#Spidersewalong Is Complete! OMG Goal Met for November

 I did it!  I finally met my November OMG (one main goal) to finish my #Spidersewalong.

I put a big spiderweb around the spider and then quilted a pattern called Modern Squares in all of the negative space.  I put a larger than usual binding around it.  I like it.  The binding is the same fabric as the backing.  The recipient is happy!

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts for the November finished linky party here.  Check out all the gorgeous projects -- especially Patty's CARTWHEEL quilt for Quilt Con -- It's a show stopper!  It caused me to click a few links to see more.

I found this sew-along on Instagram.  Click the link here.

The pattern is designed by Lindsey at Pen + Paper Design.

I'm also linking up at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making.  Check out the cute hats that Beth is making for the snowmen that the kids made years ago.  They are ADORABLE!

Slow Sunday Stitching -- And a Little Elf Mischief

With numbers rising in Ohio I'm starting to get concerned with keeping our son safe.  We decided to pre-bowl games during the week when it is not busy instead of bowling on Saturday mornings with the league.  As you can see, there isn't anyone close to us while bowling.

I won't get much bowling stitching time, but just a little stitching is better than none.  The lighting at this bowling alley is awesome for stitching!  His three games goes pretty quickly when he's by himself.

I lost my April clue instructions for the Linen & Threads Mystery Sampler Stitch A Long, 2020.  I printed another one after I got home.  I knew this was a mirror image pattern.  I tried to stitch the other side.  It was harder than following the pattern, but I did get some stitches in the right spots.

 

Elf on the Shelf has been a tradition since 2012 in our house.  Our elf family has grown.  Our elf family is out of quarantine. This week they put the 7th grade photo that came in the mail this week into the frame on the bookshelf and huddled near for a photo.  Blue was still in his jar and somehow left before the photo was taken.  I found him later in his jar in the kitchen.  Hmmm.  We have someone else getting in on the action of moving the elf.

On Saturday this is where Chippy was.  I'm not sure how long it will take Owen to find him.  We're not going anywhere today.  We'll see if he volunteers to help with unloading the dishwasher today.  I have learned that if I have something I want to do for the day that the elves have to be easily found--or else we have to stay home longer to look for the elves.  I'm still unsure if he knows I'm moving them or if he still thinks they have magic powers.  

Meanwhile, Blue seems to have taken Barbie and Oliver hostage and tied the up with Christmas lights.

I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

#SpiderwebSewalong Is Quilted!

 I finished the quilting on my Spider quilt!  This is the OMG (one main goal) quilt that I wanted to finish this month.  

The photo below shows a more true color of the quilt.

I tried a new quilting design called Modern Squares from Urban Elements.  I need to practice the curves and corners a bit more, but I'm so happy how this turned out.

The quilt is trimmed.  The binding is cut.  Time to get sewing!

The #SpiderwebSewalong was designed by Lindsey at Pen + Paper Patterns .  You can see her Etsy shop and fun patterns here.

Scrap Happy Saturday -- The Lineup

 It's Scrap Happy Saturday.  I've been part of the RSC for a few years now.  Each month Angela at So Scrappy announced the color of scrap that focus on using.  Each Saturday we link up and cheer each other on with our ongoing projects of busting scraps.  

During November and December we do not concentrate on certain colors, but work on finishing projects.  We had a very low-key Thanksgiving holiday.  My husband had the flu for seven days now -- we really hope it is the flu...  I spent time finishing little tasks to get things closer to the finish.  This bag is the result of things that are now considered move-to-the-longarm stage!

You can see the red strip on the bottom was added to my Garden Party quilt top.  I put an edge around it to make it easier to longarm.  All those little 1.5" squares on the edge would seem like a big challenge for me to longarm.  Most of the red will get cut off, but it will give me a nice edge. I started this Garden Party quilt (design by Bonnie Hunter) on 3-18-2017.   Thanksgiving weekend I pieced a back for this quilt.  I didn't get a pic with the edge on it, but here's the quilt top:

Another RSC project in the bag is Soul Searching.  A few years ago, a bloggy friend in California, Julianne, and I decided to make RSC quilts blocks, turn them in to quilt tops, and then SWAP quilt tops!  I received it in the mail on 8/29/19.  We did not post about these "secret" blocks until the quilts were swapped.  I found a really soft flannel sheet that I am going to use for a back for that quilt.  Here's a pic of the top that is now in que to be quilted.  I'm still not sure if I'm going to go with the sheet for the back or not, but right now in my mind I am.  I was going to put a Cross border on this quilt and make it bigger, but I'm thinking that I know who will be the recipient of this special quilt and it is plenty big enough as it is.  We shall see...

My friend's crib quilt is in the bag.  When she gave me her quilt to longarm for her she gave me a back that was almost the same size as the top.  I added to the back so that I can clamp it to my longarm frame for quilting.  It's a small quilt.  I hope I can finish it for her before Christmas.  Here's a pic of that quilt:

Sometimes this cheering is a wonderful thing.  Other times it causes me to see squirrels and start more projects.  (It's all in fun.  I'm using scraps and not buying new fabrics. I probably have enough scraps that were given to me to last a long, long time.

Last week this tub was empty.  Now it's full!  All I need is for it to stay warm just a little while longer so that I can get these on and off the machine.  I like to keep the longarm "dressed" and ready to go for when the nice days come.

I'm linking up these projects with the RSC20.

Check out all the fun at Angela's blog, SoScrappy.

Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for friends and family and health.  Here's a little quilt I picked up this week to longarm for a friend:

WIP Wednesday 11.25.20

 I'm still trying to get into the groove of quilting.  I'm doing much better at it than I was.  Remote learning takes a priority most days.

I put an all over stipple on the spider.  I know our son will get a kick out of this texture.  I'm still turning on the furnace in the house with the longarm.  It's keeping it warm enough so that the machine doesn't skip stitches -- for now.  

Half of the web is done.  Then I'll advance it and do the other half...

The mobile hotspot that the school provided helps keep Owen busy with his school work while I quilt.  He can even participate in his Google meetings with it.  You can tell he was a little cold until the furnace kicked in.  I didn't give the teachers any explanation of where he was located.  Teehee.

We tried a virtual cooking program.  It was a big hit.  It was part of a sight called Gigi's Playhouse.  It's an amazing program for people (and families) that just happen to live with Down syndrome.  Here he is browning hamburger for the first time.

I finished the longarm quilting on a friend's quilt and returned it to her on Monday.  I quilted it using my giant template board from Circle Lord called Square Dance.  I love the texture on it!

His virtual friends are cooking too!  You can see his video on YouTube.  I accidentially mentioned that it was with our group the Up Side of Downs -- which is another group that we do things with virutally.  Both groups are AMAZING!  He feels so connected with these groups.

He opened a can by himself with a can opener for the first time -- first try!  He did awesome!!!  He also used an electric mixer for the first time while making pumpkin bars for dessert.  Here it is on video.  I'm one proud mama!

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.  CM Crib Quilt (I'll post a pic of it tomorrow)  I picked it up 11.23.20

3.  #SpiderSewalong quilt from Instagram (on the frame)

I'm linking up with Midweek Makers.  Enjoy all the eye candy at Quilt Fabrication.

Spider Web Sew Along

 I still have time to get my Spider Web quilt done for my OMG project for November (One Main Goal).  I threw it on the longarm frame (again).  I decided to quilt a free-hand spiderweb on it and then do an edge-to-edge design on the rest of the negative space.

This was a quilt along on Instagram #Spidersewalong.

This project was an Instagram quilt along.  The cute spider quilt was designed by Pen + Paper Patterns.

Square Dance Blues -- Complete

 And just like that the Square Dance Blues quilt was on and off my frame!  Beautiful stitches... the thread didn't break... great tension... yet-- on and off!

I used my Circle Lord giant template board called Square Dance.  I'm pretty sure my friend will be happy with this gorgeous texture.  

I'm linking up with Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making.

Square Dance Blues

Today I loaded my friend’s “Blues” quilt. I decided to longarm quilt it using my Circle Lord giant template board called Square Dance. 

I usually quilt curves on a predominant "squares" quilt.  Let's see how this goes.  You can see some of the seams on the roller of this quilt that aren't a perfect 1/4".  Everything is not pressed to perfection.  But I know this quilt will have a beautiful finish -- with LOVE!  Not everything has to be perfect for a great outcome.

I'm linking this scrappy blue post up to Oh Scrap at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.

Sorry for the weird photo of the window in the linky party.  I couldn't get the pretty blue scraps to crop in the photo.  Hope you enjoyed the "surprise" when you got to my post.

Moving It Forward Monday

 When I dropped a friend's quilt off on Friday, of course she gave another one to me to quilt.  This one is small and blue.

Yesterday a big wind storm came through.  Neighbors had trees down, but we were spared.  Area power was out from 1:30 pm until a little after midnight.  Owen wanted to camp in the living room.  Before he went to sleep he went to get his Mario quilt.  I love it that he loves it so much!  Ahhh.  Comfort & love!

Cute story about the little battery powered lights next to him...  Every year I let Owen go in to the Dollar Tree and pick out $5 worth of gifts for Dad, Aunt Jo, and me.  He puts a lot of thought into the gifts he picks and tries to get the best bang for his buck.  (For example he'll get me a table cloth because they are really big when you open them.)  Two years in a row he got Dad battery powered lights "for camping."  When it started getting dark my husband knew exactly where he put them.  They were perfect for our camping in the living room.

The quilt under the Mario quilt was my first quilt along quilt!  It was designed by Lee at Freshly Pieced.  It is called the Supernova QA.  I quilted this quilt on my domestic machine.  Check it out here.

Friday Finish -- A Friend's Quilt

 I finished the longarm quilting on my friend's quilt last night.  In my opinion I think the clamshell design gave this quilt a nice texture.  Chalk another one off my list.  I'm guessing she will give me another when I drop this one off this weekend.

In other news around here, Chippy and his family arrived for the holidays!  Elf on the Shelf has been a tradition of ours since 2012.  It's still magical for our son.  Usually Chippy arrives around Thanksgiving.  This year he had to plan and come 14 days early due to the quarantine process.  He must stay in his ziploc bag with his wife, Barbie, and their son, Oliver.  

If you like YouTube videos, you can see sort of how things unfolded with Chippy's arrival here.

We also spent some time bowling.  Our wifi was out for a bit so we got away for some activity.  It was about 50 degrees today.  I hadn't bowled since August or so--I got a 150!  Woohoo!

When I was creating this blog post last night I just realized that it was Friday the 13th today...  The last Friday the 13th I remember was the last day that I worked as a substitute teacher (except for the two half days that I worked this school year for fun.)  That was back on 3/13/2020 --  COVID-19 day... Now I have to get someone to hang out with Owen if I want to work.  He doesn't get his school stuff done...  It's a lot...  

I have to admit I'm still trying to find my way of not working.  I know I'm right where I need to be right now.  I'm still processing that.

Cheese Making

I started an exciting new hobby today—cheese making. I made my first pound of mozzarella today. 

I started with a thermometer and a basic cheese making kit that I ordered from Amazon (above).

It was cool to watch the chemical reaction of the curds separating from the whey (future science experiment coming!) 

I'm often a messy cook.  I spread everything out on the counter by my stove.

I'm glad I got the cheese kit that had the cheese cloth in it.  I tried straining them out with the strainer as the recipe suggested.  It was much easier just dumping them in the colander with the cheese cloth in it and gently encouraging the whey to drip out.

One gallon of milk makes about one pound of mozzarella cheese.  (The pic below shows a little bit less than one pound of cheese because it was just so good.)  I did the microwave process of nuking it 60 seconds twice and kneeded it a bit and got rid of the grainy texture (above) to the smooth, shiny texture (below).  It really was easy to make.

You may wonder why I'm buying a gallon of milk to make only one pound of cheese... well, since I no longer can go to my job we have been getting different grocery giveaways locally.  Every kid in our school district (and most kids in our county in public schools) get the free breakfast/lunch program.  Each week we get one gallon of milk along with some other food items for our son provided by our school.  We have a scheduled weekly pick-up time.

Our church also distributed a Farmers to Families program where we get a large box of groceries with tons of great stuff from local farmers.  That was another gallon of milk.  Then my friend didn't want the gallon of milk in her box, hence another gallon of milk.  I know I could freeze milk, but my friend told me that her husband was making cheese with theirs.  It worked out great.

Someday I'll be able to go back to work and Owen will be back in school -- right?  Someday.  As for now we learn to adapt.   

Moving It Forward Monday

 I loaded my friend's quilt onto the longarm frame.  I'd like to get it done and back to her this week.  I decided to quilt it with clamshells for a fun texture.  The back is a white re-purposed sheet.  I am quilting it with white thread.

This is LuLu.  She was in the first litter (of two) that were born at our house during the pandemic.  She lets me pet her at the food bowl from time to time, but is timid the rest of the time.  That doesn't mean that she doesn't like to be near.  She is very in tune to where I am.  All of our cats are outside cats.  She likes to hunt across the drive from where I longarm quilt.  She often times comes to visit me while I am quilting in this nice, warm, sunny spot.

The above photo also shows you a glimpse of how far this part of the house is done.  See, the drywall is up but not finished...

Remote learning continues for another nine weeks.  He 's doing so good at home it looks like we shall keep him home all year.  He is really maturing and figuring it out.  I now leave him in the kitchen to do his work while I am quilting.  I can check on what he is doing on his learning program from my phone where I am.  I'm only 50 yards away...

I'm linking up with Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making.

Magnet Fishing Friday

 The weather is in the high 60's today.  We explored a new magnet fishing spot and visited a favorite spot at Deer Creek Reservoir.

Friday Finish Wanna Be -- November OMG

I don't have a finish to show today.  I decided to set a goal to finish my Spider Web QA even though Halloween is done and gone.  The last time I worked on it I was having a tension problem on my longarm.  I was in the process of stitching a free-hand web of some sort around the spider.

My son really likes this quilt.  Since I'm not really working maybe it would be a great item to give to him for Christmas.  I need to get out of my funk and finish a few things before it gets too cold to quilt in the longarm area.  

Since I have taken the photo above I pulled the quilt off of the longarm frame and folded it into a ball.  I removed the poor tension stitches.  Some of the stitches still remain.  The batting and all are still attached.  I wonder how hard it's going to be to re-load as it is.  We shall find out.  Wish me luck.

The #Spiderwebsewalong was a quilt along I found on Instagram.  The pattern was designed by Lindsey at Pen + Paper Patterns.  You can see a lot of her cute pattern designs in her Etsy shop here.

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts for the November OMG goal setting linky party.