The Old Couch Quilt....Pineapple Blossom

 I don't think I ever blog about this quilt.  I made it in 2005 or 2006.  It is a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter.  I started following Bonnie's blog when several people at the guild I belonged to showed quilts made from her patterns

It was the first time I really did scrappy and I put in black sashings to break up the blocks.  I mostly had brights but tried to include all types of prints.  It was fun but a little stressful not in the construction, but in all the fabrics.  I was tired of it and add a striped print into the black border to try and make it look like I worked more than I really did (ha!) because I just want it finished.  

I had mixed feeling about this quilt but it has been used for years in my living room.

I quilted it on the grace frame and it's my first or close to my first quilted on a frame quilt.  It has clear thread on top and black on bottom.  I tried to use one of those stick down papers and follow the lines for quilting.. it has tension issues with black thread poking up from the bottom.  One thing to realize is no matter how problematic it may have seemed at the time it has been used for 14 years or more and no one noticed or mentioned the quilting.

Two Quilts Finished

 Both Brick House Quilts are done.  Measuring approximately 48 by 72 I quilted them one after the other.

As I wrote before some straight lines and swirls in the first one.

The second one was quilted with swirls

Here's another pic of the first.

2nd Brick House

I finished the 2nd one.  Still happy sewing simple piecing. This one is 48 x 72 also. I thought about combining the 2 into 1 bigger quilt but I think the size is going to work well as a lab quilt for my recliner.

The 2nd quilt? I don't know where it will go but I enjoyed making it.

I had a packaged king size batting so I bought a  wide back fabric.  I will be able to load and quilt both quilts with some left over.  Piecing a backing uses up old fabrics, but I also enjoy the ease of wide backing fabric.

I tried straight line quilting and it was boring so the first quilt has a few straight lines and a lot of fat curls.  I used 60 wt glide thread.

Brick House Top

I think I've made the Brick House quilt as big as it's going to be.  The color cheers me.  I am going to quilt it and use it at a lap quilt in the living room.  I got the free pattern  (from http://www.joscountryjunction.com)  and she quilted at least one of  hers with straight lines. I liked that look and  I am debating how I want to quilt mine.  I need to make a backing.  It's 48 x 72.  I have another row and 1/2 done and a bunch more blocks.  I am going to continue and make another one but it will go back to leader/ender status.  Absolutely simple piecing and I am not stressing about what is fabric next to what.

Brick House Quilt

Piecing soothes me.  I am so sad with the virus, the senseless deaths, prejudices and now the riots.  The color of your skin is just a matter of your ancestry - nothing else - we are all humans.

I saw this scrappy quilt on a blog I like to read - joscountryjunction

Jo explains how she was given the blocks and how to make the quilt.  She calls it Brick House.

I finished my Scrappiness top and started this as a leader / ender project.  I've got 200 of the little blocks made and started putting them in rows.  I have spent some time  just sewing these - they jumped up from L / E status because I was having fun.  I do have a lot of projects, and ideas so they may shift to the back burner again but I think it's pretty.

Another Round on the Medallion

I put shoo fly blocks in this round.  I am not sure what I'll do next - it will have white background because I am low on the light green.  I am undecided on  whether to make it into a rectangle or keep it square.

Labyrinth Walk Quilt

I have a nephew who is a wonderful helpful man.  He is 10 years younger than my son and he was there and supportive when Paul passed.  We visited Chicago 2 years ago had a great time in large part thanks to his assistance.  I decided then that I wanted to make him a quilt.

I started this last year.  The pattern is Labyrinth Walk by Christopher Florence.

sorry it looks crooked here - it's taller than my holders!

Medallion Quilt

I didn't do Bonnie Hunter's Mystery last year.  I planned to and picked fabrics.

 I made some initial 4 patches but my progress stalled.  My illness in late October and hospital stay sapped my energy, time and finances.  So I was working a lot - not sewing.

I was delighted when Bonnie decided to do a sew along during the Covid stay at home.  She called it Unity.   Unity Sew Along   I decided to use my fabrics for that quilt.  I started it and if you are following along it is a very pretty quilt.

I went in a different direction.  One thing that has calmed me during this chaotic time is simple piecing and I have many projects calling to me.  Besides the Jewel Box top I also pieced this Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Trips top

So this medallion quilt is my third top since mid - March.  I decided I wanted to incorporate the 4 patches I'd made last fall and design each round myself.

this is the center as Bonnie instructed:

my four patch round:

the next round I made based on a picture I saw online and something similar I found on Quilterscache:

I have made 6 inch shoo fly blocks to go around next.  They have more of the 4 patches in their centers.  I am not sure how I will turn the corner but I am enjoying the process.

Scrappiness

I decided to name this quilt Scrappiness as a combination of scrappy + happiness.  Pattern is Bonnie Hunter's  Jewel Box

In this time of isolation I have found the most peace in simple sewing.  I had 100 4 patches accumulated as leaders/enders but I wanted to finish this up and move on to something new.  I had to make another 100 4 patches, plus the triangles.  The quilt measures 60 x 60.  It will probably be a couch quilt. 

I have to make a back for it.  I more into sewing than quilting (longarm) right now, so I don't know when it will be completed but for me this is a great way to cope with the chaos that is going on right now.

Quilting in December

While I worked a lot in Dec and Jan I also did quilting. 

This quilt was pieced by my friend and I did the quilting.  She gave it as a Christmas gift.

I used a thin 60 wt white thread.  I wanted to highlight the piecing.  Piano key border with some feathers.  feather motifs in the grey,  with curls in the white.  Looking through my photos I think these are all in progress.  I don't have one of the completed quilt.

6 Months Later....Personal Update

Time for an update.  Overdue actually but that is life.

Last Fall I was eagerly anticipating Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt.  I was busy working part time doing food delivery.  I needed extra money and I liked the work.  Things went sideways and I had to reevaluate.

Nothing horrible, just change and it ended up working out amazingly well.

I had to go to the hospital for 3 days in late October.  I had an infection and needed IV antibiotics.  It all worked well except I missed work for a week.  I was bothered that I needed the part time income even though I have a pension and SS income and it was really brought home to me that I'd become dependent on the extra income.

At the end of Jan I was in a very minor fender bender in a restaurant parking lot.  No damage to my car.  I disclosed to my insurance company that I was doing delivery work and they immediately said I wasn't covered.  The insurance company later changed that but wouldn't sell me a policy where I could continue to do delivery work.  In this manner no pizza delivery, no food delivery is covered.  Seemed like I was caught in a situation where I couldn't continue to work without being dishonest.  So I stopped working and thought about what I wanted to do.

I prayed and asked for guidance.  What did I want from life?  etc.  I decided that I wanted to get France launched in life and to be able to sew and create.

It came to me that part of the reason I had to work extra was the expenses of the house I bought before my retirement.  I bought particularly in France's school district so that her life wouldn't be disrupted if I had to take custody.  That worked well but she is  out of high school and I no longer needed that house and it's expenses.

So I called the realtor who I'd used in 2014 and told her I wanted to  sell.  Things went quickly.  So fast that the house sold a couple days before it went on the market for $1000 over asking price and I had to scramble to get an apt and move within 2 weeks.

I got a nice 2 bedroom apt with room in the living room for the longarm plus the couch, chair and tv.  I turned my bedroom into  a sewing room / bedroom.  I like it a lot.

I don't need to work and it came at a perfect time because it is safer to stay at home.  It feels like I slide into a safe situation just before the storm hit.  I feel very blessed.

I did get to see grandies around new year's.  This is a pic of France, Dylan, Kearstyn and Lulu playing a game in the hotel.

Lulu and I swam with Dylan.  The older grandies didn't go to the pool.  Lulu has drive and always wants to improve.  She watches videos on how to improve. She was pushing Dylan to do more.  The second day when it was just her and I at the pool a couple came to the pool with their kids and Lulu watch them closely and how they were teaching their daughter to swim.  Even though I was only 5 ft away she'd come back to me and say "they told her to scoop the water away".  I am sure she will remind me next time we have an opportunity to swim with Dylan.

It is so much fun to watch the kids grow.