Monday Already?

 

I’m afraid I have totally lost track of what day it is. I need to get myself back on a semi-normal routine ASAP. Between being sick and the holidays, I’ve been living in some kind of alternative universe. 

I went to church yesterday, and since it was the fifth Sunday of the month, we had a potluck. I made two pans of meatloaf and some cookies.

No pictures of the meatloaf. It all got eaten. 

I spent the afternoon cutting up a bag of scraps I needed to deal with, and I found some random four patches in my 2-1/2” box. 

There are probably 30-40 of them; most likely left overs from some other project. I think I will make some more and see what I can come up with to get them used up. 

I also cut some more 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” pieces and sat down and worked on some potato chip blocks. 

There were several good fabric sales after Christmas, but I chose not to go to any of the quilt shops. I need to use up some of what I have before I add more. Although, I could probably use some neutrals to add to all these scraps. 

I’m honestly content to sew scraps for the foreseeable future. I was thinking about the 2025 UFO challenge, and I think I will fill out a sheet listing some tops that need to be quilts and bound, and then make a separate sheet for some things I have been planning to do for a long time that never seem to happen. For instance, I saved some large feed bags that I wanted to make totes with, and I never have time to do it. I will need to give this list some thought, as I have probably forgotten a lot of things that inspired me at one point. I need to go through my photos and see what inspiration pictures I have saved.

2024 Block of the Month

Happy day. I totally took the day off yesterday to sew. I didn’t go downtown and pay my property taxes, I didn’t go to the grocery store, I didn’t go to my shop to work on customer quilts. I did go to exercise class at 7am—after the holidays, I need it! I worked a little on year-end paperwork, and then I started sewing. 

I wanted to get my December block of the month done while it was still December. 

It’s from “A Quilting Life” blog. The finishing instructions were included with the December instructions. You can see Sherri’s finished quilt on her blog here.

As of yesterday, all of my monthly blocks are done.

I’ve had issues in the past with blocks of the month. Namely, getting them finished. I can keep up each month, but then December comes and you have everything to put together at the busiest time of the year. I’m not sure how many UFO’s I have in the house that are BOM’s or Saturday Samplers. 

Anyway, I took a break from the Houston shop hop quilt and started putting my BOM together. Dave and Alan gave me a fat quarter bundle last year for Christmas (Franny’s Flowers from Maywood Studio) that I used for the blocks, and early in the year, I ordered a couple of yards of coordinating fabric for borders/sashing. 

I was planning to use the coral color for the sashing, but it didn’t quite work, so I’ll save it for the binding. I have two yards of the multi color print, so it will be the sashing and the outer border. I’m happy to say I got all the blocks put together. 

I turned the sewing machine off last night at 9pm. I’ll take the top to my shop today so I can measure it and get the inner and outer borders cut. I’ll be happy to have it finished by the end of the year.

Houston Shop Hop Blocks

Well, Christmas is a wrap for another year. I spent yesterday putting all the decorations away and cleaning up the house. It was trash day, so I did a good clean out of the refrigerator too. I think I’m ready to move into the new year. Out with the old and in with the new.

I was looking for something fun to work on during the holiday break, and I dug out the blocks I bought at the Houston International Quilt Festival this year. There are a total of twelve blocks, and each month also had extra fabric for sashing, binding, etc. so you can do the whole quilt with the twelve kits. I took a picture of the shop sample. 

I have been taking my time with the blocks, but they are going pretty fast. 

These are twelve inch blocks, but once the roofs and foundations are added, they will be 20” tall. I’m kind of anxious to get this one done. The fabrics are so pretty, even to someone like me, who doesn’t love blue. I can’t remember the final size; it seems like it was 72” x 84”…….maybe. 

Today I need to go downtown and pay property taxes and renew my car registration. I have a cruise in two weeks, and I will also need to make boarding reservations for the dogs. 

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas friends! I hope your holidays are everything you could hope for, and I pray we will all be blessed with happiness and good health in the new year. 

I have been sick for a couple of weeks, but I’m finally getting back to normal. Thank goodness I had my shopping done early; unfortunately, my usual baking didn’t get done. I just haven’t felt well enough to do much of anything. 

I’ve done a little hand sewing. I finished Gloria’s hearts.

And, I finished the binding on my quilted jacket. 

Now, if it would just cool off enough for me to wear it. 

I was feeling well enough to go to church last night for candlelight services. It’s always my favorite service of the year.

Today will be dinner with family and opening gifts. I have plans to do a little sewing this morning. Maybe I can reacquainted with my sewing machine. 

Under the Weather

I have managed to catch a head cold…..something has been going around, but I don’t get sick very often, so this one still caught me by surprise. I was running around on Thursday getting some errands done, and by the end of the day, I was dragging. I was also coughing and congested, so I just hope I didn’t spread this to anyone else. 

I dropped off thirteen quilts with pillowcases and mesh bags at Mid-Coast Family Services. 

The back of my car was full. 

Penny had brought me one on Wednesday that she had just finished.

She used the Oklahoma pattern from Villa Rosa that we both like so much. It uses 10 fat quarters and finishes at 44” x 55”, but if you add a 2” inner border and 5” outer border, it ends up 58” x 69”. The small size works for a small child, but we like the bigger size for an older kid. I think we have both made this pattern for Day One Bag donations. Here’s one I donated to Day One Bags last year.

I didn’t use an inner border, but I did a wider border to get it to the required size. They want them to be 50” x 70”. Day One Bags is an organization that gives a piece of luggage (duffel bag and/or backpack) and a quilt to graduating seniors who have been in foster care. Apparently, once they graduate from high school, they age out of the foster care system, and are on their own. My quilt guild pledges so many quilts per year to this group. Our commitment for 2025 is 25 quilts, and I think we already have twenty of them made.

If I feel better today, I am going to try and do some sewing and a load or two of laundry. 

Women of the Bible Progress

I had some free time Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and decided to take advantage of it. I’m getting anxious to see some real progress on the Women of the Bible quilts. It’s been slow going on sewing all the blocks. I got a few done though. The Syro Phoenician woman

and Rebekah.

I try to keep extra pieces cut for the filler blocks so I can make at least a few during each sewing session, so those are coming along as well.

I got out the section A pieces I have assembled so I could make sure the colors in section B won’t be adjacent to the A blocks. 

The more I looked at it, the more I didn’t like where the four patches and pinwheels join.

I followed the pattern directions, but it looks awkward to me. Oh, I tried to tell myself “it’s okay. You’re being too picky.” I finally gave in and took it apart and realigned the four patches. 

Am I crazy? Maybe, but I like it so much better. I only did one section, so I still need to fix the other one. I will most likely put it off until I have a few hours free to work on it. 

The next step is to make about five more blocks for section B, plus more filler blocks. Then, I can start assembling it section B.

As you can see, I still have a lot more to do. I knew going in it would be a big commitment. So far, though, I have been motivated to keep going. I think the way they broke it up into sections helps make it a little easier to stay on track. For me at least. I’ve already invested a good deal of time and fabric into this, and I don’t want it to become a UFO. I was looking at old posts, and I started this in early October, and I’m happy with my progress. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 12-10-24

Things are still crazy here. Is that a valid excuse? It will have to be as it's the only one I have. We finally have some cooler weather, and although I am not a big fan of cold temperatures, it does make things seem more Christmas-y. I wish I could get more into the Christmas spirit.....I still haven't decided about putting up a tree, and I feel like it is too late for putting up outside lights. I saw a sign in the neighborhood advertising a company that will put up your lights and take them down after the holidays are over. I will keep that in mind for next year. 

In the meantime, my to-do list has fallen by the wayside. A little got done, but not much. 

1) Bind three quilts. Yes

Technically, one is a table runner, but it's a big one (86" long) so it counts!!

2) Work on Women of the Bible blocks. Yes, I got the two Mary blocks finished. 

3) A Quilting Life BOM. No. I pulled fabric, but nothing is sewn.

4) Gloria’s hearts. No. This one is hold until I see Gloria on Thursday.

5) Wrap some gifts. No.

6) Sew some fleece caps. No.

So what's on the agenda for this week? I have two doctor appointment, two Christmas parties, and an appointment to get my eyebrows done so not a lot of spare time. 

1) Women of the Bible - sew some more blocks, and do more filler blocks.

2) A Quilting Life BOM.

3) Gloria's hearts (if she still wants some).

4) Wrap some gifts.

5) Sew some fleece caps.

Hmmm, that looks a lot like last week's list. I could probably just have copied and pasted. I probably need to start thinking about starting something new lest I get bored with what I am doing. That is something to think about for the new year.

Have a good week everyone, and be sure and visit Quilt Schmilt to see what everyone else is working on!

Moving Along

I couldn’t think of a good title for this post, but things are really moving along right now. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always so busy. We had our WELCA Christmas party Tuesday after we decorated the church. We got the big tree up in the sanctuary. 

And a small one in the hall by the Sunday school rooms. 

There is a nativity outside Luther Hall, and I just noticed baby Jesus is missing.

That’s not good.

We also set up a donation station for the Humility Project. 

I got seven fleece hats cut out, but they aren’t sewn together yet. It’s been pretty cool here, so I need to get them done soon so I can add them to our donations.

Most of my cake was eaten at the party. Thank goodness. 

It was a little crumbly, and I’m not sure why. I’m usually a pretty good cook. I might need to work on this recipe a little.

The quilt guild Christmas party was Thursday. The guild payed for the catered meal, but we asked each participant to provide a donation for Gabriel Project, 

or for the pet shelter. I delivered the gifts after our party. 

Roger’s school had their Christmas program Friday night. He sang and played the xylophone. 

It was all fun, and now I’m exhausted. I was able to get a little sewing done and a little house cleaning (not enough). I will hopefully get some sewing pictures posted tomorrow. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 12-3-24

Good morning everyone. Can you believe it’s December? I hope it doesn’t fly by like November did. I need time to get things done! Last week’s progress was mediocre. Probably because I didn’t look at my list all week and just sort of winged it. 

1) Women of the bible quilt progress. Yes. I got the Elizabeth blocks done. 

The contrast on these is not great, but they are done, and I won’t re-do them. It’s two colors of green and dark purple. The hardest part for me is picking the colors for the blocks. I am working on Mary now, and blue was an easy choice for those, but I am trying to make sure I have different colors in adjacent blocks. 

2) Put some borders on this 

     Yes. 

This one is finished and can be put on the to-be-quilted shelf.

3) Start wrapping gifts. No.

4) Finish sewing those hearts for Gloria. No. 

5) Start on some mug rugs. Yes. I got three done. 

I hope I can focus more this week, and get some things finished.

1) Bind three quilts.

2) Work on Women of the Bible blocks.

3) A Quilting Life BOM.

4) Gloria’s hearts.

5) Wrap some gifts.

6) Sew some fleece caps.

I was hoping for some unscheduled days to work on all this, but I have some commitments this week including doctors appointments. Today is our WELCA Christmas party and also decorating the church. I made a cake last night for the party, and it cracked when I removed it from the pan. I should have let it cool longer, but I was in a hurry. I covered the crack with a glaze and some pecans.

Well, it’s mostly covered. We’ll see what happens when I cut it! I am linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. 

Mug Rugs and More

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it’s time to put away the fall decorations and get out the Christmas ones. I need to do quite a bit of cleaning and dusting before I get anything out. Every time I get started, I think of something else I want to work on. 

I got out the kits I bought on the mug run shop hop and read all the instructions. I ended up staying up late a couple of nights and working on them. This is the one from Seams Like Home in Yorktown:

I like the backing fabric that was in the kit.

There was no binding fabric, so I sewed it together with right sides facing, then turned it right side out and top stitched it. I also stitched around the bulb to anchor it a little. 

I got three kits from Quilter’s Patch in Victoria. The first one didn’t have enough background fabric so I put it aside, and used the instructions to make one with my own fabrics.

I didn’t follow the instructions exactly, and mine was a little big; I think it’s around 6” by 12”. I also got two gingerbread house patterns. One with a tea towel and one to make a potholder. I got the tea towel finished last night, but I was too tired to do the potholder. Maybe tonight.

So that’s three done, and three more to go. My goal is to get all done before Christmas, and that shouldn’t be a problem if I can keep the momentum going. 

I also dug out a quilt kit I had ordered online and got that made. It’s a Villa Rosa pattern called Puppy Love that uses a panel and a charm pack.

I took the picture at night on the floor of my den, and the color really didn’t photograph well. The border colors are more intense in person. 

I ate a Thanksgiving lunch with the kids on Friday. My mom and stepdad were there too. I felt bad for the kids as it was their third thanksgiving meal of the week. My grandson informed us he really doesn’t like thanksgiving food. I can imagine he’s tired of it by now. I left most of the leftovers at my daughter’s house and just brought home enough for a few meals for me, so I’m sure they will all be tired of it soon.