Where does the time go?

 Once again, I have been away from my blog longer than expected. Time just seems to get away from me. We did get away for a long weekend camping! It was my grandson's first camping trip! It is always nice to escape for a while. 

I have finished and delivered the T-shirt quilt, named Unforgettable Moments, to the graduate! This girl (and her family) is very dear to me/us! She is now off to college! Praying for safety during this time.

She had so many t-shirts from all her activities...school, soccer, volleyball, camp, etc. I can use so many more t-shirts and vary the sizes by doing the puzzle format. It gets a little tricky and small filler pieces are used to make it work. 

It has been a strange year for graduates, but I wanted her to feel special cuz she is!

She wanted neutral gray to offset the bright and varied colors of the t-shirts. 

The backing is an almost solid gray I found in 108" wide so it required no piecing! The binding is gray and white houndstooth from my stash. 

I quilted in a diagonal straight line in the body of the quilt and a elongated diamond braid in the border. Finished size is 64 1/2" x 74"

Yay! A finish!

I also finished putting together the top for the 2019 Quiet Play Pattern Club! I had to rearrange the blocks from the original layout to get a better color balance.

I really like how this quilt came together...the picture blocks and the text blocks! Hard to pick a favorite! It is now waiting to get sandwiched and quilted (behind a couple of other quilts) 😆

I joined the Morewood Mystery Quilt with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. This month the cutting directions were released and I finally got the pieces all cut!

I'm ready to start sewing the first clue in September. 

I'll leave you with this cute camping picture!

Small progress in the sewing room

I'm still here in case anyone was wondering! 

Since the end of May, my life has significantly changed and although my time in my sewing room is limited, I have been blessed with having my grandson (and his mom and dad) living with us. 

Adjustments and routines are starting to get more established. 

That's a good thing!

His swing was hung up this weekend in our neighbor's tree right next to our house. His smile says it all!

(we don't have a large tree so our neighbor gave us permission) 

Filling some BIG shoes!

Walking along a local park's lakefront.

I DO have a few quilting things to show you. 

The blocks for the Covered in Love charity were announced in the beginning of July. As usual, these blocks are red, white and blue stars! Any kind that you want in a 12 1/2" unfinished size. 

Here are mine for this year!

 Below is the graph paper design process I used based on a 9-patch.

These blocks were made from my scraps. 

July also brought a new color for the RSC and that color was dark blues. 

Here is my dark blue column

and all the columns together!

So far we have had 2 greens, 3 blues, a pink and orange. What will be next?

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday over at So Scrappy. 

A couple of other projects that I have been working on are the t-shirt quilt for a special graduate. I had a bit of trouble getting more interfacing to stabilize the shirts but now they are all cut and puzzled together. 

I added a 2" gray border and it is ready to be sandwiched and quilted!

I mentioned working on Elvira (quilt pattern by GE quilt designs) back in April. 

It is almost done! I found enough time to sandwich and quilt it. I also got the binding sewn on and now I'm hand stitching it down. Hopefully, this will be a finish sometime this week!

My 'I Spy' quilt is also waiting to be sandwiched. And the Morewood Mystery Quilt has started! Learn more at Meadow Mist Designs. Are you joining? I am! It was so much fun last year!

A Long Absence

With all the best intentions, I did not expect to be gone from blogging for so long. After school was out, I was excited for summer and time for quilting. I did do some sewing but I also embarked on trying out some natural dyeing. Before I knew it, my hubby and I were headed to the PNW for 10 days. We had a wonderful time hiking in the wilderness of the North Cascade Mountains. 

It is beautiful in the mountains with lush greens and many wild flowers.

After we got home, we had 3 days to get ready for our grandson and his parents to come for a week. We were very excited as we had not seen him in person (Face Time is wonderful!) for a while. 

What an incredible visit we had over the week of July 4th! Our grandson is growing so fast! He is in the stage where new discoveries are happening daily. He is a very curious baby boy!

He loves the water and already takes swimming lessons. 

(with his Morfar and daddy)

We took a trip to the zoo! 

(with his mommy and daddy)

(with his mama!)

Happy boy!

(with me ~ Mormor)

Now I have a few days before our youngest daughter comes home for 5 days. I really needed to get some of the monthly blocks challenge blocks done before I fell too far behind. 

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, July's color is pink. Here are my blocks.

Waterfront Starburst

Reverse Star Block 

I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday over at So Scrappy.

I also was able to complete 2 blocks for the Covered in Love Charity. Kat of Kat and Cat Quilts took off May & June to catch up, but the July/August blocks are Red, White and Blue stars. 

These blocks are 12" finished. 

Here are some pictures of the quilt I gifted to this newly married couple on their wedding day. 

Purple Passion

And here is the graduate with her T-Shirt quilt! All smiles!

One last picture because I can't help myself. I just love this little smiley face!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

A finish and some slow progress

After a very busy end of the school year, I finished the T-shirt quilt that I was commissioned! The top was finished in the beginning of May but then it was on hold for a couple of reasons: I needed to complete the charity quilt for the Hands2Help project that I committed to making, I was waiting on the fabric order for the back and binding, and school was hopping at the end of the year so I was working almost every day!

They chose a grid style quilt. Gabby likes aqua blues so I used those colors for the sashings and border. 

The backing is an aqua batik.

Finished and delivered in time for her graduation party!

Then I realized, it was June which meant a new color of the month. I headed over to So Scrappy to find that dark blue will be the color play for June!

Here is Waterfront Starburst in dark blue with a low volume in blue. 

Here are the 6 blocks so far for the 2019 challenge!

And my Reverse Star block.

And all 6 together! 

Little by little I'll catch up on my monthly blocks!

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday at So Scrappy.

In the meantime, I was determined to do a little bit of hand dyeing of fabrics. I started with some avocado pits. Would you guess they turn your fabrics pink? 

Avocado pits and skins. 

The avocado bath.

The apron I dyed with the avocado bath. 

The pink yardage is a bit lighter.

I have tried citrus peels but didn't get much color. It turned a very pale yellow. 

I have learned that natural dyeing is a lot of trial and error. 

I'll try a bit more but we will see if it is worth the time.

Now I need to catch up on my Quiet Play Pattern Club blocks!
Linking up to Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

What Have I Been Doing?

I unexpectedly took time away from my blog but not from quilting!

Recently, I was asked to do a commission quilt by some friends from our church.  It is a T-shirt quilt for their daughter that is graduating from HS. I don't usually take on commission work but decided to go ahead. I knew I would have to put aside my personal projects except for the quilt I was making for H2H Charity ~ Jack's Basket in order to insure that it would be done for the graduation party in June. I met with them to look over the T-shirts and determine the ones that would be included in the quilt. We also talked about style of quilt (puzzle/mosaic verses grid), colors and size. I also gave them some resources to look for sashing, borders, backing, and binding fabrics.

I set out to determine the size of the blocks based on the largest logo and cut and stabilize the T-shirts. They decided to go with the 4 x 5 grid style quilt with sashings and borders. I have ordered the backing and binding fabrics so we have a little lull in this project as I wait for delivery. 

In the meantime, I was able to sandwich and quilt my Ribbons of Joy quilt for the Hands 2 Help project hosted by Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I'm quilting for Jack's Basket. Yesterday, I put the final stitches on the binding and threw it in the washer and dryer for the some crinkle goodness!

 Since I backed it with flannel print from my stash, it is so soft.  

I love the primary color scrappy ribbons and the cute bug flannel backing!

I quilted straight line along the edge of the ribbons and in the negative white space, I quilted a loose weave pattern. 

The binding is a red and white stripe fabric from my stash. 

This quilt finished at 36" x 40"

It is ready to be sent off to Jack's Basket and hopefully bring joy to a special family.