Still Here....

I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting!  My job changed at the beginning of the year and new responsibilities leave no time for posting during the day and  cut into my free time at night, so the blog has fallen to the bottom of the “to do” list.  I have been getting a little sewing and rug hooking done in the time I have, nothing totally complete but several things close to the finish line.  I’m hoping to start pushing a few across that line soon.

When I last posted I was working on assembling my 2018 mystery quilt.  That top is now assembled and waiting to go on the long arm (you can see it actually laying on the machine below - too bad it won't auto-load!).  After that I got back to work on my scrappy log cabin.  Here are all the blocks ready for assembly:

The top is completely together now and is awaiting the back to be pieced and then it will be ready to quilt. Shortly after getting that top together the summer blocks of the week hit the mailbox.  I’m collecting the pieced one and two color ways of the wool appliqué project (I was indecisive).  I invested in a laundry rack to have more space for starching.  Here’s week three drying.

My goal is to keep up with the prep (prepping and steaming the wool blocks, starching the fabric strips for the pieced version) throughout the summer.  So far so good - and I’ve even started stitching on a few of the wool blocks (mainly the freebies).  I also finished week one of the piecing.  These blocks are so cute!  They are 3” unfinished.



And those freebies...they are so stinking cute!



I’m looking forward to the extra day off this week to get a little sewing done.  Maybe I will even get a quilt loaded!

Best Laid Plans....

I intended to end work a little early Friday and hit the sewing room before dinner, but then YouTube happened.  I needed to find something for our applique group to do at our Saturday meeting and ran across this video on making wool feather trees: https://youtu.be/Eo1dYNrqI2g.  I've seen these around the past couple of years and had no idea how they were made. The process isn't nearly as complicated as I thought it might be - and looked like fun - so instead of sewing along with the FNSI folks (Sugarlane Designs) on Friday I was on a mission to assemble supplies. After a quick run to JoAnn's I dusted off the dye pots and started playing with some greens.  It's been ages since I did any dying so it was really a lot of fun.

Here's the group hard at work on their trees.  We didn't have time to finish them so I am excited to see how they turn out.  I need to dye more wool so that I can work on one (or two?).

When I finally did get to the sewing room on Saturday the first order of business was choosing colors for the Good Fortune mystery that begins on Friday. I want to use blacks and grays but am still trying to decide on the rest of the colors.  I have three finalists that are still in the running - blue and red:

Blue and green:



Or ditching the whites/creams and using black as my neutral:



And a couple of other combos that I ruled out right away.  I didn't even consider red and cheddar as that would be too similar to Alietare from a couple of years ago.





Right now I am leaning toward the blue and green.  Looking at the photos as I write this, though, I am pondering using a light blue instead of the green....I will have to take a look at that tonight. That might just be the winner.....

I did manage to get a little sewing done after covering my floor in piles of fabric.  I finished this month's Super Scrappy Log Cabin blocks. I love making these and am so excited that I have managed to keep up for seven months now. I can't remember if this one runs 12 or 18 months but I can't wait to see all of these put together.  They are fun to make!



It will be a busy week with the kids coming home and lots of cooking but I am SO excited that it is almost mystery time.  Just four more sleeps!

Getting Back on Track

The past couple of months have been completely nuts - so much going on that I have had little to no time to stitch or hook. Between buying a house for my daughter and spending three straight weekends on cosmetic updates (not to over-simplify - there was a little drywall work involved!), putting a contract on a house for us and spinning up all the pre-purchase activities only to run away as fast as we could after seeing the inspection results, and my job being beyond the normal level of crazy I have hardly accomplished anything since mid-June. I knew there was no point in even selecting an OMG project for July but today I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts OMG for August to motivate myself to get back on track.

I did manage to squeeze in a few days of rug hooking with Jayne Hester in July. I wanted to go the neutral route again, this time with a navy background. Janice drew the pattern from an antique rug design that I found online. One of my hooking friends was giving me a hard time about being in a rut - she suggested I name this one "Floral No. 5" since it looks so much like the "Floral No. 7" pattern I did with Jayne last year...  Anyway, I love the design and really think the colors are awesome.  

When I had little bits of time to get to the sewing room I finally finished week one of the pieced BOW.  I started so strong going into week one and then completely crashed and burned. I now have a shopping bag full of pacakges that have accumulated over the summer. It's really a bit daunting!

I have managed to keep up with the Homestead Hearth log cabin BOM. I have been keeping all of my extra strips very neatly organized for mixing in with future blocks.

I finished the blocks for month four sometime in July, so I now have 48 complete.  They are really scrappy and fun!

So as I get back into the swing of things, I participated in a workshop on Saturday with Shelly Pagliai, designer of Hazel's Diary Quilt.  Here's Shelly's version:

It was a fun workshop - really more of a sewing day than a class - but we pieced the block in the morning and then worked on the reverse applique frame in the afternoon.  I was inspired to keep going when I got home and managed to finish nearly all of the stitching on the frame Saturday night.  I basted the center applique onto the block yesterday and started piecing the next "block" in the book which is actually the inner border.  I am really happy with my color choices and how it is turning out so far.

So my August OMG project will be Hazel's Diary.  I want to finish the center block, get the borders on and make significant progress on the center border applique.  I need to get myself back into applique mode in preparation for Baltimore on the Prairie. It's hard to believe that it's just a little over a month away!

May OMG Selection

This month started out a little crazy - a couple days on the road, baseball game, house hunting... Needless to say, not a lot of sewing time!  And I nearly missed the window for linking up to the Elm Street Quilts May OMG challenge.  There are already 105 sign-ups for this month. So many beautiful projects to look at!

Before I get to my selection, I want to post a few photos from my latest quilting adventure. I decided to attend this year's annual TAS meeting since it was being held fairly close to home (up near Chicago) and because I have been wanting to share my thoughts with leadership.  I headed up to Rockford, IL on Thursday afternoon and arrived in time to sit in on the local guild meeting where Linda Halpin was speaking on Little House on the Prairie quilts. It was a really interesting and entertaining lecture - I somehow had previously missed the part of sewing machine history where 19th century physicians thought that treadling could be a little too exciting for women!

The TAS business meeting was great - there were so many fantastic ideas to move the organization forward and offer exciting things to members.  I am very hopeful that we can get something going again and that our local chapter will be able to both contribute to and benefit from the oganization succeeding.  The meeting was followed by a presentation by award-winning quilter and Rockford resident Barbara Clem, who shared her quilting and competitive history and showed us many of her quilts. Her quilts were beautiful!  I was a bit surprised to hear (although I know when I go to shows it feels like I have seen most of the quilts before) that people can enter the same quilt in each AQS show, and that they are eligible to win ribbons at each show. She was excited that there are so many opportunities to win now....whereas I saw this as supporting my dilution theory.  Anyway.... Below is a picture of one of her quilts that really caught my eye - interesting piecing and very intriguing color choices!

After the speaker there was an incredible show and tell session. What an amazing group of quilters!  Many of their quilts have been in Paducah and one was a first place ribbon winner at the most recent show!  TAS founder Anita shared her version of Love Entwined - it really made me want to start my own.

I'm only sharing just a few of the many gorgeous quilts they shared. This William Morris-inspired beauty was created from Dover royalty-free clip art:

And this one, while not applique, was amazing. I am a sucker for hexies anyway, but the binding on this one blew me away! Here's the front:

And then here's a shot of the back edge folded over.  She created a binding of hexie flowers that she attached to the front right sides together like you would a normal binding, and then folded it over and appliqued it to the back.  Unbelievably cool!

Now back to the less exciting world of my current project list.... I forgot to mention in my last post that I also started a log cabin quilt in April. I finished the first 12 blocks of what will become a queen-sized quilt.

I've decided that my OMG project for May will be my Magic of Christmas. I posted a picture of my design wall last week - it is ready to be stitched together - so my goal for May will be to get the top pieced and the applique designed and prepped.

I am dying to applique after all of the inspiration last week, so I will also continue plugging along at my Mosaics project. I need to get back to my rug, too - I have to get those hooking muscles in shape before we head off to Janice's in June!