Bye Bye Blues

It's the last ScrapHappy Saturday for June!  I took the time to organize and count all my Tiny Tuesday blocks. I like seeing them all together. You may notice that the reverse applique heart, with Pooh in the center does not have setting fabric added. I am still trying to decide if I am going to try that technique again. Maybe from this far away it doesn't look too bad, but I'll always know how uneven the edges are. Same for the blue fan block, it does look wonky on the design wall. I probably will redo that one too!

Wow, my room is a bit messy too!  I can't seem to keep it neat in all corners!

Last Tuesday's Monkey Wrench block. I like it a lot and maybe it was supposed to be set on the diagonal, but I like this block set straight.

And I dug out the other RSC19 blocks for June.  Four Scrappy Sprouts, I will add light blue at the proper time.  Three bow tie blocks, I only need six for my planned layout, so the other three will be lighter blues. And 4 string blocks. No plan for the strings as of yet. And I am running out of strings long enough to make the diagonal, even on these 7.5" blocks. I really don't want to cut into chunks or fat quarters yet! I'll just keep making as I can and see how they go.

I am always anxious for the new color. Finally it is starting to feel like summer here. We actually hit 84 degrees this week. My temperature quilt is nearly half done. When all the June blocks are attached, I'll share a photo.


I'll be linking up with Angela's ScrapHappy Saturday linkup party!  See you there!



Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I Am Addicted to Garlic Knots and Scrap Happy sewing

While sewing on a quilt for my brother, see this post,  I needed some leader and enders. My scrappy sprouts in blue are done, my Bow tie blocks in blue are done, I can't use string blocks as leader and enders, because I use a larger needle ( used for paper only) and a smaller stitch length. So I started cutting pieces for a garlic knot block. "I just need a few", I said. "I'll just cut a couple of sets" , I said!  I can't stop!!!!

I am digging in 2" baskets for fabric, scrounging larger pieces for the neutrals! Cutting 3 - 4.5" rectangles in the main color, then finding the perfect scrap of 2" x 4.5" for the accent piece!  Green goes with purple, right?

Red can go with green or blue!  Pink can be the main piece or the accent piece. Neutrals can have tiny lavender polka dots, right?  OMGosh!  It's addicting. Now my left thumb is sore from so much cutting!!  "whining"  Bonnie Hunter's pattern calls for 60 Garlic Knot Blocks and then some fancy setting to put plus signs in the middle. I have 20 sewn and 20 more sets cut, so I am well on my way! We will see what I finally decide to do. These won't last as leaders and enders all year, I hope I like her new leader and ender project that is due to come out next month. "fingers crossed"!

Early in the week, I completed 2 blue string blocks and there are 2 more in progress. So I can link up to ScrapHappy Saturday!  And Sunday, Monday, I will link to Oh Scrap!

I did not get the basket block done for Tiny Tuesday, so maybe next week I'll have 2 Tiny Tuesday blocks to show and some more garlic knots!!!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finished or Not Friday 6-21-19 and OMG for June

It's the First Day of Summer and:

The top is finished!  The pattern says it needs one more 4.5" border, the quilt and I disagree. I think it is busy enough!  The quilt says, " I am done!".  So now I will search for the perfect backing and send it off to the long arm quilter. This quilt is for my brother. He is retired and a sports fan extraordinaire.
He and my sister-in-law raised 2 wonderful boys that have become wonderful young men. He is a season ticket holding Vikings fan and he has coached and umpired Little League for many years. Late last November he had a heart attack. He survived, and is doing very well. He has lost 45 pounds and although he is not umping this year, he hopes to be back to it next year. I was gifted the blue baseball themed fabric and I immediately knew what it was meant to be. I will bind it with the dark fabric that is covered with baseballs and baseball bats. So it is not quite finished, but my OMG for June was to get the blocks made and the top put together. I call the OMG finished.

The sun finally was shining so, Mr Busy helped me put the quilt top on the back fence. The sun is behind me, hence the shadow!  He used some clamps from his shop, but did grab a napkin from the table for protection. I think I need my own "dedicated " clamps for hanging quilts, don't you?

It is almost too long for the fence! The quilt is 64 X 72!

I am linking up with Myra's Finished or Not Friday!

Update: I am linking this post to June Finish OMG post at Elm Street Quilts. 


I'm off to work on my Temperature Quilt and check out the other links for Finished or Not Friday.
Come join me!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Scrappy Saturday June 15th

So June's color is Blue.  Navy or Med Blue is suggested. My scrappy sprout blocks had been partially constructed prior to the announcement of the color. So there is a bit of lighter blue in some of the sprouts. The contrast is good.

I may have posted these previously! This is what could happen if your 5 yo great grandson wants to watch you fix the strap on his reading pillow and bumps into the design board you hastily laid aside, but not "UP"!

Oh well, it was remedied very quilkly!


I made a couple more Bow tie blocks, then went back and checked my graph paper layout cheat sheet!  I only need  6 Blue blocks and I would like them to be a mixture of blues. So 3 dark/med blue will be good.

I have been working on Tiny Tuesday Blues.  The Grandmothers Fan block gave me the blues!  Or maybe a better description would be "the jitters".  I procrastinated, and procrastinated!  I happily made the 2nd Tiny Tuesday block for June from Cynthia's cute and well written tutorial.  I'ts the one on the right and as of now, does not have a name. I'm calling mine Town Square, until Cynthia picks a name officially!

I searched the internet for hints on paper piecing with freezer paper. A long time ago that method was taught at a retreat and this is the finished product. So I know I can "Do It".  But I had forgotten the fine points!

I was able to find a link to a free guide here. Thank you Rebecca!! So I happily printed the document and set about paper piecing the tiny blue fan!  When it came time to trim the fan arc, I again experienced the "jitters"!  Slow and steady, Judy. You can do this! I took Angela's advice and cut an oversize block to appliqued the fan to. Then I worried about turning under the edges. So I ironed the shape onto the back of the block and cut the shape including seam allowance. The seam allowance was generous, maybe 3/8 ".

Have you ever used the spray starch method for turning under edges for applique?  I remember seeing a friend and experienced quilter do it a few years ago. So I sprayed some starch in an extra laundry detergent cap, found a small soft bristled paint brush, turned on the iron and set to it!  You basically paint the starch on the seam allowance and press it over the pattern edge.  Sometimes a stylus works to keep your fingers out of the way.

Then I did the same for the small background piece that will be appliqued on top of the narrow part of the fan blades.

It is done!  A tiny bit wonky, but I am basically pleased.  See the photo above, next to the Town Square block.

I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's on the Design Wall...

And starting to be assembled!

All the blocks for the 5 yard quilt are assembled and put up on the design wall. This is the biggest quilt my wall will accommodate.

I have started to assemble it, stitching blocks A to B in Row 1, then A to B in Row 2 and so on. There are 6 rows X 5 columns. I will sew all column E blocks to CD blocks then assemble the rows horizontally. Usually I web a quilt, but this week has been one of sporadic bits of sewing time, so this simpler method seemed the way to go.

The missing blocks are at my machine ready to go under the needle.

This is my OMG project for June, so I am well on my way if I don't get sidetracked!

I'm linking up with Finished or Not Friday

and Can I Get A Whoop Whoop! 



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Slow Start to June

Not much has been happening yet for the beginning of June. Lots of challenges to be met, stitching to be done, and also some flowers to be planted.

RSC19 has a new color BLUE...Navy and dark blue. There will be some lighter blues in my sprout blocks and my garlic knots.  It just has to be!

So far I have 2 scrappy sprout blocks, one Bowtie Block,

 and some 12.5" blocks for a quilt for my brother.

I was waiting on fabric to round out the material needed for a 5 yard quilt Biggee Size!
That fabric showed up in my mailbox yesterday!  Hooray. Now I need to launder it and press it and start cutting.

Another exciting thing happened in our family!  My youngest nephew, the younger son of the brother who will be the recipient of the baseball quilt, defended his thesis and got his PhD.

I think there will be another "graduation" quilt in the works!!  His doctorate is in limnology!  Look that one up!!!!  He and his wife and son, live in Minnesota.

So that's my month so far!  There was even one blue Garlic Knot!

I am looking forward to next week.....to be productive!!!  I'm linking up with

 Angela at Scrappy Happy Saturday and hopefully Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework on Sunday.

One other photo to share!  Great granddaughter on the slide this week!  Lots of static! LOL!!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

June OMG goal 5 Yard Baseball Quilt

Here we are, it's June! Time to set another goal. This One Monthly Goal Challenge has been so fun and has really helped me stay on track. Thanks Patty for doing all the work that it takes to make this challenge happen.

I decided last week that my brother, the older of the two, deserves a quilt. My baby brother got one  a few years ago when he lost his life partner.  Last October my sister’s husband passed away. I wanted to make her a comfort quilt. Then she was diagnosed with lung cancer in January! So I got busy on that one. It was delivered to her on March 30th.

I received a 2 yard piece of the baseball fabric in a tote of fabric that nobody wanted!

 It spoke to me. My brother is a Little League Umpire, and last December he had a heart attack. He is doing well, phenomenally so.   He plans to go back to umpiring this summer,  I decided I needed to commemorate that milestone. The solid blue was also in that tote.  I searched locally for the other 3 fabrics to make a 5 yard quilt. It's my favorite pattern to use, when there is a special feature fabric.
I could not find what I wanted. So I searched the internet. I found baseball themed fabric! I hope they coordinate well!  The order will arrive on Saturday the 9th. In the mean time I will get all the 9 1/2" squares cut and bordered with the blue.
My JUNE OMG  is to get all the blocks (30) done and put together in a flimsy! That includes the borders. There are two! The quilt finishes at approx  64X76. I don't know who designed this pattern. The copy I have was found on the internet, years ago.

I think I can get that done! 
I'm linking up at Patty's Goal Setting Link up

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Last ScrappyHappy Saturday in May

Most of my orange sewing was completed earlier in the month. A tiny bit of orange string block stitching was done. I still have an orange butterfly to make for Tiny Tuesday.  Then it will be on to dark and navy blue!

I am reaching the end of my orange scraps. I have some larger than fat quarter chunks but not many bits and pieces. And the variety is lacking!



Linking to So Scrappy today!


Stay  Busy and Stay Happy