My long neglected SIS

Don't need to say much more than this... three SISters, three ChristmaSIS quilts, lots of SISillyness.
It DID start with a triple-four patch so perhaps it is fitting that it ended in three quilts....

Unwrapping the UFO - Final Delivery

So the backstory on this quilt is pretty much the same as the first - except that after cutting out Jill's quilt I STILL had too much fabric, and then Moda Bake Shop published this pattern and I knew that a quilt for Lazy Sister Sue was in the works.

Again I started cutting (and AGAIN -my SIS swap quilt languished to the side).  This time I realized I was going to run out of scraps from THIS SIS swap, but I dipped into my stash and found some from previous swaps, the borders I used on the 2nd SIS quilt I did with Lazy Sister Sue (fabric she did not get as they were added after we swapped), and some other odds and ends.

This one was going to be BIG - but between her 2 kids 3 new grandbabies were due (twins in September and one in November), so I figured it would be great for a triple-first Christmas.

The flimsy was finished in August - right along side Jill's (and mine?? -still not done at this point).

Again, quilting waited  until the table was ready.  I did not do any free motion work on this one - just a lot of straight line outlining of the stars and the squares - and a lot of turning the quilt.

 

And if you are reading this post - it means that this one is now in Sue's hands and hopefully will be enjoyed by those three grandbabies for many Christmases to come!

(and mine?  it IS done - I just have not shared photos yet.  Maybe soon)

Unwrapping the UFO - AT LAST!!!

(Well - at last for 1... the other one is still in the hands of the United States Postal Service -hopefully to be delivered Saturday.)

So I have taunted and teased long enough - it's time to share one of the quilts, as well as a bit of the "backstory" on this project.

This project actually began in April, when Lazy Sister Sue, Jill and I got together to swap our fabrics for our SIS quilts (oh - and visit Jill and attend a big quilt show and some other fun stuff... but that's another story).  Later that month, as I am cutting the fabrics - I once again realize that I have more fabrics than needed for the pattern.  So even as I cut my top, my brain is plotting what to do with the scraps.

So my top is all cut - not assembled but cut - and it's now July and I come across this pattern on Moda Bake Shop.  Instantly the lights go on in my head, and I set myself to cutting squares for half square triangles, planning on making this for Jill - who has told me she does not put up a tree for her and the pups. 

The flimsy for Jill is finished in August (and mine is not):  (note the green trees and grass, and flowers in the garden)

The quilting got put on hold as I needed to get my table adapted to do better quilting - and then with Christmas and new windows and a new furnace and a new hot water heater and a full time job and Cub Scouts - it kind of got put even more on hold.  I opted not to rush through the quilting as I wanted to do some new things and did not want to be stressed about the calendar, too.

And then it FINALLY got finished.  I was a bit spooked by all that open white space that just begged for FMQ - I was straight line quilting within the tree itself and thought straight lines in the open area would cause the tree to get lost on the back.

 

So I quilted some snowflakes.  This was an experiment -and I had printed them out and quilted over the printouts - causing a bit of paper and toner to get trapped under the thread (oops - not good on WOW) but they look really great despite that!!!

 

 Then on the borders, which were rippling slightly - I wanted really heavy quilting, so I did what I think of as "radiators" -kind of a loopy zig zag one way, then the other way, in squarish quadrants all around the border.  This picture shows it on the red stars (red thread) and on the back (an offwhite pinstripe shirting fabric).

 

 

It was a tough secret to keep - only a few people saw the flimsy photo ahead of time.  My son loves this quilt and wanted me to "decorate" the tree with ornaments, but I love the crispness and simplicity of it.  It was fun to see the swap fabrics in a different light as they made up my "branches".

It is finally in Jill's hands -with some shortbread to sweeten the gift.

Still Here

Sorry if I have been a bit absent of late - lots going on.  4Patches4Hope is off to a great start - one month in and we have nearly enough patches for the first 2 quilts, plus a bunch of generous quilters offering donations of quilting, backings and batting.  More to come on that - I promise!!!

In the meantime, I have been working on some of my projects.  Two are in the binding stage, and I hope to have pictures to offer up soon - and this is my latest flimsy completion:

This is "Merry ChristmaSIS" - made from strips swapped with Jill and Lazy Sister Sue.  Jill has already finished hers - called "Argyle Holiday" - and Lazy Sister Sue has been busy as a new grandma to 3 so we have not seen her progress - yet.  Jill and I made our finished blocks different sizes, but I think the finished quilts are about the same throw size.

Now to get this one backed and quilted before Christmas... but which Christmas! ;-)

Just me and my SIS

A few months ago, Lazy Sister Sue and I embarked on our third sister swap - where we pick a quilt pattern, swap a selection of fabric, and then each make our own quilt. This year we included our "adopted" sister Jill, and called it the "Sister Initiation Swap" or SIS for short.

This year the pattern is 16 Patch and Pinwheels from MaryQuilts.com - and the decision was made that we would swap white/light strips and each add in our own darks.

While collecting my white/lights (mostly whites) out of my stash and from a few shop hops, I pondered long and hard about what darks to add. I had finally used up all but a teeny bit of Wonderland, so that choice was out. I had some orientals - which looked nice with my whites, but held off on cutting them as I wanted to see what fabrics Sue and Jill sent. Scrappy was another option - and with scads of 5" "charms" and 2 1/2" strips in my bins - it was pretty tempting.

And then the strips arrived. Regrettably I did not take a photo of them prior to cutting - but lets just say that the selection was "eclectic" - not as many whites as I had - and some really fun lights with different distinctive designs on them.

Still stumped on the darks - I started to cut out the lights one night when I was in a cutting mood, figuring I could at least get that ready and set them aside.

I cut and I cut and I cut ... and I soon realized that we (Sue) had WAYYY overestimated how much fabric we each needed to swap. I had cut all of the fabric needed for the 16 patches AND the pinwheels - and still had nearly half the strips left over!

I will say that again... nearly half the strips left over.

Hmmm.... half..... is your brain going where mine went????

I started looking at the strips again - very carefully - and realized about 50% were WHITE and about 50% were beige/not white... and that, with the addition of a very few extra strips from my stash, I could do this ENTIRE quilt just from the strips we swapped...making a subtle light summery quilt from "Just me and my SIS"... and nothing else (well...not counting potential borders and binding and backing... but you know what I mean).

I've kept this secret from Sue and Jill until now... I wanted to see how it laid out.

So ... pardoning the poor lighting that does not do it justice really....here is the layout of "Just me and my SIS":

The Box (long and rambling version)

(I know I have some promised posting to catch up on - but I am going to take things out of chronological order a bit - bear with me)

Way back before Christmas, I signed up for a Valentine Swap with some of my Tran-Quilt-ity group members. Coordinated by Gina in Wales, we had packages going all over the world. My little gifties (pictured here) were sent off to Zarina in Malaysia. And once again, we were entrusting our little treasures to the mercies of the world's postal services.

As people's packages started to arrive, they posted pictures on their blogs and you could sense their excitement. And slowly slowly by process of elimination, I came to realize my swap was coming from Gina... and from a post she had made, I knew she had mailed it out at the very very end of January.

I waited - and waited - and waited. Valentine's Day came and went - no package. My birthday came and went - and other packages arrived - but no sign of Gina's package. Then February ended, and March came. Still nothing. April. Still nothing. I did not say much - I knew Gina had mailed it and did not want her feeling bad at something that was out of her control. I just figured it was tied up in customs somewhere. I pretty much gave up at ever seeing it.

On Monday I received a package - this was one I had been expecting from Jill (and one that you will have to wait until tomorrow to read about). And then on Tuesday, we found a "package slip" in our PO box. That meant we had a package that was too big to fit in our box, and the package pick up lockers were either too full, or too small. We were going to have to wait and pick it up over the counter... which would normally have meant waiting until Saturday.

Except I had a brain storm! The kids are off school this week, and my niece has her driver's license! Maybe she would be willing to do a pick up run for me... especially since I was curious as I was not expecting anything. Could it possibly be???

Low and behold... nearly 3 months after being mailed.... it FINALLY arrived. Battered and tattered and torn, but it arrived!!!

I was in shock - the customs forms were still there - the address was intact - but the box looked like an elephant had sat on it. One side was nearly split open, and you could see the contents through the gap.

But once I started opening it - I saw that although having been tossed and turned about, the contents seemed intact. Even a terra cotta flowerpot - it's box crumpled and torn - was uncracked and solid! As were my ceramic Welsh Dragon salt and pepper shakers! And the chocolates - can't forget those!!! Quilting and gardening magazines - Gina really knows my passions! Some wonderful lotions and soaps, a great pattern, and some other goodies! I was in awe that it all made it through - and that nothing had fallen out of the gaping hole in the box!


Gina and her daughter even planned on celebrating the Munchkin's birthday and birth month, and had sent a whole big bag of goodies for him! Luckily for us the package came before he outgrew the wonderful Thomas t-shirt they included. He spent the evening pouring over the magazines they sent, playing with the pretend walkie-talkie's and putting together Lego with Daddy.

Lego that included - of all things - a turtle!!!

Happy Happy belated Valentine's Day!!
Thanks, Gina!