Love those pink flamingos

The flamingo pillowcase may be my favorite one so far. I just love those pink birds. The golf one turned out nicely too.  So, 2 done and 4 more partially done and laying on my cutting table waiting to be finished up.

Swirls, swirls, swirls

Over my lunch break I picked up 2 quilts that I had quilted at The Pin Cushion. Lovely as always!! This kid quilt has swirls done in a multi-colored thread.

The binding is made and ready to attach for this quilt so maybe this evening I can get that sewn on and start hand stitching it down on the back.  I'll set this as a goal for the week - to finish this little quilt completely.

The second quilt (Trip Around the World) will probably have either a scrappy binding or I'll use the backing fabric. I haven't decided yet which I want to do.  

Week 30 Status of the Stash

This was not a productive week in terms of finishing any sewing. I did some pillowcase sewing, but haven't finished them. I made one Saturday Sampler block, made several RSC15 blocks, and played with a couple of other little projects. But no finishes.  And I did pick up some background fabric to finish up one project and some other fabrics for cuffs for some more pillowcases. 

It's a hot humid weekend which would be perfect for sewing but I'm spending it with all 5 of my grandchildren, having some adventures.

In this week: 5 yds
In this year: 141.25 yds
Used this week: 9 yds
Used this year: 133 yds

Status of the Stash: Yikes! I'm now 8.25 yards behind my stash

Saturday Sampler

The big version of this new block is done and the pieces for the 6" version are cut and ready to go. And I have started working on the applique block for this month. The applique one is a great little project for the car since I'm doing hand blanket stitching around the pieces. And I'm going on a little road trip with my older daughter (and 3 kiddos) to visit the younger daughter (and 2 kiddos). We're leaving the husbands home to play some golf in the heat and humidity.

Pillowcase progress

Yesterday afternoon I got busy on more pillowcases. 2 are pinned into the "tube" and ready to attach the top cuff with seam hidden inside. 4 more have the cuff  sewn on and ready to add bottom and side seams. These will be French seams so there are no exposed raw edges inside the pillowcase. 

Lots of great tutorials are online for this technique for pillowcases and it's a very easy way to make them. 

Catching up with RSC15

Sunday was a great relaxing day. Breakfast on the deck with the Sunday paper, and then lots of sewing time with no interruptions, because my husband was playing in a golf tournament.  I put together several of the alternate blocks and sections for more alternate blocks. Then I laid them all out on the floor to get the big picture.  I am loving this sampler quilt.  We have a few more colors to add yet and I think brown or orange are 2 of the ones coming up yet.

Check out what other quilters are working on at Judy's Design Wall Monday: http://www.patchworktimes.com 

Status of the Stash - Weeks 28-29

I missed posting my stash status last week because we were out of town for a wedding and other fun activities. That included some planned stops at Black Hills area quilt shops for the Row By Row Experience kits/patterns/license plates.

I just knew that I would not be able to stop with only picking up those little kits. There is always something else I couldn't resist.  And I'm guilty of adding to the stash: some fat quarters, 2 yards of South Dakota themed fabric (more pillowcases?) and a big kit for a round snowman table topper. The table topper is going to be saved as a reward project that I'm not allowing myself to start until I have 3 more UFO quilts finished.

In my defense I've also removed some yardage from the stash by finishing my Round Robin, and making more pillowcases for donation and a baby burpee for a baby gift.  Last week I finished my round robin so that backing and binding counts too. And I have 2 quilts at the longarm quilter right now being quilted.  One of those is a UFO and one is a new project made completely from stash.  So hopefully there will be some bigger number coming off the total soon.

In this week: 16.25 yds
In this year: 136.25 yds
Used this week: 9 yds
Used this year: 133 yds

Status of the Stash: Yikes! I'm suddenly 3.25 yards behind my stash

Getting organized

No actual sewing occured this morning but I did spend some time organizing the pieces for some of the alternate blocks that I'll need for the RSC15 sampler quilt.  

The afternoon will be spent celebrating with family as my brother-in-law gets married.  Tomorrow however, I plan to sew some of these sections together.

More pillowcases

3 more pillowcases finished and 3 more yards of stash used. Well actually 2 yards of stash and 1 pillowcase kit.  Yay!

Round Robin finish

I finished the binding on my guild round robin quilt during the drive to Rapid City on Friday. I do need to add a couple of embellishments yet, such as eyes (buttons or beads) for Santa.

I just love the mix of applique, piecing, and embroidery. And the quilting is just gorgeous! Gold and cream thread with lots of lovely snowflake details.

A grand weekend

No sewing this weekend, but it was still a really good weekend.  I had lunch on Saturday with these 3 lovely ladies. My daughter Laura (on right) and I met one of her girlfriends for lunch in Hill City. We had a fabulous lunch out on the porch of the Alpine Inn. They specialize in German cuisine for the lunch menu.

Baby Jackson was sleeping in the stroller next to the table.  Granddaughter Sophia and I even visited the Hill City Mercantile quilt shop, where she walked around and imitated me as I petted some fabric. 

The rest of the weekend included attending a lovely wedding, playing some golf, swimming with Sophia, and just hanging out with Laura's family.  

Fabric origami

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with this little fabric origami flower, but it did turn out cute. This is a little different than the other origami flower I've tried. That one ended up on a miniature quilt. This one is about 5 inches across.

Another red block

Another block is finished for my RSC15 sampler.  July's color is red and it's my very favorite.  I cut the red and white squares needed for the alternate blocks too, so those are ready to sew into 4-patches.

No sewing happening this weekend though as we're spending some time with grand-kids, going to a wedding, playing a little golf, and (hopefully) stopping in a couple of quilt shops in the Black Hills.

Design idea

Cobblestones - love the name.  For a few years now I've been cutting bricks (3.5" x 6.5") from leftover "kid" type novelty prints I used in quilts, pillows, baby burpees, or pillowcases. I have quite a big stack but wasn't sure what to do with them . . . until today.  Cobblestones.

The bricks will be alternated with black and white 4-patches, and each column is flipped so the 4-patches are either on the top or the bottom.  So simple and the little black and white blocks will make a great leader/ender project.  If you haven't heard the term "leaders and enders", check out Bonnie Hunter's designs. She has lots of great ideas for creating whole projects using these pieces that we can run through our machine in between other seams so we don't have to waste thread by clipping and starting again with a tail.

And the best part is that everything will come from scraps and stash and this will be a great way to put another dent into that stash and the scrap bin.  

I got this idea from http://wyomingbreezes.blogspot.com/2015/07/cobblestones.html.  Thanks Nancy!

How many blades in a perfect circle?

I think every ruler I've ever used for Dresden plates has a different number of blades required, based on the degree of angles used.  And that is the source of my confusion.

Notice anything wrong with this one? Too many blades!! This is what I get for doing mindless sewing on random UFO projects.  These purple dresden blades were in a zip lock bag on my cutting table so last night I thought I would just quickly sew them together.

Well "quickly" turned into this ruffled mess, some time online researching the ruler I used, and then tearing out 4 blades.  Then I stitched the sections back together. AND - with a permanent marker I wrote "20 blades" across the top of that ruler.

I also have some short purple blades ready to make into small plates. These will all be appliqued onto a solid background for a baby quilt. I'm thinking yellow or lime green for that background.

Out of the stash

How appropriate!  My "scrap and stash" baby quilt is getting a backing pulled from the leftover backing drawer.  

This swirly print was a wide backing that I used on a quilt months ago. There was just enough left to use on this baby quilt if I pieced it.  So there are 2.5 yards more GONE from the stash. And there was enough of the green print for binding, so another 1/2 yard used.  I dropped the flimsy and backing off to be quilted yesterday.

Design Wall Monday - RSC15 block #14

Lantern - that is the block name for the 14th RSC15 sampler block.  This one was so easy and I just love the look. 

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge online at: http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/  This has been a really fun project this year. Last year I just did my own thing each month with the selected color of the month. And I made a large quilt from my pigtail blocks. But this year I'm making her sampler blocks each month. Plus I've done a bit of sewing on UFO items with that color each month.

HMMM - since this month is red maybe I need to see what I have in the UFO pile that has red. There should be LOTS of choices as red is my favorite color. 

Check out what other quilters are doing at Design Wall Monday http://www.patchworktimes.com 

Week 27 Status of the Stash

I indulged in some retail therapy this week along with some exercise.  And I added a 3rd Row By Row quilt shop license plate (The Pin Heads).

I had the week off so my husband and I have played 4 different golf courses with one more planned for later today. On Thursday we drove to Dell Rapids for golf, but our first stop was at Always Your Design quilt shop on Main St Dell Rapids. 

I couldn't just buy the row kit however because they have such a delightful fabric selection. So I picked up some fat quarters and fabric for 3 more pillowcases.  I will have a LOT of pillowcases to donate this fall. 

There was a small finish this week - a baby quilt made entirely from scrap and stash fabrics. So I could count 2 yards used. 

In this week: 6 yds
In this year: 120 yds
Used this week: 2 yds
Used this year: 124 yds

Status of the Stash: only 4 yards ahead of my stash! Yikes! I'm losing ground

Quilt inspector

My quilt inspector fell asleep on the job.  Isn't funny how our pets claim any quilt we lay on the floor? Sammy is almost 14 years old and takes his job as inspector very seriously.

This baby quilt is made entirely from my scrap bin and stash.  The dinosaur print on black was left over from a travel pillow I made this winter. The red was also left over from some pillows. The lime green is leftover backing and the blue was found in my stash. I need to dig through the stash again and see if I have anything that would work for backing.  I have 1 square left from each color so I could add a 4-patch into a pieced backing.  Or add them into a row on the back.  

Holiday table topper

This pattern is called Piano Keys and can be found on Craftsy. Connie at Freemotion By The River is the designer. The pattern has optional applique in those white areas - flowers or stars. But the quilting was so cute on this one that I decided not to cover it up.

The backing is a fabulous Mt Rushmore and flag print. It has other iconic US landmarks too, but since I'm a South Dakota gal, I focused in on Mt Rushmore.

It looks great on my deck table but since it's been raining every day again lately I guess it will mostly stay indoors on a table. Rain all day yesterday, rained this morning, and there is a 70% chance of rain again tomorrow.  Figures - I have a few days off to play golf with my husband and the weather hasn't cooperated.  Oh well . . . guess I'll just have to do a little sewing instead.