Five Shadows

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!

First up, Journey 2 Nebula Quilt Along.

Candy Dish quilted and bound, project 5 in Jaybird Quilts quilt along.

This week we start project 6, Gazebo, in the quilt along.

I selected Tula Pink fabrics for Gazebo and need to cut and piece the top.

Next, I figured out a bit of curved quilting for the center of the quilt I’m making for my son and DIL.

I did little arches in the print pieces of the blocks. The white background needs something, not sure yet. I don’t want this to be heavily quilted as I want it soft for using on their bed.

For the appliqué sections of the quilt I outlined the appliqué,

and then added meandering with little loops. I’m not totally pleased with this, but hope it all pulls together with the other sections once completed. I need more practice for smooth quilting.

I added an unexpected project to my list for November. Last week I saw Helen Godden offered a second Flower Power quilt along and I could not resist! The QAL started Sunday, November 8th.

Here is my first block, Arum Lily. My finished blocks will be 7″ square. I’m quilting on Vicki Welsh hand dyed fabrics using Mettler black thread.

Below is the quilt I made back in April from Helen Godden’s first Flower Power quilt along.

It was fun, and I got to play with many free motion quilting motifs. I do need practice, so I jumped in on the new Flower Power 2 quilt along.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Quilt & bind Candy Dish, project 5 in #journey2nebula ✔️
2. Quilting center section of quilt for my son & DIL ✔️ Center & one side.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Cut & piece Gazebo, project 6 in #journey2nebula.
2. Continue quilting on son’s quilt.
3. Follow along on Flower Power 2 quilt along.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Homesewn by Us.

Journey 2 Nebula continues – Rock Candy project 4

Quilted with Superior Threads 40 weight, King Tut #921 Cleopatra variegated thread.

Rock Candy completed with binding. Quilted on my Janome Horizon machine using a walking foot.

Next up on the journey is project 5, Candy Dish.

Instead of piecing a pillow sham, I am doing a table runner. Patterns by Jaybird Quilts.

Pieced, sandwiched and ready to quilt.

I started quilting the center of the quilt for my son & DIL. I didn’t like it so took 3 hours ripping it all out. Not photoed. Back to the drawing board. I played around with some ideas on one corner of the center of the quilt.

I think I’m now happy with this curvy quilt design. And yes, I did misplace some of the curves. They are staying.

I used these two rulers for the curves. Quilted on my Baby Lock Tiara III machine.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Bind Rock Candy, project 4 of #Journey2Nebula ✔️
2. Cut pieces for project 5, Candy Dish in #Journey2Nebula  ✔️
3. Start quilting center of quilt or appliqué background (the quilt for my son & DIL)  ✔️

I’m getting there! I’m continuing on with the quilt for my son and DIL. Last month I completed the machine appliqué for the two side panels of the quilt. And then I sandwiched the center and two side panels, ready for quilting.

My goal for November will be to quilt these three sections.

The center drunkard’s path section all ready for quilting!

Once that is completed, I’ll move on to quilting the two side appliqué sections. And hopefully I’ll even get started on attaching appliqué vines, leaves, and flowers to the top and bottom sections that go above and below the center of the quilt.

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elmstreet Quilts.

My goal for October was to machine appliqué flowers into place on the side panels of the quilt pictured below.

pattern by Sue Pelland

I met my goal, flowers, leaves & vines are now machine appliquéd into place on the two side panels.

Note, I did turned appliqué for all the pieces, not fusible web per instructions.

Next I moved on to sandwiching the finished panels and center of the quilt.

I traveled east to visit my Father who lives in assisted living in PA. The facility was allowing 30 minute visits with all the Covid precautions. That meant limited sewing this month.

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

October 15-25 my hubs and I traveled east to visit family. My father lives in a retirement community in PA. Due to all the Covid19 restrictions we held off our trip east until we could see Dad. We scheduled two 30 minute visits, 6′ social distancing wearing masks, the distance ended up to be 11′ apart! Dad could not hear us! An aid sat by Dad’s shoulder and repeated everything we said. It was crazy, but I’m thankful I got to see him. While out east, we caught up with our brothers & sisters and their families who live in the area. Besides Dad not being able to hear us, it was a great trip.

Terrapin Park, Kent Island, Chesapeake Bay. Hub John, me, sister Lauren, BIL Russ. Bay Bridge in back ground.

My Journey 2 Nebula continues.

Project 4 on the journey, Rock Candy layout

Rock Candy pieced & sandwiched

Rock Candy quilted. I’ll use a rust fabric for the binding.

Last To-Do List:

1. Cut pieces for project 4, Rock Candy in #Journey2Nebula. ✔️ Cut, sewn, pieced and quilted. Ready to bind.
2. Sandwich baby quilt. ✔️ But it will be set aside for a while as plan has changed.
3. Short week for sewing, hubs and I are doing some traveling the next two weeks.  Hand embroidery just might happen.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Bind Rock Candy, project 4 of #Journey2Nebula
2. Cut pieces for project 5, Candy Dish in #Journey2Nebula
3. Start quilting center of quilt or appliqué background (the quilt for my son & DIL)

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