National Dog Day!

 Today is National Dog Day! 

I have some special dogs in my life that I would like to recognize. We rescued our dog, Nellie in 2013! She is a very smart and obedient girl! We love her so!

Nothing better than lying on the picnic quilt!

Miss Sadie is my grandpup and lives with my daughter and family. She is a sweet, cuddly girl that loves to chase squirrels!

Milou is my grandpup that belongs to our oldest daughter and her husband. He is timid until he gets to know you. He loves to be dressed up!

I would be remiss to not mention my grandpup, Ole. He was a sweet Frenchie that survive many trials in his life. We loved him so much! 

RIP Ole

And finally, the quilt I made titled Dog n' Quilt. I made this quilt in honor 

of all the dogs that 'bomb' a photoshoot! 

This quilt was made as part of the 2018 RSC challenged and was donated to charity. 

Linking up to National Dog Day @quiltfabrication.

August: Vacation, Quilting and the End of Summer

 My husband and I were able to get away for a fabulous and much needed vacation to Colorado. We spent time relaxing, hiking and sightseeing! There is no end to the beauty of the mountains! To see pictures from my vacation you can visit me on Instagram or Facebook. Here a taste of the beauty!

Since I knew that I would be away for the start of the #30daysofimprovqal, I worked ahead so I could post on IG. The first week of the challenge was stripes. The goal is 5 blocks each week made using the daily prompts and improv cutting and sewing. 

Week 2 was playing with polygons

Now that I'm home, Week 3 has been completed but I will save those for another post. 

I also worked ahead on my RSC blocks! August color is ORANGE!

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy

I brought my 4 New York Beauty blocks that I finished with me to Colorado to do a photoshoot 'in the wild'. These blocks were designed by Elizabeth Eastman of OP Quilt and were free on her blog. I always wanted to try some New York Beauty blocks and this was a great opportunity to get started! I love them!

On our way home, we made a stop in Hamilton, MO....Quilt Town USA! I would guess that every quilter has heard of the Missouri Star Quilt Co. and Jenny Doan. I had never had the chance to actual go and visit. Here are a few glimpses from the town.

My husband is a good sport and supporter of my quilting! ✂️

Since this post is getting so long, I'll be back with what I have done since coming home to catch up! 😉

Purple sewing for RSC

           July's color for the RSC is purple! After I finished my Sweet Summer Strawberry quilt, I had time to pull out my purple scraps and work on my RSC blocks. 

My Hang Ten block and the bonus Squiggle blocks in purple delight!

And my gray and color of the month block (no name) in purple. 

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

I also finished 31 9-patch blocks in red/white for the Oh Say Can You Sew QAL.

I'm linking to Off The Wall Fridays @Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever, Finished or Not Fridays @Alycia Quilts, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilts, Friday Foto Fun @Powered by Quilting, TGIFF@Lisa in Port Hope.

It is time for the next mystery QAL with Meadow Mist Designs, Melodic Mystery. Cheryl sent out fabric instructions for July. This is my fabric pull. I decided to go with Christmas fabric since I have so much it wouldn't required a fabric purchase! 🤣

               I also decided to pull out a WIP that I had put aside for a while.                  Not quite a flimsy yet but I'm hopefully that it will be soon!

What are you working on?

Oh, My Strawberry Quilt!

 I finished my Sweet Summer Strawberries Quilt! 

The strawberries are all made from pink or red scraps from my stash. The green fabrics for the leaves, the border and the binding are also from my stash. The red dotted fabric for the backing is also from stash. The only fabric that was purchased was the strawberry fabric for the pieced back and some additional Kona White. It makes me so happy when I can use my stash with positive results!

The pattern is Strawberry Social by The Pattern Basket. It is machine pieced and mostly FMQ in various patterns: small loops with red or pink threads inside the the strawberries. Larger loops were FMQ with white thread outside the strawberries and even larger loops in the outer border. Curls were FMQ in the first white border and straight-line quilted around the strawberries and elongated zigzags in the sashing between the strawberries. With green thread, I FMQ leaves in the strawberry leaves and straight-line quilted around the stems. I also FMQ a string of leaves in the green border.  

This quilt finished at 53" x 66 1/4"

The photo with one of my strawberry plants!

And a bowl of fresh strawberries! Yum!

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilting, Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting and Learning, Brag about Your Beauty @From Bolt to Beauty, TGIFF @chrisknits, Friday Foto Fun @Powered By Quilting, Off the Wall Friday @Creations, Quilts, Art...Whatever.

Quick Update

         I'm dropping by to give a quick update into what I've been working on.                   I did a bit of sewing for the 4th of July this year. I made some small flags and put them on a ribbon to string in my windows. 

I used scraps from my stash to create them. Each one is approx. 4.5" x 6.5" and the blue corner is 2" x 3". I sandwiched them together, then sewed around the raw edges. I also quilted straight lines in the stripes. I also used them in a small white box with my table runner and flags.

For my monthly sewing, I made my 4 blocks for the Stash Buster Challenge. I choose to make the blocks in purple this month which is also the color for the RSC blocks (which I haven't made yet.) 

I have been slowly working on quilting my strawberry quilt. 

It should be done soon if I get some more time to devote to 

quilting. It has been a busy time helping my daughter 

with the kids!

A new month means a calendar journal finish! 

Here is June (my birthday month!) 

Hope to be back soon! How is your summer going?

My Secret Sewing Reveal and Other Things

 I have been very quiet here on my blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing! I actually started and finished a bit of secret sewing. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my reveal reel. 

My daughter and SIL finally gave me an idea of what they wanted for their wedding quilt. We have had much conversation over the past year but when they told me they liked this pattern and the colors, I started right away. 

I ordered the pattern, Banner Day by Heather Black and some Kona cottons. I did change the colors a bit from the original pattern. I used Kona Prussian, Ivory, Natural, Shell, Seafoam, Yarrow, Raffia, Black and Snow. 

When I first looked at the picture, I wondered 'How do you make this?' But after reading through the pattern, I found that it is cleverly constructed to give the layered look and that it wasn't as complicated as it looks. Of course, there is a bit of curved piecing and some long straight piecing!

the picture looks like the quilt is not straight but it is just not smoothed out

                  The quilt is all machine pieced and machine quilted. The quilting                                    was inspired by the beautiful quilting by Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl                                  and her post about the quilting she did on her recent                                                   Garden Peony Quilt. I used several of her tips                                     and invaluable advice. The quilting is 1" apart. 

This quilt has an modern feel yet 

also a mid century modern feel...so I named it Modern Mix. 

The backing is pieced with a coordinating print and Kona solids.  

The binding is Kona black. 

My daughter and SIL, happy with their quilt!

The finished size approx. 60" x 72"

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts and Friday Foto Fun and Favorite Monthly Finish @Meadow Mist Design @Poweredbyquilting

In other quilty news, I finished 4 blocks for the Stash Buster Challenge.

...and 31 Ohio Star blocks for the Oh Say Can You Sew Mystery QAL. 

I have a few more projects in the works. Hopefully it won't take so long for the next reveal!