Block 1 of A Life of Plenty

Part 1 of A Life of Plenty is finished. This definitely proves I am not going in any particular order.  Most of the leaves on this block were already done, so I just added the stem and the last two leaves for a quick finish.

Block 11 Life of Plenty

Part 11 of A Life of Plenty is finished.  I'm obviously not going in numerical order, since I showed you Part 14 last time. I was telling my sister that I was working on a quilt I started last year and showed her the pattern.  Do you see it? It is copyrighted in 2014. Yes, I started this quilt last year in 2014.

There is something about a weeping willow that really intrigues me. It looks so different from the usual tree. I was really happy when I saw that Jeni incorporated one of them into the quilt.

I have been trying to improve the quality of my applique as I go along. I think that I did pretty well on the trunk and branches (until I saw this closeup haha), but these leaves are much smaller than the leaves in the last block. I'm sure the next block will be better.

Part 14 of Life of Plenty Finished

I finished Part 14 of Life of Plenty.  All of these calming blues and greens make me happy.

I am using needle turn applique. I didn't make templates for this block either. I did a much better job with the size of the stem on this one. The curves aren't as smooth as they could be, but that is because I use so many different techniques in each quilt. Each time, I learn how to do the technique, then I move on to another technique. By the time I come back to that technique, I have to learn it all over again.  I'm fine with it though - leaves aren't all that smooth in real life.

Linked to:
Moving it Forward

Part 13 Finished Life of Plenty

I finished Part 13 of Life of Plenty. As you can see, I did not cut out the pattern and make templates - I simply eyeballed them to cut them out. This fabric comes from many different quilts. The brown in the center of the flowers was used in 1857. The green and orange leaves were used in Lansing Leaves. The stems are from the Glitter block.  The mottled spool has been used in many different projects. The green spool was used in a project long ago - maybe Dear Jane. The orange flower is also old - maybe Moonflower.

Unfortunately none of these other quilts are finished, but maybe someday.

Linked to:
Kathy's Quilts 
Oh Scrap!

Slow Stitching

In an act of extreme spring cleaning, I have said thank you to my reproductive organs and sent them on their way.  No need to carry around the extra pound when I don't need them anymore.  I have switched to hand stitching during the recovery and am making more Life of Plenty blocks.

I am picking up the first scrap fabric that will work instead of looking for the perfect fabric.  I somehow like how that modern stem fabric looks with the old fashioned spool fabrics.

Quick Projects

Last holiday season (2015), I bought some fabric panels from Spoonflower to make kitchen towels.  I hemmed and gifted the other ones, but I had saved this elephant for me. Since this one was mine, there was no rush to get it hemmed. The gifts were calendar towels and the calendar year is gone. I decided it was time to finally finish mine.  It is fairly quick and easy to hem, although the layers of fabric in the corners did cause some thread breakage and complaining by the machine. While I wasn't aiming for perfection, it actually is a rectangle even though it looks wavy in the picture.

This elephant tempted me to embellish it with beads and baubles, but I think it is plenty colorful as it is, and will work better as a towel, table runner, or anything else without the embellishment.

My sister, brother-in-law and I went to an apothecary when we had some time to use up between appointments and came across some rice bags.  I've always thought about making some, but wasn't sure if I would actually use them.  The bags at the store were $14 or $18 each. I figured if they could sell them that expensively, people must really like them!  Allie and others have told me they really like using them.  Instead of buying one, I decided to make one using the directions on Allie's blog.  I am looking forward to it keeping my tummy warm. I haven't made a cover. I figure I would just use a pillowcase or towel until I know whether this is something that requires long-term protection.  Until then, the bright shiny orange fabric will add some warm sunshine in the winter.

Quilt Show

On the day I took my finished flowers quilt on a walk to stage it for photos, we first went to a quilt show at the same park.  There was a good variety of beautiful quilts there, mostly big quilts and smaller wallhangings.  There were also a small number of other projects - table runners, bags, etc. 

Here are the photos of my favorite quilts. I was trying to save the batteries for my own quilt, so these are just quick snapshots.