Celtic Solstice Link Up 5

 I finally managed to get some more work done on each of the parts of the Celtic Solstice Mystery that have been sitting partially done. I got a chunk of sewing done for part 2, and finished pressing all of part 3 which finished it off. I also cut more for part 4 and began my cutting for part 5. I decided that I would give myself a half an hour for each part today. I just needed to feel like I was making progress instead of just falling further behind.

Here are parts 2, 4, and 5 looking all neat and organized waiting for me to come back to them again.

I'm hoping I can get back to them before the Link-Up on Monday, but we shall see. Baby #2 may make his appearance instead.

Update: Well Monday morning is here, and Baby #2 is not. I managed to get a bit more work done on part 2. I'm still not done with it, but today happens to be a sew day with friends, so getting caught up is my goal for the day. Maybe I will be able to post again later today, saying that I have managed to get caught up. Check out all the progress everyone is making. I am number 74.

Beads

Ok. He is definitely my son. I decided to get my collection of plastic beads out for him to play with, in an attempt to start working on colors. He was not interested in sorting in them, but had all sorts of fun seeing all of them and just running them through his fingers. It made a bit of a mess, but he had fun. He kept taking handfuls of beads between the 2 containers. He also keeps asking to play with them more. Maybe we will be able to work on colors soon. It's a good thing I don't need them organized in any specific way right now.

Faux Hexagon Table Runner

This supplies for this quilt were given to me by a friend of my mom. It uses half hexagons. I love the colors she had picked for it. I look forward to being able to use it to liven up my house.

Fabric was included for one border, but I felt it needed a smaller stop border before it, since it was a very similar fabric to one already found in the runner. Luckily, I had just the right fabric, in my stash.

Here it is all finished, and waiting to be quilted. It will be a high priority once I get my Janome working again, since it is so close to completion.

Christmas Quilts

 I completed all the quilts I planned to make for Christmas presents. These were started back in February, I believe. They were all random fabrics, with a focus fabric picked out for each small family based on the wife's favorite color. Each one consists of 9 patches alternating with a single fabric, with the focus fabric running through the 9 patches. While I was home in November, finishing these were our goals. The 9 patches were all finished, and they were in an appropriately arranged stack. But only one of the tops was fully pieced. In the 2 weeks I was home, I finished piecing them all. Mom quilted them. And I got most of the bindings done. This post is a bit picture intensive, since there were 8 quilts.

This was for my Mother and Father-in-law. Their color was blue.

This was for my Brother-in-law Brian, and his wife. Their color was green.

 This one is for my Sister-in-Law and her Husband, son, and daughter, and the colors were yellow or green.

 This one is for my oldest brother and his 4 kids. He said he likes all colors, so I actually had a fun print with surfing lizards in front of a cityscape that worked perfectly. It was mostly blue when cut into 2 inch squares, and you couldn't really see the lizards, so I made sure to add the last of the fabric to the back, so he would see what the fabric had looked like originally. This fabric was actually given to me after it's previous owner had won an ugly fabric contest with it. She was glad to be rid of it, and I thought it fit my brother quite well.

 This quilt is for my mom and dad. My mom's favorite colors are yellow and purple, so I found a print that had both. My dad's favorite color is green, so we used green thread to quilt it, which looked really cool on the peach backing we used. When quilting it my mom used it to try a few different free motion flower varieties. She then had me quilt the last little bit. Here is a flipped picture of the bottom where you can see that I put "Katie heart Mamo." It turns out that using her longarm was not as scary as I thought it would be.

 This quilt is for my Brother-in-law, Kevin and his wife. Her color was purple.

 This quilt is for my brother, Andy, and his wife. They wanted red. I thought the black and white added in would give it a good Mickey Mouse touch (as my brother is a big Disney fan).

And this quilt is for my Brother-in-Law, Grant, and his wife, and 2 little boys. She said that her favorite color is either pink or red depending on the day, so I chose a fabric with green and a deep hot pink that looks almost red in some lights.

I really hope they enjoy them. It was fun to see how each one turned out so differently while using the same pattern for each. Merry Christmas.

Celtic Solstice Link Up 4

Well, it's Monday again, which means it is time for the Mystery Monday Link-Up for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice. I keep thinking that I want to try and get myself up higher in the list of link-ups, but when I checked her blog first thing this morning, I found there were already 67 other links. Wow. I guess that's what I get for living in Mountain Standard Time.

I haven't gotten much done on this this weekend, but I did get started last night. I started sewing the 2 inch strip sets together for the 4 patches that are clue 4. I also managed to finishing piecing the half-square triangles and pinwheels from clue 3. This is just what is waiting to finish being pressed. I just had a few things decide they wanted to take higher priority during the last week. Hopefully, I can get to part 2 soon, too. I think the pieces are getting sad that they are just sitting there waiting to be sewn. I'm number 87 this week.

Happy Sewing.

October Trip Home

 At the end of October and beginning of November I got to take a trip home to see my parents with Nate the Great. We got to be there for Halloween, a family reunion, my niece's baptism, and the first snow.

Nate the Great loved getting to see his grandparents. He really loved all the attention he got. Here he is swinging with Grandma.

The day I flew in we got to go to the Westfield Quilt Show, put on by the Quilters Guild of Indianapolis. There were a lot of really amazing quilts. This was one of my favorites.

We also managed to give Nate the Great a haircut. I love the look he was giving me in this one.

Tank Replication

 This is my favorite tank top for layering. It is actually a high enough neck that it adds nicely under lowcut shirts, and the straps are far enough to the sides that they don't show. Unfortunately, in my current larger state (and it's "I've been washed a thousand times" state), it no longer covers my belly. So since my mom is crafty, and I think I can be crafty, I decided to try replicating it.

 First, I tried to get a template to use. I tried laying it flat on the back and going that way, until my friend suggested trying to get the template of just the folded front and back. That worked a lot easier. I got 2 basic templates and pulled out some extra fabric I had. It was a knit that was so thin, I actually had to double it over.

I added measured a set length further down, pinned, and cut. The first attempt ended up being too tight. So I added some width to the second one as well. That actually ended up being too big, so I just kept making my seam bigger until I got it to a good size.

The tank is all finished except for the straps. The plan is to attach the straps in such a way that this can still be used while Baby #2 is breastfeeding.

Celtic Solstice Link Up 3

Happily, I got both of my sewing machines back this weekend. This meant I could do some of the sewing for part 3. I love how bright these half square triangles and pinwheels are.

Unfortunately, with everything else going on right now, I still haven't managed to start sewing on part 2 yet. But hopefully, that will happen soon.

So here is to another successful Link-Up. I am number 142 this week.

EPP Pincushion

 A new guild has been started in Salem, Utah. We are the Nebo Modern Quilt Guild. We meet the 2nd Saturday of the month at Gracie Lou's if any are in the area and interested in joining us. For our October meeting, the ladies decided that they wanted to learn a little bit about English Paper Piecing (EPP). Marion was going to teach them, but then had something come up, so I got to sub in for her. I think it went very well indeed. This is the sample I made up beforehand.

Diamond Candle

For my birthday, my sweet hubby got me a diamond candle. It was a wonderful Strawberry scented candle, with a very pretty ring inside. Nate has been fascinated with the ring. He likes to put it on each of his fingers. He doesn't play with it for long (I don't think he wants to lose it), but he will play with it if he is on my lap.

Calculating Hexies

I'm slowly making more progress on my Hexagon Quilt.

I am working on adding the new green along the outsides.

Because I hadn't really sat down to figure out how many flowers I would need, I decided I would try calculating based on the size the quilt and flowers were currently. I also looked up what sizes I would need for the different larger quilt sizes for which I am aiming with this quilt. Here is the chart I created with each next size of quilt in a new color, so that I can add to one side until I have enough and then I can move onto another side until I get to the smallest size. Then I can move onto the next size up.

Celtic Solstice Link-Up 2

I had such hopes of getting my blocks done for Part 2 of the Celtic Solstice quickly. Unfortunately, my sewing machine decided that she is feeling a little under the weather on Saturday. I was zipping along trying to get some more rat hammocks done for my Etsy shop, so there was more variety for people who might be shopping for Christmas presents, when the needle stopped sewing.

I have, however, been trying to get done what I can without having a sewing machine. I feel so lost without a working sewing machine. I did get all of my part 2 pieces cut out, and the diagonal lines have been draw on all 200 of the squares. I am just hoping my sewing machine will be up and going again soon (I have plans to call a repair guy today). Then I can get to the 500 seams involved in this batch of blocks.

Now for the Link-Up. I'm number 87.

Top for Konda

 This was the other top that I got to help Konda out by piecing. This one uses a jelly roll. It was simple to put together, and looks absolutely amazing. It was great practice for my piecing skills. I'm very honored that she trusted me enough to help her with it. Check out her website.

It was fun to see the quilt at all the different stages. It started out looking looking like something exploding on my design wall and condensed down so pretty.

Celtic Solstice Mystery-part 1

 My mom has been talking since before my trip home about doing Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery that kicked off on Black Friday. I didn't think I had the fabrics and was so focused on the projects for Christmas that I didn't even want to think about doing it. Well, my resolve only lasted until Thanksgiving. Then on Black Friday, I went through my fabrics, found the ones I wanted to use, and trekked to Joann's to buy the rulers I would need. I had sworn I was not going to do Black Friday shopping this year, but apparently I was destined to go either way.

Here are my fabrics.

Here I am with part one all cut out with just a few pieces sewn. I was using them as leaders and enders while I was trying to finish a border for the round robin I'm in.

I have successfully managed to get a few of the part one pieces fully sewn. Though I do feel a little behind because my mom has managed to get them all sewn, and I usually try and stay ahead of her when we are doing the same projects.

Now to Link-Up. I'm number 199. I recommend going and seeing all the variations that have already shown up. I'm excited to be joining this group of quilters this time around.

Small Table Runner

One of the fun things I was able to do was to help one of my friends, Konda Luckau getting ready for quilt market. This was a small table runner that she had me piece. The pattern comes with 3 sizing options. I love how the colors worked together. Be sure to check out all her great stuff at her website Moose on the Porch Quilts.

I just had to get a picture of this piece of the quilt. When I saw it I couldn't get over the fact that it looked like a stingray to me. Now that I see it again, I see a stealth fighter plane.

Wall Pincushion

This is the pincushion I made to put on my design wall to minimize how many pins my son put into my design wall. I finally finished it, and now he wants nothing to do with it. At least it is something I can use a regular pincushion as well. I did not attach it permanently in place, so that I can move it where it can be more useful for me if I need it as well.

Monsters, Inc.

We've finally figured out a way to get Nate to sit still. There is not a day that does not go by without him asking to watch "Monsters," several times a day. I think if I let him watch it much more he will have it memorized. On the other hand, he's watched it so many times now that I can actually read while he watches. I've always had trouble with focusing on a book when there is noise around me.

Sit Upon

 One of the joys of this pregnancy has been the return of the pain in my tailbone (from when Nate was born). I have been saying for weeks that I need to make a pillow that I would be ok taking to church with me since that is when it hurts the worst. I found a video online that covered the basics like how big to cut the fabric.

I picked a pillow out at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I went with a softer one for fear that a harder one would not actually provide the cushioning I was hoping for. Luckily, it has a zipper so I can add more fluff if it gets too flat too fast.

I went through my fabrics to find a fabric I wanted to use. I do plan on making a second cover eventually that is quilted and a little more intricate than this eventually. This fabric was actually from my most recent Red Tag sale fabrics. I'm really liking butterflies right now.

And 45 minutes later, I was done. I have also been using this in my craft room, since I have the same style of chair in there. My son has even made me get up, so he could put it back on the chair for me one of the times I sat down after it had fallen off.

Salsa

Around the time of my birthday I had someone give me 38 pounds of tomatoes. So I thought I would try my hand at canning some salsa. I found a recipe online that turned out to be perfect for me. I've always been really picky about my salsas.

 I did 1 single batch to make sure I liked the recipe, and then I gathered the supplies I needed to make more. These pictures of from that second day of salsa making. We had the supplies for 2 double batches, and still had tomatoes left over for BLT's and Tuna Tomatoes (something my mom introduced me to as a kid, tuna salad on tomatoes).

 First, I had to clean my kitchen, so that I would have room to make it (really wish my kitchen was a little bigger).

I had everything sorted and divided for the 2 different batches (only a double batch would fit in my pot), on the kitchen table. Then, I realized it was lunch time.

This definitely felt like one of those moments that wins you both good mom point ans bad mom points. My son was a real sport about it though. We had lunch on the floor.

I meant to get an after picture, too, but I forgot. However, I can say in all I managed to get 22 jars of salsa. It has been a big winner with my family. In fact, just the other day Nate and I were eating quesadillas and he kept asking for more salsa. I had given him a spoon to move the salsa from his plate to his quesadilla, and he kept spooning the salsa directly into his mouth and asking for more. At one point, I tried spooning it directly onto his quesadilla, and with a grin on his face, he spooned the salsa off of the top of his quesadilla straight into his mouth. He thought Mommy was playing a new game with him.