Finally Finished!

I am so excited to finally have my Stacey's Floral Runner finished!  I started this rug at Janice's back in 2014. I hooked most of the center and then set it aside, distracted by other projects.  I picked it back up last year only to realize that the wool I had stored with it was apparently from a different project.  I have no idea where the original wool went to - perhaps I will come across it all in another bag or bin someday.  I took it back to Janice's last summer and she helped me find wool that coordinated with the center colors so I could finish the border. I finished hooking the rug last summer and then added it to my pile of rugs waiting to be bound. Determined to make a dent in that pile in 2025, I started working on the binding in January, and finally finished it last week. After a final steaming yesterday, I can mark this one off my list of UFOs. It's a big rug (74' x 30") so now the challenge is figuring out where to put it!

On the quilting side, I have made several new starts in the new year.  Once of these is the Primitive Gatherings Unity Stitch-along.  We are five weeks in and I have been able to keep up so far. At some point in the near future we will need to start constructing blocks in addition to stitching HSTs so it will likely become more of a challenge to remain caught up.

Although I am not quite finished making tiny nine patches, I started assembling the top at a retreat at the end of January.  I still have a long way to go but am absolutely loving how it is turning out. I need to keep going on this one - it would be perfect for this year's quilt show at Primitive Gatherings.


I also made a bit more progress on the Indigo Way mystery while at retreat.  I finished cutting out the entire quilt and did quite a bit of sewing. All of the parts are currently stacked in trays, waiting for the next retreat.


Another new start is the 2025 Made by Hand project by Dawn Heese & Bonnie Sullivan called 'Hobby Farm'.  The first block was released on Feb 1. It is a large block but I was able to get it prepped and start stitching it on my flight to Tampa for a business meeting.   


My latest new starts - there are several - are the 2025 Sue Spargo BOM (Bloomer), the one year project from the Primitive Gatherings wool box (Indigo Way), and the two year wool box project, Serenity. I will have plenty of options to choose from for my hand stitching retreat in Branson next month!

Kicking Off 2025

Obviously my plan to return to blogging last year was a miserable failure!  Let’s see if I can do better this year. We kicked off 2025 with a bang, ringing in the new year aboard the Carnival Radiance in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. I’m pretty sure it’s the first New Year’s Eve party that we’ve ever attended. We had a fantastic trip, celebrating my husband’s 60th birthday, and even learning how to cook some great Mexican recipes. 

I had barely gotten back from the cruise when it was time to head to Arkansas for the Eureka Springs Hook-in. We had a huge group this year, nearly 130 people.

We had a great week and loved our new spot in the hooking room, which was much warmer than our usual corner. I managed to finish hooking my Floral Harmony rug, a pattern I started at Janice’s in November.

I’m currently working on binding a rug I started in 2014 but just finished hooking last year. I'm a little over halfway finished.  It's a very large rug!  I have a significant binding backlog (at least 5 other rugs, most very large) that I am determined to work on this year.

On the quilting front, I have an extensive list of projects I would like to finish and an equally long list of others I would like to start. I am planning on playing along with a UFO challenge our local quilt shop is leading in hopes of being inspired to move a few things forward.  Here’s my list of 10:

1. Twilight Gatherings 

2. Old Town (Quiltville 2024 Mystery)

3. Indigo Way (Quiltville 2023 Mystery)

4. Tiny Nine Patches

5. Blue Baskets

6. Wrapped in Ribbons

7. Black Gingham

8. Letters to Santa

9. Subtle Shades

10. Feathered Triangles

It was tough to choose just 10!  There are a few others I want to work on but I decided to try to be practical and choose a mix of projects with varying levels of effort needed, including some that require considerable piecing and/or appliqué, a few that need quilted and bound, and one that just needs the binding hand stitched.  

The first UFO we are supposed to work on for the challenge is #4.  I worked on the Tiny Nine Patch challenge throughout 2024, sometimes managing to knock out the challenge’s 10 blocks per week and sometimes not.  I current have around 50 blocks left to make and then need to piece the top (which will be a lot of work).  I’m hoping to make decent progress on it at a retreat next week.

Among the new projects I’m planning to start are the Unity QAL from Primitive Gatherings, the 2025 Sue Spargo BOM, and the projects from the PG wool and cotton boxes. I am also really excited about the new Made by Hand - Hobby Farm project - I signed up and am planning to pick up my background fabric for it next week, in time for the first block release on Feb 1. It doesn't stop there - I participated in a virtual LeMoyne Star workshop on Monday (part two is next week) and am participating in two workshops in March so there will be more new UFOs to add to my list. I will have no shortage of projects to keep me busy when I finally retire!

Most Productive Retreat Ever!

I'm a little slow with this post - my retreat is really a distant memory after the crazy four day, 60-hour work week that followed it...  The weekend before last I went on a four-day quilting retreat with friends.  It was probably the most productive retreat I have ever had!  I took along multiple projects - a couple of which I never touched - but I did manage to finish one top and nearly finished another.  Both are on my top twelve UFO list so I am off to a strong start for the year.

I originally wasn't in love with the teal cornerstones in the Grand Illusion mystery quilt setting and had started using black instead.  Then a very creative quilter posted a slight variation of the pattern on the Quiltville Facebook page and my mind was changed - the simple addition of a teal inner border completely pulled it together!  She also added a couple of other 2" borders that increased the size to around 96" square which worked better for me.  So, following her lead, here's what I ended up with:

I absolutely LOVE it!  I am very happy with how it turned out, crazy bright colors and all.  I decided that I will use some black batik that I have on hand for backing. Now I just need to find a quilter....

After that top was complete, I moved on to my LeMoyne Stars. I had ordered a couple of pieces of Japanese taupe fabrics from Homestead Hearth as possible sashing and luckily one of them worked out well.  The blocks were a bear to work with!  I have definitely learned an important lesson about hand piecing - cut the outer seam allowances really large!  I will also pay better attention to where the bias falls next time.  After all of the handling in piecing the outer edges were a little off-square and required a lot of finessing to get right.  By the time I got the center together I was too exhausted to deal with the outer borders. It took the better part of two days to get it to this point:

I am very happy with how it is turning out!  I have two more borders to add - a 2" blue one (the same fabric as the sashing) and a wide (6") one of background fabric - and then it will be ready for quilting.

This past weekend was our annual Wool Club Camp at Nola's.  I didn't accomplish much - it was very crowded and just not conducive to working on my giant rug.  I also think I was too exhausted from the week and too distracted by a rescue puppy I fell in love with on Facebook (she's still available and I am trying to control the impulse to call about her....) to do much hooking.  Here's a peek at where it stands currently:

I still have quite a way to go, but I am making progress. I also made some progress on a couple of other projects this week, one which is on my UFO list and one that is not.  I made a bit of progress on the second diamond wedge for my Rising Sun while flying to and from New York this week - it wasn't picture-worthy.  Over the weekend I pulled out a project that has accompanied me to several retreats but returned home untouched - My Garden Album.  I did all of the scrappy cutting for the sashing blocks and even started piecing them.  

At this point they are just a messy pile next to the sewing machine, but it's a start!  Considering I have had all of the applique blocks finished since 2010 or so it's about time to get this thing together.

All things considered, I feel like I am off to a strong start for the year! There are about three new projects calling my name but I have resisted temptation thus far...  And then there's that puppy...Not sure how long I can stay strong!

Grand Illusion Week Two

For the first time in what seems like forever I had a completely free weekend...no place to go and no one to cook for.  I spent nearly the whole weekend in my sewing room!  I made great progress on step two.  I decided to use Bonnie's first method to do my cutting.

This method worked well for me and the best part was that it gave me a use for my duplicate Easy Angle ruler.  (Sadly, I actually have three of them for some reason....)

I really like the look of the double diamond block. I am enjoying these colors - they are definitely different from my norm!

I finished 57 complete blocks and the rest of the halves.  I still need to trim rabbit ears and then can get the rest of the blocks together.

I got a little farther on step one over the course of last week.

And I've made quite a bit of progress on my giant rug:

Okay, now that I look at the picture it really doesn't look like all that much progress, but I do try to work on it pretty much every night.  It's hard to tell from the picture but the section I've hooked is probably two feet long. The rug is 30" x 76" so there's still a long way to go.

I hope I can drag myself away from the sewing machine long enough to get some Christmas shopping done.  Bonnie's mysteries are addicting!

That's my progress report for the week!  Check out how others are progressing on Bonnie's blog.

Fall Travels

I've had a busy and incredibly inspiring past couple of weeks!  Houston was phenomenal - by far the best show I've ever seen. Although the special exhibit of 500 traditional quilts was fantastic, the red and white quilts stole the show.  The exhibit was breathtaking!

I have been wanting to make a red and white quilt ever since I saw photos of the exhibit in New York, but after experiencing the Houston display I feel that I absolutely must make one. I am still trying to decide on a pattern. I already have a start on collecting fabric for it, though. We attended a 40th Anniversary Celebration luncheon while at the Festival and were treated to a beautiful room of red and white - white tablecloths topped with squares of a gorgeous red Moda fabric, accented with coordinating Moda fabrics for napkins. Our napkins were ours to keep as a souvenir, and one lucky person at each table won the table topper. I was the lucky winner!  I plan to use both the napkin and the table topper in my red and white project.

Another exhibit I really enjoyed at Houston highlighted Australian quilters. Quilts by Di Ford, Carolyn Koenig and Michelle Yeo were displayed in one section of the show.  They were all beautiful!  All three were available at the exhibit, autographing books and answering questions. Di and Michelle also taught a free broderie perse class at the Craftsy stand.  It was a wonderful and unexpected surprise to get to chat with them and learn their techniques.

There is so much more to tell about Houston - a class with Luixin Newman and a new scanning and cutting toy that I can't wait to try out....But then there was the Birthday Bash at Wooly Woolens over the last weekend. It is always so wonderful to go to Janice's!  The food is terrific, the wool is to die for and the company is always tons of fun.  We sat with Barb from Iowa and Karen from Nebraska. They were great table-mates!  We are hoping that we can all get together again at a class next year.

I started a new rug. This is officially the largest rug I have ever started. And by large I mean huge.  Really huge. Somewhat intimidating, really...  I am making great progress - or so it seems until I take it off the frame and see how much more there is to do.  I am so happy with the colors that I want to work on it every chance I get!

Too bad the new rug excitement always wears off long before the project is complete!