Helping my daughter start another embroidery scene

Yesturday morning I had some time to myself while my husband went to help my daughter and her boyfriend's family empty a storage unit and transport two pickup loads of wood back here.  That gave me quite a bit of time to make some progress on my quilting on my hexagon quilt.  So I took advantage of it and made some headway.  I was able to get one complete 16" pass the full width of the quilt and advance the quilt, before they arrived back here.

I took a break to direct the unloading, clean up some outdoor furniture, swipe off the deck and stack some furniture to prepare to be covered for the winter.  I can't believe it is already that time of year.

My daughter stayed behind as she goes into work from here on the days that she goes "into" the office.  So to save them a trip back here again on Monday, she decided to stay.  I invited her down to my studio to check out the hexagon quilt and what I was doing with it.  After a bit, we got to chatting and the conversation veered toward handwork.  She was thinking of starting up with embroidering her basket blocks, but then we ended up looking at a few of her other patterns that she picked up over the years.

In the end, she settled on this pattern: 

It was a toss up between this one, Snow Days and another pattern by Crabapple Hill called Snow Flurries.  Snow Days won, but there is much discussions about changing the overall quilt.  We are not really liking the brown and beige colours of the blocks, so we will continue to think about it and make decisions closer to the time that she has all the embroidery blocks complete.

We (as in I) cut out all the background fabric.  My daughter fears the rotary cutter, so I don't force the issue, as I would prefer to avoid any accidents.  She does all the rest.  She started with ironing all the blocks and took out the light for tracing the designs.  While she was working on what she needed to do, I continued on with quilting and I again was able to get one complete 16" pass the full width of the quilt and advance the quilt.  That made me quite happy!!!

 

My daughter made some good progress too.  She traced this first scene, which is part of the left hand side border.  It has a tractor in the barn, a house, some trees and the cutest part is the kid in the tub going down the hill...lol.  Wait until you see the other part of this scene...

This next one my daughter traced is cute too.  It is what I would call a filler block.  It is at the bottom of the hill with a tree, a berry bush with a bird in it, and a cute little bunny with his/her foot prints in the snow.  So cute! 

The last scene she managed to trace before we called it quits, to go make some dinner, was the middle scene between the two above.  This is the continuation of the kid in the tub going down the hill.  There is a toboggin with a couple of kids going down the hill, with a snowman off to the side, and another kid walking back up the hill dragging his/her toboggin behind them.  All of these are so cute!

After dinner, we went back down to the studio.  My daughter basted the blocks with the second layer of background fabric, to give the top layer more stability when she makes her stitches, and it also hides the threads in the back of the work.  Now she can take them anywhere to work on them and they are secure.  She already started one block by stitching up one little line.  

She is very excited to start on this.  This quilt is going to be so cute!!!  I can't wait to see what we come up with later, for the rest of the pieced blocks.

Take care everyone.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Saturday sewing with the ladies

Yesturday was so nice, spending time with our sewing group.  Everyone working on their own thing.  Chatting away and making progress.  It is always nice getting together.  

I was working on a few different things.  First I finished the binding on the penguin snack mat and I've already used it too....lol.  I wouldn't have thought to make one, but as I had the pieces and the pattern, I thought, why not...  It's useful, as my sewing table is wood, so the mat will protect it if I have a snack and a drink.

Secondly, I worked on finishing the last three larger leaves on this appliqué block.  I showed you the progress on this one in yesturday's post.  Now I can call this one done and cross off the required October block.  I like the simplicity of this block.

Then lastly, I started working on this next block, which is the one I am doing for the required November block.  In the picture the top half is the paper pattern, with the leaves that I have to prep, to appliqué onto the white background fabric, which is the bottom half of the picture.  Before I started this block today, I already had the heart shaped vine sewn to the background.  

Today I prepped the berries and pinned them to the background, using the Perfect Circles that makes...."perfect" circles....lol.  They couldn't have chosen a better name for the product.....you could say it is perfect!!  LOL....ok, you probably saw that one coming, but I couldn't resist....lol.

I also prepared the first two leaves and appliquéd them onto the back ground and then added the first berry at the base of the two leaves.  I am so happy seeing this come together!  With each piece that I add, I like it even more.  I am going to wait to attach the rest of the berries, until I start adding in the leaves.  It helps me get them placed better and more evenly spread out.

As this is my November block, I have one more week to get this one done.  Wish me luck!

Take care everyone.

A little bit of appliqué

I came home from my mom's place last night with a strong desire to pick up my appliqué.  Earlier that day before heading out, I asked my son to bring down my rolling cart that I have all my appliqué  supplies and tools on.  I have plans of working on the berries today when the ladies come to sew.

When I got home, I took the time to straighten up a bit in the studio and pass the vacuum once more.  Then I decided that I had an hour left before heading to bed, so I sat at my table and figured, why wait until tomorrow, just do a couple and get my fix in.  Well, one lead to another and then another......  I managed to get all four berries on, plus the last small leaf.  By then an hour and a half went by!!  Lost track of time...lol. 

I did enjoy myself though.  This one is almost done!!  I only have three more leaves to do.  These ones are the larger leaves.  They are the same as the middle leaf in the picture on the bottom right hand side.  On a side note, a flash back in time.....when I wrote that last sentence....one of the skits from Sesame Street popped in my head.....one of these thing is not like the other......LOL.....I am probably dating myself....lol....but oh well.  Funny how these things pop up out of the blue.  

Back to the original conversation....I am so glad I have started back on these blocks.  I just need to try and find a bit more time to sit and relax to do some hand work.  Once you get the technique down pat, it's relaxing to sit and hand stitch.

I was reading someone's blog the other day and they spoke about "slow stitching".  There is a group that sits and stitches, and they call it Sunday Slow Stitching, or something very similar.  I thought that was a good idea.  Setting aside a designated time to do handwork.  I'll have to think about it.  Not sure I could commit to every Sunday at a particular time, but maybe I can keep it in the back of my mind to try and do some, at some point, a little more regularly.

As I mentioned above, the ladies are coming to sew today, so I have to get ready.  I'm thinking that I am going to continue this appliqué and then if it goes well, move on to the berries of the next one.  The next one is also partially completed, so I am off and running....lol.  I'll share pictures of that one tomorrow maybe.

Take care everyone.  Enjoy your weekend.

We have more stars

Yesturday after work, I finally got my sewing fix in.  I was able to spend some time in my studio.  It felt really good!  I started out to clean off some table space, by sorting through the one pile of fabrics that needed to be washed and put in a load, then to clear off some more, I moved all the fabrics I cut out for my Christmas quilt off the cutting table, so that I could finally trim my French General log cabin quilt.  My tables are looking so much lighter....lol.  It's amazing how much mess is made, while being creative!

It felt good just to take care of those things.  Now I able to sit down and sew with a bit more breathing room.  When deciding what to sew, it was a toss up between the Crazy colour blocks and the NICU Star quilts.  As you can tell from the title of this post, the stars won out.  These sew up pretty easily and look so cute!  It's like sewing up one big oversized block.  These measure 24" square.

Above I have the light blue star top completed and below I have the dark blue star top completed.  I have two more of these NICU star quilts cut out and ready to be sewn.  Those will be done soon.

I currently have my hexagon quilt on the longarm in the process of being quilted free hand, so that will take some time still, but when that is done then these two, plus the initial star with the green background will be loaded and quilted.  I am a bit behind on my goal for getting quilts done before the end of the year, but I am doing what I can.  These will make three when I quilt them, so that's cool.  Not going to stress out about it though, as there is no deadline, only my own self imposed goals.  For these Project Linus quilts, I have plenty of time.  The next drop off is usually the tail end of March or April.

Take care everyone.

Introduction to the Christmas quilt I am making

Do you know that feeling when all you want to do is escape to your sewing room and fondle the fabric?  Well that is exactly what I wanted to do, however life and "adulting" got in the way with work, meetings, appointments, then making dinner and all the other stuff that has to be done.....I'm not complaining, just feeling a bit melodramatic, and cranky with the lack of getting some good amount of time, in my studio.  

Yesturday especially.  I only got 45 minutes before bedtime.  That's it!!  So making the best of my time, I picked up the fabrics I had laying out and started cutting the pieces for my Christmas quilt.  I realized recently that I didn't share what I was doing for my Christmas quilt.  So let me do that now.

This is the inspiration for my Christmas quilt.  I don't know if it is an official pattern, as we didn't get any of the details, just the picture.  This picture was from one of the Bonnie Hunter's retreat participants.  I love the double grid affect that is going on here.  The white scrappy background gives the red and green some room to breath.  I like the fact that it feels light (not heavy) with the extra white.

These are standard blocks.  One is a four patch and the other I don't remember the name of it, but it is essentially a square with two opposite corners snowballed.  Then you add sashing and cornerstones to finish the centre.  I don't know if this person was going to add borders, but I am going to.  I shared the border fabric a few posts ago, from when I went on the shop hop with my mom and some friends.

These are the fabrics for my quilt.  I am making mine king size for my bed.  As of yesturday when I did my 45 minutes of cutting, I have all the large red squares cut out, the red cornerstones, now all the green squares and cornerstones are cut, and some more of the white sashing and squares for the stitch and flip corners, plus four patches.  Good progress for a quilt I am not really supposed to be working on.....lol.  I just couldn't resist!!

I have over 800 more white squares and over 175 white sashing pieces to cut, before I can say that the cutting is all complete.  Maybe later after work, I can get back to this.  I would like to clear everything away before the ladies come on Saturday to sew.  Maybe I can start in on sewing this one......  We'll see.....

Take care everyone.

Flower Farm Sampler quilt

A friend and I decided to start this quilt together, as a block of the month (BOM)....however not until August/2026.....lol.....can you tell I am excited to start this quilt....lol.  I keep getting more excited every time I am watching a "short" on YouTube from Fat Quarter Shop.  They are also doing this pattern in a BOM fashion.  Fat Quarter Shop is doing their version using Americana fabric by Lori Holt.  It's going to look gorgeous!

I've decided that I am going to make this quilt all from stash, or at least the majority from stash.  I had a brainstorm one night while trying to fall asleep.  I was trying to figure out what I might have on hand to work with.  Then it came to me.  I had intentions of making an applique quilt called Aunt Millie's Garden, but it is intense and all hand work.  With my hands the way they are at the moment, I decided that I would dismantle these fabrics that I collected for that quilt.  The fabrics I had for that one was all the grey fabrics you see in the second column.  Fourteen different greys that are similar in colour with different patterns on them.  They are going to be my background.

Then I remembered that I had started to collect some bright colours for another applique quilt I wanted to do.  I decided that I may still do that one, but not for a while and if I do it, it may be using wool instead, as wool is easier on the hands to applique.  The bright fabrics from that project bin, are the ones on the top left hand corner, including the greens that are on the grey fabrics.  

That was a good jumping off point for me.  I just opened up my fat quarter drawers and searched for other bright clear colours.  Those are the ones that you see in the last two columns on the right hand side in the picture above.  Then I thought to myself that I do need some light with less colour to break up the blocks a bit and allow the bright colours to shine.  Those are the ones on the lift hand side just below the yellow fabrics.

I'm going to start there and see where that takes me.  I'll kind of work with it like I did the Heartfelt quilt, where I do one block at a time and determine what I want to do for the colours.  I think I'll keep the layout and blocks that are in the above pattern, so that I can sort out where the different colours will go.  My colour options though will be completely different.

I am sooooooo excited.....I don't know how I am going to hold myself back from starting this one, but I will have to do it!!!

My friend is going to be using a beautiful warm colour palette.  This is her bundle.  The picture is off a bit, as the colours a bit more vibrant, but still warm at the same time.  She will supplement some other fabrics as well.  I really love her bundle.  I almost bought it myself, it was just so pretty!    

I can't wait to see how these quilts will turn out.  We have two examples already of what they can look like and we are both each doing our own colourway.  

Just remember that I am sharing this with you now, but it will not get started until August/2026 and then every month after that.  I believe there are 18 different blocks/months to do, but I'll have to confirm that later.

Take care everyone.

Still working on my required blocks

Today after work I wanted to work on the blocks I'm working on to make progress on a few quilts.  My list is of three different pieced blocks, one applique block and one column for finishing quilts.  Last week was so busy that I didn't get much done from this list, but Sunday I did manage to get the Smith Mountain Morning blocks done, plus four additional blocks to cover this weeks requirement.

Today I worked on the paper piece Sea Swept quilt blocks.  For this one I have to do three per week.  I finished the three I needed for last week and after dinner I finish the three I needed for this week. Yeay!!

Next, I'm going to need to get the strings out and work on the blocks I need to make for the Low Volume Chevron quilt.  That one is getting really close to being complete!!

I forgot to mention that yesturday, I also completed sorting out the pieces for the courthouse step variation, of the Smith Mountain Morning quilt.  The centre squares are sewn, the blue logs each have a muslin square attached to each side and the kits are pinned together ready and waiting to be sewn.

It's been busy here with quilty stuff, as well as trying to get back into work and still looking after my health and household.  A lot of things to juggle and still take time to relax and have some fun.  My daughter calls it "adulting"......lol.  I like that term.  Most of the time though, when things get hairy, she uses it as a negative, as in "adulting s--ks"......I'll let you file in the word.....lol.  As for myself, I'll just say that I was doing a LOT of adulting....lol.

Take care everyone.  Don't forget to take some time for yourself.