Where did Friday go??

Wherever it was, Thursday and the rest of the weekend appears to have gone with it.  No sewing Th or Fr and very little was done on Saturday because Buddy and I ran errands... went to credit union, post office drop box and a quick stop at Walmart.

I'm getting a little further ahead on the BB (Booth Bros) quilt tops...

 They are mainly a gospel group, but sometimes they stick some comedy in... I found this one on youtube and just had to make a hat block for it...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1uUic-qkm4

 Here are the first two blocks for the second of the three quilts...

 Sweet Dreams before and after I added borders so that it would be large enough.

Remember how I said they add comedy on occasion - well, part of this is funny but it's mostly about Michael's wife testimony.  She loved The Monkees when she was a child and wanted to marry someone like Davy Jones - Michael says that he's her Monkee and the group then performs "Daydream Believer"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeTZ3fpeYrs....   so, here's a Monkee block for his quilt.  I slit the back and stuffed with two layers of batting before stitching around all the letters.... unfortunately, I didn't think to use poly batting.  It's ok, though... not as puffy but still has texture.

 Then, after the Monkees, I tried my hand at making a Jacob's Ladder block... first, I had to resize it so that it would fit with the rest of the blocks - I DID IT!!!  I used math and it worked!!

 The second one wasn't quite so easy... apparently, I couldn't pay attention or look at my figures... I've now got some fabric cut that will probably end up being used for other blocks because I messed them up for this one.

I haven't started on the third quilt top because I wasn't sure what color to use... this one will be for Paul Lancaster, who is in the group but isn't one of the brothers - he's the one with facial hair.  I finally decided that I would use grays.for the main color.  (I'm having to use what I already have here at home except for the backing - my rule-.)  I'm also trying to find something special for one of Paul's blocks... as far as I can tell, he's never done  "Don't Fence Me In" -- and "Daydream Believer" is Michael's.  

OOPS!  I forgot what I was doing.... went over to youtube to see if I could find SOMETHING to use for Paul's block and forgot I hadn't finished my blog.  I think I may have found something... we'll see... 

take care

ttyl

Wahooo Wednesday!!

You'd think I was on a power surge or something from the way I've powered through projects the past two or three days.  Actually, I worked at a turtle's pace, but like the energizer bunny, I kept going and going, determined to finish some projects up so that I can spend more time on the three quilts I want done by the end of the year.  ( oh yeah, I got online as soon as tickets for 2019 were available this morning and booked us front row seats to their concert in Shipshewana in Jan.)

Ok, this first pic is the backing I picked up for the Gnome for the Holidays quilt.  It's cute - and it's flannel :) .

 The next few photos are of the Gnome for the Holidays quilt top as I was working on finishing it.

 When you get in a hurry and don't pay attention to what you're doing - you can sew the top border onto the side - and run out of border fabric so you have to ripppp it out and start over.

 this is the fabric I decided to use for the binding.  Both it and the candy cane strip border fabric were leftovers from previous projects.

 Yesterday, I finished the fox quilt top... I did four a month until this month when I only needed two more to make a lap quilt.  Oh yeah, this was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge that I've been participating in this year ( and the Gnome for the Holidays was a BOM from fatcatpatterns.com)

 Then came my BOM bear quilt that was hosted by https://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/ .  I was a little confused last week when I THOUGHT she announced that there would only be 11 bears, but I needed 12 to make my quilt top.  So, I made this pink one - and used the strawberry that was supposed to be on another bear.  Then, when I went back looking for finishing instructions, I read that next month's ( the 12th) bear is to be black and white.  Oh well, I like my pink one.

And now the bear top is DONE, too!

Almost 10 pm - past my bedtime lol

take care...

ttyl

Friday -OOPS! I mean Monday

There was no sewing going on on either Thursday or Friday... I just didn't feel like it... sat around watching youtube videos ( and not even quilting ones!).
Saturday, I got back into my 'groove' and first off made a list of what I wanted/needed to accomplish over the weekend.

and then I got started...

first up was the binding on the charity quilt that my quilting friend, Katiemaytoo quilted... didn't she do a beautiful job??  I love it!

next up was the teal bear BOM - it's the Nov. block and is supposed to be the last one for the year... well, that leaves us with ELEVEN bears - who does that?  I'm going to go through my pile of bear blocks and try to find a color/shade that I haven't used and make a 12th block.

 These next two shots are of the thread left at the end of a seam (and the last off the bobbin)... I got lucky twice in one day.  :)

 Then, on Sunday I started fusing and then stitching down the final block for the fatcatpatterns.com Gnome for the Holidays BOM.  Now, I just need to find the 'right' fabric for sashing so that I can put the top together.

 Here's a cathedral window for the 'secret' quilts I'm doing.  I like... going to do at least two more (with different colored centers).

 Today, it was time to work on my RSC - no assigned color for this month or next.  I only needed two more for the forty- two required for a lap size... 

 After I finished up the two foxes, I decided I'd better clean my machine... it really hasn't been that long since I cleaned it the last time, but I did a lot of sewing this weekend and I figured it probably needed it....

Yep, I'd say it needed it... now, I need to change the needle... I'm sure that sewing through paper has dulled it...

Ok, everything on the list is checked off.

 
Oh wait!  I didn't show you the church, did I?... Two done with plans for at least one more....

After cleaning the machine and before starting to fix our dinner tonight, I started putting the fox blocks together... they are sewn together in vertical rows and I'm now in the process of adding sashing between the rows and borders along the sides with borders to go along the top and bottom once I get all the rows together.  It will probably be tomorrow afternoon before I get a chance to work on them again.  I have to take cardboard to recycling and then stop at Walmart to pick up yet another script for hubby along with a couple of other things ( like dry cat food - how could I forget that?!!?)

 I also need to decide on sashing and borders for the bears so that I can get that top completed, too.  Hopefully, one of these days I'll be able to quilt them.

Ok, almost 8pm and I wnt to go watch some tv before I call it a night.

take care...

ttyl

Wednesday... Can you keep a secret?

I hope you can!!  Not that any of you know my husband ( well, except Katiemaytoo, but I trust her - I think lol).

Monday night, I started working on the first of three quilts that I hope to somehow have done by the end of this year - in time for them to be gifted on Jan. 5.

The gospel group that my husband and I have been 'following' around Michigan this past year are going to be in Shipshewana again on Jan. 4th and 5th and I'm planning on buying tickets for his birthday again  While we are there, I want to give each of the men a quilt.  They have brought so much joy to my husband and are always so kind and take the time to speak with him after the shows so I want to do something special for them.

Here's what I did Monday and Tuesday....

this is just a rough layout... just to get them up and an idea of how big and how to layout when all are finished.  I'm not 100% sold on that orange and blue one up in the corner... the orange is actually the back of the fabric... the front was way too bright.  I may take it apart and use another color instead of the orange... we'll see.  Not crazy about the two wide strips on the log cabin either... those may get cut down.

I did get a small one done today, but because it's small ( like the one with the yellow circle in the middle), I'm going to have to add sashing/borders to it so that it will match the rest in size.  No pic of it yet.

I was trying to do a paper piece church from quilterscache.com, but my printer was giving me fits... it printed one out of the three pages the correct size.  The small one from today and the yellow circle one also did not print out at the correct size either. but at least the two pages for each were the same size - not one at 1" and the other at 3/4".  

So, then I looked all over the internet for a pattern for a church - found two on craftsy but they were either too small or too large.  Found several on pinterest, but when I'd go to the page/site they were supposed to be on, they weren't there.  I finally went to my microsoft office publisher and did a search and found one that, when printed out, will work...  I'll just be appliqueing instead of paper piecing which is fine.  

This is another one that I want to try and make... it looks pretty easy. 

 I also want to do at least a couple cathedral window blocks, too.  

There wasn't much to blog about today.... it was kind of a ho hum day, even after I managed to get my new sewing room chair assembled and the old one into the dumpster and I spent a few minutes doing a little more organizing of the charity fabrics for the guild.  I was going to take them to the meeting tomorrow night, but I received a message today that they don't have a replacement for me yet and to not bring it until Jan.  I replied that I already know that I'm going to be busy in Jan and probably won't make it to any meetings - apparently, she ( guild prez) took that to mean that I was never coming back.  oh well..... whatever

take care

ttyl

Monday again

 I think I told you last Friday about our adventure down to Shipshewana not only to hear & see The Booth Brothers perform, but we left early so that I could have time to go to Lolly's in hopes of finding more of the fabric that I was using for this quilt.

 The pattern was for a baby size bowtie quilt but I wanted to make one bigger.  I had two yards of the 'newsprint' fabric but it wasn't going to be enough.  When we went back again on Friday afternoon, it was gone.  Since they were having a sale on fabrics in the 'clearance room', I shopped anyway ( of course)... didn't buy much... 4 yds of a lovely yellow tone on tone type, 3 yards of a green that I thought might work for this current project ( when I got home I realized that it wouldn't work) - oh, and then as I was paying for my purchase, I saw some printed fabrics and the saleslady was more than happy to show them to me.... they are printed with various themes... music and the Bible verses are the only two I remember... I bought three of the panels with the Bible verses.  I've had a project that's been rolling around between my two ears and when I saw these panels, I knew they would be perfect.

In my search for SOMETHING that I could use to help enlarge the quilt, I remembered that I had some 'newspaper print' on my fabric bolt shelf.  After checking to make sure that I had some of the same print in my bin with the fabrics for the dresden plate quilts I want to do, I grabbed the bolt and went to work....  by Saturday evening, I had the top finished.  Sunday, I took the remainder of the fat quarters I had cut into for the bow ties and cut them into two and a half inch strips and, along with three strips of the newspaper print off the bolt, stitched them together and pressed them for the binding - now I just need to find backing fabric.

, 

Sunday, I also put the border onto the lone Zebra that I made and made the binding for it, too... I think there's still enough of the purple fabric left so that I can layer it all with batting and quilt it.

Next up, was working on another 'new' project.  I had seen this on Sarah Craig's blog-http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/ and really REALLY liked it... 

This is how far I was when I called it a night...

Two more stars were done, but not up on the design wall.

Here it was this afternoon....

This is all sewn together, but it's not done - yet.  The pattern calls for 5" block borders and I'm running REALLY low on the squares from the charm packs I had so went and let my fingers do the shopping when I found more were available on Amazon ( they should be here between Nov. 2 and 7).

I'm still loving it... no backing or binding picked out for it yet, but will all those colors, it shouldn't be hard to find something. ( And, yes, I have to climb that ladder to get up to my design wall)

Then, I started playing with one of the fabric panels with Bible verses....

Here's what I have so far... 

Each block is 9.5"... not all will have verses... I want each one to be large lap quilt size and there's  1/2"not pieces to use a verse for each block.  The verse blocks themselves are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" and I'm trying to only use what I have here in my stash.  I'm using scraps for the blocks and will use yardage for sashing ( if I need it).  There is no set pattern for these... I'm just going to 'play' - one block for one quilt at a time.  I have until Jan 5th, 2019 to get them finished.  Hardest part for me will be the quilting.

Off to watch my Monday night program... Long Lost Family.

Take care...

ttyl

afternote:  I went back and re-read this post today (11/16/18) and found a couple of typos... I'd fire my proofreader if it wasn't myself.  I have no idea what I meant by .....there's 1/2" not pieces to use a verse for each block.  Sorry about that.

Friday Friday

Oh my... do I ever have a story to tell you.... it's not a big story but it's still kind of funny.
Yesterday, we were going to leave for Shipshewana earlier than usual because I wanted to stop in to Lolly's to see if I could find some more of this fabric.... I bought it there so I was hoping that there would still be some.

We left just a few minutes after two... it's an hour and forty minute drive.  Beautiful weather and traffic wasn't bad.  We got about 25 miles from Shipsy when I realized that I had left our tickets to the concert at home on my desk.  I pulled over to see if I could find the email receipt on my phone and that I could just show that to whoever was taking tickets.  I found the email, but read the part that said that you needed to print out the tickets and bring them to the show..... soooo, we turned around and came back home.  

We made good time and got home about 4:30, which meant there was no way I was going to get into Lolly's since they close at 5:00.  Oh well, at least we'll get to see the show ( it didn't start until 7:30)...

We got back to Shipsy about 6:30... not bad considering we had to make a stop at Arby's here in town to grab something to eat on the way back to Shipsy... and then we had to stop for gas... and we hit a very confusing detour.

The show was worth it, though.... as always.  And I talked to staff at the venue about our driving back home to get the tickets I'd forgotten.  They told me that things like that happen on occasion and that they would have accepted seeing my receipt on my phone.

Ok, so yesterday's project went faster than I thought it would... here it is cut out in bits n pieces

 here I'm auditioning eyes and nose pieces...  I didn't like these - couldn't see them.

 and here it is with the top completed.  It's something like 45"x 45" and I'm pretty sure I know a little girl who will LOVE having it after I get it quilted and sent off to her.

Since I finished this faster than I thought I would, I started yet another top... that's why I need more of that fabric from Lolly's... the pattern is for a crib size but if  I can get more of the fabric,  I THINK I can get it up to roughly 60"x60".  It's a simple bow tie pattern, but the bow ties are from solid fqs that I already had and the print will be the background.

Sooo, now we're heading back to Shipsy just as soon as I finish this ( and get dressed!).  This time, Buddy gets to go with us - he'll be so excited.

Take care....

TTYL

Wednesday Wednesday

because Tuesday I was working on this....

 because the backing for it came in the mail yesterday (Tuesday).

  The fabric was a Trolls themed layer cake that I don't remember where it came from.  The pattern is Double slice layer cake by Missouri Star Quilt Co.; it's an easy pattern to do - but it would have been easier if there hadn't been up to FOUR of the same print.  Of course, there weren't four of every print - just one or two had four... most had two, I think.
 I only got as far as stitching the blocks into rows by last night so that was the first thing I did today... sew the rows together... after removing one block and repositioning it at the other end of the row - oh, and somehow I switched rows 6 & 7 ( they were labeled!!) and had to switch them back.  Of course, I didn't notice until I had stitched about half the row on.  :(

And, once the Trolls quilt top was done... it was on to this....

and this is all I'm saying about it ....you'll just have to wait til Friday to see what I'm working on.  Tomorrow evening, hubby and I will again be in Shipshewana at another Booth Brothers concert ( last one for this year for us).  We won't be leaving until about 4 so that should give me plenty of time to work on it -- and what I don't get done tomorrow can be done before blogging on Friday.

Guess that's it for tonight..

Going to go get my jammies on and start reading a new book....

take care... 

ttyl