Last BOM / last blog post of 2012

Here is the final block of the month for Craftsy's 2012 BOM with Amy.  Next month we will put them together with sashing and whatnot and final month (Dec) we will finish them.  Hopefully Craftsy will do a 2013 BOM as it was a lot of fun!

Life is really busy for me right now with work, home life, crafting, grandbaby being born in a few months. 

If you've wandered to this blog and have been reading, thank you.  I hope when I pick up blogging again, I'll be able to do a nice blog like some of the ones I frequently read.  Alas, I haven't had much time for that either.

Happy Holidays and keep crafting!

October Craftsy BOM

This is the Craftsy BOM #1 for October.  I've started #2 but it isn't as easy as I had hoped.  Will need to finish it soon.

Today,  I used a coupon at Joann's and picked up 5 battings and 13 yards of fabric (one 8 yard piece and a 5 yard piece of black kona) for backings. 

I wanted to can some chicken stew but can't find where I put my Ball Blue Canning book and spent a good part of the day looking for it.  Finally went to the bookstore and found a more recent version of Ball Home Preserving book.

Graduation Quilts Nearly Finished

 Here is the jelly race quilt I did at the Sew-In on the 15th.  It is the last of the 'graduation quilts' I have to do until my youngest nephew (he's about 10 or 11 now) graduates from high school.

Now I have three graduation quilts to finish (quilt, bind, label) along with two wall hangings and then a Christmas wall hanging I'd like to get done for this year but we'll see.  I also have knitting and crochet projects I'd like to get done for the holidays too.

 

 

September Block of the Month

Finally finished my blocks-of-the-month for the Craftsy BOM online class I'm taking.  Curved piecing -- while the blocks are very pretty, the process is not easy.  I am thinking that it will be a while before I attempt these again. 

Applique Top is Done!

I finished the top.  Once I figured out what to do with the applique (it looked a little scary, my thought, with the 'possum' hanging from the tree with her sleeping babies) portion, the rest was easy.


So I decided to remove the possum and her sleeping babies but had to replace it with something as I 'incorporated' the extra tree limb.

 

So below you can see that I added a swing.  Intially it was empty but you could still see a trace of the possum babies (we won't even go into how that happened).  So I tacked a raccoon down and he's happy swinging while the toddlers are sleeping. 

 

Here is the finished top to the wall hanging.  Now I'm going to work on the back putting all the scrap fabrics together.

 

 

Made my own continuous binding too!  Using the following link:

 

http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/how-to-make-continuous-bias-binding/

 

Initially I didn't see how that small piece of fabric would make enough binding for my wall hanging but it made more than enough.  So now, I will also pick up fabric to make my own double fold bias binding in whatever print/color I deem appropriate instead of using pre-made.

 

Now that the top is done, I'm off to a sew-in with some ladies from the Ohio Valley Quilt Guild (Cincinnati).  I've never done this and I'm looking forward to a day of quilting with others who feel the same.  I am bringing a home-made jelly roll to turn into a quilt top for my nephew.  It's the last of the graduation quilts.  How liberating it will feel once they are all machine quilted, bound and off to their new homes.

 

Need to go and finish some things around the house before I need to leave.

 

Happy Stitching!

September Already!

It's hard to believe that September is here all ready!  The year is passing so quickly.  I've no ambition to do anything but 'chilling' just doesn't feel right. 

I played with the pattern for the GD#1's hoodie to make it larger.  She's two and I'd like to make it a little bigger so she can wear it longer.  I dug out my green yarn (I seem to have a few skeins fortunately three are the same dye lot) and did my gauge.  Then I calculated how to make it just a tad bigger.

I have the Possum Patch wall hanging sitting on the sewing machine ready to go.  I made the swing and now need to tack down the words, stitch them down and move on to the border (piecing... yeah!!)

I'm doing a "Sew In" with some women from my quild (Ohio Valley Quilters' Guild in Cincinnati) on the 15th.  I have my material ready in a container to take with me.  DS#2's birthday is the 14th but when you're turning 24, Mom & Dad aren't necessary to celebrate. 

I'm making smothered beef for dinner and need to get the pasta going. 

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Blessings ~~

Applique Wall Hanging

Applique is not my speciality -- I prefer piecing but I promised Sis #1 that I'd make a wall hanging for the learning center she runs. A kit has been purchased through Connecting Threads and now I'm adapting it.  The original plan called for a mom possum with babies to hang from the tree branch which I extended  It didn't work out.  The possum was scary looking to me.  This will be in a toddler room where they are to nap.  So the game plan now is to add a rope swing, move the words "Patch" down along the grass line and then begin piecing the borders.

 



I pinned the tree trunk and the top instead of using adhesive to keep them flat so it's a little poufy.  My sis says that's fine.  Hopefully I can finish the rest so it will look nice.  Once I'm through the applique phase,  I will be a happy quilter. 

Other excitement would be that I'm working on a baby afghan for my oldest son's 2nd child who should be arriving in February sometime.  Mom and baby are doing okay.  The afghan is a shell-type stitch done up in yellow and white.  Very pretty.  I'm thinking of doing a layette set as well.  Then I'd like to do something for the baby's older sister -- saw the cutest hoodie sweater and the directions are on Ravelry. https://www.ravelry.com 

Hubby thinks green would be a nice color for Granddaughter #1.  I'm inclined to agree.

So that's what I've been up to plus assisting DS#2 (dear son #2) and his GF (girlfriend) with lodging logistics.

Blessings!

Saturday Progress

Progress was made a week ago Saturday. Today was spent organizing -- somewhat -- my quilting room.

Let's see I finished my 4th of July quilt top and backing -- it just needs to be put together, quilted and bound and then a label affixed.

Quilt back beneath 4th of July wall-hanging. 
Also need to put a sleeve on it so I can hang it next year.

Then I finished the quilt top for my nephew's quilt.  I need to piece together a backing with leftover fabrics.



Also completed the August Craftsy Blocks of the Month.

I am working on an applique wall  hanging for a community center's preschool room.  Applique is not something I'm that skilled in yet.  I need to do a little research to see what I can learn.

*yawn* but it's getting late and I need to chill so I'll say 'Good night and God bless.'

Quilt Shop Hop

Hubby and I took a trip to Michigan last weekend as part of our anniversary get-away.  It was a relaxing, enjoyable time for us.  We've been married 25 years this past August 8th.

I've mentioned in posts past that hubby is a good sport about my quilting.  We did find the quilt shop we looked for in July.  It's in Bluffton, OH... Forever in Stitches.  I spent a few dollars in that place with hubby helping. He added a project or two to my to-do list.  *grin*

This is what I picked up @ Forever in Stitches.  I'm thinking of making a Christmas wall-hanging with the reindeer, snowmen and penguins.  Gray fabric (2 1-yard pieces in the backgroun) are for the final nephew quilt.

Over the next three days, these are the quilt shops in Michigan we visited.

The Quilters Garden in Fenton, MI

Jennifer's Garden in Pinckney, MI --
 I liked these for pillowcases I'd like to make for our guest room.

The Quilting Season in Saline, MI --
 I like fall colors and want to enhance a fall wall hanging I started years ago.

and finally Quality Quilting in Ann Arbor.
 I also have a black and red quilt on my to-do list so these may go toward that project.

We didn't just visit quilt shops, that wouldn't have been fair to hubby.  We met friends and had dinner in Windsor, Ontario with them.  Nice meal, nice company.  We didn't want the evening to end but they had to work the next day and have small children. 

I spent all day Saturday in my quilt room trying to finish up my quilting projects.

Peanut Butter & .....

jelly as in jelly rolls.  *laugh*  Okay, so it's not that kind of jelly.  Hubby just shakes his head when I share my jelly rolls or talk with him in quilter lingo.  That's okay as I don't understand him sometimes either which is obvious by the blank look on my face.

I had to buy a twin to the jelly roll my friend Janet (GA quilting buddy) sent me for my birthday so I can make a bigger 1600 jelly roll quilt at the sew-in I'm attending in September.  As you can see, I also picked up additional fabrics.  The paisley tucked in on the left side (2nd up) is really pretty and may just sit in my stash for a little bit.  The blues (right side) and gray will probably go into a quilt for my nephew. 

For the September sew-in, I need to bring 26 or is it 28 2.5" strips of fabric for a swap.  So I thought I might cut up the green toward that goal.

Then hubby mentioned taking a ride up I-75 to a quilt shop he had seen advertised driving up to Michigan.  I thought I'd try to find out online which quilt shop it could be and found a couple close to I-75N but not right off the exit. 

After driving for a couple of hours, we figured it's up a lot closer to Michigan than he realized.   Being the good sport that he is, he stopped at a Hobby Lobby outside of Dayton where I picked up fat quarters to match the jelly roll and charm pack Janet had sent me. 

Then we headed to Waynesville, OH, to see if we could find the Fabric Shack!  I'd seen online that they had an Oh-la-la jelly roll in blue and it might be just what I needed for my nephew's quilt.  Sadly, they didn't have the blue one that I could find.  However, I did not leave unhappy as I found a manly jelly roll called 1862 Battle Hymn by Moda.

By the end of the weekend, I had decided to cut up my blue and gray fabrics for my nephew's quilt and use the Moda for the quilt exchange. 

What do you think of my fancy rolling job?  It's not that easy.

Happy quilting!  I need to sign off and get to work on finishing my 4th of July quilt so I can get working on a new project.

TGIF! July 13th

The day began with a phone call from my youngest.  "Mom, my car died and I'm stuck by the side of the road."  Words a mom hates to hear.  Turns out it is something fixable -- yeah for dads!  The part won't be in until Tuesday though so he will be getting rides to and from work til his vehicle is back running again. 

Well, my birthday celebration began last Friday night when I received a text from a quilting buddy in Georgia. She had sent me a package with a jelly roll and a charm pack. I also received the sweetest card from my sister who lives in Florida.  Loved the wrapping paper too.  It's a paisley jelly roll.

Naturally I went online to find some jelly roll quilt patterns and found the '1600 quilt' on you tube. 

Saturday we went to Costco to replenish our pantry and freezer and I picked up a few things.  Hubby bought me a twin composter that we will be putting together and a gardening tool kit.  It has a bag with pockets and tools, gloves, hose attachment.

Sunday was breakfast out with youngest son and hubby and time spent quilting.  Monday through today I received a birthday card or two each day from family and friends.  It's been a very enjoyable celebration.  I used birthday money to find a matching jelly roll to make the 1600 quilt and register for a sew-in with the local guild.  They are hosting it in September from 10-4 and I'm psyched as I've never attended one.

Took time to finish the July Craftsy blocks of the month -- one of my favorite blocks -- the dresden plate. 

Now to return to finish the July 4th wall hanging, make a few more maple leaf/log cabin blocks.  I want to begin work on a quilt my sister has commissioned for the community day care center she manages as well as the quilt for one of my nephews.

Weekend will be crazy busy though.  Lately they have been.  So I'll get done what I get done which will hopefully include housework.  *grin*

Blessings ~~ Patty

Summer Sun in Cincinnati

It was 104 here in places today!  This transplanted Yankee stayed inside as much as possible after an early afternoon run to Costco. 

Hubby and youngest son finished up his stone wall on the 4th of July while I stayed inside quilting.  They were both drenched when they came in. 

In the first picture they are removing the dirt and concrete that are in the second picture.  I need to snap one of the way it is now... ready for planting.  The corner gets partial shade and full sun for part of the day so I'm thinking of planting hydrangea's.  Hubby would like to include a few knock out roses.  He likes those plants. 

Top is my 4th of July quilt .. I'm working on the flying geese for a border with the gold stars for each corner.  Also completed my Crafts BOM for June... a bit late but done.  Now to finish up July's BOM -- dresden plates.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a little cooler.  It's finally cooled to 83 degrees at 11 pm

Happy 4th of July!

I'm working on my 4th of July wall hanging today. 

I'm looking forward to displaying it for July 4, 2013!

May you have a wonderful and safe holiday!

What I've Been Up To....

Wow!  I didn't realize how long it's been since I've been here.  It's been busy with hubby making trips to Michigan for work and me tending the garden, quilting, and working.  So following are some pictures....

The stone wall is slowly making its way along the side of the house..zucchini, cucumber and banana peppers in the garden.  We've also been harvesting beet greens and radishes.

This weekend is extremely hot so I'm hiding inside quilting.  The guild's president has a challenge for the July meeting -- a Patriotic wallhanging or table runner.  As I've always wanted a wall hanging for the different holidays, I decided to pull my fabrics out.  I had made a patriotic string quilt using the pattern learned in the Craftsy's Block of the Month but wanted another block so I thought a Kansas Troubles block might be nice. 

So my question now is do I leave it with a red block and a blue block....  or do I go with the red/blue blocks.  Which to choose ... which to choose.  The strips around each square are just there to separate the blocks.

Viola!  This is what I decided on.  I will post the finished piece when it's done.  The guild meeting is 7/2 (this Monday) so this may not be done in time.  *grin*  However, I WILL have a wall hanging for next year's holiday.

It doesn't look as though I'll be getting back to the maple leaf/log cabin quilt anytime soon.  I have a wall hanging that I've been commissioned to do for a day care center's toddler room.  They'd like it for a December opening (they're building a new place and plan to be there by December).  I'm hoping to have it done by the end of October at the latest.  It's mainly applique with a little bit of adapting for their situation.

I am also hoping to have the other two graduation quilt tops completed by the fall.  They are lap size quilts so it does seem do-able if I am focused. Ideally, I'll have them machine quilted and ready for their owners by Christmas.  I'd love to hand them over and be done with this era of my quilting. 

Time to close.  Need to get back to my sewing machine. 

Happy 4th to everyone.  May you have a safe and fun holiday!

My Weekend

This weekend we began it by being outside. I did some gardening -- replaced a couple tomatoe plants that weren't doing well. Thinned the beets (yum! beet greens!) and carrots plus the squash plants and radishes.

Then worked on finishing the pink wall hanging -- machine quilted and bound. It just needs a sleeve on the back so it can be hung in the guest room.

 

Hubby also has his projects that keep him outside -- he is taking this (below):

 and turning it into this.

He is a man of many talents and quite handy to have around. *grin*

I am also working on the guild's President's Challenge for the July meeting. A Patriotic wall hanging or table runner. I'm make a wall hanging. I've always wanted one for the entry way and now I'll have one. Of course, I haven't made much headway on my to-do list that I posted a few blogs back.

I also picked up this, a swirling water sprayer for when my granddaughter comes to visit next month.  If it's a hot day, and July in Ohio is usually hot, she'll enjoy running in the sprinkler.

Hope your weekend was just as productive -- or relaxing -- as you needed.

Blessings,

Pat

Gardening and Quilting

Memorial Day Weekend was quite busy yet fun.  I worked in the garden, quilted a little and visited with family (always fun).

My garden is growing date is 5/27/12

A wall hanging marked up for quilting

Blocks for June's Guild meeting -- I made 9 to bring; maybe I'll win the lot of them.

Posie Gets Cozy's blog (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/) has some nice garden pictures.  I'm thinking of planting peonies in my flower bed (along the front of the house) and maybe some delphiniums.  I'd like to do a english cottage garden of sorts.  It will take time as I'm trying to see what flowers will fit with my neighborhood. 

Just wanted to update and say howdy!  Weekend is coming up soon.  So PTL!

Gardening

Poor DH (aka 'dear husband) was kept busy this weekend helping me get the raised beds up and planted.  We couldn't finish mother's day weekend due to rain on Sunday.

Top picture front bed has too much clay soil. We had amended the soil in a corner bed and thought we'd incorporate that into this bed...hopefully it will do fine with all the other good stuff we put in.  Planted squashes -- summer, zucchini, and winter along with cucumbers in this bed.

We ran out of mulch and were too exhausted to get more.  Planted tomatoes, herbs, peppers (green and hot and sweet banana), carrots, bush beans in this bed.  You might be able to see some green string separating the areas.  I've sort of following the Square Foot Gardening method but can't find my book ... it's in a box in the basement and I haven't had time to dig it out.

Also trying to get some quilting done.  There is a patriotic challenge at the quilt guild in July and I've started a wall hanging that I hope to have finished.  And there's also my log cabin/maple leaf quilt that I need to work on and get it done. 

Time to close.  ~~ more later.

Gardening, Quilting & Other Comforts of Life

Seems like this weekend was a very busy one.  If you know me, you know I like it when things are easy-going and calm. 

Thursday night, or more accurately Friday morning, hubby and youngest son when to the midnight launching of the AVENGERS.  They said it was great.  Friday evening I'm trying to get some quilting done while hubby recoups from his busy day.  We've cleared some brush and he rented a heavy-duty chipper to grind it up.  We had a lot of tough briarbushes out back.  So Friday he did a lot of sleeping while I got caught up on laundry, did some work on my Craftsy May BOM and chilled with a good movie.

Craftsy May BOM

Saturday we had to get up early to get to the town clerk.  He needs a passport for work so we decided I should get one too.  We've talked about taking an Alaskan cruise at some point and also perhaps traveling to Scotland and Ireland and perhaps England.  Maybe some points of Italy too.  So we wanted to get to there early and get it done.  Then we went to Costco as the freezer was just about empty and he wanted to replenish it.  He needed a new pair of sunglasses (has been doing a lot of traveling for work lately) so we hit Bass Pro Shop.  He lucked out there as they had a couple pair of shoes I can wear to the office so we didn't have to hit DSW's, Kohls or JCPenneys.  It seems we did a lot of running around. 

Today we picked up what we need to build a couple of raised beds for my veggie garden.  We've been talking about it for the past few years and have decided to just do it.  Granted we are not where we want to be for the rest of our lives and never imagined that we would be here for four years so we decided to do what we need to enjoy living in our home and this area while we are here.  Next weekend, Hubby and youngest son will build the beds and we will get them put in and veggies planted. 

I am at the stage of life where I am trying to align my desires with my life.  If you enter my home, you can tell I'm a quilter as my quilting room is currently in the former dining room.  *grin*  easy access and no climbing stairs.  There are other areas that I want to develop.... gardening is one.

Okay, I think I've written enough.  May your week be full of blessings and I'll see you back here next week.

Quilting Thoughts

Current projects:
-- the maple leaf/log cabin quilt that I'm currently working on as well as
-- the Craftsy' BOM. 
-- Mel's top is waiting to be machine quilted
-- quilting frame is waiting to be finished and put together
-- quilting room is waiting to be moved from 2nd floor to 1st floor (putting guest room on 2nd flr)

Then there are a number of quilting projects I'd like to do:
-- vest (for me)
-- a couple wall hangings (Christmas Wreath and Christmas Tree)
-- string quilt blocks -- a couple a month so in a year or so I'd have enough for a quilt
-- wall hanging for a children's day care center in NH
-- lap quilt for my nephew Matt
-- lap quilt for my nephew Mark

In between all of this I need to work a full-time job; clean my house (hubby's threatened to enroll me in a Molly Maid's course -- dusting is just not my thing); plan, prepare and plant a veggie garden; tend to my knock-out roses, and bushes; help hubby with some yard work; exercise, eat right, grocery shop, laundry, dishes, etc. and enjoy life.

Now that I've written down what I have to do.  I need to make a plan to get them done.

Oh yes, I also have to get my tush to the local church and join as I've been talking about doing this since we moved to Ohio in 2007!  There's a Nazarene church down the street from my house that looks inviting.  I also want to join the local quilt guild especially now that it's about 10 minutes from where I work (meets 1st Monday of the month).

Craftsy April B.O.M.

Working full-time and trying to keep up with all that I want to do isn't easy.  However, housework gets set aside for quilting.  I mean, a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

This month we were thrown a challenge. We could do anything we wanted with the hexagons instead of the sunrays. So the first one I did was, of course, the challenge.

A grandmother's flower garden which is appropriate because I am a grandmother who needs a flower garden. The next one is the hex stripe which was fairly easy to do. 

And then I decided to do the sunrays as well.  I have some red-orange fabrics left from a quilt I did long ago and thought they'd look nice as my sunrays. As you can see, I need to finish tacking down the rays.  It was late when I was working on this and I think I needed to re-do the bobbin thread.

Here you have all three of them together.