Next Cross-Stitch Project

Friends at church just adopted two kids and the church is hosting a shower for them in just over 3 weeks.   And I had the bright idea of makign something for them (it would be what fits my budget), but there ain't no way I'm getting two quilts done in that time frame. 

This kit was in my cross-stitch stash (yes I've got a stash of cross-stitch stuff....) and I thought it would be  a good fit.   Will except for the fact that it only mentions moms.....so with a little tweaking of the pattern so that the finished piece will say 'parents', I think it will be perfect for the occassion.

Most likely will finish it as a small wall-hanging.

Gratitudes:
1. for the various stashes that I've got to work from

2. for good friends

UFO Weekend Progress

This holiday weekend was a bonus UFO weekend for a group that I'm a part of.  And I did make progress on a couple of projects.

First up was finishing my Riley Blake Challenge quilt.  Lots of echo quilting in it. 

 A jewelry medallion was the final touch to finish off the quilt.

And I finished off these two mini cross-stitch pieces.   At least one of them will end up in a quilted postcard that I'm planning on sending to someone who is going through a hard time right now.

Gratitudes:
1. Even tho things are heating up outside, the house has not been horrendously hot, so just running the ac very occassionally to bring the temp down to 80 has kept things bearable.

2. I found the pattern for the summer tops I need to make myself.

Challenge Quilt Progress

I'm making progress on the Riley Blake Challenge quilt.  Quilting is now 50% or more done.    Am working both sides in alternate passes so that it doesn't get too wonky.  Am still undecided about whether to add beads or now after I finish the quilting.

Gratitudes:
1. Echo quilting is easy, if a bit time-consuming.

2. Had the perfect colors of thread for top and bottom.

Snail Quilt So Far

The two big sections have now been sewn together.  And the filler section for the top section has now been made from orphan strip set sections in various shades of brown.

Left side shown here.

Right half of quilt shown here.

At the current time it is approximately 86" wide and    57" long.  I still need to add about 30" in length to the quilt and a final border about 3" in finished width.


Gratitudes:

1. Received one paycheck this week.

2. No rain even tho fronts have been going thru here.

More progress on Snail Quilt

I sewed the two halves of the second section together and then sewed the section to the first one, only to find I had not guestimated correctly on the wide of the second section .... oops.

The second section is 11" (finished) wider than the first one, and of course none of my orphan blocks fit the 11.25" size needed to fill the gap. 

As a result, I'm in process of making a filler section that will go the full height of the first section.  I'm using part of an orphan set of strip sets left over from a gift quilt I made 10 or so yrs ago.

Next pics are of a couple of the filler sections on the 2nd section of the quilt.  The blocks in these sections are signature blocks from a couple of get-togethers (IQGT) - one that I was at in person and one that I was only there in spirit.

The red/cream are from 2002 and the IQGT was one I was able to attend.  General consensus is that this one was held in CT.

Lynn Z and Mary G  signed the top two blocks, and Joanne W and Sandy B signed the bottom two.

These signature blocks were from 2014, which unfortunately was a yr that I couldn't afford to go.  But it's still wonderful to see names of people I've known for years now.






Gratitudes:

1. For the house/pet sitting job I've got coming up in June & July and the income from it.

2. For not having to worry about paying for AC while house-sitting.

Snail Quilt Progress

I'm slowly making progress on my snail quilt.  This section, approximately half of the full width of the quilt top before borders.  There are two sets of filler blocks in this - the section in between the two right hand snails are signature blocks from a quilt group I'm a part of.  From left to right these blocks are from: Mary G,. Anne M., Paula W., Margaret U., Jody J, Peggi Y.

Second set of filler blocks are at the bottom left of the picture and are left over blocks from a wedding quilt.

The section above will be joined to the left side of this section.

Once the middle section is sewn together I'll measure to see if I need to add more in width to it or to the top section in order to have the widths match up.

Gratitudes:
1. The tornados from yesterday missed the area where I live.

2. Ibuprofen works wonders for easing the arthritis pain in my feet.

UFO Weekend results

Finished up 5 quilted postcards which I forgot to take a picture of in their finished form...oops..... Next up was evening out the right edge of the first third or so of my snail quilt which I don't have a pic of (notice a recurring theme here?).   Width of the quilt right now without border is about 72".


Then made two  snail blocks from Orphan UFO blocks that were sent to me by a longtime quilting friend.   All added fabrics were from scraps or remnants.

These were all 6" finished swap blocks from swaps years ago on a now defunct email list (IQ).  The first snail was made with four 6" finished friendship star blocks

Shell of this snail was made from nine 6" finished 9-patches from a long ago swap from the same email list as above.












Start of the middle third of the quilt with two 12" tall snails and one that is 18" tall.  This may still get one more 6" or 9" tall row on the bottom of it yet.

The filler blocks underneath the large snail are signature blocks that were sent to me by the friend who sent the other orphan/UFO blocks.  These were from a get-together back in 2002 with the IQ group of quilting friends.  Don't remember where this GT was held, but it is fun to remember friends that are either no longer alive or no longer heard from.

And the final project I worked on was getting the quilting underway on my Riley Blake challenge quilt.  The background on one side of the circles is done (shown here).   And I've started on the other side of the circles. 

The design for the quilting continues to evolve and at the moment, I'm going to echo in quilting the circles on the other side of the quilt from the applique.  And then fill in around that with the echo quilting like shown here.

Gratitudes:

1. While the storm on Saturday had  winds so high that the rain was going sideways, there was no damage to my house.  (Altho I did have to wait out the first wave inside Wally World.)

2. For God's hand of protection with the severe storm front that is due to go through the NE Tx area today and tomorrow.

Scrap Happy May

This month my scrappy work had me working with what had originally started out to be crazy-quilted cell phone pouches that had languished for several years.   I trimmed them to a common size (6" by 6.5") and then fused them to the pellon fusible that I use in my quilted postcards.   I've finished the embellishment of the five. 

All total there are 36 different fabrics, 12 different trims (also scraps/remnants), 5 lace motifs, 1 jewelry pendent and 4 different scrapbook sayings.

All that is left is fusing the backing onto them and then doing the satin-stitching around the outside of the cards.





Saying reads -

Know in your heart you are loved




















Saying reads -
     Capture Life's Moments

 Saying says -

Always be on the lookout of the presence of wonder















Saying says =

No beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart






Gratitudes:

1. Almost all of the bills that I've got at this point are paid - a good thing since getting paid tomorrow is not likely to happen.

2. For fans in the house when the budget says not to turn on the AC.

Commission Progress

One commission was finished up this past week.  A longtime friend had asked me to make a pair of pillow shams using blocks that were leftover from a wedding quilt she'd commissioned.  These are the result and will be going to her DD who just got married this past Saturday.

I have several commissions in the pipeline that need to be worked on next......

First up is making a 16" pillow  and 4 or 5 ring-bearer pillows from a wedding dress for the same gal that all of the memory items were for.

Then I've been given a tote bag full of t-shirts for a t-shirt quilt.  size will most likely be about a large lap quilt size.  Due date is no later than October of this year.

Also coming due before long are two Christmas stockings for the same gal that I did the pillow shams for.   Due date is early August. 

And for the same gal I have a possibility of doing an airplane quilt.   So need to get a pattern drawn up (pp'd) and then a sample block made to see how it would work.

Gratitudes: 

1. Got one paycheck last week which meant I could pay some bills.

2. My parents visit

Goodies in the Mail

 

As I've been working on my snail quilt shown below, I've been using orphan blocks both for the shells of the snails and for filler blocks and sections of the quilt.

One plus to this is I've been making a lot of progress in using up all of the orphans I've accumulated.  However, I'm only about a third of the way finished with the quilt and am running out of blocks to use.


Friends though have come to the rescue.  =)  My friend Susan sent me these two blocks for snail shells.

And my friend Red sent me this stack of blocks in 6" and 3" finished sizes to use as filler blocks for my quilt.   There are friendship stars, 9-patches, churn dashes and signature blocks.  All made by quilt friends from an online group that I've been a part of for over 20 yrs now.   Some of these gals are no longer alive, so the signature blocks bring back memories or wonderful times spent together.

Gratitudes:

1. Quilt friends near and far, new and old

2. Dry weather at the moment

Cross-Stitch Progress

I've been able to get in a fair amount of work on the apple this past week. 

One more word  in the saying at the top of the piece is all that is left to do (Apple done in red floss).

I substituted e-sized seed beads for the french knots that called for by the pattern (around the heart in the apple).

I had thought about working on this kit next, but the metallic thread included in the kit is one I don't like working with so I need to get something different before I can start this.

As a result I'll find one of my small kits and work on it instead.



Gratitudes:

1. Visiting friends in Austin this coming weekend.

2. Parents are headed this way next week for a visit.