First finish of 2020!

Happy Little Things is completed! I did easy machine stitch in the ditch in a few places - around the embroidery, the blocks and the border. Finished up the binding by hand last night.

One monthly Goal - January 2020

I decided to join in the One Monthly Goal this year to see if I could move some projects along.

In my head.... I was planning to work on some applique borders for my midget quilt in January but.... Angela over at SoScrappy chose bright and light green for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for January. I just happen to have 6 brighter green log cabin blocks that didn't fit into the green log cabin quilt I made last year. They have been waiting patiently for me to want to make more wonky log cabins and for the bright green month to come up. So, my January goal is to make more blocks to get this to a top stage by the end of the month. Notice how I didn't say how many or how big it will be? =) That extra one at the bottom will become the label on the back I think.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts. Meet you back here at the end of the month to see how everyone did!

Last Flimsy finish for 2019.....

Or so I thought! I just looked at the photo and looks like I need to find the seam ripper and fix that bottom right corner so it has the sashing in the correct spot! Sigh.... 2 seams to pick out and resew. After dinner I think. As much of a PITA it was to sew all those sashings with the on-point setting I do really like how it turned out.  I had to go out quick and snap a photo before the sun went down so it has not been pressed or measured yet. I'll have to see if I have a backing fabric ready. This one will be machine quilted.... not sure when. I think I'll work on pinning and quilting the Happy Little Things on the machine tomorrow. 

A big Thank You to Chris for sending me a care package of beautiful blues for my Ella Maria Deacon quilt. I'll be using some of them in the coming month's block. She also included a book she wrote about her daughter. I plan to start reading it tonight. Thank you so much Chris. 

The pizza and wings arrived. Time for dinner =)

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe New Years. Catch you in the next Decade!

Slow Sunday?

Soon, I hope. The boy decided to stay home instead of going to Grandma's house today. They both will head over Tuesday for the night. Emily went as they were headed to the movies. He said he wanted a 'down' day since we hit the Science Museum yesterday in Orlando. He has been helpful tucking away the Christmas things .... the tree is down and boxed up for next year. The snow globes are all put away. Just a few more Partylite candle holders to tuck away and then a good dusting and the snowmen come out for a month or two. I tend to do blues in January and February.... but the boy has opted to leave some of the cardinal Christmas globes and things out this year too. I need to clear out the fridge today too - garbage day tomorrow and I am really sick of some of the leftovers in there!

I am almost to a point of being done and then I can sit and do a little stitching. I think I'll pop a movie on and work on hand quilting the trip quilt this afternoon. It has been a while since I have worked on it. I believe I am half way... and I really need a goal of working on this at least 15-20 minutes a day in order to get it done!

Tonight... I really do need to attempt that sheep pattern on Aidan's pillow. I'll have to keep track of counting while doing it so a rerun of a movie will be in order.

Linking up with the other turtle stitchers on this last Slow Stitching Sunday of this decade. A big Thank You to Kathy for hosting and for all the encouragement over the years. That nudge to try hand quilting, hand piecing, embroidery, etc have really been been a life saver to relieve stress and calm the mind in this crazy busy world we live in. Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2020. I plan to be sewing and stitching on New Years Day. The house is already changed out, kids will be at Grandma's and hubby is working. All day to SEW! =)

Last RSC Saturday....

I was hoping to have this as a top but had to stop and play Horseopoly with the kids. A version of Monopoly. The girl had a sleepover last night so other than playing table tennis with Aidan (who needs a dining room table!) we did not have a family game night last night. It got delayed to Friday night.

I didn't have enough of the grey sashing to do the setting triangles and corner triangles but I did have a few different pieces of that blue that were big enough for the 4 squares at 20 inches and the 2 squares for the corner triangles. It is a scrappy quilt so I had to pull from stash! I do like how it is turning out. The sashing really calmed it down from too busy and the blue just frames it well I think. Emily took one look and said ' I really like this one Mom'. Sigh... and there it goes! I'll have to see what size it is and try and make it a twin size for her bed I guess.

The reason I had to keep putting all the blocks back down on the floor was these two kept play fighting on it and messing up all my blocks! I had to do a bit of unpicking to figure out how to get this one together so that it has all the grey sashings on with the setting triangles. I am down to the long seams.... and it was a good place to stop for the night. I hate long seam sewing! I'll pick this one up on Sunday with a fresh outlook. Tomorrow - I'm taking the kids to the Orlando Science Museum. I just hope my foot holds up - I seem to have pulled whatever I did last year and that time it took 12 PT sessions to resolve with lots of rest. 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge (Hopefully Angela will continue this in 2020 - I have a plan for next year already!), and Oh Scrap. If you'd like to see my recap post you will find it here. 

2019 Recap

I have to admit, I really enjoy doing my yearly recap post and seeing them all throughout blog land. It gives the sense of 'wow, I really did finish something this year when it feels like you just never finish anything! It is also a wee bit dangerous as you see so many beautiful quilt and boy, don't I want to make a version of them all!

First - the look back at some finishes this year. Thank goodness for my yearly album of quilts on facebook.  I think I need to make another one of these - It was fun to do a heart a day....and I have a charm pack of reds that would make a lovely little heart quilt.

Ari's quilt. She got it before she turned 1! Hand quilted

Emily's quilt - machine quilted

RSC 16 patches with a flannel backing. Machine quilted

Big log cabin quilt - donated to Lake Elmore Lake Association Raffle Machine quilted

Scrappy bow ties for Dad. Tied

Sally's graduation quilt - Zig Zag in blues and yellow. Machine quilted

Basket quilt - hand applique and hand quilted.

Aidan's quilt Machine quilted

Now the unfinished parts....

I did an umbrella a week this year and made this little top. I have plans to hand quilt it and think I found the backing fabric and have the batting. I hope to pin it over the next week so I can have it by my chair for a little hand quilting here and there.

I did a hand piece along this year. I made 2 of each block for a slightly bigger throw. This was so fun to make and I hear they might be having another one in 2020. I think it needs a border to finish it....

I also made this little 32x32 wall hanging top - my version of Happy Little Things. 

I also started a sew along that will run for over a year - Ella Maria Deacon. I have decided to hand piece these blocks - 4 a month. It should be doable! I am using muslin as the background and a variety of blues to make my top. The original was red, green and yellow.

I also turned this pile of hand pieced hexagons into ..

this pile of blocks! They were hand applique down onto some black background squares. I see one to go. Maybe these will get sewn together into a top in 2020?

I'm sure there were other parts and pieces worked on but those were the major ones moved along.

Now to see what parts and pieces, blocks and tops will be worked on in 2020....

Merry Christmas!

The kids decided 7:15 was the time to wake up the adults. I hear the stockings were opened around 6:30AM!  Done by 7:50!
The kids only get a handful of gifts but they were very happy with their presents. They each got a book so hopefully when that 'I'm bored' kicks in I'll tell them to go read! We had to open the gifts the kids got for us first before they would open any of theirs! They have always been this way and it is so nice that they enjoy gifting and seeing the person open their presents more than getting their gifts. I got a 'cat rules' plaque, a new coffee mug, a hand made origami cat and a hand made bracelet. The bracelet was opened first. They were making them yesterday.

We are going easy with food today - grazing on appetizers and my in-laws will stop in for a few hours as well. 

May you all have a wonderful Christmas however you choose to spend the day.