gang of four

it was a hilarious, fun-filled meeting of the minds yesterday at stashbuster marianne's house.....L to R are grace, marianne, barbara and nann....the stars aligned and we were able to meet in person to (ahem) bust stash?  LOL....after conversing via posts to the yahoo group for many years, nann and i met in person... she brought book goodies, marianne provided the necessary sustenance and barbara and i contributed our sparkling personalities!   did i have this much fun in my 40s?  i don't think so at all....driving home after dark had to navigate orange barrels and closed lanes but fortunately no deer jumped into my path, as so often happens in these parts.   so delightful to take advantage of this opportunity for who knows when it will present itself again....

monday design wall

in addition to yesterday's progress  post, before going to bed laid out the little kaffe pennant blocks, and early this morning fired up betty and got this small wall quilt together....

thanks to my pal marianne and her generous gift of some KF lights, this perfect border fabric was on hand and is exactly what kaffe might have chosen i'm sure...LOL!   wouldn't mind having more of this pretty print....always brings hester prynne to mind for as hawthorne said, "she loved beautiful things," a serious crime for a puritan. ***  have slacked off on my daily gratitude journal but so glad for God's gift of another day and another opportunity to try and live up to my name....

head start

july goals have been formulated and written down....june goals met--or almost--but time and tide don't wait so onward it is....the cabana daydreams is just about ready for binding so it'll get finished before vacation comes.  this weekend started on a july goal....this scrappy log cabin variation done in dark blues and tans....this will probably be a donation quilt and tied meaning a quick finish before fall arrives--or should be.  with steamy hot weather all week long and probably beyond, lots of indoor sewing time.

pattern found in american patchwork magazine, designed by annette plog....august 2018 issue.  here are my 12 blocks started....

also finished another block in THIS donation quilt that needs to be finished by october....

this pattern came from the book "no scrap left behind" by amanda jean nyberg....a great idea for any and all scraps...plenty of combos come to mind, any that would make it a winner!  lastly, finished up making stems for this project and have started basting on leaves....

would love it if this could be a finished flimsy by december and start the quilting in january of 2020, only about 20+ years since pattern was bought....i still love it tho and really does evoke new england for me....busy weekend half fun and half horror thanks to those selfish, ignorant neighbors of mine....even mister rogers would say so...

silly question

would you like some kaffe fabric scraps?  faster than you can say 'paper piecing' they arrived in my mailbox.   had been eyeing this quilt for some time....it's in "glorious patchwork" by you-know-who....

these are 6" blocks but mine are half that size....

in my solid stash are (were) 3 straight quarter yards of kaffe's shot cottons.  i never included them with other solid projects as they are not exactly solid/solid as warp and weft threads are different.  they just got repositioned and refolded several times...until today.   i'll make these little blocks until the shot cottons are gone and then decide on a pattern....so a heartfelt thanks for the kaffe scraps and yes, i can use them...LOL! *** steamy summer days and another medication tweak this week but things have evened out and chilling out in the studio....it's the best kind of R and R....

QOV

last thursday our guild once again awarded a quilt of valor....the worthy recipient is the husband of a DAR and quilty friend....

a retired Lt. Cdr. from the US Navy with a family heritage of many Navy vets.....these awards always choke me up as they display the sacrifice and service in such a tangible way....and even tho mother's day is long past, just finished up a gift for my mom...

a stack of these batik strips were another donation to the senior center, enough for this bag and a second one for me (not quite finished).....it was the first time i had used a fusible foam to give it body, which worked very well....so another cross off from the june list...what's left you ask?  guild challenge project, more civil war diary blocks and more cabana daydreams, which is nearly ready for binding....an orange batik is on hand that should add to the summery feeling of the quilt....

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.....