Celtic Solstice

Wow. I was just checking for blog post drafts and came across a couple of them from May 2014. This was my Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter getting laid out so I could get the backing ready. I may have even posted these pictures before, but they are some of the ones that make me smile.

Here nate is using the measuring tape to help with "Borders". He loves when mommy lets him help, Kyle was still small enough that he's over in the swing. Now if I lay a quilt top on the floor like this he goes and sits in the middle and giggles.

I love this backing. It is just so much fun to see the mixed up backings that come when you use what you have. This quilt has been put to use on our bed. It is way oversized, and should still be usable if/when we finally upgrade to a King Size bed.

One more Star in the Sky.

Sorry for the blurry picture (It looks like the boys have been playing with my phone and touching the camera lense again), but it's all I've got since this quilt has moved on to its new home. This is a quilt I put together for a lady from Church who had an angel baby. I wanted to do something for her. I am very grateful that I am able to make things like this to help others. It has given me some serious thinking time. I quilt to help fight some of my own demons, but it is nice that the results of my fights can go to help other to fight their own demons.

One of my son's favorite movies right now is Robots. It's animated film about the Robot who wants to be an inventor and comes to the big city to fulfill his goal of working as such. There are several good laughable quotes and several very good serious quotes. One of them that has been sticking with me as I try and use more of my stash is "See a Need, Fill a Need." I hope I can help others by trying to fill some of their needs.

For my records this is Finish #5 of 2015.

Friends

We've found we can all for in my blazer. These are my little boys and my best friends' little girl. When we get together to hang out we can just take my car now. It makes it much easier than trying to caravan. The quilt my Nate is using is one that I used for long arm practice at my parents' house before quilting my round robin. It is made out of some of the cheap fabrics I found. We have found that when Nate gets in the car, he can buckle himself if he doesn't have his coat on. So, he gets in the car takes his coat off and buckles, and then we throw the blanket on him. He loves it.

Hubby's hair

We chopped it all off. My hubby has been growing it out and mocking me that his has been longer than mine for some time. He also has thicker hair than I do, so it was fuller than my hair was too. When it got long enough, he decided to cut it all off and donate it. I love that he was willing to help others. I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed being able to put it all in the little rubber bands, so that we could salvage as much hair as possible. It was a little shocking to see it all gone.

Bftp Update

I actually managed to get some progress in this week. I decided that I needed to be putting in half an hour of prep time on this everyday to try and get going. I have managed to get these 2 blocks done and will talk about them here at a later date. Today you need to go check out Natalie's blog. So here is today's progress.

See you again soon.

Charity

Puss in the corner blocks with sashing. I have been following ProjectLeasa on Instagram as she has been encouraging us to Sew from our Stashes. The official hashtag is #sewmystash2015. I've not been using the hashtag, but it has been fun that she has been offering challenges with prizes. Her first challenge was to do something with hearts, either in the fabric or in the pattern and gave us about a week to do it. This is what I came up with. The red fabric has some cute hearts and bows. I love how this came out. It looks very traditional to me. I will made it to the size specifications to be a donation quilt for Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Now to just get to quilting it. I'm just planning some simple straight lines. The gold plaid will be my backing and I'll be using the brown as binding.

Red friendship stars

I'm hard at work on my red and white swap quilt. These finish at 6.5 inches and are going to be part of my final border. I am really enjoying how this is coming out.

Zig zag

This was my sew day project for January. I went to Sew Day with a Layer Cake, Red Yardage, and a pattern. When I came home I had half of it sewn into rows. It was a real quick and easy pattern from Moda Bakeshop. I had gotten this April Showers layer cake when it was on sale and the proceeds went to a charitable cause, that I can't really remember what it was though. I love how it turned out. I have also pulled the fabrics for the backing and love that most of them come from one of my favorite designers.

Grand illusion Part 3

All of my Part 3's for all 3 of my Grand Illusions are done. Pictured here are the ones for my the one I'm labeling as my second one. These are some fun fabrics that I got for about 33 cents a pound. I had found them on Shopgoodwill and bought waaaaay too much. Unfortunately, they are the plastic prints like on t-shirts so I can't press them, but my seam roller and I have become very good friends. At the top of the picture, you can see just the edge of the part 3's for quilt number 3. They are all DS fabrics (Denyse Schmidt).

Finish #4 of 2015

This is for a family friend. It is a flannel quilt for her soon to be baby girl. I love how easy it is to make these. I think the most dangerous part for me was actually in the tying as I kept stabbing myself with the needle.

Dropping the Ball

I'm sure it surprises no one that it is now 10:14PM on TUESDAY, and I just realized that I have not posted the link for the Blocks from the Past Quilt Along. I still have no additional progress to post, but it is nearing the top of my list. I spent most of the last two weeks trying to complete a top faster than I should have because I wanted to be able to show it off at our Guild meeting last Saturday. I got it done, and it will show up on the blog a little later. However, that led to a slight burnout in the quilting realm, and a whole lot of "Well, now what?" Don't worry, now I know what's up on the docket, so progress can resume. But please go check out April's blog for the week 7 update for the Blocks from the Past Quilt Along.

Finish #3 of 2015

It's done. This is my round robin that I did with a few ladies between 2013-2014. I took it home with me when I went to my parents house for an extended Christmas and quilted it on my mom's long arm. I loved doing it. I tried to accent each row without going too elaborate on my quilting. I am very please with how it turned out. I even included each name into the quilting of the big outside border.

Half Square Triangle Sampler

I've begun my HST(half square triangle) sampler. I am using my bonus triangles, and beginning to think this will hardly touch my drawer full of them. When I do my sew and flip corners on things I sew an extra seam about 3/8 of an inch towards the corner as well, which is how this drawer of extra triangles came about. So I acquired Konda's book that shows some different layouts for blocks. And am going to use a bunch of them to make some blocks out of my triangles. This is the first one. I will only use the sets of matching triangles for now. I might save the others for another project. I'm actually thinking this pattern would be fun, if they are the right size.

Red and white applique

I have fallen in love with applique. This is my final 4.5 inch block that I needed for my Red and White Modern Block Swap Quilt, that some of my friends and I participated in last year. We made 1 8.5 inch block for everyone in the group, and 2 4.5 inch blocks for everyone in the group. I have decided on my layout, and still need another 9 8.5 inch blocks, and I'm dragging my feet on it, but I really would like to get this done soon. Hopefully, I'll have more to show soon.

Squirl

This is a red and white block for my Red and White Quilt. It is another 4.5 inch block. I love how it turned out. I almost wish I had switched my thread color when doing it, but not really. I actually kind of like that you can see some of my stitches, to prove I did it myself. And I'm not planning on entering it into Paducah, so I think I'm safe.

First applique

This is my first applique block. It is called Squirl from The Quilter's Cache's Quilt Blocks Galore. I resized it down for one of my 4.5 inch Red and White Swap Quilt Blocks. I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm glad I finally got over my fear of applique.

Tablecloths

I've started planning tablecloths. I've been doing much better of keeping up with the kitchen and getting the rest of the house clean. I admit I'd rather be quilting most of the time. Then you throw in 2 little boys who require CONSTANT VIGILANCE, and the house does not look as nice as it should most days. Anywho, so I decided after having to clean up Kyle's spot at the table one night, that I would prefer tablecloths. This isn't the first time I've thought this, but it was the first time I thought I could successfully make them and use up some of the fabric that has been sitting around for awhile, and is rather dated. Since a single width of fabric would not be enough to cover the table I decided that I would piece some simple tops for it, and then put 2 of them together right sides together and turn them. I also like this option because we have an oblong table, so If I decide I really don't like one of the sides for the table then I can always just turn it into a quilt. I've begun to pull fabrics for some of them, and hope to be able to get to starting on them soon. Of course, since I didn't really need to add another project it may have to wait a little bit.

Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap

My mini came. In this swap, I made a mini quilt for someone and someone made a mini quilt for me. We had no idea who it would be coming from. The lady who received mine said she really liked it. I am absolutely in love with the one I received. This pretty little thing came from Canada. That means it's been to more countries than I have. I love how vibrant and happy these colors are. I love the symmetry of it. I love the way that it is slightly offset. And I love all the goodies that came with it. I have an obsession with notepads, that I know I state in my survey. And you can never go wrong with Chocolate.  I have been known to say on many occasions that the answer is always Chocolate. If you are reading this partner. Thank you again.

Grand illusion part 4

I have all of the pieces cut out for part 4 of my all 3 of Grand Illusion Mystery Quilts. Thanks to the Accuquilt Go I got for Christmas, I was able to get it all done in an afternoon. It was great. Hopefully, they will be sewn up soon. The only problem is, I've been making myself earn my seams to sew, in hopes that it will keep me cleaning more instead of sewing all the time. This is a lot of seams to earn. I guess I better go get to work.

Blocks from the Past Week 6

Go check out this weeks Blocks on Marion's blog. I have no new progress to report on this project this week. I am hoping to soon have put together a sandpaper board to try for all the applique. I have been loving all the applique I've been doing. Which I need to actually take the time and blog about. But for now, got to Marion's blog, and happy quilting.

Upset Rhythm

Hello. So It dawned on me that I had fallen behind on recording my progress on some things. It doesn't help that I have lost contact with my computer (some part of it must sleep with the fishes and we haven't had time to evaluate which part). While I do still have my Chromebook, it can be hard to envision some things still being possible if handled differently. It has felt very odd to be missing my arm (computer). And since I get into certain rhythms as to what is done in which part of the house, or on what computer, sometimes I forget that some of those things can be done in both places (though some things like my games and watching dvds cannot).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that hopefully tomorrow I can start on sharing some of the finishes and progress and fun things that I have been forgetting to post. More does seem to get done when I'm not stopping to check Facebook all the time.

...And that I probably shouldn't give myself rambling rights after 10 pm.

Please have a happy day.

Blocks from the past week 5

This week I do actually have progress to post. I realized that a lot of my mental hangups on getting started on this quilt along had to do with the applique. I had not done any needle turn applique. So I was feeling especially intimidated. So this weekend after watching several YouTube videos, I finally sat down to start tracing out my pieces. I then did a couple of smaller blocks for another quilt as practice, and am ready to get going on these pieces. For an update on which blocks we are doing this week, go check out Marion's Blog.