Thursday, April 30, 2015

Tiny Thursday....

I took this little appliqué basket to bowling this morning and got it all done! Well..... there are six leaves that are to go on it - three out from each flower but I don't think I like the look so it will stay as it is.


We are off to a soccer game tonight. The team that beat us the first night so Aidan will be in goal the whole game so we might have a chance to win! Wish us luck.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Tiny Tuesday....


Oak leaf from the Midget Applique series.

This week I made the Oak Leaf block. I started it this morning with some back basting while watching  the Harry Potter movie. I woke up with a head cold and after finishing off my 21 blocks of the Hunter Star from yesterday I hit the grocery store to pick up a few things and then settled into my chair for some stitching. I'm hoping if I take it easy here and there I'll feel better tomorrow. We have a very rainy and dreary day today so it is perfect movie weather.

Sophie with my oak leaf block.

I was playing around with the star blocks.....



It always amazes me how just turning some blocks really make a difference. I do notice one or two that did not get turned on the second photo. Hopefully I can get another 20 blocks made tomorrow.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Monday - design wall

Since it was raining this morning I got to sew instead of taking my walk. This is the status so far of the Hunter Star quilt. 13 blocks are made out of the 80 I believe I will need for a twin size  quilt for a graduation present. I think since the rain has stopped I'll grab a quick 2 mile walk and then head back into the sewing room.


I'm linking up with the design wall over at Patchwork Times. Head on over and see what other projects are up on the design wall (or floor) today.

Friday, April 24, 2015

A very late start on a quilt with a deadline....

I've been putting off the graduation quilt making process and Angela mentioned last week how few days there are until Graduation time..... Yikes. Time to get started.

I've had the medium blue and white fabric as requested. I picked the pattern - Hunters Star and have had the Deb Tucker Rulers for it for years. So what is stopping me? Trying something new I think. Too late - time to try it out as this quilt needs to get made.

I've checked out the Hunter Star tutorial a few times and have the instructions with the ruler. Time to get started.

This is the progress so far this morning. I have a slew of trapezoids sewn to each side of the diamonds. I just need to press and cut these and then add them to the triangle. I am doing the 8 inch block and figure on an 8x10 setting for a 64x80 size quilt. That should cover a twin size for college for Alex. It might get some borders...it might not! Depends on how it goes together and how close to mid June it is =)


I had to stop as I needed to bake off the sugar cookies for the spring fling this evening at school. Note to self - check to make sure it says parchment paper and not wax paper before you put it in the oven to bake! The six butterfly's will stay home to be gobbled up. I noticed it 3 minutes into the cooking time. I also did my 3 mile walk this morning and a little weeding out in the garden while the banana bread was baking in the oven. The peas are budding so they should start producing soon. The watermelon plants disappeared but so far the cucumbers are up and have not been eaten by the bunny yet. I need to drop off the recycling and pick up some gallon size ziplock bags to transport the cookies to school in.... then it will be time to pick up the kids. Maybe I can get back to my Hunter star blocks this afternoon...... I hope?

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Pretty in Purple...

I picked up my sewing machine on Tuesday morning and she said it really needed a cleaning as there was lint everywhere.... even on the computer board. Yikes - must use the pipe cleaner to get things out from now on instead of a q-tip! A great tip from her.

I put my Viking Quilt Designer to work today and finally got to cut into the Vicki Welch purple fabrics to make up my blocks.

Carrie Nation and Broken Sugar Bowl were the two sampler blocks from Angela this month. I am happy to say they are completed and I'll cut up the 24 purple 2.5 inch blocks this afternoon and be all caught up on the sampler. I still have a pile of purple that might get pressed and cut into usable parts as well.

I cut a slew (48 I think) of 2 inch purple butterfly fabrics from the floor of purple scraps for my next round of the small trip around the world block. I had a yellow as the next round but think I want a purple in between the dark green and the light yellow. I'll mark my stitch lines Thursday morning at bowling on those. Nice to have something all prepped to work on while I wait to bowl and am chatting with the ladies.

Edited: I got the purple round completed! Time to start on the yellow round 12 next.

We had taco's Thursday night and I pulled out the veggie platter container to hold the different parts. It made a great container to store all the parts so everyone could make their own taco's or salads. The lettuce and cilantro were from my front garden buckets! So nice to have fresh salad fixings.



I'll link this post up Saturday morning with the RSC Challenge. Hopefully I'll have tamed the pile of scraps into usable strips and parts by then.





Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Tiny Tuesday....

This week is the Willow block. It is up against my herbs out front this morning.


I did the backstitching on it in the car line yesterday and worked on it a bit this morning while finishing watching Malificient (a little too scary for my kids yet I think). It got finished off while I was watching my recorded NCIS LA.  Emily is off to LegoLand with her class for the day and will be returned around 7PM. I know they arrived and her teacher sent me a picture of her with a huge smile on her face in front of the LegoLand entrance. Lets hope they don't get any rain to ruin their day today. We had some strong t-storms yesterday afternoon and they ruled it was a EF1 tornado that hit the development not very far from us. As Emily said yesterday - 'the trees are doing a crazy dance, Mom'. Yes they were and now we know why.

All is clear today and I'd better go do some weeding before I pick up the boy this afternoon.


Thursday, April 16, 2015

RSC Challenge - Trip Around the World.

I finished it! The purple Trip Around the World block is all done for the month. I need to start thinking of how I will back these 30 inch blocks so I can prep them for hand quilting of each block. I hope that will allow me to get this one finished off quicker if I hand quilt as I go and then I can just put it together when I am done. 


So far this year.... Four colors are done. It is 60x60 right now. Hmmm. Maybe these will each become separate wall hangings and just continue with one color for a big quilt? Thinking.........


Head on over to see Angela at SoScrappy on Saturday morning to see what other projects the RSC Challenge is creating. 

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Look who came out to play today!

This was my maternal Grammy's machine - a Singer 301W. My Mom learned how to sew on this machine and last year I had her give it a whirl and try and show me how to thread it, the bobbin and adjust the tension. It had not been used for decades before that. I have some of the owners manual but have since downloaded the whole booklet so I have it. Today I added some oil - dusted it out a bit as it has been stored in the cabinet for over a year without seeing the light of day. I figured out how to put the bobbin case back in after some oil and threaded it up. Why did I wait so long - the tension on it is good and I love the sound of it clicking along. I am just sewing some of my purple bits into my long strip right now. I need to play and figure out a proper seam allowance and then maybe I'll have to come up with a special project for this machine.

I think I'll grab some squares and figure out that 1/4 inch seam allowance and keep playing.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Tiny Tuesday....

Back on track... this week is the circle flower. I prepped and did this one while watching my recorded NCIS LA. Time to go clean the house.... I can't put that off any longer!


Monday, April 13, 2015

Trip Around the World block......

Julierose was asking how I did my TATW blocks for the RSC Challenge so I decided to take a few photo's to explain how I do mine.

I am using 2.5 inch squares from the scrap bin and then I pull from the shelf if I need more blocks =).

I start with one 2.5 inch square and then each row is added in increments of 4. I pull my colors which determines where they will go - sometimes I only have enough for 4 or 8 squares so those are the center and edges. I cut them out and I have been having my round 7 be the white which takes 28 squares. Round 1 is 4, round 2 is 8, round 3 is 12.... etc until round 7 which is 28 white. Then I start down with 28, 24, 20, 16,12,8 and the final four on the corners. This is giving me a 30 inch finished block in a trip around the world pattern.

I mark a 1/4 inch sewing line on the back of each square.

Lining up to the edge

Sew to the cross point of the drawn lines.

Swing the square over to line it up with the square. You are sewing a backwards L.

start sewing on the line until you get to the next cross point.

One square added to the block. I just continue with a running stitch  until I run out of thread.



Hope that helps!




With that one block added. Time for ribs for dinner (Yummy) with some potato salad and some veggies in italian dressing. Then scouts. 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Slow Stitching Sunday....

The boys are going to have some quality time today while I head to work and Emily is at Grandma's for a sleepover and will be returned this afternoon. They made a coffee cake for breakfast which should be coming out of the oven in a minute or two. I asked what Aidan wanted to make for dinner with the three boneless skinless chicken breasts and he ran and got the chicken cookbook he has seen. He picked out chinese sweet and spicy taco's. We have everything we need to make them so we'll see how dinner comes out tonight!

Since they are on duty for dinner I think I'll get a little hand work in today on my midget appliqué block. I need to undo that one leaf and add the 12 leaves so I can call this one finished.

It looks like rain today so I'll bring some 2.5 inch squares and my pencil and ruler to work - I might have time to mark some hand sewing lines on the back of the squares for the trip around the world block. Time to start the downward slopes on that one this week.



Head on over to Kathy's Quilts to see what other slow stitches are being worked on today.

Friday, April 10, 2015

RSC Purple....

I was attempting to FMQ the borders of my Celtic Solstice quilt on Wednesday morning.... and with all the issues I decided the machine needed some TLC so off to the spa for a cleaning it went. It is a good thing I got some purple sewing in on Monday this week.

I made the dresden plate in purples.

I made the twinkle star block.

I started the scrappy strip...

and made progress on the hand work Trip around the world. For the second month in a row I messed up the row after the white - same number of squares (28) for the white but... none go on the four corners. Yup - I added three before I figured out my mistake, again. Looks like I have two more squares to pull out - those top two corners.

Now to make the two sampler blocks for the RSC that have been posted... next week after I get my machine back.

I think I'll have to work on the tension on my Singer 301 today and let her get some exercise. I know Aidan wants to play a bit with it so that is my goal today while they are at school - get the tension working. Of course, lots of errands to run with garbage and recycling and then getting some more potting soil to transplant Aidan's pepper plants - he planted them from some pepper seeds I had put in the bowl for the composter last month! I need to move a bunch of the lettuce out too - one whole bag into a planter was a wee bit too much =). At least the wild bunny has not gobbled it up.

Hop on over the the RSC Challenge Saturday morning and see what other purple projects were worked on this week. I'll be heading into work both weekend days again for all of this month. We skipped spring and went right to summer here in Florida!

This is Emily and Greg from her birthday on Tuesday. We went in and had lunch with her and I got this shot outside for our picnic at school. Yes, she asked her teacher if she could wear her crown for her birthday at school and she said yes. One happy little six year old girl.

Monday night was awards nights at scouts. Aidan got a bunch of belt loops that he has been working on over the last few months. 


Off to take my walk before it gets too hot.



Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Happy Birthday Emily!

My baby girl turns the big SIX today! It seems like not very long ago I was waiting for her to finally be born at 41 weeks! Her baby pictures are not on this computer so here she is from 14 months on.
Emily and her Dad - he does exist! At Uncle David and Aunt Donna's wedding.

Swinging Aug 2011 before we moved to FL. Age 2


I love this picture! This is how she slept.
Soccer their first season Fall 2013
Glasses Nov 2014.

In Vermont Christmas 2014 on the disc golf trail with family.


An early celebration for her birthday.
She is all excited as she got her final present this morning - some hot stamps for her hair! Mom and Dad are heading in to have lunch with her at school today and we'll deliver the cupcakes for their afternoon snack in her classroom.

As this is Tuesday... here is an in progress block I am working on. You might want to sit down Mom - it is that second block in the series I am finally getting to =). Just have to add the 12 leaves... I am going to undo the one on there and remake it as it is too small. I traced the line and am using needle turn on these...eventually they'll get done.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter.....

With a little bit of this.....


a bit of Easter ham and the fixings..... followed by a chocolate birthday cake to celebrate another early 6th Birthday for Emily with her other grandparents. She wanted half the cake green for grass and half blue for water. Her Sophia the First was on the green and her mermaid Sophia was on the blue in the water!

Then a little bit of this for the kids......



While Mom does a little bit of this....



Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter with friends and family wherever you are.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today for some slow stitching. Head on over and take a peek.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Saturday RSC

I finished off the yellow and gold trip around the world block on the 31st!


Perfect timing to start the purple one for this month. The colors are a little more vibrant in the picture than in real life.


Head on over and see what other purples are being worked on this month at the RSC Challenge

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Tiny Thursday?

I finally took some time today and was able to finish off my midget applique block for the week. A couple days late but it is done. It has been a nice relaxing day (without kids) and the kids are going to be returned sometime in the next hour by grandma. I probably should have done something other than catching up on some recorded shows after bowling this morning... but that and some appliqué on this block felt very relaxing.


Before bowling I cut a few purple 2.5 inch squares and was able to mark these and put them together. I guess I should have cut a few more squares out.... I was done this by the second frame of the third game. Hmmm the contrast in the last two rows is different in the photo from real life. Must think on that one....


My trusty companions.... Maxie is zonked out and Sophie is upset I got up to get the camera. I'd better settle back down with her and finish off NCIS before the kids get home.