finish and flimsy

just saturday finished the binding on this donation quilt....sized for infusion chair at the local cancer center....

started these repro bricks some time ago and decided to use them up and get 'er done!  UFO list down by another one....yay!  next up is a throw flimsy of these mod-type solid blocks which is now off the design wall and in the basting pile....

i've seen this pattern done in shades of red and blues/mauves/purples, both very stunning....i am working away on the solids pile so mine is scrappy....though the top half seems darker than the bottom, it's the angle/flash of the camera and in person the blocks are distributed quite evenly....a laid back sunday thinking of my dad, of course...and a bit of playtime with kaffe fabrics to be seen at a later date....

national sewing machine day!

thanks to those inventive minds who put ideas to paper to manufacturing and perfected the sewing machine! in honor of this momentous day, i've collected the girls so they can strut their stuff!

trudy treadle is the dowager countess of the group, claiming 1926 as her year....followed by phoebe featherweight, 1954, and our "cora"..petite and practical.  next comes the old viking from 1978...the stoic edith of the group and my personal favorite....last is betty bernina from 1992, the mary, meaning somewhat rigid and very particular!  i love and use them all.....and yesterday was no exception!  no quilting or actual piecing was done but first thing early morning finally got this chair seat covered....on my to-do list since late winter, so glad to see it finished....someone donated this lovely waverly scrap to the senior center...

then, since summer is here and vacation is coming, another pair of shorts got sewn up quickly....again, fabric a donation from the senior center....there's more if you want to make a pair! 

and lastly, a little project that has been languishing on the sewing table....from a recent magazine....someone gave me a zipper so it begged for a pouch...and some of those bright batik scraps got used!

this was easy peasy and very likely will make a few more.....so join in the celebration and fire up the machine and sew something!

just in time

with flag day arriving later this week, finished this little flag wall quilt designed by deb gehringer and appearing in the latest issue of  'quiltmaker' that arrived just last week! another totally scrap project from the stash.....this week hoping to get more sewing done with less items on the to-do list....the weather is supposed to cooperate with temps in the high 70s, which is a bit cool for us mid-june....and the vacation countdown is on!  can't believe it's been a whole year since i spent time with my family....

two down....

and 16 more to make....

this will be another charity donation for the guild...and per size specs, only 18 of these 12" blocks need to be made.   hoping it will reduce the overflow of the 1.5" strip tote but we all know how THAT goes, right?  this was a freebie pattern on the 'net...*** not as much sewing this week as hoped due to busy-ness, some travel and summer weather  (aka hot/humid!); also exploring ways to extricate myself from this unpleasant housing situation and an environment that is sidetracking my recovery efforts. just this week had another prescription added to my repertoire due to the air quality in the building...trying to eliminate some of them, not add more....grrrr!   with a busy weekend, looks like only snippets of time to sew until monday....and this is retirement????  

am i blue?

faster than Grant took Richmond--and can I even SAY that here in the not-so-deep south--this month's rainbow scrap challenge blocks were DONE!.....and challenge you say?

with a small mountain of  blue fabrics and even more already cut up scraps, it was no challenge at all....easy peasy!  along with sewing up these, worked on the cabana daydreams and got the patriotic wall quilt basted and ready to quilt....aside from a quickie, unplanned cardio visit, it's been a great week thus far with more to come....and the cardio blip?   let's just say even at senior age level, some people STILL cannot respect rules or their neighbors.....3+ years here and it's been a constant harangue and conflict....so much for the golden years, eh?  thankful i'm still alive and doing as well as i am in spite of my rotten neighbors.....

a smattering of sewing

just because i haven't posted recently doesn't mean i've been idle...on the contrary!  remember these?

this week have cut up nearly all the rest needed for this project....it'll be 54" square when done, large enough for a shortie like me....anticipate if the weekend stays calm, should be a flimsy by monday....

and cleared out a UFO drawer by getting this to a flimsy that'll be tied and donated to the guild's second community service project this year...and another will get crossed off!

with that one ready to finish, started on a second....pulled out the 1.5" strip tote--jam packed of course--to get the first block done...there will be 18 blocks in all, 6x3, per specifications of the charity....

and then the new 'quiltmaker' magazine arrived the other day and this little wall quilt caught my eye...with patriotic holidays ahead wanted to get it done by flag day, which would have been my dad's 96th birthday....oh, we still miss him and think of all the family changes since he moved on....

and finally, quilting continues on 'cabana daydreams' that is now about 3/4ths finished....thinking about binding color, but it'll have to be something in the stash....

wasn't certain about using the variegated thread but find that it is just perfect for this....so much so that my orange mod scrappy will be quilted using only the variegated (not green obviously)!  the box of aurifil variegated 12wt was a lucky door prize at one of their presentations at a local quilt shop....the 365 is now basted and ready for quilting once 'cabana' is done.....really delighted that i've made up for the detour of 2018.  the stash is reorganized and healthy, the UFOs are getting done, doing some new things and just plain old having quilty fun to the max!  feel so very blessed....life is VERY good indeed....

celebrate freedom!

regardless of who temporarily lives in the White House, our freedoms can never be taken away without ourselves allowing it to be done....presidents come and go and yet America lives on and, with our determination, will continue to do so.....and on this solemn day, thoughts are filled with names of many and thousands more whose names i'll never know for courageously stepping up and defending OUR America that cannot be erased by one man or one ideology.....

update....

a roving detective has provided the name AND correct location of the pattern....it's "chop suey" by scott flanagan in the 2015 may/june issue of 'quiltmaker'.....thanks! 

thursday's flimsy

recently a friend gifted me some batik scraps....such rich and vibrant colors!  i washed them and put them away....sorta....but kept thinking about them....and then came across this pattern...eureka!

this came from the may/june 2014 issue of Quiltmaker....if you can tell me the designer's name, i'd be grateful....i gave away the pattern without taking note!   the colors are much brighter and sharper in person....a great little project that shouldn't take long to finish.....

outta here!

today was the last DAR meeting until september and our annual picnic luncheon.  dora's quilt was raffled off and garnered a healthy sum for our historic preservation fund....here is the lucky winner with me....

happy to know it will be loved and well cared for and enjoyed....and for the opportunity to pay it forward for those who have been generous to me with fabric and quilty stuff.....thank you!   ***  summer is here it seems with temps hovering around the 90 degree mark....so have exchanged snow days for sweltering, equally suitable for sewing!