June Goals Update

It is just a day away from the end of June! It has been a busy month! 

Regardless of the busyness, I managed to complete all my goals!

My first goal was to complete the baby quilt for my niece's 2nd baby daughter. 

I decided to name this quilt Spread Your Wings. Some of the blocks are paper pieced and some are pieced. I played around with the angles so the butterflies would appear like they were fluttering about.

I FMQ with meandering loops like the flight of a butterfly. 

It finished at 35" x 42 1/2"

I used various teals and purples, some from my stash, others I purchased for this project from Connecting Threads. The background is Kona white.

On the back I pieced an extra butterfly block. 

A bonus was to complete the city bank quilt (renamed The Colors of Purple). 

I finally got it quilted using my new rulers in a clamshell pattern. 

This quilt is made using mostly solids...Kona and American Made, some Grunge, a Tula Pink print, and the green print from my stash. 

The back is a piece I found at Joann's that coordinated well.

Pattern is from the book City Quilts by Cherri House.

The finished size is 60" x 69"

I also finished by Rainbow Scrap blocks in yellow!

And the Milky Way QAL using yellow. This month's star is called Capella. 

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts ~ June finish, Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy, #milkywaysampler.

Here are a few pictures from our time in the Pacific NW and Vancouver and my semi surprise Birthday party. Enjoy!

Mt St Helen

 Lynn Canyon Park

 Shannon Falls, Vancouver

biking Stanley Park, Vancouver

 Butchart Gardens, Victoria

Goldstream Falls, Victoria

My family~first time we were together is quite a while! Surprise!

Only Mike (our son-in-law) is missing. ❤️

June goals

June is under way! Schools out! Vacations begin!

June will be a short month as far as quilting hours go for me. We have a 10 day vacay planned which will commence this week! 

After our return, we have a party for someone turning 60! And...we are in the middle of a kitchen and mudroom renovation project which we hoped would be done while we were away...but that isn't going to happen as the counters aren't going to be ready. I also have taken on 2 alteration jobs!

Call us me crazy! 

So for my June goals...

I will complete the quilting and binding the city bank quilt AND sandwich, quilt and bind the butterfly baby quilt. 

My niece has had her baby girl so this needs to happen!

Anything that is achieved beyond that is bonus! 

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is YELLOW 

and the star for the Milky Way QAL is called Capella! 

Linking up to OMG June Goals at Elm Street Quilts.

May Goals Update

It's the end of May and I need to update you on my goals. 

One on my goals was to quilt the city bank quilt. Unfortunately, after receiving the new foot and rulers, I have not had time to sit down and try them out. The end of the school year has been super busy. Just 3 days left! 

So my city bank quilt still needs to be quilted. 

Sandwiched and basted and ready to go!

UPDATE:Since posting this, I have been able to get most of the quilting completed...only 13 of the 42 blocks to go!

My 2nd goal for May was to start piecing butterfly blocks for my nieces 2nd baby's quilt. I was much more successful in achieving this goal (working in smaller bits of time). It is all pieced together and ready to be sandwiched. However, that can't happen until I quilt City Bank! 

How's that for motivation!

I used 4 different butterfly blocks patterns....2 of them are 8" blocks and 2 are 4" blocks. 3 of the 4 block patterns were paper pieced. I wanted the butterflies to be angled but not at the 45° (on point) so I played with half square rectangles allowing a gentler angle. 

I anchored the quilt with a row of pretty flowers. 

I also finished the May challenge for RSC and The Milky Way QAL (see post).

Linking up to OMG-May Finish Up @ Elm Street Quilts.

The neighborhood has grown!

Remember my little blue houses? 

The last time I posted about the neighborhood, there were 38 houses. Now the neighborhood has grown to 48 houses!

I add a house or 2 when I'm between projects or only have a limited amount of time to play. This isn't a population boom but slow and steady growth. I'm planning on more houses! No deadline, no pressure!

I'm loving it!

Yesterday, I took some time to work on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks and The Milky Way QAL. May's color is green so I pulled my green scraps bin (which is almost as full as my blue bin) and started putting together like greens. 

5 little spools of green! 

Here are all the spools together so far.

Cute! Aren't they?

I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday over at So Scrappy and Oh Scrap over at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

For the Milky Way QAL, I'm using the same color (makes it easy), green. This month's star is called Vega. It is the 5th brightest star. 

Here are the first 5 stars together.

It is a bit of a mystery to me on how these will play together at the end. 

Time will tell. To learn more head over to Blossom Heart Quilts.

Setting some goals for May

It's May! Time is flying by! It is time to set some goals for May. I am looking forward to quilting the City Bank quilt. 

(pattern name from the book City Quilts...the quilt will be named later)

At the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, I purchased the foot and several rulers to learn FMQ with rulers on my domestic machine! There was a bit of a faux pas as I purchased a high shank foot/rulers

but my machine is actually a low shank. Before purchasing, I did ask the Janome dealer (I have an Elna which is now owned by Janome) to verify the shank and I unfortunately, received incorrect information. Since I wasn't entirely sure, I had asked the store if I could return it if it proved different. They were very accommodating, and I am happy to say I received the new foot/rulers today! I'm very excited to get started! 

So my goal for May is to quilt and bind this quilt!

One of my nieces, also due in June expecting her 2nd baby, asked me to make  a baby quilt for her and the baby. The theme for the baby's room is butterflies with the colors of teal and purple. 

My goal for May will be to start making butterfly blocks and piecing this quilt. 

I have little planned for this quilt. I have done some searching for butterfly blocks and I have started collecting fabrics. I hope this isn't too hefty a goal as school is quite busy as the school year draws to a close. 

Summer is just around the corner!

I will continue to keep up with the RSC and The Milky Way QAL. 

May's color is green!

I'm linking my goals up at OMG-May Link-up @ Elm Street Quilts.

April Goals Update Ü

The end of April is closing in therefore it is time to update my goals. It has been a pretty productive month for me...mostly out of necessity. The elephant baby quilt needed to be finished for the baby shower last weekend. 

The quilt was well received!

I named this quilt Dare To Be Different based on the one row of elephants that are marching in the opposite direction and the one baby elephant that color is different.

The pattern is from Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts. I did add tails to the elephants. This is the second animal quilt pattern from Lorna that I have made. I just love her style.

The quilt finishes at 38 1/2" x 41"

The backing fabric (I forgot the fabric line)matches the baby elephant (Kona Wasabi) with some gray to break up the brightness. 

I quilted it using straight lined machine quilting.

Another of my goals for April was to finish the piecing of City Bank quilt.

Today I sandwiched the quilt...it is ready for quilting!

I also made my RSC block and the block for the Milky Way QAL.

I'm linking up to Elm Creek Quilts ~ OMG April Finish. Go over and check out everyone's progress!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge and more...

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap challenge is mixed up colors. We all have those multi~colored fabrics that don't fit into any one color category. Those are the fabrics to play with in April. 

Since I am doing mini spools this year for the challenge, I am calling this months spools variegated threads. I found plenty of scraps to play with in my scrap bin Ü

For each spool, instead of using multiple fabrics, I choose one fabric and cut it in narrow strips and the mixed them up. We will see how they play with the other spools as the year progresses. I may try some more of these if I find the  time.

I'm linking up over at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday! Go on over and check out what's happening there!

I have been using the same monthly color for The Milky Way QAL over at Blossom Heart Quilts. The star for the month of April is Arcturus. I picked 2 coordinating multi~colored fabrics for this star. I'm hoping that it will play well with the other stars as the QAL progresses. 

I am not 100% satisfied with this block especially when I read that Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the sky.  

My goal is to only use scraps from my stash so I will leave it for now. 

Yesterday, I went to the International Quilt Festival here in Chicago (Rosemont). I will leave you with a few of my favorites from the show!

 technique is pretty amazing! Tiny scraps with and overlay of netting.

Tulip Fields by Denise Oyama Miller

Beautiful colors and details!

This quilt won a blue ribbon! The quilt below is one of the blocks made full size. The challenge was taking traditional blocks and making them modern.

I'm a little partial to this quilt! Celebrating my beloved hometown Cubbies!

There were so many more! Enjoy!