Four patch finished.

 I finished the binding this morning. A photo of the front and the back. It shrunk a bit to just under 20x20. 

I have a little more picking up of the house to do and some grocery shopping for a couple of things. I need another pepper for the fajita chicken for dinner tonight.  Then I'm going to tackle the mess of a sewing room. Mostly, stuffing all the various boxes of bits of fabrics into one big bin and then putting a cover on it! It is in great need of organization since there are lots of extra bins of projects now shoved in there from my office. I'm giving myself 1 hour to do that, then I get to play. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Mid week check in

 Monday - after working I had Aidan's 17 year physical. He got there a minute late according to me and 16 minutes according to them... but I know I confirmed the 3:45 not 3:30 time. Sigh. They finally got us in at 4:40. He is good, lost 20 pounds over the year and is now in a healthy range.

Tuesday - I got off work early (noon) as Greg has gotten Gout in his foot and so I was tapped with bringing his dad to the Urologist. So, 30 minutes to pick him up, 45 minutes to the doctors office, nearly 2 hours there and then returned him home to his assisted living.... I opted to not head home and instead went right to Emily's Pre-MPA (Music Performance Assessment) in town. I did a quick Popeye's for dinner then got there to help out at the table to hand out the kids food. Then watched the bands all perform for a couple of hours. I got home about 9:30 last night.

This is all the schools marching bands in the county. 

Our school with their Stranger Things Performance

Emily during the performance - clarinet in the middle of the photo. 

Wednesday -  laundry - as the cat is being a pest and peeing on my bed. Arrggg. Sheets are washed again with the quilt. I did finish the hand quilting on the little 20x20 four patch quilt after work so I'll trim it up and make and attach a binding tonight. I'm planning to do order out tonight - we have a local fundraiser at Red Robin for 20% of sales going to our local county's girl scouts. I'm going to try the family burger deal - looks like $11 for a built your own burger at home with fries. We will see how it goes.

 This is the top of the little quilt but I do love the look on the back as well.

Reading: Hope Holloway the Seven Sisters Series of books on audible. She is a great storyteller and I admit, I bought 5 extra audible credits so I could binge listen to all of them. I'll be checking out her other series soon, but I've got a libby book checked out I need to listen to first. I enjoyed how she wove the storyline around all the family members and kept it interesting. 

Time to go uncover the cutting mat in the sewing area and get this trimmed up and a binding made and attached for hand stitching later tonight. 

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.

RSC - piecing the top

 Since the Arkansas Traveller quilt is finished, it was time to grab another collection of blocks and work on getting them to a top stage. These are the second set of Birds in the Air blocks that I made with the RSC. I made the first set around the 2012 range and it was a 2015 wedding present quilt for my nephew.

I really did not want to see this one go... so I made another set of blocks for a quilt for me. I decided I wanted it bigger, so added 27 more blocks this year and now have enough for the 15x15 setting of 6 inch blocks. This first 4 rows are now a single unit. I snapped the photo while it was set out in case things got turned. Yikes, I see a mistake in the photo - bottom right. I'll have to double check that. Strange how you see things in the photo but not in person! 

*** I verified they are correct in the row that I sewed together.

All of them laid out earlier this year.

I have these two packs of 25 - 2.5 inch squares that I picked up at my local quilt shop before they closed. I keep moving them around from place to place. I decided to find a cream/tan neutral and cut out 50 2.5 inch squares. These are sitting by my machine. I lay out the blocks in the living room... walk thorugh the hallway, laundry room and into the finished garage area that is my sewing area/office and storage. I'll be making four patches with them as leaders and enders as I stitch this quilt top together. The pack has a range of colors and I've got about 4 of the four patches stitched together so far.

I do still have my last 2 teal/aqua string of beads blocks to applique down. They are the last 2 blocks, so I have no clue why I am avoiding finishing them off. I hope to get those 2 blocks finished this long weekend.

I think we are celebrating my MIL's birthday from last week today at a restaurant near us. I also want screens fixed around the house today, so Emily scheduled a text to hit everyone's phones today at 11AM to work on that. I believe we have the stuff and Greg has the knowledge. I'm getting my 3 screens in the bedroom fixed and hopefully the back porch screen door and one big screen wall, or 2 or 3. We will see how much screening we have. I figure it is a good skill for all of us to get. 

Linking up with the RSC.

Saturday - Someone has a Birthday and turns 8 today!

We have another busy day today at my house. Someone thinks they are turning 8 years old today (Aidan) and will have his grandparents over early afternoon for nibbles and cake. We invited our play date friends but one was sick yesterday with a stomach bug. His little sister and Mom might pop over though. First - Emily and I have a girl scouts Thinking Day event from 10-12 this morning. 

Aidan - 8 years old today.

Aidan - Look I can fit in the box Mom! Age 2 or 3?

This month I hope to add some brown and cream log cabin blocks to go around these little blocks. I have no clue where this little quilt will end up but after I have the middle together I hope to add a round of log cabins and will go from there. Not sure if the middle will be square or rectangle... I think I was leaning towards rectangle.

I'll also add some birds in the air blocks to this mix. Most of the blues were added last month.

6 inch birds in the air blocks.

The girls at the vet this week. Maxie and Sophie.

Head on over to the RSC link party and see what other browns will come out to play this month.

Starting my Avon business was very beneficial - I learned about Pizap.com which is a free photo editor. It allows for collages, Facebook covers and lots of other neat things.  That is the top photo that I created for a FB post today. Some day... I'll create a new header of some scrappy quilts.

Sewing today =)

I finally got some sewing time....... the four patches are now bigger!

A possible layout.

Now to prep some midget appliqué blocks for the car line.

A trip down memory lane of old quilts.....

I saw this little baby quilt on Aidan's bed last night. I think this was the first quilt I ever made way back in 1992! It is tied and it was a turned quilt. I didn't do bindings back then! It is a tealish green with purple flowers. A simple four patch with purple and a print.

I've also been cuddling under my Vermont quilt that I made a few years ago while I was in my guild in Vermont. It was a block a month and I just love the three dimensional turtle on this quilt.

Looking into my parents room I get to see the Lady in the Lake quilt I made my parents for their anniversary a few years ago. It lives on their bed out here at camp.

I also have the beginning of a slanted shell variation afghan that I started last night thanks to Amy who made one last week. I seem to have picked up some Caron simply soft yarn in off white last Thursday when I was in Burlington. It is a no dye lot so I should be able to get more down in Florida when I run out of the 2 skeins I purchased. I need to modify the turn on the last row...... I was doing it from memory and the memory failed! I started with 127 chain stitches since it is multiple of 5+2 for the pattern. It should make a nice size baby blanket for some future baby in the family or a donation to Project Linus. It is a fun and very easy pattern if you feel the need to pick up a crochet hook and play. Thanks Amy for pointing me to the tutorial. I have a feeling it will be a great project for the plane ride home on Wednesday.