Wonderland Two-fer

Wonderland has not been nice to me lately. One block gave me so many problems - and looked so bad when it was done - I tossed it in the trash. It was definitely operator error, not the pattern, which didn’t make me feel any better. 😜

I just wanted this project done, which is funny since the two blocks I finished tonight are among my favorites. First up - Bromeliad by Thimbles and Needles. Swap in Christmas colors and it makes a great Christmas cactus. 

I enlarged it slightly - from 7” to 8” - and had to do a bit of cut and paste since it wouldn’t fit on one page. Worth it!

Second block is Candle by Maddie Sews. So simple and I love how it turned out. 

Next will be getting the blocks close to the same size. 

The biggest is 8.5” (finished 8”) and the smallest is just under 7” (finished 6.5-ish). Then add a bit of sashing and it’ll be ready for longarm quilting. And maybe ready to hang at Christmas…

Garden of Stars

I’m still not thrilled with the black and copper print for Garden of Stars so, since we were coming home by way of Simi today, we made a quick-ish stop at Quilty Pleasures. 

The hexi dots on the left is not usually my thing but I love this. And may have bought all that was left on the bolt…

Anyone surprised I bought more than just the black fabric* I needed? Hubby even got involved, bringing bolts to the counter ‘just in case’ I might need like them. 

I’ll make a test block to be sure, but I think I’m going to like this Steampunk Halloween fabric much better. 

This is Teena’s fault. She told me about an online sale at Jordan fabrics and how could I resist? Everything except the collection of blue fat quarters ⬆️ was part of a one-pound mystery bag of batik ‘leftovers’. I love a sale and a mystery, plus was curious if the cuts would be scraps or actually useful. 

Most are useful sizes and only a couple are colors I really don’t like. Lots of possibilities - maybe use the top bunch in a bright scrappy quilt or the green fat quarters (bottom left) in a HST project. Would I buy the mystery bag again? Maybe if it was on sale…

*Simi shop yardage. 

Palette Cleanser

Hate to admit it, but I’m a tiny bit tired of foundation paper piecing. So for the 3 4-day holiday I decided to make something just for fun, with the idea it would be finished in those 4 days and I’d get back to FPP.*

It might have worked but Jac wanted to play games (she’s a Battleship star),

and build forts, and watch movies (Jac: “this is my favorite movie!” Me: “what happens in it?” Jac: “I don’t know. I’ve never actually watched it…” 🙄). 

Plus Coco has learned how to play and to communicate be the boss of me. She yowled, then patted her new toy until I got the idea and tuned it on for her. Now we do that every night when she gets the zoomies around 11:30. 

Which is a long way of saying I finished a new quilt, in one of my favorite patterns. Still debating whether to add borders… it’s 48x48” now, which seems a good size for a lap or wheelchair quilt. 

I still have a bunch of starched and ironed red, white and blue fabric. Rather than put it away I may make another of this wallhanging. It’s the only quilt I’ve made that I kinda regret giving away. It’ll be easy, right? It’s only 144 half-square triangles…

*I’ve signed up for another FPP block of the month, that started July 1, so I need the birds - and Christmas Wonderland and the embroidered bees - done asap. 

QOQ ATLM, Again

I hadn’t exactly forgotten about Quilt of the Quarter (QOQ) but my brain had decided the second quarter ended around… September. 🙄 Fortunately, my QOQ pal said, ‘so …. are we still doing this?’ 

 Pretty sparkly metallic cats

Why yes, yes we are. I knew the fabric I wanted to use - this Cat-I-Tude2 yardage and fat quarters has been in a bag, set aside for ‘special’, for years. 

 Friendship Star is a no-go. 

Thought I knew which design… but a test block (with ugly fabric) was a big, fat NO. Plan B, after an evening on Pinterest, looks more promising. 

 Inspiration 

Wednesday was the wake-up call; 

Thursday was for fussy-cutting fancy cats and starching/ironing fabric; 

Friday saw most of the fabric cut and cat frames sewn. 

Saturday we sewed… and Sunday it’s finished! 

 33 x 39”

This QOQ was ATLM (at the last minute) - again - but I’m pleased: A) the fabric is out of my stash; B) the quilt looks good; and C) the project is finished before June ended. Win, win, win! Now to plan for Quarter 3….

March Winter Wonderland

Teena and I FaceTimed today to continue our FPP Winter Wonderland project.

This month was ‘Mittens’ by Full Bobbin Designs* (website here), a fun, easy pattern. “Easy” didn’t stop us from making some silly - but fixable! - mistakes…

I kept with the winter Christmasy theme

but Teena picked these dragonflies on a black background. So cute!

Crummy picture, will try for a better one tomorrow 

This makes block #12, out of how many you ask? Don’t know! We have blocks for the next 2 months already picked out. We’ll probably keep going until another project catches our block-a-month fancy. Still planning a finished Wonderland quilt by Christmas…

* This is our 4th block by Full Bobbin Designs and next month will be #5. We really like her designs and her patterns.

Back to the Birds

I didn’t really want to work on the Birdwatchers Project today but once I got started, December’s Northern Flicker turned out to be fun. 

I only made one big mistake - 

sewing the completed bottom section sideways onto the top sections. Oops! At least it was easy to fix. (Funny enough, it fit perfectly…)

That one circled area bugs me. I double-triple checked and it is done correctly. But it looks so wrong, like a piece is missing or the wrong fabric was used, and keeps catching my eye… 😩

This makes 8 birds complete, out of 14 total. I’m still 3 birds behind so tonight I started block #9, 

choosing the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, a small bird that I thought would be easy. Not so much.

The first piece is about 5.5” long by 1.75” at the widest point. The head section is .5” tall by 1.5” wide… and uses ELEVEN different pieces to shape the eye and beak. 

Yeah, small definitely doesn’t mean easy. 

First QOQ

A pal and I challenged each other to make a Quilt Of The Quarter using precuts we had on hand. (Here) And look! Still two weeks to go and my windmills quilt (top) is done!

48 x 56”

I played around with several layouts and this was the best one. Still not thrilled with the white stripes but it looks better in person. The metallics are really pretty and sparkly.

Of course, my pal did something much more complicated and finished it a couple of weeks ago… But this is done; I used up fabric I’ve had for years; and it’s going to my Guild’s donation drive where someone will benefit and hopefully love it. Time to start planning QOQ#2.

100 Days Update

I missed 2 days of embroidery when we traveled to and from SC, but I’m still moving along on my wildflowers.

Tonight’s finish is #9 of…. I need to look up the pattern and see how many total blocks I need. Still enjoying it!

Rachel is making good progress on her cross-stitch project, 

still a bit more to go though. Such gorgeous colors. 

It’s not part of 100 Days but all the windmill quilt blocks are done and the first 2 rows (of 7) are sewn together. It’s so much prettier in real life where you can see the metallic sparkles.

This will probably go to the quilt guild for donation unless someone claims it beforehand.

Lots of Progress

So much progress today… block #7 for the 100 Days project is done. 

Donovan and I did a couple of science-y things tonight - watched the embroidery background paper dissolve and disappear in a bowl of water (he was fascinated and is a lot more interested in my sewing project now 😁) 

 I told him to ‘smile like you’re going to see Mom’. Much bigger energy. 

and the ever popular soda/vinegar volcano to clean a (very) burnt baking dish. Good thing baking soda (he used a whole box) and white vinegar (only used half a gallon jug…) are inexpensive and easily replaced! Worth every penny to see how much fun he had.

Matt and Mary made it from wake-up in Albuquerque NM to somewhere in Arkansas tonight. 

OK clouds

Mary said OK is pretty but she wasn’t a fan of the Texas panhandle. Still planning to be in SC by tomorrow night. 

Donovan finished Lego project #2 (of 3). Mary said she’s having more kits delivered. Sure hope so or somebody is gong to be verrrrrrrry bored. Still 10 days to go before we fly out to SC.

 Tap/click the pic for a closeup view of the sparkles!

I’m just over halfway done making blocks for the windmill quilt. 

I goofed and cut the first batch of pieces to size before sewing them together, rather than sewing long strips together, then cutting to size. It probably doubled the time I’ve spent on this project. Note to self: think it through next time!

QOQ Windmills

A quilting buddy and I are doing a Quilt of the Quarter challenge. The rules are simple - we want to use up what we already have so once a quarter make something using precuts we already own, augmented only with fabric from our stash. 

BOQ contenders?

To me, precuts are complete fabric collections like layer cakes, jelly rolls, charm packs, honeybuns, etc. I haven’t bought many of those in recent years (mainly because I hate the linty, uneven pinked edges) so I’m also including fat quarter bundles. 

When we set this up, I knew immediately what fabric I wanted to use first. I bought two of these fat quarter bundles several years ago because they were sparkly! colorful! and on sale! Love the colors but they are very low contrast - and there are only 4 different colors - so finding a pattern has been a challenge. 

 Inspiration windmills

On my third pass through Pinterest when I couldn’t sleep last night, it dawned on me (see what I did there??) that this doesn’t have to be a super fancy project. It needs to be: A) something I enjoy working on and B) finished, so someone can use and enjoy it. Pressure off, pattern picked, fabric cut and the first four blocks made. 

This is going to be so pretty. (I hope.)

Other patterns I want to make during the QOQ.