Five Shadows

Hubs and I took a trip back east, visiting family in PA and MD. While visiting my folks in PA, I stopped at Simply Stashing in Littlestown. Every time we drive to Hanover, PA I do declare that shop is closed when we pass it in the evening, and it has not yet opened when we head back home in the morning hours. Usually I don’t fit in a stop at the quilt shop, but managed to this time. I told my husband I was popping in to ask for their Row by Row pattern, a cute Flying Geese pattern. Of course I had to look around while there.

I found the bicycle fabric which I could not pass up. And those two fun prints were on their discount wall.

While checking out, the gal asked if I would be visiting other quilt shops in the area. I asked where they are located and one she mentioned is in Hanover. It ends up that it is just around the corner from the retirement community where my parents live! (Ok, around the corner in a country mile.) My folks have lived there for 11 years! And I never known about this shop! I do recall passing a shop last year with a Bernina sign, and wrongly assumed it was just machines. Nope, it is a nice quilt shop too! Danners Bernina Shoppe. I bought a book that goes along with the Westalee quilting rulers I own, and another ruler. With practice, I hope to up my ruler work using my Baby Lock Tiara III sit down quilting machine.

Sneak peak of the Facets quilt. Design by Christa Watson.

The top is completed and measures 88″ x 84″ enlarged from the original pattern to fit my son’s bed. I don’t have the back or binding prepared yet, but the top now goes into my ‘to be quilted’ pile. I’m so happy to check the making of this quilt top off my ‘to-do’ list!

While cruising some quilting websites back in July, I came across a Christmas block Quilt Along.

This snow flake was the first block presented August 1st. The quilt along is called I Wish You a Merry Quilt-Along. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the upcoming designs presented, but with a personal reality check, I’m realizing I should just not join another quilt along right now! …  she said backing away from the internet!

I finished a quilt today! Yesterday I completed the straight stitch quilting, and today I attached the binding.

This quilt design is On The Wave from Sew All Around Quilt Along.

I love this fun back used on my little wall hanging. It measures 30″ x 34″.

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

1. Safely travel to PA to visit my folks. ✔️ We also visited relatives in MD and IN.
2. Gift Monkey quilt to young nephew.  ✔️ Happily gifted!

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Start cutting pieces for next quilt top on my list- Tropical Snowball.
2. Sandwich baby quilt and begin quilting – a friend’s quilt.
3. Catch up on Sit Down Free Motion Quilting BOM

This was a slow sewing week, as in I was just not motivated to sew. I did a lot of reading for relaxation, and spent time looking around the web. I found a few things that interested me. I came across two quilt-alongs – like I should be joining more of those at this time in my life with my lack of sewing motivation! But still, they look fun, and I just might throw all my current sewing plans to the wind and join these quilt-alongs.

Jacquelynne Steven of Art at Home is offering I Love Home Block of the Month starting August 7th and will run through December.

I learned about her BOM on Lori Kennedy’s In Box Jaunt blog.  Lori, instead of doing the houses in appliqué, is going to Free Motion stitch them. That intrigued me! I’m woefully behind right now in Lori’s Spring QAL, so I really should finish that up, and then move on to the I Love Home BOM, following Lori’s FMQ instructions.

Next, I came across I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long.

This is a Christmas themed mystery quilt starting August 1st and running through December 5th. A new block will be presented every other week. There is a Facebook page for this QAL, just search for it by the name I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long if you are interested in joining.

So as this week was coming to an end, I did push myself to finish piecing On the Wave quilt top – yes, it is a QAL I joined earlier this year. Here it is pieced, pressed, and sandwiched, with a few threads debuting for quilting.

I think Gosia has 3 quilts total planned for this year in her Sew All Around QAL. I think I will love the finished wall quilt, but I didn’t enjoy the piecing process. Must be that lack of motivation thing I’m stuck in right now.

Hubs and I will be visiting relatives next week, so that means I better get a baby gift finished for a new little great-nephew who has joined the family. That means pull out the monkey quilt top and sandwich, quilt and bind it.

I got it sandwiched today. Time to set up the machine for some walking foot stitching.

What do you do to inspire your quilting spark when it is about to snuff out? I’d love to hear!

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

1. Piecing On the Wave quilt top. ✔️ I actually forced myself to work a little bit on this through out the week with a big push to finish it yesterday. Sandwiched today.
2. Piece back for Fence Rail Star. ✗ Nope, didn’t touch it.

To-Do Tuesday List for this week:

1. Monkey quilt – need to gift it next week! It is ready to quilt so get at it and bind!
2. Do some quilting on –  On the Wave quilt???

One more picture -

Royal Catchfly blooming in my husband’s native plants garden.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday

This past week I fit in two full days of sewing with friends. I focused on completing the Fence Rail Star quilt during those two days. And ta-da! I did complete that quilt top!

Yesterday I made a quick trip to my LQS to pick up a ruler set I had ordered. And while there, I looked through the fabrics in their clearance section and found this piece for the back of the Fence Rail Star quilt.

I just thought the sayings on this piece worked perfectly with the scrappy quilt top!

The print has a saying starting with each letter of the alphabet: Act kindly, Be honest … Jump for joy … Make someone happy … Read good books, are a few of the saying.  Cute, right?! The fabric line is Ron’s World by Buggy Barn for Henry Glass & Co.

I also spent some time catching up on a BOM I’m doing this year. Here are blocks 6 & 7 completed for the Facebook Sit Down Free Motion quilting BOM.

Block 6 has a zipper pocket in the center of the star. I can see this block used in future quilts to tuck little notes in for kids quilts, or maybe wedding quilts. Where would you use a zipper pocket in a quilt?

Block 7 was paper pieced and has those dreaded inset corners and triangles. Our instructor is doing just a bit of pushing to help us all overcome some piecing fears! Have you conquered inset and ‘y’ seams in your piecing?

And I did get a few of the On the Wave units sewn together. This is a quilt-along sponsored by Goshia of Quilts My Way.

Goshia’s quilt-along is called Sew All Around. That may be a clever play on words as both of the quilts she has presented have curved piecing! Have you ever made a quilt with curved piecing?

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

1. Fence Rail Star quilt – sew together rows, maybe get to borders. ✔️ top completed and back purchased!
2. Layout On the Wave quilt pieces, start stitching. ✔️ layout ready and stitching started!

To-Do List for this week:

1. Piecing On the Wave quilt top.
2. Piece back for Fence Rail Star

Today I made progress on the Fence Rail Star quilt. The star points are all attached, the 12 blocks are constructed, and some sashing is sewn on. I hope to get this top completed this week!

I have all the corner stones cut, and most of the sashing. Here is a quick peak with a few pieces of sashing in place.

Yesterday I finally sat down to work on the BOM from the Sit Down Free Motion Quilters group on Facebook. I was 2 blocks behind.

Block #5 is now complete.

This block has some dimension because the pink and light green triangles are actually Prairie Points.

New project alert! I have been following Gosia Pawlowska’s “Sew All Around” quilt along on Facebook. She has introduced a new pattern design, On the Wave. I’ve decided to once again play along.

I think she likes curved piecing! This is the second quilt in the series, and both have had curves in the construction. My pieces are all cut and ready to lay out for stitching together.

How did I do the last To-Do List?

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter Weekend. We enjoyed having our out-of-town children visiting including our grand-daughter. And of course those who live in-town too!

Quilting! I’m loving how the Sew All Around quilt turned out! And I’m not a pink person. But for some reason, I do like this combination of blues and pinks.

I like how the dark pink and blue binding frames the quilt.

Digging into my stash, I found this piece for the back that is perfect color wise for the quilt top.

I did go ahead and put a sleeve of sorts on the back for hanging the quilt. I put triangles in the top two corners and a tab in the center.

 

I’m using a yard stick cut to size and placed in triangles and tab to support the quilt for hanging. Using a yard stick for hanging a quilt is a trick I learned from my first quilting teacher 20 some years ago. She liked a yard stick for two reasons, they are basically flat so quilts hang nicely against the wall, and also they are inexpensive from the local hardware store.

Silly me, I should have used 2 tabs instead of just one in the center of the back! I didn’t leave a space for just one nail for hanging! I might be slitting a little hole in that tab for the nail to be centered in the back of the quilt. (Yesterday was not my best day, had a stomach bug all day, and it must have affected my brain as well. sigh)

Here is a close up of the Signature variegated thread I used for the quilting.

Do you have a favorite way to hang small wall quilts? Please share!

Last Thursday, at my Curvy Quilters sewing day, I got the hexies all sewn together into a quilt top.

I’m pondering if I should add borders. I’m also wishing I could find more of the Moda Honeycomb “From Outside In” precuts or even fabric, to make 3 more rows for a twin size quilt. But this is an older line, and I’m not finding it for sale as I search on line. I used three packs of Honeycomb precuts for ~54″ square quilt top.

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

1. Continue Sew All Around BOM, binding is next, I’m not sure if I will put a sleeve on it for hanging. ✔️ Binding and sleeve on!
2. Continue Fusion Blanket. ✗
3. Hexie quilt top – hope to finish piecing top this Thursday at my quilting group day. ✔️ Top pieced. Add borders or not?
4. Enjoy Easter with family. ✔️ We had a wonderful time with family and perfect weather too.

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Get back to blanket stitching Fusion Blanket squares.
2. Need to work on OMG for April – charity quilts!
3. Sit Down Free Motion Quilters April BOM pattern is up and ready. Paper Piecing this month.
4. Hexie quilt – borders or not? Figure out a plan for the quilt.

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

This month I’m participating in Gosia Pawlowska’s Sew All Around BOM. You can find it on her blog Quilts My Way or Facebook.

I’m behind. This week’s lesson is on attaching a sleeve on the back for hanging. But I just finished the simple grid quilting.

The quilting was done with a walking foot on my Janome. I used a variegated blue trilobal polyseter by Signature Size 30 for the top and a 50 weight Aurifil for the bobbin. I’m pleased with the quilting.

I’m moving along on the Fusion Blanket. The first set of squares are all blanket stitched.

I decided I’d like to make the blanket a little larger, so I stitched up more squares now waiting for blanket stitching. That means more blanket stitching in the evenings. I have continued to practice 2 crochet stitches that will be used to connect the squares. I will eventually get brave enough to share a photo of that progress! Ha!

The t-shirt quilt is now a top and waiting on the Longarm quilter. Sorry no picture. I might be getting it back to bind, if so, I’ll get a photo then. it’s large and I need help holding it up for a photo. Adult kids need to come home and help. tee hee

This week’s To-Do Tuesday List

1. Sew t-shirts together with sashing and border. ✔️ Pieced and ready for longarm quilter.
2. Sandwich and quilt Sew All Around BOM quilt top. ✔️ Sandwiched and quilting underway.
3. Continue Fusion Blanket. ✔️ Part 1 blanket stitching complete, but making more squares that will need blanket stitching.

To-Do List for this week:

1. Continue Sew All Around BOM, binding is next, I’m not sure if I will put a sleeve on it for hanging.
2. Continue Fusion Blanket.
3. Hexie quilt top – hope to finish piecing top this Thursday at my quilting group day.
4. Enjoy Easter with family.

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

I finally got myself going on the t-shirt quilt. The shirts are fused with interfacing, and cut to size. The 20 in the photoed pile below are 14 1/2″ square.

Sashing is 2 1/2″ wide. There are also 3 shirts prepped at 16 1/2″ x 20″ not photoed.

Do you recognize the figure in the top t-shirt? That is John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed. A legend here in NE Indiana. Fort Wayne has a park dedicated to him where the Johnny Appleseed Festival is held in September. The story goes that he provided apple seeds or saplings to pioneers moving west so they could have apple trees to grow where they settled. It is said he wore a tin pot as a hat, thus the pot on his head in the graphic design.

Next is the Sew All Around BOM with the blocks are sewn together. This week is sandwiching and machine quilting.

I’m calling this little quilt Mixed Berry Smoothie. The designer of the quilt made it up in yellows, gray and black and called it Lemon Juice.

My Fusion Blanket is coming along slowly.

I have 28 squares blanket stitched with 8 more to go. Then I need to sew a few more squares to get the blanket to the size I want. Then, on to crocheting. The crocheting is going to take lots of practice on my part, as I attempt to learn the stitches needed for this blanket.

I watched the 2012 version of Wuthering Heights last night, but just could not make myself pick up a needle to blanket stitch the 8 remaining Fusion Blocks above. I didn’t make any progress on the Dropcloth Embroidery Sample either. Usually, I like stitching while watching movies.

How is your week going? Learning anything new?

Last week’s To-Do Tuesday List, how did I do?

1. Concentrate on t-shirt quilt. ✔️ T-shirts fused and cut to size, sashing cut.
2. Next step of Sew All Around BOM. ✔️ Top pieced.
3. Continue Fusion Blanket. ✔️28 squares blanket stitched, 8 more to go, and a few more to sew.

This week’s To-Do Tuesday List

1. Sew t-shirts together with sashing and border.
2. Sandwich and quilt Sew All Around BOM quilt top.
3. Continue Fusion Blanket.

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

It is Spring, after all, so why not go off of my well made plan for the year and head down a bunny trail by starting a new project!?

At the beginning of this year, I kind of promised myself no more starting new quilting projects until I got a handle on more UFOs and WIP. Sigh. That latest until March!

Maybe I should stay off of Facebook, because I see so many neat Quilt Alongs, BOMs and new patterns that grab my attention. I need to say no! But I went ahead and started a new BOM called Sew All Around. Off I go on yet another Bunny Trail!

I did attack a UFO. This one I started back in 2012. The Fusion Blanket, part pieced and part crochet.

I had sewn the squares way back in 2012, and have just started the blanket stitching around them. I’m meeting up with a friend tomorrow who will be teaching me how to crochet. Next step is to crochet the blanket stitched squares together. Check out this tutorial if you’d like to start one of your own.

2012 UFO – that’s 5 years old! What is the oldest UFO you have ever decided to return to and work on?

Last week’s To-Do Tuesday List, how did I do?

1. Continue hand work on Dropcloth Sampler. ✗ Didn’t touch it.
2. Blanket stitching 4 1/2″ squares. ✔️In progress!
3. Start customer T-shirt quilt. ✔️ Prepping t-shirts.
4. Enjoy weekend with family. ✔️ It is always nice to see our adult kids and our grandchild!

This week’s To-Do Tuesday List

1. Get back to Dropcloth Sampler.
2. Continue Fusion Blanket.
3. Continue t-shirt quilt.
4. Next step of Sew All Around BOM.
5. Enjoy Curvy Quilters sewing Thursday.