Saturday in purple

 Starting off with the dog curled up on the quilt I am unpicking the machine quilting in the middle and replacing with hand quilting of each block. Curled up with Lambie his stuffed animal from Easter.

I did get the second kite block completed and there were some 1.5 inch left on the backing so I cut it to size and made a couple of these little blocks as leaders and enders.

Then I found the basket of purple and started with some random sewing for some crumb blocks.

The finish this week was of the Garden Path quilt. I made the majority of the blocks last year with this challenge. It finished at 48x60.

Linking up with the RSC.

The dog got a walk with Em and Greg and I. Greg and I checked out the floor plan of a house being built near us - with an in-law suite. Time for a shower before taking Emily to horses. I think I am taking a break from riding until fall when it gets cooler.

Garden Path is finished!

 

First one completed on my Spring 2023 UFO list. 

This finishes at 48x60 and will be a donation to the H2H project this year.

Slow Sunday stitching

 I spent a bunch of the day in the sewing room Saturday. I got 2 quilts pinned and one quilt quilted! I reached into my mystery box of fabric again to search for a binding and pulled out a mottled blue - turns out it was a wide backing off cut with fabric color ranging from dark blue/purple to light. I thought the multi colors would work great with this colorful quilt. I did a simple wiggle with the walking foot every 4 inches or so. I was able to make and attach the binding and was hand stitching it down Saturday night while rewatching some Harry Potter Movies. I have one side left to stitch down, which I'll work on Sunday.

I pulled various clips to hold the binding down as I was stitching it. I found that little paper clips like the purple ones work great. I got them on sale around back to school time a couple of years ago.

I needed just a little wider for the extra batting to fit the Frosty quilt. So I zig zagged some I cut off when trimming the above quilt, and it became the perfect size.

Frosty is quick pinned.  I hope to get some machine quilting in on this Sunday as well, since that batik snowflake would be hard to hand quilt. I am not sure if I'll add any hand quilting around the frosty's or not. I think this will be a wall hanging - and using warm and natural it won't need a lot of quilting to keep it together. I have enough of the blue cornerstone fabric left to make a binding for this. I'll be linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Weekend....

 It has been an interesting few days! Thursday, I got my permanent crown placed and had another cavity filled. It finally stopped hurting by the crown yesterday, lots of taking it in and out really annoyed the gums around that area. 

Friday, Emily texted me around 1PM (school gets out at 3:45) saying her throat hurt to swallow and she felt really cold when she moved. I walked into hubby's room and sent him to go pick her up from school since I was working. She did not want to go to the nurse since she thinks they only send people home if they vomit. She fell asleep on the way home and I clocked her temp at 102 when I checked on her! Her fever is down today to just slightly elevated by a couple of degrees, her ear hurts and her throat as well. She is all stuffed up as well, so a good head cold. She will probably be home from school tomorrow. I cancelled her horses on Saturday, so she has been sleeping a lot this weekend.

The boy had F1 racing this weekend. The race was in Australia, so he watched qualifying first thing Saturday morning and then the race first thing this morning. It really was run in the early AM hours so we watched it after the fact. Quite a race as well. Very exciting and he was happy to cheer on Alonso to another 3rd place finish. 

I had a Girl Scout event for appreciation of the adult volunteers last night at Painting with a Twist. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had made that yellow/white area smaller or my well bigger so it covered the light yellow on top. Oh well. The magic wishing well makes me smile.

I got the garden path blocks sewn together into a top today. I had used my 2.5 inch strip die to cut some sashings, but when I laid them out it just did not look good. I need to press this still, but it is measuring about 47 inches by 59 inches.

I also added the binding to my ABC Table Scraps Challenge today. I ended up hand stitching it down since I completely forgot to do it by machine this time. I had an Unfinished Block hanging around in greens that decided to become a little table mat for the table I made in 8th grade that sits next to my recliner. A few of my things I have been using this weekend. My change purse that holds my scissors, thread and needles. Seam rippers, for the next project and my water and YLI blue thread for hand quilting on the Bear Paw.

Speaking of that next project. I made hubby a quilt back in 2008 and it has been used a lot! I did a little binding fixing this week and now am working on unpicking the machine quilting from the middle sections. It is not holding up well, not sure if it is my terrible machine skills, the thread or a mixture of both but I'm slowly working on unpicking it and I'll add some simple machine quilting back to just hold it down. This was a pattern from the Nickle Quilts Book.

A photo of the quilt top back in 2008.

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers (even if it is the unstitching variety for me today!).

Garden Path Blocks

 After planting the garden Sunday and then adding air to the car tire (we will see how long before the needs air light come on again.... sigh, I just got 4 new tires about 4 months ago!). A trip through the car wash and a vacuum of the car. Getting groceries and putting things away, it was close to 2PM. I did process some things - seal-a-mealed the boneless, skinless thighs, made a homemade mix for the Italian seasonings salad dressing, cut up the watermelon and planned the meals for the week. Then, I got to sew!

I dug through the scraps (not many in green since I tossed a whole bucket of them last year when the cat got mad at me - it was easier to toss than launder all of that!). I wanted brights to finish of the last 2 blocks needed for this quilt since I have a dark green and a sage green already.

I tried laying them out to see how they would look. I'll be playing with them a bit still I think. You always see things in the photos that you don't see in real life. I think this would end up around 40x50 right now. I 'might' add sashing and cornerstones to make it a little bigger. We will see. I had hoped to have this finished by the end of the month.... but I am thinking that will not be happening.  On the positive - it is that much closer to becoming a finished top now that the last 2 blocks are done!

Sorry I have not visited links. The internet this weekend has been horrible. I am very sick of the circling wait symbol when trying to surf the web or watch tv (we don't have cable). Hopefully the second call to the internet company will get a tech out here to figure out what happened. In the past, every time a new house goes in, our reliability drops. It has been stable for a couple of years, but we noticed someone was playing with the lines up the street recently and I've been having issues ever since at work.  It got really bad this weekend, where tv was not working. so hopefully a tech can figure it out and 'fix' it. When you work from home and need a reliable internet connection, things like this are not very helpful. *** Edited - of course, right after I told work I had internet issues and was off for the afternoon, it amazingly popped from 3.4 Mbps or less to 20 MBPS! Arrgghh. I'm guessing it was on their end and someone finally figured it out! I checked and HBO Max actually came up - which it has not since Friday night. So frustrating but fingers crossed it is fixed.

Finishing off pink.

I was a little late in finishing playing with my pink this year. I was off yesterday and got a couple of hours in the sewing room to see what needed to get worked on. Turns out - I still needed to make some split 9 patches in pink for February. My supply of pink is very limited, but I was able to make up these blocks to add to the collection.

 I'll link up on Saturday with the RSC where people will be pulling out the green to play with for the month of March. I am excited! I have 2 light green blocks to make for the garden path collection and then I can assemble that into a quilt top. That will be my goal this month - to get that 2021 collection of blocks into a completed quilt.

Peanut the cat thinks the blocks will require moving around once I make the 2 light green ones. I'm sure he will be happy to assist in that process!

I headed off to the middle school midafternoon to be a chaperone for the advanced band heading to the MPA (music performance assessment) at one of the local high schools. There were a few middle school bands playing last night followed by a few high school bands. We got day 1 of the 3-day assessment. The kids did a great job and when the

teacher checked with the judges; they had assessed them at superior across the board! They performed 3 prepared songs on stage for 3 judges, then headed to the sightreading room across campus. They have it very secure and no phones while in that room. They saw 2 pieces of music and were given 3 minutes of review with the director before they performed the first one. The second piece they got 5 minutes to review before they performed it. The hardest part was not clapping after in the sightreading room since they did such a great job! This was a photo of them on the stage. We got home around 10PM and the girl was very sleepy this morning. I admit, I was as well. 

I think this finishes up the crazy month of February for the girl - with FFA (horse evaluation one weekend, cow another weekend), Band - lots of 3:45-5:30 after school practices the last few weeks and then the performance last Tuesday and the main event last night. Add in some girl scout cookie booths and riding of horses, working with Noelle the cow and feeding animals.... and normal schoolwork and it has been a busy time in my house shuttling kids here and there.

 

Weekend wrap up.

With the amount of rain we have been getting the last few days, I think I need to get the kayaks down from the top of the shed. The pool will get an inch or two of water let out again today before we get more rain this afternoon. For all those who need rain - I so wish I could send you some!

Emily did get her horse riding in yesterday morning. Tuesday was her first FFA meeting after school and I sent Greg to pick her up while I got Aidan and was home around 4! I could get really used to that next year with both in HS. Friday - I got him and was home a little after 4 and then went back for her later. She stayed for the first BASH after school. Their version of a social event rather than the dances I grew up with. Her friend Jasilyn came over after with her Mom for a couple of hours. She really wanted to see all the animals. Bear was loving her up just like he does with Em. 

I did not do much stitching this week. Something about forgetting to take my medicine at night for a couple of nights.... I guess it really does work since I know if I miss a day or two. Depression is real and if you have that feeling of not wanting to do anything.... see a doctor as the meds do help! I'm on the lowest dose and it helps a lot.

I did get into the sewing room yesterday afternoon and cut and pieced my second orange garden path block for the month. It joined the collection. I think I just need 2 more light greens to add to the mix.

I also did this little orange hexagon coaster for the TSC2022. I had started some embroidery on it ... but I did not like how it looked so I took it out. 

Today was F1 race day after 3 weeks off for their summer break. Quite an exciting start to the race! I did a little crochet. I need to find more medium yarn to finish off that small one. It looks like a rainy afternoon for us again starting around 3PM.... so maybe I'll hang out with Ollie in the bedroom, watch a movie and add some stitching to the cat and mouse quilt. First off - I need to tackle trimming the back shrubs while Greg and Emily are cleaning the chicken coop and Aidan needs to mow the lawn before the next deluge of rain begins. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Table Scrap Challenge and Slow Sunday Stitching.

An orange Garden Path block

This was my view Tuesday night. We got a new couch (and I got a recliner!) and Emily was testing out the recliner in the couch while we watched Turner and Hooch. The original with Tom Hanks. I saw on Disney + that there might be a new version out. Bear likes the new bed. He even let Emily use his quilt!

A pretty yellow butterfly was enjoying the purple flowers one morning after dropping the kids to school.

Today I got a little time in the sewing room and cut out my 20 orange triangles from the orange scrap bin. I had them mixed in with the brown scraps. Peanut wanted to hold down the parts for me as I was trying to sew. This was before the thunderstorm when he went and hid behind the washer. He dislikes thunder and it was quite a storm for the second day in a row.

The completed block. I need to make one more in orange, but I am not sure if I should try the light batiks or the bright oranges. 

Greg picked up a brisket at Sam's on Monday night and he had it in the oven all day on Wednesday. It was very yummy. I picked up bread this afternoon and I think it will be paninis with the leftover meat that was not sealed and popped into the freezer. I have some brussels sprouts that will get roasted in the oven as a side I think.

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.

Garden Path blocks.

 I cut and made the final dark purple Garden Path block today - in the upper left hand corner. That gives me 16 - 12 inch blocks. I'm debating if I add 2 orange and 2 light/bright green ones to the mix. 48x48 is a little small so I think I'll add another 4 and maybe some kind of a border to make it a little bigger. We will see. 

Thursday night we headed to Inverness and went with Grandma on an Air Boat ride! That was an experience. I didn't bring my phone so no photo's but the scenery was amazing. We did see birds and a turtle but no gaters or snakes, thank goodness. 

Linking up on Saturday with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

RSC in purple.

 I guessed and made a garden path block in purple at the end of last month. Here it is with the last dark blue one.

Emily got her maple creemee last night and is a happy camper. Creemee is soft serve in Vermont.

The kids did a little fishing and after dinner we did a kayak paddle. Enjoying our time up in Vermont.

Linking up with the RSC. 

Happy Monday

I did not get as much done in the sewing room as I expected Sunday, but I did make some progress before needing to sleep for a while to stop a headache. 

I cut out triangles in dark blue and purple and made 2 more garden path blocks to add to the pile.

Then I pressed the RSC Squares quilt top, measured and cut the backing and pressed it. Both got rolled onto their boards and I cut the batting off the roll of warm and natural. That was all that got done on Sunday.

Monday I woke up and after a Gaterade and lots of water I took Emily to horses in the morning and did a little grocery shopping on the way home. I managed to get the quilt pinned in the afternoon and started the quilting after making veggie lo mein for dinner. I had to stop when Peanut decided it needed some cat napping in part of it.... and it was getting close to game time (NHL) so I stopped for the night. I have one side of the diagonal lines sewn. Just have to do the other side on Tuesday after work then make and attach the binding. Might this quilt get finished this month for a second finish of my UFO's for the Spring 2022 Challenge? Time will tell.

Peanut did inspections throughout the process!

Garden Path

After getting the Baby Masala Box set yesterday, I pulled out the Accuquilt and the #5 die to make some dark blue HST's. I need 20 of the 'color' for each block with 4 - 2.5 inch squares. I also need an additional 8 HST's in a different color to finish off the block. I found my pile of odd and ends from making them last year so I had a head start. I need to make one more in dark blue... maybe after work today. I am running low on the print I use as the middle 4.5 inch square so I will have to get creative.

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.

 

Teal wrap up

Why he thinks he is helping while laying right here I have no clue. Peanut is a very needy boy!

I have parts for Erin's butterfly. I need to hand stitch the middle curve then baste it still. The full stop question marks, the garden path blocks and one of the scrappy squares in teal.

I'll link up Saturday for the RSC where we will find out Septembers color for the challenge. 

 

Friday catch up.

I did a little whip stitching of these sets of 4 Hexagon QAYG's together this week. I need to get back to stitching my individual teal hexagons but I wanted to play with getting a few sets of 4 together to see how it would work. I tried the way Daisy and Grace recommended to stitch it together but I found there were gaps when I did it and whip stitching them together works better for me - faster and more secure.

I got out the Accuquilt Go and cut parts for a scrappy Flowering Snowball kit. I have been adding some from each color selected each month from my scraps. I see I really missed on the purple month of June! I cut dark blue and teal yesterday and I'll pull purple later today and add those to the pile since it is still out.

I also pulled my #5 HST from my 8 inch cube and cut out half square triangles to make one teal block in the bottom corner. Seems I missed Purple and Dark Blue with this set of Garden Path blocks. I need to make another teal then the purple and dark blues this month. Once cut out, they do go together really nice. 

Thursday was my day off and I was in the mood to bake! I made some back of the bag Honey Oat Bread - recipe from King Arthur Flour and some Sourdough Soft Pretzels since the sourdough starter needed attention. It makes 8 - I had one, Greg had 2 and each of the kids had one at car pick up for their snack. I popped these three in the freezer and we will see how they heat up.

I'll link up Saturday with the RSC where we are playing with teal/aqua.

***Edited - right after this post I got a call from school. Em was close contact to a positive case Thursday. When I mentioned she was vaccinated they actually SENT HER BACK TO CLASS! It makes no sense! We cancelled horses, grandma and scouts as it is safest to assume it was transferred. Knowing our hospitals are overrun in Marion County right now (over 270+COVID patients) we are hunkering down. Thankfully we are all vaccinated. I see lots of sewing in my future today! 

 

RSC Saturday in red

I showed this earlier this week but since it's Saturday and Red.... I'm posting it again. Garden Path blocks are all caught up!

I spent a bunch of time Friday night prepping a slew of red hexagons. I think I counted 27 prepped so if I have extra reds after finishing up Harmony, I'll grab a few more to finish off the 31 I need this month. Sophie was kind enough to allow a photo with them. 

I got 2 sets of step #4 of Harmony stitched. Before I prep the next 2 sets, I figured I'd actually stitch these together to make the first part of the block. These 4 go together then a HST goes in the corner with 2 white rectangles to make it square. There are 4 of these for each block. Halfway through the month and making good progress on getting this stitched together by hand.

Linking up on Saturday with the RSC.

I had planned to prep this post Friday night but there were dangerous warning signs on the blogger sites including mine. Thank goodness it cleared off by 10:30 or so. Post written and scheduled.

Saturday - horses, then dropping Emily to a birthday party for the afternoon and possibly overnight. I plan to head to Joann's and see what I can find for black on black and black on white fabrics for a graduation quilt needed for next month. The accent color is red! I came up with the disappearing nine patch pattern for a quick twin quilt for a boy. I found a new Andover fabric line that would be perfect... alas, time crunch and I am not seeing a FQ option over at Connecting Threads. We will see what I can find locally first.

 

Wednesday already?

 Honestly, I have not had anything to post about so have been a little quiet the last few days. I did get my red garden path blocks sewn up over the weekend and here is a shot of all of them so far this year. Pink, yellow, green, light blue and red for 10 blocks.

I finished hand stitching step #3 of Harmony and cut out one practice one for step #4. 

That one is all done by templates for the twisted triangle and I'm following their advise to do one or two before cutting them all out. Mine are going to be tan.... since they were in the bundle with the red. I decided to introduce the tan when I was cutting out step #3 and marked up my pattern so I would not forget when cutting out the next steps. 

Instead of prepping blocks and doing my finance report for scouts on Sunday..... I was a wee bit lazy. So... I get to do my finance report tomorrow (it is due by Saturday and I do love to procrastinate!) and then I'll prep some more Hexagons and all of my Harmony step #4 parts.

Saturday RSC in red...

Well, I never did get into the sewing room last night. These are the red parts that will become 2 garden path blocks. 

I have the reds pulled and just need to press them before cutting out some flowering snowball parts in red. I figured I'd make myself a kit for a scrappy flowering snowball quilt this year by cutting a little each month. No rhyme or reason on how many or what fabrics, just pull from the bin and if it fits it gets cranked through! These are bigger so not a lot of my scrap bin parts are big enough. 4 of the half peel and 4 of the bigger parts makes a 12 inch block. I'm using my Accuquilt to cut them out.

I did use my Accuquilt 8 inch cube - die #5 to cut my 2.5 inch half square triangle parts this week in light blues and reds. The light blue ones did get sewn together.

Finally, my Hexagon quilt as you go blocks got prepped and started. I seem to be a few days behind so maybe I'll bring the tin with me to horses this week and stitch a few as Emily is riding.

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.