Slow Sunday.....

I had a finish and a start this week. The finish was the Umbrella quilt which I posted about yesterday. Hand applique last year and hand quilted this year.

The start - was a new block I had drafted from a memory and finished hand piecing it mid week here. I am calling mine Endless Diamond since it is similar to an Endless Chain pattern I found.  I plan to dig in the scrap bins and prep some more pieces to make more of these 12 inch blocks.

I also plan to pin this 35x35 inch book club quilt for hand quilting today.

A few stitches will be added to the cat and mouse quilt on the frame which has been sadly neglected to get the umbrella quilt completed.

As I was in between things last night, I pulled the crochet out of the tin can and added a couple of rows..... which had Emily asking when her blanket would be completed! She tried it on for size and it needs to be a little bit bigger. 

I'm sure some time will be spent helping build the chicken coop (maybe - he and Emily did a good job last night for a couple of hours out there). Prep work, stitching and relaxing are on tap for my Sunday. It was an early start as someone was wide awake at 6AM and thought she needed to 'check on me'! every 45 minutes! I put her off until I got out of bed at 8. So much for sleeping in on a Sunday! 

Linking up with the other slow stitchers at Kathy's Quilts. 

An RSC finish!

I managed to finish the binding on my umbrella quilt despite some 'help' from Peanut who thought I needed the quilt held down! As you can see I had the binding up to the yellow when 'someone' decided to take a nap! Yes, he was tucked on top of the next section I needed. Thank goodness the chickens woke up and made noise and he decided to go check it out.

I trimmed this up on Thursday night and was too lazy to make a binding. There happened to be just the right amount of scrappy binding sitting around and I decided it was meant to be.

This is the completed quilt. Maybe an outside photo later today. Too early this morning and no sun out. 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge

Endless Diamonds update....

This is the completed hand pieced block before pressing... and after Emily sat on it while I was attempting to photograph it! Seemed she wanted my attention and help to make a zucchini cake.

I might take out that seam by the green and fix it up a bit if it doesn't press out. That was the only join I had trouble with. The rest went surprisingly well. I also used a tip that was sent to me by Chris up in Canada. As I hit a join, I am going around and stitching through all the joins so there won't be a gap. Learning and trying new things with every project. Thanks Chris for passing along that video link.

Here is the link to the blog with the tips. So I can find it again and others can check it out. Always good to learn some new tips.

https://wendysquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2020/02/hand-piecing-103-video-8-pointed-stars.html

I put this up on a few facebook groups I am in and someone was able to give me some history of it and a couple of names!  Jen Kingwell has templates for the block she called "Drops of Jupiter" 2017.  It is also in a book called Grandmother's Prize - "Great Scrap-bag Quilts" by Jan Halgrimson 1980. I admit... I went searching. I found the templates which are out of stock. I searched for the book and it was not available. Then I checked for used and found 3... and ordered one from California. I can't wait to flip through this book and see all the patterns of quilts.  I did notice my 'chain parts' are thinner than the others but I like mine and will prep another block or three from my scrap bins. Good thing I ordered a bunch of white on while a few weeks ago! I might have been thinking of this project when I ordered =)

Chicken update....

We have been letting them get outside for 30 minutes a couple of times a day this week. They seem to love it. It is funny watching Emily try to transport them back inside. She is still using the box they came in but as they are bigger and have wings.... they fly out while she is trying to catch the second one. Silly chickens. 

This is what we came up with for the future coop and the run area. We still need to finish securing the fencing to the middle posts and make the door but it is progress. They will start working on the coop area next to close it in and build the nesting boxes.  We still have a few more weeks before we will move them out but progress is being made. 

Something New.... Endless Diamonds?

I caved. My computer dropped from work one too many times yesterday so I decided to get scissors and cut out some paper templates to try out a new block. I really need to come up with a name for it. I did a little searching to try and find it and found something similar called the Endless Chain from Barbara Brackman's research.

It has that part but on the one I saw it also had some 'kite' or diamond parts in the middle and sides. 'Endless Diamonds' maybe? My lazy draft.

The parts all cut out and marked on the back for hand stitching. Now to see if they go together!

BH Leaders and Enders.

In July, Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville picks a block to make as leaders and enders for a year. This year is Easy Breezy. 

It uses 1.5 inch strips. Hmmmm. I have not used that size in a while, why don't I make a few and see how they look! They are kinda cute! Now to cut a few up to place in the basket next to the sewing machine so I have them all set to go in between stitching other things.

Progress on Hoarfrost - UFO for July

I did a little sewing this weekend. I managed to get the inner part all sewn together. Unfortunately.... I seem to have reversed the 2nd from bottom row and after sleeping on it, it decided it really wanted to be fixed. It did not like those 2 light prints together at the bottom. 

So after unpicking the 2 rows on Sunday and sewing them back together it is much happier. 

Then I started cutting the gazillion parts for the pieced border. There is to be a white, then a blue border then the pieced border on this quilt. I really don't have enough of the blue print in the pieced border to do the inner blue border... I'm using the bright silver snowflake pattern on blue for the pieced border.... I think I might just make the 2 inners into 1 white border instead? I have enough of that to do it!

I also made a few more masks to send home with Grandma... so the kids have some at her house if they go out and they don't take their's with them.  The colors are off - the top is a light aqua dot, the middle is a teal aqua dot and the bottom is a avacado green. Technically they are mask covers, but little flaps on the top and bottom come up over the chin and nose.  I wore mine in the blue flowered print for 1.5 hours in the Honda service waiting area before it was diagnosed and my ride picked me up. 

We were to be over at Cocoa Beach today and tomorrow, but then Florida became the COVID-19 hotspot so we cancelled our trip last month. Smart decision as Grandma with sciatic and bursitis, and Greg with his back would not have enjoyed themselves. I was going to just work, but decided to still take today off. The car was shimmying a bit so after delaying some service checks for 6 months, I brought it in today and they are working on about 6 things. I expect a call soon, and hopefully they can send someone to pick me up as I don't think Greg could handle being in the truck for 50 minutes to drive me there and back again. Not too bad considering it is a 2014 CRV with 86,000 miles on it and really has just had the normal oil changes and filters in those 6 years and one gas leak fix. Grandma is returning the children mid afternoon so I better go cut my white parts for the pieced border while I can!