Busy, busy, busy....

 I've been retired now for over a year and a half, and I can honestly tell you I am semi retired.  I work about 2 days a week, randomly, approximately 6 - 9 days a month, so I don't exactly have a lot of time to get into the retirement groove.  I have completed some quilts.  One of them was the wedding quilt, and another was the medallion quilt, which turned out really lovely.  But I can't resist these BOMs, and these quilt alongs, so I've joined two more.

This is where you can find the list of fabric.  They use Camille Roskelley's Summertime line.  It's gorgeous.  Here's the start of the quilt, round one and now round two, 3, and 4 just came out, so you can finish the quilt.  The pattern is free, but they're asking for you to donate to Make a Wish society, which I did but in Canada.

The quilt turns out to be 54 1/2, a perfect square, and it truly looks lovely.  See their example below:

I'm slow, I'm just starting, but I love Camille Roskelley's pattern, and can't wait to try it out.  

But I have to finish my medallion quilt.  I did finish it for the rounds, but I was going to just leave it as a lap quilt, but my husband said, I want to see it on our bed, so I'm adding another row of the followers which are about 12" each.  Take another look at my quilt....

Those flowers are from another BOM that had the design.  From Riley Blake block challenge.  Their challenges go back to 2021, so take a look at this link and have yourself some fun.

I've done two of them, and I am now working on a 3rd....  I use most of my scraps when doing them, so that's fund stuff.

Another Quilt a long that I've just cut out and I am ready to start sewing is the Spools Quilt Along also from the Fat Quilter's shop.

this is the link for the fabric needed:  it needs a jelly roll and the pattern come in 3 sizes.  I'm making a large lap, so I can turn it into a barn door for my sewing room, or maybe just keep it  :) for myself.

See the image above to see the design and all the rest.  I'm excited, it's all cut up and ready for me to sew.  

I can't stand to do the same block over and over again, and both the medallion quilt flowers and this one have repetition in it so this way I can change from one to the other, and get two quilts done.  As for the Stardust one, well, I'm a sucker for any Fat Quarter Shop quilt top.  I've done enough of them.

Finally, there's my cacti quilt, which is another one that is repetitive.  I have about 5 cacti blocks cut out, so I'll see how it feels.  It's from Pen and Paper Patterns.  See the pattern below and here's a link to her blog, where she talks about it and shows you different looks.  I've already made the snake pillow, my husband loved it, so now the continuation of it.  :) 

That's it, my TO DO list.  It's long and in order

1. Spools Quilt Along  (10 blocks)
2. Flowers for Medallion - need 20 - do another 7
3. Daisy flowers for Medallion top - need 2 of them
4. StarDust - cut all the rows
5. StarDust -  get 3 rows done
6. Cacti - make 3 of them

Lets see what happens this month.  I do have one trip to Anaheim coming up for about 10 days but I'll try to get some of it done before I go.  Wish me luck....

Try try again for April

OK, I didn't get any of my March goals completed, but I did get through a Round Robin that I got side tracked with.  But isn't the idea of this to finish UFOs, and all that material that was just hanging around in my closet (goodness knows what they were doing in there) taking up space, isn't that important to finish or rather use up part of this?  OK, maybe you think different from me but that's my story for getting side tracked and I'm sticking to it.  At least the round robin was completed and I can now put the quilting on the list.

So here's my list of things to do this month, and I'm hoping for at least three of them done.

1.  Quilt my round robin.  See here about the writeup and a link to see all of the ones done.  It's a large twin.  I'm going to put a sheet on the back and have it as a very light quilt for the summer.  No batting in it.

  

2.  Making more of the flowers above to add another 18" to the quilt to make it a queen.  I'm going to make the rows, quilt them, and then add them after the fact.

3.  The bird pattern is from SewFresh, an Ontario quilter and pattern designer.  I'm looking at the larger one for my aunt for her larger living room table, where the cat will live on it  lol.  She uses the sew and flip method which I really like.  I love all her patterns.

Look at that material, the colors are so vibrant. The background will be gray, like the picture.  The rest is all scraps, and I love using all of my scraps.

4.  Another one I want to complete is the pods you see here.  I got the pattern off of Etsy.  I've made 4 of them already, and sent them out as gifts and christmas gifts.  It's quick and easy.  

5.  My final one for this month.  I already made the pillow snake quilt.  My husband and I love Arizona, and I surprised him with this pillow when we came back from Scottsdale Arizona.  

The pattern is by Pen and Paper on Etsy.  I want to now do the cacti quilt and then in the corner the snake.  It will hang from my living room wall.  Hubby is bothering me for it.  

Here's my material, all left overs but not the backing, which looks like sand.  It's the same material I used for the pillow.  It's half cut out, so I need to finish that and then sew it, and the designer uses stitch and flip as well, my favorite way to make a quilt.  It will be one less container on my sewing room floor, always a good thing, lol!!

Joining up with One Monthly Goal at Stories at the Sewing Room, with others.  Hoping this will motivate me to finish a few quilts this month.  Wish me luck.  :)

Entering the Stay At Home Round Robin Finished Linkup

 Really enjoyed the Stay at Home Round Robin that was on online.  The schedule is below and all the participants.  I found it at Kathleen's site, and the link up is at Quilting Gail's site (click on the link here to see the finals)  if you want to see all the finishes.  They're amazing.  Each time the person gives out an idea to use for the round robin.  Some were "lines broken", another a "Kite" design, and a third was the stars.  I did everything and another one to get in a filler.  I went out of my comfort zone to try new blocks, one was 16 inches so the finished size of mine is extremely large.  As I said, this was the schedule.

• January 13:   The links for the Centre blocks are on THIS POST.
• January 20: 1st Round:   Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• January 27: 2nd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 3: 3rd Round: ME!!! @ Quilting Gail 
• February 10: 4th Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• February 17: 5th Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 24: 6th Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• March 24:  Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

So even with a hurt rotary cuff  and a dislocated shoulder that luckily popped back in (this was all in February), I did manage to get a flimsy done.  All the material is from 

Here's a close up of the blocks 

Center and the sides on top is similar to a Kite.  Stars are the center of the outer ring.  They're 16 1/2 inches and are called It's called Crown and Star.  Really love this block.  The HSTs you see in the 2nd round with the flying geese.  Then there's the break up line  which I thought were my rings around each row, but then I added the flowers  which are from the Moda Blocks and finally I did the little arrows that point to the center stars.  We also had to do a log cabin, which I was going to do all around the quilt, but found it way to busy that it took away from the star, I put them on the bottom.  It's a large double bed size, which I don't have so I'm looking at more of those flower ones, another complete ring around all of it but the top layer, which will make it for sure a queen size quilt for my bed.  I'm not putting batting in between, as I want a light cover for the summer.  It gets hot in my place.  

White frabric is all scraps.  Rest of the fabric is Kaffe mixed fabric.  Using up saved fabric that was sitting on the shelf for about 2 years.

So I'll need to do another separator of that fabric with lovely flowers, then some more blooms and I'll be done.  But for now, this is my entry.  Hope you like it.

One Monthy Goal for March

 Well I have tons of different quilts that I need to finish or at least start when I've gathered everything up in a neat little package, but for two weeks I'm working full time at the start of the month.  So I'm hoping to do the following...

Here are the three I'm looking at completing:

The bird pattern is from SewFresh, an Ontario quilter and pattern designer.  I'm looking at the larger one for my aunt for her larger living room table, where the cat will live on it  lol.  She uses the sew and flip method which I really like.

Look at that material, the colors are so vibrant.  They're from another quilt I made 20 years ago, so this will get her done, and get that material finished.  The background will be gray, like the picture.  The rest is all scraps, and I love using all of my scraps.

Another one I want to complete is the pods you see here.  I got the pattern off of Etsy.  I've made 4 of them already, and sent them out as gifts and christmas gifts.  It's quick and easy.  

Here's a better shot of the pattern by Pen and Paper on Etsy.  I already made the snake as a surprise for my husband when we came back from a trip to Scottsdale Arizona.  And he loves it.  Sorry about the terrible picture.  I'm doing the cacti and then in the corner the snake again.

Here's my material, all left overs but not the backing, which looks like sand.  It's the same material I used for the pattern.  It's half cut out, so I need to finish that and then sew it, and the designer uses stitch and flip as well, my favorite way to make a quilt.

Here's the pillow that I was talking about.  And the material that's brown is my background for the quilt I am making.  I'm going to use it as a hanging quilt to match the pillow.  I'm excited about it but unsure if I have the time to do these.  The one that's definite for this month is the cacti one, that's the goal, the others are bonuses.  This is my plan.

Joining up with One Monthly Goal at Stories at the Sewing Room, with others.  Hoping this will motivate me to finish a few quilts this month.  Wish me luck.  :)

Changes - swap exchange, quilting gift, and changing my quilting room....

A lots has been happening.  I'm still subbing, and that means I'm still working as a substitute teacher for a little extra cash, but I'm also traveling.  First the traveling.    I've been to Palm Springs a week ago and it was amazing.  We had wind storms, then a rain storm, then gorgeous days while Vancouver was pouring rain and with some snow....  So I lucked out.

Second thing is the mini quilt swap from the Modern Quilt Guild online.  I did a great switch with Michelle Cuomo from Ontario.  She did such a beautiful job. 

The colors are fantastic, the stitching so well done.  Where there's a blank there is some stitching that completes the circles in different colors.  The rules were it had to be smaller than 25" and if you want you can see mine.  Mine is on the left.  I received the one on the right.

Here's a better picture of the one I made

Here is one of my February finishes as well.  A late Christmas table topper.

 

The final thing is the Round Robin club online that I joined two months ago.  I always wanted to make another medallion quilt but never really got around to it until now.  The info is below and it shows the people who are involved.  

• January 13:   Center Block Reveal.
• January 20: 1^st Round:   Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• January 27: 2^nd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts 
• February 3: 3^rd Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
• February 10: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts – Link up below!
• February 17: 5^th Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 24: 6^th Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• March 24:  Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

here's my center one, which was 25" for the start.  

You'll have to wait until the next entry to see the entire finished quilt.  I'm really laughing here because I said I would not join other quilt a longs, and since then I've joined two of them, so really I have to stop.

Finally, this is my February finish.  It's a wedding gift for a nephew in Utah for May, and I'm happy to have finished it early.  Here's some pictures

I still need to add the veil for the bride.  I'm cutting a piece from my wedding dress that's been sitting in my closet and moving for years now.  I also have to add the label for the back saying the year and who the quilt is from for the wedding.  I'm so excited for them to see it.  I loved that background material, it really is talking to me.  The front is a light purple, very very light.  It softens the quilt which is good.  I'm behind the quilt so you can imagine how big it is.  The dark blue of the comber bun and the wedding accessories really makes it all come together.

And last but not least, the cause of my shoulder injury, and the reason I have to give quilting a rest for a while because of my sore arm and shoulder.  My room.  I went over everything.  I purchased that armoire and filled it with tons of things.  I loved tons of things, packed it in the armoire, sorted things, and now it's a little more organized.  

I am way behind in the medallion quilt, but it will come soon.  I need to do three more rows, one is the cabin style, so that will take time.  I'll cut everything tomorrow so I can sew it in March, and that will be my quilt for March.  I'm working for the next two weeks straight so I'll be doing some of it at night and for the weekends.  So wish me luck, I'll need it.

December’s Finish and Holy Hanna Banana!!!

 Finally got my “Be My Neighbor “ by Moda done and I am floored, the picture doesn’t do it justice.  There are a number of places that give the pattern out for FREE!  That’s right, free.  It makes a twin size easily.

Got to tell you, this is definitely a double size quilt, and while quilting this baby (yes I quilted it myself) And this is the "Holy Hanna Banana" part!!!  I damage my shoulder.  Been doing physio for 3 weeks because I stretched my tendons and muscles moving this around on my home sewing machine.  That will teach me  lol.  But I love this one.  I used bamboo for the batting, my favorite because it takes my temperature, and I don't seem to ever get cold or hot in quilts that I use it with.  Excellent for hot flashes!

Then there was the table that needed a quick table top.  Found this on Sew Fresh, a wonderful designer from Ontario.  The blog seems to have ended but the tutorials and free sew a longs are still there.  The one below is in the tutorials.  I also did the Harry Potter Quilt A Long which was absolutely wonder!!!!!  Any fans out there?  I gave mine to a huge fan an I added a sashing of 2 1/2 inches to make it a queen size.  That girl is crazy about it!!!

I also did some painting, did some cards late, but could not mail them because of the postal strike, so I added them to gifts as another gift....  I hope the people loved them.  I made 5 more but didn't want to put them up because the people I gave them to follow this blog.

Next painting project?  Well it's going to be a big one because I joined the 100 day Challenge...  Yes, and I'm quite happy about it.  There is a section for not paying, but you can do it alone.  If you're curious about it there was a FAQ frequently asked question page that I've attached here for you here.

I am not sure about my project but I do want to learn about Pencil crayon drawing and water coloring mixing and I do have two classes that I've purchased and HAVE NOT started (I purchased them 2 years ago) so this gives me the incentive to start.

I'm not waiting until February, I've started two days ago.  I'm alternating between the two of them.  I've done a color wheel of the color pencils, and am now currently learning to mix colors with pencil crayons.  Wish me luck, every day for 10 minutes  lol....  I'll try.  Here's a couple of pictures that I want to try..

Pictures from Tofino.  Take care and have a great day.

Joining a modern swap.

 Got my info, got my partner, got my swap fairy, and ready to go.  Been looking at fabric (great to have an excuse to look at fabric in shops again), and some designs.  Starting to get plenty of ideas for a 24 by 24 wall hanging modern look.  Excited.  Looking at mute pastel colors, something I don’t typically work with, so I need to tone myself down.  I love trying new things.

As for my WIPs in process, been continuing to clean and finish some stuff.  I have more blocks done for the  neighborhood quilt, just 3 left.  I also have completed a Canadian Eagle Quilt pillow that you’ll see later when I can get pictures up, and another square for my winter quilt.  But I’m away right now in Manitoba, and working a full week when I get back.  I’ll have to wait for sewing the first of December.  Take care all.