Slow stitching Sunday....

 I have been working away at hand stitching this set of 12 Hexagon groups together this week. The groups of 4 became groups of eight with 3 sides to hand stitch. Then they became columns of 16 with 3 sides to stitch. Now it is time to do the long attaching with 15 sides to stitch together! As soon as I set these down on the floor for a photo Peanut needed to inspect them. I moved him off for the second photo.

The black line indicates the next line of stitching.  You can read more about my Quilt As You Go Hexagons here.

Back during the December Sales with Accuquilt I picked up these two on a buy one get one 99% off. They were similar in price. I figured those shapes would help me finish up the applique border on the midget applique quilt that has been stalled for a while. Who doesn't love a playful butterfly, dragon fly or bumblebee? Those might be used in my placemats this year as well. 

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

My birthday present arrived last week....

I got the companion sets to go with my 8 inch cube for the Accuquilt. I almost got a small hst die as well but took it out of the cart. When I snapped the photo of the dies - turns out there is a 1 inch finished hst in this set! I have a feeling I'll run a lot of my smaller scraps through with that die next year. 

I don't think I did any stitching at all yesterday. It was all about shopping after I finished working - Walmart and then Publix after dinner for the things I forgot (or someone did not put on the list). Still I managed to forget the soft Kleenex for my Rudolph nosed girl. Hubby is out this morning for a blood draw so he has been texted a list. I was thinking Monday late afternoon would be 'calmer' than Sunday afternoon.... nope! 

We did have the boy's catch for dinner last night. Greg cooked that up while I  made Rissotto for the girl since she refused to try it. I think it was redfish that they caught. She had a very small portion - which means she really is sick. Normally it is 2 big bowls full! The fish was not fishy at all - very light and was pretty good. There was a little left over and the boys will probably have fish taco's for lunch today.

I'd better get ready to log into work. I have a 2 hour whole company meeting and I plan to hand quilt my snowman quilt during it!

 

A splurge?

 There was a sale last week (I think). I've been watching them over at Accuquilt.com since I purchased mine last fall. It is SO amazing at cutting perfect curved pieces for quilting. After nearly 30 years quilting I finally ventured into curves and I have to say - I really love hand stitching them! I picked up the flowering snowball one  and have made blocks for a little quilt of that using some FQ's I've had waiting patiently for over 13 years.

Karen started cutting some pretty fabrics into drunkard path parts.... oh my. That is on my 'someday' list but I did not want to have to make templates and cut them all out. Then I saw a Buy 1 get 1 70% off sale pop up! Hmmm.... apple core was another one I wanted to try. They are both dies that were available. While in there..... I might have said, hmmm Winding ways is a neat pattern and I've been wanting to try one since I saw Ellen make hers and from reading the Winding Way's books by Jennifer Chiaverini. That landed in the cart and then there was a clamshell (it is curved....) but I really have no desire to make one of them so I went looking for another die that would use the same size mat's I had or was ordering and was around the same price. Crossed Canoe! This one keeps coming back onto my someday list and I think it would make a great RSC quilt next year so the clamshell was removed and that one was added =).

I did tell myself I have to finish my OMG for April before I can play with them though! I also need to cut out my light and bright blue flowering snowball parts for the RSC kit I am adding to each month and make my garden path block with my 8 inch cube HST die. I think that is enough motivation for me to get my OMG finished by Friday so I can play!

Last Slow Sunday of 2020

 I spent yesterday relaxing in my recliner with some hand quilting. I'm happy to say all the hand quilting on Book Club is done! 

Now to trim it up and I'm waiting on my helper to press my binding in half - last time I went ahead and did it I got a 'talking to' so she has instructions to get it done this morning so I can attach it and work on the binding by hand today.  I always am surprised when I flip it over to see the back, that the stitches actually look pretty good! Of course, the cats had to inspect it this morning as I was snapping some photo's. Ollie (or Lee Lee as he is called) is on the quilt and Peanut is on the side. 

I did cut out one flowering snowball block with my Accuquilt Go cutter on Christmas day. Isn't it pretty? I remember how long it took me to cut out the one in book club and love how quick the cutter makes this with the curves. This one is bigger, and will make a 12 inch block. If the binding gets done, then this block will get hand stitched as well.

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday stitchers. Thank you all for all the encouragement over the years and all the beautiful inspiration every week.

A present for me....

 I might have hit enter on a Ready. Set GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System from Accuquilt  this morning with a bunch of versatile dies included. Happy late birthday to me!  It seems to have also come with the GO! Me one as well which has another 2 sizes of dies.... and an additional 15% off being a first time customer. Not too shabby. I only had it in the cart for 1.5 hours before I hit enter.... and an e-mail to Karen for a final 'push'. Thanks Karen!

Emily 'made me' sort one of the buckets of scraps yesterday. Amazing how much fabric this 73 quart container held! Keep in mind, Emily stepped on all the buckets to squish things down so I could fit more fabrics in there =)  Only 2 or 3  bigger buckets of scraps like this to sort.

So far - trip to Wally world to get jeans and a belt for the boy - going to be in the 30's Monday night! They didn't have the needed fish medicine.... so after we got home and unloaded and I had lunch, I shuttled the boy to PetCo to get the fish meds. He has one fish seperated with fin or tail rot. Everyone got a dose of meds in their tank. I think the blue tailed one is having the issue.