Guild Swap - Fort Worth (TX) to Capital District (NY)

 I participated in the guilds swap this month and had so much fun with mine. I love this pattern I just did as my own design....Create is what we do as quilters. It is simple half square triangles that finish 1.5" and paper pieced letters. Quilting radiates from the center where I see the heart of all we do as quilters starts from...our hearts. Loved doing this for my swap partner Judy who had as favorite colors blue and brown. 

 

 

Cat in the Pumpkin Patch Table Topper

 Needed a new and quick table topper to be fallish. Here is the material I had on hand:

pumpkins and what I saw as pumpkin leaves. Now to make a quick topper for breakfast table. I use the one hour runner method, like here:

one hour runner

Final out come is just what I needed. 

done and company was not far behind the finish. I love a go to pattern that you know the outcome and can "whip" it up fast. And a small kitty is in the pumpkin patch.

Happy Fall ... go and make a quick table topper.

Using Strange Things to Make Something

 These are practice "sandwiches" I used for free motion quilting. They are  string pieced from Halloween scraps and serged around the edges. . Very colorful and I just could not toss them. These jewels have been hanging around for a couple of years and today I decided to do something with them. I needed something for the patio table outside to be fun and I thought "HEY these are fun". 

I used a zigzag and simply butted them together and joined. No plan just random draw putting them together 

It does brighten up the table                                                         Fun for the wine

Looks like a bottle of wine when I see this pic. 9 Strange Things gone from the sewing studio and now ready to host a bottle or two of wine. It is not a piece of perfection, but I like it for all the imperfection. Happy Days ahead.

Stitching Has Been Going On

 Yes I have been having fun in the sewing studio and traveling a bit to Colorado, Arkansas and Texas areas in our RV (livinginarectangle.blogspot.com) and some in our Vanderhall auto cycle.

We love the road in our Vanderhall and have so much fun seeing the faces of people when we are in it. When we stop at places we always get curious people gathering around it. It is fun to be free to have fun.

 

Now a few projects in the works:

Baby quilts gifted to friend who now has her first two grands!

College bound granddaughters got their quilts!

#quiltbuzzbingo  Loved using stuff from my stash to get a fun project done.

And then there is other fun ways to use stash and have "potato chip" sewing...You can't do just one.

The pink is a curved project I am working on. I do love curved piecing and had not done much for a while so nice to be back in the curve.

I do have a couple of other things in the works but no pics to throw up on the board. Hope to have some soon and you can come back to see me and what they are. One is for a swap our modern guild is doing and one is for a charity quilt. 

Until next post, keep doing what you are doing and have fun.

Trunks Are AbSEWlutely Off to College

And now these 2 grand daughters are off to college. Wow now have 3 granddaughters and one grandson in college, one granddaughter in New York City working and one granddaughter married. One grandson is in high school. Two great grand daughters are keeping us all young. This is a fun time for all the family and seeing each grown to be a blessing to the world is indeed a joy.

 

Hole Punch Ribbon Quilt

Had a great time at the virtual workshop with Jenny Haynes doing the Hole Punch Ribbon Quilt. Thanks to Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild for hosting the workshop. Check out Jenny's quilts, workshops and patterns. pappersaxsten.com

Two Quilts ready for border

Quilt top number two is ready for border.  I like the blues

Quilt top number one is ready for border too. I like the way the purpleish colors blend

Face Masks Made

I finally made some masks for us. Glad I am not making them for everyone I know. Easy enough but not exciting to sew. This was the one by Leah Day with her tutorial on her web site leahday.com 
I like how it fits but husband found it way too small so I had to adjust it overall to get him one that fit. OK I can check this off the list.

Trunk Quilt number One is Now A Top

Getting close to needing the two trunk quilts for the HS grads  Got the first top done and the second is about a day or two close to being a top. I love these and they have been so fun to make. So the first one:

The pattern does not call for anything below the last quilt but I am going to add a row of the dark to the bottom if I have enough...not sure I have enough so it may just be the silver. I would be OK with that as I really like the shiny silver. NO matter all with be good and the granddtrs will get a quilt.

Unity Quilt by Bonnie Hunter

So far the quilt had maintained its square....Round 4 of the Bonnie Hunter Unity is on the wall. I like it and it has been so fun to do. It has reinforced my skills of accuracy and getting to know my sewing machine quirks better. A lot of quilts I do in the modern vein do not have the same accuracy needs as this type blocks. Both modern and traditional are a very creative outlet but traditional, in my view, takes a lot more accuracy for those points in all these stars. I love using up all this Christmas material for a great new quilt. Ready to do some more flying geese for round 5. 

Unity Quilt with Bonnie Hunter #3

The small 4 1/2" unfinished 4" finished squares are done!!  Yes that was a lesson in perseverance. I can get a bit bored with the same thing over and over, but one piece at a time gets the job done.  I love how this is going and how is it a great way to focus for whatever time on something other than what all the virus stuff keeps me from doing. Fun Fun. 

Display Board for Postcards

I participated in a postcard exchange with the Quiltficion Club Facebook group. It was so much fun to get those cute cards. I made the ones I sent to highlight the bluebonnets of Texas.

 I thought it would be nice to display the ones I received and begin to look for a way to do that. I loved the shadow box type of display I saw on many sites but I did not have the frame needed or the right wood to make one and I did not want to spend any money on this project. I knew there had to be something in my sewing/craft room to make this happen. YES I saw it as I walked into the room leaning against the wall behind the ironing board. A large portable ironing board pad that I got in 2003 at the Martha Pullen sewing expo. It is quite large so I do not use it.

A perfect size, a perfect background and easy to work with. Pins, ribbon, clips make the magic happen. It worked out just as I imagined and it does exactly what it was designed to do. 

I love it. 

I enjoy seeing them displayed and there is room for more. 💖

Playing with Background

Starting to play with background. The grey looking is really a very shimmery and shiny silver. Have not settled on anything yet, just playing. Lots of time to play when  being home is the only option. Nice in a way to be on lock down, but then I think of all the places not doing business and not making money for themselves or employees and it makes me very sad.

Unity Quilt-a-long with Bonnie Hunter

My quilting group (7 of us) are all but one, who our cheerleader, doing the Bonnie Hunter 
Unit Quilt-a-long. This is the first week and each Monday there will be another part of this medallion style quilt. The center block is now done using Christmas fabric I had in my stash. I like it a lot and can absewlutely see how fun this will be. www.quiltville.blogspot.com

Trunks Get Applique

The truck quilts are going along well and now all the applique is on them. It is fun to design what colors will be used in applique. Applique is probably my favorite handwork and I never get tired of needle turn. This applique was tuned and glued to foundation made for applique then machine appliqued using invisible poly thread. I love how this thread works and looks. So easy!! and fast. So now to get the background cut and moving forward. This stay at home as been good for getting these done. Blessings to each of you as we together work to keep us all safe.