Five Shadows

Rock’n Robin got his eyes, and water is splashing around him.

I’ve not settled on how to add dimension between his wings and body. I’ve got several ideas, but have not landed on one yet.

Hexie Panel progress!

The hexies are all sewn together around the floral panel, but not sewn to the panel. I need to shop for some solid black fabric and a back to finish this quilt. I’ve sewn this quilt together on my 1951 Featherweight Singer sewing machine. It is a sturdy little machine with a lovely stitch. But I’ll be finishing the top using a blanket stitch on my Janome. The above photo is my temporary set up in my kitchen.

Edwards Sewing Center, the local quilt shop I frequent is having a moving sale! 30% off! I’ll be heading there Thursday for the fabrics I need to finish the Hexie Panel quilt.

Last To-Do List:

1. Same as last week, finish Rockin’ Robin Block ➞ almost there!
2. Work on Hexie Panel quilt ✔️kept chugging along!

To-Do List:

1. Keep working on Hexie Panel quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday

The block I’m currently working on from the Bird Song Sing-A-Long pattern is called Rock’n Robin.

Mr. Robin needs an eye, and some dimension added to his wings and tail feathers. Plus some water droplets splashing out of the birdbath.

The second pattern for the Happy Little Things BOM was released, and I got it started.

Traced, fabrics selected, and embroidery underway.

Also this week, I made headway on my One Block Wonder hexie panel quilt. Read about it here. If you have not seen OBW panel quilts, go to Pinterest and search for One Block Wonder with Panels to see some amazing quilts!

Baby time!

I got to play with this cutie this week.

He loves anything with wheels! I pulled out his dad’s old wooden train set and he played happily for over an hour with it! Who says toddlers have short attention spans!?

I have a few toys here from our children’s childhoods. Our adult children mostly took what they wanted with them, got rid of a few things, and I kept a few. It amazes me how this train kept his interest for so long! I pulled it out once for his older sibling, and she had no interest in it at all.

Do you have a favorite childhood toy or memory? I still have a very warn & loved stuffed kitty-cat.

Last To-Do List:

1. Finish Rockin’ Robin Block,  ➤  worked on but not finished
2. Work on Hexie Panel quilt ✔️

To-Do List:

1. Same as last week, finish Rockin’ Robin Block
2. Work on Hexie Panel quilt

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

This past Thursday was my Curvy Quilters sewing day. Our little group meets in our members homes. We gathered and sewed at Pat’s house. Pat has a lovely large design wall in her studio. I got to play with my hexies and panel quilt laying it out on her design wall.

After fiddling with placement of the hexies, I sewed together 7 diagonal rows starting at the bottom right corner. The picture was taken before any rows were sewn together. I’m liking how this is looking!

Pat suggested I leave the quilt on her design wall and return soon to continue sewing the rows together. I took her up on the offer as picking up and labeling the rows would have been overwhelming at this point.

My goal for September will be to complete this quilt top.

I plan to get to Pat’s this week and get more sewing in, and hopefully to a point where it will be easier to label and transport it home.

Linking to One Monthly Goal sponsored by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

Last week’s goals, I finished the Fence Rail Star quilt, which was also my August One Monthly Goal.

Wonky Star label.

And I finished this little cutie embroidery quilt block design by Jacquelynne Steven called Happy Little Things.

I’m using Friedlander fabric by Carolyn Friedlander for the pieced blocks. I used scraps of floss, various brands, for the embroidery.

I started working on a 2018 Row by Row quilt. Have you heard of the Row by Row Experience? Have you collected any of the free patterns? You have to visit participating quilt shops between June 21st and September 3rd to pick up a copy of their free Row by Row pattern. This year’s theme is Taste the Experience.

Back to what I’m doing. I hopped around on the web to see what shops are doing out of my area. I found that back in 2018 Susan Rooney designed 8 individual patterns for 8 New York quilt shops for the Sew Musical theme. The finished quilt is Birdsong Sing-A-Long. I bought the pattern and 2 kits.

I finished “Hummin’ a Tune or Two” Quilt-As-You-Go method, and machine appliquéd the Hummers and flower.

I also have the background ready for “Rockin’ Robin” and I’m working on tracing and cutting out Mr. Robin and his birdbath. The 2 blocks will be finished at 18″ square. 4 more blocks will also be 18″ square and 2 will be 12″ x 27″ to make a 48″ x 54″ quilt.

That’s it for this week. How did your week go?

Last To-Do List:

1. Quilt borders of Fence Rail Star quilt & bind!  ✔️ Finished! Take a look here.
2. Finish embroidery block  ✔️It so cute! I’m looking forward to the next block release.

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

My goal for August was to quilt and bind a top I pieced back in 2017. This passed January, I added another border to enlarge the quilt.

Goal met!

Outer border and back are the same print.  The quilt is 79″ x 94″, Warm n Natural batting, Aurifil Sugar Paper 5008 thread for quilting. The quilt will be gifted to my nephew for his 21st birthday.

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Elm Street Quilts.

Progress is happening on the Fence Rail Star quilt. Blocks and sashing are quilted. I’m moving on to the borders.

I think I might be improving in the FMQ, practice practice practice!

I started a little embroidery project. It’s a free BOM offered by Jacquelynne Steves called Happy Little Things.

The pattern is written with instructions for appliqué or embroidery. I’m enjoying the stitching.

Family time! My Dear Daughter in Law brought over the grands and ~1/2 bushel of apples from their apple trees. She made a delicious pie crust while my 4 year old grand daughter and I made the apple & cranberry filling. We followed The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook recipe.

Yum! It was wonderful and enjoyed by 10 of our family members!

Other news, the clematis my husband transplanted from my father’s garden last summer is blooming!

Dad had to move into assisted living, and he had lovely flower and vegetable gardens. My brother, sister and I & our kids divided up many of the plants. We are tickled to have his clematis survive the transplant!

It’s been a good week.

Last to-do list:

1. Got to stay focused on the Fence Rail Star quilt! ✔️

To-Do List:

1. Quilt borders of Fence Rail Star quilt & bind!
2. Finish embroidery block

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Progress!

The quilt I’m currently working on is the largest I’ve ever spray basted. It’s 80″ x 96″ which also makes it the largest quilt I’ve ever quilted on my Baby Lock Tiara III.

3 of 12 blocks quilted, progress! The process of basting a large quilt was a bit challenging.

Sunday, my grand daughter, hubby and I had a little picnic on the picnic quilt she designed.

Fresh fruit, cheese & crackers, chips, home made cookies & OJ. Sweet times with my grand daughter!

Last to-do list:

1. Quilt Fence Rail Star quilt for nephew’s September birthday. ✔️ A work in progress!
2. If time allows, create thank-you postcards. ✗ Didn’t get to these this week. I’ll get back to the postcards once I finish the Fence Rail Star quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us. Christine of Sew All the Things has handed over the link up party To-Do Tuesday to Sue & Roseann of Home Sewn by Us. I met and followed Christine in the blogging world before she started hosting To-Do Tuesday 5 years ago. I will miss her weekly posts. Cheers to Christine and her new adventures, and Cheers to Sue & Roseann as they take on hosting the To-Do Tuesday party!

This past week I did some playing.

I want to make fabric postcards to have on hand ready to mail as needed for thank-you notes or thinking-of-you notes, etc. Here is my first attempt. The sunflower design turned out pretty much as I envisioned, but I learned that I need a firmer stabilizer.  I’ve not mailed this one yet, might mail it to myself to see how it looks having gone through the mail.

One little finished postcard. 4 1/4″ x 6″

Next up, I finished the 2 hexie blocks from a 2012 UFO.

This was block one from the April Craftsy 2012 BOM. The lesson was English Paper Piecing.

For block two, instructions said to create your own design using EPP. I just went with a simple Rosette and machine appliquéd the stem and leaves. Cute enough. These two hexie blocks completes all the blocks from the 2012 UFO! Phew! Don’t know when I’ll get them sewn together into a quilt top, but I’ll try to keep it on a front burner.

The last project I worked on this week is another UFO that will go to my nephew for his 21st birthday. It’s coming up in September. So I better get crack-a-lack’n on it! I added a border to this quilt top back in February, and have procrastinated on sandwiching and quilting it.

I can check off spray basting, finished today!

Last to-do list:

1. EPP 2 BOM blocks ✔️
2. Create some thank-you postcards  - does one count as completing this number on the list?

To-Do List:

1. Quilt Fence Rail Star quilt for nephew’s September birthday.
2. If time allows, create thank-you postcards.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Stitch All the Things.

This is an oldie, pieced in 2017. My goal is to quilt and bind it this month. Then I can gift it for a 21st birthday in September.

Back in January I added another border to it, and backing was purchased. Time to get it sandwiched and quilted!

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

This week I finished the quilting and binding on the Picnic Quilt my 4 year old grand daughter designed.

Read all about it here.

And I made just a little headway on a very old BOM.

Hexies are cut for the April 2012 Craftsy BOM. Yes, that is right! 2012! I pulled this old and forgotten BOM out to work on earlier this year. Actually, I found it while looking for another BOM. I was very surprised to find this forgotten project buried under a partially made Basket quilt. Now I only have 2 more blocks to make to complete all the blocks. These last two are both made with English Paper Pieced Hexies.

Other projects on the horizon, I’m making a few fabric postcards to use as thank-you notes.

Start of a Sunflower Postcard.

What are you working on this week?

Last to-do list:

1. Continue and hopefully finish grand daughter’s picnic quilt.  ✔️
2. EPP 2 BOM blocks

To-Do List:

1. EPP 2 BOM blocks
2. Create some thank-you post cards

Linking to To-Do Tuesday.