Half Square Triangle Party

Block Count: 11

I got another 11 Half Square Triangle Blocks made for the Wedding Quilt. And I went to Joann today, and even managed to find a tread that will actually work really well for quilting it. I have been worried about that because I wasn't having much success finding a good grey that matched the grey I've been using (Kona Coal).

 My mom told me on Saturday about all of these Mini Templates that work with 2.5 inch strips...So I also had to go get them. There were also the 2 sets of 3 that came with patterns that worked for those templates. I'm pretty excited to try them all out. But I also have reminded myself that I am not starting anything new right now...these can wait.

 I also picked up some more fat quarters. and had Kyle help pick them out (took him with me because the 2 get noisy when they are together and hubs was still asleep when I left). I told Kyle he could pick 5. His choices are the top ones. I actually did reject a few, he kept bringing me solids. Then I tried to focus on yellow and purples for my 5 since that is what I'm horribly low on...and the blue one jumped into my cart, so I couldn't leave something so talented behind.

I also got yarn for a baby blanket for a friend who is expecting a boy. I let Kyle pick between some blues, greens, and yellows...he wanted purple...and it took some convincing that he couldn't be purple. I'm actually a little surprised that he didn't pick blue, since that is his favorite color.

I also did lunch, laundry, and dishes today. So now it's time to get sewing. I'm aiming for most of a top today. We'll see if it works.

Next Up...

Block Count: 22

 I began cutting some of my Bonus Triangles down to 1.5 inches for my Ocean Waves Quilt. I found out that if I had used a 3.5 inch square for the sew and flip, I could get 4 squares of 1.5 inches out of the bonus triangle. So my 1.5 inch square bin has gotten some extra squares while I've been having fun cutting the triangles. The Triangles in this picture are from my Fox blocks. Even "multicolored" sew and flips like this get saved for me. Now they are working for 2 of the squares of what I'm working on. I have been known to really avoid all trimming if possible...But I have really enjoyed getting to bust into these and get just a few done at a time. I also have been trimming the ones that won't work for this quilt, into usable sizes, so that they aren't just languishing in a drawer anymore.

 I finished rebinding Kyle's quilt, and he took it back right away and started using it. He was so excited that it was fixed.

 My little monkey also decided to climb on the self-checkout at Walmart and ended up cutting his finger on his way back down. We did have it checked out because he wouldn't let me get a good look at it, and the angle I was looking at it from made it look a lot deeper. Turns out it was just a little flappish so it was really just a deep scratch.

 100 Days. Block 20

 Long Time Gone HSTs Block 2. I just cut as many HSTs as I could from 1 strip of each color, and saw that there was a gradient feel to it. And I'm in love with it now.

 100 Days. Block 21.

 My mom is trying to focus on strings on Saturdays, and asked me to join in. This is the quilt I designed when Bonnie Hunter announced the Hourglass for the Leader/Ender Challenge this year. I managed to add the 2 green borders, but apparently did not sew enough green strings...so those will have to be my focus the next time I pull out my strings.

 I have managed to pull this quilt back out. It is now the current focus quilt. It's not a hard quilt, just one I have to pay attention to placement on. I managed to add a second row, and I'm quite pleased with how it is coming. It is my One Monthly Goal for May and I haven't given up hope yet. Anything can happen in 3.5 days.

 100 Blocks. Block 22.

Here is a smattering of other blocks I've gotten done. I got the Hexie Flower done while the boys were playing outside yesterday (1st Flower of April). I also managed to get another Teal TJL done as a Leader and Ender as well as putting the leftover flower parts together from the teacher gift, and it kind of looks like a clover. I also got about 9 HSTs done for the Wedding quilt. And decided that my reward for drink 32 oz of water is going to be putting together 1 of the 365 Blocks. These are February 22 and 23 for this year's. So I have successfully had 64 ounces of water...I'm aiming for at least 96 a day, but fear that I have been having 32 or less most days, which of course has increased the number of headaches I've had by bedtime. So progress on both is going to be great.

In other news, I picked 24 blocks from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Blocks that I sized up to 12 inches, and that will be the ones that I hand piece, for what I am calling my Accomplishment Quilt because I will prepare the pieces for each block when I finish a quilt. So I got the ones cut out for the teacher Quilt and Kyle's quilt. Then I can work on them while I'm waiting at Tee Ball practice, or at Tee Ball games, or anytime I'm going to have to sit somewhere.

Buzzing

Today's Block Count: 1
Blocks from the Last 2 days: 24

 My son as a book/notebook made by a good friend, that is Green Eggs and Ham and has extra blank pages he can use. He has loved the book to the point that the back cover would no longer stay on, so I stitched the binding closed. Shouldn't come loose now...at least not for awhile.

 100 Days. Block 17

 Long Time Gone Half Square Triangles Block 1
This week's block is the Second Half Square Triangles block (of 3). I decided to just go with the first light fabric in my pile that I've been going through. Hence the light green. I like it.

 100 Days. Block 18

 I have to rebind one of Kyle's quilts that his grandma made for him because he has loved the binding to shreds. He and I decided on this fun monster print. He is thrilled that I'm fixing it for him.

 And there is a new lady who has joined my ranks. This is Europa. I have never owned a Serger before. This could get interesting...or dusty. I guess only time will tell.

 100 Days. Block 19

 I finished the Teacher Appreciation Gift for Nate's Teacher. I am so tickled with how this turned out. I think it really shows the personalities of the kids.

 This is the label I wrote for it. I think I'm really going to miss her next year. I'm hoping that Kyle gets her in 3 years.

I decided that my leaders and enders were going to be all of my RSC17 projects...so I guess I still can't get away from working on lots of things at once... But really I just do a handful of one color at a time, and rotate what I cut for, such as with the green, there are 2.5 inch strips for the green quilt, and 1.5 inch and 1 inch strips for the Tiny Jacob's Ladder...so I cut the 3 sizes from 1 fabric and then use one size at a time until I run out of usable fabrics...then I cut the next piece of fabric...etc.

I also must admit, that I have decided on 2 more quilts. Though they are long term quilts that are very much at the back of my mind. One is an Ocean Waves quilt using 1.5 inch HSTs. This will allow me to use any extra HSTs from the TJLs, as well as using the light and dark bonus triangles that have grown exponentially. I will have to trim most of the bonus triangles to the proper size, but I don't see that as a huge burden. It can actually be an excuse to sit and watch something one day (or several). I also decided that the tiny Orange Peels that I used for the Appreciation Quilt, are a fun size (and I cut a few extras rather than trying to count them exactly). They will fit on little 2.5 inch squares, and those can then be sewn together at random. These can be cut from 1.5 inch strips, so it all can come from scrap users again. I think this is going to be fun.

I am in no hurry to even start it. Though I may give myself some permission to trim a few triangles in the next few days, just for the fun of it.

Next up is to finish the binding for Kyle's quilt...It feels so good to be getting things done and marking them off of my list.

Lots Going On

Block Count: 34
2 Tops
2 Quilted
2 Trimmed and Bound
2 Finishes

It's been a tad busy over here.

 To Start with I started another project. I decided I wanted to try hand piecing a block/quilt. I have never done basic hand piecing, just English Paper Piecing. It went surprisingly fast. I asked my best friend to give me a color, and she said Chartreuse. So these are the fabrics I pulled.

 This is the second block for the Halloweenies BOM, I'm doing. I love how cute these little guys are. These are Adam (biggest), Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank, Gideon, Hannah, Isaac, and Jeremiah (top to bottom). I think I'm going to have fun naming each of the creatures in this quilt. They just seem to have such personalities.

 I have managed to keep up with the 100 Days 100 Blocks on Instagram. This is Block 7.

 For Mother's Day, my boys got me an essential oil cool mist dispenser. I love it. It changes colors and everything. They love playing in the "smoke" and I think it will help a little bit more during the summer when turning on my wax melter makes my room too hot to bear.

 100 Days Block 8

 My gift to myself on Mother's Day, was to allow myself to part with some of my scraps. My room had gotten to the point where I was feeling way overwhelmed. I decided that I could let myself get rid of some of the super tiny pieces that would take me 3 lifetimes to get through. Here is 2 of the 30 gallon trash bags that I was able to fill and get out of my room. I try to put in some time every day if I can, but it really is more like every other day. I also told myself that I am going to go down to 1 project at a time (with 1 Leader and Ender project as an exception). I need to work on putting what I'm working on away before getting the next project out because it just starts stacking on itself and the parts keep getting separated from each other.

 100 Days Block 9

 100 Days Block 10

 100 Days Block 11

 One of the quilts I really needed to get myself to focus on was this cute Mini for the Fandom in Stitches swap on Instagram. I knew right away what I wanted to do with it, but struggled to get myself to work on it, because you can't chain paper piecing. I added Disney Villains as a border, and then quilted with flames (and added texture to her hair). I also chose to give her a slight smirk instead of a frown because I liked that she did kind of smile at the end of the movie. (If you haven't watched Inside Out, I highly recommend it.) The Villains are (clockwise starting at the top) Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), Wicked Queen (Snow White), Yzma (Emperor's New Groove), Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmations), Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), Medusa (Rescuers), and Ursula (Little Mermaid). I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out. This had to ship in the last week, so it was a big part of why I haven't posted an update lately.

 This is a little extra I made to ship with my Sadness Mini. This is the Payson, Utah LDS Temple. It is my temple. We can see it from our front porch from Fall to Spring (tree across the street blocks it during the summer). Kyle can usually see it out of his bedroom window, and the boys often want to look for it.

 Here is the first of my hand pieced blocks. I figure this can be a reward when I finish things. Just 1 block at a time after I finish a binding while I still have my hand piecing supplies out.

 100 Days Block 12

 After finishing the hand pieced block, I got a few more Hexie flowers done to swap with my best friend. The yellow is the second one for February, and the greens are my March blocks.

 100 Days Block 13

 Nate started Tee Ball. He is #8 on the Yankees CoEd Kindergarten Team. He's the one in the center spinning around in a shirt that looks like a dress...This momma is going to have to work some hemming magic I think.

 100 Days Block 14

 100 Days Block 15

 100 Days Block 16

This is the other project that has been occupying a lot of my mental power. I designed this to go with the flowers I had the kids in Nate's class make at their Spring Party, and had each of them sign a square. I have (mostly) recreated the flowers they made by using their colors and placing the "inner petal" the way they had on their paper blocks (took pictures). I am giving this to their teacher when it is finished. I was trying to get it done in time for Kindergarten graduation (fail), or Nate's Post Assessment (also failed), but thankfully I am friends with her on Facebook, so I will have no trouble get a hold of her when it is completely finished. She is a quilter, too, so I knew she would appreciate this. It's a bit bigger than I would normally make for a wall hanging, but I just didn't think I could size it down much more than this and still have the right effect. This will be 30 by 36 when done.

One other thing that I didn't get a picture of sooner, though I thought I had. Was these 2 little hexie flowers (1/2 inch hexies). I put these together on the Saturday before Mother's Day at a Funeral. It was a young man whose family is in our ward to passed away in his sleep 6 months into his mission. He will be sorely missed. But I'm grateful for the chance I had to go, and to hear happy stories about him from his parents and siblings. I will always remember his smile. I don't know that I ever really saw him without one. I took the boys to the viewing because Nate had known him, just a little bit, because he was his preschool teacher's son, and he would play with the kids when he came home from school for lunch, while they waited for us parents to pick them up. Now when we pass the Stake Center, Nate will say, "That's where we said good-bye to Jeremy. One day we'll be resurrected because Jesus was resurrected. But we don't know when we'll be resurrected." It such a sweet little testimony from my 5 year old, that makes me so happy to know that he listens to what he is taught at church. It was said with such confidence, and such love. He truly teaches me sometimes.

Log Cabin Blocks

Yesterday's Block Count: 7

 100 Blocks Block 6

Yesterday, I used the last of my 100 blocks buffer, so I spent an hour working on a few more blocks for the buffer (I have to post 1 block every day to Instagram to be eligible for prizes.) I successfully managed to get 3 more done. I love how fast these go. I had tried making them a while ago and started with block 3 which has a lot of pieces and I was trying to go scrappy, so I had to worry about piece placement, so it had felt like a lot more work than I was willing to put in at the time. But now, I love that I seem to just be flying through them.

I also got my log cabin blocks done for this week's challenge for the Long Time Gone Sew Along. They were surprisingly fast.

I also was asked to hem a tablecloth for a display for a funeral this evening. I use the Hem Tap for the first roll and then had a good firm edge for the second roll. It went really fast and was kind of fun to do something different.

Today's goals include: Daily Cleaning, helping with Field Day in Nate's class, taking Nate to a viewing, working on a bat block (part of Halloweenies quilt), and working on my Fandom In Stitches swap quilt.

Halloweenies BOM

Yesterday Block Count: 1

 100 Blocks Block 5

Yesterday ended up being another grand parenting adventure. There was a call to Poison Control because my 3 year old managed to get into my Melatonin Gummies (with a child proof cap), and then his fever spiked to 104. He had been doing better in the morning, so it was all a bit of a shock. He seems to be doing much better today. He ended up pretty much sleeping from 10-3:30 yesterday due to either the melatonin, illness, or a wicked combo of both. It would have been a super peaceful day, if I hadn't had to check on him every 10-30 minutes. He also got really annoyed that I was checking on him so much.

He was doing my better by the time dinner rolled around, so I felt ok going to my BOM group to start the Halloweenies quilt by Makena Ryan. I only managed to get 1 of the 2 blocks done last night, but I also will be able to get more ready before the next class. I think each of the critters in my quilt are going to get names. These are Fred (with Candy Corn) and George. This is because their pieces were labeled as Fs and Gs. I am using my own fabrics once again, so mine will be a unique quilt. I love getting to be the same but different.