July APQ UFO Challenge #7

Oh No!!! The July number for the APQ UFO Challenge is #7.  It is my least favorite one!!!

This project has a story!  A sort of long story!  One of the groups I belong to, made Quilts of Valor a year ago. We presented them last Veterans Day week. I wanted to make one. I found a (free) pattern online. I had a patriotic jelly roll that had been in my stash for years. So I set to it.  The pattern is set as a  rail fence, but has colored diagonal pieces added to the corners, giving it spinning stars.

I was using from my stash, and I cut the diagonal pieces double, thinking it would save a little time. All I got was a whole lot of backwards pieces that I could not use. So I substituted a different gold fabric in some stars. I painstakingly laid out the pieces so I could match the gold fabric That is so the stars were all the same, not 2 different fabrics.

Probably quilter error, but as I laid them out, I realized they did not all measure 8 1/2 inches. Especially not where I had cut and sewn the diagonal pieces. UGH!  I bailed on the project, volunteered to head the committee to plan the presentation and food and put them away in a shoebox. 

In the mean time I had come across a post from Julie at Pink Doxies regarding a quilt she called Hurricane Stars.  See her post here. (Reaching the Summit of Scrap Mountain) I thought, "that will work for my QOV blocks!"  I commented on her post and she replied to me with encouragement to  give it a try. But other things were on my plate and the end of the year was approaching.  I printed out her email reply, made a note of the URL address for the post and put it in the shoebox with the "ugh" blocks.

Enter APQ Challenge list for 2018. I am forever an optimist and have great expectations.  So last week, thinking of the QOV blocks and having all my other challenge items complete. I dug out the dreaded "shoebox".  I un-stitched all the block that I had sewn together. 2 columns of 7 blocks and one partial column of 3 blocks. I thought, "at least I  started!"   Well today, APQ announced the challenge number for July!  Yup!  It's #7....the QOV Block re-do!  My plan is to purchase more gold fabric for the center stars......spinning, hurricane, or ??.  I do not have any more gold that is the right shade and not covered with leaves or pumpkins ( Fall not patriotic!).  But I am OK with that.  So that will be first on my agenda. Get some more gold fabric.....should be easy this time of year to come up with gold /patriotic something!   Wish me luck, and I'll hopefully get it accomplished by the end of July!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Check out Julie's blog today. pinkdoxies.com.  She has a photo of the finished quilt, in all it's glory and struggles. It's amazing! 

June OMG Finish

My June goal was to get the binding on my daughter's quilt for her graduation, and to complete the stitching on the July Calendar Girl. You can check out my post here!

They are done!

 I decided to use the gray larger print for the binding. I had enough and I like the dark framing effect. The small pops of white, black and teal are wonderful too.

Even the label is done!  I tried a new technique of redacting the personal info. I had never tried that with a photo before, but I have a new iPad (since Mother's Day) and I gave it a try. I guess if you really want to know, you can still see it. I will have to refine that in the future. How do you cover up personal stuff in photos?


The stitching is mostly done on this little cutie. The original pattern shows a yellow button in the center of the hanging star, but I can't locate one locally that is the correct size and shade of yellow. I will keep looking! I am not sure what this stitchery will become. A pillow cover, a framed picture for my July Great Granddaughter's room, or maybe I'll put all the girl's stitching's in a wall hanging. This is the first, so I have a few to do!

I think she's pretty darn cute!

I am linking this to Elm Street Quilts, One Monthly Goal- June Finish Link up.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Gma Bag #3

Amy Butler Birdie Bag.

I have had this in a to-do basket since early 2010. I made a Zebra themed quilt for our very first great grandchild. I had tons of left over fabric!  I had an Amy Butler pattern!  Make a diaper bag!  Cut the fabric!  Out of interfacing!

After a few stumbling blocks, I put it away in a basket. I moved it around lots and lots!  That baby will be 8 years old next month!  Sheesh!!

I finally decided to dig it out of the UFO pile and see if I couldn't get it completed.  I had to retrace the pieces...I had cut some, so I know I had traced some, but they have disappeared,  Then I did not have fusible fleece. I made a trip to Joann's. They had one piece of fusible fleece on the shelf. It would work. I needed Pellon SF101 also. (no affiliation, I just use this interfacing a lot, and it was recommended on the patter)  I had a coupon, I bought a whole bolt!!

I cut more fabric and set to work. In no time, I had this finished bag.

My granddaughter made a comment a week or so ago, that she was going to have to get a "go bag". She carries water bottles for both kids and herself always. Now she is "potty training" Miss B, so there is a necessity of several changes of panties and shorts/leggings. I decided to give this bag to her last Tuesday. She was thrilled and put it to immediate use.

Her sister  has this bag!

Her mom has this bag!

So she is calling it her Gma Bag.  She has always referred to me as Gma when she writes it!  I am glad she likes it and the other bags are appreciated and used as well!  All that makes me happy.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Teal, Turquoise or Aqua Slabs!

I pulled my teal, aqua, turquoise stash. I have a lot of medium prints, not a lot of solids or blenders.  So I started. I try not to make my slabs too much like a log cabin.  Sometimes that’s harder than it might seem.

These blocks need more scraps added to make them the necessary 10" X 10".  Some will be wonky as those are the scraps I have!  It's OK!  I like that look!

Not exactly the June rainbow colors but I did get the binding sewed on to my OMG challenge and a graduation quilt for my daughter. She graduates in August from her 3rd discipline!  She is an RN with a degree in business and now will add Healing Touch Therapy to her repertoire. I am so proud of her!  She follows her heart and she is amazing!

It's Saturday, I have a hair appointment this afternoon, then if I feel brave I may go to the grocery store!  Never a good idea on Saturday!  

Happy Weekend

Stay Busy and Stay Happy 

I'm linking up with So Scrappy's Scrap Happy Saturday  and Busy Hands Quilts, Finished or Not Friday!

June Goals -Quilt Binding and some Embroidery

My One Monthly goal for June is to trim and put the binding on the quilt for my daughter's graduation quilt and to finish the July Calendar Girl stitchery.

This is kind of a weird angle, but here they are together on my cutting table!

A close up of the quilting my friend with a long arm did for me. The dark gray thread she used shows up great on the light gray border. I 

am still deciding on a binding fabric. I don't have enough of any of the fabrics used in the quilt. Maybe the backing, it is white with black cursive words: Courage, smile, etc!

And here is the partially completed July Calendar Girl stitching.  I have a few more words to stitch, the rest of her very curly blond hair and her eyes and nose, and then I'll  embellish with star buttons and some metallic thread in her hair decoration.  Don't you just love her striped stockings?

Not much will be done today, I am taking a friend to the hospital for an IV infusion, then there is a T-ball game for our great grandson ( he's 4, so it's mostly playing in the dirt, :)!) and today is our 54th wedding anniversary, so there is dinner out!  Some planting will be done too, it is finally warm enough. Though yesterday the 1st,  there was a tornado touch down northwest of town. It's wide open there, but 2 families lost their homes and out buildings.  So sad!

Happy June, 

Pink Stuff

Not much happening that would qualify as a finish this week. The only real finish I had was to make a cute little "top" for my great granddaughter. I try to keep an extra top, bottom and socks here at our house for both grands!   A bit ago, we used the t-shirt that was here, for  Miss B.  It went home with her and the blue frilly tunic she had on that day has a whole other  backstory!

I had been wanting to try to make a pillowcase dress so this was the opportunity. The knit pants that reside here, have multicolored dots on a black background. Versatile, yes?  I had been working on my pink slab blocks for the RSC18 and came across a chunk of bright pink with lime green dots. I measured Miss B and it seemed the top should be 14" from shoulder to bum! Luckily the piece of fabric was about 19" by WOF. I perused the internet and Pinterest for patterns and ideas.  I settled on a tutorial from Melissa at Polka Dot Chair that she created for Bernina's WeAllSew blog. It is well written and worked well for me. There are lots of variations on Pinterest too.

I made a trip to JoAnns for the proper pink bias tape and some wide enough lime green ribbon. I did not add the bottom contrasting band, though I could always do that. I'll try the band technique if this one works well and make her a longer dress length for her birthday. She'll be two in July!

Nothing fancy about this dress!  I used the thread I had, and even two different colors in top and bobbin. But you can't tell. I like it a lot, we'll check it out on the "model" soon.

I also worked on my pink slab block, but they are still in construction.

Today these go in the box and I'll start the new color. It is an ongoing project for this year.

I did piece the wide borders for the plus quilt I showed last week and got the side borders added. With Mr. Busy's help, I will measure the width of the quilt top today and sew on the top and bottom borders. I have to lay it out on the family room floor and then can't hold the tape measure and crawl on my knees at the same time!  It's not easy being "old".

I'll be linking this post to Finish It Up Friday at Amanda Jean's blog and
Finished Or Not Friday at Myra's blog.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy