Late with Some of This; Some of That

Destashing is going slow this year, but I did pull out a yard ( 10.00 yds is my new YTD ) to make 5 masks - I know that is pitiful compared to others, but I'm persisting. Here is the type I like to make. I find they go faster than making the ones with pleats.  It's the ties that make it so.

I've made 30 total now.  Just finished one for my neighbor as he is going golfing tomorrow and doesn't find the N-95 comfortable.  So many are saying they can't breathe with these home made masks.  What do you recommend for the second layer to make them more breathable?

Oh and I made some more 6 1/2" blocks for my Scrap Snapper quilt.  That's another 0.14 yd of scraps sewn into blocks.  So really that YTD total is 10.14 yds.  This is what they look like.  I've decided I'm going to make a baby quilt and stop at 38 blocks. But I probably will keep making these Scrap Snapper blocks. My problem with scraps is when I don't have a plan, it takes me forever to decide what to sew to what. Kari gives you a plan and her instructions for the 10 blocks are great. If you'd like to learn about them go here.

Not the best photo, but it gives you an idea of what it's like.

Nothing on my Design Wall right now.  I'm still quilting that UFO and binding my No Greater Love.
I must confess I have gotten distracted by a new puzzle, and it is hard! Hubby and I are trying to get to bed earlier now that the mornings come sooner.  It is so nice to work in the morning.  We're aiming for 9:30 PM as night-night, but here it is 9:36 and I'm working on a post.  So you see how that is going.  At least I've done the kitchen already.  Linking to Design Wall Monday

Have a great week and stay safe. Blessings to all.

Some of This Some of That 10/20/19

Made some leader and ender blocks - 0.083 yards used.  Finished two rows of a seedlings block - used 0.030 yds.  Made 6 blocks for the next baby quilt top - 0.30 yds.  Made two Dear Dottie blocks for another 0.01 yds, and lastly 3 My Small World blocks  of 0.05 for  a grand total of destashing this week - 0.43 yards which bring me to my new YTD total is 49.56 yards destashed.  Here is my design wall showing all my current WIP except the My Small World blocks. I'm trying to keep up, however to much to do outside the studio. I probably won't have a finish for some time.

 And this is what I'll be hand  stitching today watching the Great British Baking Show:

This is a section of my current Bliss round.  These hexies are 4"s.  Off to watch Paul and Pru.
I'm linking to Sunday Stash, Design Wall Monday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Slow Sunday Stitching, and Let's Make Baby Quilts.

Have a great week!

Some of This; Some of That

Quilting a baby quilt - used a yard for the back.  Made 6 different blocks - used a total of 0.5 yd for those. Fussy cut a hexagon block - that only used 0.03 yd for a total of 1.53 yds. Not much, but that is much more than the zilch of last week - hehe. Net YTD out: 47.34 yards.

Here's that hexi block I made.  It's from Jodi Godfrey's new book, The Seedling Quilts.  She's having a QAL in October.  Here's her blog.  I would like to make all of the quilts, but that would be 11 more UFOs.  Instead, I'm going to make one block of each and make mini quilts out of them or maybe a sample.  I'll see.

After I cut out and prepped the pieces I sewed them together into a donut (as per Karen Howe's method at https://faeriesandfibres.blogspot.com/2014/03/sewing-hexagon-flower-video.html ) It makes it easy to audition centers and sew the pieces to the octagon with a continuous thread. I use Superior invisible thread to sew my EPPs together.

This is what it's going to look like when I've finished sewing in the center. Now to decide on a background.

I'm linking to Slow Sunday Stitching, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?!, Oh, Scrap (cuz this was made with two scraps), Sunday Stash , and Design Wall Monday. More parties under my tab above.

Blessings,

Some of This; Some of That 5/26

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I've had little time for a lot of stuff, but the end is in sight. Plus this ongoing cool weather and cloudy skies makes me glum. Does the weather do a number on you?

First a stash report.  DDIL took 1.9 yds from my stash to make a quilt for her friend. I used .25 to make favors for the ladies at retreat - bookmarks. Then I made a sample log cabin with the new trim tool I bought - actually bought two - a regular 4" log cabin ruler and a curvy log cabin one. Works great as you just estimate the width of the strip and have no exact cutting to do except for the center square. Great for scraps.  Here's my first 4" from scraps as a test and new YTD total is 44.15 yards.

In the slow stitching I'm finishing that Anna's Garden block - only have the purple flower now to finish hand stitching. Then there are more hexies to work on. Glad I got two more applique started on the road to prepping at the quilt retreat.  I'll show those later.

On my design wall I have the start of another baby quilt - two rows so far. Here's the cute fabric Katy made a quilt out of and introduced me to this collection.  It's by Riley Blake and called "Jeep".

This week I missed a couple of days of sewing - after three days of intensive sewing my quilting mojo is exhausted.  So now the stats look like this:

15 minute days/week = 5/7 days

15 minute days/May = 24/25 days

15 minute days/2019 = 132/145

Success rate = 97.78%

Did you get to hand sew today?

I'm linking to Slow Sunday Stitching , Sunday Stash,  15 Minutes to Stitch in 2019, Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Have a blessed week.

Some of This; Some of That 5/12

Not much quilting this past week, so let's start with a few things I was able to do and liked. The river bottom one house over from us. It's flowering with wild mustard and the usual sounds we hear. Watch here.

Blooming in my kitchen garden:

While I was quilting the last charity quilt I figured out another way to use my walking foot.  It doesn't have holes on the side to attach a guide for straight lines.  My answer was painter's tape.

 I cut a strip of tape the length of the line I wanted to quilt. I sewed from one corner to the other.

When I got to the spot where I was going to pivot, I pulled back the tape and pivoted.  Pulled off the entire strip and re-positioned it on the next side and did that line.  Worked great.

The only fabric I destashed was the  0.20 yd I used for the binding and the 1.02 used for the back . New YTD total is 42.00 yds.

Here is the quilted top:

All the fabrics for the top and back were from my scrap bags.

The back was a tad small, so I added the last of that flower print from the from.

Quilted and bound:

Lastly, for the 15 Minutes in 2019:

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 11/11 days
15 minute days/2019 =  122/131 days
Success rate = 93.13%  

And for my design wall - that second medallion quilt is still the same.  No progress there, and I don't think there will be any this coming week as we will have out of state company and a quilt retreat to go to.  I'm linking to Oh, Scrap, Sunday Stash, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2019, and Design Wall Monday Monday Making , and Let's Make Baby Quilts  How did you do - quilty wise - last week?  Blessings!

On My Design Wall and Etc.

On my design wall is my Feb BOM block - three days late but done - hey, if it had be a 31-day month, I'd have made it -hehe.

For the stash report - used about 0.03 yds of scraps for the applique and 0.04 for the background.

Used  a yard to cut more blocks for my new quilt.  Made 4 more blocks for the baby quilt top, so another 0.05 yards used for sashing.  My YTD total is now 31.47 yds.

I'm linking to Oh, Scrap!, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Sunday Stash Report.  See you there.

Some of This; Some of That

I've been making string blocks, starting a new EPP, finished up an applique block, made a charity block for Covered in Love, and began quilting my UFO and a charity quilt - phew. So only have .53 yds to add to the stash report.  But I bagged yardage and scraps from my Sweet Land of Liberty that I no longer want. Found homespuns are so loosely woven, I don't care to work with them again.  I weighed them and the bag weighs 4.63 lbs or 74.08 ounces.  A one pound of fabric (average) weighs 3.5 ounces, so I'm giving away 21.17 yards.  Woohoo!  My new YTD destashing now stands at 27.15 yards.  And there's a space in my stash cleared away of all that fabric. Maybe I'll take some fabric out of a drawer.

Now for how I did in January with my 2019 UFO challenge. I'm happy to report I got my Jan-Feb UFO for the year sandwiched, and I am quilting it. I'm about 3/4ths done. Next is a whole lot of stippling and it will take a while.  I hope to have it done by my deadline of the end of February.  I've allotted myself 2 months for each project this year.

The second goal for January was to make my BOM block for my applique quilt.  That is done.
I am finally over the half way point making the applique blocks for this quilt - 10 to go.

Let's see, what else?

Made a mug rug as a gift,

Crocheted a baby washcloth

Finished adding the latest donut to my Bliss quilt,

and salvaged fussy cut fabric into a baby quilt top for St. Anne's.

And as to stitching time:

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days

15 minutes stitching days/Jan = 30/31 days

15 minutes stitching days/Feb = 2/2 days

15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 32/33 days

Success Rate = 96.96%

That's it for last month.  How did you do?  Leave me a comment and I'll come by and see your progress.  I'm linking to Sunday Stash, 15 minutes to Stitch 2019, and Oh, Scrap. 

Blessings.

First Some of This; Some of That Report for 2019

Here it is the 20th of January and I'm finally getting around to posting this.  First up the destashing.

I spent a lot of the first part of the month finishing the quilting on my Sweet Land of Liberty, so not much fabric has been used.  I cut up a panel that came in to St. Anne's so that doesn't count.  I made a few string blocks for Lori's at Humble Quilts Stringalong.  That only took 0.02 yds. Then I made fabric out of strings for another idea.

Not necessarily going to be a hexie project.

I"m thinking about this.

Let's say a fat quarter for that one.  Then DD came stash diving for a back to a quilt she's finishing. A yard walked out the door with her.  And that's it.  YTD total destashed so far is 1.27 yds.  I was able to use up/donate 77 yards last year - 77% of my goal.  This year I'm not setting a goal - just hope to do better than last year.  How are you doing?

Today I'm prepping an applique block of a long ago started UFO that I hope to finish this year.  You can see my list of 2019 UFOs here.  Have you made yourself a list?  Leave me a comment and I'll come by and see yours.

Also here's the first row of a baby quilt that I have on my Design Wall. The fabric was an all over print that had those large animal squares. The previous owner did some fussy cutting - spent about an hour trying to salvage some squares. I hope to add another row today, but haven't figured out what it will be.

Lastly, my week 3 of 2019: Stitching and De-Stashing as seen at Life in Pieces:

15 minutes stitching days/week = 7/7 days

 15 minutes stitching days/Jan = 18/19 days

   15 minutes stitching days/2019 = 18/19 days

Success rate = 94.73%

I'm linking to Sunday Stash, Design Wall Monday, Oh Scrap, and Moving it Forward.  Check out all the goodies there.

Blessings to you and your loved ones.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Feels like winter outside, and so I'm hanging out in the living room enjoying the warmth and stitching slowly.  I've finished another unit for my Bliss project.  One more unit and I can attach this donut to the center.  Donut you ask?  That's how I learned to add a round to my hexie centers and use one continuous thread.  Learned it from Karen at Faeries and Fibres.

Making some progress on quilting SLOL - got most of the first row done. It's taking me a bit longer as I keep having to change the top thread.  I couldn't find an all over thread that I liked.

As to destashing, between adding a border to my Stars and Stripes Sampler wall hanging and finding a back for my next baby quilt, I used up 1.3 yards of the stash.  That's because I have been quilting more than piecing. My new YTD total is  71.71 yds destashed out of the 86 yards needed to meet my goal. Very little progress this past week.

And that special luncheon last Thursday?  DH and I went out to celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary.  It actually was on the 30th, but we both had so much to do that day, we decided to celebrate on Thursday so we could have a relaxing, no time constraint, lunch.  We tried a new restaurant.  The food was very good and there was no rush. It is called Habanero Mexican Grill .

c. TripAdvisor

Time to prep some more hexies.  I hope you have a fun and productive new week. Blessings,

Oh, yes, I'm linking to Slow Sunday Stitching, Sunday Stash and Design Wall Monday.

Some of This; Some of That

First destashing:  donated 3 yards to guild; used .5 for my sampler; 1 yard for anotoher baby quilt; 0.59 for the preemie quilt, .04 for the 1797 project plus .41 for my UFO. So I've added 5.54 yards to my destashing giving me a YTD total of 67.79 yds destashed out of the 82 yards needed to meet my goal.  If I can get to 75 yards, I'll be happy to get to 75% for this year.

Here's the baby quilt I finished:

all quilted and bound.  Has a scrappy back. Mom made the top, I quilted and bound it.

I'll show the preemie quilt once I've quilted it.

Then I tackled an old UFO.  

Next step is some pennies I need to make:

This project was sitting on a shelving unit I want to get rid of.  It called to me to get it done.  Hope to finish it by the end of the month.

What have you been up to.  I'd like to know. I'm linking to Esther's WOW, Michelle's Let's Make Baby Quilts,  Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?and Lee Anna's I Like Thursdays. Blessings!

Some of This; Some of That

Since I was at retreat two weeks ago and then the funeral the following weekend, I haven't had much time to work on destashing, but I am finally able to report on those two week.  What with  making blocks for my Sweet Land of Liberty, some test geese, creating a medallion, binding a quilt, and working on another medallion, plus three fat quarters for a place mat,  I was able to use 1.62 yds from the stash.  That gives me a YTD total of 35.43 yds toward the 46 yards I need to reach my goal in December. Yes, the difference is greater - such is life.  Just have to keep plugging along - maybe donate some yardage to the guild.  We'll see.

Now something new.  My mom and I are doing a round robin.  Here's what she gave me  - above left.  And here is what I'm sending her.  Have the last row to attach.  We're turning
these into baby quilts.  Just something different for a change.  What would you do with these?
They have to measure around 36" square when done.

I'm linking to Sunday Stash.  How have you done with your destashing?

Some of This; Some of That

Binding my mod quilt - not ready to show yet.  Made two 3 1/2" churn dashes using the pieces as leaders and enders.  This is not a leader and ender project - just making blocks for My Small World in between another work. That blue and green one below I decided is going to be my pond near the barn.

Had a panel sandwiched, and made a sleeve for my mod quilt. Once the mod quilt is bound, I'll start quilting that sandwiched one.

I managed to use 1.74 yards with bits here and therelast week.  So my new destashing YTD total is up to 20.62 yds of the 30 yds I should have used by now to meet my year end goal. One of these days I'll get into a mad clearing of fabric from my stash and get caught up.  Never fear - I have so many kits, I won't be without something to work on.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday as those churn dashes are on my wall right now.  Also Sunday Stash, Monday Making, Moving it Forward, and BOMs Away.  Check them out.

Some of This; Some of That

The first stash report for 2018.  What with working on two baby tops, the next hexies for Bliss, some secret blocks, a sampler block, a small pillowcase and the last of my log cabins, I used up 2.03 yds last week.  My new YTD use is therefore 2.03 yards out. I've set an arbitrary goal of 2 yards a week out - that way I'll make my 100+ yards in a year. A tad over this week. I hope to continue that performance in the coming weeks.  How did you do?

For Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch report, I sewed at least 15 every day of the week, so my total is 6 days (since the year started on a Monday) out of 365 so far.

For Slow Sunday Stitching, I've cut the first group of four hexies for the next round (it took me hours to decide what fabrics to use), and now I'll be dissecting three of them to add design elements.

That ruler is what I use to cut the curvy bits.  I want to thank all of you for your suggestions in my last post of what fabric to use next .  I auditioned all of them, but they weren't just what I was looking for. I should mention that this is a large quilt  (around 58" x 72") so have a ways to go. And I'm still enjoying the challenge of making these unique hexies.  Once I finish prepping them, I'll hand stitch them while I watch another episode of The Crown.

I'm linking to Oh, Scrap and Sunday Stash - as well as Slow Sunday Stitching.  Hope you get to quilt today.

Some of This; Some of That

All I used this week was from the stash was 1/4 yd for the binding of that baby quilt. That brings my YTD total to  72.29 yds destashed.  

I started quilting another baby quilt - This one I made in August, showed it at guild,

and then promptly forgot all about it as I left it in my meeting bag and never took it out. This scrappy baby quilt is so busy, I"m not trying to do much to the front. Above is the back. Just about done with the center of it.  Also I did finish my scrappy medallion baby quilt.

I used about a 1/4th of a good size trash bag of scraps for this one, so that was good.  So many scraps! Sigh.  

Think tomorrow I'll just sit down in the living room and hand stitch on my hexies and applique. Would be nice to  get my circle done already.

I'm linking to Oh, Scrap and Sunday Stash. Check out their link parties - so much eye candy and news.

Some of This; Some of That

Stash Report:  Used .48 yards in making 17 six inch blocks. Also used .5 yds for my eagle. Donated 1 yd for a giveaway at Guild. New YTD total is  66.18 yds destashed. 

On my design wall for the 17ufosin2017  in Oct is a WIP NOT on the list.  The eagle was sitting on top of one of my bookshelves. I picked it up and started to work on it again at the first of this month, pretty much like the Christmas WIP I worked on in October.

The block settings will change a bit - have three more blocks to make and the background to the eagle to cut. I'm thinking I'm picking up other UFOs and making them WIPs because some of the projects on my list have too much work. Ugh.

What are you up to?  Come by and I'll visit to see your work. I'm linking up to Oh, Scrap!, Design Wall Monday, BOMs Away, Moving it Forward, and Monday Making.

Blessings!

Some of This; Some of That

First the destashing:  Used 2.42 yds for 9 blocks I'm using in two projects and the binding for the t-shirt quilt.   I'm giving my neighbor another 2 yards for her stash - she's a new quilter and hasn't built it up yet.  So my YTD total now is 63.06 yards.

This afternoon, after my DGS leaves, hope to do some slow Sunday stitching on an applique block I prepped earlier this year.  I've been working on it as I take my friend to her radiation treatments.  I don't think I've shown this Anna's Garden block before:

This is one of my WIPs Be Gone projects, so I'm glad to be back to working on it.

Out in the garden I found a last and rare blooming going on.  One of the last flowers to bloom are my sulfur cosmos. These have grown taller and blooming later with each season I save seed. So I may have to start from brand new seeds next spring. When I first planted them, they were only about 2 feet tall when they bloomed.  Now if I let them - they'd be 5 feet tall.

I'm standing in a well around the house. That's why they look taller than I.  I see these from my kitchen window.  Here's a close up so you can see the luscious sulfur color. 

And the rare flower (well at least to me as it is a night bloomer and I rarely catch one open) is from a Pilosocereus cactus I noticed from my bathroom window.  

I'm linking the Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap, and quiltpaintcreate's Sunday Stash report. Check them out. 

October is almost gone!  Blessings,

Some This; Some That

First in destashing:  Had to remake my four-patches for the QAL, so I used another .3 yards of scraps for those. The first set was on my design wall here.  The new YTD total now is 58.64 yards.

On my design wall is the completed top for the Palmateer Point QAL.

You can go to Lori's post and see all the ones shared on her linky party.  They're great!  I had a bit of an issue with my obsessive, compulsive nature and the 2"squares aren't as random as I wanted.  I really like the more scattered look of others for that. Could also be I had so many darker squares. Maybe I'll try again when I find the first set of four-patches.  One frustration I had with this 21" square top is trying to nestle seams when assembling. I'm sure there's a secret to that. Just haven't discovered it, especially with having to turn the four-patches this way and that to get the colors where I wanted them. Live and learn.

What are you up to?  Let me know and I'll come by. I"m linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday and a couple of others.  Check out my more tab to see those. Blessings.

Eight Yards

I did it! Bought some fabric with no purpose in mind. I'll have to add this to my stash report. Haven't done this since last year when I came to Vancouver and visited the Craft Warehouse where one can buy fine quilting fabrics for half price. Last year I bought so much, I had to mail myself a package - LOL. This time. I came prepared. My suitcase was half empty - hehe. Have you bought fabric lately? 

Applique Tuesday

I was able to get a copy of the guild photo of my itty bitty quilt #1.  Yeah!

It's appropriate that I'm posting today as it is Applique Tuesday at my house.  It's 8" x 10" and was the one given for our guild exchange.  Bit cooler today. Only 104.

Blessings!











-----------------------------Monday---------------------------------
Yesterday it was --------------------------------&gt
Today not much better  - 107, ugh.  I may have to scout out a second home to help me get through this.  Anyone want to shout out about their area that has 70-80 degree weather for the summer?

Not feeling too well today, must be the cumulative effect of so many hot days.  This is bad as its only the start of summer. Feel close to heat exhaustion, so not much sewing getting done even with the air on.

Did manage to make a yellow RSC block:

Off to replenish my cold drink and find my cooling neck scarf and wait out the heat of the day.
  --------------------------------------------------Sunday----------------------------------------------
First off, the stash report. I used .18 yd to make two RSC blocks, .04 yd for two leader and ender blocks, .25 yds for binding of St. Anne quilt,  .19 for two itty bitty quilts and gave away 1 yd of scraps. My new stash YTD total out is 55.04 yds 

I finally got some time to sandwich my isolette quilt top.  I use my dining table to sandwich, and it always seemed as if we were eating, soon be eating, or DH coming in soon for a snack and I wouldn't have time.  So in the meantime I assembled the batting

and found the backing.  I assemble the batting by finding scraps of the same kind of batting, cut two straight edges where they will abut, and join them with fusible interfacing.  While ironing the back discovered (1) it was not long enough and (2) there was a visible crease line down the center of this piece.  So I cut it right on the line, sewed a 1/4" along the line. Voilá, the line is gone.  Still too short . Cut a piece off the side and added it to the top.  Then I discovered there are crease lines on the border in the front!  Well I"m not taking it apart.  I'll just use a fabric pencil to color over the lines - they're not that long as the line was in back.  Do you get the feeling I really want to use this fabric?  Lol.  These quilts have to block light.
Here it is sandwiched. 

Have half the straight lines done so far. Off to finish the rest of those lines.

Hope you get to quilt today.  I'll be watching Father Brown and slow stitching hexagons this evening.  Blessings.
------------------------------------------------Saturday------------------------------------------
All quilted now:

Bound

Baby quilt ready to donate at next church quilt meeting:

----------------------------------------Friday-------------------------------------
Two small finishes.  One is a block for the RSC 2017 challenge and the other is an Itty Bitty Picture Perfect quilt (mine's not even close to perfect -lol). The back acts as a sleeve so it will be displayed on an acrylic stand as it is in the photo.

This is one of two I made. Not happy with the background for these flip-flops.  I couldn't find my lighter cloud fabric. Our theme was Summer. The other one is a vase - both required applique.The other I forgot to take a photo!  I'm hoping Mary who got it on the steal game will send me a pic. I got a nice 4th of July one.  I'll put it on display soon.

My other finish is the last blue block for the RSC challenge: 

I have 16 of 25 done now - again from Pat Sloan's Summer Solstice. Changed it up a bit by making those star blades from stitch and flip squares on a rectangle instead of using HSTs. Now have 16 of 25 done - again from Pat Sloan's Summer Solstice.   I'm linking to the usual parties.  See my tab under the header.

Blessings!