Transition Quilts

I don't think anyone can have too many quilts for any one holiday or season, and I think I have at least a few for most occasions, but sometimes when one holiday passes and another is off in the distance, I'm kind of at a loss about how to decorate.

You already know, I think, that I'm a little nutty about holidays and decorating, and I understand that for many people, worrying about how to decorate between Christmas and Valentine's Day, winter and spring, isn't one of those things that keeps them up late at night. If there was an anti-decorating pill, I'm telling you I'd be the first one in line at the pharmacy!

Several years ago, I found what I considered to be the perfect pattern for a transition quilt--something that looked right for winter but with a hint of Valentine's Day. The pattern is called Scandinavian Hearts and Pines--here's a photo (I guess I could have gotten a better photo if I took it OUT of the plastic--I'm an idiot!):

Well, stuff happens and I never did get around to making this "perfect quilt" until now. I teased you with the hearts last week, but now the quilt's done and ready to hang on the wall in the kitchen.

Yes, I did change the pattern a bit. I used the same blocks but I added more hearts and got rid of the plain setting squares. I added appliqued words at the top and bottom. If you can't read them, they say, "Winter Chills" and "Warm Hearts." (Kind of looks like "Worm Hearts," though, doesn't it?!) The borders--well, I didn't use the original ones at all, because they would have made the quilt too wide for the space I want to fill.

So now I finally have a transition quilt for this odd time of the year, and I'll be able to sleep nights again instead of staring at the ceiling in the dark, worrying about my decorating scheme. Or at least I think I'll be able to sleep again once I finish decorating for Valentine's Day. Maybe by tomorrow night!

Done!

I finally finished binding the Halloween quilt and thought I'd post a photo--

Here's a close up of one of the blocks. Nothing fancy in the quilting, but I thought you'd want to see anyway.

Tonight after work I'm off to Quilters' Corner for Thimbleberries Club. I wonder what will tempt me there? It's usually something!

Quilters' Hollow Retreat

IT'S DONE! WOOO-HOOO! I don't think I've ever had a quilt take me so long to make. This one has had me quilting on it for close to two months, and that's not two months of a little bit of quilting here and there--it's two months of quilting nearly every day. Why? What took so long? Darned if I can figure it out! Of course, I took a break for a couple weeks when I started having the problem with thread breakage, but I'm happy to say that either putting the thread in the freezer or giving the Juki a much needed break seems to have worked, because when I got back to quilting on this project, it went just fine.

I've decided to call it Quilters' Hollow Retreat because Quilters' Hollow is the name of my online Thimbleberries group and the small house blocks in the center portion and the star blocks in the border were all swapped blocks made by the group. And what retreat would be complete without a LARGE quilt shop placed in a central location?

So it's no longer "the Monster." And I'll get to sleep under it tonight. Maybe. With temps in the 100s and the A/C going, I might just lay under it for a couple minutes and then decide that's enough, although I did use a very light cotton batting.

The "vacation" days of my loooooong weekend are over, and where did they go? Other than my AAA/errand running day, I've hung around the house and quilted, which is just the way I like it! Tomorrow my husband and I will take a drive up to Auburn as I mentioned in an earlier post and visit a quilt shop and stop for a late lunch. I have another little project that I'm hoping to post a photo of sometime tomorrow, so I guess I'd better get going on it.

Happy Friday night, and a happy Labor Day weekend to those of you in the U.S.!

Kathleen's Doll Quilt

A little more eye candy, because I can't just keep boring you with my stories!

This is a pattern by Jo Morton for the Jo's Little Women Club that I finished last night while watching Survivor and Grey's Anatomy. I'm sure now that the TV season is coming to an end, my quilting will suffer. Or maybe not. With our satellite TV, I'll still have a gazillion shows to watch while I quilt. Maybe I'll find some good documentary type stuff and dazzle you all periodically with some of the important things I learn, like that one the other day about how the prostitutes in the old days would cover their beds with tarps to protect their quilts from damage by overly enthusiastic cowboys. Who says TV rots your brain? Don't you just love history?