Lobster Dinner New Year's Eve Favors

It has really been a long road back to the blog. (5 months on the road will do that) Travel put me off on blogging, yet I did do a lot of stitching in The Rectangle (RV name). Here is one of the things I completed while on the road

The kitchen towels for New Year's Eve. Martha Stewart kits I bought at least 4 years ago when then were on sale. So, 16 of them all done by hand embroidery with machine embroidery wording "Crack Open a New Year 2017" and on the back my tag: @sewmdtx
This whiled away a lot of hours as I co piloted The Rectangle (did not work on them when I drove The Rectangle) and evening hours too were kept busy with the project. I love how they came out, so fun.
Our family and friends New Year's Eve dinner (we have lobster and Dom) was really great with a photo corner w/the nifty instant camera pics. OK so all that is old is new again. I so remember my Polaroid from back in the day when they were "new" and this brought back to be "new" again is just as much fun. A few pics from the evening:

Happy
New 
Year
2017

RV play

It has been about a month and we have been on the road in our RV. A great trip so far, but no quilting even through I brought some to work on. It is not as easy as it might be. I can see it in my mind, but then we get busy with site seeing and then it is wine time and then it is play Petanque time and then it is dinner time and then it is well, to late to quilt. A little knitting but very little on a hat. We have seen a lot of beautiful country from Texas to Montana. Fun and travel with my honey, does not get more wonderful. A few pics of various things...just fun stuff. I hope to quilt on this trip, will let time and place make its own way.

Destashing Goes to LWR and Now On The Road

 Lutheran World Relief gets some more of my stash. Calvary Lutheran Church \Women of the ELCA (Richland Hills. Texas)  godshearthumanhands.org  have set a goal of 500 quilts and kits for the year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This will be almost double what we did last year but it is doable.  Here are two I completed before leaving on extended  Motor Coach trip

This is the end of the material used to cover some cushions many moons ago and some really dark green. Check it off the stash list.

I have had these floral fat quarters in my stash for ever. I really don't like to sew with floral so getting to move this on brings me a lot of pleasure. The pattern is a Villa Rosa Design, Cloud Nine. I got the pattern free during a shop hop a few years ago. It was the perfect fit for the floral and muslin I had. This is an easy, fast pattern and all the floral is now going to find a new home and make someone very cozy.

Charity sewing fills out nicely the need to move fabric I know is not in my future. If you have any 10"or10.5" squares of fabric you want to move on let me know, maybe we can help you with that.

Blessings as summer is in full swing and we are on the road for the next few months. I post fun facts about this at www.livinginarectangle.blogspot.com  I did bring my machine and a couple of projects, will see how that goes in the Motor Coach (RV). I always bring lots of handwork/applique but the first time for the machine. Hmmm we will see.

Behold, cube laid flat

Looking around to reduce stuff and the cube made so long ago for a challenge is just that, a challenge to do something with it.

Group with challenge finished...me and my cube

Seam ripper and a few minutes later it is laid flat. The blocks are quilted so something simple to reuse them is on the agenda. Yep, those nap mats for MQG is always a go to for blocks needing a new purpose. Stash diving for material to get the top done and voila a nap mat top.

Lots of color and just the right size.

Not too exciting however it will b used for good. I love when I can have double the fun with blocks. I also like that there will be a little less stash.
Happy Fourth of July, may you celebrate all we have and hold dear.  I am off to make a peach cobbler to add to our celebration. God Bless America and each of you.

Nap Time Quilts

Nap time at the Center for Transforming Lives daycare centers is a focus for our Modern Quilt Guild. I took some time to give thought as to what was in my stash to make a couple of nap mats. The fun panel and boy helicopter fabric was just waiting for a child to lay their head down for a nice rest.

 Echo quilting was the quick and easy way to get it done. I love the fanciful characters on this panel.

detail of fabric, a fun helicopter pattern. Blue camo was a perfect companion.

Front or Back?

Back or Front?

 It is great to use stash to do a quick and easy project especially when the projects will go for a great organization doing serious work in the community to lift up women and children.

Another Border on the Rainbow

It is nothing super earthshaking. It is a border. It is separation from what is next and while I have my concept of what is next it is only that. I must take the concept now and free form it into what I can see in my mind's eye. For now the rainbow quilt is this far along. I like how the V and Co Simply Color ombre from Moda  gave the deeper colors in the inner border and the lighter on the outer border.This fabric line is absolutely on of my favorites. Off to see if bluebirds will fly...

Morning Coffee View and Discovery

Each morning I can I sit on my patio to sip my coffee and contemplate the world. My world from the patio gives visual as well as audible hits of what is out there. Miss Kitty (I know he is a he but all my cats are called Miss Kitty) sits with me and contemplates the world too.  Today the baby squirrels were going wild in the trees chasing each other, talking to each other and making the other fall out of the tree coming crashing down only to run back up and start the chase again. The crows were very loud calling to each other, the male red bird was chirping "all is safe at the feeder" to his mate and she came to eat while he stood guard. Rain has been going on for a week here so all is very green and foliage abundant. My and Miss Kitty views:

Kitty and me bringing in the day

 Then...looking across I see a white dot in the railroad ties and walking over I discover the most beautiful, delicate white mushroom...Wow, where does a white mushroom come from?

Really, really cool. 
Have a great weekend and my you find your magical mushroom. I am off to the sewing studio now to find some magic for sure. 

Rainbow Border 3 - Geese Flying

My Modern Quilt Guild round robin quilt got its third border. Flying Geese!  Flying geese are not my favorite thing to make but I love how they look. I knew I wanted a border with them but could not see myself making a gob of them to ring around as a border let alone with any of the methods that never seem to work for me. Paper piecing seemed my best bet so off to the internet I go and found a wonderful pattern  by Patrice Trnka Adams and it fit the need perfectly. http://www.forestquilting.com/paperpiecing_free/paperpiecing_free_pdfs/flying_geese_placemat.pdf
I made each color run and then decided to keep it simple by using 4 of the runs.

Second border "color trail"

Testing the geese flight

Geese Flight now in orbit

I like the simple and easy flow and I'm glad I did not try and go overboard on the amount of geese. The clean lines make me happy. Wonder what I will put next? Borders are harder than one would think...hmmm...

Finished UFO

Last blog was the Bag It Tag It of a few UFOs to take to the girl's retreat weekend. I always over estimate how much I will get done so the bags yielded only one finished. The opening of the bag is the easy part and then the hard part of remembering what I intended to so with the contents. Had to get my mind wrapped around the vision from over a year ago and what I thought I might have when finished.

 I had seven star blocks from our Modern Quilt Guild block of the month I have blogged about in 2014. I had a crisscross pattern I thought gave a good grid. stars 12.5 unfinished/grid blocks 12.0 unfinished as lay out began it was the coping strips that had to be set in and everything fit somewhere. This is always my favorite part of the process when I have to use math and visual to get a finished product. Fun for sure. After much setting, sewing, not liking, ripping, setting, sewing and finally happy with the look the top is complete. Quilting will be fun as it gives a lot of lines to play with.

looks wavy at top but that is design board waffle. It is 47x60 and will be fun to finish. Now to open the next bag of UFO delight. Hope each of you reading this have a fun and fabulous UFO bag to open.

Bag IT Tag IT Ready to Sew

Putting it all in the bag makes an easy pull for those UFOs in my studio. Ok I must confess that this was part of my studio clean up finds. Cleaning the fabric cubes some UFOs were hidden in the back but at least they were with all the fabric and pattern. I can get distracted by another project and they must run and hide from me? Note to UFOs, you can run but you can't hide forever. Here are two I found hiding. Now I know why I saved those zipper bags from the sheets I bought, they are so wonderful with a pocket in the front of the bag to put the pattern and super roomy. These two are going with me this weekend for the girl's quilting retreat weekend. I now have other bags created to put cut ready to sew charity project pillow cases; cut ready to sew Lutheran Worth Relief (LWR) school bags;  LWR cut and ready to sew 10.5" blocks for quilt tops; and who know what else will need a bag.  Organization is a wonderful thing (as we all know) and organized takes less space in the cube... just a little more time to get the organization started and continued. It's a good thing.

This was started for a paint chip challenge...orange

 

 

This was selected to use some 12" star BOM