Focus for the Week

We have had a 4th of July party for years at our house because we live a block from the high school where they have a beautiful 1/2 hour display and we have a movie theater view from our front lawn.  When we sell our house, that will be listed as an amenity!  We always provide the main dish and drinks and the attendees bring the side dishes.  An annual croquet tournament ends the evening before the fireworks and everyone goes home by 9:30.  This will be our last one (because we will be moving at the beginning of May) and I am so hoping the heat breaks a bit by then.  We have a small house and I count on our front porch and lawn to accommodate our overflow of guests which can reach 20. We have a great time heat or no heat-it always works out.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be filled with cleaning house and prepping for party but I will have some time for sewing.  Last night I went on the internet and found the last addresses I needed for my Home Sweet Home quilt-so when I get my Babylock back from the dealer I can embroider and then put on the swags and that baby will be done! I have been trying to find the address of the house my parents lived in when I was born-it FINALLY occured to me to look on my birth certificate and there it was.  Both Greg and I lived on Nile Street-1 block from each other when we were born. However, HSH won't be this week because I don't have my embroidery machine.  The young lady that I am doing the tree for has not responded to my e-mail yet so I am going to finish Your Love is Moosic background.  I got the border squares finished and attached to each other yesterday-ready to add to the quilt when the center is finished.

Last night I finished the drafting so now I can cut the applique pieces the right size:

Your Love cartoon

The handwork once I get the appliques done (I am appliqueing by machine) will take a while-I have plans for this wall hanging.  Thank-you Mary Lou Weidman- This one is really fun!  Have a blessed Sunday!

Went on the San Diego quilt run today with 4 friends after water aerobics at 7am.  Too much fun.  I didn't spend much money (under 40.00) and got a modern looking angel quilt pattern

 and 1/2 yard Kaffe Fassett from Starry Night Hollow in Leucadia, some 1/8th yards for Dear Jane at Fat Quarter Quilt Shop in Vista, and 1 yard of a flowered batik

 at Quilt in a Day in San Marcos.  We ended the day at Annie's Quilting Den which isn't on the run but has some of the most beautiful fabrics and innovative designs.

I fought the desire to take a nap when I got home and finished the first block of the quilt along (15"), then I finished most (4 more to go) of  the rest of the border blocks for the Your love is Music to My Ears quilt.

I had planned to lay out the AfA block like the one on the left but changed my mind when I rearranged the block.

I don't normally care for a BOM type quilt but I like the design of this one from Michele Foster.  I used the Dragonfly ruler by Wendy Mathison to mark the 1/2 square triangles and it worked great. 

Anti-Procrastination day

I don't usually sew for a commission.  When I first retired I thought I would make my spending money by going to craft sales and doing Etsy.  It didn't take me long to realize that route was not for me.  I still have some of the items I made for that endeavor.  My friend Debbie does those things and loves it and she is making a nice little business out of her skills.  However, I am 10 years older and I want to spend the time I have remaining making quilts that take time and no one could afford them if I were to put a price on them. That all to say I did accept a job 3 months ago and because it is difficult, have put it off.  Yesterday I jumped in.

There are 2 parts to the assignment: a tshirt quilt made from very small college tshirt that have already been cut up so that will be difficult and a large tree with leaves that people signed with a greeting and a name at my friend's daughter's wedding.  The tree had been sewn on with white thread and the edges were ragged.  The leaves were rather in a mess so ironed the leaves with Best Press, then ironed them onto a fusible stabilizer so I can trim off the frayed edges.  I then satin stitched around the whole tree and made note of the time spent and materials used.  I sent pictures to the owner and told her what I wanted to do from there which is to change the original birds, add a colorful border, and embroider their wedding date on it as well as adding a double sided fusible to the leaves and then blanket stitching them down.  The tree is a very cute idea.

Original Tree with leaves

Ironing leaves onto a thin fusible web for stability

Satin Stitching tree edge-covered the white thread and made edge look finished

Sending pictures to Alison about some stylistic options-the binding needs to be a different color but it shows how adding a print to the binding would really show off the quilt

Original birds look rather dingy to me-asked if I could change them for a brighter blue-either the blue with hearts or . . .

The Kaffee Fasset with blue circles and green dots-also, i think the bride and groom's names and wedding date should go right under the fork of the tree

I worked almost 4 hours on all of that so I didn't get anything else done yesterday.  But felt really good that I got this started and have a direction to go.
4 hours, 1/2 spool of Embroidery thread, 3 bobbins of thread, 2 yards of Pellon fusible web

Aiming for Accuracy Quilt Along

I mentioned Michele Foster's QAL a few days ago and I have her Quilting Bloggers button in my right column-just want to remind you that the first lesson starts Thursday and it is not too late to join.  Looks like it will be a fun 4 months and there are over 300 quilters who have joined from all over the world.  Check it out if you are interested.  My fabric choice is :

Same fabrics as in my Home Sweet Home except the black-anxious to see the difference it makes

Michele has lots of fun things going on at Quilter's Gallery-the QAL is only one of them.


http://quiltinggallery.com/learning-center/aiming-for-accuracy-quilt-along/


This is the design of the quilt:

 

No Pics Today

Today I did several small things on multiple quilts.  I had sewn together a few tarts at night while watching TV so i hauled out the Pies and Tarts quilt that I had put away, Sewed on a third row which had all the Pies attached and glued the tarts in place.  This took about 40 min. and now I have several weeks of nighttime handwork ready to go.

Then I Blanket stitched down all the glued pieces on the cow quilt which took about an hour. I rolled it up and put it away for the moment.

Lastly I took about an hour to put together 3 more border blocks for the cow quilt.  Tomorrow I am going to work on swags and start a wall hanging that needs to be done for a friend's daughter.  Feels good to at least feel organized:)

Ranting Helped

Whew!  Just getting all my anxiety down on the blog this morning helped me to focus and get busy.  I realized that the Aiming for Accuracy quilt has due dates once a week-I am going to save Thursdays for working on it until done.  I can do that. My first assignment only took 1 1/2 hours and I love to cut so it was fun.

My due date for Home Sweet Home is mid Sept.  I have time to get that done.  I worked on the Your Love is Moosic quilt today-what a blast.  This quilt will have a lot of things added to it but I got a big chunk of the body done today-still need a ewe, corn stalks,  musical notes and 1/2 a border to have the basics-that is all that needs to be done before I go to my class in July.  I am going to get that done this week and blanket stitch it down on my machine-then I can start playing with all the fun things and get it done before Sept 1.  The time just flew today because I wasn't following a pattern too closely and so was able to stay in that right brain:).  I don't think I have any left brain left-that is what Greg is for.

Since I am fashioning this bull to represent my Harley driving husband-I think I got the legs right on!  The hooves will be sewn down on the border so the bull escapes the box of the quilt a little. The black is the start of his Harley Jacket. The legs, body and ears are all Kaffe Fassett fabrics

The vertical borders are the Hoochy Mama blocks, the horizontal are the plain squares-they will have writing and an appliqued vine on them.

 Originally I thought it was going to be 24x36 but it will be closer to 56x58 so, I had to dismantle the side borders and add some blocks.

Lots Done-farther behind!

I have friends that can limit themselves to one quilt at a time.  How do they do that?  I was so excited to get Galaxies finished and my plan was to then hurry and complete Home Sweet Home (which is on my design wall):

I need to finish 24 swags-I have 8
completed for HSH

 And then Michele Foster from Quilting Gallery has a Quilt Along for a beautiful quilt that she designed:

 

 And I had to join it.  She has great tutorials and I thought I could use all the leftover fabric from Home Sweet Home-

Materials chosen for Aiming for Accuracy Quilt and background fabric cut and marked (in baggie)

so, I really was economizing and being a good steward over my materials.  Well, maybe over my materials but not over my time because, you see-I am taking the Mary Lou Weidman 2 day class in a couple of weeks and I wanted to get the top constructed to the Cow/sheep wall hanging I am making to go into her Cow quilt show (for my husband's and my 44th anniversary).  I have been making Hoochy Mama blocks for the border waiting for the book  to arrive that has the cow pattern in it (Out of the Box with Easy Blocks).  I have found that cutting and hanging borders and binding behind my door on my shoe rack/supply holder saves me time and keeps me from losing them-One and a third borders done and all corner blocks complete.

Hoochy Mama block making area

Fabric for cow quilt center-One wild cow quilt!

So, it would seem that I have inadvertently started 2 more quilts without finishing what I needed to finish-this isn't even counting the 2 pieces I need to do for actual money or the bedroom pieces for my sweet granddaughters.  YIKES!!!!!!!!!  I need to join UFO Anonymous.  I think, today, I will clean my workspace, make another priority list and pledge to sew 3 hours a day for the rest of my life!

2014 Opportunity Quilt

I am almost done with my square for the quilt.  After the workshop I have 6 kits to hand out to ladies who want to help at the Back Country Quilter's meeting on Wednesday.  I thought if we got all the pieces ironed under (freezer paper method with starch) and glued onto the background fabric it would be easier to get people to help sew.  It seems to be working=people took them as we were working on them at the quilt store-nice!

Still need to embroider some swirls, sew down 1 leaf and 6 berries-the squirrel eventually will have a black button eye.

Lastly, I spent a few hours on one side of the border for the Mary Lou Weidman inspired quilt that will be totally my own design-well except for Mary Lou's cow,  My "Your Love is Moosic to my Ears" quilt.

Left or right side border - the 6 square blocks are4.5 square with a 1/2" sashing on both sides-Star is 5.5 square and will be on each corner.

One end-orange is not a color I usually use but this wall hanging will be hung in the fall because our anniversary is in the fall-so orange works!

Left end-will have a star added

My border is much more restrained than Mary Lou's -not sure I can totally cross over-but I am going to try to at least put a toe over the line. This quilt is going to be fun!

Wonky Stars

I have been working on a block for the 2014 opportunity quilt so I can be done with my part until all the blocks come back in and I have to assemble the top.  Today, however, I wanted to finish the wonky star blocks for Julie of Quiltdivajulie.blogspot.  I went to Bonnie Hunter's blog and she had a tutorial.  The colors are right and they are stars so hopefully she will like them.

6 1/2 inches

4 together would be a finished 12" square-I like the secondary pattern-this may be something i will do later for a quilt. These are supposed to be semi scrappy so I didn't match opposing points.

So, I am getting some things off my plate-Yes!!  I ended up making a 12 1/2  inch square as well with no blue in the background squares-put it in the mailer without taking a picture.  Now she has a choice.

Applique Workshop

Spent the day at The Crazy 9 Patch working on prepping blocks to hand out at Back Country Quilters for the 2014 Opportunity quilt.  Only had 2 ladies show up but all the others are working on blocks at home. I got one prepped and glued down-just needs sewing.  Carolyn is finishing hers at home and she got 18 maple leaves handed out and gathered back finished-way to go!  Emily finished a block as well so all in all a very productive day.

Carolyn

Emily-a new member of Back Country Quilters

Carolyn brought back almost all of the Maple Leaves-The house was turned back in finished.  I love the colors in this quilt!

Ready for Sewing!

Martha getting buried in her work-the quilt run is next week

My peacock color wheel

I see wonky beautiful stars in peacock tones on cream.

I am making a block for Julie at Quiltdivajulie.blogspot.com.  She is turning 60 and wants 60 stars to make into a quilt.  She had a peacock for her color choice so I took my IPAD with the peacock enlarged to the Patch today and laid the Pad next to the bolts in the store and found some beautiful fabric for the wonky stars I am going to make on Sunday. The cream is the background.

Galaxies Done and Labeled

Spent the morning with friends as we quilted Galaxies at Quilter's Paradise.  I am doing a UFO challenge and the first one is due tomorrow and Galaxies is it.  I basted on the border so I could share it last night at Friendship Quilter's Guild so this afternoon I need to sew on the front side of the border and take out the basting stitches. Glad to be moving on to something else.

Today I am going to the San Diego Safari Park to walk with my husband then we have haircuts in Escondido-we are both a little shaggy.  I have The Comforters prayer quilt meeting tonight so won't sew today-maybe get 4 more swags ironed down.

Made the label with the embroidery module on my machine-fabric is Kaffee Fassett joined in the middle.

really liked the stars and swirls-chose black thread so it wouldn't show too much on the front

Starting scalloped and embroidered borders

Got 8 of the 24 red borders turned and ironed on Sat.  There will be 4 of six different reds that are already in the quilt. No sewing on Sunday-visited a friend from our support group who has been in the hospital a month waiting for a heart.  He is stir crazy-he also happens to be our insurance agent.  We were quite surprised when he walked into our support meeting a month ago.  I am anxious to get HSH done now that I am getting close.

Quilting Galaxies today at Quilter's Paradise-yay!

Beauty and Check next to the last time

At the retreat this last weekend, I got the verse that matches my "Galaxies" quilt.  The backing is pieced and cut and the top is now officially done now that it is square. Whew!  Will be quilting it on Monday at the quilt shop where I rent the automated longarm.

Galaxies AKA Beauty and Check

Rested, Renewed, Repieced

Why don't I pack the motorhome and take the 20 mile trek to Julian 3 or 4 times a year instead of once?  I always come back in much better shape than when I leave.  I have time to sit and listen instead of go, go, go.  I have started an inductive study of the book of James.  I decided to make my own study sheets which means typing out the whole book.  What a blessing just typing the word of God.  He spoke to me so powerfully.  At the Women's retreat I was doing a devotional that I finished in Julian. I ran across a phrase 4x while doing the devotional about relying on strong horses.  I said, "God, what does that mean for me?" The next day I pulled out my day 4 of my Names of God devotional by Kay Arthur.  God is amazing-it referred to a verse that had a "relying on strong horses" phrase and Kay goes on to explain what that phrase means-which is relying on ourselves or anything else that isn't God.

Theme: Defending the faith

Mari, Penny and ?

Sarah (worship leader), Mari (pastor's wife) Gail Mays (speaker)

Adrienne and Sarina

I got it, Lord.  I have been trying so hard to get us moved closer to our granddaughters that it has caused some stress between my husband and I.  When I came home and told him what God had showed me, he opened up and we had a good talk about moving.  It ended with him going to look for blankets at garage sales.  I am always amazed when God knows me better than I do-I shouldn't be but I am.  What a good daddy I have!  I know we are going to move-I just need to get out of the way, pray more and speak less:)

I got the top of HSH done and the borders drafted.  Been working on it for over a year.  I recut and pieced the stars in the middle block and didn't hardly lose a point this time-my skill level has improved exponentially. Now I can start on the swag borders and know what I am doing.

Motorhome workspace

A perfect studio on wheels

Beautiful weather and campground: William Heise Park in Julian

Home Sweet Home middle of quilt-it will have addresses of all our SD residences embroidered around the edge and then beautiful red swags appliqued under the embroidery-it is getting close!

I also took apart the checked borders on Beauty and Check and restitched them.  Now that quilt is square.  Feels so good to have gotten all that done!

On Monday a special friend left us to continue eternity with Jesus in heaven.  No more sorrow, no more bad health days.  She was eating popcorn the week before, got dizzy, threw her hands up and her heart stopped. A week later they took out the tube that was keeping her alive and with her family surrounding her, she left us.  I will so miss her. She had very little in worldly goods, but she had a heart you could park a semi in. She loved me, prayed for me and made me laugh everytime I talked to her.  She was a street person for 30 years until she gave her heart to Jesus.  For the last 12 years she shared what He had given her-joy, love, herself.  I hugged her a couple of weeks ago and said, "Carole, what would I ever do without you?". I am going to miss her so much.  She was only 61-reminded me to keep short accounts, hold Jesus close, make sure I tell those I love how much they mean to me.

Glad to be back home, missed my hubby and our puppy.  She turned 1 on the 4th.

Lizzy LOVES frisbee-she will be a good camper.