Weekend Update

Lots of stuff going on here, but not too much sewing. I did use some of my “spare” time last week to cut on some more pieces for my Scrap Crazy quilt. I only had three done as of last week.

 I dug out some solid fat quarters I had collected for my Women of the Bible quilt. I stalled out of that one and who knows when I will get back to it.

I went back through my photo archive, and it looks like I haven’t worked on it since 2024. Maybe getting out the solids will get me in the mood to work on it again. 

In the meantime, I cut some brighter colors, and when I got back from the church festival yesterday and needed to unwind a little, I whipped out nine more blocks.

I think adding some warmer, brighter colors helped. Now I have twelve total and enough parts and pieces cut to make several more. They are 8” blocks so I need quite a few more to make a decent size quilt. 

The silent auction yesterday was successful. I was so tired when it was over.

The quilt didn’t do as well as it would have with an auctioneer, but a friend of mine was the high bidder so I was okay with it. We sold barbecue chicken plates German potatoes, pinto beans, and slaw, and we had a live band playing polka music.

I had plenty of assistance, and that helped. I think all 110 items got bids, and most everything got paid for and picked up yesterday. I have about five more things to collect payment on. Hopefully I can get that done this week.

Linking to Melva’s Sew & Tell.

I’m Here!

I think my posts will be few and far between for the next week or so. I am spending about eight hours a day working on Silent Auction for our church festival. It will happen a Sunday. I am spending time at the church every day, from 9am until 3:20 when I leave to pick up Roger. His school is very close to the church which is convenient. Then I spend two to three hours at home in the evening working on bid sheets. 

I went out last night to get some paperwork out of the car and noticed how bright the moon was. The photo is not quite accurate as it looks almost like a full moon, and it was actually a crescent. The moon was in the western sky, and last month when I took a picture it was in the eastern sky. I don’t understand why.

I am almost finished with the auction set up. I had plenty of help setting up. I’m the one that looks like they are ready for a nap! LOL.

We have some great auction items this year. Some we solicited from vendors, and some were donated by church members. Some members donated cash, and I did some shopping.

This one is a bird feeder with a camera. I’m pretty excited about it. 

I dropped off all this things Betty and I made for the Country Store. We made 17 bowl cozies, 12 pairs of pillowcases, 3 bags, 6 sets of placemats, 3 wallets, 2 pout holders, 12 jar openers, 5 glasses cases, 7 dish towels. I think that’s it. I didnt have time to take pictures though. I was just trying to get it all delivered and on of my house. I may try to take more pictures later. 

Weekend Update

I’m afraid there isn’t much sewing or quilting going on around here. We have our church fall festival coming up on October 18th, and most of my energy is going into that right now. I am chairing the silent auction this year, and it’s turning out to be a whole lot of work! It’s okay, other than so many people being last minute. The last-minute stuff is stressing me out. 

I did a little cutting and sewing in the evenings. I had this pile of sold fabrics that weren’t really motivating me.

These are some of the leftovers from the cutting we do at church for the Lutheran World Relief quilts. Not big enough to use in the quilts, but too big to throw away. Maybe I should say, too big for me to throw away. I have been trying to figure out if I can use them or not, and I ended up getting out some of my Crazy Eight templates. Here’s what I did: 

I also have the Crazier Eight templates, and I was thinking of mixing in some of those blocks. We’ll see how it goes. I feel like these scraps need some red and orange colors, but I really don’t want to buy anything. I might find something here I can use. 

I’m still working on my Irish chain blocks as leaders and enders.

I haven’t worked on the pink ones in a while because I misplaced my pink solid.

As soon as I find it, I will cut more pink squares and make some progress. I hope.

I have been making an effort to get more exercise. It’s good for my stress levels, and I have been a real slacker late. The awful heat is August and September made me skip out on walking and I was also not real faithful with going to the gym. Net result: I had lost 20 pounds and gained 3-4 pounds of it back. I’m trying to be more careful with what I eat, and get back to exercising more regularly. Now that it’s not so hot, I should be able to get more steps. I’m linking this post to Melva’s Sew & Tell.

Mid Week

It’s Wednesday, and I feel like I’ve done nothing but binding. If you remember, I was busy last week cutting and sewing long strips of binding. I got this quilt done with some gray binding.

It’s a panel that I had added a border to and quilted. This one will go in the church auction. We have lots of TAMU fans, so I’m pretty sure it will get bids. It was late in the afternoon when I took the picture and sun was coming through the blinds causing the lighter spots on the fabric.

I got some placemats finished for the craft sale.

There are only two of these, but I think some people don’t need four placemats. We will find out.

I have four of these.

And six of these.

I also did a potholder from the leftovers from this fabric. I am so tired of sewing binding on….i can wait to be finished with all of this. I was telling my friend Janice that I am tired of placemats, and she said she would do some and possibly some table runners. I am grateful for the help!

I think the rain is over, at least for now. I have mushrooms growing in my yard. 

I don’t know what causes them to grow. I need to look it up. 

Finally Finished!

I am so happy to have my church auction quilt finished. It’s quilted and bound and everything.

I’m so glad I cut the striped binding on the bias—I really like the way it looks, and I think it tied everything together. 

I’m not sure if the quilts is 92” x 92” or 93” x 93”. I will re-measure it before I take it to the church. I actually started this quilt for the 2025 Luther Fest auction and got bogged down and didn’t finish. Betty gave me her completed Boys of the Bible top (she didn’t want it), and I quilted it and bound it and put it in the 2025 auction.

It worked out okay, and the quilt did well, but now it’s time to get the blue one donated. 

I spent the rest of the day making more binding. I had some of the blue and yellow stripe left, and I think I can use it on something, so I kept cutting. I also had quite a bit of the light gray left that I had used to bind the baby quilts so I cut up all of that too.

I will get all of this wound ont some cardboard spindles, and it will be ready to go when I have a completed quilt that needs binding. I also cut some brown for the placemats I quilted when? Maybe July or August.

I will try and get these finished this coming week. The sooner the better.

We got another inch of rain yesterday; maybe more counting last night but I haven’t checked yet. It was raining pretty hard when I went to bed. This is the first significant rain we have had since about June. I’m off to church this morning. I had some sun damage spots on my face that the dermatologist froze off Tuesday, and now I have crusty, red spots. I hate to go to church looking like this, but I am trying to talk myself into it. 

 

Scrappy Saturday

Did you see what was chosen for the October color? It was posted on Wednesday—either light neutral or dark neutral. Hmmmm. I don’t know. I liked Angela’s suggestion to think about using the neutrals for sashing. I laid out my star blocks to see if I have enough for a quilt.

Well, I obviously need another block. I think I have another purple cut out—I just need to figure out where I put it. The blocks are 16” so if I add 2” sashing, the top will be 70” x 88” plus whatever I add for the border. A 6” border would make it 82” x 100”. That’s a little large for a quilt to donate to the graduation project. Maybe I can figure out something else to do with it. 

I didn’t bother to lay out my other blocks. I know I don’t have enough of these.

They are 10” blocks and I didn’t make as many of them as I did the stars. I think I will put this on my RSC list for 2027 and see if I can get enough to do a quilt. They are fast to make. I’m also thinking about string blocks and something with solids. Lots of decisions to be made, and I’m too tired right now. It can wait.

We got a little rain….the local news said 2.9”, but my rain gauge said 1.5”. That was for Thursday and Friday. I took a picture of the apple weather app, because I think they lie a lot.

I took the picture on Thursday and the temperatures have been fairly accurate. The rain, not so much. I’m thankful we have gotten what we got. 

Baby Quilts

I have been getting a few things done, but not many are fully completed. I did get a call from my CPA saying my taxes are done, so that’s one thing! Unfortunately, I owe money again. Bummer. It does not make me happy to have to give even more money to the IRS, but there aren’t any other choices other than to pay it. 

Here are three things that are completely finished. Baby quilts for the church fall festival.

I showed these tops before, but now they are quilted and bound. I quilted them all three at the same time on a 108” width piece of white flannel. I pre-washed it first. The quilts aren’t big; 30” x 42”. I think they are pretty cute. It was a little dark when I was taking pictures so not great lighting.

These will go in the craft sale at church. I still have three more to bind, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m okay. Especially since I have these three done and ready to go. In the meantime, I have been working on the silent auction (also for the church fall festival). I am the chairman for the silent auction, and we aren’t doing a live auction this year due to not having a chairman for it. Bottom line, I am hoping to make up the revenue difference with the silent auction. I got my quilt top quilted, and today I made the binding. I hope to have pictures of a completed quilt soon! Once again, I have taken on more than I should have. Pray for me! I don’t want to be the one who messes up!