A Finish

Wow I can hardly believe it... I got some stuff done and I actually have some pictures.  The quail is done. 

Then I cut squares to make HST for another UFO I'm trying to finish. 

And of course you need to draw lines - did I mention there are 320 of each color.  

Here is the pattern lay out - 

The feature blocks below go where the dark gray squares are above.  

Today we have another appointment, then I will come home pack up my sewing machine and tools, do a little food prep for hubby and tomorrow will start the first retreat.  

Have a Blessed Day!

Lynn

Not A Lot A Sew'n

Yes I'm sure that I have entered the twilight zone.  It's been over a week since my last post and I'm not sure what I've done.  It's almost scary that I had to go back to my daily calendar and figure it out.  :) :( 
Okay now that I've had the confession hour - I did get the last couple of blocks fused for the "Christmas Card" quilt. 

I am taking this to the retreat that starts on the 22nd to do the top stitching.  It was my One Monthly goal so I better get going on it.  :)

So where has the week gone... little things here and there and then the day/week is done.  

Monday I fused the blocks. 

Tuesday we cleaned our carpets. They look so nice now. 

Wednesday - Hubby had a Dr. appointment then golfed. I cleaned up all the scraps of fabric I had laid out everywhere for the applique in my sewing room.

Thursday - Hubby had a blood work and another test, then we went to breakfast and we napped in afternoon. 

Friday was charity day at the cottage, and then some hand stitching  Saturday was our monthly Saturday sew we have, and we invited a couple of new people since a few ladies have dropped out - 

Meet Sandi

We like her a lot and just found out after only being here for a couple of years she is probably moving to PA.  :(

Meet Beverly - she was the sweet lady that brought Ice Cream for the Pizza party for my grandson.

This month our theme was sandwich fixin's and salad.  Yummy.  

We set up our next few months of dates and themes.  In September we are going to have Fall type foods.  Annette offered to make Butternut Squash soup.  

October will be Halloweenish finger foods.   Fun.

Sunday was cleaning day - hubby's brother was coming in on the train at midnight so needed to finalize all the cleaning for his visit.  

We also did some grocery shopping and errands. 

We napped of course any other night we could stay up but when you know you have to be awake at midnight.  LOL

Monday again - we were all pretty tired.  Hubby golfed, Frank went over to their other brothers house and swam and visited and I did a little bit of this and that.  Worked with computer,  cooked dinner, and fused a cute wall hanging that I'm giving to my Sister and Brother in law to go with the bear quilt. 

It's a surprise - if I can keep it a secret.  

Well with the retreat coming up I also packed my small machine up and put some other things in the bag to work on.  I always pack enough projects to last me 3 weeks and there are only 4 days.  Ha ha.  

Retreat starts Thursday afternoon.  There are a couple errands to run and of course I'll do some cooking for Jer (Hubby) and Frank his brother to have while I'm gone but then I'll be there and having fun.  

I'll try to update you before I go but if not - I'll show you the projects and their progress later.  

Have a Blessed Day!

Lynn 

Summer Stitching

The last few days have been about slow or no stitching.  Thursday was CRQ guild meeting and lunch out with the girls.  Friday was charity day for SNR guild.  We cut backings, batting and binding for quilt tops that had been donated.  We wanted to get them kitted up to hand out at our next meeting as it is the last one before summer break.  We got 14 ready, Cheryl and I each took another one - like I need to do more.  lol.  After we got that done I did a little hand stitching on my Summer Wool Table Topper.  

Yesterday was our monthly Saturday Sewing day with a few friends and I worked on it some more.  I have all the applique done.  Next time I work on it I will start the decorative crazy stitches that go between each section.  

Today I have some more organizing to do. My sewing room isn't where I want it to be yet so there will be more work on it, but before I start on that, I want to put a little time into the stain glass stash I was gifted.  We unloaded it into a pile in the garage and that is where it has stayed.  So little by little I need to address getting that organized and still work on the sewing room.  I'm hoping there will still be a little time left to sew the last couple of rows and the sides on to my Bee Quilt.  

Hope you find some time to do what makes you happy too.

Blessings,  Lynn

2016 the 10,000 Foot View

Welcome 2016

Here's a summary of what I would like to do for the up coming year.  I will write another post to recap my monthly goals for December and what goals I have fFr January specifically, however this is the "10,000 foot view" to capture in general what I want to do this year.  I will also be linking up to "Tuesday Archives" with Val.  Thanks Val for hosting this all year.

I've seen where people have a catch phrase or word for the year - Well this year one came to me and I wasn't even trying - so I guess it's the word for me.  :)

More

It really was strange how it just came to me - but there it is.  So what does that mean for me? 

1.  More - Diligent.  I want to stick to things.  I'm a great planner and starter - but I want to be a better finisher. 

2.  More - Faithful.  That can sound bad, but it's not what you may think.  It kinda builds on number one.  I want to stick to what I start.  I want to be faithful to what I start and see it through. Also, I want to be more faithful to dig into the word of God, be more faithful to consult God and what He wants for my life.  And lastly,  be more faithful to blog about it on my other blog.   

3. More Present.  I am so very guilty of looking forward and planning so much that I don't enjoy what I'm working on now or who I'm with.  I get too wrapped up in what I think needs to be done that I loose sight of what I'm doing right now.  So I want to be present in the moment of whatever I am doing. 

4.  More Finishes.  Well that one is a goal every year - but I'm hoping that with some of the other "Mores" I'm listing this one will just fall into place.  Hey a girl can hope can't she?  And if I'm over 50 can I still call myself a girl?  I guess so - my blog my rules.  :)  

5.  More Creativity.  I want to step out of my box and create more.  I had a pattern published locally this last year and have been told they will accept more I just need to create them.  So I definitely want to create them.  

There are so many things that will fall under each of these 5 categories - and the "plan-a-lotamus" in me doesn't stop - but I'm hoping to reflect on this list and have it help me stay grounded and focused.

Here are a few of the items I'm wanting to start, finish, progress on and work with in the new year.  

Finish

Finish "Daisy Day's" Quilt

Start this. 

Make this. 

Start this.

Make progress on this.

Finish Quilting this. 

Make progress on this. 

Make progress on this Wool Crazy and Ark Crazy.

Quilt this. 

Wool Felt pattern I designed.  Create More Wool Felt patterns.

This top is done just need to quilt. 

Need to quilt. 

Needs to be quilted.

Needs to be quilted.

Want to make progress on this.  "Porch Time" Quilt. 

Want to make progress on this. "Folk Art Gathering" Quilt. 

This was a charity quilt - I want to make 4 this year - 2 for each guild. 

Not pictured - but want to work on Christmas and Birthday gift items a little each month so I'm not so frazzled in November.  :)  

Make serious progress on my "Woodsy Quilt" that I'm making for my Sister and Brother-in-law.  This is one of two bears that will be the center of the quilt.  

This is just a scattering of all I really want to do -  I have embroidery, wool applique, needle turn applique, UFO's and quilting that I want to do for the year.  But I hope it gives you an idea of the range of things I want to accomplish this year. 

You'll have to come back and visit each month to see how well I'm doing with all of this.  

Have a Blessed Day - 

Lynn 

Stars and Stripes

What does Red, White and Blue mean to you?  That was the question that was given to us as we were starting to design our challenge quilts for the February 2016 quilt show.

(Zoom in for detail)

When I started my challenge quilt many months ago, it was just a quilt block I had wanted to make and figured I'd add some "Red - White and Blue".  But as I was kicking it around with my Sister, all the sudden I came up with a bunch of things that this quilt represents for me.

Red, white and blue, first and foremost mean United States of America to me.  It means that I was born in the best country in the world.  This country is symbolized by our flag with stars and stripes, which is the outer borders of my quilt.  God Bless American written in those stripes is to remind us that this country was founded on the principles of God.

The center of the quilt means so many things to me. When I was first getting into quilting I was invited to join a group that got together once a month to make a primitive quilt.  I didn't like primitive, but said I'd come check it out.  They were making a quilt called "Sweet Land of Liberty" by Cheri Saffiote Payne.  Well I gave it a try and soon loved it.  It's applique - just different.   We used cotton, homespun's and wool.  Wool - yummy colors of hand dyed wool.  It took me almost 3 years to finish that quilt but I did and it was great.  Here it is.

As  I was making  the  Sweet Land quilt I kept saying how I didn't like crows. My Mom had always told me they were dirty birds and I just didn't like them.  So to get by putting them in the quilt, I would call them black birds.  But I had a friend Sharon, in the group that loved crows.  She wanted crows on everything she did.  And over time with her enthusiasm I learned to like crows too.  

So when I look at the center block of my challenge quilt, I see both my Mom and my friend Sharon with my crow.  The watermelon reminds me of a summers day picnic. And of course the USA Flag. 

And it's done in wool applique - which I love.  I really can't work with wool without thinking of my friend Jolyn who got me started in wool to begin with. And it reminds me of all my sweet friends that I would sew with several times a month working with wool.  

What does Red, White and Blue mean to me.  It means USA and despite current events is still the greatest country on earth. 

Have a Blessed Day

Lynn  

September Goals

Well August was kinda a bust in some ways - I did not get all the things done that I wanted to and as I stated in my other poster here- the retreat was not as productive as I had anticipated. I took about 5 projects to the retreat knowing that I wouldn't get them all done,  but thought I would get maybe 2 1/2 done. Nope that didn't happen . If you want to read about it you can click the link above.  But it is September and since it's already the 3rd and I haven't blogged, wrapped up August or listed September goals I am starting out of the gate behind.  I have had a lot going on and I do want to share some of that but I'll save it for another post.  So with no further ado - August wrap up.

1. Blog more - Well I tied with July so I guess that's ok - E for Effort
2. Mystery Monday - Complete it.   A+  Done and using alot.  I've always wanted to make one of these and let it intimidate me so Now I'm happy I did it.  :)

3. Woodsy Quilt - Do a new Block and or Redo Bears - Well No Progress but E for Effort.  I found a pattern that will work perfect for the center Bear Block and I am going to alter it so that there are two bears instead of one.  So I did some work on it all - I just didn't do any work on an actual block.
4. Wool project "Bethlehem" - Finish .... No Progress at all.
5.   Finish quilting the Sea Turtles and then start on Bee Hive Baby.  1/2 done.  I finished the turtles and then took the Bee Hive Baby to the retreat, however as you can read in my other posts, I didn't finish anything at the retreat.  :)  so only 1/2 done.
Here are the Sea Turtles -

6. Embroidery - Vintage Kitchen - Done.  I was able to finish this on our little trip we took at the first of the month.  Yay!

7.  Piecing Project - Chocolate Stars - Finish top - Success finally.

8.  Charity -   Nothing new done.
9. Boutique -  Dolls in a Bag - A+ -   And probably a big reason why some other stuff didn't get done.  :). Also I went helped out for a day at our local quilt shop.  They had a bunch of stuff dropped off and donated to them so they had a give away day.  At the end of the day I volunteered to drop the remaining stuff off at the local senior center and found out that they are having a craft fair at the end of October.  So now instead of gearing this stuff up for the February quilt show boutique - I am going to enter the craft fair - see what I can sell - and then replenish for the boutique.  Here's a peek at some stuff I'm working on.

I have more on this later but I've been making these little pillows and blankets and they will go into the little bags that are above.  :) 

10.  APQ - UFO Buster #2.  It was my wool crazy and ark crazy projects - No Progress.
11.  New projects - Start my challenge quilt for the quilt show.   Goal Met -

It's not sewn together I want to finish the hand stitching on the center wool applique first.   But I definitely got a good start on it. 

12.  New Project - Start and get most of the SNR Guild project that I'll be teaching in October done so I can show it at the September business meeting.  - Goal Met!   Pictures on this later!  

I have the pattern drawn, 2/3 of the directions written and 1/2 of the project stitched. 

13.  Complete the rest of the Row by Row that I was going to use for the bench pillow.   No Progress. 

Okay so here's the Tally for the month.   5 Goals met,   1 - 1/2 met 1/2 not,  2 E for Effort and 4 not met.   So 7 1/2 to 4 1/2  - the scale is slightly leaning towards the met side  -- ha ha  :)  

Okay now for September

1. Keep on with Blogging more. 

2. Embroidery - The last block for Vintage Kitchen.  Then I can work on assembling it. 

3.  Finish the SNR Workshop project.  - I will post pictures of this in a later post.  It is a small wall hanging that is done in wool felt. 

4.  The Bears.  Using the pattern pictured above I am going to do one the way it's pictured and one reversed so that there are two bears.  I would like to have this drawn out on a vinyl over lay and *extra credit * if I can get it traced out on the fusible. 

5.  Work on projects to sell at the craft fair.  

It seems like a short list - but knowing how much time each of these things are going to take along with the fact that both of the guilds are starting back up this month and there will be extra time spent on that too, I think it's enough.  

I have a lot of things I normally like to incorporate into my monthly sewing - but if I get all this stuff done and want to do something else I probably need to do more on the bear block.   My sweet Sister has been waiting so so long (maybe close to 3 years) for this quilt - I really want to give it more attention. 

I will keep you posted as I work on things this month and see how good I can be at staying focused. With both guilds starting up I know there will be new projects and as much as I say I don't want to start new things - I get sucked in.  :)  

Have a Blessed day! 

Lynn 

UFO Buster

Now that we are home I'm already planning my attack on my monthly goals.  The first Monday of the month All People Quilts announces the random UFO buster number of the month.   This month is #1. that project is  "Henrietta Whiskers".  

I don't remember exactly when I started this project, but it was offered as a free block of the month from Bunny Hill Designs. 

Well I've always wanted to hand piece a quilt and I think I came across this about the time that we were selling our house.  So since I had most of my sewing stuff packed up in the garage, I thought this would be a great quilt to try and hand piece.  Hmmm.  :)  Anyway I will continue on by hand. 

 I am using a combo of wool and cotton and needle turn applique.  

Here is the beginning status of the quilt -  I have two blocks done. 

I will keep you posted and let you know how much progress I make.  It is #6 on my July goals.  I didn't list how much progress I need to make - but I would just say any progress because I know I will not finish it.  Just sayin'  and being real.  

The funny thing about these UFO's they get lost - and then when you pull them out you can get excited about them all over again.   I wish all these months that I've been doing this I was finishing each one - but it's not happening. 

Well anyway - we need to buy groceries - the cupboards aren't totally bare, but the fridge is, so I guess if we want breakfast tomorrow, I better go tonight.  

 Have blessed day - Lynn