Wednesday, June 30, 2021

WIP Wednesday

Moving my list along at the speed of a sloth...

I picked up another patchwork quilt from my friend.  It needs quilted.  I love seeing how much this quilter has improved on her quilting skills.


I started today off with sewing a piece of Frankenbatting for the above quilt.  The back is big enough!  Woohoo!  There is enough batting.  


I made a one-fabric back for my Scrap Crystals (a Bonnie Hunter design) quilt.  This has been sitting on the shelf in my sewing area for a couple of months.  It's good to have that area clean and ready to hold the next project.







I now stand at 54 projects on my WIP list.  

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.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds
 7.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks
 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.  Stay Centered started February, 2021
14.  Rail Fence Blocks 82/900 complete started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021
15.  Gobble, Gobble, pattern by Lori Holt, started February 2021
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.  Full Stop, started RSC21 (January,2021)
29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt--I found this on 2.6.21
30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017
31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019
32.  GO! ABC Quilt started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021

Blocks Still Need to be Made
 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt
 2.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 
 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler
 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)
 1.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA
 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby
 3.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018
 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.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)
 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt
 9.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

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. Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

Ready to Longarm
1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt
2.  Bricks and Stepping Stones, Bonnie Hunter Free Pattern started 3.2.21
3.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)
4.  Friend's patchwork quilt (CM received 6/25/21)

Needs Binding

Thursday, June 24, 2021

WIP Wednesday -- On a Thursday...

 Hopefully I'm back to quilting and blogging now.  It's been a while since I have posted a WIP Wednesday post.

I finished the quilting on my friend's quilt.  I can take this off my long list of projects!  I do know that she has a few more for me to quilt.  I quilted it with the Circle Lord giants template board called Loopys.  You can barely see the quilting in this photo.  She gave me a very thin, used blanket to put inside the quilt instead of quilt batting.  You can see the frayed edges of it in this photo if you look closely on the sides.


The back of the quilt shows the quilting a little better.  The backing is a gently used sheet.


It doesn't look like a lot of progress, but to me it is.  I loaded the pieced backing for the Owl's Well That Ends Well quilt that is my OMG (one main goal) for June.  I still have time to get it done!  Let's see if I can push through this project.  Up next I need to find the right piece of batting for it.  Think I have a narrow piece I can use.


My garden is coming a long.  It seems that we have had just enough rain lately.  This photo was taken last week.  I have since then taken off the plastic flower pots with the bottoms cut out that surround the Brussel sprouts.  I have planted a row of corn from the pool ladder to the flower pot in the front.  Hopefully I'll be able to see where the row is this week.  I will most likely plant another two or so rows of something to the left of those.  Stay tuned...


Below you can see, the garden has come a long way since this in April.  I am so thankful that my husband is very handy and keeps my old tiller and mantis running for me.  We are definitely blessed with the talents that God has chosen for us.



Here's where I keep my plants so that they are protected from the chickens and ducks.  I call it the "witness protection program for plants".

Here it is looking better after the tall weeds have been pulled and the new plants that I got from my friend has been planted.  She gave me a lot of plants this year.  Some I plant here and some went to the shady hill and other flower bed that are further from the chicken coop.  Nothing really seems to bother them there.  This is just a holding area until things grow and I can split and move them to another place.  This year my friend gave me four different color/type of hostas.  I will move them to another location next year.  

Here's the plants that have met the chicken and duck approval.  Years ago NOTHING grew in this area of the chicken yard because they would eat EVERYTHING.  I had to pen them in the chicken yard during the day because we had six fox on the property.  Since my husband did some excavation the fox and their young have moved to a new location.  I now let the chickens free range on our whole property during the days that we are home (which seems to be most of the time).  I took this photo a couple of weeks ago when the iris plants were blooming.  I have removed the cage from the bear's britches plant.  So far they have not really eaten anything!  Woohoo!  They were all planted in a random spot.  The chickens and ducks do seem to like to run between the plants.  It's a good hiding space from hawks and chicken hawks.

Notice in the photo below that there are very few weeds?  I don't have anything to do with that.  The ducks and chickens take care of all of that for me!  How do they know?

 

It's kinda funny that I have another area that is in the witness protection area for plants -- catnip.  I have planted it close to the house in a cage.  If I don't do this the cats just rip it out of the ground.  I often find them laying next to it.  The little plant on the left is catnip.  The plant on the right is cat mint.  My experiment this year was to see if they preferred one over the other.  The DEFINITELY like the catnip better than the mint.  It is more tender and fragrant.  They chew it, roll in it, and play with it.  The cat mint they just seem to lay on.  It looks like it's tougher to chew.

I now stand at 53 projects on my WIP list.  

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.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds
 7.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching Blocks
 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.  Stay Centered started February, 2021
14.  Rail Fence Blocks 82/900 complete started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021
15.  Gobble, Gobble, pattern by Lori Holt, started February 2021
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.  Full Stop, started RSC21 (January,2021)
29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt--I found this on 2.6.21
30.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017
31.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019
32.  GO! ABC Quilt started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021

Blocks Still Need to be Made
 1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt
 2.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt 
 3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler
 4.  Drunkard's Path Variation quilt

Blocks Are Made But Need to be Sewn Together (and/or Some Sashing)
 1.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks 5/17/17 QA
 2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby
 3.  Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN Dot Dot Dash Bag, Won April, 2018
 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.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)
 8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt
 9.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

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. Scrap Crystals (RSC15)

Ready to Longarm
1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt
2.  Bricks and Stepping Stones, Bonnie Hunter Free Pattern started 3.2.21
3.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1/26/19)

Needs Binding



Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Finally an On-The-Frame Post

I’m finally ready to start longarm quilting again. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_m-n0OGsWa152hl3OaHj8x8h7ONCtKQo

I loaded a quilt that I picked up from a friend in FEBRUARY.   I was nearing the end of the second row of quilting in and it popped off the leaders. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1XYcOFrZTwE62lzKbp4vyOemXhNAJiKVk
Don’t you hate when that happens?  I was using some of the older leader grips that were split. I took the top end that was quilted all the way off and lined it up again. I repaired the split leader grip by trimming the split part off with some industrial cutters from the garage. I’m back up and running. 

I’m happy my brain was able to line the quilt up again. I didn’t have to think too hard about moving the template left or right or advancing or reversing the quilt too much. I don’t think I could have done this a month ago. 

Mi selected the Circle lord giant template board called Loopys to not task my brain’s muscle memory too much. 

Monday, June 21, 2021

Getting Caught Up on Things

The not-so-little squirt has been keeping me busy since I am now fully recovered from my bout with Covid.  There's baseball games once a week.


There was a fun road trip to a Lake Erie (Ohio) beach.


My husband got him an electric guitar for his 14th birthday.  Guess my husband NEVER wants me to take a nap during the day ever again.  LOL.  It's all good.


We wen to an Up Side of Downs of Greater Cleveland golf outing.  It was super fun in Chardin, Ohio.


On his birthday we played putt putt in the 90 degree sun.


After putt putt golf we did some magnet fishing in the 90 degree sun -- but it was all worth the heat because he was so, so happy.  Here we are at Deer Creek Reservoir.


He requested DQ ice cream cake this year -- great choice, by the way.


We spent a day at Cedar Point Shores (the water park part of Cedar Point; Sandusky, Ohio.)


It was the first time we had been to Cedar Point since Covid.  We bought passes in 2019 and they are honoring them now.  It's different.  We won't be able to use the passes as much as we did in the past.  It's still a fun day.


Sunday, June 20, 2021

I Finally Did Something...

 I'm still plugging along here in Ohio.  I'm pretty much over my Covid issues except for a little cough now and then to clear some phlegm.  I finally cleaned off my mess of the desk that I had that catches all of my sewing stuff and papers and bills and electronic stuff.  It just doesn't look like this anymore.



All projects have been put away into their respective bins.  Colors and die cut shapes have been sorted.  Strips are in the strip bins.  Whew.  It was certainly a pile.






 I had to get a new computer and learn the ropes on that about ten days ago.  I realized yesterday that I just wasn't thrilled with the Dell that I had purchased.  I was able to return it to Best Buy because it was within the 15-day return window.  I decided to step up the game and get an iMac.  Wow!  Does this thing have bells and whistles that are fancy.  LOL!  I have a huge learning curve ahead of me.  BUT it does play super nice with all of our other Apple stuff.  I always said I would get one.  Well, today's the day to stimulate the economy.

Monday, June 7, 2021

Purple RSC21

I sewed a few rail fence blocks this week.   132 of 900 complete. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1vZDHHps44nL3NsVMMWiUaIgoSZQLY9sT
My desktop computer crashed. I’m trying to post from my phone (not a fan.).   It’s ok. It was more than ten years old and I had Windows 7. New computer hopefully will arrive tomorrow. 
I’m feeling so much better and pretty much recovered from the whole Covid Pneumonia thing. There’s a tiny bit of lack of focus and brain fog left, but it’s improving. It’s supposed to rain most of this week. I hope to get most of the rest of the seeds planted in the garden today after another round of rototilling. I’ll take a few progress photos and post when I can. 
Happy Monday!
Baseball season finally started. No masks except the ones on our jerseys. We even went to see the Akron Rubber ducks. Loving the family time. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MBjFyKaZMPC5R-8Vbp91OnH5v-gmG6ZNhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Fv8qsHJfQRR-K94FajPByqgAqV5T8w_Hhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1bUGz6PWQow_5Ajbc8-HoYSYTTrakbosshttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rgvn3TLbTxiFC1uhV6QqlBRNBTGzYd4_

Ambrosia Bag by Amanda Murphy

I love the look of the Ambrosia Bag by Amanda Murphy.  You can find the free pattern here.  If that doesn't work, try here.  Here's the stock photo for the bag (not mine).  Aren't these pleats adorable?

Ambrosia Bag

Friday, June 4, 2021

OMG for June

I am setting the bar low again this month.  I did not finish this quilt last month.   My OMG for June is to finish the quilt, Owl's Well That Ends Well.

The top is done.  A pieced back in blue scraps has been made.  It needs to be quilted, trimmed, and bound.  I re-sized the blocks and made them smaller to make the pattern more compatible with my Accuquilt dies.  The original pattern is by Judy Gauthier in her book, Quilts for Scrap Lovers.  I also changed positions of some of the wings to mix it up.  

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