Five Shadows

Happy New Year! New year and new monthly goals! I plan to participate in Patty’s OMG each month. If you would like to join or see what others plan to quilt or craft each month follow this link.

I completed my December goal of piecing a train quilt for my grandson. I quilted it over the past 2 days. And now my goal for January is to get it bound.

I’m using the red and white print for the binding.

Once the quilt is ready to gift, I’ll turn my attention back to appliqué.

I have these pieces ready to attach to a quilt I’m making for my son and DIL. Then the last step is piecing a final border.

What are your plans for the first month of the new year?

Linking to OMG hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

My goal to close out the year of 2020 was to piece this All Aboard train quilt for my grandson -

Piecing happened!

Engine

Cargo

I wanted to include cars and trucks on the quilt.

Cars and trucks from these two patterns might work.

Orange car, my grandson’s favorite color at the moment.

truck

Dump truck – I used the same cab from Cool Cars pattern and then used a coloring page to build the rest of the truck.

Tractor – another coloring page helped with this design.

Now that the vehicles are all made, how could I include them?

Brain storm! I could load the vehicles on to the train bed!

 

And finish with a train track border.

The quilt is pieced and sandwiched, so I did meet my December goal!

Next up, quilting and binding. I’ll use the red print fabric in above photo.

Happy New Year everyone!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

Can you believe it! Christmas is just a few days away! And tomorrow my hubs and I celebrate 43 years of marriage! Yes, it was crazy to get married just 2 days before Christmas. But, there you have it. Young love does crazy things!

I’ve kept current on Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown.

Poinsettia petals and leaves are quilted. Next up is the basket using yellow thread.

My grandson’s train quilt is coming along. I’ve been stitching up train track and have it attached to the top and bottom of the quilt.

Here is just a snippet of the bottom track border. Next up more track along the sides of the quilt. More photos to come, next week.

I really don’t know where this past week went. I sure didn’t get a full week of sewing in! I hope, you, my quilting friends have had a good week of seasonal celebrations.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stay current with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along!  ✔️
2. Piecing train track for outer border of grandson’s quilt. ✔️ Getting there!

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along! Hope to hang it for Christmas!
2. Keep chugging along on that train track.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday with Home Sewn by Us. Go take a look and join in!

Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along is so much fun! Just a little bit of stitching each day.

Days 1 – 15 complete! 15 petals filled in with different designs, and then some little petals with stippling.

Train Quilt! Here is what I’ve got pieced.

Using Cool Cars by Sew Kind of Wonderful, I altered it a bit to create what I hope looks something like a tractor. Added to last week’s stitching, that makes 4 vehicles for the quilt.

Add more cargo boxes.

Load them all up on the train flat beds!

And here is the train quilt, so far, for my grandson.

Next up, a train track border using All Aboard pattern by It’s Sew Emma.

That’s it for this week. Seems I’m slowing down a bit on the sewing, Oh wait, there were 3 days of migraine headaches this week. Gah. Hate when that happens. Seems I get them more often as I get older, happens with change in barometric pressure.

Hope you are all staying well and enjoying the Holiday Season!

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continuing on with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along. ✔️ So much fun!
2. Continue stitching up quilt for grandson. ✔️ Train & vehicles completed! On to train track.
3. Maybe work on son & DIL’s quilt. ✗ Figured I’d finish grandson’s quilt first then get back to this one.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stay current with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along!
2. Piecing train track for outer border of grandson’s quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Merry Christmas Month!

I’m keeping up with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along.

After outlining the design in black thread, December 1st we started filling in the Poinsettia petals with a different quilt design each day. 8 days completed!

I had a fun week of piecing blocks for my grandson’s quilt.

First up the train engine. The pattern is All Aboard by Its Sew Emma.

Next cargo on flat beds.

I want to add other vehicles to the train quilt, but hmmm, how do I do that? Light bulb moment! I will load them on to the train! But first I have to piece them.

I’m using Sew Kind Of Wonderful’s Cool Car pattern.

I altered the long car turning it into a truck.

More playing around, I figured out a dump truck. I actually looked at free coloring pages to come up with this design meshed with Cool Cars.

Next up will be a tractor.

I didn’t touch my son’s quilt this week. I spent more time this week helping out a friend in a nursing home with her shopping. Kind of strange because of Covid we can only talk on the phone, no face to face. Some of the items she wanted are just not available, even with checking on line. The isolation is very tough on those in nursing homes, retirement communities, etc. Keep them in mind and in your prayers.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Keep up with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along. ✔️ Yep!
2. Stitch up the train for my grandson. ✔️ Fun creating!
3. Start pinning applique to top and bottom of my son & DIL’s quilt. ✗ Oops, no.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continuing on with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along.
2. Continue stitching up quilt for grandson.
3. Maybe work on son & DIL’s quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday!

Wow! Even with all the Covid and other craziness of this year, it is still hard to believe that December is already here!

Thanksgiving has past, and Christmas is around the corner. I hope everyone is enjoying the celebrations even if it means not the way you would traditionally celebrate. That said, I do miss my adult children and grandchildren. We do manage to see them some, but not like in past years.

On to my goal for December. I will continue on with the quilt for my son and DIL. The next step is appliqué sections for the top & bottom of the center of the quilt.

BUT!

I need to start and finish a quilt for my grandson by his 3rd birthday, January 7, 2021!  I’ll be working on both, but my goal for December will be  to get as far along on my grandson’s quilt as possible!

I bought this All Aboard kit to make the train which will be part of the quilt.

And I have collected car & truck patterns and fabric that will also be in the quilt.

December OMG – cutting & piecing vehicle quilt for my grandson! Phew! What a month this will be!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty Elm Street Quilts.

Happy December everyone!

First up, here is a happy ending to November, the last block in Helen Godden’s Flower Power 2 Quilt-along.

Block 9 Passion Flower. It will be a while before I sew the 9 blocks into a quilt.

On to new projects!

For the past several years Helen Godden has offered a free Christmas Countdown Quilt-along. This will be my fourth time participating. I’m not sure how many she has offered.

This year she designed a Poinsettia Flower Basket for her Christmas Countdown. Each day we will fill in a leaf, a petal or part of the basket. That means very little stitching each day which means I should be able to stay on track. I love her creativeness in how she fills up her designs with a variety of stitching.

My next new project is a quilt for my grandson turning 3 in January. He loves all things with wheels! Trains are a favorite. I’ve been collecting patterns and fabric.

I’m starting with this train and will be adding cars and trucks of all kinds.

And of course I will keep plugging along on my son & DIL’s quilt. I have the first three sections completed, sewn together with the seams covered with sashing.

Sashing being pinned over the seam.

First 3 sections completed! Next up, appliqué continues around to top and bottom of quilt center.

November was a good month. I hope to keep up with life in December. Hopefully buying a Christmas tree and decorating it and the house later this week. When the kids were growing up we had the tradition of eating out for breakfast and then tree shopping with our 5 kids. Once home we put on Christmas music and all got busy decorating. Now we are empty nesters, altho our youngest daughter said she would join us for breakfast and tree shopping later this week. I’m waiting for her to pick a day. Busy girl, work and attending college for her second degree.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Celebrate Thanksgiving! Since my family has decided to not have a family gathering this Thursday, (Covid), my local kids suggested a food swap for Thanksgiving. That way we are not all cooking the full traditional meal. I’m doing the turkey, dressing, gravy, and 2 pies. The kids are filling in everything else. I’ll let you know next week how the swap works out. ✔️ Food swap went well! So much food! Turkey and all the trimmings for a crowd and 4 pies! Kids brought servings of their dishes to our house, and then took home portions of what I prepared. I still have turkey – hubs bought the smallest one he could find – 22 pounds!!!!
2. Stitch up last block of Helen Godden’s Flower Power 2 quilt along.  ✔️ All stitched but blocks not sewn together.
3. Add sashing to son & DIL’s quilt. ✔️ Yes!

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Keep up with Helen Godden’s Christmas Countdown quilt-along.
2. Stitch up the train for my grandson.
3. Start pinning applique to top and bottom of my son & DIL’s quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Roseanne of Home Sewn by Us.

My November OMG was to quilt 3 sections of the quilt I’m making for my son & DIL. And then sew them together using Pauline Rogers‘ QAYG system.

All done!

Once I finished the quilting, I stitched sections together with the seam allowance on the front of the quilt. Then I used Roxanne basting glue to hold down the seam allowance.

Then I pressed the seam nice and flat, the glue helped hold the seam in place.

The next step is to cover the seam with sashing, which I made using Pauline Rogers 3/4″ Sasher tool. The sashing is just a bit wider than the seam allowance. Pin and it’s ready to stitch in place.

All pinned.

Sashing sewn in place.

The three sections of the quilt so far.

Next is creating the top & bottom appliqué sections. I hope to have this quilt completed to gift January 19, 2021.

Last month Patty sent me the happy news that I won a free gift for participating in OMG. I won a one year subscription to QuiltFolk Magazine!  Thank you, Patty & QuiltFolk!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

I gifted these little gobblers to my grands for Thanksgiving -

Turkey coasters I made a few weeks ago.

Oops! I added a quick project to my list this past week. Today is my DIL’s birthday! I purchased this kit to make a Batik table runner for her maybe 2 years ago. And it got lost in the quilt cupboard. I did some digging to unearth it.

The jelly row and pattern made up the kit. I bought the black batik for the accent fabric, back, and binding.

I ended up using a gray thread to quilt just in the black batik.

Gifted today! She loves Batiks!

I have one more block to stitch up for Helen Godden’s Flower Power 2 quilt along. Here are blocks 6 – 8.

Carnation. Oh my! I see a portion I missed! Got to go back and finish that!

Lotus Flower

Columbine. Block 9, not photoed, is a Passion Fruit Flower. I’ll get to it this week, after Thanksgiving!

I did sew the first three sections of my son & DIL’s quilt together. I still need to add sashing over the seams as I’m following Pauline Rogers quilt-as-you-go method. Find her directions in her Quilt As You Go Handbook.

Happy Thanksgiving to my USA readers!

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish quilting center of son’s quilt.  ✔️ Sorry, still no photo.
2. Sew the first three sections together for son’s quilt.  ✔️
3. Stay up to date on Flower Power 2 quilt along. ✔️ Blocks 1 – 8 are completed!  The last block was presented today. So hopefully later this week, I’ll finish it.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Celebrate Thanksgiving! Since my family has decided to not have a family gathering this Thursday, (Covid), my local kids suggested a food swap for Thanksgiving. That way we are not all cooking the full traditional meal. I’m doing the turkey, dressing, gravy, and 2 pies. The kids are filling in everything else. I’ll let you know next week how the swap works out.
2. Stitch up last block of Helen Godden’s Flower Power 2 quilt along.
3. Add sashing to son & DIL’s quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

This week I completed the final quilt in Jaybird Quilts Journey 2 Nebula quilt along.

Project 6, pattern Gazebo makes a nice table topper. I used Tula Pink fabrics and Aurifil Violet 2520 thread for quilting.

The quilting shows up well on Moda Grunge fabric for the back.

Continuing on with Helen Godden’s Flower Power 2 quilt along, she has now presented 5 blocks. Here are mine.

Block 2 Thistle

Block 3 Magnolia

Block 4 Orchid

Block 5 Pansy. I’m using Hand dyed fabric by Vicki Welsh. Gutermann black thread. There are 9 blocks in the quilt along.

I’ve quilted the two side panel for my son’s quilt and have gone back to the center to add more quilting. I’ll share a photo next week once the three sections are all sewn together.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Cut & piece Gazebo, project 6 in #journey2nebula. ✔️ It’s a complete table topper!
2. Continue quilting on son’s quilt. ✔️ Side panels quilted!
3. Follow along on Flower Power 2 quilt along. ✔️ 5 flowers quilted

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish quilting center of son’s quilt.
2. Sew the first three sections together for son’s quilt.
3. Stay up to date on Flower Power 2 quilt along.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us. Go take a look what all the participants are working on this week!