What I did during the furlough

Here is "in progress" project using new fabrics from Maui. I am using M'liss Rae Hawley Phenomenal Fat Quarter Quilts book. The orange parts are going to pieced circles. I am going to call it Kihei Sunset. The directions say to cut the quarter circles and piece them using curved seams onto each square. I am thinking of making full circles and then machine appliqueing them to the top where all the squares have been sewn together. I just need to borrow a machine that has a nice buttonhole applique stitch.

The R/W/B is on it's way to American Heroes project at Vashon. I saw that they now have a Facebook page, and they sent several quilts to a military hospital in Afghanistan. Previously, quilts were used at Madigan Army Hospital in Pierce County, where injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated.

The T quilt for Russ just needs a small last border. I should get that done today. Frank and I are planning to work in the garden, but it is too cold and windy right now. We had an early spring, but now we are back in Winter. Lots of snow in the mountains yesterday, which is a good thing since we rely on the snowpack for our water and electricity in the summer.

Wish I was stitching and bitching with you all today. Lots of love!

Two completed UFOs plus one

Here are the first two completed UFOs from my list for this year (although I did pick up on the fact that my definition of completed varies slightly from the rest of the group in that I'm thinking of just getting the top finished while everyone else is thinking quilted and bound before it counts as done - since I'm greatly in the minority, we'll go with the majority view). I'm really pleased with how they turned out. You will all be pleased to know that the first two projects are already down in North Carolina for quilting.

The first image is project 11 and I'm still looking for a name. I'm planning to send it to a Marine on Okinawa. Al's now the only family member without a quilt from me. I'll send it along with the baby quilt I'm making for the baby that will be arriving shortly. I'll be using the dark blue for binding since I pieced the back with a variety of outdoors prints - I think it's almost as much fun as the front. Mom thinks Al's getting the best deal since he'll be able to use the side that suits his mood - this side when he's looking for zing, the other side, not so much. I'll have to post a picture of it when I get it really done (bindings and all).

The second image is project 16 - Wacky Patriot, and I really like how it came out. I'm going to call this block the DIY square since you pick your final size and fill it in however you want. You'll notice that I didn't stick with the "every center is a square" concept. I went with one dark blue for the sashing but used a variety of reds for the setting squares (yes, there are repeats!). I plan to bind this one in red. I didn't have nearly as much fun with this back.

This is the bonus quilt - one of the three that Clara is helping me move along. She added the borders. I have the back put together and the batting cut (yup, it's the left-overs from the other two) but wasn't able to get it pin-basted before Mom and Dad headed home. (Family events can really adversely affect project completion - especially when they occur in your own home!) I call this one "Bunting" and it'll go to QFV when it's done.