NEW YEAR New Challenge

 I signed up for TQS (The Quilt Show)'s yearly Block of the Month.  First time in about 9 years. It's called Homeward Bound and designed by Sarah Fielke.  I bought the background fabric from TQS but am going to try & shop from my stash as much as I can for the other fabrics.  After a shaky start (I ordered the required 1/4" bias tape online but when it arrived, it was 3/8" wide and a darker than I expected), I  got things back on track by simply making my own.  Sarah recommended bias tape with fusible backing but neither what I ordered online or made myself had it - I just used my Roxannes glue baste it and it worked just fine. Month One is completed.

Now, I  just need to find my Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Circles that are here SOMEWHERE in my home.  I can borrow a set from one of my cousins - or I could just buy another set, but you know that as soon as I do either, they will show up.  Or at least that's how it usually goes...I say this because, while looking for the circles I  found the stencils thats I couldn't find about a year ago and ended up having to buy a new set.

Oh Oh!  I have to share this with those of you who aren't Katiemaytoo.  She presented me with these yesterday.  Thank you, Katie :)

There's kind of a long story that goes with it, but to make it shorter....one time when she was checking on our cats while hubby and I were on one of our trips, I came home to find this guy...

sitting on a table next to the couch.  Actually, our dog, Buddy, noticed it first and was hoping it was for him. No, it was for me....I get distracted easily - apparently like the dog in the movie UP.  

Got a call early this morning from 'the spa' Mo'e is at ...he's ready to be picked up...just as soon as I sell my first born child (who needs two daughters anyway).  Just kidding...it's more than I thought it would be but still not outrageous.  We're going to try and pick him up on Saturday while we're on that end of town visiting my nephew at his new apartment.

OK, got to give Buddy treats. 

Take care

End of the old year

I was able to finish both of these by New Years Day. The top one was completely done in flannel and finished before New Years Eve and the bottom one only needed binding and a label sewn on..along with a small patch on the back where there was a small hole.

 

This Scotty one was kind of a disaster because of the sashing and borders..they were just a hot mess and I don't think I'll do another scrappy sashing or border again.  Other than that, the only problem I had was not noticing when the bobbin thread slipped out of it's place so I  have a little railroad track in at least one spot and just some yucky stitching in other spots on the back.  I was checking, but obviously not often enough. 

This was one of my #3s for this month's American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge for 2023.  I decided that my goal this year should be all my tops that have been waiting to be quilted... 1 done and still about 40 to go (I'm sure there are at least a couple that are in hiding).  

They won't be the only UFO that I'll be working on, but I  hope to quilt at least two a month, maybe more since almost all are on the smaller side - think large crib or maybe a twin size.

Today, Mo'e went in for his 'spa' day..which is more like a week.  I told Jason (the manager) that Mo'e has been running so good that I almost didn't want to bring him in

and he told me that I probably shouldn't have, but it's been at least three years since I've had anyone look at him and I'm sure it can't hurt ( unless they mess with my tension settings).

Then, on the way home, my car got rear ended (again!) I saw it coming - this little car was right on my rear end and kept on coming closer even as I slowed down and then stopped for the red light.  If there hadn't been a car in front of me, I might have been able to make a right turn and avoided getting hit.  As soon as she hit me, I put the car in park and jumped out to look at the damage (she hit quite hard), but I couldn't see anything except where I was rear ended several years ago.  She got out of her vehicle and started saying something about having two artificial legs and I just waved her off while telling her to drive a little slower and pay attention.  She didn't listen to my advice as she was still behind me when I got on the freeway.  I tried to put more distance between us, while not going too fast myself.  I kept checking my rearview mirror to make sure she wasn't getting closer and saw her exit the freeway - then I was able to relax and breathe again.

Anyway, so back to quilting.  Now that Mo'e is off the frame, my son, Chris, is going to help me make some changes to the frame...like taking the rear bar apart if necessary to straighten it out and taking off the old velcro that holds the leader canvas onto the bar and replacing it.  We may even adjust the height of the frame so that it stands a little higher. We're also going to see if there's something we can do with the power cords so they're not such a jumbled mess.

Well, can't think of anything more for today...time to fix Buddy's dinner.

Take care

Stay Safe

 

Happy day after Christmas

 To some, it's called Boxing Day.... to me, it's my 29th wedding anniversary...the third one since my husband passed away.  Usually, I go and spend some time with him at the cemetery, but the weather is frigid and the roads aren't great so I won't be going today.  His birthday is in about three weeks and hopefully the weather and roads will not be a hindrance so I can go then.

Anyway, I came on to share a photo of my nephew with the quilt I  made/ gave him for Christmas yesterday.

See my little Buddy behind him checking out my grandpuppie's toy stash.  He destroys all of his, but she only destroys certain ones.

Back to the quilt...the panel in the center and the binding are cottons while the rest are flannels ( yes, flannel is cotton, too, but we know there's a difference).  Some of the flannels were leftovers from previous quilts to make both the top and backing a bit larger.

OK, I'm  trying to share of Buddy opening his gift from one of our neighbors. It shows that it's here, but I'm not 100% sure....wouldn't be the first time Google gave me incorrect info.

 

Either way.....

Take care and stay safe & warm......

Approaching the finish line

 It would have been closer to finish but I decided at almost the last moment to make a quilt for one of my nephews who is joining my son and I for dinner on Christmas day.  I had thought that I would gift him one of my recently finished quilts but they are both gnome themed quilts and I  don't consider them very masculine.  Then I remembered that I had purchased two panels with a red truck on them last year and only quilted one for my annual Christmas quilt.  I already had  flannel piece for the backing but because I wanted to make the quilt a little bigger, I  dug out the leftovers from the aforementioned gnome quilts and was able to add them to both the panel and backing fabrics.  

The quilt was loaded onto Mo'e last night after I finished and removed the quilt that was already on 'him'.  It won't take long to quilt it since I'm going to do a largish meander.

This was a block of the month from Sindy Rodenmeyer of fatcatdesigns.com called 'The Birbs'.  I wasn't going to do any block of the months other than the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2022 because I've been trying to use what fabrics and patterns I have here in my stash, but I  was able to use just fabrics from my stash including the background, sashing, borders and backing after all.

The other quilt that is waiting it's turn to be quilted after being bumped back by nephew's quilt was one I shared in my last post ( that wasn't quite finished).

It's finished now and will be quilted on my domestic machine.  Not what I would call my 'usual' but I like it and  I  really enjoyed doing it.

This next year I plan to stick more to my resolution to use up more of what I already have and to STOP buying patterns and STOP printing out patterns that I'll probably never use.  Just because it's FREE doesn't mean that I NEED it.  And BEFORE I start something new, I'm going to FINISH one of the tops that have been waiting to be quilted.

And on that note, I think I'm going to say so long for now...

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays

Stay warm and safe

 

Still pluggin' away

 I not only finished my Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2022 blocks, I assembled them into a top AND quilted it.

  I'm so proud of myself ...... actually, I'm just thankful - and very grateful - that I've been able to do quite a few things lately.

I started a new project yesterday.... just a 12 inch block, but it's been a little bit of a challenge - partly because I don't read the entire directions.  I had it pin basted ready to quilt on my domestic machine when I noticed that one piece was stitched on with star points pointed in instead of out like the other three were.  That was an easy enough fix and I soon had it pin basted again only to realize that I needed to add the wool pieces and do the hand embroidery BEFORE sandwiching and pin basting.

Bountiful Blessings

By Vicki McCarty, Calico Patch Designs

I got a little done last night before I decided it was better to leave the rest until another time.

I have a couple of quilt tops laying across one of  Moe's bars - ready to load as soon as I get backings ready.... maybe later today.

Spent some time yesterday trying to find a plastic tower of 'cups' that I  keep some of my buttons in...actually, I've been looking off and on since Saturday....it drives me nuts when I know I have something but can't find it.  I wanted/needed little buttons for the eyes of the birds in the RSC2022 quilt.  Because the button stash I did find didnt have what I wanted, I ended up buying more that weren't really what I wanted.  Then, I found another jar of buttons that would work better....but still haven't found the tower - my son even looked.  Something tells me that I put them in a bin with another project and I checked the bin that has hand sewing projects in it ....so, I guess it will have to remain M.I.A. for awhile longer.

One more project to share this week.  Had been seeing them online and wanted to do at least one.  I don't use laundry pods but my son was using them and saved me his last two containers.  This one is sitting outside on a table where he can greet whoever is coming up the steps to my door.

I still have a gnome to finish. ... maybe later this week.  

In the meantime, I have gifts that need to be wrapped and sent out this week...I need to get busy....

Take care....

 

Running behind here

 Kind of forgot to post this week.  When I did remember, it was either late Sunday night or there just wasn't time before lunch with 'the girls' on Monday.

Now, I  have to try to remember what I finished this past week.  I know I  finally got a coin purse made for the last crossbody bag but don't think I took a picture.  Actually, that crossbody bag has two coin purses because I made a second one after deciding that I didn't like the way the first one turned out.  After I  made the second one, I changed my mind and decided that the first one wasn't so bad after all.

Next up was this super simple one.  It was a panel that only needed a couple of borders before being loaded onto Mo'e where I did some straight line stitching, some ribbon candy stitching and then circle stitching around each gnome motif.  I also ended up doing a simple thread tie in the center of each of the smaller circles while I was able to stitch around the gnome and words in the center block.  Top and back are made of cuddly, cozy flannel.

Next up was 2 bibs for my great grandson who was born last May.

I tried to get the photos of the bibs next to each other but just couldn't get it to work.  Oh well.

One more photo to share.  

Some of the kids and grandkids will be getting either cash or a gift card so I made these stockings again this year.  They are cute but I don't think they're as cute as the ones I made last year. 

I think I have 5 done but I might need 2 more.

And that is it for the past week (and a half).  I still have some coasters I want to make for gifts and 2 gifts that will have to wait til after the new year before I work on them - I need more table space to be able to lay them out - so they'll probably be gifts for next year.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American quilty friends.  My son, a nephew and I are meeting up at a restaurant for dinner tomorrow.  I have no desire to cook or bake for just two or three people.

Take care

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz Oh what a relief it is

LOL ....sorry, but that's what popped into my head when I started thinking about the quilt I finally finished last week.  It sat, half done, from late June until about two or three weeks ago when I  took it off the frame, picked out all the stitching and let it set for about a week while I decided how I really wanted to quilt it. Once I decided what I wanted to do, it was just a matter of doing the stitching around the flowers one night and then around each flower center and petal the next night.  I think I did the binding and label on the third day.

Then, it was on to another project.  The top was done a week or so ago.. I was just waiting for more backing to arrive in the mail.

Gnome Christmas

The quilting is done -- the label and binding are made; I just haven't felt up to finishing it.  Oh, I almost forgot - I want to add a stitch in the center of the smaller white blocks.  I stitched a circle around each motif, but that still leaves a little too much unquilted inside the circles, so I decided that if I got some of my embroidery floss out and took just one stitch in the center of each circle and tie the ends of the floss it should be enough.

Cold weather has arrived and my bones are complaining :( .  I had a couple of craft shows that I wanted to go to over the weekend, but it didn't happen.  I was lucky to just be able to walk Buddy on Saturday morning; on Sunday, he had to wait for my son to come over to walk him.

Hopefully this week will be better.  I have that Gnome Christmas quilt to finish along with a few smaller Christmas gift projects to do.  And, of course, there are quilt tops waiting their turn on Mo'e. I guess I'd better get on the ball here and get myself mobile.

Take care