Ride With the Wind

 

It needs a label yet, but otherwise the wall hanging is done.  I think it will be called "Ride With the Wind".  The bright multi-colored thread does show up nicely, but doesn't over power the piece.  My quilting lines are sufficiently random with soft waves all across, hopefully suggesting the prairie wind.  The green and red section is actually a Row By Row from this summer's road trip through Iowa with my husband. The shop in Adel, Iowa had designed this row and I immediately had a plan to make a wall hanging with it. The mottled black looks like of like asphalt.  Considering it was a "design as you sew" kind of project, I like how it turned out.  

 

Random waves

 

I've mentioned quite often that I struggle with machine quilting things myself. I have a LOT of trouble relaxing enough to make smooth curves. But I can somewhat handle straight line quilting - except for stitch-in-the-ditch. I take my eye off the "ditch" and allow the needle to wander. Not pretty!

 

But I had a picture in my mind of how I wanted to quilt the cycling wall hanging, and was determined to do it myself.  Random waves moving across the piece horizontally would represent the wind. I bought a pretty thread so it would show up on the black road sections really nicely. And then it just sat on the corner of my sewing table, waiting.  

 

Yesterday I finally got brave enough to just jump in and give it a try.  And surprisingly, I'm happy with the results. The binding is even half done, so I'll show it off once it's done.

 

The other project for the day was to make 2 more of the pillowcases that I have kitted up.  Slowly, but surely I'm working my way through the stack of pillowcase kits.

 



First finish for October

 

It's only 6" square, but it's done.  So it counts, right?  This is one of the Match Box quilts from Fat Quarter Shop. Very cute little project.  Check out Design Wall Monday at:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

 

This morning I had to accept that summer probably is really over.  The leaves have really started to fall, and we have a freeze warning for tonight. Sigh!! 

Mini mason jars

 

My Sew Vintage group is beginning to dabble in the Spelling Bee book by Lori Holt.  The patterns are quite similar to her previous book, Farm Girl Vintage. The directions are provided for both 6" and 12" blocks, and are so easy to follow.

 

This darling mason jar block is my first one from the book, and I decided to make 2 of the 6" blocks.  They are so cute!!  No idea where we're going with these, but I'm going to just enjoy the ride.

 

And I keep looking at the alphabet blocks in the book and imagining how cute they would be in pillows for the grandkids.  And I have lots of scraps to play with.

October goals

My list of October goals has some carryover from previous months. I just want to keep making some progress on these items. 

I'll quickly admit that my attention has been distracted lately toward some genealogy research, instead of sewing. I've been working on my family info and my husband's family info, but now I've begun doing some research for one of my sons-in-law.  And - like everything we become obsessed with - it's black hole.  I get started and next thing I know, hours have gone by.

1. plan 4 new Christmas stockings for family of daughter #2
2. sandwich & quilt - Simple Whatnots project Abiding Faith
3. cut out next Simple Whatnots project 
4. finish binding the 2016 Saturday Sampler - more than halfway
5. make 2 more pillowcases from the kits
6. quilt and bind the cycling wall hanging
7. finish blocks for APQ 2017 UFO Challenge (batik stars) - still in the project box
8. begin new Saturday Sampler project

Do you participate in a monthly BOM program, either online or in person?  I've been attending Saturday Sampler at my local quilt shop for at least 16 years.  We meet at 9:00 am on the second Saturday of the month.  The Show 'n Tell is the best part. It's so inspiring to see what everyone has been making. And then the new block - or mystery clue - is revealed and demonstrated.  Our last one was a mystery with fairly simple clues. The one before that was big and complicated, and will finally be done when I finish that binding. 

Another small project

In the most recent Sew Sampler box from Fat Quarter Shop was a new item called a Matchbox Quilt. In a small "matchbox" style of box were all the required parts for a small finished quilt. Printed on one piece of fabric are the instructions, all of the pieces to cut for the front and back of the little quilt, and the binding.  Also folded into the box was the batting and some embroidery floss to use to quilt it.  Cute idea!  And there are other designs and colors so we can be tempted to buy more. 

September in review . . .

September goals were a bit ambitious, and only partially met.  But partial is better than not at all.  So some of this will remain on my October goal list.

1. Simple Whatnots project - Abiding Faith - top is done, but not quilted
2. bind the 2016 Saturday Sampler - less than halfway
3. make 5 more pillowcases from the kits - only made 2
4. quilt and bind the cycling wall hanging - bought thread
5. make a big floor pillow for grandson Jack - Nope, didn't happe
6. finish blocks for APQ 2017 UFO Challenge (batik stars) - still in the project box
7. make 10 more polka dot pinwheel blocks - got the top done