It's a finish

I have successfully completed Happy Days, designed by Sarah Fielke! 

Here it is on our lawn the other day.  I quilted the main part of the quilt with an all over design in cream thread and then feathers all round the border.  Having seen another version of this quilt which had been beautifully long armed but with a more open design, I wish my quilting wasn't quite so dense.  But there is no way I'm undoing it, and in any case, it's a finish, so what's not to like?  

I am getting on with my 2017 Sarah Fielke BOM, but haven't done all the houses yet. 

I'm trying to shop in my stash before I go further afield, and so far have succeeded very well. However, Sarah's measurements for the foundation piecing are very generous, which makes for a great result, but is rather wasteful.  So, I have run out of roof fabric.  Never mind, luckily I managed to find something which is nearly the same, so all is good. 

Only four more sets of houses and then I need to make decisions about the centre circle (is the red too much?  Would green be better?) and the narrow border (definitely green, but is that one too busy?) 

I'll finish the houses and then decide. 

Lovely day

My husband has had a lovely day today, as he has been out watching cricket.  I have had a lovely day today, as my husband has been out watching cricket!  While the cat's away, the mice will . . . . . . . . . . .

Sew! 

First of all I got the next two blocks done for my Challenge group.  They are the next two blocks in Pat Sloan's Garden Mystery from 2016.  The challenge is to use fabric styles from the late 19th century, and mine are conversational prints and paisley designs. 

Here is my progress so far, and I'm very pleased with this set of blocks.  There are ten blocks altogether, which will make for a good sized quilt.  

With those blocks safely ticked off my list, I continued with one of the UFOs on my list. 

This Mile A Minute Stars is now quilted and has the binding on and ready to be stitched down.  Another UFO bites the dust! 

Another finish

There has been some sewing going on here, and quite a bit of quilting.  I have more sympathy for people who enlist the help of a long arm quilter to finish their quilts, as large quilts are such hard work to quilt on a domestic machine.  Apart from the amount of work, it's the physical heaving about of it to turn and manipulate the bulk in the machine's throat.  Never mind, I think it's all worth it in the end. 

And here is my Big Circles all done!  It's not perfect, but it's finished and I love it!  The large circles are a Kathy Doughty pattern and the small ones are Kansas sunflowers.  Both sets of circles were made by hand the American method (i.e. Not over papers) as holiday hand sewing distractions.  The design, such as it is, is my own. 

This Scrappy Irish Chain is a completed top.  A great way to use up 2.5" squares.  

This is a completed top too.  I don't think I needs a border. 

And then there is this shy, retiring little violet.  It's a MAM Star quilt from my UFO Challenge list.  This is next to be layered and quilted.  I'm certainly pleased at how well I'm getting through my UFO list, and I'm not adding too many on at the end either! Well, not toooo many!