Having company

My weekend house guests . . . Enough said. 

It was a rainy Saturday so most of our outdoor fun didn’t happen.  But Olivia went too quilt guild with me and went home with the fat quarter I won as a door prize.  The boys learned to play pool with grandpa.  And we all went to the movies in the afternoon.  We got them treats, so they were well sugared up when we took them home last night.  

Barnyard Buddies & Flag Pillow

There was a little dark blue in this week's projects, but it wasn't necessarily the focal point.  Finishing some things was my focus this week in the limited time I had to sew.

The 20" square Flag pillow was the July  pillow-of-the-month project.  I managed to quilt this one myself.  One of the decorative stitches on my machine seemed like the ideal way to stitch-in-the-ditch in a more forgiving manner since I have trouble sewing on those straight lines.  

I finished binding Barnyard Buddies on Friday morning.  There are lots of dark blue triangles in this quilt.  The quilt is actually a lot brighter in different light.  Our back deck in the morning is still in deep shadow because of the trees.  The blocks are Lori Holt designs from her 2 Farm Girl Vintage books, set in the Circle of Nine layout.  I just can't help but smile every time I look at this one.  Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the other 43 blocks (all 12") that I've made from her books.  

Four new Roll One blocks came together this week using blue in those medium to dark hues.  

And 6 more Boxed Squares for a Quilt of Valor - using dark blues.  I'm more than halfway towards having enough of these 6.5" blocks for a whole quilt.

I'm linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge today:

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Thursday updates

First of all, a BIG happy 40th birthday to my first born!!  She's a hardworking respiratory therapist,  mom of 3 terrific kids and 2 spoiled dogs, wife to a good guy, and much more athletic than her mom has ever been.  We'll get to celebrate with her a little on Saturday when we bring her kids back home.  

On the sewing front, the Hexie Snowmen table runner is ready to quilt, and it has turned out every bit as cute as I was hoping it would.  The applique snowflakes worked out well.  Once it’s quilted I’ll get the button eyes attached too.  I love it.

Wednesday sewing time also gave me a chance to finish quilting the Flag pillow front.  I've added the red envelope backing and the dark blue binding all the way around the edges. I'll share a finished photo after hand stitching that binding down. 

There may have also been a bit of a "squirrel" moment as well.  Pat Sloan posted the first block of a new sew-along project called Summer Soiree.  I loved this first block and couldn't resist playing with some bright summery fabrics.  I saw some fabric choices online that I like better than mine, but I’m working with what I already have. 

Pat, the designer, will post one new block each Wednesday just like with her previous sew-alongs.  I had a fat quarter bundle of 20 bright batiks that will be my basic colors, along with a scrappy white background, and I'll pull some bright prints to use as well.  No idea whether I'll do the whole project, but I did have fun with this block, and I'm confident that something good will come out of this project. Plus it uses up a bunch more fabric that has been languishing in a drawer.   https://www.ilovetomakequilts.com/summer-soiree-sew-along.html 

Snowflakes in July & other stuff

 Plan B for the Hexie Snowman runner is adding purchased laser cut snowflakes instead of fabric paint.  But there are lots of choices here.  I have 3 of each but am not sure which ones I like the best.  They are a little sparkly, and already have an iron on adhesive on the back.  I'm sure that I will play again with the fabric paint on some other project but just didn't like it on this dotted grey.  

The snowflakes were ordered online from Shabby Fabrics and they are exactly the size I was hoping for.  Each pack includes 6 different snowflakes, and I ordered 3 packs so that I could keep the same design on each wedge.  I'm really pleased with the prompt mailing too, as they arrived in my mailbox in just a few days.  

I'm excited to get the 6 wedges sewn together and add the 2 borders.  Then I'll iron on the snowflakes, and I may do a little hand stitching on the snowflakes just as a precaution.  The buttons won't be sewn on until after it's quilted. 

It's such a quick and simple basic design, and I do plan to make more, possibly as Christmas gifts.  My brain has been imagining several variations - maybe the next one needs gnomes instead of snowmen.  Or how about flowers alternated with butterflies?  Pumpkins and autumn leaves?  Jack O' Lanterns and black cats?  So many possibilities!! 

Progress is being made on the Flag pillow this week too.  I decided to do a decorative stitch to quilt the front of this one.  I have the star totally quilted, and one of the red/white stripe seams.  This stitch is kind of slow and uses a LOT of thread, but I've used it before and like the results.  Maybe by the end of the week I'll be ready to attach the pillow backing. 

The squares are all cut for 4 medium to dark blue Roll On blocks for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I decided to make this next scrappy Roll On quilt larger than the last one.  I had 30 blocks already made for this one, but will continue working on new blocks to make it much bigger.  It's a great scrap buster block.

Rain

 Yesterday was hot and sticky just like the weekend, but for a change that sticky air produced some desperately needed rain.  It came in the form of a big thunderstorm however.  My timing was pretty good, as I arrived home and put the car in the garage about 5 minutes before the 60+ mph winds and horizontal rain hit.  Our rain gauge shows 1.75” of rain which is more than we’ve had total in over a month.  And we have a chance of more rain this week.  Yay!  It won't do away with the drought, but it sure helps.  

There were a few trees and branches down around town, but we were pretty lucky and don’t have anything major to clean up in our yard. 

Design Wall Monday - Checkered Stars

What is on your design wall this morning?  Mine holds multiple projects as always.  Starry Checkers - or Checkered Stars - was the PIG I selected in June to work on, but I never got beyond gathering the fabrics for this one.  The pattern and 2 charm packs were part of a Sew Sampler box from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I pulled a grey for the star points and a white-on-white for the background early in June, but never started working on it so it's my PIG for July too.

And I need to go on record saying the pattern is wonderful but the name just doesn't work for me.  My apologies to the pattern designer.  Luckily a strange name doesn't detract from how well written the pattern is.  Each block is a simple combination of 2 each half-square triangles and 9-patch units.  Each set of 4 blocks fit together to make a big star with grey points and a checkered center (and corners).  

There are 36 of these blocks in the wall hanging or baby quilt size project.  I have 4 of the blocks made so far, but all of the white and grey pieces are cut and ready to go.  I'll keep cutting the charm squares for the 9-patch units as I need more.  I figure I'm less likely to lose any 1.5" square that way.  

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday today: 
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Lost & Found

 Saturday afternoon I spent over an hour searching for this summer quilt that I wanted to hang in my dining room.  I love to change out the quilts hanging here periodically but had totally forgotten about this fun summer row quilt.  But once it was found and hung up I am so happy. 

This was a Row Robin quilt that was a guild project finished in 2015.  Those participating started with a 12" row of our choice plus whatever sashing we wanted to be used.  Then other members of our group added the next row above, another added the next row down . . . and so on.  The rows changed sizes too, going from 8", to 6", and finally to 4".  We included any instructions for colors or themes with our first row, and then didn't see it for 6 months while it was passed from person to person.

I love every thing about this quilt - beach balls, ice cream, fish, beach houses, 3D palm trees, and lots of extra little details like buttons.  The final detail is one that I added - the embroidered applique of the lady in the swimsuit and big hat.  She is my label.  You can see I wrote the date and other info on her hat, and carefully stitched her onto the beach with the palm trees. 

This happy summer quilt will hang here the rest of the summer, reminding me that someday I'll get to spend some vacation time again on a beach.