Barn’s are not just for quilts – at least that’s my motto.

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We were asked to donate to 2 organizations this spring, and we were in a patriotic frame of mind so we came up with this:

This is the rough design -yes, I know the stripes are not right, but this is just part of the design phase.	This is the completed piece. We choose to paint it.  This one finished size is roughly 18×36.

Two well deserving organizations will be receiving these for their upcoming fund raising silent auctions this coming month.

It’s 100% completed. It’s 45″ square with a lightweight fleece backing.

Quilted, bound and ready to be gifted.  It turned out so, so, so, so cute, I just can’t get over how it looks and feels to have one started and completed in the same year, let alone a month (give or take a week).

Look at all the pretty colors that I’ve collected…

I started picking color to do an “Adventureland Quilt” and it’s amazing how many bright colors I have and how many I don’t have.

I have very little yellows and not really enough of any color.

So it was off to the quilt shop to get some more. The situation was that I needed long pieces for this pattern – I have lots of 10″ pieces and lots of 18-21″ pieces. but that only covers the shorts rows for this quilt.   So off I went to get a few (9) long strips to fill in the blank spots in this.

It’s not quite done, I didn’t think about a backing piece for it – very poor planning on my part.

When we select these quilt patterns, we don’t always know what it’s going to take to make them.

Yes we are given measurements for the fabrics, but what about the actual assembly.

I have always loved Elizabeth Harman sample quilts. I even made one into pillows a few Christmas’ ago – Unicorn Pillows. However, I modified that patter, so I don’t feel that I actually completed the pattern as it was meant to be done.   This one I am doing by the books – well pattern that is.

So this is what it takes…

Regular cutting area was taken over as part of the “Piece” layout, the background pieces were on the blue cutting surface, then the completed pieces were on the last of the design table.  Thank goodness I have a second area/table/cart that I use for a small ironing surface and has just enough space for a rotating cutting board. 

All that just to get a pair of these:

   or these 

Well, 2 sets are done, that leaves 2 more to go.

I needed to do some work with something other than the keyboard that I have been stuck to lately – so I went to the dollar store and found these adorable Easter Lights. Now what to do with them…

They are just the cutest little things.  Well after I made the wreath, I had a little extra of the ribbon…

It looks so cute sitting on this small chest of drawers she uses as a file cabinet in the office.

It holds all her seasonal decorations and is quite stylish at the same time.

We have had lots and lots of snow this year, I believe we are in the Top 5 winters with the most snow.

You would think I would have gotten a lot of inside projects done – not so much.

I did start working on a cute little dinosaur quilt for someone.

I made one of the biggest mistakes however – I started putting blocks together – the small filler ones, before I made sure I had enough fabric.

The dinosaurs are all different colors, but the background needs to all be the same.

This is what I have left after cutting all the background pieces out for all the dinosaur blocks.

There is no room for error. Of course, this material is decades old so finding some to extend it will not be happening.

I will have to be very, very careful as I start to put them together.

No room for error.

2 heart blocks representing 2 very special girls. And my new special iron. My original iron feel off my ironing table and landed on it’s point on top of the powerstrip. My original iron was a wedding gift, some 40 years ago. So the hubby went shopping on Amazon and this gem appeared – double points and wireless.  It’s gonna take a little getting used to.

There was no official design other than what was in my heard.

It changed many times as I was making this. It’s not perfect , but oh so cute.

Now, to actually quilt it and have it ready for Valentines Day.

So we started putting away the Christmas decoractions and of course, now that the Christmas runners are down, the place looks bare.

So off to the drawing board I went.

I had 3 designed, but only 2 came together.  The third one just wasn’t practical.

The one that didn’t come together was made from the burlap ribbon, then a red/black heart. But it was very difficult to get the red heart to stay on the ribbon, the ribbon shed all over the plan and did not stay together very well, so I just scrapped the whole thing.

I had 1 last person that wanted a runner – but yet, no design picked.

So I decided to do something different than the other ones – triangles.

I now remember what a headache this shape is. But it did turn out pretty nice. I wish I had a different color for the binding – but she said to use what I had, not to buy any thing to make this one.

So that’s a wrap for 2022 sewing. 

Now on to 2023 and let’s see what I attempt this year.