Pumpkins & The Beanstalk Finished

Today I put the binding on the Pumpkins & The Beanstalk quilt.  I think it turned out lovely.

This quilt measures 63" x 73".  I quilted it using the Circle Lord giant template board called Jesters.  It is made completely of scraps except for the batting.  I stepped a little out of my comfort zone using that purple/grey/paisly print for the border.  I think it served this little throw quilt well.

I'm pretty sure I will be donating this quilt for a auction to benefit our son's Canton Challenger Baseball League.  There will be a quarter auction in November.  My question to you is, do you think it's still okay to donate a quilt with pumpkins on it that close to Thanksgiving?  I hope so.  I purposely did not put a label on the quilt.   Here's a picture of the pieced back.

Pumpkins & The Beanstalk is a pattern by Fig Tree & Co.  I made a smaller version for a baby shower in November of 2018.

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts for the July OMG finishes linky party.

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

I'm linking up at Meadow Mist Designs for the Favorite Finish July Linkup.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I haven't been doing much slow stitching.  The past two weeks have given me more opportunity for stitching with camping, driving, waiting, and a tonsillectomy (our son).  

This little project just evolved...  It started out as a little that was going to have all white buttons from my grandma.  Then I set out some tomato-colored buttons.  Then all the colors of the buttons came out to play...  Heck the tomato isn't even in the original, planned spot.  But this is how it ended up for now.  Buttons are sewn on crooked.  Let's just say it's an "organic" piece.  LOL.  Now that I look at this pic I realize that this is just the layout photo and that it's not the photo with the buttons sewed on.  Stay tuned next week for another pic...

I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Speaking of stitching... glad our friend, Kathy, is on the mend!

Random Ohio Stars

 Each Sunday I work on a specific WIP until it is completed.  Random Ohio Stars is the quilt that I will be working on each Sunday until it is complete.  This plan has been working for me to get some WIPS off the list.  Here's the first row of Random Ohio Stars.  

This quilt (designed by Bonnie Hunter) is called Random Ohio Stars -- you can find the free pattern here.

Here's my list of "things to do".  I still need to make blocks before I can put more rows together.

WIP Wednesday 7.27.22

I've been busy working here and there on my quilting projects.

I finished the quilting on it this week.

Can you see the visitors in the window?  They are my frequent quilt helpers.  It's like they are watching tv when they are watching me.  I know they would just love to play in all the soft stuff in this room.  You can also see in the above photo that this quilt has a soft blanket as a batting. I finished quilting it this wee                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I finished the Jesters quilting on my Jack & The Beanstalk quilt.   I have dedicated each Sunday that I sew/quilt to working on this quilt until completion.  Binding is next.

Last week we went to Presque Isle, PA.  We love taking our RV there.  We try to go once a year.

I did a little hand stitching in the morning while the others were still sleeping.  Here's my little tomato... as I wondered how my plants were doing back home.

I'm linking up with Susan for Midweek Makers here.

42 Items remain on the WIP list.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  HST Three, Six, Nine Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

 7.  Random Ohio Stars -- started January, 2022

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

14.  Rail Fence Blocks (started January 2021 as my leader/enders)

15.  Maroon Sampler Quilt--I found this on 2.6.21

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019  

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

21.  Little Houses (2.5" blocks)

22 Tomato pin cushion (cross stitch)

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)

 7.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

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

 9. Kite blocks in pink/orange/grey

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

Ready to Longarm

1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

2.  Plus Quilt (Be Positive) started in 2016; quilt top completed 1.1.22

3.  Rescue Quilt from my SIL (patchwork squares)

4.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

5.  GO! ABC Quilt started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021

Longarm Quilting on Patchwork Quilt

I finished the quilting on this patchwork quilt for a friend.

This quilt has a puffy texture.  I actually like the softness a lot.  The challenge this time was that she gave me a stretchy blanket for the batting.  It was a few inches shy of being enough for the quilt.  I added a scrap piece of polyester batting to the other end to make it work.  I really don't think the recipient will be able to tell the change of batting.  I quilted it with the Jesters pattern.

This friend gave me some seeds that I planted sometime in June.  She gave me what she called Mexican sunflowers.  I have the tendency to not know the real names of flowers.  This one has a little pink xenia growing in front of it as well.  In fact, it's one of the only xenias that survived in this planting spot.  Apparently deer love Xenia. 

Below is the little sunflower patch that remains after we came home from being away for the week.  We were camping in Presque Isle, PA.  You can see the larger (regular) sunflower in the back is now just a stalk.  I replanted other sunflowers in the same row after I realized that most of them wouldn't survive because of the deer.  This little patch is in a field that I mow where my husband parks equipment.  One day he moved a truck and I realized that it didn't have a lot of weeds.  I tilled it and made this little garden area since my garden area had to be moved this year and I had more seeds then space.  

Things like this just drives my husband crazy.  But that's my job.  Ha ha.  If that's one of the worse things I do this growing season, that's not that bad.  He can park the truck a few spots over...  The deer don't seem to be eating the Mexican sunflowers as much.  Maybe they are too spicy.  LOL.

My friend also gave me some castor bean seeds.  This image shows what it looks like in her flowerbed.  I asked for the "purple flowering beans" that she gave me a previous year.  She must have gotten it mixed up what I was asking for since I never really know the real names of things.  The seeds were dated 2017 or something like that in the little jar she gave me.  Two of them are growing!  Here's one that I planted by the cucumber ladder.  Apparently cucumber are also on the all-you-can-eat buffet for the deer this year.

Luckily I found my own "flowering purple bean" seeds that I saved.  (I found them in a tin in the kitchen where my kid keeps his hotspot charger...).  I think I planted these seeds in July.

I'm linking up with Beth's Monday Making party at Love Laugh Quilt.  I love the block that she is making in a quilt called The Most Beautiful Quilt Block.  Beth has a great YouTube channel.  She walks you through making the blocks step by step.  You can check out this block specifically here:  The most beautiful quilt block

 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I have some Slow Sunday Stitching to show!  I've been a little rusty in my hand stitching.

We took a little rv trip to Pennsylvania.  Here's my view for today:

I'm stitching a little tomato while thinking of how my garden is at home.  All of a sudden (while changing floss colors) my favorite needle falls through this crack into the grass...  I didn't panic.  I know all the strong magnets are locked in the suburban and will be unlocked when the others get up for breakfast.  My husband found it for me in a matter of seconds after he got up!

Thanks, Patty, for encouraging me to grab my needle, hoop, and floss.

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

Kathy -- hope you feel better and up to stitching soon!

Purple HST Progress

 I made a lot of progress on my purple HST groups for the Rainbow HST quilt.  This completes all of the purple pieces for the HST Three, Six, Nine Quilt.  Hoping orange is next.

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC22.  Go check out the fun!

Patchwork Quilt on the Frame

 My friend that likes to throw extra challenges at me has given me another quilt to longarm.  The challenge this time is that she gave me a wooly blanket as the batting.

I am quilting it with the Circle Lord giant template board called Jesters.  It seems to be quite popular for some reason lately.

Here's a photo of the blanket she gave me to use as batting.  It's actually working quite well so far.  Hope it stretches enough to make it the length of the quilt so that I don't have to find a similar filler in my stash.

Oops -- Quilitng Injury...

 My husband always says that my rotary cutter is one of the most dangerous quilting tools ever.  I finally had a rotary cutter accident...  After trimming my Pumpkins & the Beanstalk quilt, I started to fold the quilt that was on the big table.  I accidentially knocked my rotary cutter off of the table.  It fell and bounced off my shoe.  I thought no big deal...

It doesn't hurt too bad.  Yes, it left about a .5" cut in the shoe.  Bummer...  these are my newest find in lazy people shoes (in my opinion.). I have been having some knee problems.  I've been wearing supportive footwear to help.  This shoe brand is called Kizik.  The cool thing about them is that though they are tie shoes, the heel part in the back bounces back up and they can be slipped on without bending down to tie (hence why I call them lazy person shoes.). I LOVE them.  This is my second pair that I bought this summer.  I think they are a little pricy.  I bought both of my pairs on eBay (gently used) for under $60.

Another pair of shoes have been ordered.  I have a bandaid on the .5" matching gash on my big toe.  BUT isn't it always a great day to cut with a sharp rotary cutter blade to get a nice, clean cut?  

I've had this cutter for ages.  I bought a set of about 100 rotary blades from it from a lady's husband at our guild.  He got them in a lot at an auction.  I think they are the type of blades used on carpet.  

Kitty Helpers

 It seems that young mama cat (Token) likes to take her little ones on field trips.  She seems to love to set on the wood stacked near the house on the porch and watch me longarm in the quilt room.

She has two all black kittens with no names.  I decided today to name them Patch and Swatch since they are quilt helpers after all.  Although Token is skittish and only likes to be pet when she is near the food bowl, I presented her with this little quilted piece from the scrap bin.  She meowed and talked the whole time I was presenting it to her.  Silly cat.   Now she can sit in a nice, soft spot and enjoy the show.

Jack & The Beanstalk -- Quilted and Trimmed

 I moved this project forward again by working on a dedicated project each Sunday until finished.  Jack & The Beanstalk quilt is now quilted and trimmed.  This pattern is from Fig Tree & Co.

Random Ohio Stars RSC22

 Here's my purple Ohio Star blocks.  These are for the quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter called Random Ohio Stars -- free pattern here.  Sorry the photo is a little dark.  Blocks were made on a night that I found time to sew.

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC22.  

Go check out the fun!

Each Sunday I dedicate to a specific project until it is complete.  Once my Pumpkins & The Beanstalk quilt is complete, I will be working on the Random Ohio Stars on Sundays.  

WIP Wednesday 7.13.22

Welcome, July.  Here's what happened this past two weeks:

The little Kathleen Tracy doll quilt QA is complete.

I'm working on this Jack & The Beanstalk quilt every Sunday until it is complete.  It is on the longarm now.  I'm considering donating this one to a charity auction in mid November.  I'm not sure if it should be this one or my plus quilt (that also still needs to be completed) for donation.

I found a bag of kite blocks in the drawer that had been there just too long.  I decided to put them together.

It's been in the drawer so long that it's not even on my WIP list -- until now...  Patty suggested that I add another row of blocks and then a border to make it a more useable size.  That's my plan now.  Thanks, Patty!

 

My sew-to-go bag was packed and ready.  Our son's tonsil surgery was CANCELLED yesterday.  Grr.  Now he needs more tests before the simple surgery can be done.  They called me THREE minutes before I  was going to leave yesterday.  At least I didn't  get to the hospital only to find it was cancelled.  My to-go bag will have to wait for now.  I have bigger fish to fry.

I continue to have to water the garden.  There's a 40% chance of rain this afternoon.  We shall see.  I've been working in the garden and in the flowerbeds 1 to 2 hours a day.  I consider it my exercise.  I have been motivated to do so after seeing a friend's garden from church.  I cleared a little area and planted three types of seeds.  I'll call them "yellow things" (buttercups), "purple things" (bellflowers), and lupine seeds from the library.  The first two were seeds I researched and purchased on eBay during Covid.  They have not grown at all.  BUT I'm excited for the little lupines.

See the tiny specs of green in the above photo?  Lupines -- about 1.5 to 2.5" tall.

I have high hopes for this spot near the garden.  Here's the "before" picture.  LOL.

I'm linking up with Susan for Midweek Makers 340 here.

41 Items remain on the WIP list.

My WIP number remains the same.  I actually forgot that I had a Kathleen Tracy doll quilt QA in the bin to quilt that I made from pink scraps in May or so.  41 items on my list is still MUCH better than the 90's it used to be a few years back.  I'm whittling away at this list for sure.

Pieces Need to be Cut & Sewn

 1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern

 2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

 3.  HST Three, Six, Nine Quilt

 4.  Picadilly Circle

 5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

 6.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

 7.  Random Ohio Stars -- started January, 2022

 8.  Leah Day Building Blocks QA

 9.  Dresser Scarf (My Grandma's WIP from the 1970's found 1/1/20

10.  Classic Meets Modern BOM

11.  Gypsy Wife QA started in August 2017

12.  Mod Mod QA (from Block Lotto, circles w/lines)

13.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter (started 4/1/2020)

14.  Rail Fence Blocks (started January 2021 as my leader/enders)

15.  Maroon Sampler Quilt--I found this on 2.6.21

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Kathleen Tracy's 2019 Mystery Quilt Facebook QA started in March, 2019  

19.  2.5" Scraps from Dani -- making "cracker" blocks

20.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019 -- RSC19)

21.  Little Houses (2.5" blocks)

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)

 7.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May 2018)

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

 9. Kite blocks in pink/orange/grey

Quilt Back Needs to be Made (Tops are Done)

1.  Card Trick (pink and blue)

2.  Hunter Green Star Quilt

Ready to Longarm

1.  Bubble Gum Pink & Navy Quilt

2.  Plus Quilt (Be Positive) started in 2016; quilt top completed 1.1.22

3.  Rescue Quilt from my SIL (patchwork squares)

4.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a 2nd quilt)

5.  GO! ABC Quilt started during the pink month of RSC21, January 2021

Kite Blocks

As I was rooting around in the desk drawer yesterday I found a ziploc bag of kite blocks.  I decided to play with them on the desk.  This project went stale because I just couldn't vision a finished layout for a project.

I liked the color combo of orange, pink, and grey.  I know I had touched these blocks just too many times in the drawer.  I decided to just put them together this way.  This project has been hanging around for so long that it wasn't even on my WIP list until now.

I'm most likely going to put another border of bright pink from my stash to make this little quilt a little bigger.  This will be a nice little project to play with on the longarm after it is empty.

Pumpkins & The Beanstalk

 I made more progress on the longarm quilting of Pumpkins & The Beanstalk. Pattern is by Fig Tree & Co.  This is the second time I made this pattern.  This version is the larger version.

Yes, you do see purple (the RSC color of the month) in part of the backing.  It's a pieced back.  Today's procedure is going to be to quilt a little, move the sprinkler for the garden and flowers, repeat.  It's been very dry here in Ohio.  Thankful for the two days of rain showers that we got last week.

I'm about half way done on the quilting.  I'm quilting it with the Circle Lord giant template board called Jesters.  I am liking the swirling vibe going across the pumpkins and vines.  I love the point of a quilt where I get to "move the chair".  The area where the longarm is located is an unfinished room in the newer house.  The floor is plywood and not carpeted.  It collects dust easily.  I put the excess batting on an office chair to support it so that it does not touch the floor.  I'm always happy to make enough progress to be able to move the chair so that the batting does not touch the floor.  Woohoo.  Simple pleasures.

Later today I'll be rooting through bags to figure out what project I will take with me while our son has his tonsils out tomorrow.  I have a feeling it will be an all-day event.  I'll most likely be taking two projects and a book or two.  I know that a little cross stitching project that Patty "The quilt lady" sent me will be one of them.  I'm excited to go through a bag of grandma's buttons for the project.  I'll take pics tomorrow.

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

Sunday Progress -- Pumpkins & The Beanstalk

 The project I am working on right now every Sunday is Pumpkins & The Beanstalk quilt.  Today I got it to the point where it is loaded and partially quilted.  This pattern is by Fig Tree & Co.  I like the way the Circle Lord Jesters quilting design is dancing across the pumpkins and leaves.

I'm linking up for Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.