How about a 3rd? special quilt

In a recent post I told you about a quilt I had hurriedly quilted and bound for a very ill young boy named Collin.  My friend Bev had requested the quilt and made a special pillow case to go with it.

When she delivered the items to the home, she could tell that his sister was having a hard time of it and asked Angellyn her favorite colors.  She made another pillow case in zebra, lime green and purple with an attached 3-D flower and left it for her the next day.  It is pictured at left.  Cute huh?  Perfect for a teen-aged girl!


When Bev told me about this, I said we needed to give her a quilt as well, thinking we could use the one shown in THIS POST that we all had made blocks for.  Because the quilt was a little wide we would need to bump it up the backing about 6-10 inches.  I suggested a pieced band of strips in the fav colors off center and dividing the fabric width.  The emails were flying.

Well, Bev outdid herself and it became the quilt itself!  She brought some black fabric with yellow, lime green and purple stars for the backing.  I found the purple leopard print at the Hobby Lobby run to use for binding.  She was sick and had to get to the doctors on meeting day but we took it from there.  Got it pinned and ready to go.

I quilted most of it Thursday afternoon and finished up the rest yesterday afternoon and evening.  Bev and I will meet again Sunday at the "Pig"  for the hand off.  She'll finish up the binding and has some plans to put some purple flowers with green stems on the zebra sections.   She and her husband John will get the "glamour shot" before she delivers it to Angellyn.

Collin went to be with the angels early Thursday morning. His struggles of the last 4 years are over.  You can read about it HERE and see pictures of this beautiful boy with red hair.  The visitation is today, funeral on Sunday.  I don't know the family at all but I think anyone can feel sympathy, empathy or whatever at the loss of any child.  They are not supposed to go before the previous generation but do.

And there you have--the rest of the story.  Another special quilt for a special child, a week later.  Please keep the McDaniel family in your prayers.

two posts in one day?

Around the house----
You will most likely find the husband tending to some of the outside chores.  Today he is removing some old caulk from our siding. Next some re-caulking, priming, painting will ensue.  Note that he has the ladder atop the air conditioning unit and that he had to whack the heck out of nearby bush to even get at it first.  Due to sun exposure problems, he has to get out when there is cooler temps and some cloud cover so that limits his time.

The lilac bush is in full bloom right now---the best it has ever looked really.  It smells heavenly too.   The Rose of Sharon bush that is right behind it is almost in full leaf now too.  It is normally the last one to come around.  Maybe the two weeks or so of above normal temps and plenty of sunshine brought it along too.   We have not had a lot of rain though considering it IS spring but DJ said we had a half inch in the gauge with the overnight showers.

Our white azalea of the encore variety finally bloomed but this bush has never done particularly well---scrawny thing.  We are lucky if it blooms once, let alone again in the fall.  You also see the blooms dying off the newest azalea planting.   Both it and the other bright pink one are done.

And here is the door greeter waiting for me to come back.  Hard to believe that we have had Skyler for almost 4 years now. We lost her this same weekend back in 2008.  Skyler came to live with us the following week, after the kitchen flooring was installed.  The hosta plant we planted at Pippi's grave site is just starting to come up.

You can see some native dogwood in bloom in the trees, the wisteria seems to be about gone, the forsythias is open and I notice some snowball bushes are out now.  Got to love the spring, pollen and all.   Renewal,  life goes forward

Meeting notes

I believe that I might be in the market for a new mouse as things are NOT staying clicked. I just ended up publishing several pics without any text. The worst is editing documents as I am doing on an almost daily basis as the by-laws are hammered out for Friendship Quilters guild. To say it is getting frustrating would be an understatement. Do you suppose that its getting knocked off the desk on an almost daily basis might be responsible, LOL? Poor mouse!  Can you use a wireless one on a desktop?

Well, you didn't stop here to listen to me complain.  You came to see some quilts. right?  We had a few of the regulars missing-- one gal is helping out her family by keeping her great-grand, two were under the weather. We still managed to get some quilts pinned and made some plans for the sew-in date next month while catching up with each other for a few that were unable to come the previous meeting.  Like always, LOL.

I will tell you about the special project Bev and I teamed up on in another post but I got two more Wrap 'Em quilts pinned as well the Row QOV top.  Man, does that thing seem like a giant compared to the normal 40 x 60' ish range!  We now use a foot or two shorter table at the church to do the job too and that one definitely needed a longer table!


First up, Lois leftovers top.  I don't know the name of the pattern but believe it is in a Fons and  Porter magazine.  (Her husband had sent me a picture of their cat Mittens who looks like Skyler's much bigger brother curled up in her scrap box and the magazine was propped open in her work space----looked like their layout and font.)  She said she used the cutaways from the recent Pineapple Blossom binge for some of the HST units.   Love scrap quilts!

Next, we have Beverly's horse quilt top that she made for her brother.  I thought we might pin it but she is taking it to the long armer to do.  She said her DIL told her it was too short but Beverly wanted it more for a lap quilt, something to throw over the legs on those cool evenings.

Jane turned in this String quilt that Aline had made.  I had quilted it in the end of the year pile of quilting and Jane volunteered for binding detail.  I warned her that my pinned WTIL's count is up to 9 now.  If  I get that pile quilted soon, she and Nancy will be set for hand work for awhile!

And this is Marilyn's quilt for a family member----there is a new baby due any minute and I think this goes to the family's addition.

Most of us did a  quick Hobby Lobby run---no one had a seam ripper with them including me.  Can you believe it?   I also needed a long tape measure for another task.  I had been prepared to give a quilting demo but the two gals that could have benefited from that the most were not there---we'll do that another time.    I had brought the machine with the walking foot only and minimal tools. Normally if I am even remotely planning on sewing, I have a basket set up that has every tool, needle, supply, tape measure that I would need.  I need to tote that out to the car on quilting days just in case, I guess.  We need to have those two items on premises for all of us to use, just like the group mat, rulers and rotary cutter.  It is good that we hit the half price sale on those items!  We  grabbed some fast food on the way back and re-joined the one that hadn't gone out.

And there you have it--------

quilting plans

So far I have not sewn, cut or quilted anything and may not as I am trying to get the car packed up for tomorrow's meeting. Always seems like half my house goes with me, LOL.

But I always have some thoughts about what I want to do next when it comes to sewing. The Belles will be having a sew-in day on the 4th Tuesday in April. I don't know that we are going to do a group block this time or not. Some have expressed interest in doing a Jelly Roll 1600. I also haven't decided exactly what we will do for a challenge this year but we have boatloads of a black fabric in the donation bin.

I would love to make a Mock Trip Around the World like my friend Pat of Bell Creek Quilts makes.  HERE is an example of one she has made.  Could you not see using that black with a bright color of your choice to make a quilt like this?  The blocks are strip pieced using a pattern from Quilt Assistant called Mock Trip Around the World.   Easy block really that goes together quickly once the strip sets are complete.   I would love to see what we would come up with different fabric choices! 

I said I would like to make one---well it turns out I already have in the past but used a different set.  This is on point, called Kris's Three Patch and was featured in Trudie Hughes Template-Free Quiltmaking way back when.  I don't have a decent picture of it but drew it up in EQ so I could show Pat.  I used colors very similar to this for the one I really made.  Not that she would necessarily want to try it since it is on point and all  but another set.  How different it looks!  Sheila suggested to me in a recent email that gave it more of a Boston Commons feel than a Trip Around the World.   I believe she hit the nail on the head!

I have a few things to take care of here at home, the stuff that doesn't get done when you are in the throes of a quilting, sewing blitz really.  Hope you have a good day in whatever you chose to do.

what a busy week!

When I last posted, I had made the quilt delivery trip down to the Presbyterian Home for Children down in Talledega(AL). The week remained busy.

Wednesday my friend Teresa came by to see if we could figure out what was causing her problems with quilting.  She had made a quilt using one of the quilt patterns from MaryQuilts but which one I could not tell you for sure.  It is for her newly married son and daughter-in-law so she wants it done, sooner than later.  As near as I can tell is that she has some tension issues and the batting was not helping matters any.  I had a package of poly down black (the quilt was black and red) so we will substitute that out and re-pin it on Tuesday.  I also told her that since we were going to re-pin she may want to substitute that all black on the back since it was giving her fits trying to un-quilt that bad lines.

She had also wanted me to show her how to rock in hand quilting.  I was holding some extra quilt hoops I had around here and some #10 quilting needles for her to try so those went on home with her.  LIM, right?  Yeah, I know a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things around here.  I found my missing 4 inch EZ angle ruler that I use when I am making the binding joins but have yet to find what the heck happened to my bias press bar???  Norma and I joke that it ran off to join her long missing scissors.

Somewhere in between I got as far as I could on the March rabbit button up.  The fabric I need to complete the job is on the way, but not here yet.  I am in a holding pattern for it and the Bloom wall hanging piece.   That's okay, as I didn't have a whole lot of time to sew anyway.

Thursday:  it was off to the executive board meeting of the Friendship Quilters guild where I serve as the guild secretary.  Last time we were visiting the budget and this time, the by-laws.  We went through the whole document and most stood but it still took me a whole lot of typing to do that minutes.  (about 7 pages)    and a big chunk of Thursday evening.  Friday, I typed the by-laws with the proposed changes---the first draft of it anyway.  There will be changes.  By then I was ready to NOT see a keyboard for a few days.

And then things changed in a hurry.  I found an email late Friday evening from one of the Belles asking me about a quilt for a very ill young boy that lives in her neighborhood. Did we have any on hand w/frog fabric as there is some connection with that for him, she wondered.  There are no finished quilts on hand at my house since I took them all down to PHFC on Tuesday.  We both wish we had known earlier. Of course, the "perfect" one(s) with frog backing was among the ones I took.

 I DID have one of my quilt tops that we recently pinned that had some frog scraps IN it. Starting at about 6 in the morning yesterday I had about 11 hours in involved with quilting and hand finishing the binding.   DJ was lucky to even get supper last night as I was on a mission! I had about 48-50 inches left to finish this morning on the 2nd long side.   Bev made a frog fabric pillowcase that will go with it.  I met her mid-morning  for the hand off.

At left is the picture of it before I ran off to meet her at the Pig.  Silly DJ held it up with the backing facing the camera and said, "I thought you said this was a frog quilt!"  I asked him to turn it around and then pointed out the 4  matching squares with frogs ON them.

There are the frogs at right.  If you know what you are looking for you might spot them scattered on the top---well more like the bottom half of the quilt anyway.  I am not sure which Belle had included it in the scrap bag challenge or maybe it was Linda C's charm squares at any rate I know I had used 5 inch cut squares to make the quilt.  Bev spotted some that fabric she had in it too.

But this whole thing is NOT about me.  I am just showing you a quilt that I happened to have made and finished.  That is probably the fastest I ever finished a donation quilt.  My first donation quilt finish for 2012, I think???   (Will have to verify that for the tabs I have set up.) The boy is very ill, I could do a little something to help him and I hope that others would do the same.  After talking with Bev after she delivered the quilt, I think we need to give a quilt to the young boy's sister as well.  She is having a hard time and needs a hug.  It has got to be hard when a family member is going through such a long illness with no cure in sight.  Sad.  Say a prayer for young Colin if you would? God will knows what the needs are.

Hopefully this next week will settle down a bit.  I have Bama Belles on Tuesday and the girls have asked me to show them how I approach machine quilting.  I have the very quilt in mind to show them.  

Now, I guess I better head out to the kitchen and scare something up for supper.  I'm considering jambalaya with that leftover smoked turkey sausage from last night's hastily thrown together meal but I bet you anything it turns into option 2 before I get those few steps, LOL.  I love being able to go either way.  

Quilt delivery day

A few posts back I showed you the stack of finished quilts that the Belles have made and I had been holding for a day just like today. They were in a basket from the floor up to just over the top of the armoire with about 6 of them stuck on the side to keep the whole tower of quilts from toppling over. This picture below shows what it normally looks like-----pinned quilts on the armoire, for sure.

Atop this heap is some batting for me to use on the QOV row quilt I will pin on Tuesday. Soon to be added, somewhere, is the 76 Bow Tie Medallion. Denise B told me yesterday that she had gotten it quilt up and I can bring it home after the executive board meeting on Tuesday.  You can see I have my work cut out for me to get caught up anytime soon.

Below, the quilts after I hauled them out to the car yesterday afternoon.  DJ was trying to nap so I didn't ask him to help.  By the time I was hauling out the 2nd stack of 10 he said "why didn't you tell me you needed help?".  I said if he was offering, get with the program!  I half expected him to say that he would be up in about 30 minutes and make me wait for him.  I'd be done with the job by then.  44 quilts ready to take to the Presbyterian Home for Children down in Talledega, AL.

And here I am in the conference room------some of the kids were due over in about 40 minutes so I don't know if they were going to pick theirs out today or not.  Carla said they may distribute them through the houseparents.  They know best how to handle things.  We had just enough for the whole place with a few extras.   ( must have been talking to the lady with my camera when she took this, LOL)

Other than a bit warm the weather was perfect for the drive.  Oh, I forgot which traffic light to turn off of but wasn't going to get lost.  I had been there several times before but not for a few years anyway.  I enjoyed seeing some of the big houses in the established neighborhoods.  The dogwood and azaleas are just gorgeous now.  Lots of wisteria hanging from the trees.  The sunlight hitting the hills and trees on the way back on Alabama 21 was a wonderful vista to admire too.

I got a little more of the applique done on the March button up but the expected fabric order has not made it yet.  I'll be switching gears a bit and picking up the April applique till it shows.  Tomorrow my friend Teresa is coming over to see if we can figure out what is happening with her machine when she is trying to quilt.  She had made a quilt for her son and new DIL who were married earlier this month but the quilting had to wait.  Unfortunately what she has put in has had to come out.  Also I had unearthed some black Hobbs poly-down from my sewing room closet she can have since she feels her batting might be the culprit.  I told her we will help her re-pin the quilt on Tuesday.  Meanwhile we'll do some quilt sandwiches and test them out on the machines---mine and hers.  If it will quilt on mine, it is her machine balking---is my theory, anyway.

And sew it goes------------

some progress

 This morning shows me prepping carrots.  No, not for eating though I toyed with the idea of making some carrot raisin salad yesterday when I bought a two lb. bag of real carrots, from Georgia even!  These go to the base part of the March Button Up.  I think mine are going to have slightly blunter tips on them as I am having problems with knowing how close to trim/clip or cut fabric out of that area.

I don't needle turn so freezer paper, modified yo yo over templar and fusibles, it is for this girl.

I ended up doing some hand applique on the basket elements and the bunny tail.  I had a nice turned edge for the bias cut basket handle, basket trim and all the eggs shapes so why not.  I won't need to do much button hold applique this time out especially if I ditch the lettering.  Just the nose and carrot tops would require it.
I did prep the nose and ear accents last night but didn't baste them down yet so the bunny still looks a little blah----but he's getting there!

Thanks again to pals Sheila for the basket fabric and Maggie for the bright yellow rick rack that will serve as bunny whiskers!  Hopefully the yard of brown plaid I ordered will show up before too long and I can complete the bottom part.  I see machine quilting on the horizon.   Who knows?  Maybe this WILL be up for Easter after all!

I've got a few errands to run and the laundry is started.  Still a lot of day ahead of me to do bunny ears.  My primary objective this afternoon is to get the trunk of my car emptied out a bit so I can load up the quilts I will be delivering to the Talledega Presbyterian Home for Children.  There is stuff that needs to go to the recycle center in there now and that is easily delivered.

And sew it goes------------

Happy St. Pat's Day and Happy National Quilting Day

Happy St. Pat's Day and  Happy National Quilting Day!! Got something planned to celebrate both of those things?  DJ said I didn't have to prepare a corned beef meal but I may do it down the line.  Maybe it will just be c.b. hash tonight and go straight to the leftover type meal, LOL.


This is as far as I got on the March Button Up last evening.  I am waiting for some brown plaid fabric that goes at the button to represent the carrot patch.  I'll also use it for the binding cut on the bias and maybe the word "March" at the top.  I am torn about that though since Easter comes in both March and April.  I didn't want brown borders so I extended the yellow above the bunny's ears and then more yellow for the side borders.  The binding brown will frame the whole piece---should work.

I bordered this piece after my last post on the 15th.  The binding will match the narrow green flap of color.  I'll quilt this and finish up the embellishments once I get the March button up done.  For now I'll just enjoy it on the design wall.

The only other thing I got done is pressing 4 quilts worth of binding.   I did that first thing yesterday morning before I allowed myself to play with the March piece.  You cannot work in a cluttered work space or at least I personally can't.   When the binding is all piled up in like a mess of colorful spaghetti on your cutting/pressing surface and you want to sew, it must be dealt with.

So I guess my plans for National Quilting Day will be to prep some of the applique elements of the Button Up.  There are some colored eggs and his tail that I will treat like you would a giant oblong yo-yo over templar material.  There is also some basic trim and accents for the ears that I will prepare over freezer paper.  I have the carrot tops fusible already prepped but not the carrots but I am guessing freezer paper is the way to go on them as well.   The nose, fuse definitely.  That just leaves some decision about the letters---do it or not?  Or try to write "Happy Easter"  hmmmmm

DJ's outdoor workload has picked up a bunch now that spring is here---well he would say spring has been here for weeks.  Not by the calendar perhaps but weatherwise, he may be right.  He came home from Lowe's with a replacement azalea bush.  We have three now along the patio area.  A white one is encore variety and it doesn't show much signs of blooming while the other pink-red one is in full bloom now.  I'll share pics of it later.  The lilac bush is just starting to come out as well.  Dogwood is out all over, both the native and people's trees as you drive around.  The yellow pollen is REALLY out and we could use some rain to dampen it down.   Yesterday there were thunderstorms above and below us, even hail but nothing here.  Weather dude says we will stay in the 80's till the 22nd----ugh, not ready for that.    70's fine but 80's, not so much.

Well, best get this day started and find something to go with green shamrock socks other than my turquoise pj's!  Don't want DJ pinching me every chance he gets.

WIP Thursday

In the past few days I have gotten a few things moved along------April Button Up finally has the tulips and leaves basted down for hand applique.  I  must have spaced the stems differently than they show on the pattern jacket as the leaves do not look like theirs at all!  I like it but I guess mine will have its own touches.

I picked up some plastic pellets at  Hobby Lobby on Tuesday, Belles quilting day. ( Once I get to the meeting place it is a heck of a lot closer than from my house.)  My pal Veronica sent me the larger chicken you see below, minus the "innards" for me to stuff.  I was able to re-use the contents of one of long time chicken pin cushions that met its demise.  This bad boy, being so much larger than any of the 4 you see pictured plus the "dead" one I needed more pellets to complete the job.   The two red chickens are cute but are filled with fiber-fil exclusively and tend to topple.  I may do a little surgery on them since I have plenty of pellets left----but not today.

I cut the borders for "Bloom" ----the lighting is not the best in the shot but there you have it, LOL.  One the list to sew----  if not today, tomorrow.

I also did some of the "boring" sewing-----in the 3 B's category.  (backs, borders and binding=boring!)  I seamed the 3 quilt backs for my recently completed QOV's.  I also cut binding but seaming it did not happen yesterday when I had the machine fired up.

 I DID go over to Pell City for the informal work day today.   A couple of the girls who follow me on Facebook from the Friendship Quilters wanted to know if I could show them how to do it.  The Belles and I were playing with this on Tuesday and I was yakking about it on FB.  My attempts on Tuesday with the Belles fell short---fumble fingers and I lent someone else my needle, LOL.  I had offered to lend one of the gals my Fantastic Folded Flower book (by Rebecca Wat) but I would sit down and work through it with them if they wanted to try it.    I'll post that stuff up here on another day or when I more seriously, pick that UFO up again.

Come to find out, Teresa sent me a link with a tutorial for the folded flowers that shows a way to use them for a table runner, rather than the small wall hanging mine may become some day.   Sew WE quilt has a guest tutorial  for the technique---scroll on down to the bottom for the print friendly version.  Actually their graphics are a little easier to see than the books, I thought.

My main objective for the trip was to turn in the QOV tops (Row quilt, Land of Liberty panel and the 76 Bowties)  and the D4P I have completed----yeah, the ones I ran off without on Saturday!  I have decided that I will quilt the row quilt so we cut batting for all three of the tops.  Denise, the gal that I lent my book to will quilt the bowtie medallion as she has a long arm.  The 3rd one is bagged up for whoever quilts it down the line. The president Peggy will put it with the other 16 or 17 waiting for a volunteer.  It will NOT be me.

Next week I'll be back on the road again.  I am taking the large stack of I think, 40 donation quilts down to the Presbyterian  Home for Children in Talledega.  The stack is up over the top of the armoire next to it now and are blocking access to my spring/summer clothes closet.  Seeing as we have been up in the high 70's early 80's this week, I may need my shorts outfits sooner than later, LOL.   I had hoped to run them over there this afternoon after I left Pell City taking the backroads over but it just didn't work out with their schedule.  The coordinator suggested next Tuesday afternoon when some of the kids would be coming to that area for a class.  They would be able to pick out their quilts from the conference room display.  Carla was working there when we have given them quilts in the past so knows best how to handle the distribution.  The church we use sponsors one of the cottages so we want to be sure those kids get one.

Thursday I'll need to go back over to Pell City for an executive board meeting.  Husband not happy but can't help it.  Had I known it was coming this month and not early April, I would have combined trips.

And sew it goes----I have a date with some binding.

Design Wall Monday

Really the design wall looks much the same as in previous photos with two new additions----

• two leftover bowties from the QOV top.  I make a lot of bowties for pro bono quilts so they will just get plugged into the next one.  
• I finished the hand embroidery on Two Blonde Mice's "Bloom" pattern last evening but will need to pull some border fabric today.  I am resisting the impulse to order some Mary Engelbreit fabric to complete it.  I have things in my stash that will work.

I knew that the stitchery would work up fairly quickly for a reward project.  That's part of the reason why I chose it---well, that and I was waiting for some fabric to come my way from my mom and a friend for another project.   Friendship Quilters met on Saturday and the gals I rode with wanted to take the Garden Irish Chain class that was planned for the program.  I did not want to start another new project necessarily so elected to work on "Bloom" instead.  All I had left on Sunday was the pitcher squiggle, the bee and the lettering.   There will be some embellishment type stitching for the bee's flight path, etc and some buttons added for embellishment to the pitcher but those will serve as quilting elements.  (Mine will be a wall hanging, not a pillow.)

I have it up on the wall to audition floral fabrics.  At first I thought a pansy print with a lot of rosy flowers and a purple inner border.  BUT the more I look at it,  the more I think it will work for the May Button Up---image borrowed from Joined at the Hip that will be coming up soon enough on my "list"

Then I pulled out a piece of something that I love but it is oh, so pale in comparison.  The threads are clearer, bold colors.  Back in the container.  Next was either a Debbie Mumm or Thimbleberries but again, pale.  I like it but not for this.  I believe I have come to a decision about a bold piece that was a secret pal gift.  I have a cut into fat of the fabric but the stitchery is small enough that I can work around the missing yardage.  Make it work!

Plans are to cut:  March Button Up, borders for the stitchery, binding for 2 of the recently completed QOV's.  If I cut the stuff for the row quilt already, I sure can't find it!  I know it was going to be close on getting enough out for the sashing between the rows and borders. I doubt I had enough of that print in the first place.   Rosa thought she had some of that same print on hand but I think I am going with something that contrasts anyway.What I have lined up to sew in the near term is "boring" sewing----3 quilt backs, 3 quilts worth of binding once it is cut and borders.  

I was in such a hurry to get out the door on Saturday (over slept) and had NOT loaded the car ahead of time. It did not hit me till I was standing in the meeting place parking lot, about 7 miles from home that I had gone off without the 3 QOV tops and the one Jane had finished binding.  There is a distinct possibility that I am going to quilt one of the 3 tops myself but I need to get some batting first.  I would do the row quilt and think I could handle it.  The other two, not so much.  

The guild has subsidized the project in that they had purchased batting and backing.  The backing is gone but the batting is not.  They would re-pay me for anything I bought for backing, I was told.  The quilting volunteers are covered up and/or burnt out from the volume of quilts for the veteran's home.   The prez had a pile all kitted up in the car from the sew-in and looking for someone to quilt them.  I don't know if she got any takers or not.  The coordinator laughed and told Aline and I to "find a quilter" when we asked what to do with the tops.   I still don't know if she was joking or serious, don't know her well enough.  All I know is that I can't afford to have them professionally done if it came to that.   It could be that they just wait and will not be ready when the facility opens.  They have informal work days on Thursday's so I going to run over and play.  Just haven't told DJ that yet, LOL--- prepare to hear the words "again?"

Somewhere along the line I need to decide what I am going to work on at Bama Belles tomorrow and pack the car.  DJ wanted me to give him a hair cut too but that can wait another day.  I don't sleep well too many night to find the clock switch an easy transition.  By the time I finally got back to sleep and awoke to a kitty wanting his treat bite is was almost 0845.  The morning whizzed by since I got up so late, especially since I am doing laundry now too and had to dry the mop atop my head.  

And sew it goes------hope you are having a good day in whatever you chose to do.

finished to flimsy

QOV #5  76 Bowties in Barn Raising Set

............and after lunch  I am going to work on my embroidery reward project, "Bloom".   I am also going to write a list of what I want to concentrate on next, UFO and otherwise.  Pro bono and otherwise too.

a start

11 more rows to go on this barn raising set.  I should be able to get this done in time for the Saturday Friendship Quilters meeting even if I do have a couple errands to run.

If I were to do one more with the remaining scraps etc,  THIS Scrappy Strips and Bars from Cindy Carter might be one I consider.  Lots of free patterns there, some mystery quilts and such too.  Not that I "do" mysteries necessarily but show me how it turns out and I might be in, LOL.  I am talking about the Patriotic version in the 2nd pic of course.  And if not that one, I like this one for a planned 3 color quilt, borrowing from my friend Pat.  9 patch variation, Mock Trip Around the World

You know where to find me------

78 bow ties

If I counted correctly, I have 78 bow tie blocks done and ready to assemble into the medallion style top.

The Singer seemed to be having a little problem with the stitching though that probably was "me induced".   I need to read the manual and just play with tension settings but I didn't have the time or inclination to do that today.  I also want to explore the cams that came with it so that might be  good time to put it through its paces.

I brought the Jem in from the car.  At least I knew for a fact that it would not mind the 4 to 6 layers of fabrics.  I spent the better part of the day yesterday pinning the blocks so I could just chain to my hearts content today.  Now I'm off to start the assembling process.

Hopefully this will be a top by day's end Friday----6 inch blocks 10 x 15.  The hard part is already done.

WIP Tuesday

 The primary focus of my day will be joining the center seam on a pile of 76 bowties for the QOV top.  I was further along with this project than I thought I was---woohoo there!  76 is sort of a symbolic number for a patriotic US quilt, don't you think?

I'll work thru the pile and see how far I get.  These are just a more lumpy 4 patch at this point.  I switched machines though.  The Brother, pampered princess that it is, balks at sewing thru too many layers.  The Viking tends to sew a little tight so un-sewing is not easy.  If you are going to sew, you have to be prepared to rip.  Long ago lesson from my mom, there.   I probably did the bulk of the sewing on the Jem.  I could use it but I pulled out the Singer that I got from Lois' mom's estate instead.  It has a nice stitch and we'll see how it behaves over those folded in knots.

I got a bit done on "Bloom" yesterday.   I left it out to do a bit more here and there.  I am already to the leaves with the three flowers done.  Handwork, machine work----a good mix.   Good reward project too!

And while I am sewing, I'll be thinking about the March Button Up.  Sheila, a friend and reader, offered me some basket weave fabric that will be perfect for this!  (THX again, Sheila)  I am itching to sew this one up but I have a feeling that I better reserve it for a reward project for completing the QOV bowties.  I still need to find the border choices.  I do NOT like all that brown around it.  Brown for dirt for the carrots is one thing but ugh, on the rest!   HMMMMM something to ponder.


And sew it goes-----------

a finish and a reward

A finish to report----finally!  I mentioned the QOV top #3 as being my priority item for the week.  As I stated in my last post, life kinda intervened.

We had two days of rocky weather and trust me, that does not lend itself to piecing when  you have to un-plug.  I blew out on mother board to a power surge and I don't want to replaced another.  At one point on Friday my two computerized machines wound up in the shower.  I figured if I had to be in the bathroom with the hard hat on, then two of my prized possessions were going with me.

I fused down the cut away stars and machine appliqued the down to a 7.5 inch finished squares.  I had the rail strips already cut but didn't really start stitching on this in earnest till Friday and Saturday.  All that I needed to do today is the last border.  I had said that it was amazing that a girl like me that HATES to put on borders would do a quilt that is nothing BUT borders.  5 of them actually.  The picture I put up on FB might actually show the last border a little better but whatever----this thing is done now!  Ready for Show and Tell at Friendship Quilters on Saturday.

I have one more QOV top to piece:  a 3-D bow tie, navy ties on white background with red "knots"  I need 76 of them and the project is one that I started at the fall sew in at guild. (Read about it HERE .)  I will have to pull it out to see just where it stands.  Seems to me that I had some up to the center joining seam but how many?  BUT having said only one more for a total of 5 I was half considering what to do with the cutaways from the pieced rails.  9 patches on point arranged zig zag style maybe?  I naturally over-cut ( almost always do).  There is  fabric leftover from the guild member that gave it to me for the Land of Liberty panel thing.   Maybe.

I need a break from "hafta/deadline" sewing, even if that deadline is self imposed.   The veteran's home is opening in the summer and the tops need to be turned in for quilting.  I need a break from red, white and blue.  I am so ready for a reward project!

And here is what I have in mind.  I prepped this little stitchery from Two Blonde Mice about a month ago.  It has just been waiting for me but I did do a little bit of two of the flowers on Wednesday.  It should work up pretty quickly.  Linda C left this pattern to share when she moved to TN.  Because I was the one who filed the loose pages, etc in the notebooks, I spotted it first, LOL.  It is shown in their graphic, which I borrowed, as a pillow but I want a spring wall hanging instead.  Cute, huh?  I do not own any of the Mary Engelbreit fabric that they used in their sample so will substitute something else that I DO have.  If I have enough of it, I know just which one I will use!

My mom sent some basket fabric and a couple of friends have offered some from their stash as well.  Because of that I am holding off cutting out the March Button Up and whipping it as my reward.  I still would like to do a bias applique thing for the handle and the piece Mom sent would need to be seamed perhaps a little more than I would like.  It won't go to waste though. The May Button Up is a basket as well.

I am taking tomorrow "off" and concentrating on straightening up the house.  With having the windows open recently, I need to dust and definitely vacuum up the strings from the week's sewing.  I get busy and things just get stacked and I can't stand the clutter for long.  Then stitchery for sure!

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Dishwasher saga update.  We thought they were coming Thursday to install the final dishwasher.  Remember we had gotten #2 a Frigidaire that was scratched and dented so it was not going to stay.  They called to say that the one at the store with our name on it looked like a forklift had backed into it.  They were going to get one from the Gadsden store but it would have to wait till Friday morning.  Okay, Friday comes.  They install it seemingly without a hitch.  Come Friday night about 830, I head out to the kitchen in my sock feet.  Socks get damp but I thought maybe DJ just dripped some water on the rug.  Few minutes later with my bare feet I realized that the rug in front of the dishwasher is soaked with water.  He shut off the water supply as well as the power while I fetched some towels to mop up the water and the phone.  Water was dripping off the supply line.  Loose connection or did they break the line?  Something had made me write down the plumbing contractors number off his van earlier in the day.  He came out yesterday morning and his helper had not gotten it tightened up enough or some such thing.  Seems to be fine now.  I pray that is the last of it---a journey of a month's duration.  Not all their fault.  DJ asked for an exchange after all.

We did have tornado warnings up on the north end of the county on Friday.  The weather dude was calling out our immediate area but there was no touchdown.  Present on radar but aloft, thankfully.  Some in the county were without power but that is minor compared to April 27th stuff.   Other parts of the country did not fare so well.  My heart goes out to the people in north Alabama who were just getting re-built from last April and are wiped out again.  The folks in Indiana and Kentucky, with loss of life.  E4's, I read.  It is just sad. It is going to be a long tornado season at this rate.

Our camellia seemed to rebound from the cold nights we had but tonight is another close to freezing night.  One of the azaleas is beginning to bloom and you can see hints of what is coming on the lilac bush.  The bradford pears are out in their full popcorn white and so lovely.  I get to enjoy my neighbor's pink dogwood from afar.  We tried three different times to have a dogwood only to lose them all.  DJ also pointed out that the yellow pollen stuff is starting to come around-----could live without that but it is part and parcel of a southern spring.

THX for stopping by------------

better late than never?

Last week was a pretty busy week---some sewing, some home matters, this and that.  You know,  life intervenes?  Bama Belles met on Tuesday and I just never got around to posting the pictures I had taken. I'll do that now

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This is the center section of a Block of the Month quilt that they are doing at the Lick Skillet Guild.  (Lick Skillet is what Oxford, Alabama used to be called)   Our little group shares several members with that Monday evening guild.  Brenda is hiding behind this.

...........................and this is one of the blocks that will go around it.

Beverly was working on the binding for a young grand baby.  At first I thought it was one of two she had made for twin daughters of friends of the family, a commissioned work but she said that those had been delivered for the mama to take to the quilter.  Beverly arranged the colors in "Snuggle Up" fashion but sashed around them.  Very pretty.

Rosa was working on her hand quilting.  She is left handed so it was a little hard for me to show her how I do it unless we sat across the table from each other.

Bev was also working on binding for this 12 Days of Christmas from a dog's perspective wall hanging.  She had the cutest dog holiday themed fabric on the back of it too.  I don't know how well you can see the section with the dog days of Christmas but it is pretty funny.

Here is what was keeping Teresa and I busy.  The pattern is "Desert Mirage" from Fons and Porter's Quick Quilts From The Heart.   Those strips finish at 1 inch wide and this is Teresa's first quilt.  She has been working on it for about 1 1/2 years so that is one girl who is beyond ready for a reward project!!   We had to trim the long strips down as she had not done that when assembling the quilt and it needed to be squared up.   She and her husband love the SW colors and themes so it will be a pretty quilt for their bed.  I do not show the whole quilt,  of course.  We were still squaring it up in this shot.  She also had a small personal project that we pinned before we left.

This is a whole cloth quilt that Jane had quilted for the kids

Same with this one.  Her mom had pieced the top from fabric samples.

Lastly, my disappearing 4 patch----all quilted.  Jane had done the binding for me.

I just somehow missed showing what Marilyn was working on but she had some handwork going as well.   Brenda was cutting strips for another project that I cannot wait to see.  Garden Rails, I believe she called it, 5 Rails in florals.  In between we pinned two of my donation tops from last year.  More to add to the top of the armoire at this point, LOL.

We also had a potluck lunch rather than run out for fast food, etc.  Good time with good friends.