Progress Update

The Quiet Play Pattern Club blocks for January were released a bit early!

I was excited to get started! 

I had already sorted through and organized by color all my solids (mostly Kona) so I was able to get started. I downloaded the patterns and printed off 2 of the paper pieced blocks. I will be making the background of the word blocks in a color with the letters Kona Snow. The object blocks will have a Kona Snow background and a rainbow of colors in the block. Here are my January blocks!

The background is Kona Hibiscus.

There are 17 colors (besides Kona Snow) for the rainbow spool of thread!

I still haven't completely finalized my fabric pull for the Block of the Month Optical Illusion blocks. This will be as much as possible from my stash. 

I'm rethinking the Scandinavian Flowers as I don't think I am ready for this level of applique and it would require a fabric purchase.  I will still download the monthly patterns for later. 

Instead, I will try reverse applique using the book, Dutch Treat, that I purchased many years ago. 

I also previously bought fabric for this project. Must use what I got! I won't do all the blocks (some are very complicated) but will pick some of the easier blocks. I will prepare this project for my trip in February. 

Here is a peek at the start of my medallion quilt. 

So many HSTs! 276 to be exact!

This week, I carved out some time to sandwich my Save the Bees quilt, a leftover from 2018. I plan to do meandering loops over the top of the quilt to mimic the flight of the bees. I am thinking of naming this quilt, 

The Plight of Bees. 

Lastly, I will leave you with a sweet picture of my cute grandson! The hat he is wearing is one that I knitted from a vintage pattern. It is a bit big but ties to stay on! It is very soft as it is knitted with bamboo yarn. 

2019 is under way!

With the New Year comes new goals, quilt alongs, BOM and projects. I have set some goals this year and joined some quilt alongs and BOM. Hopefully I didn't do too much! 

It is so hard to resist! 

One of my goals is to make charity blocks for Covered in Love. You can read more about this charity at Kat & Cat Quilts. Every 2 months, the block changes. For January and February the block is a variation of a string block. 

Here are my blocks that I will send to Covered in Love.

I will continue the monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by So Scrappy. January's color is red. This year I will make the reverse rainbow starburst block.

You can find the tutorial here.

I will link up to Scrappy Saturday.

I also joined the Quiet Play Pattern Club. Each month, around the 15th, 3 patterns will be released and emailed. One word block, one picture block and a bonus block from her favorites. Quiet Play is known for her foundation pieced, rainbow, geometric blocks. I'm excited to get started!

I was intrigued by the Bitty Block Follow-A-Long over at Quilt Art Designs. I love the challenge of working with tiny pieces (and it was a challenge!) This is another paper pieced block project. 

This month the Bitty Block is a Tiny Bee.

I will also be doing the Block of the Month Optical illusion with Nine Patch blocks over at Heleen Pinkster Quilt Design. It appears that you just make this at your leisure as I don't see a link up for it. I haven't pulled fabrics for this yet. 

I like the optical illusion challenge of this quilt!

The last BOM I'm interested in is Scandinavian Flowers over at Angie's Bits and Pieces. This is an applique BOM which is not usually my thing but I will be away from my sewing room for 2+ weeks in February and I thought that I could practice this skill. I will get January and February blocks ready before I leave to bring with me. Time to perfect this skill!

I also started a medallion quilt. I don't have pictures yet. This is a quilt that I have had in my head for a while. Materials were purchased back in late summer/fall. Stay tuned. 

 Of coarse, I need to catch up on quilting the quilts left from 2018. 

I did finish Dog 'n Quilt, one of my Rainbow Scrap quilts. 

In this picture you can see the stand that my hubby got me for Christmas. I can hang my quilts to make taking photos easier!

The quilting is a simple straight line, 1" apart and stitched in the ditch around the dog. 

The back is a purple floral from my stash.

This quilt was made entirely from scraps and stash. Yay! 

It finished at 43" x 53" and will be donated to charity. 

Snow Day 2!

Just a quick update on how I spent my 2nd Snow Day.  I have  been slowly working on this very cute wallhanging...Give Thanks BOM...by Jenny of Elefantz.  

I would do some stitchery when I wasn't in my sewing room or working on the extreme wedding dress makeover.  Now that the wedding dress is done, I and I caught up on the Block-A-Palooza blocks, I concentrated on getting the stitchery done.  

The first verse is hanging in its spot and the second verse is now being stitched.  Yay! I love getting things finished! And I really like how this turned out.  

I also completed the 4th Block-A-Palooza block...Gingham Pinwheel by Cherry House Quilts.  

One final note...here is a picture of my blizzard 2011 casualty.

Before I really started quilting, I use to make these little garden banners to hang out in my front garden.  I made one for just about every holiday, birthday, season or celebration.  They are actually hand quilted using a preprinted fabric (the snowman).  

This one was hanging in the garden and was swept away with the gale force winds we had Tuesday night.  20.2" of snow later, I realized it was gone and probably buried under the snow somewhere down my street.  

As the snow was being cleared by my neighbor and his handy snowblower, guess what he found?  Yep...my banner was picked up by the blades of that snowblower and spit out.  My neighbor was kind enough to bring my little snowman back to me. 

Although I really liked my cute little snowman banner, I am grateful that he was our only casualty of the blizzard of 2011.

Snow Day!

It is officially the 3rd largest blizzard in Chicago and I have lived through them all! Here are a few photos taken around this morning.

  

A snow day...sew what's a quilter to do?  Of coarse, sew! 

I started by finally cutting all the squares for Little Miss Shabby's Birdie Stitches-BOM and getting a head start on preparing the squares.  I also traced the 1st BOM...hmm...block 2 has been released.  I'm a little behind. Pictures soon!

I then got started on cutting the fabrics for block 1of Block-a-Palooza.  This pattern, Flying over Fields, is from John over at Quilt Dad.  I got that all sewn together.

Sew I moved on to the next pattern, Word Search, by Elizabeth over at Oh, Fransson. Cut and sewn!

The next pattern, Shoofly Geese, is by Amanda at sasikirana handmade.  Done!

Tomorrow the 4th pattern is released over at Cherry House Quilts.  Now I'm ready...bring it on!

I also finished my mug rugs for the secret swap.  I hope my partner likes them.  They should be in the mail soon.  Are these for you? I'm not telling!

I planned to send these to Corrie for Quilts for Queensland yesterday however Mother Nature postponed my plans by sending the blizzard.  They will be in the post soon!

A productive snow day and we have another tomorrow! 

What will I get done?

Taking care of business

The lace I ordered for the wedding dress makeover came in the mail the other day and I have started to hand stitch it on (in place of the large ruffle along the bottom.)  It is coming together quite nicely.

Here is a glimpse of one of the wedding quilts that I'm working on.  It's all pieced and most of the quilting is done.  The fabric is mostly Sand and Surf by Marcus Brothers with a few additional coordinating fabrics.

After reading on so many blogs about the floods in Queensland and the opportunities to help, I decided to join Retro Mummy in making 12 1/2" unfinished blocks.  The block I decided to make is a simple scrappy block.  Make a 9 patch using 2 1/2" squares.  Then add 1 1/2" border on all sides.  

Sew more 2 1/2 " blocks together and sew around the  block. Easy peasy.  A great scrap buster too!  Won't you join me?

Here are a few of the projects that I'm participating in.  

First is a BOM stitchery quilt from Little Miss Shabby.  The birdie stitchery is too cute to resist! Just trying to decide what fabric to use. I'm in love with the Sunkissed fabric but...

 I'm also thinking of following along with the Bloggers' Block-A-Palooza Waiting for Spring over at quilt dad.  Did I mention that I am in love with Moda's Sunkissed by Sweetwater?  Both of these quilts use Sunkissed but I'm not sure if I want to use it for both.  Just have to wait to find out.  

So in order for me to find the JOY in these projects, I'll just have to follow along at my own pace. 

No pressure.     

P.S. This Friday is FNSI.  Go on over to Handmade by Heidi to sign up. Won't you join the fun!