WIP Wednesday 8.30.2023

My husband's uncle is a Vietnam vet but when I asked him if he had a QOV, his response was that he didn't want a formal QOV but if I wanted to make him a nice traditional star quilt he would like that! When he saw the Lisa Sutherland Churn Dash Those Stars quilt, he was smitten.

So I am going to make hime one. Here is my fabric pull and the fabrics.

I din't realize that the red, dark blue and white are all the same design. I must really like it alot! LOL Next up was to make the hst's and middle star.

I placed the center medallion on the design wall. 

I was worried about the blocks falling off the wall, so I started to sew the rows together. One row lead to another and before long, I had the center medallion together.

pattern: Churn Dash Those Stars from Lisa Sutherlands' book Patriotic 

                M&M&M Quilts

The finished but not quilted quilt.

Sharing with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 8.28.2023

We were invited to my nephew's wedding reception last Saturday. They were married this spring on Maui and celebrated with family and friends last Saturday. It was the first time in about 5 years that all my siblings were together and can you believe, we didn't get a picture? Yikes, I was sad when I realized that. One brother is just out of the hospital and another is on week 14 of recovery from his 5 heart by pass surgery...

Our son and his gf spent Saturday night at our house along with our daughter and her dog, Angie. I'm a good dog Grandma as here is Angie.

But none of the kids, bad Mom! I think my husband took a few but hasn't texted them to me yet...

After our visit, I removed the borders than added a bit of black and I like this better. Once it is quilted and bound with the black, the look will be more complete and co-hesive.

pattern: 4 Patch Stacked Posies by H.D. Designs

Sharing with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 8.26.2023

Today is the fourth Saturday of August of the color YELLOW!

I'm a little behind on my RSC blocks this month, so today is my North Winds block.

Here are all my North Winds blocks together.

pattern: North Winds block

I'm in a bit of a pickle, I need 52 blocks total to qualify for the challenge. So I think I might mix in some 6 inch blocks with my 9 inch blocks to get the required number. Right now, I'm thinking it over...

Sharing with SoScrappy Saturday

Finish or NOT Friday 8.25.2023

I had a small finish this week. I glued all my yo-yo's onto the clothes pins. Hurray! LOL

After I cut and sewed the 4 patch posey blocks, I was stuck. I didn't have enough of the large floral fabric to complete the top as I envisioned and there was no more at the store when I went back! So, I needed to come up with a new plan. I kinda lost my mojo over exactly 'what' to do.

I added white as the sashing without cornerstones.

I then added a bit of black for the borders and two large cuts of the flowers on top and bottom. Oh no...I think I need to add a bit of the black border between the white sashing and the flowers...off to find that seam ripper...

pattern: 4 patch posey by HD Designs

Sharing with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday and

Sarah at Whoop! Whoop!

Design Wall Monday 8.21.2023

Isn't it funny 'how a little thing' can spark a creative moment?

I was wondering which quilt to make for my niece for Christmas when I saw on FB that she had tie dyed a shirt, of all colors PINK! I know she likes black, white and gray but add in pink and YES! Also at my day guild September's focus is 'Stack and Whack' type quilts. So I am combining these two elements to make a 4 Patch Posie quilt for said niece.

Here is the fabric I chose and the four repeat cuts.

Here are the blocks that I cut and made. I even made one block twice!

pattern: 4 Patch Posey by HD Designs

                I brought this pattern many moons ago and was totally confused by the 

                directions. Fortunately I had a few very knowledgable sewing friends that 

                explained it to me!

              Here is a you tube link that shows the technique a little clearer.

Now I need to re-arrange the blocks to balance the colors and add sashings. I don't have enough of the original fabric to make wide borders so I'll need to adjust my thinking. LOL

Sharing with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 8.19.2023

Today is the third Saturday of August of the color YELLOW!

I'm running a little behind on my SoScrappy blocks so today I am going to show my yellow house and hut.

First, here is the house. Yes! That is a black bear in the window...

pattern: Debby Brown's Little Pink Houses

I decided to put the whole rainbow neighborhood on the design wall to get an idea of how the neighborhood is coming together.

pattern: Debby Brown's Little Pink House

Next up is the yellow hut. I did find a crumb block in the parts department that had bees in it. I, personally would not live here!

pattern: a cutting oops that turned into a block I liked. 

Here is the rainbow hut neighborhood. 

pattern: a cutting oops that I liked.

I'm thinking of keeping the houses and huts separate so the huts can travel with the crumb trunk show if needed.

Sharing with SoScrappy Saturday.

Finish or NOT Friday 8.18.2023

Like I have always said, ' My quilting and crafts will wait for me'! 

My sewing space was just as I left it 10 days ago, no magic quilting fairy visited to work on my projects. I have not yet looked into my current scrap bin as they tend to multiply and oh boy, ten days unsupervised! 😱

First up, I took my fellow bloggers' advice and sewed the yellow 4 patch into a flimsy. It's approximately 48 x 64 right now, I'm unsure if I want it any bigger. I think it might appeal to a Mom at the Cancer Hospital but not a child. I'll ask around and 'see' what the consensus is...

pattern: Mary's Double 4 patch

I've been wanting to make myself a pincushion with a pocket to hold my scissors when I travel. I made one for an exchange many years ago but I didn't take a picture or make one for me. My Pinterest search lead me to the pincushion but it is now a published pattern in a book. Back when I made it, it was a free download. I did find another free download, here, so I swapped out the block on the front. Of course my block was a bit bigger so I had to adjust the other sizes to fit. Overall, I'm happy with it. The scissors are bigger and I actually needed a little bigger pocket. who knew? One change, I would have made my 9 patch red and brown instead of red and black.

pattern: adapted from 'How to make a Pocket Pincushion'

But, Pat, why do you need a pincushion with a pocket? Good question...I wanted to finish making my yo-yo's for the clothes pin project while upstairs watching TV. Ta-da! Yo-yo's are done! The next step is to glue onto the clothes pin...

pattern: extra large Clover yo-yo maker

Sharing today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday and

Sarah at Whoop! Whoop!

WIP Wednesday 8.16.2023

Today was the sew and lunch day at the Melon Patchers. I chose to take 4 quilts that needed labels, yes the labels I made earlier in the week! 

Here is most of the group. Lots of ladies brought their machines. Today's emphasis was on Charity (or Comfort) Sewing.

For some reason, I didn't end up with a lot of room. I was heading towards the empty round tables but was told that they were reserved for lunch so we could all eat together! I did manage to squeeze into a place and sew all four of the labels onto the Comfort quilts today! Yay!

One of the ladies brought door prizes but the drawing was going to be after lunch so I opted to stay. I didn't win a prize but I was able to make one yoyo...the blue one. I'm going to glue the yoyo's to clothes pins...like the one in the picture...to use at the QOV Booth at AQS QuiltWeek Grand Rapids. Sometimes the Signature squares need to dry just a pinch and last year we used the clothes pins to hang the blocks on the curtain backdrop in the booth. Not only does the ink dry but it's a fun way to decorate the booth. This year I'm either going to take clothesline or make something to act as a clothesline. Well see 'how' busy I am coming into the show dates.

pattern: Clover Extra Large yo yo maker

Sharing with Susan at MidWeek Makers.

Design Wall Monday 8.14.2023

My grand plans were de-railed!

My brother was home about 4 days from an 11 day hospital stay when he fell. He was admitted again where it was discovered that his sodium levels were dangerously low. He is also diabetic, has high blood pressure and quite a few other health ailments. So I went to the hospital both Saturday and Sunday. Our quick visit on Sunday turned into a 3.5 hour stay while my SIL went home and checked on a few things. 

My design wall is the same as I left it Last Tuesday night. I'm not sure if I am going to sew this top into a flimsy or set the blocks in the 'some assembly needed' pile. It's about 48 x 64 right now.

pattern : Mary's Double 4 Patch

I did clear off my tables so I am ready to sew. I usually move as much as I can off the floor when I leave for an extended time. I would hate to come home to a flooded basement and have quilts (and whatever) destroyed because I didn't move them to higher ground. I also started in the Tuesday night guild bag...putting 'things' away from my crumb block demo.

I did manage to face a few labels today. 4 for the Melon Patchers and one for the QOV Signature Quilt. Since it was made with mostly Casual Quilters signed blocks, I wanted to put a Casual Quilters' QOV Label on it.

Here is the QOV Signature quilt that will get the above label. I had already posted it last week, but here it is again. :)

A few random pictures from Shipshewana, Indiana. I seem to like the horses and the flowers! I didn't mean to capture some of the Amish in this picture, I was just amazed at the number of buggys at the grocery store.

One of the most pleasant surprises on this trip was 'this little bit' of sewing inspiration. It was for sale at our hotel but unfortunately not my size. :( I've been 'noodling' and 'watching' for ways to make my crumb blocks into flowers. This just might be one possiblity!

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. :)

Sharing with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

WIP Wednesday 8.9.2023

I did my 'whistle stop' demo last night. I tried to keep it simple and straight forward but sometimes my brain likes to complicate <things>. Here is my set up 'in the wild'. My friend Mary was demo-ing next to me and remarked how 'Pat's looks like a science fair project'! I guess you can take the girl out of the science world but the science world stays in the girl and sneaks out every so often...LOL

The other question..yes, I worked on the QOV Signature quilt. First I cut the alternate 7.5 inch squares.

Sewed them altogether, added a 2.5 inch cut inner border and 4.5 inch cut outer border.

I loaded it on the long arm and called Monday a good workday.

Tuesday I made the back, loaded the back, batting and quilted down the QOV before lunch. 

I made the binding and sewed that on after lunch and ta-da! From cutting table to finished quilt in 3 days!

 To celebrate...I'm taking 3 days off! Well, DH wanted a mid week get away so we are going to Shipshewana.

pattern: 7.5 inch cut Signature squares with alternating Patriotic print

panto: serpentine

Good news! I found my patriotic clothes pins. We used these last year to hang the Signature blocks on the curtain to dry and help decorate the QOV AQS booth. Somehow, I thought I had about 24 not 12! Maybe I'll make more but that means finding the yo yo maker...

And because I had a few minutes before I needed to load up for the meeting last night, I put my current leader/ender project on the design wall. My take on Double Four Patch, except I am using one color way. I'm low key liking the Barn Raising Setting.

pattern: Mary's Double 4 patch

That'a a lot to take in from me! Whew!

Sharing with Susan at MidWeek Makers.