Still Catching Up

I don’t even know where to start. I have a lot going on right now. Yesterday was quilt guild, but I didn’t stay for the workshop. The workshop topic was collage quilting, and I had enough of that this week with the 4H kids. I have been working on getting caught up with customer commitments plus my own stuff. 

I made four more potato chip blocks. 

I had already done 23 so now I’m up to 27. I need 30 blocks for my quilt, so I need to push through and get these completed. I do them as leaders and enders, but I think I will just sew the final three so I can start putting the top together.

I’ve mostly been working on these.

There was somewhere between 20 and 30 in the box I found; I now have 50 total done. Depending on how many rows I do, I will either need 64 or 72. I feel like the end is in sight on this one as well. I just need time and more motivation. LOL.

I would like to say I worked on the Double Irish Chain sew along, but I didn’t. I got stuck on picking out a solid pink I want to use. I have two different choices—one is sort of a dusty pink, and the other is sort of a bubblegum color. Neither is exactly what I wanted, but I don’t want to go buy something when I already have this, and no point ordering anything either. It’s too hard to judge the colors when you order online.

When I get tired of sewing, I pick up some crochet. I got these done over the last couple of days.

I have been trying to walk in the evenings. Unfortunately, it is too hot to take the dogs. I feel like the sidewalks haven’t cooled off enough for their paw pads. They are not happy. I should take them early in the morning, but I go to the gym in the mornings. On Wednesday it was 101 with 70% humidity. I think the a/c ran all day. Some things love the heat. My starfish cactus is blooming.

The bloom is a five point star, but two of the petals are kind of folded up so it’s hard to see the star.  There is another bud so it hopefully will have another bloom.

It doesn’t bloom every year, just sporadically. It wasn’t quite as hot yesterday and somewhat overcast. There were a few rain bands from the tropical storm. Any moisture is welcome right now, but I wasn’t able to walk. Maybe today.

Something Old

One of my favorite things is old quilts and old quilt blocks. A customer brought me a bag of quilt blocks she found in her aunt’s house. She was cleaning out the house after her aunt passed away and found these a bag of signature blocks.

She said she didn’t know these existed and was surprised to find them. I asked her if she recognized the names, and she said they were family names. The blocks are mostly hand stitched, and I can guarantee you none of them are the same size. I didn’t want to trim the hand stitched ones

so I measured them from the back and drew a stitching line with a pencil. That way I could take a wider seam allowance where needed. I laid them all out.

There were enough plain muslin blocks in the bag that I could have used an alternate block setting, but the quilt would have been huge, so I opted to just use some purple sashing. (The purple yardage was also in the bag, and there was plenty.) 

I did use three of the plain blocks in the corners so everything would come out even. I think it looks okay with the plain corners. I used a darker purple for the border. Oh, this one had “age 11” written in pencil.

I went ahead and got out my green embroidery thread and embroidered over the pencil to preserve it. 

I’ll be able to get this quilted and hopefully get the binding on it sometime next week. I’ll post more pictures as soon as I get it finished.

Collage Quilting Class

Yesterday my quilt guild taught collage quilting to local 4H kids. We had 14 students, and 7 quilt members were instructing. We taught the same class last year, and we had some of the same kids return for this session. Donna had made mesh project bags for each of the students. Each one was different fabric. I forgot to take a picture, but they were something like this, except with a handle. 

Each one had steam-a-seam, pattern ease, and a pair of scissors. We had collage patterns they could choose from. One of the things we learned from last year’s class was to limit the size of the projects they could choose, so they were mostly small. 

The kids worked from 9-4, with a 30 minute break for lunch, and they made pretty good use of their time.

We had a few get finished except for their backgrounds. 

And these two cuties got their backgrounds done, mostly. I think there were a few blank spots they need to go back and fix today. 

I won’t be able to go back today. We have a Deborah Circle meeting at church today, and we are in the middle of planning for the school supply drive, VBS meals, and I don’t know what all else. 

Three Mysteries

Well, I think I have gone down another rabbit hole. I saw a quilt along on Melva Loves Scraps and it is going to be a remake of a vintage Irish chain quilt. Oh my, I wanted to resist, but I know I won’t. Irish chain quilts are some of my favorites, and I like the vintage look. I happen to have a jelly roll (or two) of 1930’s repro fabrics I can use to get the vintage look. 

I started thinking I started a scrappy Irish chain a year or two ago. I thought maybe I could find it and finish it instead of starting a new one. I have looked and looked, and I have no idea where it is. That’s mystery number one.

While I was looking I found this all kitted up.

It’s three charm packs with some 6.75” background squares. 

I normally try to put the pattern in anything I kit up, but there’s no pattern in this one. It must have been some video I saw on YouTube, consequently no printed pattern. If anyone has any idea what pattern would use three charm packs and 6.75” squares, please let me know what it would have been. That’s mystery number two. If I can’t figure it out, I can always repurpose the charm packs, but I already cut all those background squares. It would be nice to use them.

This is the other thing I found.

A partially completed project….mostly cut pieces and some completed blocks.

There are probably 20-30 of these blocks, so it is definitely possible to get it done without spending a ton of time. I vaguely remember starting these when I was living in Lake Jackson. I had seen a vintage quilt in a show and was planning to replicate it. The problem is that I can’t find a picture of the quilt. How this all goes together is mystery number three. That’s okay, there is enough cut fabric in the box to make plenty more blocks, and I will figure out a way to put them together. It might not look like the original, but since I don’t remember what it looked like, it doesn’t really matter. 

Catching Up

I’m happy to say the antibiotics are working, and I am starting to feel better. Thank goodness! I still have quite of bit of sinus drainage; I don’t know how long I’ll be dealing with that. I felt well enough to get some work done—I’m a little behind on customer work, but I did get two tops quilted for Betty. 

I didn’t get to photograph the back, but it is bandana. 

I also got her Kaffe top quilted.

She jokes that her quilts are never square. LOL. I have another customer quilt on the frame, but I’m not sure when I will get it done. Some quilt guild members (including me) are teaching a collage class to youth quilters at the 4H building Monday and Tuesday. 

Last night I relaxed on the couch and watched Dateline reruns on tv. I got a few more rows done on this afghan. 

As usual, there is a dog on my lap. There is always at least one….they are very competitive about that spot. Anyway, any progress is good. 

Free Pattern Friday

I have been trying to use my free time a little more productively. It’s super easy for me to spend a lot of time with my iPad, and time will get away from me. The biggest culprits for me are TikTok and YouTube. Even Pinterest to an extent. 

There aren’t too many tv shows that interest me, but there are a few shows I enjoy. Right now NBC is showing Surviving Earth and The Americas. Both are good. On Monday night (if I’m home) I watch American Ninja Warriors. I have been watching it for about ten years. 

While I’m watching tv, I have been crocheting. I found a cute pattern on Pinterest, and it is super easy. It’s called Peephole Chevron Stitch. 

The instructions say to start with a foundation chain that is a multiple of 10 plus 3. For a baby afghan I started 103 chains. This pattern is really repetitive, so I can watch tv while I am working on it. I got one finished last night.

I used the “super soft” yarn from Hobby Lobby, and it took three skeins to get a decent sized afghan. I started another one with the same yarn in green tones last night, but I only got a couple of rows done. It’s okay—it will go fast. 

Wow, the color is definitely not accurate in the pictures. I also crocheted a couple more of the facial putts, but I still need to sew them together so they form a “puff”. 

A Little Sewing

 Happy Thursday everyone!

Here’s some good news—my air conditioner got fixed last light! I am so thankful the weather has been overcast and rainy. The worst part of that is the humidity. I’m sure my a/c sucked about five quarts of moisture out of the air once it was running.  Anyway, it hasn’t been unbearable although I haven’t gotten a restful sleep. 

My shop has air conditioning so I have been spending a lot of time there during the day. I was able to get quite a bit done. I finished these placemats. 

I quilted a yard of fabric on the longarm and then cut it into placemats and put the binding on. I thought it would be faster that way, but I’m not so sure. I like the way they look though. 

I also got some customer quilts done, but I still need to trim them and take pictures.

I need to finish my potato chips blocks for the summer challenge. I had eight done, and I did 14 more, so that is 22 total. 

I just need eight more, and then I can start putting them together.

More good news: I’m taking antibiotics now, so I am starting to feel better. 

I will end with a picture of my mom.

It was cow appreciation day at Chick Fil A. LOL! Don’t ask me where she gets these costumes because I haven’t got a clue.