Five Shadows

Happy Independence Day to my USA quilting friends!

Here’s how my week went and also photo updates of my daughter’s house.

To-Do Tuesday, June 27, 2023

1. I received a box of 36 t-shirts just before we left on our trip. I’ll start making three t-shirt quilts from them for a customer.  ✔️
2. Quilt Block 13 of my PUP quilt.  ✔️
3. Thursday I meet with my quilting group. I plan on taking along the EPP Owl. ✔️

1. T-Shirt quilts

33 t-shirts have been trimmed to 16 1/2″ square. And then sleeves were cut and pieced together to make the 12th block for each of the three quilts. Above is the layout for one of the quilt tops and the sashing for this quilt. The three quilts will all have different sashing. These shirts are showing a big Chicago Bears and Cubs fan!

2. Quilt Blocks from my Previous Unfinished Project – PUP! I not only quilted Block 13 but moved on to a few more blocks.

Block 13 – 12 1/2″ square, quilted using Sew Steady/Westalee Design templates Spin-E-Fex and Spiral templates.

Block 14 – 6 1/4 x 12 1/5″ as a whole cloth, no piecing. Here is a close up of the design as it doesn’t show up well on this print I selected for the filler blocks. This used the Spinning Wheels template for the flower petals.

Block 15- 8 1/2″ square, I messed up this design and decided to just stop at this point. It’s not supposed to be oblong, and I’m not ripping out. Templates used are the Arc and Spin-E-Fex.

Block 16 – 8″ x 8 1/2″ – this is what is called a TempLee block. The top fabric has fusible like Heat N Bond Lite attached and then is layered with a ‘peeker’ fabric. The design is quilted and then the top fabric cut away to reveal the peeker fabric. I like it! Spin-E-Fex template was used for the quilting design.

3. EPP Owl

I didn’t get far, third row is started. And my owl will be facing the opposite direction. Hmm. That seems to happen to me a lot. It still works though!

On to my daughter’s house!

She’s got her bathroom tiles in place. Next up, grout.

The beginning of the priming paint!

In the smallest bedroom, a closet in the eves is being remodeled.

Drywall now in place. One more coat, sanding, and then ready for primer.

This dead space in the eves was opened in main bedroom to create a closet like the one above.

That’s a lot of progress!

This coming week’s list -

To-Do Tuesday, July 4, 2023

1. Continue with T-Shirt Quilts!
2. Wednesday sewing group at church – not sure what I’ll be working on.
3. ??? Maybe I’ll sew up & quilt more blocks from my PUP.

Happy quilting all! That’s it for me this week. Time to get cracking on the t-shirt quilts!

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

We are staying busy at our daughter’s reno house. Sanding drywall might be finished up today! Hubs and I are not planning on doing the painting. I think she should have a painting party with her friends. Maybe I’ll take pizza over. Tee hee!

Here’s a few photos of projects going on there and a bit of sewing/quilting at my house.

To-Do Tuesday, May 30, 2023

1. I’m keeping daughter’s house at the top of the list. Dry wall mudding is the chore of the week.
2. Make headway on Anniversary quilt!
3. Friday is quilting day with friends. I hope to alter two t-shirts with a friend’s help. The shirts have ‘flutter’ sleeves that I just do not like.    And I’m taking along an EPP project, handwork.

Screws and glue are used to pull and hold the plaster to the lath foundation. Once the glue has dried, the round white discs are removed. Daughter has done all the ceiling repair.

Dry wall mud fills in the holes and cracks. Isn’t that an improvement!? This will be sanded. Then it’s ready for paint!

All the sanding should be completed today.

Daughter is learning how to install a tile floor. Looking good! I like the tile and design she decided to use for her bathroom floor.

2. Anniversary quilt

Label is made and back is purchased and stitched together. That’s as far as I got, no sandwiching or quilting.

3. My friend talked me into leaving the flutter sleeves on the t-shirts. Easier for both of us, ha ha!

New EPP

I won this Barn Owl EPP pattern a few years ago. It’s my current evening handwork project. But I’ve not worked on it much in the evenings! It is also my take along project. It’s going with me today to my quilting group. Hostess says she has cheese, crackers, and wine for us! As you can see, I’m doing the background in greens. The owl I will do in browns.

Other quilting -

The last of the braided table runners is made and ready to gift today. I taught this at a retreat back in 2012 I believe. When digging in my sewing room for something else, I came across fabric left for 4 kits for the runner. I decided to finish them up as gifts. This one goes with me today to gift to one of my quilting friends.

So you can see, not much is happening right now in my sewing/quilting world.

Here’s this coming week -

To-Do Tuesday, June 6, 2023

1. Hubs and I are taking a short break from house reno to visit friends and family for a few days.
2. But first, Wednesday sewing with church group
3. I’m taking the Owl EPP along on our short trip.

I hope you all have a lovely week.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

Happy May!

So, this week didn’t actually go according to plan. I know I did stuff, but what exactly is questionable. Ha ha!

To-Do Tuesday, April 25, 2023

1. Create back for Trip Around the World variation.  ✗
2. Clean house – it’s been neglected for too long.  ✔️
3. Featherweight embroidery – finish it up, buttons and border for framing.  ✗
4. Figure out something for evening handwork – hexies? Hmm. Maybe? 
5. Daughter’s house – wish I could say the end is in sight!  ✔️

What I did and didn’t do -

1. I didn’t work on a back for Trip Around the World. But I did start a new project from the leftover squares. More on that in a bit.

2. Clean house. Mostly accomplished! My bedroom and bath got a major deep clean and sure does look nice! I hope it can stay that way for a while! The other bath and half bath also got a cleaning. Kitchen, dining room, foyer, bathroom floors all got a good scrubbing including the grout in my bathroom floor. Just about the only think still needing attention is dusting the living room and changing out winter decor quilts for spring. All boring stuff I know, but with working on my daughter’s house reno, my house maintenance has been neglected.

3. I didn’t touch that cute Featherweight embroidery.

4. I’m sticking with the hexies for now for evening stitching. And I didn’t get far on them this past week. I’m feeling kind of burnt out on them, yet didn’t dig anything else out to work on in the evenings.

Hexie designs will be added to a background fabric to make mug rugs. I’m aiming to create three to gift to quilty friends.

5. Daughter’s house has insulation in! And also drywall installation has started!

This was once a bathroom! Floor was rotted. The whole room was gutted top to bottom.

Look! New floor joists covered with new subfloor! Plumbing and electric in! Insulation! And not photoed yet, yesterday drywall started to go up! People! This is major progress! And so exciting to see!

Here’s what I did work on that was not on my To-Do list.

1) I started making 9-patches with 2 1/2″ squares left over from the Trip Around the World quilts.

Then they evolved into Granny Squares.

I’ve got 10 finished blocks of the above color way. I think I’ll do a basket of flowers in the center of the quilt and place Granny Squares around it. Then figure out what to do with the 9-patches. No pattern, I’m just playing and building the quilt as I go.

2) I mentioned the Giant Clammy Experience hosted by Latifah Saafir in my last post. Registration is closed, the first online class was yesterday, May 1st. I watched the class and pulled fabric for the first project which is a tote to hold the rulers.

Floral canvas with a mottled red for the lining.

3) Yesterday Hubby and I hung the first pieces of drywall in our daughter’s house! We started in the bathroom. I didn’t get a photo as I had to leave to pick up grandkids from school. Next week there will be more photos of the progress.

Here’s this week’s list -

To-Do Tuesday, May 2, 2023

1. Daughter’s house – guess it should go at the top of the list now that we are hanging drywall.  Drywall up makes it look so close to finished! Which is deceiving, as there will still be so much to do. But once it’s finished, painting!
2. Sewing with my church group Wednesday morning.
3. Granny Square quilt – keep at it.
4. Hand work at night – hexies for now.
5. Backing for Trip Around the World variation quilt.
6. Sew Clammy Tote.
7. Sew Featherweight Embroidery borders so it can be framed.

I’m being very optimistic here! I might end up helping with drywall more than sewing/quilting this week. Maybe I’ll surprise myself and get to play in the sewing room! Here’s hoping!

I hope you all have a great week in your sewing room/studio. Or garden! It is that time of year here in the USA!

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

Greetings! This week flew by! We had good times with family and church family too. I’ll share more news in a future post.

Things I accomplished this past week -

To-Do Tuesday, April 11, 2023

1. Trim and bind Trip Around the World. ✔️
2. Piece border for the Featherweight embroidery.  ✔️
3. Decide on a project for evening handwork. ✔️
4. Land on some other project – old or new? ✔️
5. Daughter’s house. Her goal is to be in the end of this month. Hubs and I don’t think that is very realistic. She wants to move in while construction is still happening. I’ve experienced that, and don’t recommend it!

1. Trip Around the World

Binding is on, all but one corner which I left open for a label.

2. Featherweight embroidery

Pieced border and some embellishments attached! I’m still deciding on placement of buttons.

3. Evening handwork

I’m back to piecing 1/2″ hexies. These will be appliquéd on to background fabrics for mug rug gifties.

4. Land on some other project – old or new?

I forgot to list my sewing day with quilt group which was Friday. I took along the Trip Around the World variation and made two and a half more blocks. I’m liking how this scrappy quilt is coming together.

5. Daughter’s house. Hubs got sick and spent a few days in bed. We missed the building inspector and have to reschedule. Daughter got home from her trip to Germany and did much needed yard work this past weekend.

Weather heated up to 80F a few days last week but cooled off Sunday night back to 40sF. I’ll be up in daughter’s attic working on insulation while it is cool the next few days.

What have you been working on?

Here’s my plan for the next week -

To-Do Tuesday, April 18, 2023

1. Trip Around the World variation. I need to have this top pieced, quilted, and bound by first of June!
2. Featherweight embroidery – attach buttons. Add a border so it can be stretched over canvas and framed.
3. Evening handwork, hexies.
4. Wednesday morning is church group sewing day.
5. Daughter’s house.

The last day of February! And I finished piecing Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden last night, February 27!

That’s the only quilting I accomplished this week.

To-Do Tuesday, February 21, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden – will I finish the piecing this week? ✔️
2. Sandwich the PUP I pulled out last week. Start playing? ✗
3. On going work at my daughter’s house. ✔️

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Week 51 pieced.

And stitched into the quilt top.

Week 52!

See the open space for one rosette flower? Week 52 orange Rosette will go there.

Stitched in!

And here she is! All pieced!

Happy Dance!

This took me one year + one month + nine days to piece.

I bought this fabric Saturday at The Hen House in Charlotte, MI to be the back of the quilt. Hubs and I were on our way to an Orchid Show in Lansing, MI. A road trip means stopping at least at one quilt shop! Don’t you agree? Orchids – Hub’s hobby.

2. Sandwich a quilt – didn’t happen.

3. Work continues on daughter’s house. Hopefully the demo part is over. Rough electric is going in. Plumbing still not completed.

That’s it for my week. Oh! Other than I’ve been bidding on fabric lots at an online auction for a LQS going out of business. I’d share more info but you might go and out bid me!

This week  -

To-Do Tuesday, February 28, 2023

1. I suppose I should move working on daughter’s house to the top of the list. There is wallpaper paste and bit of paper to remove which I really have no desire to do. But I can tell you it is a much nicer (cleaner!) job then demoing plaster walls!
2. Maybe work on charity quilts
3. Or pull out the other project I hoped to work on last year.

May you all have a peaceful week of piecing your favorite quilt!

Linking to I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

It’s a windy March like day here. Only thing is, it is still February!

Here’s my list from last week and what I accomplished.

To-Do Tuesday, February 14, 2023

1. Can you guess?! Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden of course! I was hoping to finish up the piecing by February 18th. Doesn’t look like it will happen, but I’ll give it my best! ✔️
2. There has to be an end to my daughter’s house remodel. Only if we can get the plumber and electrician to finish up for inspections! Then drywall can go up and it will look so much better.
3. Maybe, start a new quilt, or pull out a PUP. BUT I really want to just focus on Homage. ✔️

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden. I didn’t meet my February 18th  self imposed goal. But …

Weeks 1 – 49!

Week 50 stitched.

And week 50 attached! Two more weeks to complete!

Week 51 progress. I hopeful that I can complete the last two weeks of this quilt and have them attached to the top this week!

2. Daughter’s house. The electrician is scheduled for March 10. Things are moving along. Slowly, but moving forward. My latest job there has been pulling out nails from trim we hope to reuse. Trim and at least 2 feet of the bottom part of the walls in the three bedrooms have to be removed so electrician can remove old knob and tube wiring and replace with the new wiring. It’s messy work. The plaster falls apart and the old insulation falls out of the walls. Did I say messy? And so dusty!  It will be a while before any drywall is going up. I remain optimistic that the is an end to this project.

3. Start a new quilt, or pull out a PUP (Previously Unfinished Project.)

I pulled out this quilt top that I sewed together a few years ago to follow along with one of Angela Walters Quilt-a-longs. I changed the pattern up a bit but never followed along! This week I added an outer border and this time hope to follow along with a different quilter. Dorie Hruska is offering a free Quilting on the Line class. I’ve marked the squares, sewed up the back.  I still have to sandwich the quilt before getting started on the quilting.

Today I’m getting a much needed hair cut. Then will most likely head over to my daughter’s house. This evening I’ll be back to handstitching Homage.

Here’s the list for this week that looks like last’s week’s.

To-Do Tuesday, February 21, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden – will I finish the piecing this week?
2. Sandwich the PUP I pulled out last week. Start playing?
3. On going work at my daughter’s house.

How was you week?

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

How has my past week gone? I’m happy to say NO migraines!

Here’s last week’s to-do list -

To-Do Tuesday, February 7, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden of course! ✔️
2. Non sewing related – daughter bought a fixer upper 100 yr old house. Hubs and I are helping out with some remodel and updating. Ok, Hubs is helping out A LOT! Hopefully plumber & electrician will finish up, inspection will pass, and dry wall can go up soon. Looking like “soon” might be a month or more. Sigh. There’s more to the story. There always is. I’ll spare you. ✔️ As in work is happening but no where close to inspection time yet.
3. Other quilting? Maybe. ✗

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Week 48 stitched

And 48 attached!

Week 49 stitched. Isn’t it an odd shape? I just started to attach it to the quilt last night. So look for a photo next week.

2. Daughter’s house – the plumber came back and made progress. Master Electrician has not shown up yet to update the breaker box. I stripped wallpaper in the upstairs hallway. And pulled nails from trim that was removed so new wiring can go in behind baseboard. Hubs is doing the grunt work and I do the clean up. What a messy job! Daughter and her boyfriend are putting in their fair share of work too. We are not new to remodeling. So we know it always looks worse before it looks better.

3. No other sewing or quilting was accomplished. But I did buy a new pattern that caught my eye. Starbound by Primrose Cottage Quilts. It’s layer cake and charm pack friendly. Something I seem to be collecting to use up the layer cakes and charm packs!

On to this week’s list -

To-Do Tuesday, February 14, 2023

1. Can you guess?! Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden of course! I was hoping to finish up the piecing by February 18th. Doesn’t look like it will happen, but I’ll give it my best!
2. There has to be an end to my daughter’s house remodel. Only if we can get the plumber and electrician to finish up for inspections! Then drywall can go up and it will look so much better.
3. Maybe, start a new quilt, or pull out a PUP. So many options. BUT I really want to just focus on Homage.

That’s it for this week!

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

Yikes. Migraines are no fun and I just had a few days this past week fighting the pain. And wouldn’t you know it, we had sunny days mixed in with our drab winter gray. Oh did that sun reflecting off the snow and coming in my windows hurt my head.

I only working on Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden this past week. Missed a family outing. Missed attending church. And I’m thankfully feeling tons better now.

To-Do Tuesday, January 31, 2023

1. Continuing with Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden!  ✔️
2. Finish SAL quilt top.  ✗
3. Friday is sewing day with my quilt group. I plan to take Homage along. ✔️

1. Homage progressed

Week 47 stitched

and attached.

I also did a lot of glue basting hexies for the remaining weekly patterns.

2. No headway made on the sew along quilt top.

3. I did make it to the quilting group Friday. But I stitched the wrong back ground to one leaf unit and had to rip it out. At that point I switched to glue basting.

Next up?

To-Do Tuesday, February 7, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden of course!
2. Non sewing related – daughter bought a fixer upper 100 yr old house. Hubs and I are helping out with some remodel and updating. Ok, Hubs is helping out A LOT! Hopefully plumber & electrician will finish up, inspection will pass, and dry wall can go up soon. Looking like “soon” might be a month or more. Sigh. There’s more to the story. There always is. I’ll spare you.
3. Other quilting? Maybe.

Linking to  To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

The last day of January, can you believe it!?

We are back into a cold snap here in NE Indiana. 11 degrees when I got up this morning. It will stay below freezing most of this week according to the weather channel. For me, that means a space heater running to keep bathroom pipes from freezing.

It will be nice to stay cozy inside and do hand stitching.

Here’s my progress for the past week -

To-Do Tuesday, January 24, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden! ✔️
2. Pick a machine sewing project.  ✔️

1. Homage is coming along -

Week 44 stitched

And attached.

Week 45 stitched, part of top edge of quilt!

And attached!

Week 46!

And this is what the back of the hexies look like when attaching week 46 to the quilt. I honestly didn’t realize I had completed so much on Homage this past week until I looked back at last week’s post.

2. New quilt projects, two Squirrels!

Moda had a weekend charm pack challenge earlier this month with a free pattern. I pulled fabric to make two from my charm pack stash. Ha ha! I sewed up one this week. Made with a Kona Solid charm pack by Robert Kaufman- oops not Moda! –  and Moda Zen Chic fabric for back ground.  I added a border with HST in corners to enlarge a bit. 39 1/2 ” square.

Then Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring hosted a Crockpot SAL that also used charm packs. She had links to crockpot recipes so ppl could make easy meals and sew all weekend. I didn’t use the recipes but I did grab the free pattern.

I used a bright Moda Poems from Pebbles charm pack for this one. HST made and trimmed. Sewing is under way but no photos yet.

To-Do Tuesday, January 31, 2023

1. Continuing with Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden!
2. Finish SAL quilt top.
3. Friday is sewing day with my quilt group. I plan to take Homage along.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.

Snow is coming! Since I live in NE Indiana, what is winter without snow!?  Maybe up to 8 inches falling on us tomorrow. Pictures next week!

On to quilting -

To-Do Tuesday, January 17, 2023

1. Keep moving forward on Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden! ✔️
2. Finish the clothing quilt tops. One done, two to go. ✔️
3. Maybe pull out something old or new to work on. ie. There are too many 2023 Squirrels showing up in my feed to tempt me into new projects! But really I should just focus on the Flower Garden and get is completed! ✔️ No sewing but collecting patterns.

Here’s what I did this week -

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Week 43 stitched together.

And attached to the quilt!

Week 44 underway.

Plus I counted out the 1/2″ paper hexagons for the remaining eight weeks of the quilt-along putting them in sleeve protectors with the instructions for each week.

2.  Clothing quilt tops are completed and sent to the longarm quilter.

I cut hearts out of 12 hankies and appliquéd them on to solid t-shirts or as in this photo a scarf. There are hearts in all four corners of the quilt tops. I didn’t take any more photos. I think I was just so happy to complete the three tops and move them to the longarm quilter! Here is the one I did photo last week.

3. I’ve been printing off free patterns that look tempting as they show up in email or on Facebook. Have you heard of the 365 Challenge quilt? Created by Kathryn Kerr? She designed a quilt several years ago making one block a day with 3 inch, 6 inch, and 12 inch designs. It’s free and can be found on Facebook as Friends Who Like 365 Challenge Quilt Blocks.

This week I just want to focus on the EPP  -

To-Do Tuesday, January 24, 2023

1. Homage to Grandmother’s Flower Garden!
2. Pick a machine sewing project.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmidt.