I finished the Fabulous House barn last night by stitching the last cow. The barn got finished Sunday and half of the left sunflower on Monday then yesterday buckled down and finished it all. The new pattern, Lighthouse, was in the mailbox, so technically I didn’t “have” the next pattern yet. Each one of these houses has taken almost four weeks for me to stitch, although I still enjoy doing them, I am always complaining about the solid-ness of them. So many stitches, so little time, well that’s not really true I usually stitch for an hour or two a day. To my credit, I have not had time to start a new cross stitch project since starting this giant sampler. Nor have I bought any more charts, (think not) I certainly don’t need to do that.

Since yesterday was a HOT day I stayed inside and sewed a few things together. I pulled the Washboard and Sage triangle baby quilt (lacking a proper name) off the frame and got bindings on them, and for the final huzzah I bound the Morning Glories quilt. AND I finished weaving in all the ends (64) on the Good Morning blanket. Along with the Paisley Fizz quilt finish on Monday, I feeling pretty productive. I ordered four backing pieces yesterday, Missouri Star had a decent one day sale, for some of the tops in the TBQ pile. This time I made a note to myself so I don’t get the fabric and scratch my head wondering why I ordered this stuff.

The last two blocks for my Simple Days quilt got put together this week too. I need to do the embroidery and appliqué, but at least all the blocks are finished and the backing is ordered. I am thinking of pulling out the Shiny and Bright Christmas wreath piece I embroidered a few years (7/2019) ago. I have a little stash of pink and turquoise colored winter themed fabrics that go with it. The pattern calls for a border of pinwheels and a solid outer border for a wall hanging.

Also in my shopping cart this week are two throw size kits, they were both 40% off. I figure I can’t buy the fabrics and patterns for that price, so why not? They are fall themed, one is a pattern from Denise Russell and the other is from Cluck Cluck Sew. I think I may have enough scraps left over from the All Hallows Fig tree line to make a second quilt from this pattern. It’s cute and scrappy, and everyone likes pumpkins. The third quilt pictured, a panel user, Grand Central, from Sentimental Stitches. It uses a peacock panel that I have in stash also. Pretty sure I have enough coordinating fabrics to go with it to make into a throw too.

The Memory tee shirt quilt was picked up, and will be a graduation gift this weekend. The Dad really liked it, and I had made them a different one a while ago, so I think we’re good:)

With all these finishes I am itching to start something new. I’ll be “good” and pull out a UFO and start something new. I did open up the pattern, Enchanting Stars from Jacqueline De Jong – Be Colorful Quilts . It is unlike any pattern I have done before. The format is very different from the one that Judy Niemeyer/Quiltworx uses. Similar in the separating segments and such into baggies, but the charts and organization methods will require full concentration on my part. Id like to sit down with it and read through it a few times before diving into it. Maybe I’ll like it better, or maybe I can combine the two different ways into one better one. Check back on that.

Be Kind.

Do it again, but better. A second chance for this quilt top came this week. I started it on July 24th 2021, so if I can get it quilted this week it’ll be a three year UFO project done. The problem with it wasn’t that it was put together, but that it wasn’t the quilt that matched the pattern. When I sewed the blocks, I used solid colored fabrics and white. It made cutting the triangles and rhomboid shaped pieces a lot easier to assembly-line cut, very little waste. However when I chain pieced them together, I made all 80 blocks the same, there are supposed to be 40 A blocks and 40 B blocks. They are supposed to mirror image each other, well I thought I would just make a new layout. I sewed them all together and the top sat for almost three years in the TBQ pile. I found a backing for it recently and got it all set up to finally quilt the Washboard road. My DH walked in while I was basting the top to the backing/batting and said that the design looked like a symbol from WWII. Mmm, yeah, thats what I thought too, and it had been bugging me, but I thought once I got it quilted it wouldn’t be so obvious. If my DH noticed it, then it must be pretty obvious.

I took the quilt top back to the sewing room and separated all the blocks and then sorted out 40 of them to dismantle and re-sew. Tedious and boring, but you know, I am much happier with the quilt top now. I want to get it quilted before the 24th, and the three year mark, another UFO done.

In the finished category this week is the memory quilt. I was thinking about all the things that were not “easy” about this quilt. The tee shirts, the mix of fabrics, satins and flannels and cotton prints. The bead work, some rhinestones, little bows, some lace and pockets. All quilted to a Minkee appliquéd backing, what could possibly go wrong? It all worked out, I learned a little, and I think that having the right equipment and a little experience with using it were the things that helped make this work. Where would I be without a few Youtube videos and tutorials to help me? I ended up binding the quilt by cutting the backing one and a half inches wide than the top and double folding it over to the front and sewing it down. It is such a soft binding for a cuddly quilt.

The Barn grew another sunflower and a cow, I think the barn building fairies are skipping me. This morning I saw a new Long Dog Sampler, Love at First Sight. I must resist. I have too many other charts and cross stitch projects already. I was just thinking about the Consider the Lillies piece that has been up-staged by the fabulous houses. So many projects, so little time. Oh! I did finish the Good Morning blanket Wednesday night. I am about half-way through weaving in all the ends. I also got/ordered more cashmerino yarn for the cutest baby sweater from Debby Bliss yarns. My rational is that baby sweaters are small and quick to knit. <insert eye roll> Yep.

Be Kind.

This weekend I am working on the El Camino/Summer swag quilt top. I started it about six days ago, with the star blocks. I thought the rest would go together quickly, strip piecing and cutting the 60 degree triangles was a bit more work though. Part of the trouble I had was not having full 42 inch strips of fabric to work with. Not all of my El camino scraps were width of fabric, some were FQ. A few of the triangles were made using individually cut trapezoid pieces, which can slow one down a bit. I put out all the blocks as I made them on a spare bed and then the floor, because my design wall wasn’t wide enough. As I made the blocks I was careful not to have the same combination of prints/strips. Also not to have the same fabrics touching – flashback to kids in back seat “He’s touching me!”. As I was sewing them together, I thought that I might like to fill in the zig-zag side borders. I figured out a size diamond to cut, and since I have a few yards left of the border print, I am going to use it to square up this quilt. I am trying to come up with a name for it, it reminds me of the flamenco dancers dresses. Flamenco is a Romanian or southern Spain thing, but also Mexican, and the fabric print is more Mexican influenced. Maybe Mexican fiesta quilt?

The Barn house project has been sitting in the field. I have been sewing x’es sporadically. I am finding the red rows of the building monotonous. I have to keep telling myself that each row is two stitches less than the last one. I think it should have a name, red house syndrome, how many samplers have a red house in them? The Heaven and Nature sampler had one (took forever to stitch) and the Pet all the Dogs one too. This Fabulous Houses sampler is all houses, should have thought of that six months ago. I made another cow, maybe I ‘ll do the right side sunflower next.

I am almost done with the Good Morning blanket, about one and a half more rows to go. Then I’ll have a weaving ends in session or two, there are 64 ends to weave in, yuck. I think I’ll have time to knit a few pairs of booties before the gifting in August. When I got the blanket kit, I was looking for knitted booty patterns, and the yarn was shown also used for the blanket. So I bought a separate selection of the yarn for the booties. There are a few yards of each color left over too, maybe a hat?

The Memory Tee Shirt quilt is on the frame and the quilting is going along well. The client picked the panto Kaleidoscope, and luckily for me I already had it in my collection. This quilt is a bit of a mixed bag of fabrics, satin, flannel, knit tees, and cotton prints. I also left a few pockets in place to make it interesting. There are some rhinestones and flat beads too. Those were a bit tough to stitch around, I thought the stitching was going to miss the flat beads, but ended up breaking a bead and a needle. The pockets I am able to use the masking feature on the computer to not stitch over them. The appliquéd Minkee backing is holding up well too. I attached it with the selvedge edges on the leaders, so the stretch is parallel to the bars. This makes the panto run top to bottom through the words on the back, but since it’s non directional and the quilt is square, it’s not a problem. I think I am going to bring the minkee to the front to bind it.

Be Kind.

I lost at playing thread chicken this past week. I was getting down to the last motif on the Strawberry/paisley fizz quilt when the Finesse brand spool quit. Luckily, I had a similar color way of Omni, no one will ever know :).

The Fall foliage top is together and I like it. I was thinking of quilting it with a raindrop panto because it reminds me of a puddle with autumn leaves in it. The purple sort of looks like asphalt to me, in a good way, the darkness against the colorful leaves. After finishing the foliage, I decided to pull out another pattern from Krista Moser, called Summer Swag. This one also uses the 60 degree diamond rulers. I still have a bunch of fabric from the Nancy Rink line called El Camino. You may remember the El Camino BOM, from a while ago, and more recently the Wall Flower quilt from 1/2022. There is still quite a bit of yardage left over and time for it to go. I started by sewing the stars together, a half hexagon, 6 triangle and two diamonds. What could be easier? I pieced and pressed and soon had the ten halves I needed. Only as I looked at them on the design wall, something bothered me. The yellow six pointed stars , oh no, not a design element that worked. I recently finished reading “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah, it is about two sisters during the German occupation of France. The book/story had an emotional impact on me, as one would expect, and those stars had to go. I took them all apart, and re-sewed them into multicolored stars. I am liking them much more now.

I stitched a bit on the Rose of Sharon blocks, and got another one done. The MinaB block did not get appliquéd yet, maybe today. The lure of the new Summer Swag top may supersede it though. I am feeling a little like I should get another block of Simple Days done too. What I should do is get the Memory quilt loaded on the long arm and stitch a Simple days while the computer does its thing. First I have to get the client to pick a Panto, I think they may be feeling overwhelmed with choices. I gave them a few search terms and sites to look for the designs, and haven’t heard back from them yet. I think I should have sent them two or three to choose from, I forget that not everyone is comfortable choosing quilting pantos. Speaking of, while I was running out of thread the other day, I started to sort all my digital designs with the new to me software. I have close to 2400(?!?) designs, and its gonna take some time. Thankfully it’s a “select, drag and drop” process, coming up with all the categories requires a bit of thinking though.

The next Fabulous House was released yesterday, the Light House. I really like it, and would consider making it as a stand alone piece. The Barn is growing, I stitched the cupola last night, and the outline of the roof. I think I am about half way done, the rectangle that forms the body of the barn is 36 rows of 70 stitches, which is 2520 little X-es. Phew.

Okay, enough writing, time to get sewing. Today is a stay home day, its blissfully cool and foggy this morning.

Be Kind.

This week is our second heat wave of the summer. I stayed in yesterday, only went out to get the mail and water a few potted plants before the sun came up. I got a lot done in the sewing room though.

I finished block 13 for the Message in a Bottle BOM. As I was looking for the next block, I realized I had more blocks done than I thought, and crossed them off on the white board, small victories. The next block, 16, is prepped and ready for appliqué. I think there are five more to do and various machine sewn accent blocks. All the fabric is here, even the backing, so I have no excuses not to finish this before 2025. I started this BOM in 2023, fell off the assembly line about half way through. Probably because I had too many BOMs going at one time. I can honestly say that I have not signed up for any this year. I want to finish MinaB before I start the Tilda birthday quilt. Which reminds me of another UFO, the Alzheimer quilt project, “Rose of Sharon” from Sharon Pederson. I have the Accuquilt die cutter for those flowers. I should un-earth the UFO, I found this video from 2010 (!?!) Sharon Pederson presents Rose of Sharon . It’s all coming back to me now, I have the book too, wow, I really should finish this.

The art bin has everything in it, the fabric and book, 7 blocks done, and two are stitched. I can’t believe how much I have forgotten about this quilt. It is machine appliqué and Accuquilt cut, easy and fast. I can’t seem to find anything more from Sharon Pederson after 2015. I have a bunch of her books and even took a few classes with her at PIQF back in the day. Maybe she retired, she was a very lovely person and a wonderful teacher.

I received the Mini Diamond Creative Grids ruler yesterday afternoon, and promptly got to work cutting the background pieces. I also measured the few I cut with my tiny diamond, and they were a bit too small. I guess I am thankful for my frustration, as I would have wasted a bunch of fabric if I had persevered with the tiny diamond. I got four leaves together before quitting for the day. They go together so nicely, the diamond point cutting off really makes lining the pieces up easier. Pressing the seams open too, is essential to not having piles of fabric at the intersections.

The barn-house got a few more X’s added, and the Good Morning blanket a few more rows as well. I also made a big bowl of potato salad for today, I’ll be attending a party later. This recipe is very similar to my mom’s tried and true one. The addition of vinegar is interesting, and I hope the flavors have melded overnight.

Be Kind.