Thanks for Sharing

Today's finish has been a long time coming.  Hurray, it's a UFO no longer!

The blocks were made by members of my guild.  They were my birthday blocks in 2003.
We had a program you could sign up for at the beginning of the year.  During the year, we made blocks each month for members who had a birthday that month.  The member decided on the pattern and colors.
Since my birthday is in December, and I asked for green blocks, I got several Christmas fabrics mixed in the Buckeye Beauties.  I always thought I'd make more blocks and make a Christmas quilt, but somehow it never happened.
Until now!  I put the top together at our retreat last month, and quilted it last weekend.

It is just 16 blocks, set together with a red Christmas print border.  I'm so glad most people signed and dated their blocks.

The quilting is simple, just radiating diagonal lines, plus some machine serpentine stitch in the border.

The binding is not really a Christmas print, but the colors are okay.

Here's the back, which to me looks like old timey wallpaper.  I absolutely love this kind of fabric.
At last, a real finish.
In other news, I'm making progress with some of the blocks I finished at the retreat.

The Star Struck stars are set together.  You probably can't tell from this photo, but this top is in two pieces, one with 3 rows and one with 4 rows.  That's because I'm quilting it that way.

I'm well along on the larger section.

Don't you just love running your hands over the finished part of a quilt?

I had an unexpected free day today (my little guy is home with his daddy, so no babysitting), so I finished the blocks for the rail fence quilt on the treadle this morning.

When I was working on this at the retreat I thought I had a panel at home that would go with the blocks.  It turns out the panel I had is mostly blue, so I made this star block instead.
Our wonderful weekend retreat is the gift that just keeps on giving.

The retreat I went on with guild members was three weeks ago now, and last Wednesday night was our first guild meeting since both groups got back.  One of our members spoke about how great it was for her to be with other quilters, and I thought about how much we share when we get together.
Sure, we share irons and cutting mats and space, but we also share encouragement, expertise, ideas, excitement, stories, and laughter.  Not to mention food!
So thanks, quilters, for sharing, at retreats and shows and online and everywhere else.  Positive energy is contagious, and excitement is good for us!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Link ups as usual with Busy Hands Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Some Assembly Required

Thank goodness, I finally finished canning the bushel of pears I bought at the orchard!  I saved out about a dozen for eating, and put up halves and slices to have all winter.
With that "homework" out of the way, I can work on getting ready to go on a quilting retreat next weekend.

Believe it or not, there are 3 quilts in this box.  Some assembly required, of course.
A couple of weeks ago I started taming down my wild Christmas scraps, which looked like this:

I also cut into what Christmas yardage I had.
Here's what I'm going to make:
1.  Sticks and Stones quilt

This is a free pattern, designed by Bonnie Hunter but not on her web page.  You can find it HERE.  It takes 5 in. squares, 1.5 x 5 in. rectangles, and 1.5 in. squares for the center.  I'm making red blocks and green blocks.  They are 10 in. square finished.
2.  Four pointed Christmas stars

I'm adapting a Bonnie Hunter pattern here.  Yes, Bonnie again, but for scrappy quilts you can't go wrong with Bonnie Hunter.  This one is Star Struck, and you can get the free pattern HERE.  I changed it slightly, leaving out the triangles on the background rectangles.  Again, I'll be making half the blocks red and the other half green.  All the pieces are cut from 2.5 in. strips.

3.  Classic triple rail fence

I've only got 3 blocks done so far, but there are just dozens of pieces this size.  The rectangles are cut 2 in. x 5 in., so they'll finish as 4.5 in. squares.  I'm going to make all of them with one green strip, one red strip, and one light strip in the center.  Turned the right way, they look a little like the Italian flag.
But wait, there's more!
It is so hard for me to cut out quilts and delay sewing them!  Setting these aside for the retreat has been like torture.  I finally broke down and started yet ANOTHER Christmas quilt, using the triangles left over from the Four Pointed Christmas stars.

They're cute, they're scrappy, and they're making me happy!  There were a lot of 2.5 in. squares in that pile of scrap, which make great 4 patch centers for the stars.  All the triangles I've used so far came from the Four Pointed Christmas stars.  I cut the larger triangles with the Companion Angle ruler from 2.5 in. strips.  The corner squares are also cut from those strips, or from 5 in. squares I have on hand.
So, not a lot finished this week, aside from the pears.
But a whole lot started!
Also, this:

He's a very willing worker, but Grandpa and I have to remind him not to eat the leaves.
I hope your week is filled with love and laughter.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Link ups today:
Busy Hands Quilts
Crazy Mom Quilts