Mid week - The Boy's HS Graduation quilt project.

 The boy had decided this summer he required a graduation quilt, like I have made for all my nieces and nephews. He finally figured out the types of fabrics/colors he prefers. I did a quick question on the Ravelry group and got some great ideas for the types of fabrics he wanted - civil war type colors in green and blue. Nothing bright, essentially. Some great links and ideas - led me to Kim Diehl, Kansas Troubles fabrics and some great shops that carry reproduction lines. I showed him some books by Kim (too bright still) and a KT one - that's more like it!. I then pulled a little quilt I had made with my KT line I got back when he was a baby. Yup - those colors exactly in greens and blues. 

So, some checking and a new line is out this month by Kansas Troubles - Wheatland. Gorgeous!

Perfect. I verified I could go scrappy a bit and not all the same fabric - so have 3 green and 3 blues in the cart at Fat Quarter Shop.  He likes the Bear Paw pattern so we will see how it goes. I have some Butter Churn neutrals to use with it but can get more KT neutrals if needed.  I'll order them today and then that will be the main focus for a bit. Deadline - end of May 2026, but I'm willing to let it slip to August 2026 =). The turkey might require it to be hand quilted.

I've been hand quilting after work in the afternoons. I have one corner of the 20x20 piece to be hand quilted still. No marking, just doing the lines by eye on the 2 inch squares.

I love how the back looks! This is using the Tuscany Wool batting I'm using with the BITA on the frame. A bit thicker than the last batting I used but it needles well. I did piece this one together so that zigzag stitch down the middle is a big bump.

Monday - a new week.

 After the kids made sushi on Saturday I took them to Germany with some pork schnitzel and roasted herbed potato wedges for dinner on Sunday. Greg might have been sent to Publix to get deli meat and lunch things for the kids. Seems he hit the BOGO sales and in the meat section got 2 pork roasts and 2 packages of pork chops. One package ended up as dinner the rest are in the freezer. I guess it reminded him of meals when he was growing up with a German Grandma! 

I got a little sewing machine time in and made 4 blocks to expand Aidan's quilt. I think I am going to make 4 more so it will be closer to 90 inches long. The boy is going to be tall! It is 60 inches long now.  Pattern is Twilight Hopscotch by Kim Diehl in her Simple Comforts book.

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.