What's been happening in my sewing room?

First off, I'm very happy to say that I finished quilting my Grandma's Kitchen Sampler which I stitched along with Pat Sloan in 2017! The binding and label are also done so that's a wrap! 

I made a pieced back with left over pieces from the front and then FMQ in an all over meander. Label not sewn on yet but it's made!

Each block was released with a memory of Grandma's Kitchen 

like this one Pick a Posie!

Many of the blocks were pieced but a few were appliquéd like Telephone Time, Peppermint Swirls and Grandma's Apron.

(upper right corner, top row 2nd from left and 2nd row center)

The fabric line I used was Domestic Diva by Riley Blake. I had 2 charms in my stash for a long time but I needed to get a bit of yardage that I still found online! I also used some other coordinating fabrics. 

It finished at 60" x 60" square...a good size for a picnic quilt!

I will link up to Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen link up. 

I also have been working a bit on making some things for sale to help the youth mission trip at our church. I wasn't sure I would have time to donate anything since work has been so busy but I decided to pull out a box of old jeans that I have stashed away. I deconstructed them into parts. First, I took the flat felled seams and cut them very close and straight. Since the seams were not long enough, I needed to splice them together with a few stitches until I had a length between 92" - 98". Then using fabric glue, I rolled them until they were about 4" - 4 1/2" around. 

Don't they look fun with the different jean colors and stitching showing through?

A stack of repurposed jean coasters!

These will be sold in sets of 2. 

I also cut off the pockets and made a set of 4 placemats. 

My table was too small to fit all 4.

The field of the placemats was from an old jean skirt of my daughters. I cut it to be 12" x 16" and serged around the edges.

Don't these projects work well together? 

I have a few more ideas for the rest of the repurposed jeans. Stay tuned!

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands, Show off Saturday @ Sew She Can and Friday Foto Fun @ powered by quilting.

Where has the time gone?

I really can't believe how fast the days are flying by! The month of May is just about over, the school year is almost finished and summer quickly approaching! Life is so busy! 

Besides Mother's Day and graduations, we also celebrated the long life of a friend's mother, had out of town friends stay with us, and tried to get some of the gardens ready (although the weather has not been very cooperative with rain and cool temperatures.)

For Mother's Day, my daughter took me to a Sip and Paint Party. Although I think I should stick to quilting, it was a fun day!

My very first T-shirt quilt is finished but no reveal yet as it won't be received until later in June at her graduation party (graduation is today!) I can give a little sneak peek though.

I decided to name it Remember When...

fitting for all the years of memories included.

My May blocks for the Rainbow Scrap challenge are also done. Pink is the color for May.

Flying Geese block

Plus block

I will link up to So Scrappy Saturday.

I also worked on my Temperature quilt. 

Another row added.

It is getting warmer but we are still below our normal temperatures for this time of year...and the rain...Oh! the rain!

I made time to sandwich my Grandma's Kitchen quilt so it is ready to go when I find a block of time. In the meanwhile, I started piecing another quilt using one of the very first fabric lines I purchased many years ago. More to come soon!

Status Report

I'm still working on finishing my 2017 challenge quilts and one charity quilt but I'm happy to say that all of them are now in the flimsy stage! The charity quilt is  sandwiched and ready for quilting!

This 2 color Bear Claw is from a book about 2 color quilts. It is 40" x 56". 

I used a different layout than Pat Sloan for my Grandma's Kitchen Quilt. It was a bit of a challenge to put all the blocks together as there were 2 different size bocks. This quilt will finish at 60" square. 

I added the setting and corner triangles to the Milky Way quilt but I wanted to make it bigger so I first added a scrappy border using more of the scraps in the stars. Then I added an additional gray border. This quilt will finish at 56" square. 

 I'm not a big fan of square quilts yet these 2 quilts just happened to end up with a square layout.

My little spools are all arranged neatly in the thread shelf. I found this fabric that looks like wood and used it to border the spools. I love this Little Rainbow quilt. It will finish at 36" x 43". 

For 2018, I decided to join the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again over at 

So Scrappy. I will also do a temperature quilt following NeedleMom. You can find more information here. 

I will also join in making the Regatta Quilt with Home Sewn By Us. 

Now to get quilting so I can start on piecing for my new challenges! 

October Goals

It is time to set some October goals! Since I finished my Sail Away! quilt, I can now refocus on my quilt using the orphaned 15 min of play blocks that I had finished the flimsy as part of my August goals. 

On Saturday (still officially September) this happened!

I found some time to sandwich this quilt and it is now ready to quilt! I'm not sure how to quilt it yet...should I match the thread colors to the blocks, use a variegated thread, or a neutral? What do I do in all the negative space? 

Decisions to be made! Ideas? 

My goal for October will be to make a final decision on the quilting and get it started. Bonus would be to finish!

I also have been working on a charity 2 color quilt. It is a basic bear claw block with lots of HST pieces. I found this technique that makes 18 2" finished HST and it really speeded up the process. 

Have you ever used this technique? It was new to me!

The papers did not come big enough for the large HST piece so I did these using a traditional technique.

October brings a new color for the Rainbow Scrap challenge and a new star for the Milky Way QAL. This month's color is pink and the star is called Sol. 

I am also keeping up fairly well with the Grandma's Kitchen weekly Sew Along. 

Here is last weeks block.

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal October Link-up over at Elm Creek Quilts.

We are heading up North mid~week to experience the trees showing all their glorious Fall colors! It is such a beautiful time! Hope we have great weather!

September Goals Update

I'm happy to say that I accomplished my goal for September! I needed to finish the quilting and bind this quilt.

I had started the quilting with the little sail boats following the tutorial by Lori Kennedy over at The Inbox Jaunt. I needed to finish those and then add waves to the borders following another tutorial by Lori. 

I bound this quilt with a blue and white fabric I bought last year while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest with this quilt in mind. 

Here is my finished Sail Away! quilt. I made this quilt with different nautical prints and other red, white and blue prints in my stash following the pattern called Nautical News by Busy Hands Quilts. I replaced one of the blocks with a sail boat block. 

I also added a paper pieced anchor block to the back.

It does feel great to use fabrics from my stash which I had collected over the years! 

The finished size for this quilt is 59" x 79"

Even the label is nautical themed!

I also kept up with the quilt alongs that I am following. See my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and The Milky Way QAL here.

The newest finished blocks for the Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along are 

Kitchen Door 

Sunday Dinner

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal September Link-up over at Elm Street Quilts.

Block finishes

September brought a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge ~ ORANGE!

I was able to get busy this week and make a few mini orange spool blocks.

Only a few months to go before we put this scrappy quilt together! I will link up to Scrap Happy Saturday over at SoScrappy!

The other monthly QAL that I'm participating this year is the Milky Way QAL. I have been using this same color (for the most part) in this QAL as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. So this month's star is Betelgeuse and here it is in orange!This QAL is by Alyce over at Blossom Heart Quilts.

There are 3 more stars in this QAL before we put it together!

Finally, I'm been doing the Sew Along with Pat Sloan, Grandma's Kitchen. This challenge is weekly so it is a bit more of a challenge to keep up. Here are the last 2 weeks blocks.

This is Recipe Box. For this block, several alternate layouts were suggested. I chose this layout because it reminded me more of a recipe box. My dark fabric forms the box around the mint green fabric which actually has recipes written on it. This is from the fabric line Domestic Diva by Riley Blake. Link up here.

The 11th block is a appliqué block Peppermint Swirls. 

Pat adds stories of her grandmas in each pattern. It is fun to reminisce about my grandma! My grandma didn't have peppermint swirls but she did have candy! Reeses peanut butter cups were her favorites and she always had plenty to share with her grandchildren and great grandchildren! Link up here.

Are you caught up with your QALs?

August Finish

It's that time again when we share our monthly goal finish. My goal was to make something out of the 15 minutes of play blocks that were uncovered in my sewing room. In my last post I showed a pattern that I decided to use. I rewrote the block to fit the size of my blocks. I also needed a few more 15 minutes of play block to make a good sized quilt. 

The pattern for Fat Quarter Shop

I'm happy to share that I was able to finish my goal and now have a flimsy waiting its turn to get sandwiched and quilted!

I really like the scrappy secondary stars that are formed!

My other goals are always to keep up with my monthly QALs. 

My little spools for the Rainbow Scrap challenge in neutrals.

Polaris for the Milky Way QAL. 

And blocks 7 - 9 of the Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along!

Linking to Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen.

 Linking up to OMG August Finish Link Up at Elm Street Quilts. 

It has been a good month for quilting!

It's all Natural!

August brought a new no color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge ~ low volume! My little spools look great in low volume but I've been using the same color for The Milky Way QAL and low volume doesn't speak well with night sky stars! Here are the cute little spools in low volume prints ranging from whites to dark creams. Looks like threads I would have in my sewing room!

Here are all the little spools so far!

 For most of the months, I made 5 spools but I originally was going to alternate the layout from 5 spools to 4 spools. Not sure what it will be in the end. I may need to make one more purple and one more red. They are just too cute!

I'll play with the layout when we get closer to the end of this year's challenge! I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday over at SoScrappy.

So I had this dilemma that I mentioned above...low volume doesn't work well for night sky stars so I needed to pick another color for The Milky Way QAL. Way back in January, the color of the month was purple. The purple I used for my star was a very pinkish purple. 

So I decided I would make another purple star using deep purples. 

Here is Polaris!

The patterns and designs are available from Blossom Heart Quilts. 

The 6th block in Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along is Wash Day! I love this block and how it reminds me of the agitators on my grandma's and my mom's wringer washer.

I linked up to Grandma's Kitchen Sew Along over at Pat Sloan's blog.

Do you remember my 15 Minutes of Play blocks? This is what I decided to do with them. 

Using this pattern I uncovered in my sewing room, I resized it to fit my 'Play' blocks (which are 6" and the pattern called for 4"). I still used 2 1/2" strips to border the  'Play' blocks and make the star points which will result in the center of the secondary stars to be 4". I felt that there would already be plenty of negative space without making the strips larger. My blocks finish at 14". 

Stay tuned to see how my August goal turns out!