Next in the hand quilting lineup...

I just finished adding the borders to this Snowman and Silent Night sew along from Jaquelynne Steves - The Art of Home. Next up will be to find a backing, batting and pin it for hand quilting. Do we think I could actually get this finished by the end of November? Maybe it should be my OMG for November then? As it is fairly small - at 35 or 36 inches (I have not measured it!) I think it is possible. 

First up - carving some pumpkins (because in Florida you can't do it in advance as they will rot too quickly!) and then the afternoon will be watching a few of the girls from the girl scout troop roller skate. I still need to schedule their Mom and Daughter Painting to finish off a badge for the girls. 

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers (prepping for hand quilting counts right?) and OMG for November when it opens up tomorrow.

Saturday RSC in bright green

I just finished off this green placemat. It has become my 'go to' when I don't know what to make. Using 2.5 inch strips it makes a nice colorful addition to the table. 

While I was in the sewing room I added a few green periods for my Full Stop.... and at the end I added the ... as this will be at the end of the quilt. I used 2.5 inch squares and used 5 inches between the periods and 2.5 inch white squares between the ...

Linking up with the RSC and The Table Scraps Challenge. I have had the windows of the house open all afternoon and I am enjoying the cooler weather that finally arrived in Florida. Almost time to close up the front windows for the night. 

 

OMG for October is completed!

 The boy's quilt is officially finished - extended by 2 rows so that it will tuck under his feet. I documented the steps to extend the quilt by 2 rows in this OMG link up post. I might have had to relocate the cat a few times to finish off the binding but it is done and ready for his bed. 

Linking up with the October OMG finish linkup. 

Monday... Well, I think I survived the weekend.

I was sick Sunday...slept all day yesterday once I got home though. I am hoping it was exhaustion/dehydration from Saturdays 90 degree temps. I did drink lots of water and Propel waters all day (80oz at least). So far so good this morning. My Fitbit said I got 20,791 steps on Saturday.... I was around 17K after the campfire and smores and we got back to our cabin, but we had an unexpected 10:30 PM hike across camp to retrieve a little sister that was having issues with being away from family for the first time so we went and retrieved her. Grandma and her 2 older sisters were in our cabin for the weekend. My whole troop and one girl from another did the late night (boy was it dark!) trek through the woods to gather her and bring her to our area for the night.

All 4 of the quilts were picked by the girls yesterday. I had taken one for my bed and an extra... which my co-leader claimed! She got the Grandmothers Choice Sew along from 2012 that I finished in 2017. I just shot her an e-mail of the info behind the quit in case she was interested. He daughter claimed the Spring Blossoms quilt. 

I guess word got out that I gifted the girls the quilts as I was asked Sunday morning by a couple of adults if they could see the quilts that I gifted the girls. I pulled up the blog and showed the 4 quilts and which girl selected which quilt. 

I had taken my knitting - the standard dish cloth with no thinking. (Cast on 4, knit 2, YO, knit to end...until around 50 stitched on the needles then start the decrease - knit 1, K2T, YO,K2T, knit to end until down to 4 stitched on needles. Cast off) Emily grabbed it Friday night and asked how to do it - so I showed her the knit and YO since I was around 37 on the needles at that point. She did great..... just a little tight for tension. She got to the decrease and after showing her once and her asking me to check the next couple of rows she has got it! Another adult asked on Saturday night when she had learned how - and I said last night! It was the first time she expressed an interest.... =)

 

Weekend.... will I survive?

That is the question! I will be heading to Camp Wildwood with most of my girl scout troop this weekend. (Friday night -Sunday morning) I will enjoy the shower when I get home around noon on Sunday after 2 days at camp with the girls. We are staying in the house on the property this time but I expect lots of walking around camp all day Saturday.  Highs around 90 and lows around 65 overnight. 

I have been working away at the green hexagons this month. I still have quite a few to stitch up and quilt and begin attaching into their groups of 4. I think I'll do browns next month and black and grey in December to round things out. 

I made a little progress yesterday on the Snowman sew along and have the four blocks framed and the next round started - red/green/red strips. I was attempting to organize and prep and pack for the weekend when I normally get to sew.

The OMG quilt has made progress and is in the hand stitching the binding stage. I had the boy check it for length... he is under it and said 'that should work!'. 

I started stitching it down last night and Peanut had to test it out for snuggle time. He had a good nap so I assume it passed muster!
 

The little bit I got done due to the cat's nap. 

I'll link up on Sunday to the following:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Assuming I survive the weekend with the girls (5 of them age 10-12 in my troop). It is a Figmentopia theme - with trips to 100 acre woods (for archery, fire building and knots), Yellow Brick Road (geocaching and exploring the trails), A party with the Mad hatter (crocket, building a scarecrow, etc) and science with the Magic School Bus and Ms. Frizzle - for bottle rocket fun. Dinner is at Hoggwarts Hall... I can't wait to get my chocolate wand =). 

In the interest of 'clearing out' some quilts.... I am bringing 4 with me for the girls (Em already has some so she does not count!) to choose from for an extra blanket this weekend and then it goes home with them. I chose these from old RSC projects....

Cubes - made with my 16 patches. (Lauren)

Spring Blossoms. (Hailey)

Scrappy Houses (Seems someone is not happy with my choice to have this one leave the house!) (Ireland)

Stashbuster 2020 quilt. (Sofia)

I'll need to pick one more for my girls who is not attending this weekend.

October OMG - progress

 My One Monthly Goal is to make Aidan's quilt (Twilight Hopscotch by Kim Diehl) longer. Someone got taller and the 61x61 it was seemed to be too small according to him. It is now 89 inches long..... we will see how that works for him! I opted for adding 2 rows instead of the requested 1. He is only 13 after all and still growing..... he has not reached the 6 feet I expect him to hit in the next year or two.

My handy helper holding down the parts while I was organizing today. I zigzagged some extra batting bits together. Then I zigzagged that onto the existing quilt. Then I added the backing, while tugging that batting out of the way. Then it was moving the cat and pulling back the batting and batting and machine stitching that top to the existing top. Done. Then I laid it on the floor to pin it for the quilting. Let's just say washing it will hopefully help make those issues not as noticeable =). A quick squiggle quilting following what I had originally done. Then.... I made a teal binding and attached it by machine. I see I hand quilted inside each of the teal stars in orange..... so I have 8 of those to do along with hand stitching the binding. 

That will be my slow stitching later tonight. We will see if I have to do the kid pick up or if hubby will do it this week. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Stitchers.

Saturday in green

 A few touches of light and bright green this week - I cut out a slew of hexagons last night and about 10 are ready for prepping for stitching. If I am tagged with the horses run today that is what I will be working on. 

I pulled some darker green and stitched up this block since I did not have a dark green in the mix for this collection. Something about forgetting the correct size to cut things and my block ended up 12 inches instead of 16! oops. All fixed now. 

I got a bright green butterfly block stitched and basted. All set for applique onto a background next year. This is going to be a multi year project.

I saw this bumblebee this week and managed to get him right after he came out from getting some nectar. 

I hope to see more green and some bits of orange later today when we head to the pumpkin patch! I wish the cool front had gone through already, but alas it looks like later tonight. It will be a hot and sunny day walking around the field. 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge.