Much has happened since...

Since my last post in November...YIKES, so much has happened. Beginning with my family dealing with how to handle the holidays since my mom's health had progressively deteriorated.  In November, we decided to have my mom receive hospice care. Then the Sunday before Christmas, mom was given too strong medicine and she was knocked out for 3 days. She couldn't respond to us and couldn't swallow. Without any liquids, we thought that she would pass away right at Christmas. My sister and I spent 2 days planning her funeral arrangements. On the 3rd day, she was able to respond and took in some water and liquid supplement.  I had my family (I'm 1 of 6 siblings) over for Christmas since I live the closest to mom's. Each family was able to go from my house to visit mom.

 

After Christmas, it has been my immediate family's tradition to go away for a short winter holiday. We weren't sure if we were going to make it this year. On the 26th, my husband and I headed to WI.  We weren't sure if we would get a call home but we were able to get in a few days of relaxing with friends.

 

Then on January 3, 2016, mom passed away. It is always difficult to lose someone close but I truly believe that her passing was a blessing. We mourned the loss of my mom months ago when she lost the will to live. She was always an active and positive person, but once she lost the ability to move, she didn't want to live. My mom loved to laugh and I miss that sound most of all. I know that she is with her Lord and is at peace. 

There is still much to do to clean out her house and settle her estate but I am finding a bit more time to spend in my sewing room.

Last week, I put the finished stitches in the binding of my hunter's star quilt.

I have wanted to make a hunter's star quilt for a while but hadn't found the right contrast fabrics. This fabric is Little Black Dress by Basic Grey for Moda. 

There are a number of ways to make the hunter's star but I used QuiltSmart interfacing panel. This technique is easy to do and you get accurate results. The only issue I had is that it did make the quilt a bit stiff which hampered my quilting. However, once washed, the quilt is nice and soft. 

The main fabric of the backing is a coordinating fabric I found at Joann's. The quilting is FMQ feathers in a ring and triangular shape. I did some straight lined quilting in the borders. It finished at 46.5" x 58.5".

Just this morning a sandwiched another quilt that I have been working on so I hope to have it quilted soon. No pictures yet.

One thing that I want to work on this year is using my scraps. I feel that they are a bit out of control. So I am loosely following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this year. Chose to make this block however I modified the size. 

 

My logs are 1 1/2" wide instead of 2" so my finished block size is 16" x 18".

In January, I worked on 3 different blue blocks...dark, medium and aqua. February's color is brown so only 1 block. 

I'm also making little house blocks in blue and white. These houses are paper pieced. The finished size of the block is 4".

Another project is one that I am doing with my DD1. We are making a baby quilt for a friend. It is similar to one that I did here, however I changed one of the row blocks. I made one of the rows and my daughter sewed 2 rows. I then put it together. The top is finished...ready for sandwiching! My daughter wants to do the quilting. This will be her 2nd quilt!

A lot going on so I hope to be back a bit more often. What have you been up to?