Easy Street, Part 4

I am in the throes of finishing up quilting projects for Christmas presents, but I had to made these just so I'd have something to show for today!  I also was so curious to see how these would come together.  I love these colors. 

Today I'm headed to a local quilt shop to quilt a queen size quilt I am making for a Christmas gift.  You know how it is when you don't get the top done in time to send it to the longarmer, so you have to do it yourself!  I haven't used the longarm in over a year, so it will be simple.  This week I also have a baby quilt to make and some placemats.  But, my goal is to finish the rest of step 4 before Friday and step 5!  I WILL NOT GET BEHIND!

Easy Street, Part 3

Easy Street, Part 3 done!  My strategy is that I don't let myself sew anything else until my Easy Street clue for the week is done.  But, honestly I found that this week's clue was easier that the others.  Maybe not easier, but we needed less units this week, so that may have made it seem easier.  I can't wait to see how this comes together because I love these units so far. 

The past 2 weekends I have participated in our church's mission market in which we sold handmade items to benefit our missions.  I made tree skirts, quilted an antique quilt, quilted a table topper, made a wall hanging.  Of everything, the wall hanging was the most in demand.  This wall hanging went for over $100!  And guess who couldn't live without it!  Our minister.

Easy Street, Part 2

I finished the 4 patches this weekend and began working on the flying geese.  Only got about 20 of them done.  They are actually easier than I thought.  After all the quilting I have done, I've never had a fool-proof method for making flying geese.  I've only made them with paper piecing.  I went out and bought the Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers and I have to tell you- this method is awesome.  There is no waste and they come out as near perfect as I can imagine.  Going to keep at it this week until I finish all 128 of them!

Easy Street, Part 1

Not exactly a good time to start a new project since I am rushing to complete Christmas quilty gifts.  But, how can I pass this up?  Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt is called Easy Street, and since I live in the Big Easy, why not?  Plus she promises that this one won't have all of the little pieces of past mysteries.  And I love the colors of this one and it is a queen bed-size quilt.  I'm working on the 192 four patches of black/white and grey.  I will be finished by the time the next clue comes out Friday.  I will not get behind on this one!  I also like that Bonnie says she likes big quilts and has little use for throw size quilts.  As much as I love throwing a quilt over me on the couch, she's right.  I have enough of those to last a lifetime.  Have you ever noticed that when you give someone a throw size quilt as a gift you can just see them trying to figure out if it will fit their bed?  You have to explain to them that this is a throw size quilt to use on the couch, at the end of the bed, etc. 
My next 2 weeks are busy trying to get projects completed for our church's mission market December 2 & 9.  Making tree skirts, table topper, wall hanging, child-size quilts and quilting an old quilt top that someone donated.  Oh, and this is all between work days! 

Donation Quilt

Each year I make a quilt for the silent auction at a national nursing convention.  I am a member of the foundation board and this silent auction benefits the foundation.  I made this quilt in a queen size for a friend- it's at the quilter.  With the fabric I had left over- and some more I purchased- I was able to put together this throw size.  Those who like lime green and tourquoise will like this quilt.  I quilted it on my home machine.  It's 72" square- a size that's pretty easy to handle on a domestic machine.  I tried to use different designs in different places.  Since there are long lines it was easier to do. 
I actually make a quilt and an afghan- so now it's time to get to the knitting since the convention is in 2 weeks!

Fleur de France

I bought this fabric and pattern this summer from MesAmis quilt shop in New Orleans.  It was to make a throw quilt for a friend who just renovated a cottage in Bay St. Louis, MS.  I set it aside to finish other more pressing projects.  You can relate, right?  The GSQA board president challenged the board members to make a diamond quilt for our October 20 program- Diamonds are a Girls' Best Friend.  So, last weekend I pulled this out.  It served 2 purposes at once!  This is my first diamond quilt.  It's not as hard as I thought once you get the hang of it.  I always wanted to make Kaffe Fassett's diamond quilt.  But, it intimidated me- all those different diamond shapes, even though there are templates, so years ago when I made that quilt I changed it to squares on point or "fake diamonds".

Charity Sew Day- Quilts of Valor

The Stitchy Fingers Quilt Guild had a charity sew day last Saturday.  This year we made quilts of valor quilt tops.  About 12 of us sewed and we ended up with 17 quilts.  We tried to make the blocks before the sew day and just construct the quilt tops on the sew day.  We used a variety of different patterns.  This one was one of the easypatterns- The Jelly Maker's Cabin.