August OMG Finish

My OMG goal for August was to decide, execute and get to the "ready to be quilted" stage for my October Retreat Challenge for Loose Threads.

I decided on the pig!  I enlarged the graphic I found to 157%.  I chose pieces of red and pink fabric from my stash. I wanted to embroider the names of the "parts" by hand, so I knew I did not want fusible on the back.  But in the end I applied the fusible in the window technique, so there was fusible around the edges, about 1/4 to 3/8".  That gave me a more flexible center of the pieces to do the hand embroidery. I used both chain stitch and a back stitch. Some with double floss and some with single, depending on the space and the size of the wording! I knew I needed some interfacing for the back as I blanket stitched around the outside edge. I used my old tried and true method of using "used only once" dryer sheets. I basted them to the wrong side of the base piece. Fused the pieces in on, following the diagram, roughly. Then outlined the pig with the single blanket stitch on my machine. Then I chose other stitches from my machine randomly. Used some white thread, some red, some pink. I really like the way it turned out. You can cut away the "dryer sheets" or leave them. Either way has worked for me in the past!

I cut a piece of muslin to use as backing for the quilted pig. I think I will use a grid method. I think red thread or maybe pink. I am not proficient with FMQ, so a guided look will be better. It is ready to be spray basted and then quilted. So my  GOAL has been met.  My plan is to make a pillow cover, so the backing and binding will be the FFA gray print and I decided to use a contrast flap for the zipper cover. I'll post about the finish after we have the challenge reveal in mid October.

I will link this to Patty's One Monthly Goal August  Finish Link Up!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Harvest Table Runner - Fall is Back!

Finished Or Not Friday is a small one this week. A kitted tablerunner that was also my challenge for August for APQ ( All People Quilt) UFO Challenge.

It's almost a perfect fit for the coffee table in our family room. But I have 2 great grands who don't think anything should be on a table!  So it will not live there permanently. I think I will gift it to my sister-in-law! 

The pumpkins are pieced and the little houses are fussy cut from a piece of fabric. I did my usual wavy line quilting, but wonder if there should be more. I have a spool of multi-colored tan/orange/brown thread that I used and I like the way it blends and then doesn't.  A friend suggested big stitch quilting on the panel ends. See the whole photo above. The back has the panels on the end too, so outline stitching that would look fine on the front would not be good at all on the back.  I may give a bit of big stitch quilting a go. I will have to go shopping to locate some appropriate color and weight of thread. "darn"!!

Linking up to Busy Hands Quilts! 


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Orange is the New "Color"

So the second Saturday of the month I finally have some orange to show. I am plugging away at orange. I had to really dig and to relax my parameters for "what is orange"!  You will see some

definite red/yellow, some apricot, some orangey yellow!  But I think it all works in the end!

I am working toward 7 and 1/2  slab/crumb blocks that are 7" square. It is a work in progress. And my scrap bin does not show that there has been progress!  Why is that?



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I'll be linking to ScrapHappy Saturday at Angela's blog.

Finished Or Not Friday, and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

I finished making 8 red, white and blue stars for CiL's July - August block drive. If you want to know more about that, check out Kat's blog here. 

At the beginning of the year, I committed to make at least 6 blocks for every drive in 2018. No pressure, just a commitment to myself! January-February was string blocks, no color specified, just strings.  It was really fun, I stopped at 12!  See my blocks in this post.

March and April the block drive was for Hunter's Star blocks in blue, one solid, one print.I decided 6 was an odd number for Hunters Star, so I made 8.  My finished blocks are posted here. 

For May-June, Kat took a little break and requested that we support the block drive at Purple Poppy Quilts. You can read my post here.

And that brings us to July-August, "Oh My Stars" . These are the 8 blocks completed. I used a pattern from Quilt in a Day, called Scrappy Stars by Sue Bouchard. but deviated from the scrappy 16 patch centers on a couple. A  6.5" square of some special Lady Liberty fabric brought to me from NYC by a friend, a large 4 patch with blue star points instead of red, a scrappy set of 4 4-patches and one that was just blue and white alternating squares.  I will get these finished blocks off in the mail to Kat, early next week. I actually put them in the mail, yesterday!  Hooray!

 It looks like a smudge on this one, but it's a reflection of the overhead lights. This is a glass top table. And it looks here, like the background in yellow......it is not!  More reflection I guess!

 Just 4 patches instead of 16.

 This one is different. 4 4 patches, technically not a  scrappy16 patch.

 For this one, I wanted to use all squares of the same deep blue, but my scrap did not go far enough. So I substituted 2 blue dotted squares in the center. 


I also finished putting the binding on the birthday quilt for our son. Now it needs a label and it will be ready to be delivered in person at the end of September. Our son turns 50 on September 30th. All my other kids (daughter, granddaughters, great grands, and even his ex-wife) already have quilts. So this one is special, it's a FINALLY!  It's a secret though. None of my family knows I have a blog, so I should be safe.

Pattern:  Intertwined by Cheryl Brickey from the book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts.

Fabric: B &W: Plus Signs = Tag by Cheryl Arkison from Connecting Threads

Green : Latifah Saarif's Graphics collection = Brick Wall

Border: White Out by Robert Kauffman

Backing: Cheers by Robert Kauffman

Binding: from my stash: Vintage Wheels, I have no idea who the designer is. 

Quilting:  Retro Graphics 2 done by my friend Marva Mooney on her long arm. 

This is a slightly better view of the quilting and the binding!

We took pictures at a local park. The fabric is right side up on the back, those beer bottles and glasses are not laying sideways!  Silly Mr Busy decided he should do a "Wilson" impression from Tool Time. Do any of you remember that TV show? He's 6'3" and had to stand on tiptoes to look over the sign we were using as a prop!

So there you have it!  Finally some finishes!

 I'll be linking to Busy Hands Quilts, Finished or Not Fridays
and Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: if any of the text about shows up as RED, I apologize. I tried to correct it 4 times and each time I come back to read and edit again, the sentences are red!  Don't know????

AUGUST OMG Goal

This challenge has been so much fun!  And I have completed some projects that I probably would not have, if I hadn't joined in.

My goal for August is to begin the challenge project for my group retreat in Ocotober.  Some of you may remember that I posted a little about it.  For those of you who are new to reading or don't remember....  this is all I can show because it is mostly a "secret"!

My group ( not really a guild, because we have no rules, no officers, no requirements!) is called Loose Threads. We meet monthly and every fall go to retreat at a Ranch/Hotel not far, but just far enough! Last year our challenge, due this October was presented.  We each drew two crayons from a paper bag. Then we drew the name of a shape or object. Lastly, we drew a technique. I drew Red, Pink, Farm Animal and Crazy Quilting!

The butcher cut print out above is my inspiration piece. I am leaning toward a pig. When I think of pink/red farm animal, I think pig. Though Jeanine, my rancher friend reminded me that there are red  chickens and red cows also! I also found the gray fabric when a friend in another group showed it on her facebook page. Nicole's daughter is very active in FFA ( Future Farmers of America) and she spotted this fabric at a South Dakota quilt store. I quickly asked which store, got on their website and ordered some. It will be the back of my project. 

So there you have it!  My August OMG is to decide, execute and get this project to the "needs to be quilted and bound" stage. Then I'll finish it in September.  I have a busy August and a couple more challenges from other places due in August also. 

I will link this post to Patty's blog post, One Monthly Goal - August Link-up!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy