Design Wall Tuesday 8.31.2021

 ...not too much happening in the sewing room.

We (DH and I) took an impromptu road trip to Milwaukee to visit DD. Well, I was visiting and DH wanted to replace her older SUV with a more current vehicle. She's somewhat alone over in Milwaukee and we worry about her! The only picture I took of us was at her new restaurant where she works. We ate there on Sunday night. She is a bit of a goofball...I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! (I'm the goofy one...DH much more serious!)

DD decided she wanted to try out driving a car so we swapped out her 2012 Ford Escape for a 2018 Honda Accord. Her Escape was a great ride for her and we didn't have very many worries about her living and schooling in Marquette, Michigan! That's in the UP of Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior...fyi.

A funny little side note: Her brother drove a 2012 Honda Accord coupe for 5 years. He also did the chef lifestyle for about 10 years. Now he drives a semi truck. If she wants to start driving a semi...I might get a little worried...LOL 

I have always heard that imitation is the highest form of flattery!

We then drove home Monday afternoon...a 6 hour ride one way!

I send my kids 'secret pal' cards just like my mother sent to me when se was alive. But now I sign 'NOT so secret pal' as they both know it's me. LOL I usually buy cards at the Dollar Tree but I haven't been able to find cards for the patriotic holidays of Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. This morning I made my own. My intention was to make cards in June but...it didn't happen. Pretty simple card but it really is all about the $5 inside!

Cards inspiration: found here.

Onto the quilty content. I did buy a few yards of various oriental scraps and bigger pieces to use with an Oriental panel I received in a grab bag somewhere along the way. Saturday, I started cutting the scraps, fq and whatever else followed me home. Here's where I left it on Sunday.

I'm following the cutting instructions from this pattern. When I used to go on hop shops in our pre COVID days, I would buy a pattern as my souvenir. As you can see, I needed a rather large coping border to bring the panel to size.

As we were driving, I kept wondering if I should swap out the gold for cream or use cream as the outer border and keep gold as the inner or use gold inner and gold outer. I cut a few strips and gave it an audition.

I think the beige gets lost as the outerish border so I'm leaning towards the gold. I'm probably too lazy to replace the inner border so I just might end up with gold inner and gold outerish border.

It's marinating right now.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 8.28.2021

Today is the fourth and last! Saturday of August of teal.  This month I decided to concentrate on browns and blacks. Today is my crumb day. I used up just about all my black and almost black crumbs in July when I made my jacket.

I started out with an innocent looking pile of browns.

Over the course of a few days, I had whittled the pile down and I pieced a few of the smaller pieces together to make 'seeds or starters' for the next round of brown crumb block construction.

Wonder how many I made? Feast your eyes on 72 : 6.5 inch crumb blocks! 

When I got to 36, I was wondering if I could fill the other side of the design wall. 

Silly me, the answer was YES!!!

pattern credit: crumb blocks : public domain

Linking up with SoScrappy.  

I hope we hear today what September's color prompt will be...

Whoop! Whoop! 8.27.2021

Completed to a flimsy.

Whoop! Whoop!

 pattern credit: Debby Brown's August Color Block Back to the Garden

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

Thursday at the Guild Fabric Sale. 8.26.2021

Well, when I arrived at the Guild Sale we had more helpers than shoppers. I liberated myself after two hours and headed back to Bell Creek Quilts with a promise to return Friday afternoon. The heat index is hovering right around 100F today so I was wilting fast. I'm a pasty Northern girl who avoids the sun whenever possible. My kids think I have a trace of vampire running in my veins...LOL

In any event, I thought I would share what treasures followed me...

Some brown fabric and a few panels -- wildlife and gardening kids (I actually have this panel in my stash and now I have 12 blocks! 6 of 2 repeats!!) 

And a set of 9 sailboats. I've been wanting to make a sailboat quilt but I just didn't want to make the sailboats. weird, eh? Also in the baggie were directions for the sailboats and a date -- Tropical Retreat 2001-- nice, there are names in the seam allowances... 

Thank you Tropical Retreat 2001 attendees for the sailboats!

There were so many books and patterns, that the 'boss' decided to give a few book or pattern with each purchase. I would have gladly paid the $1.00 for this book.

Total cost to me today: $4.00....wowza...

No link ups or anything...I just wanted a documentation when this wonderful stash entered my life. 😍

WIP Wednesday 8.25.2021

Yesterday morning I went to help sort fabric for the guild sale. They have accumulated 3 years worth of donations from panels to Christmas to notions! 

It is amazing... 

In the afternoon, I worked on more sawtooth stars with the red color block centers.

As I finished the stars, I placed them on the design wall.

I decided to use the stars with all the same color star points and background. Next I'll need to decide on sashing, I'm leaning towards a light blue...

pattern credit: Debby Brown Back to the Garden August Color Block 

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers.

Design Wall Monday 8.23.2021

Over the weekend, I decided to start the August Color Clock Quilt, Back to the Garden. When I saw the design, I immediately thought about red centers with blue geese/ blue centers with red geese. I also thought about brown centers with yellow/gold geese...more like a sunflower. Two years ago, by my house was a sunflower field. It was such a joy to see!

In any event, I had one red center left so I made the flying geese to 'see it'. In the pattern, Debbie calls for half square triangles but I felt like flying geese would be an easier make for me. 😍 hmmmm...

Most of my blue blenders have been used so I used a few fabrics that have white in them. Here are the parts for the sawtooth star (finishes at 16 inches in the quilt)

Here are the six that I made this morning plus the test block.

pattern credit: Debby Brown's August Color Block: Back to the Garden

My red fabric is in the same shape as my blues. I'll need to add a few that have white in them.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

SoScrappy Saturday 8.21.2021

Today is the third Saturday of August of teal. Since I already made my teal blocks, I'm revisiting brown and black. Typically the third Saturday is for my crayon block reveal. Today is no different. Although since I'm using black as my background, I only have the brown crayon. I sincerely hope it doesn't blend into the black too much when assembled. Fingers crossed!

 pattern credit: Pinterest has a ton of patterns!

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday.

Whoop! Whoop! 8.20.2021

As I was working on Mary's Forest Bricks pattern, I was thinking this quilt needed another name. It's like a pink explosion... so maybe...

Pink Cobblestones? No...not right....

Pink Pavers? Yes...I'm liking this more...

Here's where I left off on Wednesday night.

I did move the larger section off the wall, picked up the fallen blocks and added two more rows to be sewn on. Right now, Pink Pavers is about 54 x 72. I basted around the perimeter of the flimsy to help hold all those seams together. This one is going in the pile to percolate. I was a little wiser and added about 1/2 yard of the blue background with it. 😍

pattern credit: Mary's Forset Bricks

note to self: three-sies are 2.5 x 2.5 squares

                    background cut 2.5 x 6.5 inches

I had brought these two fabrics on different occasions. The white really didn't match my other white even though in the store it looked good. Then I was so excited to find the blue on the sale rack that I got a yard. One problem...it's sparkly so it's a NO for QOV. Perhaps I could use the back of the fabric? After all, we do pay for both sides of the fabric...just saying!

I remember Bonnie posting that she was making 12.5 unfinished star blocks for Covered in Love's current drive. So I thought I'd make a few star blocks. After the first block, I panicked and doubled checked the Covered in Love's requirements. I didn't see anywhere to exclude sparkly fabric. Whew!

The balance of the stars from the one yard of blue.

pattern credit: wonky meets floating star...Pat's style

I'm not sure if I'm going to make a few red/white stars or not. This block drive ends August 31, 2021. I did check out the previous posts and the quilts made with these stars are set 5 x 6 blocks...

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

WIP Wednesday 8.18.2021

I finished piecing the Happy Blocks to a flimsy.

pattern credit: Mary's Happy Blocks

Note to self: blocks: 6.5 inch novelty

                     frames: 2.5 x 6.5 inches

                                  2.5 x 10.5 inches

In my novelty box, I also found a few leftover blocks. The top row I believe were made by my friend, Linda a few years back. I'm not really sure about the teapot block...

pattern credit: top row: MQSC Keyhole Quilt

                       bottom row: ????

I realized that I didn't have enough variety in either hearts, flowers or pink to continue with the same pattern. I decided to deconstruct the blocks and use the pieced centers with a plain background on either side. I made a few more strip sets of three-sies and set to sew them together.

After a few hours, here is my progress... 

Oh wow! It's like pink explosion....who would have guess?  NOT ME!

pattern credit: Mary's Bricks

note to self: strip sets...2.5-2.5-2.5 inch strips, subcut: 2.5 inches

                    background: 2.5 x 6.5 inches

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 8.16.2021

In my box of novelties, I also had a few 'regular' Happy Blocks. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the frames were just a tad smaller than what I had already cut...2.25 inches versus 2.5 inches (mine). I also realized that two of the blocks were mostly black background without 'anything' interesting. In the end I only kept one block and changed the frame for it.

This time, I decided to precut my frames so that I could chain piece even though the framing pieces were different fabrics.

I did cut each frame into 2-6.5 inch, 2-10.5 inch strips and the little leftovers into 2.5 inch squares. I've been lazy on cutting my 2.5 inch squares for my leaders/enders and I really need to spend some time with my current set of scraps.

pattern credit: Mary's Happy Blocks

Note to self: novelties: 6.5 inch square

                     frame: cut at 2: 2.5 x 6.5 inches, 2: 2.5 x 10.5 inches

                     block: unfinished 10.5 inches, 10 inches finished in quilt.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 8.14.2021

Today is the second Saturday of August of teal. Since I already made a set of teal blocks, I'm concentrating on browns and blacks.

Here are my pinwheel blocks.

pattern credit: pinwheels, public domain

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Whoop! Whoop! 8.13.2021

 OH NO!

💚 Happy Friday the 13th! Hope all your luck is Good Luck! 💚

I have two Whoop! Whoop!'s this week and 'NOT' quilts finished for Finish or Not Friday.

First up:

I finished piecing the slanty Happy Blocks and completed the top to a flimsy.

pattern inspiration: Mary's Happy Blocks

                                slanty blocks can be made following Sharyn Craig's Twist 'n Turn

                            or oversize the frames and cut down on the angle...this is 

                            what I did! and I still had a little trouble with the correct angle on 

                            a few of the blocks! <grin>                                        

Second up was a makeover of the Snowman calendar quilt. I decided to reduce the colorful borders and replace the outer border with the same grey as the sashing. First, (don't look if you have faint heart!) I cut the extra off. Yup, measured 2.25 inches from the sash and WHACK!

Don't worry, the extra didn't go to waste! I made binding!

The makeover...I'm liking it much better now! 💜

pattern inspiration: blocks: Bonnie Hunter here

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

WIP Wednesday 8.11.2021

I've been sewing on my snowman calendar quilt. I added the sashing...

I then had the bright (?) idea to use the leftover framing pieces as the border. Only thing, they were cut at 3.5 inches and I wanted 6.5 inches. I'll just do two rounds a la Bonnie Hunter. The first round and it looks okay...

The second round...I'm not real sold on this one!

pattern inspiration: blocks: Bonnie Hunter here

                                border: Bonnie Hunter here

I might take (or cut!) off the final border and put the solid gray on it... I'm leaning towards re-working the border.

I dug into my novelty squares and had discovered 5 slant Happy Blocks from the Oconomowoc Quilt Guild that were done as part of a demo. I thought I like 48 for a 6x8 set of 9 inch finished blocks for a 54 x 72 quilt. I only need 43 more slant Happy Blocks. I can do that! Here is the stack of novelties with a stack of frames.

In a jiffy, I had 4 rows of blocks made.

There are a couple of different ways to make this block. The Happy Block directions are on Mary's website, here. I actually use 6.5 inch squares and make the adjustments needed. 

One way is to make oversized blocks then cut them down on the angle. 

The other way is to follow the instructions in Sharyn Craig's Twist 'n Turn book.

Guess which way I chose to make these blocks! 

The oversize and cut down because I'm angle challenged!

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers.

 

Design Wall Monday 8.9.2021

I decided to mix things up and pull out a children's panel. Of course, I didn't take a picture of it! It's a calendar snowman panel that I picked up at my Wisconsin day guild off of the free table with the intention of making it and donating in Wisconsin. I decided to add borders on two sides reflecting the month of the piece. Well, I had a little math mishap...I wanted to square up to 12.5 for 12 inch finished but...

turns out that it worked out to 12 inch trim with a finished size of 11.5 inches.

Here are all the panels with the two borders added.

Surprise! Late Friday afternoon DS called and said he had an after hours delivery to the Home Depot about 20 minutes from the bungalow. After our run to Costco, we headed over to the Home Depot parking lot and spent about an hour with DS! and yes...we woke him up from a nap at 7:30 pm. He did text and he arrived home at about 12:30 am... It was fun to visit even if for a quick hour.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

SoScrappy Saturday 8.7.2021

Today is the first Saturday of August of the color teal.

Well, I already made all my teal blocks so I needed to decide on a different color or take the month off of RSC...I was thinking orange or maybe the light greens but I didn't want to jump the color again. In the end, I decided to re-visit the browns and blacks from July.

My first set of blocks.

 pattern credit: Mary's rectangles

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Whoop! Whoop! 8.6.2021

 Whoop! Whoop! and a Finish today! and it's in the post winging it's way to New Hampshire for a presentation in September! Our coordinator requested the motorcycle panel quilts to be turned in by the middle of August. Phew...I actually made a deadline.  <grin>

pattern credit: Inspiration: modified Mountainpeek Creations Sidelights

                       Poppy Star blocks: Method 1

                                                      Method 2

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