OMG-November Finish Link Up

My goal for November was to get 1/2 the rows for Rick Rack Nines put together. That meant rows built and then added to make half the quilt top.  This pattern is set on point, sort of.  The rows are pieced and sewn on the diagonal. It will be a huge quilt. Hopefully big enough so it looks good on our king size bed. The quilt I use now lets the blankets and the sheet peek out a bit. Kind of like a slip showing ( when women wore slips,  that is!)  Kind of shows how old I am! :)

I had some issues with this one. I haven't done a quilt this big before. I haven't done the diagonal rows before!  And I made the 9 patches over the last several years as leaders and enders.  I discovered some are not 5" square and some are wonky!  I spent more that a few times unsewing, re measuring my 2" squares ( some are cut just a bit tiny)  I have learned a thing or two about cutting over the years!  Get the ruler line ON the fabric!  Nuff about my woes!

This is rows 1-8 being added to rows 9-14!  I sewed them in sets of two rows, then added 2+2 to make 4, then 4+4 to make 8. It seemed more manageable to me. My space is limited, my pressing station is just a regular ironing board. So I have to do what I have to do. Oh, look!  There is the zebra print that was in my first great grandbaby's quilt!

Most of my corners were good.

 Some not so good. Can you see the corner of the background fabric and the red hearts in the lattice that meet the next row.  Yikes.!  I guess in the big scheme of things , after it is all done , bordered and quilted the little oops will be hard to find.  I least that is my hope!

There are lots of seams so lots of chances to go wrong. Most of the problems were in pressing. If they nest on two rows, not necessarily on the next two. I do love looking at all the little 2 inch squares and remembering the fabric. The Dalmatian dog print was in a casserole carrier for a friend who loves dogs. The green and red plaid  woven fabric in a wall hanging that was one of my first projects. The red clamshells to the left of the plaid, was in the Airplane quilt for Mr Busy! So many memories and I only purchased background fabric.


So it is hanging on my design wall, too long and already too wide!  I will sew the next half working my way back to the middle, then sew both halves together. Not in December though, too busy. My OMG for December will be doable, I hope.

So here is my OMG Finish for November.  I am linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts. November Finish Link Up. 



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. 

November One Monthly Goal Link Up

I've been working on making 9 patches as leaders and enders for the last several years. Then I picked background fabric, Downstairs at Downton Abbey (cream with light olive green sprigs), from Andover Fabrics.

There are 290 9-patches needed, here are 110!

 I started to lay it out in April of 2018. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Rick Rack Nines from her book, Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  You can read more about the beginning in THIS post!  I packed it back in it's project box because I needed my design wall for another UFO project!

This layout shows an "oops".  I packed it back in the project box.

Now I am ready to get the top together.  My OMG for November 2018 is to get half the blocks sewn together. This is a big top and is put together on the diagonal. My design wall will barely be big enough for the half triangle. Bonnie Hunter suggest putting it together in 2 halves also.

It is on my design wall. The first bottom left corner triangle is sewn to row 1. Row 2 and 3 have been added. Row 4 is sewn to Row 5.  More 9 patches and background squares are laid out. 

This will probably take me all month.  There is Thanksgiving coming up. My sister lost her husband after a long and complicated illness last Friday, the 26th. She lives about 2 hours away from me, but I may make a trip or two over there just because.  She has no children, so she is really all alone.


I will link this post up to Patty's OMG November Link Up.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

October OMG Finish!

My goal was to make at least 8 blocks for Kat's  CiL Block Drive. September and October Block Drive was to make a 10 1/2" square using this tutorial.   You can check out my original goal setting post here.


Today 10/22, I was supposed to be headed to a retreat at Ucross WY. Just up the road from our house. Well, 57 miles, but not that far!  I was so looking forward to having some sewing time and some time to connect with my friends in our Loose Threads group!  On Friday we got word that the retreat had to be cancelled due to some water line problems at the resort. Well, ya gotta have water!  So, needless to say, we are all disappointed. One of my projects was to finish the Grown Up I Spy blocks for The Covered in Love Block Drive. So this weekend I decided to get that done and mailed off to Kat in Texas.

 A cute reindeer, buttons, raspberries and four leaf clovers. On the right, Cola bottle cap, Victoria lovers, and though you can't see ( my picture taking skills are lacking)  the word "Brrr!"with mittens and a cap and some green beans.

 Left:  Peanuts, guitar, bottle of beer and four leaf clovers  Right: Football helmet, books, coffee beans and a red star!

 Left: Cream Soda bottle cap, an Arizona Cardinal, Harley Davidson flames, a guitar!
Right: Coffee beans, beer mug and bottle, Santa, and a blue "Texas? star!



Eight blocks completed!
Update: 10/25 - They finish at 10.5" and are in the mail to Covered in Love!

I'll be linking up with Patty's OMG- October Finish Link-up!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps:  I also finished reading The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult!  Excellent!

Slab Blocks Are Green and Wonky

We are home from nearly 2 weeks of road trip and visiting our 2 kids. Our son lives in Phoenix and our daughter lives in Lakewood Colorado.

We had a great time visiting, celebrating birthday and seeing extended family. Two of our great grands live in Phoenix too!.

I finally had time to pull some dark or sage green and make some slab blocks for RSC18.

These have not been trimmed to size yet. I am still on the fence as to what size I want them.  You see that pumpkin peeking at the edge.?

I have been wanting to do this quilt for a long time. It is Halloween Haberdashery from Melissa Mortenson of Polka Dot Chair. So when she had it on sale and was offering a quilt along, I purchased the pattern. I thought I had lots of Halloween fat quarters. And enough low volume fabric for background.

I printed the pattern, because I purchased a PDF from her website. And gathered my fabrics. This is what I accomplished before we left for vacation. 

I think I will just work on it a bit at a time. The pattern is somewhat time consuming for the hats. And maybe I'll end up with a smaller quilt than the pattern.  So another WIP to add to my list. And I need to gather more low volume prints in white with black or gray. It won't be done for this Halloween, but maybe next year. 

That's all for this week and next week is our retreat. I should have lots of photos to show at least! "smile"

I'll link up with Finished or Not Friday and So Scrappy Saturday. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: we listened to two audio books on our road trip. Both Michael Connelly , Bosch series.  The Wrong Side of Goodbye and The Burning Room were both really good and both read by Titus Welliver (  actor who played Bosch on the Netflix series)

A Small Finish

We have been home for 4 days from our vacation. The laundry is done and I have spent most of the week preparing to attend a retreat next week in the beautiful Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. I planned projects, thought about what clothes to pack.  It will be cold at night and we walk to the dining room. I called and confirmed my reservation.  But, I was a week too early. We don't go until the 22nd of this month.  Boy, am I glad I called and checked.

So I have another week to work on some projects, but not the ones packed and ready to go to retreat!

 I finished the binding on this little table runner Wednesday night while we watched Chicago Wednesday on television.

 It's kind of a funny little runner. I took a disappearing nine patch class at our state convention in 2017. The instructor gave us some fabric to sew into 2 nine patches so we could practice cutting, before we cut into the fabric for our project. That was cool. I sewed, and cut, but cut one wrong!  So I learned from my error, and went on to the class project after packing away the miscut block with the 2 that were correctly cut. When I dug it out again to finish it, I found some fabric that was close in color range and added a strip on to the short cut sides. Then I planned the layout so the repaired fabric would be at an edge and hopefully mostly covered by the binding. Then as you may notice, I did not have enough of any fabric that worked, to complete the binding.

Can you see the strips added to the top right hand block and the bottom near the red strip?

 So this miscut, mismatched table runner will be a utility runner on our coffee table with my Christmas Cactus sitting on top of it!! 😥

This was the class project: I like it much better!

I will link up with Myra at Busy Hands Quilting's   Finished or Not Friday.  and with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict's "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?"

Stay Busy and Stay Happy