Lots of Cutting

Not much sewing machine work happened last week.

But I spent several hours at the cutting table.  These should be enough units for the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge to keep me in mindless sewing for a while.  Each pile is approximately 10 blocks.  

I also got the fabric for the alternate blocks cut into strips and ready for sub-cutting into 2 ½ inch squares.  

This is one of those times I really appreciated my die cutter.

We had some rain in the past few weeks, and we could tell that enough dirt had washed into the skunk hole that it was not active.  I filled in as much dirt as I could.  Then I layered old gutter guard webbing and weighted it down with concrete chunks and rocks.  It’s not pretty, but is positioned between the AC unit and house wall, so well hidden.

My two 98 cent tomato plants are producing.  They turned out to be a vining, indeterminant variety and have taken over one of my flower beds.  At least they are paying for my investment!

Turtles, Thrift Blocks and Orchid Blooms

I managed to piece more than 50 blocks this week.  That just about exhausts the kitted blocks I prepared prior to the quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago.  They go a little faster now that I'm working on them at home and using my preferred sewing machine.  The cutting table has been pulled out of its nook in the laundry room.  I hope to get more blocks kitted for stitching this week.  

 

Last Tuesday was a two-turtle day.  Every year about this time, the turtles in our neighborhood start getting frisky.  I think both these were probably females looking for a place to lay their eggs.  This one was in front of the house and I let him/her just keep on trucking.

 

This one, however, required a rescue because he/she was inside the backyard fence.  All I’ve ever seen my dogs do is stand there and bark at them continually, but I was happy I discovered this one before they did.

 

For the third time this year, the orchid Julia gave me for my birthday several years ago has put on blooms.  I think it really likes being surrounded by glass bricks on two sides.  It recently lost two leaves, so I am a little concerned about it.

 

This was a week of catching up on yearly commitments, and I elected to cut back on attending some activities in order to keep from being overwhelmed.  One commitment was putting new flowers on my parents’ and grandparents’ graves in the family cemetery.  Then we stopped by to see the cousin who owns the property where the cemetery is located in order to leave our annual donation for upkeep.

 

More Thrift Blocks

I managed to stitch up a batch of 14 Thrift blocks last week.  I would have made more, but several unplanned interruptions, including a chance to visit a quilt store in Buda, kept that from happening.  The fabric below the blocks is one I am considering for alternate blocks.  Since it is a tiny plaid, I may decide it would be more trouble than it’s worth to try to cut and stitch the blocks so it doesn't look wonky.

 

Our Tuesday group finished binding the quilt we completed for our deceased member.  All that is left is a label which will be done on an embroidery machine.  All of us made sure to put in a few stitches and it went much quicker than expected.  When I had finished my turn, I resumed handwork on the borders for my Kim McLean project.

 

This 1,000-piece puzzle of a sewing room took up a lot of time too, but it was fun.  I expect it will be a while before I tackle another one as we are trying to finalize plans for a trip that will be coming up shortly.

In other good news, last week we accumulated more than two inches of rain!

Hail, Mary!

I spent Thursday through Sunday at a quilt retreat.  We were a small group of six quilters, several of us meeting each other for the first time, but the group’s chemistry was perfect.

 

My efforts were focused on the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge blocks.  I think I completed 75 blocks.

 

Here is some of the work by other members:

 

One member of our group worked in wool applique.  For reference, this piece was about the size of the palm of my hand.

 

I love scrappy projects with small pieces and was delighted when this block went up on the design wall.

 

Figuring out how to make a custom border fit this project proved to be challenging.

 

Always a patriotic project, perfect for Memorial Day weekend.

 

This is a Kim McLean pattern two members of our group worked on.  This one was done in Kaffe fabrics.  The pattern calls for several more appliqued borders.

 

And, this was done in Civil War reproduction fabrics, because that’s what she has in her stash.

Why the name for this post? There was an extremely bad hail storm the first night.  The retreat organizer, Mary (not me), came in a brand-new car with less than 200 miles on it.  It was the only one that sustained real damage.  Her windshield will have to be replaced.  Thus, we named ourselves the Hail, Mary group and have scheduled another retreat for this time next year.

 

Late to the Party!

In mid-March, I decided to join in the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge sponsored by Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover.  For a number of reasons including participation in the Guild Quilt Show, a week-long trip to South Texas and other life events, I got a very late start.  Fortunately, Taryn has structured the sew-along in a very relaxed fashion and I have finally begun work in earnest.

I get a lot of good-natured teasing from my friends about how I love projects with very small pieces.  So, it should be no surprise that I’ve chosen to do the paper pieced version with 2-inch finished blocks.  The inspiration quilt had 900 pieced blocks.  I have enough reproduction fabric to make that size, but I’ll probably stop far short of that.

Here are the blocks I have pieced already.

Here is a close-up of one block.

Since I will be going on a quilt retreat later this week, I have been very busy cutting components for blocks.  It’s been a couple of years since I have been able to go to a retreat, and I am really looking forward to it.  We are expecting a small group of about seven quilters.

The gathering with the neighborhood quilters that was supposed to happen last Monday, was canceled at the last minute.  The hostess had to take a good friend to ER for heart issues.  That’s a good reason!

In other news, we have a new critter residing in our fenced back yard where our dogs have the freedom to run.  I’ve attempted to insert a video from our game cam to show why I…am…so...not…happy!

Changing Directions

The neighborhood quilting group will meet today and that means I had a deadline to get some handwork prepped.  I had been procrastinating on appliqueing the borders for my Kim McLean pattern, so a deadline was a good thing.

 

Two borders have been readied for applique.  Then, I found myself searching and searching and searching some more for my applique threads.  I finally located them in a very logical location, just not one I thought to check for the better part of an hour.  I think I need to do some clean up and organization in my sewing space!

 

This week we are expecting to see three consecutive days of 100+ degree weather.  If that happens, it will be a very early start to our summer temps.  Maybe the weather people are wrong.  We can only hope.

My Quilt Show Loot

As I mentioned last week.  I indulged in some retail therapy at the Guild’s recent quilt show.  One of our charter members, a prolific quilter, broke up housekeeping last year in order to move closer to family.  She donated a massive amount of quality fabrics, kits, books and notions to the Guild and various local charities.  This was in addition to what other members donated to the silent auction, boutique and Bits and Pieces sale.

My purchases included several $1 fat quarters and other sized fabric cuts. 

 

The tote bag was my most expensive purchase, but it saved me from having to construct another one.

 

Also, a magnetic pin and bobbin organizer plus more fabric marked down 50 percent the second day.  The blue fabric is a six-yard cut that will be usable as a backing, and the two potholders were ones I had donated.

 

And from Bits and Pieces, I spent a grand total of $2.50 for a notebook full of sheet protectors, patterns and reference materials plus three templates.  I’ll keep some of the notebook contents, and use the sheet protectors for filing some of my own archived patterns.

In other news…

 

My three-year-old miniature rose survived the winter and bloomed this spring!

 

When I checked on why the dogs were so excited one morning, I saw this floating by.

 

And, another 1,000-piece puzzle was finally completed.  This one included quilts!

 

Quilt Show!

Our Guild held its biannual quilt show this weekend.  It is not a judged show, but ribbons are awarded to the three highest ranked “people’s choice” votes.  The show also marked the Guild’s 25^th anniversary.

 

Third place went to this panel with exquisite quilting.  I hope clicking on it will give a better view of her quilting skills.

 

Here is a picture of her story card.

 

Second place was awarded to this Wiliam Morris design using French General fabric.

 

Second place story card.

 

My photograph does not do justice to the first-place winner.  I knew it would get my vote the moment it saw it. 

 

Read the story card to see why it was so well received.

 

I love the personalized blocks in the border!

 

Of course, I engaged in some retail therapy.  I may include pictures of my loot in a future post along with more quilt pictures.

 

 

Here is the photo of the completed tumbler quilt that I forgot to post last week.  It now hangs with its pieced backing in my to-be-quilted closet.  I began this project in October 2022 and it is entirely hand-pieced using the English Paper Piecing method.  Each tumbler finishes at 1 ¾ inches high.  The base measures 1 ¾ inches and the top is 7/8 inch.  Someday I’ll pull it off the hanger and figure out how many tumblers are in it,

 

A few more 16-patches made it to the design wall.

 

I’ve begun putting together the patio garden we can see from our breakfast nook.  The begonia was my big splurge this spring.  The ice plant, baby begonias and coleus were wintered over indoors.

 

And finally, I hope all my Christian friends had a blessed Easter.  This tatted cross was made by one of my aunts.

Not Much to Report This Week

A very nasty stomach bug got both of us this week and everything came to a standstill as we dealt with it.

Ony a few 16 patches were completed in the sewing arena before it hit.

I did finish this 1,000-piece puzzle that I had been working on for several weeks.  It was in a sealed container, so I guess I was the one who lost the missing piece on the dalmatian.  It certainly is hard to get a photo of these puzzles without losing a lot of the image to glare.

Other than that, nothing to report for the past week other than we are having days in the mid-90s on a regular basis.  I’m hoping this week will be more productive.  The quilt we are finishing for my deceased friend goes to the long-armer tomorrow, so I have a deadline to get the backing pieced.  We are also expecting Bob’s brother to stop by Tuesday and Wednesday on his way back to Wisconsin.  There will be a Guild meeting Wednesday.

 

Two Quilt Top Finishes

The quilt top for my deceased friend is finished.  I took it to the Tuesday gathering to let everyone see it and to get a picture.  The pattern is "Windsong" by Wing and a Prayer Design.  The colors are much prettier than what the photo shows.  It is 108 inches square and my home design wall is too crowded and too small to pin it there.  An order arrived last week with the remaining fabric needed for the backing and I will either cut it here or, perhaps tomorrow, at the place where the Tuesday group meets.

 

I finished appliqueing the border to my tumbler quilt top this weekend.  I’ll try to get a full picture of it for next week’s post.

 

I may be chasing another squirrel in the near future.  We’ll see if I give in.

 

One measley little 16-patch made it to the design wall.

In other news, we had an entirely unexpected freeze this morning!  Apparently, the alert to protect plants was issued in the wee hours of the morning.  Fortunately, my baby plants appear to have survived and we will be on a warming trend this week.

 

Difficult Week

Sunday, last week, began with a call from my pastor informing me that one of me dearest friends, a quilting buddy no less, had passed unexpectedly.  The rest of the week passed in a blur as I tried to process this new reality and offer what assistance I could to the family.  Our circle of quilty friends pulled together to prepare meals, gather photographs, supply information for the obituary, spread the word and attend the funeral. 

 

A member in our Tuesday group provided an arrangement so “her spot” would not be vacant that first week.

 

At her husband’s request, the Tuesday group will be completing a project she had almost finished.

 

Other than a few 16-patch blocks practically no sewing of my own was done, and that only as a calming mechanism.