Couldn't Wait for Friday Night!

Last night I reached the half way point of machine quilting my Jacob's Ladder quilt. I needed a break so I switched from the quilting foot to a quarter inch piecing foot and made the current Blogger's Block of the Month. This one was different than any other quilt block I have made or ever seen. It was fun to make and turned out very cute.

The blogger who designed this month's block is Quilt Dad.




The block is made from eight 1 1/2 inch wide strips.



The next BOM will be available on February 25th.

WIP Wednesday

Its WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Here's the only thing I have been working on! Quilting the Jacob's Ladder Quilt has been very enjoyable. Even though the same quilting pattern is being used all over the quilt each block takes on a different look after being quilted.

LOVE IT!!!!!

Its big, but the quilting batting I used is thin and its not hard to handle at all.



I've been trying to come up with the name I will give this quilt. We recently sang the song "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder" at church, so I was paying extra attention to the lyrics looking for ideas to name this quilt. Yes, even in church I am thinking about quilting.... sorry Lord....

This quilt is for my much loved son, Jacob. One idea I have for the name is "Soldiers of the Cross". I'm planning on re-reading the story of Jacob's ladder in the Bible for further inspiration. So, not sure what the name will be yet. Any ideas?

Here's the Bible story:

Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

Wow, lots of inspiration for the name in there!



Hope your Wednesday is a good one.

Friday Night Sew In

Its time for Friday night sewing for February, which is this coming Friday, the 17th.

My plan is to make my Bloggers Block of the Month block. Its almost time for the next block to come out, so I need to get to work on it!

A Winter Weekend in the Sewing Room

Thinking Spring with another clothespin bag:



A nap mat cover and matching pillow for a friend's little boy to use at day care.



Got the sewing machine set up for free motion quilting and quilted a few blocks before I officially hit the wall last night:



I hope you accomplished some winter weekend sewing at your house!

Quilt Widower

You've heard of a golf widow or a football widow? My hubby jokingly calls himself a quilt widower.

After a day at work he cooked our supper....



while I was doing this:





The support of my hubby helps me to get more quilting done!

WIP Wednesday

This post is linked to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

1. Jacob's Ladder Quilt. I finished all the blocks and got them sewn together into rows for a finished top/flimsie. This week I am working on the pieced back so that I can get this quilt pin basted and then start the FMQing. I'm trying really hard to use what I have on hand and so the backing will be pieced from 4 different pieces of fabric that coordinate with the quilt. All four of the fabrics are used in the front of the quilt also.









2. The baby boy stacked coins quilt. Its ready to quilt, but no progress this week. The machine and my time were both concentrated on finishing the Jacob's Ladder quilt top. After I pin baste the Jacob's Ladder quilt, I will quilt both of them.



3. Cheddar Bow Ties Leaders and Enders project:I have 60-some done and have gone through a small fraction of the zillion scraps I have in search of pieces big enough to use for this. Just love playing with my scraps! Each one has a story and takes me down memory lane. The criteria for a scrap to be used for a cheddar bow tie is that it has to be 2 inches wide and I need 6 1/2 inches in length. It doesn't have to be all in one piece. I sit down while watching tv with Hubbie with a ruler and end up with a pile to be used. For each block I need two 2 inch squares and two 1 1/4 inch squares.

I still haven't decided how big this quilt will be but since the blocks are only 3 inches (finished), I don't think it will be too big.



4. Hand quilting the Baptist fans on the Grandma quilt: No progress :o(

I have my eye on SEVERAL new projects, but I must finish at least the first 2 quilts on this list before I allow any more projects to start!

High Tech, It Is Not!

Its not very high tech, but it works to keep my blocks and rows in the right place.

Row 4, Block 1



.....Scraps of paper with numbers written on them, paper clipped to the tops of each block. After sewing the blocks together in a row I take them off and use them on the next row.



So far, no mistakes.