Yikes! My 3 Most Dreaded Words!

I always used to say my 3 morst dreaded words were, "miniature", "paper pieced" " stars" Now I can add, "tiny", "paper pieced" "storm at sea" .  I really like the Storm At Sea block, I really like purple, I wanted to challenge myself!

Well, my attempt was a fail.

the tiny pieces moved around, the glue was not much help

From afar it's not TOO bad! 

 My block ended up being bigger than 5" unfinished. I went back and reread Angela's directions. I did not DOUBLE check the print out to make sure the pieces were correct. Now, what do I do, the squares are kind of wonky!  Redo it and see if I can improve?  Fudge the setting pieces so they finish at the proper size of 7.5"?  I am behind on my Tiny Tuesday blocks as it is! 

I think I am going to go forward. Set the block and make sure it is correct for the quilt. Catch up with the blocks I have missed.  Then if the block still bothers me, I'll try and redo it!.

And so I did!  Not the redo, the accept and go on part!

With the setting triangles on Storm at Sea and the lantern block done also: 

Now to catch up on the setting of the blue blocks and continue with the purples.  Today is Mr Busy's birthday. No big celebration planned. There are cards on the table that have arrived in the mail. I am planning a crockpot meal, and maybe we will go out for pie!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finished and Not So Finished= Finished or Not Friday!

I finally have a finish!  It's Wiggle Time, a baby quilt for a great great niece. She was supposed to arrive Oct. 2nd, but there was some stress on mama and baby, so an unplanned C-section happened on Wed. 9-11-19. I am so glad I was nearly finished, just the last side of binding was happening on Thursday at my regular Thursday Stitchers group.

And now this:

Ready for the label and I will get it in the mail, as soon as Mom and baby are home. As of tonight, Little Miss L is still spending time in the NICU.


And my quilter finally got her machine back. She had to drive 3 hrs to the dealer to pick it up after 6 weeks, and they found nothing wrong!!!!

So the quilt for QOV is quilted and today the binding was under my needle.

This is backing fabric and also used as binding. You can see the lovely quilting that Lynn did.

So more binding in my future this weekend.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy


I'll be linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts.    Alycia is also hosting a blog hop today, so scroll clear to the bottom to see the link ups for FONF.

Finished or Not Friday Sept 6

I'll be linking up with FONF at Alycia Quilts.


Again, nothing finished. Camping, laundry after camping, football practice, birthday preparations all got in the way. I did crochet a bid on my raggy rug while camping. I think it needs four more rows to be the correct size to fit in front of the refrigerator in the camper. I hadn't planned on using it there, but as I was sitting and crocheting on it, it seemed like a good idea.

The edge is uneven, I don't know for sure what I am doing wrong. It's been a long time since I crocheted. I think I will try to block it when I am finished.

And I did get almost finished with the  embroidery on this block.

the snowmen still need eyes!

It is #8 of 12 needed for this cute Christmas wall hanging/ small quilt.

All the blocks, so far!

I have the 9th one traced and the 2" borders in the middle. I am going to push getting all of them done so I can assemble them at my October Retreat!  Lofty goal, I know!

Anyway, today is Birthday Lunch day at the Senior Center. Mr Busy's birthday is this month, so we will be celebrating with some fellow "seniors"!  Then grocery day, then maybe home to sew or stitch.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

September OMG One Monthly Goal

I actually have two small goals for September. The first is to get the binding on the Wiggle Time baby quilt that came back from the quilter last week.

I have to trim it up and sew the binding on. I picked up the needed yardage from the quilt shop where I purchased the original fabric. I chose the yellow plaid shown here. I am excited to get this done.



And I will finish the quilting and get the binding on my October Retreat Challenge project.

Here is a sneak peak of that scrappy table runner.

I am linking up with Patty's goal setting link up party.


Stay Buys and Stay Happy

Finished or NOT Friday August 30

This was a kind of non productive week for me. Maybe I was melancholy because Wednesday would have been my mother's 97th birthday and I am missing her a lot lately. It's been 7 years since she passed, but it's a grief that doesn't go away.

If you read my posts, you know I finished my One Monthly Goal for August! You can see that project here!

I sent off 8 blocks to Covered in Love. The requested block was Red, White and Blue stars, any kind of star.  The only requirement was that they be 12.5" unfinished.

And my challenge for my October retreat is in the final leg of its journey. I do not think my friends read my blog. So I am going out on a limb to show you the progress made on this Scrappy Wild tablerunner.

 I have had this variegated orange brown, gold thread for ages.  Like 10 years....I need to use it up!

 I use the #4 stitch( it's called the running stitch) on my old Bernina, a Virtuosa 153....and lengthened it and widened it to the maximum setting. It is in the black and white dotted sashing fabric.

I stitched straight lines in the dividing HST blocks. They stack one on top of the other to make a rectangle. I did not do each HST individually.

There are lots of thread to bury and I have one more pass on the second sashing and then something in the final border. So no, it is not finished. But it will be, before the end of October. I only do my own quilting on things I will keep, or really small projects. I'm not very good at it.

And then I saw this squirrel!!!! A cute little baby lovey quilt, posted at Treadlestitches. I have lots of pieces of novelty fabric that needs to be used up! 

So I started cutting:

I have 5 blocks in various stages of cutting and ready to sew. Sylvia's little quilt had only 9 blocks, so I am almost more than half way!  That's positive thinking!


So there you have it, all my NOT FINISHED projects. Maybe I'll get something done in September!

Oh and I hemmed a pair of capris and ironed some pillowcases and helped Mr Busy get the camper ready to go to the Black Hills of South Dakota for a few days after Labor Day. I am going to give my brother his Baseball quilt!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I'm linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts.

August OMG

This is what I started with. Sorry this is a video, I am so wobbly lately!

Then there was this! The pattern is called Wiggle Time by Cynthia Brunz.

Then I shifted the rows around.

I even tried rotating the photo to see if I liked that better!

I finally settled on this arrangement!

 And this backing!

Thursday the 22nd of August :   It is now in the hands of one of my favorite long arm quilter, Marva!.
And Sunday, the 25th she texted me that it was done!  So Monday, after lunch, I drove to her home to pick it up. I love it!  She did an awesome job, quilting it with variegated thread in a pantograph called Classic Blossoms.

The design sort of mimics the flowers in the aqua floral.  I love it!

It's draped over my antique child's rocker, but you can see it just need to be trimmed and bound. Here is the backing. I think the rainbows and the clouds really pick up the colors in the top.
I am going to bind it in the yellow plaid, if the LQS still has the fabric. I purchased it one month ago, so they should. That store is 150 miles from me, we are going that direction to camp in the Black Hills the day after Labor Day, so I will stop then and pick it up. I will call them today, to put it on hold. I will wait until the baby is born to complete the label, so I can include her name and pertinent birth info.

My OMG Goal for August was to get this quilt to flimsy stage. I have gone to the next step, so it is a Completed Goal!!
I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts, One Monthly Goal for August finish post.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ScrapHappy Saturday Lt Blue and some other colors

I had so much fun doing the Quarter Log Cabin block from last weeks Tiny Tuesday post. I haven't put the setting triangles on it yet, I was sort of waiting to see what I needed. But I am pretty sure I am going to set it on the diagonal.   Below is the traditional straight look.

And I have my 2" basket on my cutting table and cut rectangles for Garlic Knots whenever I get a minute. I have ??  48 blocks done( I just counted) and have 20 kitted/put together in sets to make 20 more.  I am running out of neutral strips to make the background. That means I have to cut into chunks or yardage. Hard for me!

I also worked on my challenge for my October retreat. I can't show it to you here. I am not sure my friends read my blog, no one has said they do, but just in case......it's some secret sewing. I will show you some of the fabric that were the challenge to use and the backing I will use. I am going to quilt it myself. So that is a challenge in itself!

The challenge fabric were from a charm pack: The orange with pumpkin face and gray spiderweb, and the mini dots of orange,gray, yellow and purple, and also the black with stars and squiggles. The black with white dots and the pebble fabric, and the edge of the witch's hat, were all in my stash. Below is the backing!

I  really like it! It's Timeless Treasures Fabric   Pattern #BOO-C 7082. I ordered it online. I think from Fabric.com, but I am not sure!

Then if all else fails and you still need to sew something....there is always the basket of strips to make fabric yarn for a crocheted utility rug!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Im linking up with Angela at  ScrapHappy Saturday and Cynthia at Quilting is more Fun than Housework's, Oh Scrap
Wish I could figure out how to post the buttons, horizontally instead of vertically!