Hello Spring

 I know, Spring started last week, but today is the first day that it has felt like Spring here. I saw my first very fat doe for the year today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a record breaking 83 degrees...then rain for the week. Yup, it's Spring.

I finally got my background fabric cut.

And yes, I messed up on the cutting again. Luckily it all worked out.

I loaded and got the ark panel about half quilted.

I stopped because my frankenbat was coming apart. I used some of my basting glue to fix it. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tomorrow.

A new clue for the Civil War mini was released Friday. This Friday will be the last row and the finishing instructions.

Bella likes to sleep in her cave during the Winter months. That girl can snore!

I was going to silently "forget" about showing the quilted little basket mini. 

Not happy with it. I really need to practice my long arm feathers more. I also got impatience with quilting the background. It probably wouldn't look as haphazard if I had micro stitch under the basket instead of the whatever that is.

I have been going through all of my magazines (I can't believe I moved all of these). I'm almost done.

 

All of these, plus more, are going to the guild free table over the next couple of meeting. If a magazine had three or more patterns that I liked, I kept it. If it only had one or two, I tore the pattern out...don't you hate people that do that. ;o)

Project Quilting 16.6

It's been a busy week; I wasn't sure if I'd be able to participate in the last challenge: Button it up.  I decided to keep it really simple. 

I decided to make a pouch kit I won years ago. I'm trying to remember if I've ever made a pouch before. The pattern is Zippy Strippy by Atkinson Design. The kit didn't have enough of the contrast fabric - only enough for the lining. The fabric shown is from my stash. The kit had two buttons, but I decided the blue one was kinda blah and layered up the yellow button.

Check out Project Quilting Button It Up, there are some wonderful creative submissions. 

 I chased another squirrel this past week and not much else.

Kathleen Tracy of A Sentimental Quilter is hosting a mini mystery.

I've made her mysteries in the past and they are always fun to make. This will be a row quilt. Three rows done, two to go. I pulled out my reproduction scrap bin, this little project will barely make a dent. The nine patches were kinda fun to make - it's tempting to cut all my scraps into 1.5 inch squares. Or maybe not.

I haven't cut the background for Wind Drifter yet. I hate making the first cut into a three yard piece of fabric - so very awkward to maneuver.

 

I've completed all the in-the-ditch quilting on the little basket block. I want to practice some feathers and other designs in the basket and borders.

But I'm still having tension issues. It is just a practice wall hanging so the back doesn't really matter but I would like to get it right. I ordered a Towa bobbin tension gauge that should be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully that will help resolve the issue.

I'm like everyone else and am boo-hooing that Joann's is closing. Most items are still only 20% off but they finally reduced their flannel to 40% - two yard minimum. 

I bought a few four yard cuts. Three of them were end of bolt and the last bit wasn't a full yard...maybe 7/8 yard...they are still giving a remnant discount. 

Arrrrgh

 Almost forgot again. Why do I keep thinking Monday night is Sunday? Especially when there are so many things that I have to take care of during the day on Mondays...you'd think the day would stick in my brain into the night.

Not too much exciting this past week other than it was busy with non-quilting related things (like an invasion of ants).

I did add borders to these...

The panel turned out cuter than I thought it would. I'm really glad I went with the blue inner border first. It really brightens the panel colors.

This block was on either the guild or QFK free table. I added borders and loaded it on the frame. Haven't gotten much further as I'm having tension issues and haven't taken the time to fuss with it yet.

I did a quick quilting job on this QFK sandwich.

I did scrap the Project Quilting Follow the Arrow challenge. The red and blue blocks are already in the orphan block bin, and I've pulled new fabrics to go with the animal print that I think with work better.

I decided to start a new project that I've been wanting to work on for a while. The pattern is Wind Drifter by Robin Pickens.

I'm doing a darker version like the picture shown. The prints are Australian fabrics that Donna gave me a few years ago. The black dandelion print will be the background.

The Arrrgh is because I screwed up the cutting tonight - twice. Luckily, I had more fat quarters to pull into the group. Just peeved. My own fault for not paying attention and not following the pattern instructions.

FYI, I've noticed that all my comments are coming in as no-reply blogger. I think it is a Blogspot issue not how either you or I have configured anything. If I can't respond to your emailed comment, I'll respond to your posted comment. I really do appreciate your leaving comments.

Yikes and more Yikes

 
Yikes, I went to turn off my laptop at 12:45 a.m. and realized I forgot to do my Monday post. More on why in a minute.

I decided to load another small quilt onto the quilt frame.  This was made in February 2023. 

Simple grid lines that took no time to quilt on the frame.

Then I chased a squirrel and made another March themed wall hanging.

Loaded on the frame and testing thread colors.

The shamrock is a free tutorial pattern from Lake Girl Quilts. I made it with a fat quarter ombre green I found when I was searching for fabric for another project. 

The colors are little dark in the picture. This was an easy, quick, fun project. 

A new Project Quilting challenge was released on Sunday. This is where the second "yikes" comes in. The challenge was Follow Your Arrow.  

Okay, after thinking about it for a bit I had an idea. Sunday, I found a pattern, pulled the fabric and cut everything out. Yesterday I started sewing. After a few interruptions during the day, I had enough blocks made to start laying it out on my design wall.

Ewwww. Neither the red and blue blocks or the design looked good with the animal print. I tried at least six other prints and a couple of different layouts and didn't like any of them. I stopped at 12:44 a.m. - see first "yikes" above.

This morning I decided that everything was going into the scrap bins and something would be made with them another day. Now I need to decide if I'm going to skip this week's challenge or make something else. I'll do that tomorrow.
 

Not Much New or Exciting

 Not much going on this past week. I did finish my Project Quilting birthstone challenge...barely. Scroll down to my last post.  I wasn't overly motivated and almost decided not to do it...but I already cut everything out and had it partially sewn. I didn't want another UFO.

I think this is the second time I've loaded a small project on my quilt frame.

I don't know why I don't do it more often (I have lots of little things that need quilted). It is actually quicker to load a small project than pin baste it. 

I forgot how much I like using my rulers. It took about 10 minutes to quilt each item.

Yesterday I did a major clean up of my sewing room. Cleaned up / picked up all the mess from the last few projects I've finish then vacuumed everything in sight. I also prepped (cut out borders and binding) a couple of small projects that I'll work on this week.

Today I finished sewing pieces and parts of flannel into another future back (no picture). I also put together a new chair.

Yes, I put the arms on backwards. I don't use them so I may not fix them. This thing is so comfortable. I haven't decided if it will be my sewing chair or my desk chair...or as Stephanie suggested buy another so I don't have to decide.

Project Quilting 16.4 Birthstone

 One of my birthstones is alexandrite.  The other is pearl. Stephanie told me your birthstone can also be determined by zodiac sign and month, which would have allowed me to use just about any gem color I wanted. I decided to stick with alexandrite. 

The stone's color can vary based on lighting. The few I've ever seen were small, man-made and VERY expensive. Mine are also small, woman-made and were very cheap to make (stash + scraps = free). 

The stone can be blue-green during the day and purple-red at night. I tried to give them gem shapes, but I think they look more like Easter eggs to me.

So, I put my mom's rock egg basket on top of one. Now I'm ready for the holiday two months early instead of six months late.

Check out all the other creative gems here.