Scrappy Saturday

I'm still procrastinating adding the little red strip around the edge of my Garden Party quilt to make the edge nice and even before I do the longarm quilting on it.  I didn't trim the pieces yet.  I decided to add the strip before I trim.  It's one step closer to being finished.

I've got it started.  It's going to get dark early.  I'll have plenty of time to do this...she said...

As for fun around the house, Owen LOVES to play hide and seek.  It's not that fun for me because I'm too large to hide and tiny places and I don't run very fast.  So we figured a way to play like a lazy creative person.  Spiderman now lives in our bathroom.  He gets moved somewhere in the bathroom daily and sometimes multiple times per day.  It's really kinda fun.  

Today Spiderman is dressed as a mummy in scrappy neutrals -- that's just what happens when your mom is a quilter.  LOL.  Happy Halloween!

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the RSC20.

Quilt of Squares with Pink Border

 The "Quilt of Squares with Pink Border" is on the frame.  I have decided to quilt it with the Circle Lord giant template board called 7 Treasures of Buddha.  I took a photo at this angle so that you can see it.  I'm not worried how the size of the circles is going to line up on the quilt blocks.  It is an edge-to-edge pattern.  I think it will look nice.

For some reason the sheet my friend gave me as a quilt back keeps slipping off the corner closest in the photo.  I put a "bandaid" on it with my plastic gripper and it's staying in place.  Whew...  It will continue to roll back okay.  Just keep quilting...

The temperatures are starting to drop.  I need to get it finished soon before it is too cold to longarm quilt.  It's in the low 40's here today.  For those of you that are new to my blog, my longarm is in a house that is not finished.  It has heat, but it costs a lot to heat it to a cozy temperature and keep the head of the machine a constant warm temperature.  When it's cold, the stitches start to skip.  I hope to get three more quilts done before Thanksgiving.

TWO RSC Projects Moved Forward This Week!

 I finally finished putting together my Garden Party quilt top.  I am going to sew a 2.5" constant red strip around the end to make the longarmer (me) happy.  Then that strip will be trimmed so that it doesn't take over the quilt.  Garden Party is a Bonnie Hunter design.

I also moved my Go 4 It quilt along.  It is my new leader/ender project now that Garden Party is complete.  I love it that other blogging friends are also doing the same design.  It's a fun scrap project.  I'm using 1.5" squares (2.5" 4-patches) that I put together in previous RSC months like crazy.

The pattern for Go 4 It can be found in the magazine, American Patchwork & Quilting, April 2015.

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC20.

Magnet Fishing Friday!

 Right now I am keeping to my promise to reward our son with magnet fishing when his remote learning is complete for the week (including passing all quizzes and exams during the curriculum.)  Magnet fishing is done by throwing a rope with a small (2.5" to 3.5" diameter) magnet on a about a 30-40 foot rope into the water.  The magnets are quite powerful.  The one I use is rated for 888 pounds!  I doubt if I could pull 888 pounds out of the water or at all, but if we find something I can pull, it definitely catches hold of it.

The Ohio weather yesterday and today was 72-75 degrees!  It was a beautiful fall day.  Glad we got all of our work done so that we could take advantage of these gorgeous days!

When we arrived at Deer Creek Reservoir yesterday we had the place to ourselves!  What fun! 

We "fish" for metal things like lures and hooks and such...and he LOVES to find anything metal!  Rebar, a sign, a prop, fishing rods and reels, flashlights are quite popular and so are tools.

I love the fact that our son Googles different places to go.  He actually does the work.  Sometimes he picks boat docks in different states, but then we fix it and pick one nearby.  I let him program it into the GPS on my phone.  Often times we pick one with a bike path and take our bikes.  I love it when I can get him to ride his bike the distance that we are going and then magnet fish on the way back to the truck.  We end up getting over an hour or two of exercise and don't even notice it!

Our magnet/rope combo runs $25 to $40 depending on the size.  It was a nice day.  The water was very clear.  I knew the bottom here was more rocky vs. mucky.  My magnet got stuck and I decided to go in after it.  After all, I had a change of clothes and a place to change nearby.  I had to go in chest deep.  My magnet was wedged between pieces of broken-up concrete with conduit attached.  I was not able to retrieve it.  This is the first magnet we lost since we got them in March.  That's not that bad.  

Besides the initial cost of our magnets and the gas it takes us to get from place to place, it's a very reasonable hobby.  We are able to be socially distant from others.  The memories we make and the time we are spending together as mother/son AND as a family are priceless.

The above photo was magnet fishing today at Petros Park.  It is another one of our Stark Parks.  It is next to The Timken Company where steel is made.  You can see large dump trucks and equipment being run as a bonus.  There was only one other person fishing this large lake besides us.  He even "gave" us his good spot after he left.  We found a few fun lures and jigs and a spinner where he told us to fish (in the spot below).

Owen couldn't wait to get home to show his dad all the cool stuff we found today.  We're getting smarter and keep our small finds in a peanut jar inside our bucket with our magnets.  The magnets do not stick to our finds every time we pick up and move from place to place.

We finished the day with an awesome visit from Aunt Jo.  It's always fun around Aunt Jo.  Everyone should be so lucky to have a special aunt like her.  I was lucky that I did when I was a kid.  She's our biggest cheerleader and supports whatever we do with a smile.  We are so blessed!

Twins!  Similar hair, glasses, and the both wore their Shearer shirts without knowing.  LOVE!

After seeing Vicki's post at Vicki's Crafts & Quilting, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with a charm pack that has been sitting in my desk drawer near my sewing area for a couple of years now.

She directed us to the Building Blocks Baby Quilt on the Moda site.  This is a FREE pattern designed by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs!  It uses one charm pack and a little yardage.

My NEW Leader/Ender Project

 Well, it's not really NEW, but it's a project on my list.  I pulled out my Go 4 It Blocks and piece parts.  I love how the blocks are set on point in this quilt.  I have turned the corner on the quilt top, so it is more than half way done.  I love the bright colors running through the miscellaneous neutrals.  This will be a cute throw in the living room.  

I have been making 4-patch blocks for the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) for quite a while.  I have a big bin on them.  The squares are 1.5" (1" finished).  The block size of the 4-patch is 2.5".  I really like to play with 1.5" squares!  

The pattern for the quilt that I am working on can be found in the magazine, American Patchwork & Quilting, April 2015.

WIP Wednesday -- The Garden Party Continues

 I'm super excited that now all my Garden Party (design by Bonnie Hunter) blocks are together.  I added a few blocks to make this quilt larger.  I never did the math and didn't plan on it being square.  But here it is...

My next step will be to put a border on it.  I really do not like all those little pieces on the edge when I longarm it.  I'm sure with all the different types of scraps in this quilt it will have a little stretch when I load it onto the frame.  It does lay really nice and flat.  Pressing these blocks and rows as I go was key.

The friend that noticed my Garden Party blocks partially sewn together and inspired me to finished dropped off a quilt last week.  It has been added to my long to-do list.  I'll just call it the Quilt of Squares with Pink Border.  I  added to the back of this quilt yesterday so that I can be loaded onto the longarm frame.

Owen has been showing his love of art lately.  Here he is doodling during one of his remote learning classes.  I love that he has the ability to pause the teacher and write down what he thinks is important.  I'm not sure if he has ever taken notes before in class.  Remote learning is definitely ideal for him.  He's a modern kid that loves technology.  Pausing the teacher slows down the class for him and he regulates things in his own thoughts.  It's actually amazing.

Doodling...  He LOVES dry erase boards.  I've learned that they work great for math.  When I just give him scrap paper he is still distracted by all of his "leftover" thoughts.  When he works on each problem individually he does awesome.  This may have to be on every IEP from now until he graduates.  

My dear friend, Linda, sent me a very personal happy mail.  It is actually really making me HAPPY!  Along with the happy mail she sent Owen a mosaic sticker art book.  Since he has been so far ahead in some of his online classes I have introduced art class to Owen.  I set different goals for him a few times per week.  

This activity is great for the fine motor skills.  Every once in a while he needed a little help starting one of the stickers.  I put the first two on the page to show him how it worked.  This time he was supposed to add five stickers to his mosaic rainbow.  He loved it so much he did the whole row.  I think he was actually better at getting the stickers in the lines better than I was.

He's super happy with this project.  He is definitely building self confidence in some of his skills and subject areas.  Although remote learning pretty much doesn't allow me to go to school and work as a substitute teacher any more (at this time), it's definitely working out for Owen.  We may have to make this our new way of learning for a couple more years.  

THANK YOU, LINDA!  What a great idea.  I have already ordered him a scratch art pad so that we can alternate art projects now and then.

I currently have 60 on-going projects on my list.  They are separated into stages.  This seems like a lot of projects, but I used to have 93 items on my list.  I love the fact that it has gone down so much.

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.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

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

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

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

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

6.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17)

Ready to Longarm

1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

2.  Quilt of Squares with Pink Border (CM's quilt) received 10.13.20

3.  #SpiderSewalong quilt from Instagram

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.  I haven't linked up here for quite a while.  Remote learning and biking the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail has been keeping us busy.  Check out all of the fun projects!

Garden Party

 When my friend dropped off a quilt for longarming this week she noticed my Garden Party quilt on the shelf.  She said, "Boy that's pretty!  Look at all those little pieces."  I proudly got it out and showed it to her.  That motivated me to work on it again.  I took the time to finish laying out the last eight rows on our bed.

I started putting these blocks together when RED was the color of the month for the RSC on 3/22/2017.

I have eight rows to put together, hence the multiple photos.  These blocks go together nicely, but sometimes I get a row mixed up.  It's nice to have a detailed photo for reference.

Garden party is laying on top of my Ohio quilt.  I really like the looks of the grey and red border of the Ohio quilt peeking out.  I'm not a huge fan of tiny blocks along the edge of a quilt for longarming purposes.  This quilt will get some sort of border.

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC20.

The Quilt of Squares with the Pink Border

 Here's the next quilt in line for the longarm.  To keep track of it on my list I'll just name it The Quilt of Squares with the Pink Border.  I'm not sure what design I will put on it.  I'm thinking 7 Treasures of Buddha right now, but I'm not sure how they will line up with the size of the squares.  Time will tell.  I may choose the Jester pattern... Hmm...

The Purple Squares Quilt -- WIP Wednesday

Yesterday I unloaded my friend’s purple squares rquilt from the longarm frame.  

I quilted it with a template board from Urban Elements that is called Hearts a Flutter.

It turned out great.  The backing of the quilt was a re-purposed sheet.  It was so soft!

I think the design went well with the print on the lilac fabric.

This time she came to the house to pick it up.   She has been to our house several times but I never realized that she had not been IN the green house that we live in. She has only been inside the house with the longarm. I think she enjoyed the little tour.   She said that there are quilts everywhere. On the bed, on the table, in the kitchen, on the chairs...there are even quilted rugs on the floor. 

She gave me another quilt to longarm.  Then she said she had TEN more!  She has been busy.  She has eight children and tons of grandchildren.  She is trying to make one for each of them.  She told me that she sent ten quilts to Wisconsin last week with a relative and instructions to distribute them.  She needs to replace her stock of quilts here at home.

I haven't done a WIP Wednesday post for a while, so here's the long list of projects.

I currently have 60 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.  Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018

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

Ready to Longarm

1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

2.  The quilt a friend dropped off 10/13/20 (I haven't gotten it out of the bag yet.)

3.  #SpiderSewalong quilt from Instagram

I'm linking up at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.  I haven't linked up here for quite a while.  Remote learning and biking the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail has been keeping us busy.  Check out all of the fun projects!

Clean Your Room

With a day off school (even remote learners get a day off) we decided to clean out the toy room. We found a great deal on these giant boxes that are about 60” x 60”. They were two for 99 cents!  We found them while getting deli items while on our bike adventures this weekend. I didn’t feel comfortable hauling 20 boxes and the bikes on the same trip because there was a lot of interstate between the store and home.  Owen and I took a mini road trip to get them yesterday. 

Embarrassing that this is such a mess, but we didn’t throw too many toys away since Owen was born (13 years).  I’m a thrifty person.  Many of these items were given to us. Many were garage sale items .  We always allowed Owen to play with an of it. We moved the giant box of Nerf guns, sporting goods, and Hot Wheels in the doorway before I thought to take a pic. 

This is really Owen’s room in the house we started building years ago. I’m perfectly content in the house we live in on the same property. My longarm is in the unfinished house. Someday we will finish it. 

The boxes were big enough to organize things such as riding toys and seats and pack n plays and such. Even his roller coaster and train bed fit into the big boxes! Now he has an “office” where he can work for a while until the weather gets too cold. He can have a change of scenery from his classroom thanks to a mobile hotspot from the school. I may get to longarm quilt something..

The plan was for us to work cleaning the room an hour or two a day. Owen was so excited to go through so many things and reminisce. He’s an amazing worker. He puts things on piles and carries things to the trash without complaining. He comes up with ideas. He loves to hear about stories of when he was a baby!

Here’s the room of an organized hoarder. I can't believe we got this much sorted and done!

He loved playing with old toys.  He would take things to the trash can when asked.  But I did hear him have a conversation with Daddy when he got home for work that they would stow some of the toys in the pole barn...  He is also super excited to be able to smash some of the broken toys with a sledge hammer so that they fit into the trash when my husband gets home from work.  He LOVES jobs!

This little bike has a broken training wheel.  We do not want to donate it or any of the car seats to anyone that could get hurt on them.  Some we will give away and donate.

I had to go to the other house for a bit.  (You can see the distance in the above photo from the house we live in~ green house~ to the new house ~the garage Owen is riding the little bike in).  The original plan was to demolish the green house once the new house was built and have a big flowing lush yard with some pretty trees that change color in the front here and there...  But then we had Owen.  We made updates to the green house.  We are hoping he would like to live there independently some day.

I couldn't find Owen when I got back from the errand in the green house.  Here he is on the phone telling Dad how excited he is that he cleaned his room and he wanted to show it off.  My husband was in disbelief when he saw how much we got done.  In the photo below you can also see the pole barn where I think some of the toys I think need to be thrown away may be stored...  The fall leaves are just GORGEOUS this time of year.  Behind the pole barn is the neighbor's property.  Their house is on a different road.  It is full of those yellow weeds that look like goldenrod but aren't.  It's a beautiful color right now.  

Remember when we could only go as far as the phone cord would let us when we were younger?  Well, I had some searching to do before I found him.  He's a good kid.  He makes safe choices for now.

Here's our family photo taken while the camera was on a timer on a tripod last year in that field...  I love this photo.  I blew it up and had it printed as a canvas box for the living room wall.

Biking the Ohio & Erie Towpath Teail

Yesterday we biked from Akron to Barberton on the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail.  Magnet fishing happened along the way.  It was a beautiful fall day.  Memories were made.

Purple Squares Quilt

I finally finished adding a top and bottom to the backing of this quilt so that I could load it onto my long arm frame. This quilt belongs to a friend. I’m quilting a pattern called “Hearts a Flutter” on it. I think the design will bring out the heart design on the lilac print fabric. 

I do not use this board very often because when I got it I only purchased three pieces of the board.  They are 18.75" long.  My thoughts were to save money and leap frog the boards.  This works, but it takes longer.  It did have a very pretty effect on this quilt.  I think it enhanced the simple purple squares.  You can see it on the Urban Elements page here.

Thankful that there have been zero tension issues thus far.  It was a 70 degree day.  The house was in the 60's due to the insulation.  I can still quilt for a while without starting the furnace.  Once the head of the machine gets cold it takes a while to heat it up.  When the head of the machine is cold I have tension issues for some reason.  Quilt season continues.  

Below you can see the fabric print.  I just LOVE it when a quilt speaks to me how it wants to be quilted.

Dora the Sewing Machine

Today I am sewing ends to a backing for a friend’s quilt using “Dora”.  I don’t normally name sewing machines, but this one was given to me when my mother-in-law passed away a few years ago.  Often times the quilt backs my friend gives me are just big enough for the quilt and I need a little extra fabric to load it onto the long arm. 

Today is the first time it ran out of thread under my care. Thanks to YouTube I easily re-threaded it and was up and running again. I have the original manual, but it is on my computer desk in the other house.

My mother-in-law was an amazing seamstress. It’s fun to think of her when I use it. I know for a fact she would wonder what her grandson was up to these days and be so proud of him. 

Speaking of Owen, yesterday was a beautiful Ohio day in the 70’s. It was a gorgeous day for magnet fishing. 

We went to Atwood campground. We didn’t find any cool fishing lures today. 

Of course he took a nap on the drive home.