Mid week check in....

Mostly hand work this week so not much progress. I did add a teal border to the churn dash quilt and hope to get this pinned tonight and quilted tomorrow.... for mailing out this weekend. I do get to bring the boy to guitar tonight again so hopefully the pinning can happen after.... and before the rocket launch at 8PM! 

This little frog was by the front door Monday night when Em and I got home from scouts. She took the photo.

More hexagons sewn into sets of 4. I need to prep more orange ones but 12 are done this month and stitched into their four patch. 

The kids 'open house' tomorrow night has turned into a virtual one.... so we will see how that goes. Thankfully the numbers in the schools were down a bit last week. Let's hope that downward trend continues. Em did mention she was pulled yesterday for close contact so we will be watching her for symptoms. 

 

Thursday Catch Up

 It has been a busy morning so far. Kids were dropped to school. Then I stopped on the way home and picked some blueberries at Ashbier Farms. I tried the Farthing this year - they were the first 6 rows and I am trying to be good to my ankle which is not hurting so far today! They taste just like the ones I remember picking on the point up in Vermont when I was growing up. Sweet but not too sweet. I think I will try and make blueberry jam today with some of them. I picked 3.5 pounds at $4 a pound. 

I'll be heading back with the kids at some point... and maybe next Thursday morning as well. I freeze them on cookie sheets and then pop them into quart freezer bags. I might try a blueberry pie this year too with the next batch.

Then I tilled the garden between the rows. It needed it. The garden is producing pretty well this year - I guess the added chicken fertilizer is helping with the very sandy soil we have. We enjoyed some swiss chard and fresh peas with dinner of Risotto last night. I had to make a double batch (2 cups of arborio rice to start) and there was ONE spoonful left. One! I guess my family really likes it. I was planning pork chops with it but 2 of them said they were happy with just the rice so that was dinner! Tonight - will be chops on the grill and leftover grilled veggies I think. I do have to pop to Aldi today to get milk and creamer and 'snacks'. Snack are their fruit and grain bar and granola bars. Seems I have been out all week and it is causing issues with packing lunches! Asparagus is on sale so that might get added to the mix for dinner. My green beans should be ready for their first pick tomorrow - they are purple =). The beets are looking great and I picked the last of the radishes so I'll plant another row of them. Looks like the tarragon, basil, cilantro and a little parsley is coming up. Nothing from the dill. The spinach got picked and is being part of my mushroom and spinach omelette in the mornings. Emily's rows of carrots are looking good as well. She grows them for horse treats!

I did a little sewing last night and got the 16 patches sewn into a top. This will be 32x40 - perfect size for one of the hands2help charities. 

I also sewed the churn dashes into rows of 7. I just picked them up and sewed so who know's how it will look ... I had laid them out last night but it looks like the cats were unhappy with the look and decided to move things around a bit in the night.

I'd better get my shower done so I can go shopping and then I get sewing time! I hope to pin and simple quilt the 2 colorful charity ones today. Hope was the key word in that sentence!

May 7 -

I made a green heart today..... and a couple of small hearts yesterday.

The brown Dresden plate was finished with the hand quilting. I'll need to prep the maroon one since I did not do that yesterday.

The blue binding was sewn onto the front of the churn dash quilt and I started hand stitching the binding down last night. I just did straight line stitching along the angle of the rows. I used warm and natural batting so not much quilting is needed and I like the snugly flannel backing I put on it.

It should get finished this week - nice to have something warm on me as the AC blows directly onto my recliner. It is really kicking in with the temps in the mid 80's and hitting close to 90 at the end of this week. I'm regretting volunteering for field days next Friday the 18th...any chance someone can send a cold mass of air down to Florida then - I'd take anything in the 70's and/or cloudy weather that day!
 =).

RSC Saturday....

My yellow for the week. One 16 patch block of 2.5 inch squares.

Yesterday's post had a finish of the RSC 2015 quilt here and the binding got finished on the Grandmothers Choice quilt in purple and green.

I also looked in the drawer of tops and pulled this little 50x60 one of 6 inch churn dashes to work on next. These were made a few years ago I think with the RSC Challenge. I made 12 each month and divided them in half to make this top. The extras - 6 of each color are on the side.

I pulled some leftover batting pieces and just need to sew them together with a zig zag stitch and then make a backing. I think these 6 parts will work together to make a batting.

I will probably do walking foot quilting - maybe a big cross hatch of 3 or 4 inches on the diagonal? and then a solid color binding of whatever I can find big enough in the stash.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned doing something with the green homespun... well greens and browns got cut into big rectangles and then lots of four patches were made.... these will become a bricks and stepping stones quilt from the free quiltville pattern here.

Head on over to the RSC Challenge and see how others did with the yellow scraps this week.

Scrappy tops are coming together....

I was able to sew the diagonal set of the churn dashes together this morning. I did take a break and grabbed Wendy's for lunch  and took it in and ate with Aidan at school in between the sewing. I've done lunch with both kids for the month at school...Another thing checked off the list!

Those tops are starting to pile up from the rainbow challenge. The bottom of the pile above is the RSC Sampler.

The middle quilt top is the 16 patch stars.

I just have another set of the churn dashes to figure out what to do with them! 72 more little churn dashes will come out to play sometime soon. I also have my birds in the air blocks from a couple of years ago wanting to be put together. The also want to be hand quilted with a baptist fan pattern so they will just have to wait patiently in the drawer until Hugs and Kisses is close to being done before they become a quilt top! Bossy little blocks they are!

I'm thinking I only need a couple of hours at work on Saturday... so maybe I'll skip out and head home and pin and quilt one of these little guys? That is probably a dream... but you never know what will happen. Saturday morning starts out with a pancake breakfast with Santa before I head to work and Greg takes the kids to Grandmas where they will go to her town's parade. We'll do Christmas with her on Saturday night. It is hard to believe the kids only have 5 more days of school before winter break!

Linking up on Saturday morning with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Take a peek at all the links and get some ideas for next year's challenge. I think I have decided on some of the things I will be working on - the 25 patch wonky stars, a scrappy strip of each months color - 3.5 inches by 60 or 70 inches long sewn onto some muslin with a little cream strip in between each one, adding my black hexagons around the hexagon flowers from 2014 and the RSC 2015 sampler. Have you been thinking of how you will use your scraps next year?

A chance to sew this morning!

I was able to finish sewing the rows together for the RSC Sampler quilt. I really like how it came out. I think it will stay like that and just get quilted into a snuggle size quilt with a dark brown or tan binding. Someday.... this pile of quilt tops is really getting out of control!

Then I started playing with the churn dash blocks. I split the blocks in half and have 6 each of my 12 colors in this quilt for the diagonal layout.

Plain layout with sashings....

I am leaning towards the diagonal layout with some white triangles around the edge to finish it off and then a scrappy rainbow binding. What do you think?

I just got back from lunch with Emily at school today. We spent all day yesterday in Orlando at the GI specialist to see about her tummy issues. Just have to take her for blood work tomorrow morning to check for Celiac (fingers crossed it is negative) and then schedule the lactose intolerance testing for January. I think I'll attempt to sweep and mop the floors quickly before starting to sew these churn dashes together. Think I can keep the cats from messing it up until I get it sewn together? Yea, me either! That is why I took the picture =) I hope I can find more time to sew this week but it is a busy one. Blood work tomorrow for Em and early release from school. Thursday is bowling in the morning for me and then I take the kids from school 15 minutes early for their dentist cleaning. Friday I have lunch with Aidan at school. Saturday morning is breakfast with Santa and then I get to go to work. Busy, busy at my house again!

Light blue Churn Dashes.....

I had a little bit of time Friday after my morning walk and before I had to go to 'school' to learn about the Common Core Math. I decided to cut some parts for the light blue churn dashes and started sewing.

I've done 12 each of 12 colors.... (well only 6 of the light blue so far this month) of 6 inch finished churn dash blocks. Now.... what to do with them?

Should I split them up - 6 sets of each color and make two quilts? Group a couple of colors together with some alternate blocks and make a couple of snuggly throws that I was thinking of gifting around Christmas? (purple and yellow; pink and bright greens?).....Decisions, Decisions. I think I'll sleep on it for another week and then toss some coins =) What would you do?

Head on over to visit Angela on Saturday morning and see what other rainbow projects are being worked on.

This picture is from my new iPhone. I'm in process of setting it up but it let me take a picture so it is already better than my other phone. This one is huge though.... we'll see if I can get used to it.

Saturday in green......

First off - I'm happy to report that my crossroads quilt I made during the first green month is now completed! Well... two more binding sides to go.

I also made my 12 churn dashes this week. Oops.... 11 not 12!

A 16 patch block.

I started cutting out step two for the Celtic Solstice mystery from last fall. All 200 bright green rectangles are cut. Now for the 200 neutral and yellow squares. I think I'll also do the step of the four patches of orange and green - or at least cut the green strips out this month while the pile is next to the cutting mat. Maybe orange will be next month so I can do the other steps with orange then?!? Pretty Please Angela?

Head on over Saturday morning to see what other scrappy greens were played with this week over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

We went to school this morning to meet the kids teachers. Em is tickled pink to have Mrs. Weiss - who happens to team teach with Mrs. Honstead (Aidan's KG teacher last year). Aidan has Mrs. Medina who knew him and his teacher from last year. She looks like a great teacher too. They are very excited to head to school next week. Aidan gets to go all week and Emily will go the last three days. There was only one person under Wednesday so Mrs. W asked if she would like to go that day and make a new friend. She agreed. Looks like a great school year ahead for the kids.

Mid Year Recap of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

It is the halfway point of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Angela is hosting a link party today to show off all the projects we have been working on this year. So far we have worked with blue, pink, teal, purple, green and yellow. This month red was selected as the color so I hope to add some pretty reds to the mix by the end of the month. 

These are my 6 inch RSC Sampler blocks that Angela is so nice to figure out and post instructions for. I think it might need a wee bit more pink but I'll wait and see how it is looking in December.

This year I am making 6 inch finished churn dash blocks in each color. I make 12 per month and use white as the background. I have no clue how these will end up but I should have plenty to play with =). I still have birds in the air blocks from two years ago sitting and waiting to be put together, snails trails from last year that is a top waiting to be quilted..... I seem to like to make blocks but get stalled at the finishing stage. =)

This year I joined the hexie craze.... although I am hand piecing mine instead of doing the standard English paper piecing. I made one that way.... it just seemed easier and faster for me to put these together as hand piecing. I do love my hand work projects as they are so easy to go in the car with me and stitch a little here and there while waiting on the kids. Last year I did applique orange peels and I know I will have something hand work related for next year. I saw an antique quilt in one of my books that uses black as the background with a flower garden quilt ... I am leaning towards that but who knows what I will come up with when I decide to actually start putting this together!

Head on over to SoScrappy and see a beautiful array of projects in bright rainbow colors. Maybe you'll decide to join in on the fun.

Wednesday, Wednesday.....

I've had the parts for the churn dashes sitting on the sewing table for a little while now. This morning I took the 15 minutes to sew the seven of these together. I need to cut 5 more out to have my 12 yellow churn dashes for this month. Maybe I can prep those on Friday.... if I don't have to work. I know I am swapping with G tomorrow so he can watch the kids final swim lessons. Aidan's second coach wants to test him for the 2 lap swim - which would get him a swim cap and goggles and advancement to stroke school. I was not planning more lessons for this summer... but maybe we'll try and squeeze in another 2 weeks if he doesn't get tested and pass tomorrow.

This afternoon after swim lessons I sewed together 'Treats from home'. I picked an easy one today.

Then I had a little girl bugging me about making a pillowcase as a present for their friend's birthday. Her party is on Saturday. After a text to her Mom this morning to find out her favorite color - 'pink' - we looked in the stash and selected this cute pink check print with a white accent to make the pillow. They have also been busy making her some paper craft gifts and cards to go with this. Em ran the foot pedal for two of the three seams.

Buddy is laying in the bathroom - so he either hears thunder in the distance that we can't or he just likes the small cool and dark room this afternoon! Hopefully if there are any storms they are done by 6:30 so we can get another walk in with him tonight.

Finally Saturday!

I survived the week.... I think!
First I'll show the purple blocks for the RSC challenge. I got the last five of the 12 churn dashes done and added three sampler blocks this week. I got a couple more purple flowers made too but they did not make it into the picture. I still have a few to work through this month.

The trip to Lego Land with Aidan's class on Tuesday went great. I had 4 boys to keep track of and am happy to say there were still the same four when we got off the bus that night at school! We were there for the announcement that they ran all that day on Solar power for Earth Day. They will continue to run the imagination part on solar with Tampa electric. They had movies on during the 2 hour ride there and back. I had never seen the whole Jungle Book movie... and now I have!

Wednesday I got to work the whole day at the store with my hubby. He went to fetch the kids from Grandma and gave me a nice hour of peace and quiet at home. Thursday it was back to kid duty and I managed to sneak in a little sewing before taking them to a soccer game that evening. This picture is after the game with their snack and drink. Mr. Aidan got the soccer medal this week for doing a great job on the field. Emily got hers the first week.

Friday I had to work again and Greg was on kid duty for the day and did take them to their spring fling event at school last evening. They each got to mow part of the lawn with Daddy yesterday too. Today I get to drop the girl to Grandma and then have the boy for the day so he can attend a birthday party for a classmate this afternoon. Tomorrow it is back to work for me. I think I can sneak in a bit more sewing today.... I want to make a few more purple sampler blocks and have some leftover hst's and triangles that will be made into something! Thank goodness most of next week is still April..... so I can work on a little more purple before the next color comes out to play.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other purple projects were worked on this month.

Edited: Here is a link to a few more sampler blocks I worked on today.

Another week of teals...

It has been another busy week but we are headed into Spring Break next week (starting today for Aidan) and my parents came back Wednesday to help out with watching kids and will be able to stay through the 31st when they head back to a cold and snowy Vermont. They got to see the kids first soccer game this week - and Emily got the good sportsmanship medal after the first game! All the kids will get one by the end of the season. She left the light on in her room shining on it so I could see it after I got home from bowling last night.

I had prepped some hexies last week and got them all done to join the other hexie flowers for this month. You can see how I prep them for hand piecing here.

A shot of my 'flower garden' so far this year.

I also cut and made four of my churn dash blocks. Hopefully I can sneak in a little sewing this next week so I can cut and sew the other 8 churn dash blocks needed for the month.

I also made a 6.5 inch cat to add to the sampler quilt. Let me know if you'd like the measurements to make this. I'd be happy to do another post with the measurements.

I really need to also finish up the graduation quilt top sometime this week - most are in half blocks at this point so I just need space to lay it out - decide on the final layout and get that sewn together.

    I picked up some eggs at the farm stand this week. They were green shells! Those chicks must have been in the mood for St. Patricks Day! I showed Emily when I picked her up from school Tuesday and she said she had to have green eggs and ham for lunch... and then proceeded to chant all the parts in the Dr. Seuss book 'Green Eggs and Ham'! 

In between all that we'll try and find some fun things to do with the kids on their week off. We'll probably hit Uncle Donalds Farm later today, bowling, maybe the fair in Inverness, walking on the nature trails, picking blueberries if the pick your own signs come out, putting them to work making a new veggie garden with me - the two little ones we have need to be shored up on the bottom fence so the rabbits don't eat all my peas, lettuce and beets which are now up! Really need to get some beans, corn and cukes planted along with my tomato and peppers. Not sure if we'll head to Orlando or not.... walking for long periods is not on tap for my Dad with his knee. All in all - a fairly restful week is on tap. Now to get the kids to sleep in past 6:30AM!

Head on over to SoScrappy's link party on Saturday morning and see what other teal projects are being worked on.