Five Shadows

Sigh.  I really think I’ve lost my quilting mojo.

For August I set my goal to continue free motion quilting this Chic country quilt I’m making for my grand daughter.

I did work on it. Not as much as I had hoped. I’m feeling like I’m lost. I’m not really happy with my skill level – I think I’ve lost some FMQ skills!  I’m not liking how this is looking, and not liking the designs. But keeping with some expert advice, I’m not ripping out the stitches. I’ll carry on and hope my skills will kick back in.

I’m open to any words of wisdom from you all, my fellow OMG quilting buds!

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

Little bits of sewing happened this past week.

Using a few orphan blocks – ones I received years ago in a block exchange – I made 2 placemats  as gifts to my Father who is moving into an assisted living apartment.

I dug through my precuts to find similar shades of fabric to make the 2 coasters.

For this set, I just did a simple meandering with little loops.

Close up of quilting.

For a second set of placemats I used  2 pieced hexies. A friend had cut & sewn together the wedges and then give them with extra fabric to me. Basically, I’m just finishing something she started. I sandwiched her pieced hexies and did a simple meander for the quilting.

For the coasters I cut squares from extra wedges she gave me.

The back and batting also came from my friend. So like I said, I just finished something she started. I found a brown from my stash that I thought went nicely for the binding.

I’m keeping up with making the daily hexies for the Temperature Quilt. I even started sewing the days together. I have the January hexies stitched together and started adding February. My previous English Paper Pieced projects have all been small, this Temperature Quilt is going to be large in comparison! Since working on this scale of EPP is a new experience for me, I’m OK with how slowly this project is going.

A tangle of pieced hexies!

How did I do on the last To-Do List:

1. Motivation for sewing/quilting it at 0% right now. To-Do: FIND motivation! I must need a break. ✔️ Kind of … I’ve not working on FMQ as I planned this month, but I did make 2 placemat sets for my Father.
2. I should get back to FMQ Chic Country  …  ✗
3. I’m keeping up with the daily stitching of hexies for the Temperature Quilt, but not stitching them together yet.  ✔️ I’ve got January sewn together and started on February!

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Quick weekend trip to PA to assist Dad in settling in to new assisted living apartment.
2. Mark some blocks for FMQ on Chic Country, maybe even quilt them.

I’m linking to Linky Tuesday and To-Do Tuesday.

July flew by and I did not sit at my sewing machine for even a second. I did get some hand stitching completed on my temperature quilt, but that was not my July goal!

For August, I’ll just repeat what I thought I’d do in July

continue the FMQ on Chic Country.

After helping our son & family move in June, and helping my father move to assisted living in July, it is time to get back to some quilting!

Linking to One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

This past week I added a suspension system to my quilting table. Take a look back at a previous post where I explained what I did.

What a difference it makes with holding the weight of the quilt up off the table! The quilt is the Chic Country quilt, and I have 9 blocks quilted. Not many, but a good start!

I only prepped one more set of blocks for the hummingbird quilt.

I was hoping to get this set sewn and another set cut out.

Instead, I did this -

I made a 12″ square tag blanket for our niece’s new baby boy. Above is what I’m calling the back side.

The front has an appliqué caterpillar. I think he is cute! Off to Maryland he goes with his book.

How was your week?

How did I do on last’s week To-Do list?

1. FMQ Chic Country quilt ✔️
2. Prep more hummingbird quilt blocks ✔️

This week’s To-Do List:

1. FMQ Chic Country quilt
2. Hand work – Stitching together the days of my Temperature Quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Hello fellow Goal setters! Since July is looking to be another crazy month with not much sewing room time, my goal will be to continue with FMQ the Chic Country quilt.

I don’t think I’ll be completing it this month, but I hope to make progress. Maybe I’ll even make the binding for it. I love having the binding all ready before the quilting is finished. That way once it is quilted I can jump right in and attach the binding – instead of getting frustrated digging around for the right fabric, making the binding – it is there and ready to go!

July goal – make headway on FMQ Chic Country quilt.

Linking to One Monthly Goal with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

I’m so tickled!  My goal was very simple for this month because of other non-quilting obligations.

Meeting my goal was pretty simple because it was a very easy goal – make back for a twin size Chic Country quilt, sandwich it, and maybe start the quilting.

What I’m so tickled about is that after fighting the quilt on my smallish quilting table, I finally took the plunge and added a DIY suspension system to my table!

I shopped at Menards, buying 2 Stokes Clamp-On Deck Hooks, 2  Spring Clamps, and a pack of Mini Bungee Straps.

The Deck Hooks are made to clamp on to a deck railing and will hold bird feeders or hanging plants. I screwed them on to the back of my table, hung a bungee strap from the hook, and attached the spring clamp to the bungee. There is a hole already drilled into the handle of the clamp, and the hook on the end of the bungee fit into that hole.

I’m playing around with quilting designs. I fought the quilt in the first block where I was attempting curved lines within the printed fabric. Adding the suspension system made a huge difference in the weight of the quilt and the drag of moving it across the table, and helped avoid the quilt getting caught on the table corners.

In the next block, I did loops and circles in the light fabric. I had a lot more control in moving the quilt while it was attached in my new nifty suspension system!

I didn’t get much FMQ done, but I’m very pleased with moving forward with my new handy dandy DIY suspension system!

Linking to One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilt.

Last week friends and I did some shop hopping through the Shipshewanna Back Roads Shop Hop. Here’s my list of items I wanted to purchase:

1. batting for Chic Country, pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful ✔️
2. light Batiks for Cascade, pattern by Victoria Findlay Wolfe ✔️
3. floss & embroidery needles for my temperature quilt  ✔️
4. bicycle fabric ✗
5. Hoffman’s Big Dream Flower Panel ✔️ I bought two!
6. Fossil Fern fabric  ✔️ I only bought a 2 yard piece, but found a new-to-me shop that carries the whole line!

1. Enjoy Shipshewana Quilt Festival with my quilty friends! ✔️ Two fantastic days with friends!
2. Figure out what to take for our sewing day. ✔️ 2 UFOs

This week’s To-Do List:

1. FMQ Chic Country quilt
2. Prep more hummingbird quilt blocks

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

This past week I have continued piecing blocks using the Square in a Square system by Jodi Barrows. I’m working through her book Letters to a Soldier but I’m not using Civil War reproduction fabrics. I’m using a theme fabric of Hummingbirds.

This block is called Gentleman’s Fancy in Jodi’s book.

This block is The Fox and Miss Emma.

This block in progress is traditionally called Milky Way Star but called Vicksburg Star in the book.

I’ve continued playing with monogram lettering on my Janome and have stitched out some months for my temperature quilt.

They are not perfectly centered, I’m still learning. I think I’ll make a window template so I can center the name of the month in the Hexie shape.

Update on our son settling in to new home:  The unpacking and finding a place for everything is coming along making the house look more like their home! My husband has been working in the basement, removing old tile floor. I’ve helped some with childcare when they went shopping, provided a few meals, and helped with breaking down empty boxes. That means it has been a more relaxed week, for me anyway! Oh! And they sold their former home! That will add to their peace-of-mind.

Later this week I’m heading to Shipshewana Quilt Festival with several friends. Plus, we will enjoy one day of sewing together at a friend’s lake home. Hmmm. Do I pack some UFOs to work on, or start on the Brimfield quilt after shopping? Decisions, decisions!

What are your plans for Summer quilting?

How did I do on last’s week To-Do list?

1. Continue to play with monogramming function on my Janome. ✔️ I’m stitching out the months of the year for my temperature quilt.
2. Stitch up the set of blocks I cut this week for the Square in a Square BOM. ✔️ Done, and did second set too.

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Enjoy Shipshewana Quilt Festival with my quilty friends!
2. Figure out what to take for our sewing day.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

What a full week! Our son and his family successfully moved back to town. There are still boxes to be unpacked. It does take a while to settle in to a new home and neighborhood. Yet, my DIL says she feels at home already.

With all the time spent helping them, I only fit in a few little steps in my quilting plans for the week.

BOM – I selected fabric and got the pieces cut.

Monogram label – I think I have the program figured out on my Janome 8900. Now  I just need to tweak it a bit before mailing it out to my friend.

Temperature quilt – I’m keeping up with my daily hand piecing.

Plus I bought the start of a new project. I’ve been eyeing Brimfield EPP Pattern for a while. Paper Pieces had it on sale last week. I could not resist! I bought the pattern and 3/8″ window templates.

I am going on a shop hop next week with a few friends, and plan to shop for fabric for Brimfield.

Do you have any new projects planned for the Summer?

I’ve been quiet for a few weeks because Husband and I have been out of town helping our son prep his house to list for sale. The For Sale sign should go up this week! Son and fam are moving back to our town Wednesday. That means I better fit in some sewing while I can!

I pulled out a BOM that I started in February, deciding I better get going on it as the online lessons are only good for one year. I only have 2 months completed.

I’m following Jodi Barrows’ Square in a Square method using her template.

These blocks are from Jodi’s book _Letters to a Soldier_ and the block name is Yankee Blockade.

This Dresden Plate block is one of three and an UFO started in 2015. I finally sat down and machine blanket stitched around the center circle and outer points. All three blocks are now stitched. My plans are to turn them into a table runner.

This week, if time allows, I’m going to sit down and attempt to learn how to use the Monogramming function on my Janome so I can make a quilt label. Yep. I’ve owned this machine for 3 years and have not taken the time to figure out the monogramming program yet. It’s time to do that!

Do you have fancy functions on your machine you are not using? Monogramming is just one function I hope to take the time to learn this summer.

How did I do on my last To-Do List:

1. Machine stitch Dresden Plates in place, table runner project. ✔️ Machine blanket stitched.
2. Sandwich & quilt Dr. Seuss themed baby quilt.  ✔️ Delivered for auction.

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.