Wanda Joy has been on fire!

 Since our return to the valley of the sun,

my longarm has been on fire!

It has been too hot to go outside,

so I practice my FMQ.

First up was my Rock the Block 

by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Here are some details:

I really got confident with feathers! 

Next up was my Let's Stitch a Figurative Quilt 

from a Natalia Bonner class I did online.

I must say this one is quilted to death,

but it was a learning quilt.

My favorite block.

And I love that middle border design.

I wish the quilt had had a border instead of the endless neutral fabric.

That rainbow filler got to be so tedious to quilt over and over,

but practice did improve the look of them. 

Pebbles is what I mastered with this one. 

You may think I have lost my mind;

but with all the craziness in the world,

we leave for Africa in less than a week.

Trying my hardest not to panic!

In the meantime,

I will try to stay calm by making more units for my 

Sunrise Scraps quilt.

My sewing circle of friends donated a lovely group of pinks and purples 

along with some great old cheddars from Jo Morton.

Stay safe and hug your loved ones!

 

Piecing and Packing and Purging!

 

Rock the Block Sew Along

by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

This one I will use to practice FMQ on. 

Jenny of SKOW plans to show us how she will quilt it.

Love it when I can copy a design

 and not have to come up with it on my own.

When finished, it will adorn my office/sewing room...

as if I ever need a quilt in Arizona to warm my lap.

Greenhouse

by Elizabeth Hartmann,

requested by my DIL.

I did an E2E pattern on this one and regret it.

I really should have custom quilted it,

but wanted to get it done. 

I may make another version of it for my nephew's wedding

and then I can do custom.

His future wife loves succulents.

And it will come to no surprise that I started piecing another project...

A Figurative Quilt

by Natalia Bonner.

I am using Tilda fabrics for the first time 

and absolutely love the English Garden florals.

There is another border with tons of hexies yet to be assembled.

This sampler quilt will be used for my class I signed up for with Natalia.

I am sure one of my granddaughters will love to receive it when I am done.

Or maybe I keep it for myself.

This last week I sorted, folded and purged my fabric stash.

Much of my reproduction fabrics went to my friend, Deb;

Lori of Humble Quilts,

Janet, the Roque Quilter,

and to a quilt ministry in NY suggested by Janet.

It felt good to prioritize my project and fabric collections.

Even with all I purged,

I have more than I will ever be able to use.

Besides,

I am always seduced by all the pretty new fabrics I see.

All that reorganization makes it easy to pack for Colorado!

Oh, but what WIPS will I take?????

Time Keeps on Slipping, Slipping into the Future.

The title of my post is from a favorite Steve Miller band song.

I guess I am dating myself!

My granddaughters turned 5 and 9 in February.

Where did the time go? 

My daughter had a small family only party for them.

These are my grands +1 cousin.

I got my first vaccine shot without an issue 

and to celebrate I put pandemic purple highlights in my hair.

It was a fun experiment and is fading fast.

It will be a one and done though...

too long in the salon chair and too expensive.

Just going to have to let those grays shine through!

My back and neck issues are resolving slowly, so not much sewing going on.

This is Carrot Sticks by the Pattern Basket.

It will be for my DIL's seasonal quilt wall.

Quilted one block of my Year of Stars quilt by Natalia Bonner today.

Learning lots from her free Youtube videos and her Patreon page.

I have been able to do a little hand stitching on my Making Waves by Ariane Zurcher.

This is my favorite corner of the project.

I went rogue on these 2 shapes.

I wanted them to look like the shore of the ocean after a wave.

The cream shapes in the blue look so much like seafoam;

however, I see the ocean in almost everything.

And I am so excited about the future...

a trip to Sanibel Island with my daughter for Mother's Day and to see my sister.

Then off to Santa Fe for a week seminar with Sue Spargo.

It will feel so good to live a somewhat normal life for a change!

Handmade gifts galore!

This year the majority of my gifts are handmade.

For the littlest grandkids...quilts.

First, Fancy Forest by Elizabeth Hartmann for the baby.

My youngest granddaughter gets Le Jardin by Bunnyhill.

 

I even wrote her name in the corner. 

Both of these quilts were hand guided free motion and ruler work 

with Le Jardin having some computer borders.

The baby also gets this quilt from my daughter. 

She designed, drafted and pieced it using a purchased pattern for the fox.

And details of the quilting I did.

My daughter's family will receive this cuddly quilt backed in minky.

Quilted it using one of my favorite edge to edge patterns.

                                   I made two of these collage quilts from Laura Heine

...one for my sister and one for my DIL.

The hardest things I made were these pencil cases with a pattern ByAnnie called Flipping Out.

I am still working on charity quilts; but alas, with the pandemic, no one will accept them.

 I will hold on to them to gift in the future.

So what is next...

I am piecing a sampler quilt using stash fabrics for 

A Year of Stars,

a year long tutorial on free motion and ruler quilting by Natalia Bonner starting Jan. 1st.

I'll have a red and green quilt to gift next year!

Wishing you all a happy holiday season!