Slow stitching Sunday....

Well, knowing I was busy today I kinda did a slow stitching Saturday! I finished off the 2 sides of binding on Aidan's quilt and then... added a little hand quilting square inside each of the 16 stars on his quilt. He was rolling around on the floor in it when it was finished..... he is very happy his quilt is officially done! This quilt is called Twilight Hopscotch from a Kim Diehl book. Aidan picked out the colors and did sew a seam or two and did a row of the machine quilting. Someone does not have the patience for it so Mom had to take over.

I hope to have a couple of hours of hand stitching while at Skyzone today for a birthday party. I have 2 green umbrella's that need to get finished off for the month.. and hopefully I can get back on track with my tiny tuesday posts this month of April. I had time to draw them on the back but will have to pull fabrics for it when I get home from dropping Aidan to Grandma's house.

Wish me luck next weekend... I'll be at the girl scout camp with 9 of the girls from my troop. Friday night through Sunday morning..... we progressed them up to a cabin this year - 4 girls in each room on either side of the adult little room in between. We will see how they do! My one daisy will stay at the other site with my co-leader and her daisy troop so they are all in the same room with adults. She will be with me all the other times though. I expect to be very tired next Sunday!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers today.

Last green RSC...

Well, it is not the end of the month yet, thank goodness. I have a couple of days left to finish  off some green sewing.

I got 2 of the 4 green umbrella's finished this week.

And finished off the last of the green hexagons adding to their black background.

As for the log cabin blocks... progress was made!

 I pulled the really mostly bright ones out and have created some new ones.  There are 4 more on the sewing machine for those 4 spots.

I have decided to increase the 12 inch blocks to 14 inches.... to make it  a wee bit bigger and then will add a border to add a little more to get it to the 90+ inch range all around. I should have some sewing time today to get those blocks all finished off to the new 14.5 inch unfinished size. Tomorrow... hubby is working so I get to shuttle one to grandma's...pick up another and bring 2 girls to Skyzone for an afternoon birthday party. Other mom - my co-leader is busy and she was having her hubby go but I said I'd take her daughter with me so he can stay home with their other kids. I think the other 2 umbrella's will be worked on tomorrow afternoon...hey - it's 2 hours of waiting time!

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Now I'm off to Joanns - the whole troop is doing tie dye Monday night and making swaps... so I need to go get the shirts!

Oh, leftover pork loin from the other night has become cuban sandwiches for lunch... love coming up with a 'new' look for leftovers! It also makes hubby happy - he loves cubans and we are lucky to have cuban bread in certain stores near us.

Distraction.....

I saw this quilt photo from celebrate hand quilting a few years ago. The person was hand quilting it for her sister who found it but did not know the pattern. I have searched and searched and can't figure it out. I was thinking this would be a great way to try and use up those 3-4 bins of scraps.... (ok, I know it will not even make a dent in it but humor me!)....

What to do..... I grabbed a poster board and marked the 12.5 inch square from one of my rulers. Searched in some quilting books and found a nice size kite from the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler book - page 89 I believe. Drew 4 of them and placed them in the middle looking at the photo. I figure the colored ones are really the 'center' of the block. Popped one in the corner.... yup, looks right so far. Did a little calculation and marked some dots to draw the lines for the colored slip of fabrics - the red checked and green print. Then extended the lines for the shape between that and the middle kite. Hey - they match! I must have done something right!

Now I just need a reminder that I have lots of quilts in progress, a slew more ready for machine or hand quilting and I really don't need another project right now. =)

Well..... maybe when I finish attaching the sashing to the hand quilt along quilt.... I 'might' reward myself with making one of these blocks... just to see how it goes.....
This will need a name.... I am terrible at names. Oh my stars, circling the stars, ring around the rosie...... I kinda like the last one as the movement in the pattern kind of reminds me of that nursery rhyme. I think that is what I will call this.... 'Ring Around the Rosie'. Now.... to cut the rest of the sashing for hand piecing.....

Tiny Tuesday

I finally got the last yellow umbrella done from the month of February! I need to cut out some of the white backgrounds... in the right size this time, for the green umbrella's of March.... before March is gone!

Hand Pieced Quilt Along..... 18 blocks completed!

All 9 blocks have been completed and I did  2 of most of them to give me 18 blocks. I have 3 of block 6 (including my oops block) and one of block 8.  I decided to lay them out and see how they look.

I did a little rearranging to try and space out the lights and darks.....

Then someone (Peanut) had to inspect it. Some cat chasing may have happened right after I snapped this photo. (Ollie and Peanut with Sophie observing from her perch on the recliner foot).

They are releasing their setting instructions tomorrow for the 9 blocks. They did let us know both are using a 1.5 inch sashing. I think I will as well, with the background white dot print. I found a site with the measurements to cut out setting triangles for 6 inch finished blocks. I'll be cutting into the white for sashing and setting and corner triangles this week and will start to piece this baby together!

Saturday.....

Well, there is green grass and bushes in Florida.... much different from the snowstorm we left in Vermont yesterday .... where my parents got around 18 inches of snow Friday/Saturday. Too bad the kids were not there to shovel for them!

I finished stitching up the green hexagons for the green in the RSC Challenge this week. I think I might have spied a few more sitting on the sewing table.... I think they are multiplying!

I have attached 24 of them so far this month to their black background. I am hand appliquéing them onto the black..... and most of them were basted back in January although I do see that flowered one still needs basting. I originally hand pieced these hexagon pieces into flowers - not EPP a few years ago with the challenge. We must have had 2 months of green =).

I have added them to the red from January and yellow from February. I do wonder what color Angela will pull for the month of April? I have pink, purple, light blue, teal, dark blue, brown and orange left to go. All have been basted except for a handful of dark blue.

I also did a little hand stitching on the Hand Pieced Quilt Along block #9. This is the final block in the sew along. I cut out my second #8 block wrong... those darn flying geese! I keep putting the color and background in the wrong place!  I need to recut that one out to work on tonight or tomorrow. Color placement sure does change the look of these blocks!

I also have some binding to stitch down this evening.... can you tell I am relaxing today? We finished a little quilting with the machine on Aidan's quilt before we left and he picked out fabric for a binding. I was able to stitch it to the front by machine before we left. That leaves 4 sides - 60 inches each of binding for me to sit and stitch down this weekend. I did tell him I'd hand quilt something in orange in each of the 16 stars..... Sorry for the bad light... but I did get all 3 cats! Sophie is the queen at age 14 on my recliner, Ollie (age 1) is on the corner of the quilt and Peanut (his brother also age 1) is not interested and walking right by...until I start to work on it... then he will think he needs to help! Silly boy.

Linking up with RSC Challenge on Saturday, Hand Pieced Quilt Along,  and Slow Sunday Stitching.

Thursday.... crochet and an Awl....

Well, I did get 2 towels crocheted for Mom while I was here..... I might try and squeeze in one more but we will see how time allows. She mentioned an Awl to poke the holes since I hate using the crochet hook to do that. Sometimes if it is a tight weave towel it is a bit difficult to poke that through. Mom mentioned using an awl and got hers out. Wow - that works great. I think I might even have one in my craft room for card making that might get re purposed to do towels. If not... the boy searched on the internet and found them at Walmart and hardware stores for under 10 dollars.

We have been busy and the kids have been getting their snow time in. Yesterday we went out and saw the camp in winter after we did disc golf in the morning.

They had fun sledding down the hill onto the frozen lake. It was a beautiful day - in the mid to upper 40's and sunny.
Tuesday night we did a  free cooking club that my sister signed us up for. We made scones and they were really yummy using yogurt. I'll add the recipe to my blog at some point. We made a batch that night with Aidan's, Tuesday morning with Emily's we added orange zest and craisins and today I added cinnamon sugar to the top of my batch. Grammy has lots of scones leftover!

Block #8 - Hand Pieced Quilt Along.....

Well, I got one of my first Block #8 done.  I seem to have forgotten to cut out the second block and I am away from my fabrics.... it will have to wait until Saturday to cut out the second one.

I did cut out parts for 2 of block #9 that was released today..... =) they are all marked for hand piecing.

Maybe I'll piece a little while we are playing Michigan Rummy this afternoon. The kids are enjoying their time in Vermont and spending lots of time outside playing in the snow and when inside playing games! They found Master Mind.... we played that a lot over the weekend. Then they found the Clue game, I hear I get to do that again today as well. Aidan won last nights game - it was Mrs. Peacock with the revolver in the Conservatory! 

We will include Grammy and maybe Grandpa with the Michigan Rummy game... but I need to look up the rules it has been so  long since I have played it. As the youngest of five kids, we played a lot of board games growing up and my kids enjoy playing them as well. I did see a game of Parchisi in the stack.... I have great memories playing that with Mrs. Brown a few camps down in the summer on her back porch overlooking the lake. She was the licorice lady - always had red licorice for me when I went over and if it was blueberry season, the point where their camp was had tons of wild blueberry bushes that we got to pick from.   Sometimes she would put a few in a bowl with milk and a little sugar. So yummy and some great memories.

Off to finish the lunch dishes then board games are on tap for the afternoon.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts and Simple Handmade Everyday.

Weekend post in Vermont!

Spring break time for the kids and they requested SNOW! So, on the plane we went on Friday and arrived in a balmy 55 degree Vermont. The kids have been outside playing all afternoon yesterday and today enjoying the snow. Hey - we were in mid 80's on Thursday in Florida so this is so fun for them. It has been 4 years since they have played in snow.

Me.... I cut out some parts for the hand pieced quilt along before I left and completely forgot to bring the ruler I use to mark it! Oops... a trip to Joann's today while running errands had me pick up a diamond template for use with Jelly Rolls.... hey, it has the 1/4 inch mark clearly on it and I can use it later as a diamond template for a future hand pieced project! The bonus.... it was not on sale so I got to use my 60% off coupon!

That allowed me to piece these parts while the kids were outside playing and Mom was making a banana bread to pop into the oven after the birthday cake came out.

I also have 12  green hexagons all prepped to be hand appliquéd down onto the black background.

The kids are staying over at my sisters tonight.... after dinner and birthday celebrations at my brothers house for Grammy's 80th (back on the 5th) and Emily's 10th... April 7th.  I'll pick them up around lunchtime.... assuming I can get up the muddy road... and bring them to see maple syrup being made!

Linking up on Saturday with the RSC Challenge where green is the color for March. Sunday linking up with Kathy's Quilts and Slow Stitching Sunday.

Block # 7 in the Hand Pieced Quilt Along.

Block #8 has been released and I finally got my first block #7 completed today. Time to start the second one.

Linking up with Hand Pieced Quilt Along Week #7.

Sunday progress...... log cabin blocks and a pinned quilt!

Yes, Aidan's quilt got pinned. It will be a long week with him I fear - very excited about our trip to Vermont. We will see if he is alive come Friday. Hopefully having him quilt this in the afternoon will help calm him down?

I also got some log cabins added to the pile.... 31 blocks completed! Now.... I am not so sure I like how it is coming out.... I'll have to think on it a bit...... Maybe moving things around might help? I'm thinking I should have either done the brights only or non brights. Will have to think on it. Might change gears completely..... Time will tell. I just laid these out.... no plan and it probably won't be this setting. With the 3 extra blocks on the bottom this would finish now at 72 inches square.

Sunday......

Another week has flown by! The kids are off to Grandma's house....

There is a list of what I should do... and a list of what I want to do. Wonder which one will get worked today?

I promised the boy I would get his quilt pinned today.... that is a must. I need to cut out my hand pieced quilt along block #7 I think? I did pull fabrics.

The next one is released tomorrow and I have yet to cut out last weeks! That will get done today as well....and one of the 2 will get hand stitched.
This is a photo of the hand pieced blocks so far. I am loving them in the blue and white I selected.

A little of the should list.... groceries.... silly people think they need to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner each and every day! Including snacks when they get home from school around 2:30 cause their lunch is crazy early at 10:35 and they are starving when they get home!  Laundry - something about wearing clean clothes? Finding what is under surfaces covered in 'stuff'..... Hmmm. Might try and clear a few and dust and vacuum. Then.... there is packing although that should be fairly easy as it will be 'warm' clothes needed for where we are headed later this week. We are in shorts and short sleeves down here in Florida right now.

At least 2 of the 4 nights are easy for me this week - Monday scouts is touring our local Publix grocery store so no planning for me!, Tuesday is kids soccer practice - hey - hand work time for 90 minutes!, Wednesday is nothing.... shhhh don't tell anyone!, Thursday is soccer games for the kids..... and they both have the late game at 6:35. I'll pop them home to get in jammies after, grab packed bags and drive to Sanford for the night and we travel early Friday AM flying up to cold country in Vermont for a week. I'm thinking Wednesday will be prepping all that hand work I want to take with me on the plane and for at Mom's house. PS, Dad I'm stealing that Ott lamp for the week while I am there!

Emily started off my morning by bringing her singer knitting machine into my room and starting to make a scarf on my bed with it. We had a couple of oopses where it came off but I think I fixed it and also got it taken off and finished. She has a scarf now for the cold winter weather we are headed to Friday when the kids break from school starts. I was going to show a photo of it... but she brought it to Grandma's to show her!

Time to get moving.. must get those first 2 crossed off the list so I can maybe do some of the other things. So much for sewing green and cream log cabins all day today as was my original plan...... but if I can finish the ones I have in process I will be about half way to my goal of 64 blocks!

Linking up with the Slow Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts. May you schedule some time to hand stitch something and relax today.....

Oh - a few photo's from the Engineering Day we did with the kids yesterday. Everyone was exhausted by last night!
Greg was with Emily and I was with Aidan. They were in different age groups so they did different things... except they both did the egg drop.... from 55 feet up in a bucket loaded and yes, they both went up and dropped their egg! Neither broke. I have a video of Aidan's and a photo of Em 'after'.

Aidan built a bridge, 'Creeky' which held 15 kilograms of weight before it crumbled.

Water filtration - his was not too bad at 120... the winner was 34.4 and some were in the 400 range. his was fairly clear from the murky water they started with. Then the egg drop. Video of Aidan's drop below.

RSC in green!

I did get a little green sewing in this week.

A slew of the bright green hexagon flowers were appliquéd onto their background. We must have had 2 months of green when I was making them  - light and bright, dark and sage since I have lots and lots of green flowers to stitch up. I was concentrating on the brights and still have a pile to work through. Good thing they are portable and will probably be hand work on the plane next week. I just need to prep the black backgrounds so I have enough.

No umbrellas yet in green and I am one behind on the yellow. But.. I do have that plane and waiting time at the airport coming up =)

Head on over and check out the other green progress at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I'll be checking in later tonight - I have an engineering event to go to with the kids today at the Discovery Center.

Another green - Emily's girl scout vest over the Samoa cookie (which needs lots of patches sewn on!). We did a couple of booths yesterday and she met her goal of 300 cookies sold! We had one on our lawn on a busy road.... love the guy who bought 3 cases! Then my co-leader had one scheduled at Winn Dixie last night so her daughter could reach her goal of 1200 boxes.... she had 65 to go as of yesterday morning! She met her goal too! Last weekend of cookie sales... thank goodness!

Hand Pieced Quilt Along - block #6

Well, block #6 got completed last night... the correct way! I do like how she came out.

I had made a block at the end of last week but it appears I had cut the color placement incorrectly.... so I have a nice bonus block this week.

Linking up with the group of Hand Pieced Quilt Along at ElmStreetQuilts.

March goal...

I'm linking up to ElmstreetQuilts and One Monthly Goal this month. The color for the RSC Challenge I do is green and that is my motivation (and a deadline!) to get all my green and cream log cabin blocks finished and sewn together into a top this month. I'll worry about quilting it next month and shipping it off!

It will be a challenge with a little traveling involved but I think I can do it! I am making scrappy ones that finish at 12 inches and the goal is a queen size quilt - roughly 8x8 blocks so I need 64 of them!

Wish me luck! 14 blocks done.

Weekend at the beach....

Family was in town this past week so we ended up at the beach on Friday/Sat and came home today. I had plans to sit and stitch....yup - the full bag did not even get opened!

Today I'm sitting on the back screened in porch with 2 kitties who are happy we are home with a little slow stitching. 

I need to remake block #6 of the hand pieced quilt along as I had the flying geese part wrong - I swapped the colors so I went ahead and turned it upside down to make this fun block instead. A bonus block! Now to make my 2 blue ones before the next block is released tomorrow.

Linking up with the other slow stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

 It was nice to enjoy family time, beach time and relax with the sound of the waves coming in on the beach and the feet walking in the sand. We saw a pod of dolphins off shore - I think there is one fin showing in the below photo's. My sister wanted to go to New Smyrna Beach so we headed there and did our first Airbnb. It was a nice 100 feet walk to the beach and a little efficiency apartment below someones house. Nice for a couple of days and gave us a separate room from the kids and a kitchen area to also hang out in. The kids were busy playing some of the games that were there... it kept them entertained and they had fun playing it with their cousins and with me last night and our family of 4 this morning after breakfast and before the bocci on the beach. Someone got a wee bit too much sun (hubby, and kids but hubby was the worst) so he stayed and packed up the car this morning while the kids and I got another hour on the beach playing, searching for shells and a little walk in the water.

Plenty of pretty shells to see.