Friday Finish - 02/10/17

I really didn't expect to have anything to show today. I thought it would be next week before I finished my cross quilt and the week after that before Sharla finished her Summerfest quilt. But then the Super Bowl happened. I'm not a big sports fan, but I normally watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, but they just didn't hold my interest this year. So I started working on my cross quilt and low and behold it was done.

I started working on this quilt in November of 2014. It was the block I chose as queen in my very first bee, Compass Quilters. It was a small bee, and I knew I wouldn't get enough blocks to make the quilt the size I wanted, so I've been working away on it since then. I would put it aside every once in a while, but whenever I had new scraps, they immediately went into this quilt.  It is made up of 289 6-inch squares which means it is 102 x 102, or a very large queen.

Sharla was taking pictures for me, and got the one above as I was trying to get it laid out nicely. As I ironed it I notice a couple of spots where yellows were bunched together, but when I lay it out flat and see it all, I don't notice them as much.  I can still see them, but they don't bother me.

I love the mix of all the low volume fabrics with the bright crosses. I has some of my favorite fabrics in it, along with some really fun blocks from my bee mates. It is funny because one of my bee mates from this bee is the hive mama of my Stash Bee this year and another is the Stash Bee coordinator. The quilting community is a small world after all.

I can't wait to get it quilted and put it on my bed. It is just so cheerful, that it will brighten my day every time I see it.  I also want to thank all my bee mates for their blocks. Although there blocks don't make up the majority of this quilt, they make it even more special because I will always remember my first bee.

Seeing this picture of it dancing in the wind make me smile. It was a struggle to get photos of the quilt because the light backgrounds wanted to blowout, but at the same time I love how the sunlight just makes it pop.

I'm hoping by the end of next week to have another finish to show you, but we will just have to wait and see if that happens. For now I'm linking up with  Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts , Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Sew Cute Tuesday @ Young Texas Mama.  And I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month, because this finishes my One Monthly Goal for February.

Friday Finish - 01/06/17

I have my first finish for 2017 and the first completed quilt in way way too long. Now before I show it to you, let me tell you the quilt is for Marley, my dog. So I didn't go back and fix things that I would normally fix. I have had this quilt on the frame for months, but just never got around to quilting it.

It has been over 6 months since I quilted, and I thought it would be a good idea to use a meandering panto-graph to get me back in the groove. I was wrong, very very wrong. I was so stiff using the machine and I just couldn't relax working from the back of the machine.  I just don't like working like where I can't see what is being stitched. So what I found is I crossed over stitches, my flow was very jumpy and jagged, but I continued until I finished it.

From the back it doesn't look back, because the thread blends into the busy background. I love a nice busy background. I realized after completing the binding I didn't even label it.

However when you see the front, you can see all the mistakes and jagged moves. Normally I would have picked these all out and redone it, but I know that Marley could care less about the quilting, so I just decided to be done with it.

It is a fun little quilt and right now it is sitting on Sharla's chair and she and Marley cover up with it while watching TV at night. No pictures of Marley and the quilt yet, but I'll work on it. Most importantly it is off the machine so I can load something else. My plan had been to load Mecca's quilt next, but I think I want to do another quilt before that to get my groove back. So I think Sharla's monkey quilt will be next. It is larger than this one, but still relatively small, so it shouldn't be too hard to complete and will let me get back in practice quilting from the front of the machine.

I also got my bee block done for Stash Bee Hive #9 this week. So I am on a roll. I love this house block and it is appropriate for Tanyia because she just moved into a new home.

Lastly I made progress on my Big and Bold quilt top, but no photos of that yet, maybe by next week I will have photos of my progress. But that is it for today and I am linking up my finish with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Friday Finish - Tic Tac Toe Quilt

I was so happy earlier this week because I finished my Bee Hive 2015 quilt. Then all the events of last night happened and I was so sad.  I totally understand being angry enough at someone to hurt them, but I don't understand being angry and taking it out randomly on someone because of the uniform they wear, the color of their skin, the person they love or the religion they practice. I almost didn't do this post, because celebrating my little victory seemed shallow against the tragedy that occurred in Dallas last night. But then I decided that I wasn't going to let the stupidity of someone else rob me of my joy. So I will continue to pray for those involved, but I will also celebrate the joys in my life.

Last June I was the queen of Swarm Johanna for the The Bee Hive 2015 and I received some awesome blocks. I wanted the quilt to be my chair quilt for watching TV, so I added some extra blocks to it. I ended up making it approximately 60 x 72 (5 blocks by 6 blocks). I love the pattern, because the blocks are easy to make, and I love when it is put together you get a secondary pattern.

I asked for colorful "X's", grey corners, and low volume backgrounds and my bee mates did an awesome job.

I used a 108" backing I found at my LQS for the backing and binding. It is mixture of greys, black and blue which I thought worked well with the front.

I quilted it in a simple all over meander, and once it was washed it crinkled up very nicely. All in all, I'm very happy with this quilt and I can't wait until it is cool enough for me to use it. And I can't think all of my bee mates enough for their wonderful blocks!!!

And for those of you wondering what happened with my neighbor's dogs, well three of them were labeled as dangerous dogs (the full Akita and the 2 Akita mixed) and won't be returning unless my neighbor builds a fortress in his backyard. The judge originally labeled all four dogs as dangerous, but there was one lab mix that didn't have any Akita in it that we allowed to deemed safe and returned to the family. The lab mix was also not involved in the incident and had not shown any aggression at the shelter. All in all it was just a sad situation that could have been avoided if my neighbors would have fixed the fence and socialized their dogs.

I am linking up my finish with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.  

A Lovely Year of Finishes 2015: June Finishes

Wow June sped by very quickly and even though it flew by, I did get things accomplished. I try to make a list so that hopefully I can get a couple of things done, but also because it helps me keep track of what I need to do.  So let's see how I did on my June list.

1. Bee Block. Since I was the queen of one of my bees, I only had one to do. Yes I got it done and it is already in the mail.  YEAH!! I will say I didn't like this block. No I didn't like the method to make this block. The instructions were for the four at a time half square triangles, and my first block was way to stretchy/wonky for my liking. So I decide to use the standard two at a time method, but made my second block too small. The third block was the charm. I like how the block looks finished, but I wouldn't use the first method if I were doing this for myself.

2. Quilt Grande Scrappy Tiles. Well if you follow me you saw this fun quilt last week all finished and quilted. I will say this was my most fun finish in a long time, because it was my only real quilt finish in a long time. Every time I get a quilt loaded on to my Avante, I just get happy. I love that I can finish quilts that I would never attempt on my regular sewing machine.

3. Pick Out Fabric for Midnight Mystery Quilt. Not only did I pick out fabric, but Sharla decided she wanted to do it as well. We decided that we would pull fabrics from our stash. It was a little challenging, but we both found fabrics we liked and I think they will both look very nice. Mine is the top photo and Sharla's is the bottom photo. We can't for the first set of instructions which will come out next Thursday!!!!

4. Sharla's Sewing Machine Cover. There is still a slim chance this will get done this month, but very slim. If I can get some time tomorrow I will try and finish it just so I have another complete.

5. Sharla's Box Trot. I had planned on trying to quilt this last week, but couldn't find it. It has been put away for safe keeping and has to be found.  I am going to look for it this week so I can put in on next months list of to-dos.

So as a recap, I got 3 out of 5 done and I see that as a win in my books!!!! I wish it had been more, but I am happy. I hope to get more done in July. I'm linking up with Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts and Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs.

A Lovely Year Of Finishes: April Finishes

Wow April went by very fast, maybe because I had lots to do.  I'm very happy with what I got done, even if it wasn't everything on my list.  Getting ready, going and recovering from Callie's Wedding really put a crimp into what I got completed, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Ok here goes, the main goal was to finish the pouches for Sharla and I to use on the trip.  I got four done for her and four done for me. They really worked out great, and I will most likely make more in the future. If nothing else they really helped me learn to sew a zipper. I still need to work on zippers, but I'm not as afraid of them as I was before.

My second goal was to get my bee blocks sewn and mailed before the end of the month. Well they went into the mail today!! Ok not a lot of time to spare, but they are done and that is all that matters. I made two Card Trick blocks for Heather in StashBee Hive 9 and a Wanta Fanta block for Cassie in The Bee Hive Swarm Johanna. All of them went together very easily and I think I'm going to do a Card Trick quilt sometime in the future.

My third goal was to get Sharla's sewing machine cover quilted, and that did not happen. It still sits waiting for me to work on it.

My last goal was to get 10 more cross blocks done, and if possible 20. I did get 10 completed and I have 10 more that are about 2/3's done. It was fun doing these because I didn't really have to think, I could just sew and sew and sew. I'm hoping to finish the other 10 before the month ends, but I'm not going to push myself.

I'm saying three out of four during a busy month isn't bad.  When you add to that taxes, doctors appointments (even one semi emergency one), a weekend wedding, work and sleep, it was a very full month. I'm happy, and that is really all that matters.  Today I'm linking up with Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts.

A Lovely Year Of Finishes: March Goals

It is time to set my goals for March and I have lots to do, but then I always have lots to do. March is one of my favorite months, maybe because some of my favorite people were born in this month. My dad was born on the 10th, Callie was born on the 19th and Mecca was born on the 28th. I think I like this month, because here in Texas it normally means winter is winding down, but since this is view from my front door, it isn't over yet.

I can't set just one goal, because I need a list to work from, but I will pick one main goal and the other are just my to do list. So the most important goal this month is to finish the blocks for Callie and Beau's signature quilt. I need to have them sewn, trimmed and taped...taped so they don't sign into the seam allowance. I am almost done with the sewing, but still need to trim the coral and pomegranate blocks and I still have to tape all of them. The wedding is on the 18th of April and I don't want to be running late.

My second goal is to finish all of my bee blocks. It is the last month of the Compass Quilters, and I'm doing polaroid blocks for Tanyia, and I have those done. The photo isn't great, because I took it at night, and they need to be trimmed more, but she asked that we send them to her this way. I'm doing a wanta-fanta block for Kim in the Bee Hive. I sent her a photo of the my fabric options and she picked what she wanted. It is a mix of paper piecing and snowballed squares. And lastly for Stash Bee I have to do linked squares for Maureen. I think I have the fabrics picked for this one too. So I'm in good shape on these.

My third goal is to finish piecing the second memory top. I've started it but need to cut more sashing strips. If I could get it quilted that would be great, but I will be happy with getting the top done. I'm ready to get these done, so I can move onto other things. Plus I'm sure they would appreciate getting the quilts. No pictures, because I want them to be surprised.  :)

My fourth goal is to do 20 more blocks for my cross quilt. I cut a bunch of fabric at the end of last week, and so I have plenty prepped and ready to go. I had a lot of fun last month really focusing on the cross blocks, but it is now time to focus on other things, so I'm only aiming for 20.

My fifth and final goal...well my last goal I'm putting here, is to quilt Sharla's Box Trot quilt. I miss quilting, and as much as I love piecing, there is something very satisfying about quilting. I think because it means the quilt is almost finished. I have a nice pile of quilts to get done, but I'm changing the batting I use on this one, and trying a wool batting, so I want to do it first.

I am linking up with Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts

for the March Goal Party.

A Lovely Year of Finishes: February Finished

It was a short month but I still got lots of things done. I'm very content with where I ended up for the month. But I'm always hoping for more, guess I'm just a little greedy.  So let's see what I did get done.

My first goal was the blocks for Callie and Beau's signature quilt. All of the blocks are cut, 70% are sewn and 50% are trimmed and ready to go. I'm so happy with them, they are bright and cheerful and I think they will be very happy with the results. I'm going to trim the pomegranate ones tonight and hopefully get the coral ones done on Monday/Tuesday. I still want to tape the white edges with painters tape so people don't sign in the seam allowance, but that will be easy enough.

The second goal was to complete all of my bee blocks for this month and they all went into the mail on Thursday. So they weren't early, but they weren't late either. I did union jack flags for Carla for the Compass Quilters Bee, and I struggled a little at first but was able to figure it out and get three for her.  I also sent her the one that was a little short, in case she could use it. And I was able to use some of my bluebonnet fabric since the blocks were red, white and blue.

I also got Meghan's fish blocks done for Stash Bee. I made them and then realized I sewed them wrong and messed them up when I was trying to fix them, so I just cut new ones and these look much better.

And lastly for my Bee Hive queen Barbara I made a Tic Tac Toe block.  Her color choices of dark purple, light purple and white were awesome, because I love those colors.  I had an issue with the points on my test block, but I asked for advice from the group and it really helped.

I did finish quilting the memory quilt on the frame and started piecing the next one.  I need to focus more on those and will do so in March.  I've just done a little more selfish sewing this month.  Still can't show them, because I want them to be a surprise.

I didn't make my last goal at all, nope not anything. But it will get done at some point.

I did do lots of selfish sewing and got lots of my cross blocks done, and you can see them in my post tomorrow.  For a short month a lot was accomplished, and I'm happy about it.  For today I'm linking up with  Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts.

Thankful Thursday #7

Yes I know it is Wednesday not Thursday, but tomorrow I will be posting about my Tessellated Leaves quilt and didn't want to miss the chance to tell everyone what I am thankful about this week, because I have lots.

But before I start, if you are stopping by for the Grow Your Blog post and giveaway, you need to click HERE.

Ok now let's get to being thankful. First off it has been a lovely week so far and today is supposed to reach 80 degrees, which is pretty nice for January. And for the sunny weather alone I should be grateful, but there is more.

A couple of months ago I bought a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Moon Shine to make a quilt, because I love the prints and the colors. Then a few weeks ago Massdrop had the same bundle available at a good price. So I decided to buy a second one to use in my cross quilt and bee blocks. I was sent notice that it shipped and a box arrived last Saturday. When I opened it much to my surprise the bundle inside was Anna Maria Horner's Honor Roll not my Tula Pink Moon Shine. So I immediately sent an email to the company to let them know. On Sunday I received a note that said they were sorry for the mix up and they would be sending me my Tula Pink bundle soon. That sounded good, but even better they said I could keep the Honor Roll bundle at no charge. Yes you read that correctly, I have a full 30 piece fat quarter bundle of Honor Roll for free!!!!

I have no idea what I am going to do with it at this point, but for now I'm just going to look at it and pet it. And to top off the already great week, I received my second set of bee blocks from my Compass Quilters Bee. These came from Rebecca at One Wee Bird. Now she not only sent my blocks which had several super cute purple one (yeah), she also sent some Denyse Schmidt scraps.

Ok she even had a chocolate bar in the package, but that didn't make it out of the car (hehehe). I did share it with Sharla, so I wasn't totally greedy.  It was pretty unusual for here, it was a Cadbury cola bar, think chocolate and pop rocks mixed, very cool.

Now it hasn't been all sunshine and fabric this week, but even with having to have my brakes replaced, and bills to pay, and so forth.  It has been a good week and I'm thankful for all the large and small blessing in my life and will be linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Thankful Thursday. And make sure you come back tomorrow to see my version of Tessellated Leaves.

Friday Finish: Bee Blocks and Test Quilt

I am so glad to have a Friday Finish again.  It seems like forever and I even have two...yes you read that correctly TWO!!!  Well I do and I don't.  One of the finishes I can't really show you all of it yet, but I will explain.

First up is my bee block(s) for Stash Bee, which have been done for at least two weeks, but my rule is I can't show them here until they are in the mail.  Luckily I was able to get to the post office yesterday and they are on the way to this month's queen Toni.  The block we were requested to make was a Wonky Cross block, in the colors of yellow and grey.  I didn't have much grey in my stash, but I found a cool dot fabric at my LQS.  The first one I made ended up looking more like an "X" than a cross.

Since that block didn't work out like planned I made a second block with the colors reversed and it turned out much better.  It looks like a cross (yeah!!)

Since I really didn't have any use for the first block I emailed a photo of it to Toni to see if she could use it. and she said yes!.  So both blocks are headed to Houston.  I can't wait to see what she makes with them.  I've seen some of the other blocks and they all look pretty cool.

I also finished my first quilt for 2015, and it is very cool.  Now the problem is I can't show you the front of it, because the pattern hasn't been released as of yet.  The pattern is called Tessellated Leaves and it is by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.  It was a fun project and you will be able to see my version of it on January 29th and I will tell you lots more about it.  There is a blog hop starting on the 25th on Yvonne site.  I can't wait to see what the other testers made, But I wanted to count this one as complete since it has been a slow start this year.  So here is what I can show you.

Now what is really cool is that I've completed two of the five goals I set for myself for January, and I'm hoping to get a couple more of them done next week.  So it might be a slow start to the year, but at least the wheels have started.   Today I am linking up with  Let's Bee Social with Sew Fresh Quilts, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Friday Finish: Bee Blocks

I'm not really sure what happened to November.  I cut my blocks out early in the month, but was still a couple of days late getting them in the mail.  I seemed to be behind the entire month.  Luckily there is no December blocks due, so I have some time to catch up on other things.

The November queen was Sharon (aka Sharona) of Motherdragon's Musings. Sharon was the only person in the bee whose name didn't end with the letter a.  So I said we should call her Sharona...like the song My Sharona.  She just laughed at me.  Sharon lives in Australia, and if I could have I would have sent myself in the package to her.  I've always wanted to visit there.

Sharon asked us to do bow tie blocks with a cream background.  She didn't care about what color the ties were as long as they weren't neon colors. I made three blocks using up scraps from different projects.  My first block I used fabrics from Sharla's first quilt and some from a scrap box I bought.

My second block is where I got my touch of Texas into the block.  I know I just can't help myself, and so far I've managed to get a little Texas into every month.  This month I used the red fabric with bluebonnets on it.  I paired it with a blue fabric that looks a little like tooled leather.

And my last block uses fabrics from two of my previous quilts and two fabrics that I just love.  I think it might be my favorite block, because I love the blue dot fabric.  I've had it for a long time, and I've just about used it all.

And last but not least is my label.  Somehow I just can't seem to do a plain white label.  I think it is that wild child inside of me.  Ok those that know me be quite, not everyone has to know I'm crazy.

Well that is it.  I have gotten a little further on the memory quilts, but not anything that I can show. But at this point I will take any progress I can get. today I am linking up with  Let's Bee Social with Sew Fresh Quilts, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Compass Quilter's Bee Blocks - October

Let me start by saying October has been a very rough month.  I did these block the first weekend of the month and they are the only thing I've accomplished so far...well sewing/quilting wise.  The second weekend we had a garage sale and I tweaked my knee. The next week we were combining offices at work, and I tweaked it more (not good).  Then last weekend when I had some major plans to get some sewing/quilting done, my poor fur baby Tucker got sick, really sick, vet/emergency vet sick.  At one point we even had to have the "is it time" discussion.  Luckily thanks to some wonderful doctors, he is home and feeling ok.  He is ten years old, blind, diabetic and has a heart murmur, so we realize that the time will come that we have to finish that discussion, but I'm just happy it wasn't last weekend.

Our queen this month is Diana from Red Delicious Life and she picked a string block for us to do. She asked that the center strip be white (or white on white).  I used Moda's Bella Solid white and I really love how these blocks look.  I've been wanting to do some with a black center, but after doing these I may have to change my mind and go with white centers.  She gave instructions on how to mark your own paper templates as well as providing a paper template.  As I said before I finished these several weeks ago, but I don't let myself post about them until they are in the mail.

I ended up making 3 blocks because my first one was a little off, but I sent it anyway, because she might still want to use it. Plus it was my block with a little Texas on it.  So far I've been able to work a little piece of Texas into each month.  I tried to use lots of blues, greens and pinks, but also throwing in other colors so she would get a nice scrappy effect.

My first block was very easy but it didn't line up as well as I would want, but I love some of the fabric in it.  I cut my fabrics, 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch and 2 inches I had a couple of 2 1/2 inch strips, but I think I cut all of them down after sewing because they looked huge.

Did you catch the Texas part of the block...it is in the upper left corner...a little bit of bluebonnet fabric.  Here is a closer shot.

Block two went together better and I think it might be my favorite of the three. It has some of my all time favorite fabrics, PB&J, Salt Water and  High Street.

My last block also has some of my favorite fabrics in it.  I think I like these blocks because the sewing was simple and straight forward and yet, they look so cool.  I can't wait to see what Diana does with them all.

She told us we could go crazy on the label, so mine has a very small white section with my name on it, and then random string piecing around it.  I was very happy with it.

I am having lots of fun with this Bee, so much so that I signed up for the Stash Bee 2015.  There are still some spots open if you want to join.  You can check it out HERE.

September Compass Quilters Bee Blocks

I don't know what it is about these bee blocks, but I finish them and just can't seem to get them into the mail.  I finished them the first week of the month, and then had to do my label block. I did it over a week ago, and yet they still sat. But I made it to the post office today and they are on their way to Italy.  It is sad that my bee blocks are going more fun places than I am.

This month the Queen was Nesta of Ella and Nesta's Little Room and as I said earlier she lives in Italy.  Nesta picked Cross Stitch blocks done in orange, yellow and pink with low volume or white backgrounds.  When I did my test blocks they went together very quickly, but trimming them was a little tricky.  But when I used my smaller ruler it was a breeze.

Since the blocks were only 6 inches each, we decided that instead of just two blocks we should do 8 each.  That would make something close to two 12 inch blocks.  I had plenty of low volume fabrics, and lots of pink, but struggled to find yellows and oranges in my stash.  Luckily I remembered the scraps from my High Street quilt.

I ended up doing 9 blocks because one of them is slightly off, but I decided to send it to her anyway and if she wants to use it she can.  I learned a lot doing these blocks.  First I learned to just go for it, when I first read the instructions I thought ohhh no I can't do this. But it really was easy, and jumping in feet first was the best way to do them. 

The biggest thing I learned was to watch how I ironed the fabric.  The first two blocks I ironed the correct way by accident, but then I ironed one the wrong way and learned a lesson very quickly. If you iron the fabrics so they nest, it is so much easier.  See the photo below

I ironed the strip wrong side together and the bottom piece right sides together.  Now this may not seem like a big deal, but when you put them together, having those creases nest really helps to keep everything in line.  I only did one wrong before I realized how much easier it was with them ironed correctly.

I love all the colors in these blocks and I can't wait to see what Nesta creates with them.  And I will say I had a little of Texas go into these blocks as well. It is small, but if you look close you will see Texas in the white on white fabric.

It is strange how doing blocks for someone else makes me nervous, but at the same time it is so much fun.  I hope Nesta likes them and that she loves all the blocks sent to her this month.  I will be back tomorrow to show you the quilt I finished last week but never got around to posting.