Playing with Blue Scraps

 It has been a very busy time in my family but April started a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and I managed to squeeze in some time to play with my blue scrap bin and make 10 wonky shoo fly blocks! 

I also made 10 Joy Luck blocks!

Here are all 4 colors together!

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy.

So why have I been so busy? 

As you may know, last May my daughter's family moved in with us. My SIL was to go back to school for nursing (a new career). Due to COVID-19, it was harder than expected to fulfil hours needed and school was postponed until this Fall. He did finish the required CNA program and is working as an aid. After almost a year with us, they bought a house close by and are trying to get it renovated before moving in. The house was previously owned by an older couple that haven't been living in the house for a year. It needed a lot of cleaning and updating. It isn't easy to find time when you have a 2 year old and jobs but thankfully they can stay with us until it is ready. 

Our grandson!

On top of the new house, our oldest daughter and her boyfriend got engaged 1 week before the close. 

Since they had been together for several years, they decided that they were going to get married on 4-3-21. They had a private wedding ceremony and then we met as a family at the Chicago Botanical Gardens for an small gathering! There will be more celebrating as it becomes safe to do it. 

We are so excited for them! What a beautiful day they had! ❤️

SAHRR reveal

 Today is the reveal and parade of all the SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin) quilts over at Quilting Gail! Back in January we were to choose a center block and on January 11 there was a linking party to see everyones start. Each week following, a round theme was released. We had 1 week to link up your round.

Round 1 was hosted by Chris @chrisknitssews and she choose piano keys. 

Round 2 was hosted by Emily @Darling Dogwood and she choose plus signs.

Round 3 was hosted by Anja @AnjaQuilts. She choose flying geese.

Round 4 was checkerboard which was hosted by Roseanne @HomeSewnByUs.

Round 5 was stars hosted by Wendy @Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life.

Round 6 was hosted by Susan @QuiltFabrication. She chose log cabins.

and Round 7 was pinwheels hosted by Gail @Quilting Gail. 

Here is my finished quilt!

I used the Frolic fabric line by Sandy Gervais which I bought 2 charm packs and some yardage years ago. I hoped that I had enough fabric to do the rounds!

I did need to add a bit of coordinating fabrics from my stash. When all was said and done, I had several charm squares left over so I decided to add a small border (Kona Lime) and then add the scrappy charm squares as a final round. 

I named this quilt Going Around Again!

The backing was a piece of cotton shirting fabric I had in my stash. 

I quilted each round on an individual basis. Some straight line quilting, some FMQ. 

I used Aurifil 40wt thread in off white.

This quilt is quite bright and not my usual style but I think it would make a nice summer picnic quilt! Its finished size is approximately 54" square.

Here is my attempt at a swirl!

I'm linking up to @QuiltingGail for the SAHRR quilt parade.  Hop on over to see how amazing and different they all turned out!

Morewood Mystery Quilt

 I finally was able to get around to quilting my Morewood Mystery Quilt! I really enjoy quilting along with Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs. This is the second QAL that I participated in and love both of the designs! You can see the first one here.

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This quilt was made mostly from my stash. The only fabrics I purchased was the coordinating blue in the quilt and the binding. The floral and the rose color and the backing fabrics I have had for many years. The background is Kona white (which is a staple in my stash) and the yellow is a Kona light yellow (can't remember the name).

It was a beautiful day to go out for a photo shoot at the park!

This quilt is all machine pieced and quilted in diagonal lines to follow the pattern of the design. 

I really enjoy binding a quilt! 

Here is a close up of the simple diagonal quilting.

Thank you Cheryl for another wonderful Mystery QAL!

I'm linking to the Morewood Mystery Link Party and Favorite Finish Link Party.

Playing with Green Scraps

 I was able to do some playing with my green scraps! 

I made 10 Wonky Shoo Fly blocks in green!

Here are the 30 blocks from the first 3 months, pink, yellow and green...very Spring like. 

I also made 10 Joy Luck blocks.

I didn't take a picture of all the colors together. Maybe I'll remember next month.

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy.

 

I did sign up for the H2H charity quilt drive again this year. I read through the charities and they are all of need but have different requirements. One difference this year is Sarah @Confessions of a Fabric Addict is asking everyone to consider donating a quilt to a local first responder or front line worker. This is for our Hometown Heros. She is leaving it up to each person but asks us to write about the recipient's story. I need to think about this for a bit but I have an idea!

How can it be March already?

I finally put the last 2 rounds of the SAHRR quilt together! 

Round 6 really got me second guessing. The round was hosted by Susan at Quilt Fabrication and she choose log cabin. As I was reading through the host's posts and what they did, I noticed that many of them were waiting for the next round to add them to their quilt. That made me start thinking "What do they all know that I don't know?" "Will I have enough fabric to complete 2 rounds?" "I don't enjoy mystery quilts and this feels like a mystery quilt along. Did I make a mistake doing this?"

I really have enjoyed all the rounds until I got stuck in Round 6. Funny thing is that I do like the log cabin block! So I waited until Round 7. Quilting Gail announced pinwheels as the final round. I had a long week of work and babysitting so I wasn't able to start working on the rounds until yesterday. I surveyed the amount of fabric I had remaining that would work in the blocks and drew up a round combining log cabins and pinwheels. Here is what I came up with.

I added quarter log cabin blocks at the corners and 2 in the middle of each side. I then made 3 pinwheel blocks for each corner. Since I had only 2 charm packs and a little bit of yardage, I had trouble having enough of the prints from the fabric line with the same background color to complete the round without adding some coordinating fabric from my stash. I do have quite a few charm squares left over that I may use as either another round or pieced for the back. Overall, I'm pleased with this!

I'm linking to Quilting Gail linking party and the link party at Patchwork and Quilts.

I am also making a bit of progress on my slow stitching! I have finished the flowers on half of the hoop and I just finished the text. Yay!

I'm linking to Slow Stitching Sunday over at Kathy's Quilts and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

I finished my February calendar! I've been keeping up recording one or two things each day...a simple way to journal! 

This week I hope to play with my green scraps for So Scrappy, take a look at the Hands2Help charities, and work on a few other projects!

A new project, some yellow scraps, and slow stitching

     I am so excited about this new project! Yesterday I took a class hosted by                                                           CraftyMonkies.                                                        BTW: I love that I can take a class in Great Britain thanks to Zoom! This is the 2nd class that I've                                  taken through Craftymonkies and they do not disappoint!                               The class was called Mindful Stitches by GaryMillsDesigns. Gary taught us how to create a fabric journal that you can store your keepsakes, pieces of art, stitching, even photographs! It really is up to you! Here is my journal!

I stamped the words Mindful Stitches on a piece of scrap linen and hand stitched it to the front. 

The cover is made of red/cream ticking fabric and the inside cover is some cream linen. Both I had in my stash. I used perle cotton thread to hand stitch around the journal. The pages are made in set of 4 that are folded to make 8 double sided pages. We made 2 set in class. I used some light colored calicos, some muslin and a piece left from a baby quilt I made. 

On my 1st page I put a scrap from a quilted jacket I made back in 1997. (Yes, I still have scraps from that far back! I also made quilted Christmas stocking ornaments from these scraps. 

On the backside of that page I put a candlewicking piece made by my mother. Over the years the piece got soiled/yellowed around the edges. I needed a way to preserve it. I cut it to fit and hand stitched it to the page. I added the lace flowers and  beads. I blanket stitched around the page edges. Here is a close up.

Other ideas I have to add in are my zentangle squares I made back in 2014 and some small orphaned quilt squares made as trial pieces. 

This is an ongoing project. Many more pages will be added before this journal is finished! I'm linking to Linky Party @Patchwork & Quilts. 

I worked on some additional yellow scraps for my EPP ~ tumblers project. 

I will link up to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy. 

I haven't given an update on my Slow Stitching hoop embroidery in a while. Slowly I've been stitching more flowers. Here is where it is today!

I'm almost finished with on half!

I'm linking to Slow Sunday Stitching @Kathy's Quilts.

I hope you have found some time to sew or stitch! If your interested in taking a class, go check out Craftymonkies!

SAHRR and Moorwood Mystery Quilt

 This week I focused on completing Round 5 of the SAHRR. Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life chose the Wonky Star for this round. I wasn't sure if I would like it because my quilt isn't wonky. Do I add a round of wonky? Well, I am a rule follower by nature and so I followed along. Each quilter is allowed to decide how to use the design element in their quilt. Here is what I did:

Miss Sadie gave her approval!

Linking to SAHRR-Round 5

I also was able to finally work on putting together the final steps of the Moorwood Mystery Quilt. I decided to add a simple narrow border to the top. 

A photo shoot was a bit challenging as we have so much snow on the ground. It was difficult to get the quilt top to lay flat without trudging through the snow. But here it is...

This Quilt Along was fun to do and it is also fun to see all the different versions. Cheryl, @Meadow Mist Designs does a very nice job with quilt design, instructing, and keeping it challenging/interesting enough for those that have been quilting for some time as well as easy enough for beginners. This is my second Mystery quilt along I have done with her and I love both! See the first one here. I will piece a backing and work on getting this quilted (probably bumping it to the front of the line)!

Linking  to Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts, and Friday Foto Fun @Powered by Quilting. Head over to the Facebook Group Meadow Mist Designs to see others!