A quilt top finished and donated. Challenge completed.

All People Quilt -  Final UFO Challenge for 2018.  Jelly Jive top - get it DONE!

  This is the quilt top that I finished at a retreat and just could not get back to it. I don't like it! My friends like it, one even offered me some fabric for binding.  So I was determined to "git'r done!"
And these next two pictures are of the completed quilt.

I ordered some wide backing. Never having used that before, I made a math error and so I inserted a bit of the binding fabric to make it work. I think it looks alright!

My friend quilted it for me, in a pink thread and I think that is good too! I decided to donate it to our local libraries "silent auction" in November. I recently received this letter from the library foundation.  My quilt brought $50 and in all, the library received $2,150.50 in proceeds. I am disappointed, that more was not given to the auction. But a UFO is done, someone has a new quilt I hope they love and some dollars were received by our library. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Chubby Little Heart Shaped Pincushions and some progress

I have been struggling the last two weeks.  I am in a FUNK!  And I am not sure why!

The first Wednesday of every month, I sew with my Loose Threads group. We had to cancel our October retreat because the Resort we go to, had a water well fail!  Not their fault but we were all sad. At our meeting we decided to try to do an "In Town" Retreat in January. November and December are all so so busy and traveling in any winter month in Wyoming is iffy at best! So it is set up to sew at our local library for 3 days. We can't carry in, they don't have kitchen facilities. But we will call for take out and then the last night, we plan to pack up , then go out to dinner somewhere. We will sleep at home, in our own beds, but sew sew sew for 3 days.! It will be fun!

So you would think, I would be in a better mood!  Hmmmm!

I did finish two pincushions that were on my November APQ (All People Quilt ) Challenge, for November.

I started with a pattern and two fat quarters from a bundle I have had for "years". You can see the Pink Ribbon fabric. The whole bundle was Pink Ribbon themed. It was serendipitous that this was the project chosen for November. In November of 2000, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and by December16th, I had a mastectomy. Chemo started on New Years Eve and I was finished in March. A whirlwind of a time. I have been cancer free since, so 18 years this week.

I also picked a third fabric, a pink pin dot, that upon examination, had fades slightly on the fold lines. Showing its age, for sure. That fabric was for the tie at the top, so it did not show the fading and they turned out cute!

 Two fat quarters make two pincushions. The directions called for plastic pellets in addition to the fiberfill. I did not have pellets, used some walnut hulls instead, but that did not work very well.  I would do it different another time.

I also have been working at sewing diagonal rows for my Rick Rack Nines quilt. It is a slow process, but that is ok. My goal is to get half of them done by the end of November. My design wall is not big enough to do the whole quilt at once. So half and then the other half.

I have rows 1-8 sewn together. Row 11 is the lone one above. 

Rows 9-10 are on the ironing board, awaiting pressing. I have been sewing 2 rows together, then the two rows to the main part. It seems to be working well. There are lots of seams to "nest" and press!

When I take photos like this one, I realize that I may need to spend some time straightening up my space!  YIKES!


I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts and
at TGIFF with AlyciaQuilts this week ( I am a newcomer here)

Ten people for Thanksgiving, so I am off to plan, plan, plan.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finish It Up Friday and Finished Or Not Friday 11-2018

I am always glad to have a plan.  I was hoping to have lots of photos to show on this first Friday of the month post.  You know what they say about best laid plans.

We traveled the first part of October and visited our son and daughter. Our son had a milestone birthday and is by himself. So of course I made him a quilt. He lives in Phoenix, a may not really need a quilt.  But now he has one!

We were home for one week and I was planning lots of projects for a 4 day retreat in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming (it's my home state and only 60 miles from home). We always have lots of fun and usually accomplish a great deal. But the Friday before the Monday of our first day, they had a water well or water line problem and had to cancel. Because they also host hunters and hunting season is in full swing in this area, we could not reschedule right away.  Now we are looking at a couple of option in the coming 3 months..but driving is "iffy" in Dec and January.  It could be lovely, but it could also be treacherous. I am not sure what we will decide. We meet on Wed the 7th for our regular monthly get-together.

One of my project to do at the retreat was to have 8 blocks complete for CiL Block Drive.

These are Grown Up  I Spy blocks. You can read more about this project here and  here. They have been sent off to Kat.   The new block drive is in full swing and I am gathering fabric for it.

The last Friday of October, my sister lost her husband of 31 years. He had been failing for a while, but boy is it hard!  I want to "hover" and "be there", but she is 2 hours away and hates to be "hovered over"  So I will be available to talk, to text, to support her in any way I can.

And now it is November and there are lots of new challenges to keep me busy. My new One Monthly Goal is to get HALF of Rick Rack Nines put together.  You can see my post about that one HERE. 

I have a local challenge due to be revealed on the 18th of this month at our Quilt Chicks gathering.
It is this quilt and it is done.

The stripe binding is laying on the top in this photo but it is quilted and bound. I know I have a photo of it complete, but I can't find it this morning. I will take a picture at the reveal day and then I will have one.

binding the Magnolia Quilt

My project #4 for the All People Quilt UFO challenge is to make a heart shaped large pincushion. It is ready to go.  I have had this fabric for maybe 15 years, it's time to use it!

Sew it's time to get busy and finish up some projects. And Christmas is only 7 Fridays away.!!



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday and 

Myra at Busy Hands Quilts, Finished or  Not Friday

OH, and I finished reading the Storyteller by Jodi Picoult and The Dry by Jane Harper.  Both really good. 

September APQ UFO Challenge and my finish for this week

Finsihed or Not Friday   9-21-18

September’s selection was # 2. I had 2 panels from Moda, called A Child is Born. I wanted to make them into wall hangings for each of my children and their spouses.  Life happens and now both my kids are divorced and still single. Neither will use a  wall hanging at this point. Limited space to

either hang or store Christmas decorations is the issue. 

So I thought about a donation. Long story short, I have one complete to wall hanging size top. I have backing ordered, and I need to get on the list for a long armer, the second one will have to go back in my UFO tub. I have an idea to do a different technique, but need to “ think it through” a bit more.

I will link up with Myra's Finished or Not Friday !    Cause it is not technically a finish!!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy!

September One Monthly Goal and some other challenge goals.

This month is going to be busy!  A new One Monthly Goal, A New Color for RSC18, A new block for Sept-Oct for CiL, a new project for All People Quilts UFO 2018 Challenge, a trip to Phoenix for our son's 50th birthday, our great grandson's 5th birthday, Mr Busy's 74th birthday, Oh My!!!!!!!!


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1.  One Monthly Goal for September:   My Thursday Stitchers group has decided to do a traced design exchange for Christmas. So far there are 8 members participating, but I am sure a few more will jump on the bandwagon before too long. So that means I have at least 7 copies to make of this design I downloaded from Jenny of ELEFANTZ's  Craftsy page.

I'll need to make 8 if I want one for myself to stitch in 2019. We will exchange the "traced on fabric" designs in early December. We have a few members that travel for the weeks around the holiday. Our only criteria, is to make sure the design is free, or that you have permission from the designer to share. We do not sell or profit from these stitcheries.
So my September OMG is to get 6 of these traced. Then I will have another month or so to catch up, before December.
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2. The new color for RSC18 is Dark Blue or Dark Neutral ( meaning Black or Brown, I think). Not started yet, but I am making Slab/Crumb blocks.  So it will be ongoing for the month.

3. The new CiL block is an Adult I spy block!  Check out Kat's post here!

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4. APQ UFO Challenge 2018 for September:  Project #2 was picked. My challenge list #2 is to make 2 wall hangings or small quilts from 2 Christmas panels I purchased several years ago with the intent to gift to my son and DIL and my daughter and SIL.  They, unfortunately ( or fortunately, however you want to look at it) are now both divorced. So I will make them anyway, gift them to the son and daughter! I planned to use the Sidelights pattern shown here, but I have not yet purchased or looked for coordinating fabric.

I am linking this post up with Patty at the OMG-September Link Up. 

So..........................
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

From Failure to Success!

Last year about this time, I took all these blocks and put them away in a shoebox in the closet!
Beware this a photo laden lengthy post!

 I was so disappointed that the blocks were wonky and not the 8.5" that the pattern required. I had cut into a jelly roll that I had purchased in 2007 at Gruber's Quilt Shop in Waite Park, Minnesota while attending my nephew's wedding. I hoarded it, waiting for the the perfect project. One of my quilt groups decided to do a huge presentation of Quilts of Valor for local veterans. We had 3 quilters with long arm machines and they offered to quilt them for free! So I was excited to be a part of that!
Then the problems!  First I ran out of the solid gold from my stash due to the directions from the pattern not being clear. So I substituted the gold star fabric and my design wall came in handy as I rearranged the blocks for color distribution and then cut each one individually so I would use the correct gold in the corners to make a star that was all the same color on all four points. At least when I took them off the wall, I was smart enough to mark each and every one with a Row and Column id and I put the little sticky near the top.

Then the beginning of July,  APQ UFO Challenge 2018 chose #7 as the project to work on!  You guessed it, #7 is "redo QOV blocks". See my post here for the 'rest of the story' !

So I began!  First I looked for gold toned fabric. Finally settled on this one from Joann's. It is a batik, but I figured that too would help with keeping the diagonal more true!

I decided to cut the rectangles a little bit longer and 1/2 an inch wider so I would have some room to make adjustments.

I painstakingly "unpicked" all the gold triangles!  Being careful not to distort them. I have an Alpaca wool mat. I love that thing!  Then I spray starched each corner...one at a time!  I did not spray starch on the paca mat. I used my old pressing mat to the right of my machine.

Here is Row 1 Column A block with one old corner 9(upper left) and one new corner (lower right)

 As  dug deeper in the box, some block had the corners cut!

 Most looked like this!

 And some had not been prepared at all!  I really did get "stopped", didn't I?

Can you see this one is skimpy by almost 1/4 inch!!!!  I did some wiggling and squared ones like this as best I could. A couple of blocks I even took the seams out and resewed!

Three rows back on my design wall, starting on the fourth from the bottom!

The first four rows are sewn together. I decided to do it in 2 pieces because my design wall is little. Row 5 is up there but not sewn together!  Then I took down the first 4 rows, folded it accordian style so the 4th row was visible and to the farthest left on my wall. Then I could build the last 3 rows and make sure they were all correct!  I did not get a photo of that...I was on a roll!

Yesterday , July 30th it is done!I used the gold in the stars to make a 2'5" border per the pattern. I like the floating effect. I am going to bind it with the gold too. I bought extra not sure of how much I needed and there is enough to bind it!

 Some close up of the spinning stars and

the border!
It finishes 61 X 61, so it will be OK for a QOV if we do another presentation!
Phew!  I made it!  Thanks Julie for your encouragement!  I wouldn't have been able to move forward with out your post photos and your kind words.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop cause I'm Not Quite Finished!

Summer is quickly coming to an end! I just learned the first day of school is August 21st.  ONE MONTH from tomorrow!

I don't have children or grandchildren who are school age, but our great grandson who lives here in our town starts kindergarten this year. It makes both Mr Busy and me feel OLD!

I have been working on my APQ Challenge for July!  I have a QOV that became a UFO last year after I had a great deal of trouble putting the blocks together. Now it should have been an easy quilt. Like a rail fence with a star detail at two corners.  See this post!.

I was surprised when I went to JoAnns that there was no gold fabric in the Patriotic section. So I looked, and looked and looked. Now, our JoAnns is a relatively small one. Not lots of fabric, no frame section, and maybe 3 employees that day. Sometimes there are only two working. I finally settled on a gold batick, yes it has "leaves" in it, but more subtle than the ones in my stash.

Next I had to decide how to do the corners. Cut a piece approximately 5 1/2 by 3 and lay it over the existing corner, sew it and then trim it. I pondered. I could not see that as a good outcome, with the bulk of the seam and the possibility for a larger more wonky star. So I started to "unsew" each triangle.

Painstakingly, I unpicked the first one. I have an Alpaca Pressing Mat and I love it!.  I pressed, then moved to my regular pressing mat, gave the cut edge a light spritz of Spray Starch, turned it over and pressed it again. It felt really stiff and stable. I added a rectangle of fabric, lined up the already cut line and sewed it on. Success!  I decided to do one corner at a time, to eliminate the possibility of distortion on the bias edge. When both corners are replaced, it is back to the cutting table and my 8 1/2 inch ruler and re trim the corners. There is some waste, but I will use those triangle is another project I have in my head!! That has been my task all week. I have 3 rows done and am starting on the 4th. Luckily I had marked each block with a small scrap of paper Col and Row, so they will go back in order. I did not want to have to rethink that!  I must have rearranged blocks for days last year before I was satisfied.

Here is the first one, Row 1 Column A with one new corner and one old corner, on my alpaca mat.

and the unpicking continued. It was a slow process, but I am happy with the results.

I am almost half way with the block re-do!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: I also finished reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman.  AWESOME!!!!  On recommendation from a friend in Texas, I picked up the sequel at the library yesterday, Us Against You!. I have a kindle book and an audio book that I need to finish, then I will start the sequel.

I'm linking this post at Confessions of A Fabric Addict . She is in the middle of her 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop, but I know she will get her Whoop Whoop Friday post up too.  I am glad Myra is back with Finished or Not Fridays! , so I will be linking up there too.

This week a little bit of somethin'

Last week, I posted about my many projects with nothing to show for it!  It least not in my mind! No completions, no tops quilted, no binding finished!  Nothin'

This week I have a little sumpun'!  I dumped my red pieces, then opened the tote of scraps that a friend gifted to me in April!

 I had to dig deep into this pile of yumminess, but I found enough scraps to make these 5 crumb slab blocks for RSC18. I only cut into my red pieces once. Then I took a piece that was in my stash for at least 15 years, and cut in up into 2.5 in strips for the 2.5" basket!  That felt good.

I have been struggling with my slab/crumb blocks resembling log cabins, so I used a suggestion from a fellow blogger. She suggested the Mile a Minute method. I checked out several You Tube videos and soon developed a method that made sense in my head!  I think they look pretty good!

I also finished putting the final 4-patch border on my En Provence quilt top!  I learned sooooo much from doing this one. I had never used a Tri-Rec ruler before!  That was a game changer for me. Also, took Bonnie's suggestions about measuring the block, not the seam allowance to make sure the seam allowance is correct!  Another light bulb moment!  And those 4-patches went on without a hitch and fit perfectly!

  The wind was blowing!  Imagine that!

  from Google= (Wyoming is very windy, we all know that. According to NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) 50-60 MPH winds helps the Cowboy State hold the title of windiest state in the country. Wyoming easily produces annual wind speeds statewide of just under 13 MPH.Mar 29, 2017  )

So excited to select a backing and find an available long arm quilter to bring this one to completion!


I started to work on the QOV quilt debacle that ended up in the UFO box last year. I followed a pattern that left me with blocks that did not come out to the required 8.5 inches.  I am redoing the angled gold pieces on the corners to help with that. If you want the gory details about this particular challenge, read this post. 

I also repaired a pair of short for my great grandson!  He caught his behind on something sharp and literally ripped a slash in the seat of his pant!  I was able to find an almost match to the fabric in my stash and repaired it with that piece behind it and cut away the shreds. Then turned under the edges to create a sort of reverse applique look. It's not bad, and I'll keep them in my drawer for backup when he is here. 

I will link this post to Confessions of a Fabric Addict!   "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!"

and to So Scrappy Saturday tomorrow after Angela post the Link up

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

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!