It's Memorial Day Weekend Happy Friday all

I don't have a finished quilt to share, still have several in progress.  I am going to spend the weekend with my horse show friends at Sterling Silver Stable!!!  This is my favorite thing to do and I always have a blast seeing old friends.  Hope you all have a great Memorial Day and have not forget the reason for this day.  Here is a picture of my favorite horse show buddy

The longest running UFO

As you all know by now I am on a mission to complete all my UFO's.  when I started this on April 1st I had seven UFO,s and now I am down to two.  The longest running one is for my sister Pat, a queen size ocean wave quilt.  Sister Pat picked the colors, tan and white.  I know boring right?.  I made the mistake of deciding to use 2inch finished HST for the quilt.
Here is some of the 1,860 HST I need for the quilt

Here is the first block done.  Now I must tell you that all these HST had the white sewed on backwards.  I ripped them out and redid them and did not work on the quilt for another six months

I have gotten over my HST trauma and am liking how this looks, very simple and elegant.  I have one row done, five more to go, I hope to have it done by the end of summer.  I was going to link this up with WIP Wednesday but Lee, At Freshly Pieced isn't having it today.

 

Leavenworth Row Quilt

I treated myself to a vacation last October and attended a quilt retreat in Leavenworth Washington.  I bought three projects to work on.  The retreat was fantastic, the ladies wonderful and the setting beautiful.  I combined it with a trip to visit my son and was gone for 12 days.  By the time I got home I was exhausted and had three incomplete tops.  I then had a flare up of my disease and was on the couch for three months.  I did not start quilting again until this April and vowed to get all my UFO's done, I had counted them up and had seven, count them seven, which for me is a lot.  I have since finished five and four you have read about in previous posts.

This quilt is number 5 and very special.  I participated in the row exchange at the retreat and this is the finished quilt.  My row is second from the bottom and my theme was the ocean.  I hate to brag but I think I got the prettiest rows and they all go so well together,  I arranged them so you went from the ocean bottom to the seashore.  It is hanging in a place of honor in my living room (I really do need to get quilt hangers). 

"Springtime Playtime is done!"

I started this quilt at the end of October 2012 at a quilt retreat in Leavenworth, WA.  It has been sitting neglected since that time.  At the beginning of April I went on a mission to finish UFO's.  Now that this one is done I am down to only three.  I saw this pattern in Easy Quilts, Spring 2012 and fell in love with it.  The main fabric is from the Dress Up line by Riley Blake.  The quilting is my first effort with a pantograph and could not believe how easy it was and see many more in my future.  The pantograph is Floral Meander and quilted with Aurifil tan #200.  This will be going into my etsy shop and will be the perfect quilt for a girl.  Linking up with Woot Wott Friday here and Finish it up Friday here

Hearts For Leslie

Here is my finished quilt from the pattern Heartstring designed by Gail Yakos . The sample quilt has been hanging in the shop (Creation Station) for a while and I always admired it and wanted to make it.  They offered a class using this pattern so I jumped at the chance to finally make it.  I super sized the pattern adding a extra row of hearts and making the borders bigger and am so pleased with how it turned out.  This quilt is for a very special women, Leslie Nelson of Sterling Silver Stable, www.sterlingsilverstable.com.  Leslie came forward and helped me at a difficult time in my life, for no other reason than I had helped someone she knew.   There have not been very many people, other than my family, who have stepped forward to help me when I needed it.  She held my hand, counseled me, cryed and laughed with me.  She continues to be a strong presence in my life including me in a world I adore.  I want Leslie to understand how much her caring meant and means to me. This quilt is just a small thank you to a wonderful and caring women.  Leslie, this is for you and all you do.

Heart sting quilt

I took a wonderful class at my local quilt shop Creation Station www.creationstation.com.  I talked a little bit about this in my pinwheel post.  The class was super fun with many wonderful ladies.  I super sized the pattern and have almost finished quilting it, just working on the borders.  I did the body on Miss. Jewel, the long arm, but I find many times it is easier to do the borders on my Bernina.  I am linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday www.freshlypieced.com I am in love with her "Bloom bloom pow" quilt, have to add that to the growing  pile on want to do's.  Anyway here is my WIP, "Hearts for Leslie"

For Hastings the Corgi

I do more than quilt, believe it or not,  I also enjoy machine embroidery.  Sister Barbara has Corgi's.  Now if you do not know about Corgis they are a small, about 12 -14 inches tall, dog bred to herd cows in Wales.  They can be heelers, nipping at the heels to make the cow go, or headers, nipping at the nose to make the cow turn.  So imagine this small dog chasing these BIG cows, now imagine the personality that these guys have to have!!!!  My sis LOVES her dogs.  She used to have three - Whimsey, Watson and Hastings.  Sadly we lost Whimsey recently and as you dog lovers know that is not an easy loss to get over.  Several Christmas' ago I made towel for the two dogs they had then.  At Christmas Barbara asked for one for Hastings.  I have finally gotten it done and it is winging its way to them.

Pinwheels for Helen

My other passion is playing bridge.  When you have a partner that you click with bridge is a blast.  I have been blessed with two fantastic partners, my mon and Muriel and I can now add a third to the list - Helen.  Helen' s birthday is tomorrow and I was able to give her the quilt I made for her today.  She was so surprised and happy my heart is overflowing.  Helen and have only know each other for a couple of months but I know we will be friends for the rest of our lives.  

Another UFO Bites the dust

Back in April I posted about my UFO's.  I think I had seven to finish and I just got another one done.  This is another Quilt of Valor that I started in October 2012.  It is a disappearing nine patch.  I have found that I don't like sewing blocks together and then cutting them apart but I do like this result.  It feels so good to have these done!!!  I have four left to do, one is at least sandwiched and ready to quilt.  I have a new quilt on the long arm and am going to a class Sunday to start another.  Today is sew day at my Local Quilt Shop, Creation Station, and I plan one working on one  there (Sister Pat's Ocean Wave) as it is haunting me. It has thousands of half square triangles but I think I have finally conquered them