Five Shadows

This is what is on my kitchen table right now.

I’m sharing it just because I don’t have much else to share in this post.

This week I did piece more Chic Country petal units, but a picture would be similar to the ones posted the past few weeks. So I won’t bore you with that.

Also this week, I free motion quilted another little quilt a friend made for one of her grand children.

Cute bears outlined, meandering & loops, hearts in the border.

And a star in the star blocks.

I never got over the fear of spray basting the queen size quilt. So, today I took the quilt to a friend’s studio. She let me load it on her longarm where I basted it with large circles. It is added to my To-Be-Quilted List, hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in time over the next two weeks to work on it. This is the largest quilt to date that I will attempt to quilt on my Baby Lock Tiara III. Wish me luck!  I’ll post photos as I progress with it, but believe me, the basting today is not photo worthy!

What is the largest quilt you have completed on your home machine?

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

1. Chugging along on the Chic Country quilt top. ✔️ More petals completed.
2. FMQ next quilt top my friend has asked me to quilt.  ✔️Finished. I have 2 more to do for her.
3. Hopefully spray baste the quilt for my son and DIL later this week when weather clears up.  ✔️ NOT spray basted, but I took it to a friend’s house and loaded it on her longarm. I basted large circles. Now to FMQ on my sit-down Tiara III.

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Continue with stitching petal units for the Chic Country quilt top.
2. New commission – 5 polo shirts to be made into pillows.
3. Squeeze in some quilting on the queen size quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

10 more sets of alternate block petals. That’s 14 sets total and 26 more to go. I hope to finish these sets this week, and move on to piecing them into blocks.  The pattern is Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Above is some FMQ I did for a friend.

How has your week been? Successful?

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

1. Keeping on with the Chic Country.  ✔️
2. Overcome my fear of basting a queen size quilt. ✗ I still have not spray basted this quilt, but my excuse this time is rainy weather kept me from spray basting the quilt outside.
3. FMQ a lap size quilt for a friend – she made the quilt, I’m quilting it. ✔️

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Chugging along on the Chic Country quilt top.
2. FMQ next quilt top my friend has asked me to quilt.
3. Hopefully spray baste the quilt for my son and DIL later this week when weather clears up.

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

I’m going to keep plugging away on the Chic Country quilt top.

I didn’t complete my October OMG, visit here if you’d like to read about October – Not a Finish.

9 blocks complete, and 72 more to go!

I’ve made a total of 160 petals, 4 make one block for a total of 40 blocks.

I have pieces cut for the 40 alternate blocks.

My goal will be to sew & trim the 160 alternate block petals.  Maybe I’ll have time to sew together a few more blocks, but that will not be part of my November OMG.

With Holiday sewing and prep for family gatherings, I’m hoping my OMG will be more realistic than last month.

Linking to OMG

Petals, petals and more petals!

Phew, all the petal units for what I’m calling the flowers of Chic Country are sewn together!

And all the pieces for the alternate blocks are cut!

With just 5 blocks sewn together, I have 75 more to go. Onward with piecing!

Be sure to follow the links below to see what other quilters are doing this week.

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

1. Sew sew sew blocks for Chic Country. ✔️ Half of the petals are sewn and all the the pieces for the next 80 alternate petals are cut.
2. Mail Ocean Theme quilt to Elliott.  ✔️Arrived safely!
3. I’m thinking of asking my friend if I may use her longarm to baste my son’s quilt. I’m overwhelmed at the thought of spray basting a queen size quilt.  ✗  My friend’s husband landed in the hospital with a bad infection from a dog bite/attach. So I have not asked about using the longarm.

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Keeping on with the Chic Country
2. Overcome my fear of basting a queen size quilt.
3. FMQ a lap size quilt for a friend – she made the quilt, I’m quilting it.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Perhaps I over committed for the month of October for the One Monthly Goal.

Photo from Sew Kind of Wonderful website of mini Chic Country.

Apparently this quilt top is going to take more like three months to complete as I also work on customer quilts and other plans for the month. I’m using the pattern for the 57″ square Chic Country making 80 – 9″ blocks. But I’m enlarging the quilt for a twin size bed 72″ x 90″.

5 blocks sewn together to test my skills for creating this pattern.

Plus this month I came down with bronchitis. That was at least a week of not doing anything but resting.

What did I accomplish on my OMG besides completing 5 blocks?

Half of the petals are sewn and trimmed for 40 blocks.

All the pieces for the 40 alternate blocks are cut.

That’s it. Sigh. So on to November with a continued OMG in making Chic Country.

The ocean theme quilt for little fella is complete with quilting, label and binding.

I’m pleased with how this quilt has turned out!

Purple-y Octopus turned out nicely.

Seahorses are super cute, with the one holding on to the seaweed.

Bits of seaweed and sand are shown in this photo with the swirls and such for the water-y look.

And whales made it onto the back with a whale label too!

The finished quilt measures 41″ x 47″. Fabrics are mostly commercial quilting fabrics with the sea creatures made of hand dyes by Vicki Welsh. I used Aurifil 50 wt for piecing and quilting, Misty Fuse for the appliqué pieces, and Warm & Natural batting. I cut the fabric waves using the Curvalicious ruler/template by Cheryl Lynch. The seahorse appliqué is from Connie Kresin Campbell’s Coastal Seahorses pattern.

Progressing on with Chic Country, a Sew Kind of Wonderful quilt pattern.

Finally all the pieces are cut, and I got some sewing in too.

The alternate block pieces are all cut and stacked in a Protect-n-Store box, which is how I organize my WIP.

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

1. Keep plugging way on Chic Country. ✔️ Cut fabric for alternative blocks and some sewing too.
2. Sandwich and quilt ocean baby quilt. ✔️ Finished and ready to mail!
3. Prep quilt top for quilting, it’s for my son and DIL. ✗ Does buying more 505 Spray for basting count?
4. Get over this bronchitis crud. ✔️ I’m just doing a little coughing when I wake up in the morning, and some in the evening. I’m feeling tons better, but my right ear is still ringing.

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Sew sew sew blocks for Chic Country.
2. Mail Ocean Theme quilt to Elliott.
3. I’m thinking of asking my friend if I may use her longarm to baste my son’s quilt. I’m overwhelmed at the thought of spray basting a queen size quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Or, Oh Yes, That Quilt.

I planned out and purchased fabric for a quilt for a little fella on the way. His parents were doing an ocean theme in the nursery. I was planning on waves and a whale. That was over three months ago.

Little fella has entered the world, and a recent post of the decorated nursery reminded me of an unfinished quilt.

I kept the waves, but instead of a whale, I’ve appliquéd a bit of seaweed, an octopus and 2 seahorses, keeping with their nursery theme.

There is a purple octopus in the scene in little fella’s room. I used hand dyed fabric from Colorways By Vicki for the Octopus and Seahorses.

The seahorse design comes from Connie of Freemotion by the River. Find her pattern here on Craftsy.

Close up of Seahorses.

Next up is sandwiching and quilting, which I’m hoping will add to the look of waves. Or at least just movement in the water!

This past week I did make some piecing headway on the Chic Country quilt.

I still have a long way to go.

Above is a stack of petals all squared up, with still more to go.

I haven’t cut out the alternate block pieces yet.

And, I did a little free motion quilting for a friend. Another quilt done, so I can check that off the to-do list.

Meandering with loops and pumpkin in center of 9-patch.

Meandering with loops and outlining scarecrow.

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

1. I’m setting aside Thursday to work on Chic Country. ✔️ Slow going, but making progress.
2. FMQ friend’s quilt. ✔️ One more completed.
3. Spend some time with my quilty  friends. ✔️ I had a lovely time with friends Tuesday and Wednesday. Meds for the bronchitis seemed to be doing the trick and I was feeling pretty good. Sunday was the last dose, and today (Tuesday) I’m back to coughing and congestion again. Sigh. Need to call my doctor for a followup. Blah

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Keep plugging way on Chic Country.
2. Sandwich and quilt ocean baby quilt.
3. Prep quilt top for quilting, it’s for my son and DIL.
4. Get over this bronchitis crud.

I accomplished only one little quilt-y thing this past week.

I made this block,

thus catching me up on the FB Sitdown Freemotion Quilting Group BOM. It’s a 9 1/2″ finished appliqué block with a chenille center. I fudged. It was supposed to be reverse appliqué, I just did fusible. The chenille was supposed to be homemade, but since I had some scraps of store bought I just used that. I’m saying Done! and glad to be caught up. Next is sewing all the blocks together. Instructions due to come out on the 15th.

If you are interested in why so little sewing happened here this past week read on. If not, skip to my To-Do list and see ya next week! For those of you still reading, what happened was I came down with bronchitis, and all the coughing wore me out. I thought I was having a bout with Fall allergies, but also had a painful stuffed up ear, so made an appointment to see my family doctor. She said bronchitis. Boy was I surprised. So strange because I was concerned about my ear, thinking the coughing was just allergies. Anyway, coughing is diminishing, but the ear is still stuffed and ringing non stop. Hoping meds kick in soon to take care of that ear! It is very Ear-itating!

Yesterday, I did sandwich the next quilt I’ll be FMQ for a friend. So, I did check that off as progress on last week’s To-Do list.

How are you doing? Staying well, I hope!

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

1. Continue with cutting & piecing Chic Country.  ✗ Didn’t touch it, but happy that the fabric came!
2. FMQ friend’s quilts. ✔️ I’ll check this as I’m counting sandwiching as progress.

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. I’m setting aside Thursday to work on Chic Country.
2. FMQ friend’s quilt.
3. Spend some time with my quilty  friends.

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

This past week I spent the good part of two days cutting out pieces for Chic Country.

Sadly, I discovered I needed more of the background fabric. A quick search, I found it on Amazon, placed order and it should be here in a few days. Phew!

Update! Fabric came in today’s mail! Back to cutting for me.

Have you ever come up short on fabric but were able to find a match? I’m so pleased I did this time!

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

1. Continue cutting pieces for Chic Country, maybe even some sewing. ✔️ Still have more cutting to do when background fabric arrives by mail.
2. Continue FMQ friend’s baby/toddler quilts. ✔️Only made a little progress on one quilt.
3. Enjoy family visiting this weekend. ✔️ We so enjoyed our family coming into town for the weekend! Lovely weather for outdoor activities!

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Continue with cutting & piecing Chic Country.
2. FMQ friend’s quilts.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

My goal for October will be to complete another quilt top. This is another quilt design with curved piecing from Sew Kind of Wonderful, Chic Country.

I’m using Fossil Fern by Benartex. Love this fabric!

Above shows the beginning of the curved pieces needed. Those are 30 Fat Quarters cut into three different sizes. I have 10 more FQ to cut. And then the background still to cut.

Here is a sample of the block I will be making.

I’m linking to One Monthly Goal sponsored by Elm Street Quilts. All are invited to link up your own projects. Go take a look at Patty’s easy to follow rules if you would like to join the challenge. And while you are there, take a look at what other quilters have planned for the month.