Bee Kind Blog Hop - My Day

The Challenge: September is the time to remember that a little kindness goes a long way.   Share your "kind" projects.  Your favorite charity project, a free online pattern or anything that shows you spread a little kindness, everywhere you go.   The Bee's are an important part of life as well, and we all need to be kind to them too!  This makes this hop the perfect place to share your Bee Quilts!

And don't forget to check out what everyone has posted for today - 

Tuesday Sept 24

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilted Snail

Quilt Schmilt

Quilted Delights

Hazels Daughter

Over the last few months I've been able to work on a number of things meant to spread a little kindness. 

First up is this momma bear and cubs quilt that I made for a sweet friend.   When I saw the panel while on a shop hop with a friend up in Prescott AZ, it just called out to me that it needed to go to my friend who loves bears.  I've known my friend for many years now, but she has been such a help and encouragement over the last 3+ years as I've dealt with all that has come from both of my parents passing away in those years.   I'd been wanting to do something special as thanks to her and this just had to be.

And yes, those are her legs there as she holds the finished quilt....lol.

One of the things I've been working on sewing up this year are the trimmed scraps that I was given by a dear friend.  The scraps had been in the stash of her MIL who was one of the sweetest people I've been blessed to know.  I was blessed to call her Grandma V and have her as an adopted Grandma.   

A couple of years ago I had finished 5 lap quilts - 1 each for her two living sons, and 1 each for three grandkids.   I let my friends husband (grandma V's son).   These 5 did not dent the amount of trimmed scraps that I had.  So this year I started making more tops from them - and so far have made 6 more tops this year.  

This first one also used up a big piece of solid color that was in the box I was given.   The quilts below have had WOW and COC scraps added for the settings, but the rest are all out of the scraps.  I've managed to finish off the 2.5", 3.5", and 4.5" cut squares.   Still have a lot of 6.5" squares to use yet (at least enough for 2 or 3 lap quilts), but am thinking of how I want to set them because I'm trying not to duplicate settings.   

Once totally finished, I'll give all of them to my friends to decide who to give them to.

This one the red plaid was also added along with the WOW in the 6 patch blocks.  

I've started the next memory quilt using the 6.5" cut squares and am making scrappy flying geese blocks.   The blocks finish at roughly 20" by 10" so it won't take many to make a lap quilt.   If I add a border, I figure I'll only need to make 9 more blocks.   Will still have leftover squares for yet another quilt from the inherited stash.

Gratitudes:

1. Seeing progress in the rebuild at the house......I might actually get to move in before Christmas this year....sigh

2, For the healing in my retina....even if there's still a ways to go AND now there's a cataract that has to be dealt with at some point so that I can see properly again.

ScrapHappy - November 2023

 Progress on one scrappy project was made this month.   All blocks were finished for this memory quilt.   Colored fabrics were from the inherited scrap stash from a friend.   The WOW squares were precut scraps.   Sashing strips were also from scraps.   Yet to go is a WOW border, then will be finished with a print binding.

This makes quilt top #8 from the inherited stash, and it will eventually go to my friends when quilted.

Don't forget to check out what everyone else has posted about today.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

Gratitudes: 

1. Having insurance as I try to deal with gout and other health issues

2. For the coming vacation trip to visit with long time friends next week.

ScrapHappy July 2023

 Almost forgot to post this month with all that has been going on this past week.   The memorial service for my dad was this morning so once again I can think.

Lots of scrappy piecing this month with scraps I'd received from a friends mom's stuff.   First up were 30+ of these 6" by 10" finished string pieced blocks.   I'm still debating about how to set them into a quilt.

Next up were these 15 patch blocks in the same size.   I've got a vision in mind for these, but am trying to use remnants for setting blocks....and not set on fabrics yet.   May need to make more of the pieced blocks, won't know till I decide on a layout.

Until next month, stay cool in the heat of summer.

Gratitudes:
1. For ac in the 118+ degree temps here in Phoenix.

2. For all the friends and coworkers of my dad that came out to the memorial service this morning.

Scrap-Happy October 2021

The house has been sold, and 99% of of what I own is now in storage which leaves me with not a lot of things to sew on till I can find a job and get a place to live on my own again.

I did however find a bit of room to bring the scraps of shirts that had been used to make memory bears back in 2019.   I'm planning to take and use these to make 4 memory quilts from them.   Here is the first one of them.

Not the greatest of pictures for some reason.   Quilt is made from 6" squares of plaid shirts, and alternate string-pieced WOW's and COC's.

The shirtings even have the sleeve plackets and buttons on several of the blocks.

Gratitudes:

1. One job interview has been had, and another is scheduled for the morning of the 15th.

2. For friends who allow me to stay with them while I job hunt and work to help my dad out here in Phoenix. 

UFO's From My Mom's Stash - Part 2

 The other UFO's that I found during my April trip were these 4 finished cross-stitch pieces that my mom had stitched onto corduroy squares.  

I'm assuming that she'd intended to make a quilt out of them and a number of other finished pieces because there were a bunch of cord squares cut that I did not bring home.

At this point, my thought is to use these 4 squares / cross-stitch pieces as the center of the memory quilt that I have plans to make for my dad.   I'll be using sweatshirts that I had made for my mom over the years for it, with an occasional t-shirt.   Many of the shirts I did had either cross-stitch pieces on them or applique work.   And the sweatshirt material would work with the corduroy.

It'll be a while before I can get to that project since I need to finish up some commissioned work first.  So who knows, the plan might change....

Gratitudes:

1. That I'm not having to deal with the 113+ degree temps of AZ.....98 plus high humidity is bad enough...lol

2. For making progress in getting things cleaned up and boxed up here in the house.

More commissions coming

Coming not too far in the future is another commission.   This will be a bittersweet one because it's for my adopted niece.   Her FIL is fading fast from the effects of brain cancer, and she has commissioned me to make 12 memory teddy bears for all of the grand-kids from his shirts. 

I had one teddy pattern that has 4 pieces to it (left hand one) and ordered an older one that has two pieces (one on the right).   One of these two patterns will be used for the bears. 

To help figure out which one it will be, I  plan on buying a men's shirt from a second-hand store and then making a sample up.  This will let me know if it's possible to get it out of a shirt and how long it'll take me to make one along with materials needed.   Once the sample is done I can then quote the project.

While I don't like the reason for the project, I'm happy to know that I'll be able to give a little bit of comfort with my sewing skills.

If I have enough left over, then I'm thinking I'll put the scraps together into a quilt for my niece's MIL as an extra blessing for the family.

Gratitudes -

1. for getting the name of an ortho doc since I just did something again to my injured knee and it's hurting like crazy at the moment.

2. for ibuprofen and the help it hopefully will give in controlling the pain.

Final commissioned totes completed!

This weekend I finished off two commissions.   The first one I don't have pics of - two pairs of pants were hemmed for a friend at church.   Nope not something that I normally do, but he's a good friend and had given me a mower last year so that I wouldn't have to buy one.  So I didn't mind doing them for him.

The other commission that I finished up was the big one that I'd been working on the first three months of the year.   The last bit were these 5 small totes, and 7 denim heart ornaments.

Three totes, pieced from smaller sections of the overalls and denim shirts.  All have pockets added to the front of them.

 Backing of the three totes.   Straps on the top two were the straps on the final pair of overalls.

 These were made from the seat section of the final pair of overalls.   Because of where the brads fell on the top of the backs I ended up facing the top of the denim with extra wide, single-fold bias tape.








Backing of these two totes.


Gratitudes:

1. For this commission and all that it has enabled me to pay off.

2. For the new commissions that are coming in.

March Weekend Finishes

This past weekend was one of those weekends when nothing went like it was planned - starting Thursday evening when my knee decided it needed to act up and I made an emergency trip to urgent care after it buckled on me.   Thanks to a friend who drove me there, I'm currently sporting a new fashion accessory, but at least the knee is finally starting to feel better and I can walk again without much pain if (IF) I don't over do things.

My butterfly hankie quilt was finished this weekend.   Binding is the same green fabric that was used for the block backgrounds.

The label that was embroidered for the hankie quilt by a quilting acquantaince.

Two memory pillows from bandannas.

The patriotic pillow back includes the pocket that was on the t-shirt used for back it. 

Two more memory pillows from a Harley Davidson t-shirt.

16" memory pllows made from a Bugs Bunny bandanna and a Texas t-shirt.

Also worked on over the weekend was prepping the last pair of denim overalls for more memory stocking fronts.   Am currently in process of cutting and/or piecing the fronts.  Once done with that I'll start sewing those together.

Gratitudes -

1.  Nothing was broken when my knee buckled Thursday night as frustrating as that has been........could have been much worse.

2. For friends who live in town that I can call on for help when emergencies like this happen.

Commission Progress

Delivered 20 stockings and 2 totes this weekend to the gal I've been sewing for.  She loved all of the items, but especially the tote bags because she said she could really see her uncle in them because of the use of the overall straps for the bag handles.

I found out when she picked up everything that her uncle who had owned a wrecking yard, had been known for not letting anyone trim the trees on the property.  So the stocking I made with the appliqued trees brought back good memories for my customer.  And he was a Harley Davidson rider, so the motorcycle was fitting.

 













Next up - Taking the last pair of overalls and deconstructing them so that I can make more stockings (probably about another 20 or so like I did from the first pair).  And 8 more pillows from 2 denim shirts, 7 t-shirt pillows and 3 pillows from bandannas.  The stockings planned will have bits and pieces of bandannas that were used in earlier projects as embellishments on them.

And then for the same customer I'll be working with her wedding dress to make a pillow for her from the beaded section of the dress (front & back), and then 4-5 ring bearer pillows from the skirt and lace in the sleeves.

Pic to the right is the dress that I'll be working with.    The bodice area will be used for the pillow, the lace sleeves and skirt will be used for the ring bearer pillows.   I know what I want to do on the big pillow.....now to execute the idea when i get to work on these after finishing the current work in progress.

Gratitudes:

1. For this big commission that ultimately bring in as much as I made all of last yr with my sewing. 

2. For the PT job that is also helping bring in extra money to pay bills off.

UFO Weekend Part 2 - London Tea Towel Quilt is Done

Finished off 2 UFO's on Monday, one of which I can't post a pic of yet.   But the second one was my London tea towel quilt. 

Most of the fabrics in the pieced and appliqued blocks were from ones that I bought at Spencer & Marks while there in London in 1997.  Red flange is by Hoffman fabrics and the scrappy cream tonal background fabrics in the blocks are assorted ones that I've collected over time.  All applique designs are mine.  All total 29 different fabrics are in the quilt.

 Arrows are an adaptation of the London Roads quilt block, and a silhouette of Queen Elizabeth who i got to see arrive for a special commemorative service at St Paul's Cathedral while I was there.

 London Houses of Parliament, flying geese from London fabric, and a British flag.

 Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, a Pearly Snowflake for those Pearly costumes of London.

 The Underground sign, Buckingham Palace guard, a block that I can't remember what design it was from, and a double decker bus.

 Telephone Booth, Buckingham Palace guard, British flag, and the Admiralty Arch.

Two pieced blocks are the London Square block pattern.  Scenes from Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge.


Gratitudes:
1.  For the long weekend during which I was able to get a lot of quilting done.

2. For the part-time job working here at home that I've been able to start that will bring in a wee bit of money.

Weekend Progress

Found out that the lady who'd ordered a rush commissioned baby quilt cancelled thanks to the DIL changing her mind about it.   Thankfully I found out before I had done more than iron the fusible web onto the applique fabric.   So I'll still end up making the quilt and then selling it, but won't have to rush on it.

So that left me lots of time to work on other things.  First project worked on was the flamingo quilt.   I added a pink with white polka dot for binding and that is now sewn down.

The next project I worked on was baste and quilt this scrappy kitty quilt.  The quilting on it has been finished and I just need to find a binding for it.

I was also able to get the blocks trimmed to size and the sashing onto them.  I'm contemplating whether to add a final border of the same mottled green that the blocks are made from or to just bind it in the green at this size.   Currently it is 45" square.

Someone I know will be making an embroidered label for me.   And I will be sending it out to be quilted for me.

Gratitude:
1. My free food box arrived safe and sound today.

2. For praying friends

Weekend Progress

I had a great time sewing and doing other related quilting related activities over the holiday weekend.   First thing up was to actually clean in the sewing room because it was driving me nuts, not to mention it was getting hazardous to get to my thread totes.

Still have stuff that didn't sell on ebay to get rid of but I've made a lot of progress and it looks much better than what it did.

This is what I pulled out of the brown scrap basket on the shelf of my cutting table.   Yes, it was overstuffed!   And there were two final bags of scraps from the row-hopping as well.  All that is now in their proper bags and in the scrap totes........and I have no more room in them so I need to sew more, and sort thru them to get rid of more.

One of the projects I worked on is actually for me - I know shock of shocks...lol.   All blocks are now finished for my hankie butterfly quilt.  I used 8 hankies in the blocks.

The center block is a very lightweight linen fingertip towel that I folded to fit the block and then appliqued down.

Closeup of one of the completed blocks.  The grey fabric it is resting on is a mottled grey that i'll be using for the sashing and border.   Will bind in more of the green.

Backing will have 4 more hankies that didn't work for butterflies on the front appliqued to it.   One of them I'm going to send off to an online friend to embroider the label onto.   Will have to back it with some fusible interfacing to make it work for the embroidery.

 I then added the top and bottom borders to this quilt.   Thinking about adding a final border around it to add a little more size to it.

And after cutting a bazillion 2.5" blocks from my green scraps with no discernible difference made to the amount of scraps that I have, I've started piecing the next critter quilt for sale.   This pic shows the first 16 rows together - halfway done.  from here up is a mainly the WOW background, so it should not take as long to piece as this part did.   (Some of my WOW's are in strip-sets for faster piecing.)

I started with 3 stacks of the green squares that were almost 3" tall and stacks of WOW's in squares and strip sets and am now down 1 stack of the green and have made a dent in the WOW's.   But have enough cut for another quilt.

Gratitudes:

1. Lots of visits with friends coming up this week and next with friends from Austin and England being in town

2. For a dentist who will let me reschedule appts so that I can see friends who are in town only over night.