Soul Searching Quilt Top

Happy mail has arrived!  I received this quilt in a personal swap with Julianne!  It's gorgeous.  I love it. :)  I can't wait to put my personal touch around the border to make it just a smidge bigger.  The pattern is called Soul Searching.  We started these RSC projects in 2016 across the country from each other.

The pattern is by Kathleen Daughty of Material Obsession.   It is in the book Making Quilts.

This is the Soul Searching quilt top that I sent Julianne:



Sweet swap!  I had to keep my RSC blocks a secret for a couple of years, but now that we have swapped I'm so happy to share it with you.  I'm linking up to Angela's blog for the RSC19.

Christmas Improv Quilt -- A Friday Finish

I finished this little Christmas Improv quilt last night.  This was a quilt along in 2014 with Beth at Love Laugh Quilt.  I quilted it with an allover stipple.  LOVE the texture it gave this little quilt.  It measures a little shy of 42" square.

I like this cream print that I found in my stash for the back.  I used a solid green for the binding. 

 I put up a makeshift clothesline yesterday.  You can see the construction zone behind the quilt back.  Grass was planted last night in the worked dirt to the left of the quilt.  The driveway runs on the right of it.  The driveway is where it will be.  The planted grass is temporary for now.  It will eventually be grass, but there's still more hill between the two houses that will eventually be moved.  The green trees to the right in the back of the quilt will also be moved (the short ones under the power/phone lines--not the tall ones.)  Sometimes looking at my husband's WIPs makes my WIP Wednesday list look small.  The great part is that we are usually home--together.  Wouldn't want that any other way!

I had to get a new quarter inch foot for my sewing machine.  The clear plastic one that I had that I purchased with my sewing machine broke.  It seems the plastic gets brittle over time.  It was the second one that broke.  I liked that I could see better with the plastic one, but this metal one that I got for less than half price of the plastic one seems to work nicely.  The binding went on really flat like I like it.  The green fabric was somewhat stiffer than what I usually use.  It was a twin sheet piece.

I'm linking the image of my sewing machine foot at Wandering Camera.  This is a new-to-me link-up.

Improv really isn't my cup of tea.  It did pull me out of my comfort zone. I LOVE the snowflake blocks in this quilt.  I can see myself doing those someday again.  The trees are cute too.

I'm linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a WHOOP WHOOP?



I'm also linking up at My Quilt Infatuation.  Check out all the fun eye candy on Kelly's blog today!

I'm linking up with Alycia Quilts -- Quiltygirl for the new location of Finished or Not Friday.

I'm glad that I finished this old WIP.  I'm linking up today on Nina's blog (Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever....)  She has a great post about finishing UFOs.  I'm surprised she didn't mention the one... A quilt on the bed is worth two in the head. 

Soul Searching Quilt Top Complete -- Or Is It?

I finished my Soul Searching Quilt Top of nine blocks a couple of months ago.  This has been a secret project for a couple of years (2016ish?)

This is my swap quilt with one of my quilty friends, Julianne at Quilting with Calicos.  A couple of years ago I sent her a pattern and we were going to make quilt tops from our scraps and swap them when the quilt was complete.  Originally we were just going to follow the RSC colors for that year and make a 12 block quilt.  Life got in the way. 

Now she's back on her feet -- literally, and the swap is on.  Julianne received her quilt top in sunny California yesterday.  I can post this now!!!  I can't wait to see what mine looks like.  Julianne LOVES bold fabrics.  My scraps are all over the place.  I can't wait to see the difference.

WIP Wednesday 8.28.19

With school back in session I am getting my longarming mojo back.  Here's what happened this week:

Last night I loaded my Catchin' Some Rays quilt onto the longarm frame.  Everything was going good and...

I just kept quilting and it's DONE!  (The quilting is done.)  (Now it needs trimmed, a label, and a binding.)  I'm in shock that it is quilted!  I quilted it with double bubbles.  I think they are lovely!

This pattern is called Catchin' Some Rays.  It was designed by Barbara Jones.  It measures approx. 52.5" x 72.5".  Except for replacing the applique flowers with EPP hexagon flowers, the patern is as it's supposed to be.  I rarely do that.  It was a lot of fun being on eof my first EPP hexie projects.  I kept it in my sew-to-go bag.  The original pattern, Catchin' Some Rays, was published in McCall's Quilting, January/February 2013 issue.

My Christmas Improv quilt has been on and off the frame as well this week!  It is trimmed.  It needs a binding and a label for the finish.

I finished the quilting on this customer 9-patch quilt.

I put together these Patriotic Folk Animals for my sew-to-go bag for when I get the substitute calls probably starting next week.  It will be a little fun embroidery project.

I won this SWEET bundle of text fabrics from SEWMEASONG on Etsy from the 2019 FAL.

Handsome is LOVING middle school!  We have a partial week this week due to the county fair.  After labor day we will be on a regular schedule.  My husband has also returned to work.  Oh what will I do with this week to myself...  hmmm... being sarcastic...

My sister-in-law gave this sunflower to me for my birthday.  She picked it from her flowerbed.  My birthday was 8/20.  I'm amazed how beautiful it still is on my windowsill.  Definitely photo worthy.

I currently have 65 on-going projects.  I added one this week because I took on a customer quilt to longarm.

Pieces Still Need to be Cut & Sewn

1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from Mama Spark's World 

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) -- hand work-- found the book 8/8/19!

8.  Parallelogram Strings -- 2019 String Along at Humble Quilts, started 1.31.19
9.   Leah Day Building Blocks QA
10.  Jelly Roll Rug
11.  Classic Meets Modern BOM
12.  Mod Mod QA (turning this one into a baby quilt) (from block Lotto, mostly 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) 

15.  Temperature QA (2019 block-a-day according to high and low temps--changed to 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 second quilt.)

23.  Set of note cards and envelopes

24.  Simply Summer Sensational QA with Kevin the Quilter 2.5" blocks (started 6.27.19)

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

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March, 2017 (Will make baby quilt.)

27.  Super Mario QA

28.  2015 Orange, pink, grey kite blocks (from Accuquilt die, RSC17)

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA (started again with Angie at Gnome Angel, August 2017) (2019 QA)

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

35.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 2.5 " squares

36.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 1.5" squares

  

Blocks Still Need to be Made

1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

2.  Scrap Crystals (working on blue pieces for RSC15)

3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

4.  Kim Diehl's Table Topper from her book Simple Charm (Started August, 2017 for to-go bag.)

5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt (my seams don't match Julianne's seams...)
6.  Drunkard's Path Variation baby 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 Block Lotto; October, 2012)
5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)
6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto, February, 2013)

7.   Soul Searching -- Julianne texted me 8/7/19 -- The swap is set for 9/1!

8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt 

9.   Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blocks 

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (New QA starting 5/7/17 Gnome Angel)

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

12.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May, 2018 sew-to-go bag)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17.)

14.   Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN.  It's the Dot Dot Dash Bag. (new to the list April, 2018)

15.  Fortune Teller (RSC14 started)--It's not long enough...needs 4 more blocks

Quilts back needs to be made (tops are done) 

1. Card Trick (pink and blue) HUGE charity quilt for local quilt guild
2. Hunter green large (bubbly -- will be a challenge to longarm) charity quilt for the local guild
3. Bubble Gum pink and navy charity quilt for local quilt guild
4. Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018
5.  O - H - I - O quilt 2.5" blocks

6.  Wings of Spring -- Block Lotto win 3.31.19

Ready to longarm

Ready for Binding

1.  Block Lotto December Scrappy Stars (blue/purple) -- I won the star blocks December, 2018.

2.  Catchin' Some Rays needle turn applique crib quilt started March, 2018 (adding EPP hexies!)
3.  Love Laugh Quilt Christmas Improv QA

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

I'm also linking up at Wednesday Wait Loss 134.

Christmas Improv Quilt on the Frame

I have this Christmas Improv quilt on the frame today.  I am longarm quilting it with a general overall stipple.  I'm using white thread.  I can barely see where I stitched...but that's okay for this quilt.  I started this quilt  in 2014 with as a QA on Beth's blog at Love Laugh Quilt.

Here's a pic of the whole quilt:

Patriotic Folk Animal Blocks

I'm putting one of my hand stitching projects together so that I have something when it's time to wait such as bowling practice (twice a week), the bus stop, substitute teaching, and speech therapy.  Since I already had these block pieces cut out I put them together yesterday.  I still need to stitch in the animal legs from bias strips.  Then I can let the hand stitching (embroidery x's for stars on the "flags", a mane, and tails.  I'm not sure what I'll do for eyes yet.)

Patriotic Folk Animals is a pattern in the book Americana Quilts by Sandy Bonsib.  I cut these pieces out last year around this time and set them aside.  Time to stitch...

I'm linking up at Em's Scrap Bag for Moving It Forward Monday.



Also linking up at What a Hoot! for BOMs Away.

Patriotic Folk Animals

Today I am organizing small projects to take with me in my sew-to-go bag.  This project is called Patriotic Folk Animals.  It is from the book Americana Quilts by Sandy Bonsib.  I got this book from a garage sale at least five years ago.

This project was put on hold because for some reason I put the book neatly back on the self and put the Ziploc bag of pieces in a project bin.  I didn't know where the book was for about a year.  Last week I was looking for a specific book for a friend and I found it!  

I don't remember when I cut out this cute quilt.  I think I made this kit for my sew-to-go bag last year around this time.  This quilt is mostly piecing with a little hand stitching.  School is back in session.  It won't be long until I get to go too.  (I'm a substitute teacher.)  This bag is ready to go with me.  I do remember that all of the pieces are cut and I had trouble with that folded piece on the top vs. the instructions.  It's the 3-D ear of the horse.  It might just get pieced if I can't get it to lay flat.

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

August OMG Link-Up Cafe Mocha Quilt

I'm so happy to finish this WIP from October 14, 2012.



I'm linking up my August finish at Elm Street Quilts.



I longarm quilted it with my giant template board from Circle Lord called Cosmos.



My Cafe' Latte quilt is complete.  It was originally called the Ugly Quilt because I obtained the fabrics during a swap.  Here's  pic of it hanging on the clothes line where I used shoot lot of pics of quilts since my husband bull dozed the old clothes line area.  This view drastically changed yesterday as he ripped down more trees with the excavator.  I'll have to take pictures of it later.



I'm loving the vibe of the green binding.  It was out of my comfort zone, but I love it!

I love the pieced back.  The green binding pops on both sides.  I'm so glad I went out of my comfort zone and picked the green!  This quilt measures 85.5" x 100".

I searched back to October 14, 2012!!! and found these pictures for the Ugly Fabric Challenge.

Customer 9-Patch -- A Friday Finish

This customer 9-patch quilt flew into my possession and out off of my longarm frame quickly and flawlessly.  Woohoo!  School is back in session...time to quilt.

Here it is back in the bag she gave me with the leftover batting back in the original bag it came in ready to be returned.  Notice it is sitting on my bin "Kathy's Quilts to Longarm?"  Hmmm.  I'm in a longarming -kinda mood.  Wonder what I will pull out of there to quilt next... Stay tuned.

I quilted it with my giant template board from Circle Lord called Milkyway.  It's a loose mix of stars and swirls.  I opted to only quilt the stars with a single outline.  I could have also done another line inside the star about a quarter of an inch inside.   The backing she gave me this time was a plain white twin sheet.  The only thing I had to do to prepare the sheet was to take out the seam for the double thickness at one end so that the sheet was long enough on the frame so that I could make the final row of swirls on the bottom without running into my plastic grippers that quickly attach it to the frame.

It is more exciting on the line than when it was on the longarm frame.  This picture didn't do it justice.  It's a very cute quilt that my customer is giving to one of her grandchildren.  She is making a quilt for all of her grandchildren.  I'm not sure how many she has.  It's in the teens.  It is a very sweet gesture.  Each quilt is different.  Most of them are scrappy -- we all know I LOVE scrappy quilts!

Finished or Not Friday has moved to Alycia's blog.  I LOVE her scrappy quilts!  I've been following her blog for several years.  I'm linking up today at Alycia Quilts -- Quiltygirl

I'm also linking up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

I'm joining Wendy's Quilts and More for the Peacock Party.

A new linkup to me is at my Bijou Life.  I'm linking to a Thursday party -- Creative Compulsions.

Another new-to-me linky party is at Creations...Quilts, Art... Whatever...by Nina Marie.  There's lots of fun inspiration on her blog here.

Here's a picture of him confidently going into school.  He's so happy to be in middle school!  He did want to sleep in a little this morning and have me chauffeur him to school.  I was happy to do that instead of getting him up at 5:45 am to get the 6:30 am bus.  I can take him on my days off.

With the help of this toolbox and a little lock, EVERYBODY got a good night sleep last night!  Our son likes to get up in the middle of the night because he is so excited about something.  Lately he has been excited about school.  His technology (iPads and laptop and remote for the tv in his room) are locked safely inside.  This worked out great last night!!!

Happy Mail!

Yesterday I received this lucious fabric in the mail from Sewmeasong on ETSY.  That F16th bundle is called "Never be at a loss for words."  It has a great variety of words printed on fabric.  I LOVE WORDS on fabric.  Heck... I save all of the instructions when they are printed on fabric for dolls, panels, vests, bags...  They make fun neutrals in scrappy quilts.

I also got the one yard cut of the light green basket weave because it was on sale as the last piece for $3/yard.

Thank you, SEWMEASONG for being a sponsor for the 2019 FAL.  I won this for linking up one of my Q2 finishes!

Back to School!

Of course we took first day of school pictures.  

Can you tell at what point he was done taking pictures?  LOL!  The below photo went well until he saw the bus crest the hill.  He's not mad about going to school.  He's telling me it's time to put away the camera so that he can get on the bus.

My plan was to put the same shirt on him every year from kindergarten until he graduated.  The shirt came up missing for a couple of years and then resurfaced (hence the two different shirts today.)

This shirt is an adult 2X!  He is getting so big!

The shirt below is an adult 3X!  Holy cow!  Time flies!

His special poses...

Funny, the kid had me pose like I had him pose...  He is so my kid.  It's hard to tell which one of us is excited for school to start more.  Hmmm.  Middle school aged kid at home non-stop with me ALL summer?  Hmmm.  We both need that break.  A happy break!