RSC in pink.

I took some time last night and worked on the pile of pink scraps from the cutting table.

The pile was pared down a bunch and these 2-  12.5 inch blocks created! The pile is a little under half of what it was with some really small scraps being tossed (yes Joy - they were tossed!). 

Linking up with the RSC Quilters over at Angela's.

 

Hand quilting....

 

I had plans to do so many things today. Alas.... when you feel puny you get Hubby to drop and pick up the kids and just sit and do some hand quilting until Peanut decided he needed a nap. 'Oh boy, this is a snuggly quilt!'

Emily has her last concert tonight. I should be able to go as long as I don't need to drive. Grandma is heading over to see it as well. 

Harmony...

I was working on this hand pieced quilt along last year and managed to get one 28 inch block hand pieced. I had planned to make 4 of the blocks and had prepped and started the second one. I pulled the ziplock bag out Sunday afternoon and sorted through the parts. There is another baggie of pieces that I left alone as I hope they are some of the parts for block #3. I have a tin in the sewing room that might have some of  the block #4 parts in it. This one had sections made so I found the instructions and it appears that the twisted triangle parts were next on the list.  These 6 parts and some white rectangle parts will make the 4 corners of the block. I did see the parts for the flying geese and the triangles for the middle sections. They just need their sewing lines drawn onto the back of the parts.

 

Sometimes you need to just pull something out and see what happens!

Sunday stitching

I am adding some hand quilting stitches into the Endless Diamond quilt as my son overtook the living room tv to watch the F1 race this morning. Lets just say hubby and I are learning a lot about F1 racing over the last year. I think he is enjoying his birthday present of the F1 app to watch the test runs and races. 

Yesterday, Emily's friend met us at Painting with a Twist and we enjoyed a couple hours of painting. 

The girls did a great job.

Emily snapped me with my painting.

Today Emily has horses... it is still up in the air who brings her. I would love to prep and pin a quilt for machine quilting (and I should do my last girl scout finance report due next month). We will see what happens. I do have knitting in the car for a dish cloth that could use some stitches if I am tasked with the trip to horses. 

Yesterday the oil got changed in the car and I picked another 4+ pounds of blueberries for the freezer. So far a blueberry tea bread has been eaten from the Thursday picking. I might go one more time as there is another week or two of blueberry picking. We won't mention how many I ate as I was picking!

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

A busy Thursday....

 I started out the day in the blueberry fields! I did drop a kid off to school first though. Greg had already taken Emily who had an FFA exam this morning before school.

My basket was filled and close to 5 pounds of blueberries later (we won't mention all the testing that went on in the field!) I have a sheet pan and another pan in the freezer filled with berries. It is probably time to move them into quart size freezer bags. I have a few containers of fresh berries in the fridge for eating. Blueberries are great snacks!

After the berries were put away, I had the task of picking out fabrics for the first block of the Quilters Patch Quilt along. I am starting this a few months late, but I'll work along on it as I can. Selecting fabrics is the most difficult part I think. I still need to cut out the background parts for this block and hope to do that before I head off to pick up the kids from school.

I switched to prepping some fabrics for the EPP project of Brimfield Awakening. I'll have to find a container to put these in with the papers, scissors, needles and thread. I have a knitting dish cloth on the needles in the car right now, but as soon as that is finished it will be replaced with these parts.

First, I need to pop out and fill the car with gas and run the car through the car wash. With the smoke from a prescribed burn in the forest near my house yesterday and the construction of the road on the way to the school with all the dust, it could use a good wash. 

Hand quilting.

I saw this guy on my walk last night. I had never seen it before and this is an up close photo zoomed in. It was on top of a yard orange stick to mark the edge of the lawn. Big wings and a redish orange body?. 

I have been stitching away and this is where I left off last night.

A shot of what I was working on Sunday.

3 blocks of the 20 are quilted. Each block has 24 pieces and I am just hand quilting 1/4 inch along the sewing lines of everything.

I stopped and picked up some chicken and yogurt needed for the Chicken Tikka Masala tonight. Geez, the bird flu really has knocked off the chicken availability. At Sams last night there were no whole birds or parts other than wings and legs available in the fresh section. I did not check the frozen section as I have some in the freezer already. I managed to cut up what I needed for a double batch tonight and then cut the remaining breasts into thinner parts and seal a mealed them for the freezer in 1 pound portions. I need to find more veggie meals I guess. Tomorrow night will probably be veggie lo mein - everyone likes that and it will help to clear out the veggie crispers! 

 

Easter Sunday and a new project!

 Happy Easter! I think I am ready for company. My In-laws are coming over for appetizers and the traditional Easter Ham meal in the early afternoon. Things are picked up and prepped and after I grab a shower, I think I might begin the prep work for my new project. 

The Brimfield Awakening block. The charm packs are big enough for the templates so they should work for this project. A big Thank You to Karen for passing along the templates.  I have the pattern, EPP papers and the templates so I am all set to begin. This will probably be a long term project and be my car line work waiting on the kids. I'm not sure what the background will be yet, but I'll work on making the EPP part first and worry about what I will applique it down to later. Any advise? This is my first foray into EPP.  Linking up with the other slow Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts. 

My night time stitching is hand quilting on the Endless Diamond Quilt. This one was hand pieced from a template I created, based on a photo from Facebook in 2015. It is very happy to be out of the waiting line and getting some stitches added to it each night.

Saturday in pink...

I got a late start in the sewing room today. Horses with Emily this morning and then lunch. I figured the house needed a bit of picking up (floors are mopped and things are dusted. One kid is on the back porch clean up and one has their bathroom to clean. Hubby said he would vacuum... I just need to pick up and clear off the table and hutch in the dining room and clear off all the surfaces in the kitchen... mainly the middle island.) I might have spent some time setting up my new laptop. My 12 year old Mac finally bit the dust and would not charge anymore (the cat decided to eat the wire!) so we ordered a new charging cord. Well, it worked a few times and then nothing. Hubby ordered me a new laptop - got a Dell this time instead of a Mac. Took a while to log into everything and reset things and get things settled. When I did wander into the sewing room, 

I found the bucket of red and pinks and sorted them....

I got this pile of scraps. I managed to find enough parts that had a 2.5 inch size to cut some squares for a couple of 16 patch blocks.

Ta da.... some 16 patch squares that really need a pressing. 

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I think some mindless sewing of those bits and pieces into some crumbs might happen this week. We will see.

 

Friday

I have been working on hand quilting the Endless Diamond quilt this week. Well... I took a few days off from hand work to rest my wrist. I was having issues lifting things with my right hand so was thinking it needed some rest after all the binding and embroidery on the memory quilt and the hand stitching on the hexagons. It is feeling much getter now so I am back to evening stitching.

The magnolia tree is full of blooms and these were the first couple to open this week. 

Emily and I are off for a mani/pedi this afternoon as soon as I log off from work. The kids are off school today.

I suppose the house needs a deep clean before my ILs come over on Sunday for Easter. That will be tomorrow's task. 

I kept asking the kids if the wanted baskets and the egg hunt on Sunday... they are 13+14. No real answer. Greg took the kids to school one day this week and he indicated they wanted the candy. When I asked, they said ' we never said that!'. Hmmmm. I went outlast night and got some candy. I think I'll fix the baskets and hide them in my closet and see what they do that morning. I might also hide plastic eggs with candy .... outside? Still thinking on that one. Will have to check the weather...

Memory quilt is done

Excuse the night stand mess. The quilt is bound and I am almost done embroidering the label for the back. I figured it was 'done enough' to post on the blog though. I'll call the new owners tomorrow and arrange pick up. Lots of memories for her in this quilt. I hope she likes it.

 

Sunday binding stitching....

Every week Kathy reminds us to slow down and breathe with a few deep breaths and some relaxing slow stitching. Today I will be doing that while hand stitching the binding down to the back of the Memory quilt I have been trying to get finished for the last 9 months! I have 336 inches of binding to stitch down and then a label to make and apply before I can contact the new owner and arrange pick up. I saw her yesterday at horses and said it should be ready mid week for pick up. The smile that lit up her 16 year old face was amazing to see. I really hope she likes it. It is a memory quilt made from clothing from both her parents who she has lost in her young life. 

Trimming after quilting.

I made the binding from cut offs from the backing fabric. That will be hand stitched down today and possibly Monday and Tuesday evening. I'm shooting for a movie marathon today to get the majority of it stitched.

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

Once this is done..... I can get back to the other slow stitching projects in process - quilting on Endless Diamonds, knitting a dish cloth that is living in the car, and applique of butterfly's to their background. I like to have options of what to work on based on what I feel like working on at any given time! 

RSC in pink

 I finally cut out the crossed canoes for pink and yellow (oops, forgot to do them last month!) and I managed to cut out enough for 4 blocks for each instead of 2. Oh well, it never hurts to have some extra's. I managed to sew 3 of them together before the bobbin ran out. We won't mention that I managed to sew 2 of them together wrong and got the trusty seam ripper out for some usage before I sewed them together correctly, all under the watchful eye of Peanut the cat who draped himself over the sewing machine. Some stitching did happen while holding his tail out of the way of the needle. 

Linking up on Saturday to the RSC.

Progress on the Memory quilt.

My hope was to get this all quilted today. Sigh. Storms this morning had me not ironing or using the sewing machine this morning. I did manage to get this quilt prepped and pinned for quilting. I have about a half hour.... I will head in and start the straight line quilting on it shortly. 

It will be a busy afternoon for us. After picking up the kids we have a good hour plus to kill before heading to the high school and doing Aidan's orientation and schedule for next fall. Of course... it falls today when Emily turns 13 - officially 2 teenagers in the house! She is ok with doing her birthday dinner tomorrow night, thank goodness. Since someone dislikes having her photo taken... how about this one from when she was an adorable toddler!

 I did just pop to Publix to pick up her requested cake for her birthday. That will be a nice after orientation treat I think.

A new adventure? EPP

I have been watching EPP tutorial videos and searching Pinterest for quilts made using EPP and I kept coming back to the Brimfield Block by BrimfieldAwakening.

I loved watching Karen create her beautiful quilt and since the Hexagon quilt is completed, it is time to learn a new technique I think. 

It will take me a bit to get started on it as I gather the papers, templates and the pattern....(They are currently in my cart waiting for me to hit buy now!) but I did a little search for fabrics and I think these might be some options for me. 

Various charm packs I got from Craftsy years ago. I think I have 2 of each but did break into one of them for a few pieces. I'll have to see the templates to see if these will work or not. There are various shades in all of the packets.

Another option is this pretty batik pack that is in blue, teal and greens. Not sure I want to hand piece batik though, but we will see.

I have messy shelves of blues and teals, so that is always an option 

or a FQ pack of reds I won last year might be another option. 

I am really leaning towards the charm packs in the top photo though - I do love all the variety of the colors and I think that is what I loved about Karen's quilt. 

Sunday....after the rain

Saturday was a very rainy day and I spent it volunteering at a girl scout event. Over 100 girls visited Hogwarts and had a wonderful time despite the weather and some shuffling of outdoor events into inside ones in the space we had. None of my troop went so it was purely a volunteering and helping out day for me. A few photo's of the setup before the wizards arrived... I was in charge of the relay races. They had to find the right keys to unlock the lock, untie the knots, solve a puzzle, roll the dice, find the rock and then race to the trophy. 

I finished the hexagon QAYG this week and got a few photo's outside on Thursday morning. The front.

 The back of the quilt. 

Now that the Hexagon quilt is completed I can get back to hand quilting on the Endless Diamond quilt waiting patiently in the hoop. I hand pieced this top as well so it needed to be hand quilted.  I hope to get a few stitches in this later today after picking up the kids from Grandma.... assuming they ever wake up and call her to collect them! She was with Emily yesterday for the traditional lunch and shopping with Grandma for their birthday. Emily will be turning 13 later this week. 

As for me, after a quick shower I'll be heading into the sewing room to finish stitching the last few memory blocks and then will begin assembling them into a quilt top of 84x84. I am hoping I can get the top completed today. Wish me luck.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Spring 2022 UFO Challenge.

Well, same list with one thing removed that was completed in Winter 2022 Challenge - the Hexagon Quilt as You Go was completed!  I am hoping for a much more productive quarter.

Finish #1 - #30 Memory Quilt for Olivia. April 2022.

Block Collections.

1.) I know I have at least one more cut and in a baggie somewhere to fill that open spot for a 7x6 setting. These are hand pieced.... and might need a little fixing along the way.

 2.) Hexagon flowers on a black background. These are a stack of blocks I hand pieced a few years ago then hand appliqued to the black background a couple years after that!  Not sure if they will become one or two quilts....

3.) Crumb blocks.... might these end up in a quilt? Or the start of some baskets?

4.) Sweet Confetti blocks - I have 96 of these made.... need to be put together and quilted.

***5.) Midget Applique quilt from Sentimental Stitches. I need to add  more flowers and leaves and the vines... and the bottom yellow border. This one is completely hand pieced.

6.) Ella Maria Deacon blocks - make a few more and finish them off into a top. I believe I was making these by hand. Patterns from Sentimental Stitches.

7.) Purple applique hearts... need to figure out how they want to be set.

8.)  this quilt that has been an on and off, leader and ender for years. My scrappy irish chain. I believe I had a bucket of 2 inch squares next to my sewing machine for a while and would make sets, and rows and blocks in between sewing other things. I think it wants to get competed.

9.) Midget block collection - I started these in Vermont in 2010! I have a light blue for sashing.

10.) Civil War Blocks

****11.) Endless Diamond Blocks - Currently in the hoop being hand quilted!

12.) Birds in the Air block collection

13.) Harmony - hand pieced project started March 2021- one 28 inch block completed - 3 to go.

14.) Cat and mouse is on the frame in process of hand quilting but has been sadly neglected.

15.) Erin's Butterfly ( I just didn't want to renumber things so throwing this one on here!) I made the wings in 2021. This year hope to applique to the background and add the body and antennea. Also need to add one  more set of wings... thinking 9 is a nice number?

16) This one stayed on the list - needs quilting. Vermont Quilt Festival Booth Hop from either 2008 or 2009. I have backing for this and it is 71x71.

17.) Green Tumblers - a hand pieced top. 

18.) Hoarfrost - top is done will it get quilted this year? **Snowflake gray backing

19.) Baby Bear Paw quilt top ** Made back from a class in 1999 I think from Yankee Pride. ** Polka dot backing

20.) Trip around the World

21.) Y2K Joann's BOM - quilt top

22.) Tumbler flag - this did not come out how I imagined.... It might get reinvented after taking parts out. We will see. **Suggestion to make it wider. 

23.) 1857 Quilt Along Top

24.) Spring Hexagons - not sure if this wants to be bigger or not.... 

25.) FCQG baby quilt challenge. 40x48 have a backing for this. ***Polka dot backing

26.) Triple Irish Chain - green. 80x80 I think. I did find both fabrics extra with it... Might need a green or cream border first or both... Made in the early 2000's.

27.) Garden Path blocks - a few more got added last quarter. missing purple, orange and light green and maybe dark blue.

28.) RSC 2021 quilt squares

29.) Full Stop Sew along.... 2021 . Re thinking this one - might eliminate some of the white space.

30 - *** Completed in April. Memory quilt for Olivia. The size on this one is for a queen size bed. Changed to use lots of clothing memories not just jeans..... currently had 41 of 49- 12 inch blocks made. I think I have all the fabrics prepped now... just need to sew, sew, sew.

Progress.