Five Shadows

My goal for February was to organize everything for the temperature quilt I want to stitch this year.

I pulled fabric from my stash, and bought the rest in 1/3 yard pieces.

I even got the fabric organized by temperature in to this little storage bin.

I dug around the studio for needles. And then bought better needles while on a shop hop.

I started stitching with a 12 weight thread from my stash, then bought Presencia thread for hand embroidery,which is working out much better.

After playing with the pieced hexie shape, I changed it and settled on the wider base center, instead of the ‘V’ center.

I have settled on using the high temp and low temp for each day. The center piece of the hexie is the high of the day, and the two side pieces are the low of the day. I’m stitching them together with a thread the color of the low for the day. I’m only using four thread colors.

Now that I’m all settled on fabric, pieced hexie shape, needles, thread, and technique, it’s time to get cracking and caught up. It’s slow going right now, but with making 365 hexies this year, I figure I’ll be a pro by the end of the year!

Instead of using a whip stitch on the back side to attach the hexie pieces together, I’m doing an embroidery stitch on the right side. I’ll show more about the stitch once I’m better at stitching the hexies together. One of my goals for 2018 is to learn, and hopefully enjoy handwork!

I’m linking to One Monthly Goal over at Patty’s blog Elm Street Quilts. Go check out the other goals meet for February and join in for March!

Goal setting.

I thought I had my year planned out for 2018 with all my quilty goals for the year.

Then up pops a Temperature Quilt from 2017 on Needled Mom‘s blog.

Now I just HAVE to make a Temperature Quilt! Gah!

Needled Mom made a Temperature Quilt for 2017 using a flying goose block. She divided up the thermometer in 4 degree increments selecting a different fabric for each increment. She used the high of the day for the goose and the low of the day for the sky. This year she is making a Temperature Quilt with Square-in-a-Square Blocks.

Her sister joined in making a quilt too. Since one lives in CA and the other AK, their two quilts look way different! Take a look at Needled Mom‘s blog.

I’ve settled on using a pieced hexie. I took advantage of Paper Pieces 25% off sale they offered earlier this week. Seeing their sale kind of clinched it for me, that I should jump in and make a Temperature Quilt this year!

This all leads to my One Monthly Goal for February.

For February, my goal is to organize this project!

I’ll need to pull and purchase fabrics while waiting for the hexie paper pieces to be shipped. I’m using Kona Fabrics color chart panel to select fabrics to represent the temperature increments.

Since I’m already over a month behind, I hope to get fabrics sorted this weekend & start some piecing. If I had started at the first of the year, I would only need to piece one hexie a day. Hopefully over the next few months I’ll be able to get caught up.

Above is the hexie design I plan on using.

Linking to One Monthly Goal sponsored by Elm Street Quilts.

Phew!  This quilt took longer to piece than I expected.

Here she is with blocks being laid out, not the final layout, but getting a taste of what the top would look like.

The finished quilt top is 7 rows by 9 rows with the half block border going around the outer edge to finish off the secondary circles.

I’m pleased with the top. Love the secondary circles. Fingers crossed when it comes time to quilt!

Pattern: Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful

Fabric: Fossil Fern by Benartex

Top measures: 73 1/2″ x 91″

Linking to One Monthly Goal sponsored by Elm Street Quilts

My goal for January 2018 is to complete this quilt top! The pattern is Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful. I’m enlarging it for a twin size bed for my grand daughter who recently moved from a toddler bed to a twin.

I’m linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts. Go take a look at the other posts as everyone gears up for a new year of quilting! You can join in too!

Happy New Year everyone!

Grand daughter loved her little bunny family with the babies in the pockets of Mama bunny’s skirt.

I tell you, turning those skinny arms & legs on Mama and Papa was a real chore. And then the bow tie beat me, so I improvised and made a bandana for Papa instead of the bow tie.

We celebrated Christmas with our adult children on Christmas Eve by attending church with my son’s family. In the evening we all gathered at my daughter’s home and exchanged gifts. We spent Christmas day at my son’s home. When hubs and I arrived our grand daughter had all her dollies lined up in her bed room on the new quilt I had made for her and the bunny family was included among the dollies. It was so nice to see her playing with them.

The quilt for grand baby number 2 was all pieced before hubs and I left on our trip. We came home after Christmas to a house at 32ºF/0ºC! The furnace was not working! I just could not sew in a house that cold, so once the furnace was repaired, grocery shopping done, laundry from our trip caught up, I had just 3 days to sandwich, quilt, & bind the Forest Fellows quilt top to reach the second part of my OMG for December.

Quilt top pieced.

And quilted and bound. I’m so pleased that I will have this quilt ready to present to my grand baby when we get that call that he has arrived!

I’m linking to One Monthly Goal. Be sure to go visit and see what all the other quilters have completed this busy month of December!

I have two gifts to start and finish this month.

One is a Christmas gift for my granddaughter.

It’s a panel to make a bunny doll family – the Spring Bunny Fun panel has preprints to make Mr. & Mrs. Bunnikins and 3 baby bunnies. I thought this would be a nice gift for Granddaughter as baby brother will be added to her family on or about January 6, 2018! She is also getting a doll quilt, which her mother requested.

Baby brother will be receiving a quilt when he arrives.

I purchased this Forest Fellows panel and coordinating prints. I’m usually NOT a panel person, so this is new territory for me!

I had such good intentions of starting these projects soon after I purchased them. Ha ha! Didn’t happen. One is from a June Shop Hop! In the next two weeks I need to start and finish both, as we will be traveling the last half of the month. Maybe I’ll be doing some hand stitching to finish them up! We will see!

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

On this last day of November, 2017 I completed my November goal of piecing & trimming the alternate units for Chic Country.

Phew!  …  and Happy Dance!

I couldn’t resist laying out some of the units to see the how the quilt top will come together! I must say, I am happy!

I hosted my quilting group today. It was nice to have the gals here to chat with while finishing the last of the units. I’ll be putting this project away until January.

Linking to One Monthly Goal with Patty at Elm Street Quilts. Go check out what the other participants have been working on this month! And then join in for December!

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

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.

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.