Design Wall Monday 6.28.2021

On Saturday I was looking for a project so I could hide in, or rather go to!, the sewing room in the basement.

Thought 1: 

If Debby Brown showed a sneak peak of her July Color Block Quilt Along then I could make a few 16 patches. That didn't happen...yet.

Thought 2: 

If Angela announce the July color prompt for RSC2021, I could get a head start on that project. That didn't happen...yet.

Thought 3: 

If my 'new to me' switch arrived for the long arm in the snail mail then DH could install it and I could quilt my jacket panel. That didn't happen...yet.

Thought 4: 

Start SewPretti's Positivity Quilt Along but I don't have any idea of a color way to make. That didn't happen...yet.

Thought 5: 

I have fabric for Alycia's A12 MysteryQuilts4Military pulled along with each clue printed out as she released them. This I could start...

I made the pieces on Saturday for Clue 1, along with the layout for the block.

I jumped ahead a few clues and made the red/white blocks on Sunday, 20 of these cuties.

pattern credit: Alycia's A12 Dakota Inspired MysteryQuilts4Military.

Alycia has taken down the instructions and usually she offers them for sale in her Etsy shop at a later date. If you want to make her Mysteries in the future there are two ways (that I am aware of) to get the clues/instructions as they are released (for FREE!)

Action 1: 

Give Alycia's blog a follow. You won't regret visiting with Alycia. Alycia Quilts. or

Action 2: Join her Mystery group, MysteryQuilts4Military, here. 

I actually do both!

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 6.26.2021

 Today is the fourth Saturday of June of the color PURPLE!

I, once again, was surprised at how many crumb blocks were made from my scraps! I think I used every shade of purple from the box! I'm looking forward to July's color prompt. 😊

pattern credit: crumb blocks, public domain

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Whoop! Whoop! 6.25.2021

 Not too much to report for this week.

I decided to call my Gammill Guy and purchase the main on/off switch for the long arm that broke. My long arm was 'stuck' in the 'on' position so I was just quilting by plugging it in/unplugging it. Well, she started having random power failures...blinking on and off. I seemed to have power on the front handle bars so I replaced the rear handle bar switch. That seemed to work for a few quilts but then she starting blinking off again. So I thought: start with the most obvious fix... Guess what? The part is on back order and no known time frame for shipping. How about a refurbished one? Sign me up...I think with the age of my long arm (15 years), she will have mostly refurbished parts on her as the original parts wear out!

I did manage to finish my panel for my jacket. I laid it out on the floor to 'see' if the parts fit. I remembered to take the picture after I put the template parts away. It's a little busier than I anticipated but used up a whole lot of black fabric! I made it a little large, hoping I will be able to make a purse from the panel too.

pattern credit: Crumb blocks, public domain

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 6.23.2021

I'm plugging away on the dark scraps except I ran out. I headed to the local box store with the idea of picking up a few fat quarters but they didn't have any I even remotely liked. What's a girl to do? I found a small jelly roll that was black and white so I thought, 'why not?' and used my $5 reward to offset the cost. 

Here's where I'm at right now. I will add two more rows once I get these rows sewn together and have more space on the design wall. I have enough blocks for a 5 x 7 set of 12 inch blocks so it should be about 60 x 84 before quilting. After I have it sewn into a flimsy, I'll cut apart my sweatshirt for a template and 'evaluate'...

I thought my blacks were 'black' but I have lots of white mixed into the fabrics. Fingers crossed that this whole idea doesn't backfire on me!

pattern credit: crumb blocks, public domain

Design Wall Monday 6.21.2021

 I've long admired quilted jackets when I've seen them at quilting shows and functions. I even signed up for a class to jazz up a sweatshirt but unfortunately that class was canceled and never appeared on the class list again. Next COVID arrived, my quilt shop closed and I moved...seems like the stars were aligned against me. So...I decided to venture out on my own and today is that beginning!

I was going to buy fabric for this adventure but since this is a 'guinea pig' project, I thought why not use my scraps? The least use scraps are black and browns for me so off to the treasure chest, er scraps closet, and out came the black crumbs. I already had 100: 6.5 inch blocks made and stored.

In a jiffy I had made a few more. Disclosure here: I had to cut a few more black strips from stash...

I'm working on sewing into 4 patches to make 12.5 inch unfinished blocks. Since this is really a test run, I'm having fun just randomly sewing the parts.

Unfortunately, my long arm is having electrical issues. I'll need to call Doug my support tech and see if we can figure out her problem. It's so sad...she just got a clean bill of health just a few months ago...

In happier news, I was a recipient of an awesome prize from the Hands2Help2021 Quilt Drive sponsored by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. It's a Sewing Machine Light kit from Inspired LED. Thank you for the great prize and I'm getting excited to install it on my domestic machine! I also received a nice Thank You note from Emily of Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo. Always great to get fun mail.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 6.19.2021

This is the third Saturday of June of the color Purple!

Time for my crayon update:

My crayon box so far. It appears some crayons are longer than others...guess my 1/4 inch is NOT consistent!! I'll fix that later when I put all the pieces together...

Hop on over to SoScrappy Saturday to see the other purple projects going in blogland.

Whoop! Whoop! 6.18.2021

 I have two finishes!

Finish 1: The Red Truck panel quilt

panto credit: fern gully

quilt inspiration (no infö recorded but screen shot from Pinterest-most likely):

Finish 2: Debby Brown's June's Color Block Quilt Along Snowball's Chance

pattern credit: Debby Brown's June Color Block Quilt Along Snowball's Chance

panto credit: serpentine

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 6.16.2021

 I finished squaring and trimming my Color Blocks Snowball Chance. I was also able to add the sashing and borders! yay for the flimsy!

pattern credit: Debby Brown's Color Block Quilt Along June Snowball's Chance

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

On the Frame Tuesday 6.15.2021

 Red truck panel is taking it's turn on the frame.

<happy, happy>

panto credit: fern gully

Design Wall Monday 6.14.2021

I was able to sew a little on June's Color Block Along, Snowball's Chance. Since I decided to make 35 blocks for  5 X 7 set, that meant I needed 140: 3 inch squares as snowballs. I like to press mine in half diagonally for the sewing line instead of marking or eyeball-ing.

Here they are! Waiting to be pressed than squared and trimmed. And YES! 

Thank you for noticing that my 'snowball' corners are made of snow fabric! LOL!

pattern credit: Debby Brown's June Color Block Along, Snowball's Chance

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 6.12.2021

 This is the second Saturday of June of the color PURPLE!

Time for my pinwheel report. Only a few purple pinwheels. I just might need to break into the purple stash to make more, time will tell...

Here are all the pinwheels. I've got a nice collection going but not exactly sure of a quilt plan yet!

pattern credit: pinwheel,public domain

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday.

Friday 6.11.2021

Not too much happening in the sewing room this past week. 

My FIL had a bad fall into the water at his northern Michigan cottage last Saturday that resulted in emergency orthopedic surgery in Traverse City. My husband went up on Saturday and has been there since helping with first the hospital stay and then with the home care of his Father. Both his parents are in their 80's, so his Mom really can't care for his Dad. 

I've discovered with DH gone, I have free reign in the house. More realistically, I can watch TV anytime I want and play it as loud as I want. DH works from home (and has for about 8 years now) and I never realized that I go downstairs to sew so it will be quiet on the main floor where his work office is located.

In any event, this afternoon I sewed the bottom border onto the red truck panel. I also removed the flying geese on the left and replaced it with background fabric. There is just 'something' I'm not liking about this one. I decided to go ahead and load it onto the long arm and will quilt it up next. Maybe then I'll like it more.

I don't think I ever shared the inspiration for this quilt. Somewhere in Pinterest land, I found this one and took a screen shot of it. Does anyone else do that? Screen shot a picture without documentation? 

I'm going to go ahead and link up to the parties, just so everyone will know what is happening if I don't post in the near future...

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

Design Wall Tuesday 6.8.2021

I'm running a little behind this week, never a good thing. In any event, I started a new project. Debby Brown released her newest Color Block Quilt, Snowball's Chance, last week. I decided to go rwb, so I've been making the red and blue 16 patches. Luckily I was able to pull enough 2.5 inch cut strips from inventory to get a pretty good start on it.

Ok! I sewed my strata together and sub-cut, now I was ready to assemble the blocks.

Debby has the pattern written as a square quilt but I would rather have a rectangular one. Uh-oh, looks like I'm a few blocks shy of a full load... Only a few spaces to fill in.

June's pattern, Snowball's Chance, you guessed it, snowballs all four corners. That's next step: find, cut, iron a sew line, sew, trim the snowball fabric and square the blocks... whew! I better get busy!

pattern credit: Debby Brown's Snowball Chance

                            remember, you will need to scroll all the way down

                            (right hand side) to get to the printable link.

SoScrappy Saturday 6.5.2021

This is the first Saturday of June of the color PURPLE.

Time for my Mary's Rectangles. Only a few rectangles this month...

 Here are all my rectangles to date. Interestingly enough, looks like I went overboard on pink and red - go figure! LOL

pattern credit: Mary's Rectangles

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Whoop! Whoop! 6.4.2021

 That will be only one Whoop! and the 'NOT' on the Finish or NOT Friday...

I had a great design discussion with Susan at Quilt Fabrications and I really liked her ideas but I was already committed to this design as I had parts made and was reluctant to move the parts to the UFO pile. I do have another one of this particular panel so I will make notes and place them with the panel to use in the future! Thanks Susan for your input! It is valued and appreciated! 

This is as far as I sewed on my red truck panel quilt before moving onto lunch today...

pattern credit:    Flags for Sue, found here.

                          flying geese trees, public domain

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

H2H2021 Wrap Up 6.3.2021

All week long, is the H2H2021 Wrap Up Linky Party at Sarah's Confession of A Fabric Addict.

I already posted Dr. Richmond's Quilt for the Hometown Hero, here.

I also sent quilts to two of the H2H2021 Quilt Drive Recipients.

Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo will receive 2 quilts.

You might recognize these quilts as my lender/ender project using Cynthia Brunz' Scrap-a-palooza zig zag pattern.

Covered in Love will receive 3 quilts.

You'll probably recognize these quilts from Debby Brown's Color Block Quilt-a-long 2021.

It's been fun working on these quilts, now it's time for each to find their forever home!

Linking up with H2H2021 Linky Party over at Sarah's Confession of a Fabric Addict.

WIP Wednesday 6.2.2021

Another week, another panel. Are you tired of my panels?! I have lots more but this will be the last one I work on as I am looking for a break from panel quilting. I actually brought 2 of this panel from FB QOV Working Stars group, I thought I could stretch it over canvas and hang it above my fireplace for a summer picture. Well, it looks more fall/autumn to me so I abandoned that idea and decided to make a quilt.

I thought I would make flags for the upper portion.

The blue portions seemed a bit too flowery, so into the spare QOV bin they went. This is how my bin gets full...

Ahhh...stars in the blue field of the flags are much better for this quilt-to-be.

So far, so good. I am going to offset the stars with background to achieve more length. Now, I thought I wanted tress on either side. This is where I hit a little bump in the road. Our leader is requesting red, white, blue and a touch of gold in these quilts. I'm seeing green along with brown, gold and orange in the trees. Here are my tree part so far.

Always a rebel...

This is as far as I got when I took it off the design wall. I needed the design wall space for another project. (hint: RSC2021! June is Purple)

pattern credit: Flags for Sue

                       flying geese: public domain

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Straightening the Sewing Room 6.1.2021

Spent a little time over the long weekend to clear out a few loose ends in the sewing room. I seem to pile everything on the cutting table as it waits in the sewing queue.

This is the fabric I chose for DS's GF. She requested to be the guinea pig if I ever wanted to make plastic bag dispensers, way back in the beginning of May (2021! LOL). DS said their kitchen is green and the camper is blue/white where she wants the dispensers. They also have chickens and eventually want to move to more land and maybe even a hobby farm, some day.

So I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest, I found many tutorials. Here's the one I followed. 

Note to self: farm animals has 9 inch elastic length...seems too big.

                     limes has 5 inch elastic length...seems too narrow.

She DID say that she didn't mind being a guinea pig while I try to 'zero in' on a pattern I like. LOL

pattern credit: Amy's Plastic Bag Holder

Look at me! Already cut the leftovers into 6.5 inch squares and 2.5 inch strips. I also bagged top the leftover FQ's and handle parts (with a note that has the website for directions!)