Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Finally Gifted!

 

Hi, all!

Well, here it is, Friday again, and we all know what that means - - - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!!  Are you ready?  Let's go!

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Many of you know that I was out of commission and out of the blogging world for most of the year in 2022.  During that time I undertook a pretty major handwork project.  Hexies seemed like just the ticket for something small and portable to take with me and work on in my chair, so I put together a small kit and started.  

At first, I intended to make a quilt - but after the first day, I thought it might just end up being a pillow cover!  Slow handwork is not my sweet spot, unfortunately.  But as time went on and the project grew, I fell in love with the process.  And when it was all finished, I ended up with a beautiful quilt top.  I appliquéd it to some vintage linen borders, and it sat on my "to be quilted" rack someday.

One day as I saw it sitting there, though, I realized that it needed a special home.  While I was out of commission, I worried about the quilt ministry and was afraid that it would dwindle away if I wasn't able to keep shepherding it along.  I asked my good friend Piper, who was a faithful member of the group, if she could help keep it going.  And Piper, God bless her, jumped right in and now has the group running so much better than I ever did!  

So of course, this quilt needed to go to Piper!  With a plan in view, I jumped into quilting it, doing diagonal lines through two axes of the hexies for a diamond grid.  The backing comes from a linen duvet I found on sale long ago and saved for the perfect quilt backing.

All in all, I really enjoyed making this quilt, even though all the handwork was a little tedious.  I may make another one for myself this year!

So - - - can we get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Quilting Week Continues!

Hi, all!

Welcome to another beautiful fall Monday!  Well, actually not too beautiful around here - it was gray and overcast all day, but at least it's finally sweater weather!  I do love that it puts me more in the mood to work in my studio, and this view of the tree outside my window always makes me smile....

So now, let's see how I did on last week's list....

1.  Quilt the top for the special recipient.

2.  Quilt the baby quilt.

3.  Quilt Nathanael's annual quilt.

4.  Quilt Lilli's annual quilt.

I've lumped all these together, and you'll see why in a minute.  The first top on the left is the quilt for the special recipient (#1).  The quilt on the right is the baby quilt (#2).  I didn't get a chance to quilt Lilli's quilt or Nathanael's quilt yet, but I did quilt a couple of quilts for the ministry - the one in the center of this picture....

...and this beautiful top, which was donated at just the right time for a special quilt ministry need which arose unexpectedly.

So even though I didn't get to two of the quilts on my list, I did manage to quilt four tops, like I wanted to.

5.  Find a back for this beautiful vintage top I found at a fall sale this past weekend!

I had this wonderful navy print in my stash that I think is going to look great on this quilt!  Hooray for stash!

6.  Work on piecing Emmy's quilt.  

Tada!  Emmy's top is finished, and I did decide to add sashing - a narrow 1" strip between the blocks, and a 2" border.

So I'm really pleased with the progress I made this week - lots of quilting happened, and progress was made!  Here's what I'm planning on working on this week.....

1.  Quilt at least three quilts.  Top of my list is the annual quilts for the kids so I can quit stressing over them, but I think I have seven or eight more tops that are ready for quilting!

2.  Hem two pairs of jeans for my husband.

3.  Make backs for three vintage tops I have in my stash.

4.  Work on processing my overflowing scrap bin!  Isn't this embarrassing?

And just in case you think Bree has been neglected this week, take a look at the silly picture I took of her as she was playing with the large squeaker she managed to get out of one of her toys...

She wandered around holding it like a cigar in her mouth for a couple of hours one day before she finally chewed one end off and I had to throw it away.  Goofy dog!

So now, I really need to know - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Ministry Quilts Everywhere!

 

Hi, all!

Friday has rolled around once again, and we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!!  Are you ready?  Let's get started!

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It's been hard getting back into the swing of things this week, following my time in New Orleans, but I did manage to get some things done!  We are working on another big project for the quilt ministry - not as big as the last two, but still substantial - providing bed quilts for a local women's shelter.  They need five full size quilts, thirteen twin size quilts, plus we are going to send a large stack of kids' lap quilts for extra snuggling.  You may remember that I put together five full size tops, and I've been working on quilting those...

I've quilted two of them, as you can see above, and I've put binding on the top one and finished it, as you can see below!

I did a LOT of binding this week, finishing two at church Tuesday night and three more at home on Wednesday.  The three on the left are for general ministry use, and the two on the right (a twin and a full size) are for the women's shelter.

I also managed to get all the pieces cut out and labeled for the prototype for this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July quilt-along.  And amazingly enough, my calculations turned out to be correct, and I had figured out the right fabric requirements!  I'll be working on this next week when I'm away for a few days with my husband for his work conference.

And I wanted to share this cute little doodle that my youngest granddaughter Emmy did on a napkin the other day - her drawing skill always amazes me, and I love the amount of character these two little guys have!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Life is Good!

 

Hi, all!

It's hard to believe, but another week has come and gone and Friday has rolled around again!  And we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  Then let's go!

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I've had a good time this week, with several projects coming to fruition...

My first peony bloom of the season...

...and the planter and pots are all done!

I delivered this finished customer quilt - I don't want to show the front because it will be a gift, but the texture on the back is amazing, isn't it?

I put the binding on four quilts, and finished a quilt top and back for a baby quilt (with the shower coming up in a week!)

Deb S. sent progress shots of the three baby quilts she's made for Hands2Help (*so far!).  She says these are going to go to Little Lambs Foundation of Utah.  I know they'll love them!

And very best of all, our church quilting group finished up and delivered fifty-one quilts to the teachers and support staff at our local elementary school.  Here you can see part of the quilting group and the huge stacks of quilts we finished for them!! These ladies are the best, folks - this was a huge project and they worked so hard to get it done by the end of the school year.

So, as Bree will attest, life is good when everything is where it should be!  In her case, that means when Mom is sitting in her chair so she (Bree) can sleep properly cushioned, propped up and snuggled in.

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A VERY Productive Week!

 

Hi, all!

Well, it's Friday again, and hopefully you're not snowed in somewhere! .Although you know what they say - snow day, sew day!  But it being Friday, it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on, so let's get started!

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I started out this week with the hope of getting a quilt for my great-niece finished, and I'm so happy to say that I met that goal!

It's a sweet little quilt, and I backed it with leftover bits and bobs of the fabric I used for the hearts on the front.  Some swirly-girly quilting gives it a wonderful texture! It's currently in the mail headed to my niece.

But wait - that wasn't enough!  We are in the midst of two big projects for the quilt ministry at church - the quilts we make for our high school graduates each year and another, larger, project that I can't talk too much about it right now.  But needless to say, we've got a lot of quilting to do!  So I got the bright idea of striking up a friendly competition with my friend Piper, who has been keeping the quilt ministry running for the past year in part by doing much of the quilting.  We decided to see who could quilt more quilts by the next time we meet (next Tuesday) and we were off to the races!

I quilted these two on Wednesday...

...then added this one...

...and this one on Thursday!

And this one is loaded up on the frame and ready to go first thing Friday morning!

Five quilts in one week is pretty good - but hopefully I'll double that by next Tuesday.  We shall see!

In other news, today (Thursday) we had an absolute gift of a day here in Tennessee.  The sun was shining, and it got up to 82 degrees!   It was so wonderful to be a blessing to go sleeveless and barefoot all day.  Tomorrow the high will only be 55, but for one beautiful day in February, we had a little foretaste of spring!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's making you whoop it up this week?

What's got you doing a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Well Begun Is Half Done..

Hi, all!

Friday has rolled around once again, and we all know what that means, right?  It's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!!  I hope you are ready - I know I am - so let's get started!

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I started on the grandkids' annual quilts this week - and well begun is half done, right?  Theses beautiful fabrics will be part of Lilli's annual quilt this year!  This is the first cut; my next step is to sew them together in strip sets and then cut again into strips of five 2.5" squares.

These are the fabrics for Nathanael's annual quilt, all pressed and ready to be cut out.

I didn't get much further than that this week because my constant companion, Bree, decided that the fabric in my scrap bins and on my shelves was fair game if I wasn't actively playing with her. So Lilli and I took some plastic tablecloths and covered up the fabric!

Hopefully this will prevent the little sneak thief from stealing all my fabric!  It's just a temporary solution, but will do for now.

Oh, and I did finish one quilt top this week, for the quilt ministry.

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn! 

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? A Fun And Fruitful Day....

 

Hi, all!

Friday has rolled around once more, and we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!!  I hope you're ready - just remember, it doesn't necessarily mean a finish, just something that you're doing a little happy dance about.  And I hope everyone has had something to whoop about this week!  So let's get started...

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Thursday was a good day in my studio!  A friend of mine who recently got a long arm machine came over and I gave her some tips for quilting, since she hasn't been able to attend any classes yet due to COVID.  She's a member of the quilt ministry, and had been quilting on our machine at church for a while, so she knew some things, but I was able to show her some new tricks, too.  We also went over how to machine bind at the same time...

And this is what we ended up with at the end of the morning - a quilted top for the quilt ministry and a finished baby quilt too!  Piper has a better idea of some simple tricks that will make her quilting go faster and easier, and we had a most excellent time talking, too!  

And then, after Piper left to pick up her kids from school, I finished the second memory quilt top.  Two down, one to go!

All in all, a good day and a good week!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah