Finished or Not Nov 1 2019

I’ve been a bit absent here lately. I havebeen sewing, but not enough progress to post about. I spent 3 days last week at a retreat. My OMG was completed. See my post about it. And some other blocks were assembled. I'll show those in a day or two.

 Also back from my quilter were these two wall hangings. They have been UFO s for a long time. The first one is totally done. The second on will be completed this weekend.

#1

This was a panel that I added to to make it 36 X 54

The back has hanging triangles in the corners. Do you add triangles or a hanging sleeve to your wallhangings?

#2

 I used a pattern called Sidelights for this one. The same panel, slightly different fabrics.

Can you see the snowflake pattern my quilter used. Because I will donate these to our local library's Silent Auction Fundraiser, my quilter generously donated the quilting!  Thank you MJ.

This one has hanging triangles also.

My hand has been giving me some pain recently, so I work on it in small chunks of time.

And this was a UFO challenge for APQ for October. I hoped to finish it by the 31st. But tiny ghost and goblins and a chili supper took precedence . One more side to hand stitch the binding and a few more threads to bury and that makes 3!

The pattern is called Wrapped and the colors are non traditionally Christmas. 

I did some straight line "channel" quilting on my Bernina. It's certainly not perfect, but it will be staying with me. Lots of thread ends to bury. Thanks to Patty for the tips here. I knew how , but the reminder was just in the nick of time!


I'm linking up with Finished or Not Friday..  Pop over and see all the finishes and nearly finishes.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

July OMG Goal

My goal for this month, July 2019:  to get to flimsy stage, the # 10 Project from my APQ list that was supposed to be done in  June.

 Most of you know that I have lots of challenges!  Quilting challenges for this post! (heehee) Last month, my June OMG took center stage. I got the top done for my brother’s quilt. I did not make any progress on the crumb/ slab blocks project (June APQ challenge)  until Friday the 28th, when I finally settled on a pattern. Back in early 2018, I purchased a digital copy of Stash Statement by Kelly Young! And after paging and paging through all the patterns, I chose Precarious.   You can see Kelly's pattern at her blog myquiltinfatuation.com.  HERE  is a link to her tab marked My Quilts and near the top, she has all the quilts from her book. Precarious is the 1st one on the left in the second row.

Saturday I drove the 20 miles to my LQS for some solid gray! I chose Moda Steel. Elsa’s selection was limited. The pattern calls for 1 3/4 yds of background. I took the last of the bolt....1.685 yards. Following the directions I cut lengthwise strips. They were to be 30.5 inches, I could only get 30 inches!
Oh well,  the quilt will be a wee bit narrower than the pattern. That is ok with me. Just so I can get it at least to flimsy stage.

Here are some of my original slab blocks on my cutting table.

And on the design wall, notice "orange" has some still in progress

Now my design wall looks like this,
 as of this afternoon.

I have sewn a few blocks together then cut then to 4 1/2" square and sewn them back together into 4 1/2" by 24 1/2" rectangles. The gray background is cut into 4 1/2" x 30" strips. 

OK, wish me luck!  This will all work out, though it's kind of fiddly to sew, cut apart and sew again. 

But that is what we quilters do, right?

I'm linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts , July OMG Link Up! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

And I'll leave you with a photo of my one of my favorite beach bums!  What, you didn't know we had beaches in Wyoming?? Actually this is a sandy man-made beach at Angostura Reservoir in So Dakota. A 2 hour drive, but worth it to play in the sand and water on a "finally hot day"!

APQ March challenge

The number drawn for march in the APQ UFO Challenge was # 8 on my list. It was to do something with the second of the two Nativity panels in my ufo basket. I chose the Panel Magic pattern by Pieced Tree. These come on a small laminated card, I found mine at a LQS several years ago. It is Tiny57. I assume they are still available, but I am not positive. The panel is called A Child Is Born by Deb Strain for Moda. I have had this panel for probably 5-6 years. I used a piece of neutral from my stash, the selvage says Hand Stitched Holiday by Kathy Schmidt for Moda. It's a light beige with white cross stars. Like you would make if you were embroidering stars. I also had the red with gold stars in my stash.

I could not find the selvage, so I don't remember the fabric. It is nearly gone now.

I need to get a backing pieced and then get this one to the long arm quilter.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy
Judy

The Month is More Than Half Over!

I may have over done it!

Here it is the 17th of the month! Half way through January and I still need to at least start on my APQ UFO  #3, the quilt for my sister.
I have yet to make a RED anything for RSC 2019. I finally did cut some red scraps. I need 4.5" squares for my Bow Tie Blocks.I have 3 done. And 2.5" squares for the Scrappy Sprout Block. They are staged on my small design board.

I thought I had lots of red 2.5" squares, but I did not have much variety. Some of these will be switched with more I am cutting from 2 1/2" strips.



And my OMG, Temperature quilt was lacking!  Mr Busy did get a piece of lumber cut and he helped me install a temporary design wall in the hall just outside my sewing room. I found some light gray flannel on sale at JoAnns so it wasn't too expensive. I can leave it up all year and still have my regular design wall in my room. It's not pretty, but serviceable. The pink sticky notes are the dates.

The poor photo will just have to do. This wall is in my basement hall. The only light is the wall sconce you see in the upper right and the light from my sewing room behind the camera. I am thinking of using a portable lamp for future photos.

So now I am almost caught up. I have a reminder set to 10PM on my iPad to record the high and low temperature from the previous day. I have found that the low can change from the forecasted low in my area. I have an iNumbers chart  and then I re-record it onto a calendar I printed to keep in the Temp Quilt Folder. That probably seems like over kill..but that is my M.O.  Too much is always better than not enough!  My 13 day strip is looking pretty "blah" , lots of the same fabrics for days in a row.  One below zero day, the 1st of January!  See the lavender in the bottom left!

Mr Busy and I have been working on a small kitchen redo project. He painted while I was at my retreat last week and started to install some vinyl squares as a back splash.

 I have been promised a new stove and microwave, just waiting for them to go on sale or at least have 11% back at Menard's. Should have bought it during the holidays, but company and too many "other" projects kept that from happening!  I am patient, it will happen!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps:  I'll be linking this post up to Finished or Not Friday, because they are definitely NOT FINISHED!
                                    and Can I Get A Whoop Whoop, because somethings got started!

Back on Track after a Week of Absence

On Wednesday, the 3rd of January  we left early morning to drive to Lakewood/Denver for a quick visit with our daughter and son. Our son was spending New Year's with his sister, and so it was a great reason to drive down to see him for the holidays. He lives in Phoenix and has kids and grandkids there so he rarely comes North for Christmas. We had a wonderful visit!. We ate wonderful food, walked the lovely area of Belmar and even went to see Aquaman at a great theater.

Now we are home and I must get busy working on my challenges.

1. My OMG goal is here and I need to cut some rectangles. I have been recording the highs and lows on my iPad by logging on to WeatherUndergound while we were away. I still am not sure if I will use the highs and the lows for each day or just the highs?  ps:  This photo is just the Highs for the first 6 days.

And this photo shows added 2" squares (unf) for the lows. Which do you like better? Of course the lows will be attached to the "high" row! Not much variety in January temperatures yet!

I am participating in Twiddletails Temperature Quilt Along. See this post.


2. APQ UFO Challenge selected #3.  On my list, #3 is a comfort quilt for my sister. Some of you may remember she lost her husband in late October, so it is time to get this completed and gifted to her. I have a pattern in mind and most of the fabric purchased. So cut and sew is on my agenda this week.
I am attending an "in town" retreat Wed - Friday this week. We will sew from 9am to 9pm is we are able, we can leave our machines at the library and then go home to sleep in our own beds.
 



        We had a great time:  I almost finished this table runner from a gifted kit several years ago. It needs a good pressing and the horizontal borders added. Then it will be ready to be quilted and set aside for next holiday season.

         I also got all the blocks sewn together from my 30 Blocks in 30 Days Quilt Along last year at Creatin' in the Sticks.

3. My local quilt group starts their annual UFO challenge the 3rd Sunday in January, so I picked projects for that list.

4. And, I always have my reading challenge on Goodreads. I had a goal of 30 for 2018 and only read 26 books. This year I will try to read 24 books. I should be able to do 2 per month!


Finally, I will complete the "putting away of Christmas"  The totes are packed and labeled. The quilts, table runners, coasters, pillows  etc are stacked and the tree is naked, waiting for Mr Busy to bring the box in from the garage and help me pack it away. Today for sure!!!!!



So you know what I always say:

Stay Busy and Stay Happy