WIP Wednesday, 7.8.2020 -- on a Thursday...

I'm a little late on my WIP Wednesday post.  Internet problems and then I just ran out of time is the culprit.  But here we go with the list...

I’m still working at least 15 minutes a day on long arm quilting a 4-patch quilt for a friend. It’s awesome when I can take away the chair that holds the batting and keeps it off the unfinished floor.   I’m more than half way done. 

Nothing at all got done on my rug.  Guess I haven't touched my sewing machine in over a week...

My garden is looking fabulous. I finally got zucchini plants to grow. We finally got rain two days ago. These are the best looking eggplant plants I’ve ever grown. Now let’s see if they produce nice eggplants. 

The pepper plants don’t look that great, but this baby pepper looks promising. 

Blondie the brood hen is still sitting on the eggs that I gave her on July 4th. We are past the rough first days. The countdown is on for July 26th!

A guy I knew in high school was on the show “Naked & Afraid”. His name is Tim Phillips. Owen and I are big fans of survival shows. Tim made Owen a super happy super fan by sending him an autographed photo. 

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

I currently have 59 on-going projects on my list.  They are separated into stages.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from 

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  Go Four It!  Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender, June 2017

 7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) 8/8/19

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Jelly Roll Rug

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Veggie Patch from Katie Mae Quilts

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)

14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) I can't find it!!!

15.  Temperature QA (changing this project to a table topper)

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons  Porter Magazine) only one house block complete.)

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project

21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)

22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

23.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

24.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go-bag

25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- needs blocks each month)

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March 2017

27.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

28.  Orange, pink, grey kite blocks 2015

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019

32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks

33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

Blocks Still Need to be Made

 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

 2.  Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

 5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)

 1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)

 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby

 3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks That I Won

 4.  Split Stars (blocks won from the Block Lotto, October, 2012)

 5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)

 6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto; October 2012)

 7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14)

 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt

 9.  Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blcoks

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA

11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

12. Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17)

14.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

3.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

4.  Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018

5.  Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me on 8/29/19

Ready to Longarm

1.  4-patch quilt for a friend (CM) (almost done)

On The Frame

I got my friend’s quilt loaded on the longarm frame and started. Sometimes getting it started is the hardest part.

I am using my Circle Lord giant template board called Egyptian Eye. I love this design. 

Blondie the Brood Hen

This is Blondie.  I purchased her when I bought a flock of (16) chickens on 5/24/2014.  She is an one of the original (Golden) Buff Orpingtons.  I'm not sure how many eggs she still lays per week, but she is an excellent brood hen.  She has raised chicks in the past. 

She was so comfortable in the original coop that I just added a water bowl and some feed and let her have the whole place to herself.  She was definitely in the broody chicken trance mode.  I only disturbed her to count the eggs she had and to give her just one more.  I wanted her to have one of the really dark eggs.  We shall see what happens in the next week (or hopefully 3 weeks) to come.  It takes 21 days to hatch an egg.  I will peek in on her and change her water.  That's all the intervention I will hope to give.  

Fingers crossed she just sits on the eggs...  Who knows... I could go up there tomorrow and she'll be walking around.  Hopefully not.  Although I have PLENTY of eggs -- enough for neighbors and friends and of course our family-- It's always fun to raise baby chicks.  I'm not one to hatch eggs in an incubator and then tend to the chicks with heat lamps and such (although I have done that in the past.)  I don't candle the eggs. The most fun hatches are from brood hens.  They take care of the chicks and make sure they are warm and teach them how to eat and scratch for food.  They incorporate them to the rest of the flock.  

This is the most freedom I have ever given a brood hen.  It's my newest experiment.  She is not confined in any way.  She has the whole coop to herself.  She can get outside and see the rest of the flock or lay in green grass and mint and weeds in the shade if she needs to cool herself.  Some of the other hens in the flock like to lay in this coop because one of the ducks in the other coop is broody as well.  Maisy the duck is guarding her nest.  The other hens have plenty of other nest boxes in which to lay eggs.  Maisy will not be hatching eggs.  I gather them each day.  I lost my drake (male duck) a year or so ago.  The eggs are not fertilized and will not hatch without a male duck.

I looked at my old post from 5.24.14  It's so cool so see how much my chicken yard and garden has progressed!  Wow!  

We had a groundhog near the pool.  It jumped off this ledge and casually walked away...

I looked at my old post from 5.24.14  It's so cool so see how much my chicken yard and garden has progressed!  Wow!  

July OMG -- Wings of Spring -- A Block Lotto Quilt

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts my OMG for July.  Each month I try to make sure I complete a project that is on my list.  This month I hope to finish my Wings of Spring (Block Lotto win) quilt.

Here's the photo of it on the porch right after I finished trimming it.



It has been longarm quilted.  The binding has been cut.  It just sits on the shelf waiting for me to finish it.  It's been quilted for a couple of weeks now.  Hopefully by making this a goal for July it will push me and motivate me to finish it.

Four Patch Quilt

I took in another quilt to longarm for a friend.  I am going to try to work on it 15 minutes a day.  I have measured everything to make sure the back and batting are the right size.  That was enough for today.  Tomorrow I hope to load it into the frame.  Little steps...

There's time for more magnet fishing.  This is at Lake Milton. 

Happy as can be.  We didn't find anything super cool, but our time spent together was awesome!

WIP Wednesday -- Happy July

This week flew by.  I didn't get many quilty things finished.  Here's what happened anyways...

I finished the quilt for my friend that had the blanket inside of it vs. batting.  It turned out fine.  I wouldn't have gotten it done this soon if I didn't say that I would work on it 15 minutes a day.

I quilted it using the Circle Lord giant template board called Swirls.  I'll drop this off to the customer today.

For some reason I had some tension issues (not related to the blanket as the batting.)  I tried a new way to "unlongarm" the quilt and tear out stitches.  It worked out better for me ergonomically.  I rolled the quilt to where the "undesired" stitches were located to the back of the machine, sat in a chair, and picked them out from there vs. leaning over the front of the machine/quilt.

You can see my happy helper sorting fabric in the background. 

My jelly roll rug had no activity on it after I made the ball from pink scraps.  It still sits like this:

I selected this green and black out of my stash to start cutting the Spider Quilt.  It's a QA on Instagram.  I'm only making a table topper.

I gave Owen a golf club.  He likes his new hobby.

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

I currently have 59 on-going projects on my list.  They are separated into stages.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from 

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  Go Four It!  Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender, June 2017

 7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) 8/8/19

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Jelly Roll Rug

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Veggie Patch from Katie Mae Quilts

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)

14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) I can't find it!!!

15.  Temperature QA (changing this project to a table topper)

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons  Porter Magazine) only one house block complete.)

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project

21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)

22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

23.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

24.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go-bag

25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- needs blocks each month)

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March 2017

27.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

28.  Orange, pink, grey kite blocks 2015

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019

32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks

33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

Blocks Still Need to be Made

 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

 2.  Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

 5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)

 1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)

 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby

 3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks That I Won

 4.  Split Stars (blocks won from the Block Lotto, October, 2012)

 5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)

 6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto; October 2012)

 7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14)

 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt

 9.  Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blcoks

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA

11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

12. Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17)

14.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

3.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

4.  Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018

5.  Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me on 8/29/19

Ready to Longarm

RSC 20. Pink Ball

I worked on pink scraps this week and made this ball. The next step is to start sewing it in an oval for the jelly roll rug. 

I’m linking up at Angela’s blog for the RSC20 here.