What I was working on yesterday during the rain and no kids day.....

I got a ton of stuff done in the sewing room. Nope - I did not tidy up and put things away, I did not file all the business and personal stacks of paper, I did not clean the house..... I sewed!

I prepped and sewed my 12 red churn dashes which I will show on Saturday. I prepped a bunch of red hexagons and managed to make a bunch of them last night - also will show on Saturday. Got the wonky star done for the RSC.... although I need to rip and make the middle the correct size. I did mine 4.5 inches instead of 3.5 inches. A wee bit too big!

What I will show...... nine of the star blocks in red and blue are completed! Each will be 8 inches finished so this will be a smallish quilt. Now the decision - do I make more of them or keep it small? No real plan for this quilt other than to have a 'neutral' baby quilt on hand. It will have sashing with yellow cornerstones and I think I might make that cornerstone into a pinwheel or star for the four middle ones. I can see a pieced border of some kind..... either a ribbon, flying geese or diamond?Maybe prairie points of red and blue on a cream solid as one border to make it a 3D quilt? As you can tell, it is still a work in progress. I'm not sure I like the blue check print in the middle row...... it might have to change but then again...this is a scrappy quilt....

While I was doing that Mom was in surgery up in Vermont. It was a planned surgery with a 3 month recovery time of no lifting. All went well and she should be heading home sometime today to recover at the camp overlooking the lake. Wishing her a speedy recovery and remembering to take it easy even if you start feeling better in a week or two! We want you back to 100% by December so I can cook up a storm for you in your kitchen and you'll enjoy eating it.
This will be her view while recovering.

Tiny Tuesday....

I just got a few minutes in the sewing room thanks to a crack of thunder in the distance that put off the pool time for a bit today. It has been 30 minutes since we heard that.... so I think it is pool time!
I was able to sew up these two blocks - Hospital and  A Beautiful Picture. Each little hst is 2 inches unfinished to make a 6.5 inch block.

Does anyone have any hints on how to hang a double size quilt with warm and natural batting? I think the log cabin is 86x86 (I need to measure it) and is finished and out of the dryer. Time for a photo shoot this afternoon and then a post tomorrow. I need to figure out how to get it hung on the big open wall in the kitchen/living room. I have two quilt holders from Joann's but I don't think they will hold all that weight. Any ideas on how to hang this would be welcome.

Slow Stitching Sunday.....

It has been another busy day today but I got to sleep in until 8AM! It was soooooo nice!
After a few sips of coffee it was time to take Buddy for a walk. He got a good one in with the kids riding their bikes. (45-50 minutes) Greg made us omelets for breakfast and then Em and I made a pillowcase for her friend Mackenzie's birthday party this afternoon. Grandpa came over for a little visit mid morning and then it was time to head and get Aidan a bike and both kids some new crayons, construction paper and glue sticks. Back home for a quick lunch and shower and then off to a birthday party for a couple of hours. Em is now using her brothers old bike to learn to ride without training wheels. She has good balance so should get it pretty quick. Dad didn't have to run too much with her and she was riding a bit before falling off in the back yard. A little weeding of some overgrown beds, a quick dinner, running around with some sparklers in the back yard and now bath time for the kids.
We'll do some reading (maybe a quick walk for Buddy and me) and tuck them into bed in  a bit and then I get to sit back and relax with some slow stitching.
I have three options tonight... I wonder which one will win?

First up - binding on the log cabin quilt. I have two more sides to go.



Second option is some more of these hexagon flowers... I have a whole pile prepped for some hand stitching. I got these six plus two reds done last night.

Third option - some appliqué. I prepped the June block for the Century Quilt earlier this week. I just need to stitch down two more of the stems, glue the leaves and circles down and stitch them and then that middle flower.

I think I'll have to toss a couple of coins to decide what I'll work on. Head on over to Kathy's Quilts to see some wonderful stitching projects being worked on today.

Saturday in Red..... a day early.

This is the block I mentioned last week. I see myself making a baby/lap quilt in primary colors made with this and an alternating blue star. The sashing will have yellow stars using the cornerstones I think. This is just a couple of the red's that I have made up so far. It is an 8.5 inch unfinished block. I can see a couple of different ways to make this - using four patch and flying geese, or making the four individual parts using 2.5 inch squares and hst's. I chose to do the latter.

 I made a few hexagons in the car on Sunday on the way to the beach. I need to prep a few more of these now that I have pulled all the reds from the scrap buckets.

A 16 patch block in red and maroon. I am amazed I found 16 different fabrics!

I also made some of the sampler blocks - hash tag and donut hole that were posted this week.

I  got an e-mail saying I had won some FQ's last week. They arrived in the mail yesterday and Em grabbed it from the mail box this morning after our morning walk with Buddy.  The cutest cat was included! The kids each picked out their favorites and requested little baskets to be made. The second row from the left is pink and purple that Em picked. The one next to it in teal, purple and blue fish was Aidan's selected fabric. Thank you so much to Sally and the cat Tommy for picking us! I love the surprise and those oranges/peach will come in handy once orange is selected for a color. Until then, I think I'll have to make some more cats to go along with the one she sent to keep her company! They might needs some mice and balls of yarn to entertain them too!

Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday morning to see what other red projects are being worked on. As for us - the kids will finish lunch and then we are headed to the bowling alley for a couple of games and then Walmart to pick out a new bike for Aidan. He has really outgrown his bike and is ready for a new one. Hopefully we can find one we both agree on.

Another task on the list....

On my list of July goals is to get another of the appliqué blocks for the Century Quilt completed. I did some of the prep work the other day and now just need to settle in and get some stitching done on it. I am so happy I finally tackled the other block so I am not afraid of those round bias green parts anymore. I learned how to prep 'prefect' circles reading their schoolhouse instructions and have the four yellow circles prepped and already did the centers for the flower and have those appliquéd down. Now it is just sewing the green stems, glue the leaves and other parts and appliqué those down. I believe I will have no problems getting this one done by the end of the month. Two more to go after this one and then that quilt can be assembled. I plan for this to go to my niece. Her brother got one last summer so I need to get moving on this one.

What I'm working on today....

I know it is Tuesday but I am skipping Tiny Tuesday today to work on some binding. I got a good chunk of time in the sewing room on the 4th of July while the kids had an overnight with Grandma. I managed to get my attempt at feathers completed as well as the borders. I learned that you do have to try different thread combo's and must remember that Superior Threads Masterpiece and Bottom line are the best combo for free motion quilting on my Viking machine. I had a connecting threads cone on top and had issues. Tried a couple of others and had issues. When I put the masterpiece thread on it worked with no thread breaks or issues. I must remember that!  I attached the binding by machine last night and today while the thunder was booming and the rain was coming down this afternoon I got a few stitches done on the binding.

There is still more to go but it should be done sometime this week. I will be so excited to call this one completed soon.

I do love this quilt - all from scraps in the sewing room. Blue and cream are my favorite color combo. This will hang on my kitchen wall so I can see it while sitting in the living room. I'll do an outside shoot once it is done but this is what I have so far.

I'm showing my attempt at feathers. This is a double size at least 86x86. It was machine quilted on my domestic sewing machine. I used the walking foot and variegated blue thread to outline the edges of the blue logs. I made feathers in the cream logs. After a few of the feathers were done, I tried drawing a line for the middle and used that as the guide - it worked much better to have that guide. The feathers were just drawn with the machine. Not bad for a first attempt - I'll be using these again in a border. They should get better with practice.

The tan inner border got a walking foot curved lined. The outer border I switched to the free motion foot again and used my loopy circle to mark my lines and then quilted over that to finish off the quilt. I can't wait to see how it will crinkle up after a bath in the washer and a tumble in the dryer. I got the pretty toile backing from Connecting threads so I would not have to piece it.

Now to go make some apple cinnamon chips the kids just saw on tv and want me to make. I do wonder where the mandolin is? 

Back home Monday....

We took a little trip yesterday and went to Cocoa Beach for an overnight with the kids and Grandma H. She took the family room and let us have her room for the night. The kids loved their little setup - a box within a room with bunk beds and another twin bed with a dresser and tv in the middle. A nice little curtain closed off their 'room'. They settled right in and had a grand time. We were lucky and had picked up the stuff from the beach after lunch and got back to the room right before the rain and thunderstorm started. Hit the pool for a bit and headed to the room right before the rain started again for the evening. A beautiful sunrise this morning while walking along the beach (and witnessing a wedding ceremony!) and then lots of playing in the big pool and the kid water park area. All in all it was a nice little getaway. I have a feeling we might be heading over again sometime in the next month before the kids start school again.

Sunday at the beach.

Water park at International Palms Resort Sunday afternoon.

Sunrise family photo

Sunrise at Cocoa Beach July 7, 2014.

Wedding on the beach this morning.

Collecting shells.

Zonked out on the ride home today.