snow, the Christmas carol's, the cookies, the joy on little kid faces...And there is some darling Christmas fabric out there too. But, for some reason, I just don't decorate for Christmas with FABRIC stuff!? So I had very little Christmas fabric in my stash.

 I dug out these fabrics that my quilting forum swapped a few years ago.

I made 3 stars and some strips of squares. And put together a quilt as you go (QAYG) table runner.

Here is how I did it.

First lay your backing right side down, and smooth your batting on top. Find the middle of your batting and mark it.  Put your middle block right on that mark. Centering it.

Lay your second piece right sides together with the first, and sew your 1/4" seam. You'll sew right thru the batting and backing, so that your blocks will not only be sewn together, but to the batting/backing as well.

Open up that second piece, smooth it out (or even iron it if you want) and lay your third piece, right side down, on top of the second piece. Sew, press open, repeat.

When you are done going one way, do the same thing going the other way. Until your blocks all all sewn down.

Then sew your bottom and top sashings and blocks the same way.

When you have all your blocks/sashings sewn on, you can trim and bind it. It's already quilted :) Or you can do some more quilting on the blocks.

I did some FMQing, I have to practice, a LOT! Still having some tension issues. I go to fast with the machine, then have to slow down, and slow down too much, then speed up again... And when I finally get the speed of the machine right, I have to figure out how fast to move the fabric thru with my hands. Sigh~

 I practiced doing some simple back and forth loopy things, and circles in all the little squares. Plus a little tree.

Made a star in each of the big blocks, and TRIED to sew straight lines along the seams. Dang that's hard!! lol

Then I trimmed and put my binding on.

(Forgive the poor photos. Our sky is filled with smoke from a fire up in Oregon!)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are getting some Christmas sewing done :)

Don't forget to check out the other lovely projects. Here's today's schedule.

August 2

Quilt Doodle Doodles

life, quilts and a cat too

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Ridge Top Quilts

Editha

Stitchin By the Lake

Quilts, Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kwilty Pleasures

Kris Loves Fabric

52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Robin’s Fabric Nest

 

WIP Wednesday

Howdy Folks,

Hope the extreme weather has settled down for everyone. It's gorgeous here! Upper 80s/low 90s with a nice breeze :)

I have been doing very little sewing lately. I need to buy some batting, so that I can start doing some quilting, but I also want to rearrange my sewing machine/table so that I have more room.

I have started on my Christmas in July blog hop project though! So that is good. I've gotten this far, but now need batting so that I can continue. It's going to be a quilt as you go project.

I dug these out today too. This is a mystery pattern from Jess at the Quilt and Needle. I think it's either one of last years, or the year before! I want to get it finished.

And I'm still trying to figure out how I want these fun windmills laid out. I've been letting it 'stew' in my head for awhile, and nothing has come to me yet.

It's been a lazy Summer :)

Have a great day!

Linking up with Lee.