Wednesday, August 31, 2016

A rainy Wednesday....

It is a very cloudy day today and the kids have an early release today at noon. That means a long pick up line today.... especially if it is raining. Guess I better cut out some of the prepped star pieces so I have something to work on today. I got this little one done yesterday in the car line.... so 45 minutes to hand piece this little bugger. This is 5 inches and will finish off at 4.5 inches.

My stars so far.


 I have a feeling I will be making one each day for the rest of the week with the rainy weather that is forecast for my area. The tropical depression is arriving sometime tomorrow. I am inland enough that we'll just get rain and the nice sandy soil absorbs it pretty quickly. The kids and I will be walking around the yard and picking up and putting things away this afternoon... just in case it gets windy.
I'm so happy I finally decided to try printing on fabric with Inklingo. It sure does make hand piecing so much easier and the prep work that I hated is pretty much eliminated. Love it.


Sunday, August 28, 2016

Slow down Sunday...

I finally got a little time in the sewing area yesterday and the sewing machine still works! It has been maybe 3 weeks, poor thing.

Before sewing there was lots of prep work. More shapes got printed out using Inklingo for my lemoyne stars. I should be set for a couple weeks!


Then I finally traced 3 of 4 appliqué blocks for the August 1857 quilt. How is it the end of the month already and I have not done any yet?


Then I  started measuring the Grandmothers Choice blocks from a few years ago. Some were way off - like barely 8 inches when they should be 8.5! A little cutting of sashing and cornerstones (112 and 64!) and then.... some sewing to fix those really small ones. They got some of the sashing added to make them to size. I was too lazy to lay them out again (and no room in the sewing area to do that) so... I pulled up the last photo of them on my phone and used that to put the blocks into stacks per row. Hopefully I will have some time this week to sew a little bit since it is all prepped.


Around 5 I shut off the machine and grabbed some dinner then settled in with some hand work while I watched the end of my Harry Potter movie from last Saturday, before Emily was returned from Grandma's. I got one block completed and then finished another one..... Two more blocks to go then borders.

I'm sure I will get a few more stitches in on this today.


I also finished off this knitted dish cloth in the car line on Friday. It really is a very pretty lavender purple.
What are you stitching today? Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see some inspirational projects in the works. Also a very late link up with the RSC Challenge on the last weekend of light purple and grey.



Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Mid Week check in

I am really missing having a block I make on certain days - like my Tiny Tuesdays - to have something to post. I think Wednesday's might become by lemoyne star progress.... so here goes. These are my waiting in the car line project (when I am not on the phone or playing cookie jam or candy crush!)


I have three blocks completed as of the end of car line today.


I have two more as stars that just need their white added. I should have those two completed in the next two days of the car line.

I am getting faster at putting them together.... I've tried a couple of ways to add the outer parts and for me it works best to stitch on the white side rather than the colored star side.

I 'should' print out a few more today.... as tomorrow I have bowling and normally bring some hand work, then soccer free play practice tomorrow night for an hour. I think I'll just prep my 4 August 1857 blocks (or three of them at least!) and have those ready to stitch tomorrow for those two events.
I back basted this one last night and will start stitching the green down after I cut near the stitch line. We finally have the last season of NCIS on Netflix so we are working our way through that at night this week.

Or, there is always knitting. I have tossed out a few of my dish cloths in the last week so it is time to make some more. I think I have a purple double seed stitch half done in the car... from the trip over to the beach back in June. It somehow landed under the front passenger seat where I was sitting and stayed there. So nice to have options.



Sunday, August 21, 2016

Slow stitching Sunday...

Each week Kathy reminds us to slow down, breathe and relax with some slow stitching. I admit, during my breaks from the hot weather outside while weeding and dragging trimmings to the truck (2 loads and that is just the front!), I took some breaks and pulled out some hand quilting.
I thought I had my 5 chain blocks completed, until I took this photo. Notice the issue?

I have gone back and added another rectangle  to 3 of those 5 blocks and should have the other 2 completed today. Then it will be onto the stars.

What will you be slow stitching today? Head on over and see what is being stitched around the world today at Kathy's Quilts.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

RSC Saturday....

I have yet to really play with light purple other than my row this month... I do have some houses that need to get made... but..... I decided to pull out a UFO that I started in 2012 and finished the blocks in 2013. There are 49 blocks done with the Grandmothers Choice sew along  according to this post.... but I seem to only have 48. Must go searching of that missing block and thanks to my writing about it on the blog I know that the tan floral fabric under this in the drawer goes with this project for sashing and not the one below it! Good to know. I hope to do some slicing and dicing of that floral fabric and start sewing some sashing strips to get this one moving this afternoon.


First up - my walk (woo hoo me - I've been walking daily since school started on the 10th, watching my portion size and drinking lots of water and I lost 3 pounds! Ok - had a bad last weekend and gained the 2 pounds back but they are gone for good now. Lets hope it continues as I seem to have gained 10 in the last year and 5 since April! Time to get it off.) My motto is move more and eat less. Good thing I love salads since that is my lunches with various leftover meats from dinner thrown on them. So far so good. Then..... trimming bushes and weeding... while on the lookout for slithering things as the lot next door started being cleared out for a house yesterday. Did I mention I don't like snakes?

Linking up with Angela for the RSC Challenge. Head on over and get inspired.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Inklingo... lemoyne stars.....

I took some time on Sunday... while the kids were at Grandmas... and got the printing figured out for the Inklingo parts and pieces. Inklingo is a way to print the cutting and sewing lines directly onto the back of fabric. Perfect for me.... so I just have to prep fabric with freezer paper ironed onto the top.. load into the printer and print. Then just cut with scissors or a rotary cutter on the solid line. ** Remember to take the freezer paper off before cutting ... and iron it onto the next one. I have reused mine 4 times so far. I got the 'free' diamond, square and triangle set years ago. Why did I wait so long to try and print out? Yup, kicking myself for waiting so long. Linda has tons of sets available on her website and the photo gallery of quilts is awe inspiring.

I decided since I have a finish... I'd finally take the plunge this year and made one lemoyne star by hand a day while waiting in the car line. Well, might not be one per day... they do take a while to hand piece but I'll sure make a lot while waiting this year! Ok, school started last week so I am a wee bit behind, but I'm sure there will be some rain days when I need to be in line for pickup forever.... =) These little guys will finish at 4.5 inches... and I should have 180 of them (or a whole lot if not the full 180!) by the end of the school year. I'm thinking maybe alternate them with a plain block should make it a nice size.... but plenty of time to worry about that much later.....

I had this hope chest line of fat quarters from Connecting Threads that got washed last week in preparation for printing on the fabric. It is nice pastels in a 30's type style of green, lilac, and blue. I'm sure at some point I will be adding fabrics from the stash but will start with these.

This is a look at the back of the fabrics with the ink on them... for those who were wondering. I used 11 to print on the darker and 2 to print on the white.


And.. my first completed block.
Back of block  - not pressed
front of block - not pressed.




















So exciting. I have enough prepped for the rest of the week. I think Sunday's will become my prep day for these... nice and relaxing and done in just a little bit of time. This is the fist block I started with but it should become finished block number 2 today in the car line.


A needle, thread, scissors and a running stitch is all you need. It all fits into a handy ziplock sandwich bag that tucks right into my purse. Perfect take with me project this year.




Wednesday, August 17, 2016

August UFO is completed!!!!!

I finished the binding on this quilt last night. So nice to have a finish of this UFO started back in 2012.  The 12 inch blocks are from Lori Smith patterns and I used a bundle of FQ from the Kansas Troubles line to make it. Lots of days hand quilting this one while waiting in the car lines at PreK on both the kids.... Such memories. (Hard to believe they are already in 2nd and 3rd grade!) I loved how the quilt as you go worked with this and will be using that technique again... probably with my dresden blocks.

I had a pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday... A fabric package of these pretty batiks from Sally.
A big thank you! They were a fun surprise in the mail (somehow I missed your e-mail letting me know I got picked as a winner!).  So many pretty colors... it will be fun picking out a project for them.. you know, since I got a finish in this post that means I can start something new =)

The kids have been in school for a week now... and I have walked about 2 miles each day after dropping them off and before logging into work. I have to say... I find I have a lot more energy later in the day if I get my walk in. I'll have to be good and walk on the weekends too - especially since I really want to get some yard work in this weekend (while I have helpers and the truck to dispose of it to the yard waste at the recycle center). 

Tomorrow's post will be my experiences with Inklingo. =)

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Slow stitching Sunday....

I admit, I had to do a little fast stitching today to get to some slow stitching. Fast stitching, you ask? I had to cut and prep a binding. Yup, a binding and you know what that means. Almost a finish!

The scrappy binding just got sewn onto the front of my Lori Smith blocks that I did as a quilt as you go process. I am so happy to have this UFO almost to a complete stage.


This morning I did finish hand stitching one of the blue appliqués down to the background and have just prepped one more blue to stitch as I have time. I added the blocks around the pink and purple this morning. I'll pull some black and blue sometime this week to finish off the others into 16 inch blocks. There are 4 still waiting for middles and their backgrounds....I'm sure they will get completed in the next two months as yellow and red have yet to come up in the RSC Challenge this year, and those are the remaining colors of my dresdens - red, maroon, yellow and brown.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and the other slow stitchers today. Head on over and take a peek.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

RSC Saturday in purples....

I have done little sewing this week but have managed to do a little hand work.

These two dresden plates got stitched to their backgrounds last night. I just need to pull 28 2.5 inch squares in purple and black to surround these blocks with.


I also finally got that bow onto this appliqué block last night as well. Hey, there is a bit of purple in this block so I included it.


My baby lemoyne star. I really need to work with the printer today to print out more of the shapes using inklingo. These are tiny as the block will finish at 4.5 inches!

Today we have a girl scout bowling event that the whole family will be attending. Then... I am hoping I can sneak away for a bit and sew a little before we have some family pool time this afternoon.

Head on over to the RSC Challenge and see what other purple inspiration is happening this weekend.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Wednesday August 10 2016

First day of school! The kids were excited to go this morning and were up, dressed, had breakfast, packed their lunch, brushed teeth and hair and had sneakers on by 6:50! That will not happen again until the first day of school next year. We got out the door around 7:10 and dropped off a little after 7:20. I got home and had a lovely walk (I promised myself I would walk every day after dropping them off to school this year.). Then a quick shower and logged into work in a very quiet house. Boy, that was so nice.

Some pics of the kids - before leaving and waiting in the car line to open so we could drop them off.



Lots of cars waiting in line at drop off ... and I had a surprise at pick up. The middle school next door is getting out 20 minutes BEFORE elementary this year instead of 20 minutes after. Can you say... TRAFFIC? Oh boy... good thing I love hand work and decided to make a lemoyne star block a day in the car line this year. I am having a little issue with printing, but I'm sure it was user error yesterday.  I did manage to get 8 shapes printed out with inklingo and hand sewn. Just need to press and prep some background for the squares and triangles to make it a block. These are small - finishing at 4.5
inches. I'd show a picture... but I can't seem to find the little bugger. Did I mention they are small? The first one is a purple dot and blue flowered print with purple flowers. I'll post a picture once I find it =)

Maybe I'll try printing again tonight... or make the binding for this UFO.

Yes, finally at the binding stage on this guy. I learned that a 2 inch strip on the back to connect is much easier to work with than the 1 inch or 1.5 inch in the tutorial I used.

QSQA - top finished waiting on binding.
The back.


These are Lori Smith patterns that I made with a group over at Jo's Country Junction back in 2012. I used a line of fabric called Kansas Troubles. I love the shades - very country looking. The back is homespuns that I had in the stash. No rhyme or reason... just picked one and went with it. These 12 inch blocks were all hand quilted and then put together. I will use this method again.. but I'll make sure all my blocks are the same size first! Started in January 2012 and hopefully will be finished in August 2016. 


Sunday, August 7, 2016

A rainy Sunday....

Perfect for being inside and relaxing with some slow stitching. I made great progress on my UFO this week. It is now a set of 8 and two sets of 4. I am using the Quilt as you go method from this tutorial. It is great.. I just changed the back sashing strip to 2 inches rather than the 1.5. It was a wee bit too small to hand stitch down with the smaller strip. The other thing I learned... the next time I will make sure all my blocks are trimmed to the same size! It was iffy with them being all hand quilted and coming up a little small when I made the blocks. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this. My hope is to get the bottom 2 sections together this morning and then join them all. Ideally.... I'd add the binding today too but we will see how the day goes.... Grandma returned the kids yesterday after a 2 night sleepover. The house was so nice and quiet. I'm sure it will be a board game and movie day.

This was from a quilt along at Jo's Country Junction back in 2012 using Lori Smith patterns. They are all 12 inch blocks done with Kansas Troubles fabric.


I just have a bow to add to this 1857 appliqué block before I start on the next one. Oh, those two dresden need to be hand stitched to their backgrounds as well. The stem and flower in the middle were stitched up last night.


Then...there is the newest hand quilting project. I pulled out this other UFO and started hand quilting it this week. I have 2.5 blocks done of the 9.  I'm doing the 5 connector ones first and then will do the stars. Thinking a little gentle curve in the white border. No clue on the blue border but there is plenty of time to think on that.

Plenty of choices. Head on over and see what other things are being slow stitched today at Kathy's Quilts.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

RSC Saturday....

I've been doing a FB challenge this week and have been making progress on a few things but only a little bit of purple. I'll show the rest of the progress tomorrow. I am hoping to have binding on a UFO for my slow stitching Sunday.... fingers crossed!

I added the middle to my dresden plate... and hit the black one too (silver). They all need to get hand appliquéd to their prepped background square still.

Then Friday Angela posted the row block for this month... I grabbed some scraps this morning and made my 9 blocks. So fun and quick to make. Love the grey with this purple!


There is also a some purple in my current 1857 block that I worked on this week - just have to add the bow to the stems and this one will be done.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge this morning. Head on over and see what other light purples are being played with this week.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

August UFO....

I have a challenge going on my FB group of Quilting in VT as a UFO Challenge. I started it in June and got my Floating cubes to a top stage, completed it in July. So for August.... I am pulling out a UFO I tried to do back in January. It is my Quilt Square Quilt Along blocks that I did maybe 4 years ago with Jo's Country Junction. She picked a pattern each month to make and I did all mine in Kansas Troubles Fabrics - which I love the color and values. I decided to try hand quilting with these and did them as each block was done while waiting on Pre-K lines for Aidan and then Emily. That led me to finally try the quilt as you go method to start putting them together. I have them all in sets of 2's and one is a set of 4. I think one set of 2 needs to be taken out and aligned better as well. That one is missing from the bottom corner. Lots of little things.... but very doable to get done this month and then add a binding I hope.





Tuesday, August 2, 2016

July appliqué block done..... as 4 new ones are released for August.


I got my last July 1857 appliqué block completed last night. It was a movie evening (Despicable me and Despicable me 2) after a full and fun day at Wild Waters as a family. It was a girl scout family event. Not too many people there at the park so there were no lines for the rides.... we went on all 4 of them numerous times. The wave pool was broken but the slides kept the kids entertained and lots of walking and stairs to get up to them had everyone nicely tired out last night. Kids are still sleeping at 7:15! Unheard of. Tomorrow starts with the school wake up times.... as they are back to school next Wednesday the 10th.