ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Linking up for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  August is Aqua. 

I added on more potato chip block. Not much I know. But progress is progress. 

This week’s addition.

And both on the design wall. 

In defense of my non-productive-ness, the baby quilt is finished. And little miss is not born yet, but they are officially on “Baby Watch”. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful!

Finished or Not Friday!

Charmed I’m Sure aka Glowing Hearts is finished except for a label. I will wait for the name and birthdate of the recipient before completing that step. 

You’ve seen lots of progress photos, so only the Glamour Shot today. 

My long arm quilter got it back to me in record time. She received it on a Thursday and Sunday she called me to say it was completed. I kinda gave here carte blanche as to the overall quilting design. It’s flowers and swirls, in a peach thread. Perfect the Nancy Halvorson fabric Charms features flowers and swirls. 

I’m linking up with Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

There is lots to see at her blog. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful. 

August 3rd Slow Sunday Stitching

 

You know how it feels like the only thing that shows up in the mail these days is “junk”. Advertisements, invitations to buy a time-share, & coupons. Well, the coupons are ok, but the rest is “meh”. Yesterday my mailbox was stuffed with this white puffy package. 

I was so excited. I won a prize from Texas Quilt Gal during her Christmas in July post. I took a photo if the wonderful contents, but my photography skills are minimal. So I’ll show you the photo Linda used on her post. 

The bag is great and the sparkly gold fabric and glittering flosses have me searching for a Christmas chart to do them justice. Thank you, thank you Linda and Toby. 

 Currently I am working on the cute happy stitch from Primrose Cottage. Kathy has hers done and Slow Stitching participant Vicki in MN is almost finished with hers.

Mine is coming close to the finish line. I was lucky enough to find a piece of pink Aida in my stash. I’m anxious to finish this and get it Fully Finished. 

Check out all the rest of the stitchers at Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy with Hopeful. 

ScrapHappy Saturday~what color is aqua?

 

It’s August and Angela at Super Scrappy, and the creator of Rainbow Scrap Challenge has us changing gears. She’s selected Aqua. I love Aqua. But as I started pulling from my Aqua scrap basket to cut chips for this month’s potato chip block, I got to wondering. Do I even have Aqua? Or do I have teal, turquoise, ocean, cyan, sky, cerulean, or sea foam. 

Creative Booster

I think it doesn’t matter. They look pretty good together. 

My potato chip blocks have 12 colored chips in each block. I try really hard not to repeat a fabric in each block. Aqua will be a challenge. I may have to do some stash enhancement shopping. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful!

Finished or Not Friday

 

Finally this small baby quilt is off to my local long arm quilter. It measures 41.5 x 41.5. It is Glowing Hearts , a QAL from Sandra @ mmmquilts. 

I was able to find an almost big enough piece of batting, and just had to add 4 inches to the length. (No photos of the frankenbatting construction)..

The backing piece that I wanted to use was a bit short also. I usually cut backing by measuring the desired width of the backing x2. . In this case, 49.5. Rather than add a piece on the end , I used the piece I had, folded in half and sewed a 1” seam along the selvage edge.   Then pressed it and trimmed the fold off. And trimmed the 1” seam to be 1/2”. And pressed it open. Then of course I cut the length to be 49.5, but the width was still only 45.5”.  I had lots of leftover strips from the front. I  sewed them end to end until I had 2 strips 49.5” each. Then sewed them together along the long edge. I now had a pieced 4.5’ by 49.5 inches. If I added this new strip to one side, most would be mostly cut off when I trimmed it after quilting. I did that early on in my quilting journey and it looks awful. 

See the two strips that ended up on the edge? My quilter didn’t fuss and did a great job of quilting this. It’s “our” quilt and lives on our bed so it’s OK. But it’s not a look I like!

So I added it to one edge then sewed it to the other edge to make a tube. Folded it in half again and cut the fold opposite the pieced portion. When I opened it up the pieced strips were in the middle. I should have folded it so the pieced strip was off center, but thought of that after the fact. 

Taken in my kitchen with a shadow! ;(

Taken outside in the wind! Also :(

The baby this is made for has not made her appearance yet. Hopefully I’ll have it back from the quilter and bound before she is born. Then I will just have to put the label on it after I know her name and birthdate. 

I’m sharing this at  Finished or Not Friday  hosted by Alycia at Alycia Quilts. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful 

I LIKE Thursday. 7-31

LeeAnna gave us this conversation starter. I couldn’t possibly tell you about all my summers. I did work as a teenager, met Mr Busy when I got a job at the Piggly Wiggly the summer between my Junior and Senior year in HS.   I was head over heels for him!💖💓

Go to Not Afraid of Color, LeeAnna has a list of links to other blogger’s posts. 

 july 31

remember summer breaks when you were a kid? How did it feel to have so much free time or

did you help the family business when you were a kid, or take on summer jubs? As you got into high school and college did you have summer jobs or take special trips?  Did you take special courses in summer (example, typing, drivers ed, space camp, courses in crafts at the YWCA? )

Summers were special. Friends and I explored the neighborhood and wildlands around our house. We picked wildflowers ,sat in the shade and talked . I was a voracious reader and we had a bookmobile that came to our neighborhood. Only a two block walk. Sometimes I would check out three books, go home and read one, take it back and get another before the bookmobile left. 

This week was appointments, grocery shopping and time spent in my sewing room. Glowing Hearts is finished, batting found , backing constructed. I was short four inches of width. My quilter likes the backing and batting to be 8’ bigger (4 inches on each side) than the top. I didn’t want to add to the edge cause that looks weird when you trim it, so some 2.5” pieces were placed in the middle. I didn’t plan the colors, just sewed what I had. 

It’s windy this morning. Imagine that!!  This is as good as it gets today. Hopefully my quilter has an open slot. 

Stay Busy and Stay Busy and Healthy and Hopeful. 

Purple English Garden and Slow Big Stitch

 

I feel like I might have turned a corner and found my sewing stitching mojo!

I had a pile of purple scraps and needed a small Table Scraps Challenge (TSC) project. I’ve done mug rugs, coasters, table toppers and mini quilts. As I was thinking about it, my eyes landed on my water bottle koozie. Mr. Busy and I use them to keep track of whose water bottle is whose. I know we should use more eco-friendly containers.  But I can barely get that stubborn man to drink water at all, and a bottle is all he will use. Mine should be cuter than this. 

Using the commercial koozie as a pattern, I measured, drew a crude sketch and finished sewing a crumb block that was 4X9.5. I wish I had taken progress photos but I wasn’t convinced I would be successful. 

Then I layered it with a scrap of batting and quilted it with free motion flowers:

The bottom, the circle pieces did not go as “my vision” thought. It’s wonky but it works.

I hand stitched a 1.75” wide strip to the outside of the quilted tube. I had already pressed both long edges to the middle. Resembling bias tape, but not cut on the bias. Then I turned it to the back/inside as I might do a regular binding. 

Today I will big stitch the front binding, just to make sure everything holds and because I like the look. 

Then I will continue slow stitching on my Hello Summer cross stitch. 

I’m linking with  Table Scraps challenge @ The Joyful Quilter   and

Kathy @ Slow Sunday Stitching

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful.