Kinda Cool, Kinda Icky

We have a fish tank on the kitchen counter.  It was supposed to be for our son's room to motivate him to sleep upstairs by himself and also be a night light.  Well, that backfired.  Now it's just "my" fish tank in the kitchen.  One of the coolest things that we have in the tank are snails that a lady from church gave us.

But one day I walked out in the kitchen and found this...

 

The female snail didn't like it when I took the eggs that she laid on the inside of the hood of the aquarium less than a week before.  I didn't want 200 snails.  The girl that gave me the snails warned me that this could happen if I had a male and a female... which I now know I have.

 

The female was found on the counter behind the aquarium.  She was dry but I put her back in and she survived another week or so when she crawled out AGAIN and landed on the floor.  I think she cracked her shell.  She passed a couple of days after I put her back from the floor incident.

Putting it out there

I have struggled with my weight since I was 8 years old.  I'm 52 now. 
Funny how when I lose just a few pounds and start feeling good about myself I start to like the looks of my photos.  Look how much happier I look in this photo at Chuck E Cheese...

Blue House Mini is a Top

When I was making the Welcome Home Sampler, see details here, I accidentally made the wrong house block twice because I didn't turn the correct page.  I ended up with just a house block.  I decided to put a border around it and make it a wall hanging (or mini).  (I'm not in to pillows...)

I'll call this Blue House mini on my WIP list.

Squeezing in Summer Fun

Here's a couple pictures of Owen squeezing in some summer fun last weekend.  He's off Thursday and Friday this week for the county fair.  The school might as well have the days off school or most of the kids won't be there.  We live in that country and that's the way of life here.  It's wonderful!

WIP Wednesday 8.30.17

Last Wednesday in August.  It's been busy around here.  Our son and I have been trying to squeeze in any summer fun we can before all the pools close on Labor Day.  I've been sewing, just not blogging.  But here's what has happened lately:

I finished the last block (Shoo Fly) for the Marvelous Mini Monday Mystery at Temecula Quilt Co.

I did a few more embroidery stitches on my to-go project for Slow Sunday Stitching.

I finished quilting the Birdy pattern (Circle Lord giant template board) on my Homestead Harvest (pattern by Kim Diehl) quilt.  I has moved on to the binding stage.

 

I finished quilting the (Circle Lord giant template) Baptist Fan pattern on this customer quilt.

 

I think it looks great on it!  The curves compliment all those straight lines.

 

Here's the back.  Pretty!  She chose a polyester batting.

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Be Social #192. 



Linking up with Susan for Midweek Makers #87.


Last week, Susan featured my Big O (from the Block Lotto) quilt on her blog.  How exciting!  You can see the post on her blog and other fun quilts of color here.

Moving It Forward Monday

I'm working on this customer quilt today.  Hopefully it will finish after a few hours work today.  I am quilting it with my giant template boards from Circle Lord called Baptist Fan.  Sorry the photos are so yellow.  I must have some sort of filter or something turned on the camera.  I dropped my favorite Coolpix camera and haven't gotten it to work yet.  Give me a long road trip and it will (I hope). 

August OMG Finish Linky Party

It's time to link up those finishes for the August OMG Finish Party at Elm Street Quilts.  My goal was to finish this Big O quilt from won blocks at the Block Lotto  on 12.31.2014.  The Block Lotto (which Sophie who blogs at Sophie Junction) so beautifully runs.  This quilt measures 61.5" square.

I posted about the August finish here, but this quilt is worth posting about again!  You can find the pattern for the Big O block pdf pattern here.




I quilted it with my Circle Lord Giant Template board called Square Dance.  I love the texture of this quilting pattern.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Forward Motion

Each week just a little more gets done.  School was in session.  It started for my son on 8/23.  Time to stitch on while waiting at the bus stop.

 

I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching   Check out all the fun projects!

 

Brick Quilt -- Another Customer Quilt

I took in another customer quilt this week.  Hopefully with school starting last week I'll be able to get it on and off the longarm quickly.

Scraptastic Saturday RSC17 Neutrals

I'm working on finishing this scrappy neutral project today.  Here it is on my longarm.  I am quilting the Circle Lord Birdy giant template board.

 

I used a variety of neutral 1.5" strips as the background fabrics.  This piece is called Homestead Harvest.  It is a pattern by Kim Diehl.  I hand stitched the applique and kept it in my to-go bag for several months until the 36" square top was complete.  Here's a pic of the completed top before quilting it on my longarm:

 

 

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the last week of the neutrals for the RSC17.

 

 

This is what the Birdy template looks like:

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Lots of Progress!

 

I made a lot of progress this week on the embroidery project.  Look, I got the bear's whole face done!

I'm parked by the pool being the lifeguard for the day.  I usually swim with him, but I'm covered in poison ivy and haven't called the doctor yet.  I'm waiting to see if it dries up on its own... Yeah, right.  Never mind that... I have a doctor appointment Monday morning.

Linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Check out all the cool slow stitching projects!
 

Welcome Home Sampler Top Complete

It's finally a top!  Here's my Welcome Home Sampler (just one block was modified).

 

Welcome Home Sampler is in the book, Welcome Home ~~Surround Yourself With Country Warmth, by Cheryl Wall.

I'm pretty sure this quilt will be quilted with an edge to edge design.  I'm not sure which one yet.

Gypsy Wife QA Thursday

 Here's block #3, week 3, called From the Heart:

The cream-colored background fabric is from the Jen Kingwell collection called Gardenvale.  I'll be using several of the fabrics from Gardenvale because I've had a layer cake for a while that I just never knew where to use.

I've had the Gypsy Wife pattern booklet by Jen Kingwell for a few years.  I love all that it has going on with it.  I love scraps.  What a great quilt to use strips!

Angie, who blogs at GnomeAngel is leading us in a sew along.  I was tempted with a sew along with Gypsy Wife when I bought the book and life got in the way.  Now that my 100 blocks for the City Sampler is done (also an Instagram quilt along led by Angie), I am going to let myself start another.  Each Thursday a block is assigned. 

WIP Wednesday 8.16.17

The countdown to school is totally ON.  Next week at this time the kid will be at school.  I will be doing a 5K walk and then off to my longarm.  A new customer quilt is coming today.  She said it is a diamonds pattern...  I think it's a big star.  I'll comment more on that later.

Here's what happened this week:

Surprise.  I couldn't help myself anymore.  I started ANOTHER new project.  I needed a project for my school bag.  I've been getting Kim Diehl books from the library and fell in love with this project:

 

The quilt is called Short and Sweet.  It will be close to 33.5" square.

 

 

It's from this book.  I'll have the quilt top finished enough to return it to the library in time!  I won't have all the little applique pieces done, but will be able to do it with the above pic. 

 

This is my slow stitching project in the to-go bag that I keep in my truck:

 

 

Today I made the 4" (3.5" finished) Marvelous Mini Monday block for the mystery quilt at Temecula Quilt Company.   This is the little log cabin block:

 

I finished the last block that I needed to complete the quilt top for my Welcome Home Sampler.  This quit is in the book, Welcome Home ~~Surround Yourself With Country Warmth, by Cheryl Wall.

 

I made four-patch blocks and added another row to my Go-FOUR-It quilt:

 

 

 

I played with neutrals for the RSC17 and made more triangles for the on-point setting it the above.

 

 

I entered this photo of my chickens for the Pets on Quilts contest at LilyPad Quilting. 

 

 

I finished a Block Lotto project which was also my August OMG goal and APQS UFO Challenge.  I won these blocks in the Block Lotto on 12.31.2014.  The Block Lotto (which Sophie who blogs at Sophie Junction) so beautifully runs.  This quilt measures 61.5" square.

 Angie, who blogs at GnomeAngel is leading us in a sew along.  I was tempted with a sew along with Gypsy Wife when I bought the book and life got in the way.  Now that my 100 blocks for the City Sampler is done (also an Instagram quilt along led by Angie), I am going to let myself start another.  Each Thursday a block is assigned.   Here are my first two blocks (Colour Wheel and Pershing):

 

Linking up with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.  The linky party is here.

 

Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.  The linky party is here.

 

Marvelous Mini Monday

Today I made the 4" (3.5" finished) Marvelous Mini Monday block for the mystery quilt at Temecula Quilt Company.  This is the little log cabin block:

You can still join in on the fun at Temecula Quilt Company.  I think this is the last block and next week we will see the big reveal.  I found a teaser photo on Instagram, but it only shows a tiny part of the quilt.  I was hoping that they were set on point, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  We'll see next week!

Linking up in The Quilting Room with Mel for Fiber Tuesday 123.