Memorial Day 5.30.2022

 

Remembering all who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that all in the USA may enjoy freedom!

My 'sew the sewing surface' continues....

I had a few leftover 1 inch strip sets leftover from the guild #heartofhope quilt border, so I made a few more pieces and sewed the remainder into little tiny cute blocks!

I also had a few leftover pieces from the hearts themselves. My first instinct was to just toss them in the scrap bin but then I thought, 'No. Just make a few more hearts to go with the squares I made.'

Since I had enough 'bottoms' for 8 hearts, I set about to make 'tops' for 8. This time I used grey for the accent piece. Why? It was on the 'sewing surface'...LOL I realized too late that I was going to turn half the heart tops upside down to add the corners but, it is what it is... I actually went into the blue scrap bin and found pieces that would 'work'. And I use the word, 'work' very loosely! 

Now the 16 patches and hearts are waiting inspiration!

pattern credit: Bonnie Hunter #heartsofhope pattern

                            no longer available on her website

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

Hands2Help2022 Roundup 5.29.2022

Today is the linky party for quilts given as part of the Hands2Help Quilt Challenge! Thanks to Mari of Academic Quilter for hosting this year in place of Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (who we all wish well!)

I packaged and sent six quilts this year. I was calling it the Annual Shipping of the Quilts as I have participated in Hands2Help Quilt Drive for a number of years. Here they are, ready for the trip to the post office. I am able to fit two quilts into the long rectangular large priority boxes. Unfortunately, the post office has eliminated this size box.

1. I sent two quilts to Merciful Quilts in California.

Quilt 1:

pattern credit: Mary's Rectangles, found here

                            I made this as part of the RSC2021 Challenge

Quilt 2:

pattern credit: Riley Blake's Wood Chips

2. I sent two quilts to Quilty Hugs in Utah

Quilt 1:

pattern credit: Debby Brown's Color Block March 2021 Monkey Wrench

                            *you have to be signed up to her class course to be able 

                                to access the pattern,  IT'S FREE to join!

Quilt 2:

pattern credit: Mary's Forest Bricks, found here

3. I sent two quilts to the Cool Kids Campaign in North Carolina

Quilt 1:

pattern credit: The Crayon quilt is a combination of tutorials found on Pinterest

                            and Google Search. This was also a block from RSC2021

Quilt 2:

pattern credit: ISPY with 6.5 inch cut novelties surrounded by 2.5 inch cut frames.

To see more quilts that have been donated as part of the Hands2Help2022 Quilt Drive, hop on over to this post of Mari's, the Academic Quilter!

QOV Sunday 5.29.2022

QOV's pieced by the members of the Casual Quilters Guild. Enjoy!

Quilt A

Quilt B

Quilt C

Quilt D

Quilt E

Quilt F

A fun collection of QOV's! 

SoScrappy Saturday 5.28.2022

Today is the fourth Saturday of May of the color sage/forest green.

Here are my Crumble Jumble blocks.

pattern credit: Bonnie Hunter's Crumble Jumble in String Frenzy book

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

On the long arm front: 

The motor speed is inconsistent so I ordered a new belt. Here's to hoping that is the simple solution.

Finish or NOT Friday 5.27.2022

My 'sew the sewing surfaces' continues as I found these two 16 patches patiently waiting to be sewn into their pattern.

 I made the two spools...sorry, no picture, then decided I wanted a couple more spools. I decided to add red and green spools.

I thought this might be a fun RSC2023 block but I seem to have a little difficulty matching up my thread and endcaps. I'll have to think this one over. I quilted this earlier in the week before the stitching issues. It now hangs in my sewing space over close to the long arm. Perhaps, not my best work but I LIKE IT! 😍

pattern credit: Debby Brown's Uncommon Threads

panto: serpentine

Linking up with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

Thursday's News 5.26.2022

I discovered this little bowl of fabric that was meant to be stars.

 So I set to sew them up the other day. OOPS! Jack is coming to visit!

I had 7 to sew and I found 2 addtional stars already sewn. I must have thought I was crazy as the star point seem to have quite a few 'animal legs and er, behinds'! I don't know 'why' I picked the green background, either. Just a crazy day in the sewing room.... Now I have all 9 sewn together, waiting for inspiration.

On the long arm front: 

*DH successfully wretched the screws holding the belt cover on. We looked over the belt and saw no visible stress or fraying, gave it a wipe down with some antibacterial wipes (only because I had a container on hand from COVID days) and put it back together. I'm planning on taking the QOV off the frame and testing the stitching today.

*Gammill called to confirm that I wanted service and are placing my information in the queue. Interestingly enough, Bill from Wisconsin might be sent ~he is a six hour car ride and serviced my machine for 12 years while I was in Wisco~ or Doug from Ohio ~he is a six hour car ride away and serviced my machine last year. The Gammill  rep was very surprised that I *knew* both service guys. 😍

As my friend Cathy would say....  And sew it goes....

WIP Wednesday 5.25.2022

A week or so ago, the Admin for the FB QOV Working Stars group put out a challenge to make 12.5 inch (unfinished) blocks that started with your initials. I immediately thought of pinwheels or pioneer braids. When I searched through Quilter's Cache I was pleasantly surprised when I found a block called Paper Pinwheels. Perefect!

Here are my PP blocks...Paper Pinwheels! I changed up the cutting a little so I didn't have to sew so many seems. 😍

 I printed off the instructions and then made some notes as to how I would construct the blocks.

pattern credit: Paper Pinwheels Quilter's Cache

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Temperamental Tuesday 5.24.2022

In my effort to "sew the sewing room surfaces", I came across the leftovers from Ang's quilt back. I blogged about Ang's quilt here. 

Now they are neatly cut to 6.5 inches square and ready to go into ISPY quilts!

The temperamental part?

I've been running the long arm every day trying to catch up on the QOV's. I had 20 to quilt and quilted 10 but today, the long arm started to skip stitches after I put a new needle in. Checked the needle, checked the rear encoder, checked the top thread tension and even replace the red switch which controls the motor. It then started with inconsistent motor speed....guess it is time to put in a service request. I have a number of items I want to upgrade so I sent the request in. The Gammil service tech called almost immediately to 'see' if we can get her running until service but I failed. I couldn't even get the housing off to look at the belt. geez! I'm off the find my husband's allen wrenches and the video the tech was going to email. Just my luck, this happens when DH is out of town....and here I was complaining that the next QOV was going to take about 3 or 4 hours to quilt....   

Here's the part I need to remove to look at the belt. The belt was new May 2021. Wish me luck...I'm not real mechanically inclined!

Design Wall Monday 5.23.2022

Before I start another quilt, I decided to tackle a few of the 'piles' around my sewing space.

Sage/forest green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for the month of May and I had a little pile of fabric leftover from making crumb blocks.

So I decided to make more crumb blocks before I put the fabric back into the scrap bin.

This lead to another pile of fabric on my counter for a future project!

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

QOV Sunday 5.22.2022

 Time for the Casual Quilters Guild QOV Show!

Quilt A

Quilt B

Quilt C

Quilt D

Quilt E

Quilt F

Hope you enjoyed today's quilts!

SoScrappy Saturday 5.21.2022

Today is the third Saturday of May of the color sage/forest green.

Here are the wonky stars.

 

pattern credit: Google or Pinterest 'Wonky Stars' and there are a few tutorials.

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Finish or NOT Friday

Made my GOAL!

I finished the Casual Quilter's #heartsofhope quilt! I had two other members participate in the block making. Not exactly the number I hoped for but it did provide me with 20 additional blocks that I didn't need to make! Thank You Ladies!

pattern credit: Bonnie Hunter's Heart of Hope sew-along

                            Bonnie has taken this free pattern off her web page

panto: serpentine

There are a lot of seams in this and I was nearing the end of my needle life (I change about every 8-10 hours of long arming now) so I wanted a non-twirling pattern. So easy to get pleats on the front when sewing in all directions over many seams. I was planning on sending this to Mission of Love for distribution unless someone in the guild has a better idea. I first read about Mission of Love on the EQuilter Blog.

Hop on over to Alycia's Finish or NOT Friday to see what others around bogland have been sewing!

WIP Wednesday 5.18.2022

I made more progress on the #heartsofhope quilt top. 

I decided I needed more length after I sewed all the rows together. So it was either increase the borders or add one or two rows of hearts. I picked...increase borders as I just didn't have enough variety in the fabrics to make it look ok/right. I then placed my border fabric I recently brought and oh no! it looked way too orange...

I went back to the store and settled on a white daisies with yellow centers and blue background. It is approximately 62 x 77 before quilting. Although daisy is not the 'flower of Ukraine', this border looks better. A happy border.

pattern credit: Bonnie Hunter #heartsofhope

                           no longer available on her site

I sent the package off to DD that has Ang's Star quilt, an early birthday gift and card (her birthday is May 31...she will be 23!) and Ang's Sharkie toy. Ang almost had the bull nose chewed off so I cut the remaining parts of the nose off and attempted to close the hole with some embroidery floss. I was having a hard time pulling the needle through the layers hence the forceps for leverage. Good thing I didn't become a surgeon because my stitches leave a lot to be desired! It should give DD a laugh even if she ends up not letting Ang play with Sharkie!

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 5.16.2022

My next project is the #heartofhope quilt. So I pulled out the blocks I received from fellow guild members and ones that I made and placed them on the design wall.

Looks like I will need to make a few more. I want it to finish at approximately 60 x 80 so I think I need a 7 x 9 set with borders. I better get busy! 

pattern credit: Bonnie Hunter's Hearts of Hope

                            Bonnie has removed this free pattern from her website.

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday