Table Scraps Challenge -- Finished

I'm tickled to have my July table runner challenge done.  Here's the front.

If you are participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge you know that July was a second chance at blue.  I'm pretty sure one month was suppose to be lighter blues and the other was darker.  Um... both of mine are dark blue.  Check out my previous blue table "runner" here. I started out making that one as a table runner and ended up with a wall hanging for our beach house. 

My goal this month was to use some string piecing.  Needless to say I didn't make much of a dent in any of my scraps.  But I do like the finished project. 

After the top was done I wanted to find a blue for the back.  Except, blues are a problem area for me.  I don't really have a whole lot of blues I like or the ones I like I really didn't want to cut into.  Visualize riffling through a stack of fabric or a box of fat quarters.  And, now visualize my glee when I found the perfect fabric for the backing. Only one problem.  The fabric had never been washed and I worried about bleeding. And I was right. 

I have no idea how many times I rinsed the fabric -- maybe 10 or so.  But eventually the water ran clear.  I ran it through the drier and continued onto finishing the runner.  

This fabric is a batik I purchased from one of our trips to the Caribbean.  I'm pretty sure I purchased this fabric in the Bahamas probably 20 years ago.  I had about just enough to use it as the backing of this table runner. I trimmed off some of the border on the short edges so it would fit.

My quilting was done from the front but really doesn't ruin the lobsters and turtles. 

Remember the discussion above -- that I don't have a great selection of blues?  I could find nothing to use for a binding. So I trimmed the piece so that there was an even amount of fabric in the front and back.  Then I flipped the front fabric up and trimmed a half inch off the back and batting. 

Next I ironed a 1/4" seam around the top and folded it over the backing. It was totally finished after the hand stitching.  Weird, I know.  But that's what I did.  I doubt it is all that obvious.  Bonus -- I can use both sides of the runner. 

Here's a different view. (These railings lead to the basement where my studio is.)  You can enlarge these photos.  I did outline quilting around the stars.  And lines on the strings.  The center string section I used a wavy line (actually one of the stitches on my Bernina.) 

I'm happy to have a navy blue runner to use since my other one is going to be hanging on the wall at the beach house once we visit again! 

Friday is a busy time for linky parties.  I'm linking up with a lot of them. Quilt Fabrication, Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Table Scraps Linky Party, and Scrap Happy Saturday. Phew!  That's a lot of linky parties.  But I love to see what everyone is working on. Ok, not everyone but a lot of people participate so I do see a lot of projects! I hope you spend some time surfing too. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 
 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 26 - 2021

Nothing!  I've got nothing to show so today's post will be short and sweet. Only thing to share are more goal results and plans. Change of thought -- I'll show the baby blanket I've been working on.  

So last week -- 

7/19/2021

✅Make July Table runner - started

✅Knit on baby blanket

✅Cut out customer blocks & begin sewing 

Attend quilt guild’s open sew --  Didn’t happen but I did go to the meeting. 

✅make patriotic happy blocks. 

Not a bad week at all.  

7/26/2021

Finish and quilt July table runner

Bind two quilts

Continue to knit on baby blanket

Work on customer quilt

Work on blue basket again 

Here's a pic of the baby blanket I've been working on.  It is called Drop Stitch Blanket.  I'll be working on this for awhile.  I'm trying to use up some older yarn -- when the yarn is gone the blanket is finished! You can grab the pattern at Peace but Not Quiet.  This is a surprisingly easy pattern. 

I'm hoping to get all of the quilty goals done. After the blanket is done I'll need to get back to ornaments and I'm planning on making a sweater for one of the grands for Christmas.  It'll be interesting if I can get every thing done by the big day. (I know it is 6 months away but I seem to fritter time away so these 6 months will fly by!) 

I'm linking with my regular Monday parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday.  Have fun surfing the web. 

I'm off to my next task.  Hum, I wonder what it is? Making binding or? 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

RSC Blocks

Recently my local quilt guild, Virginia Star Quilters, put out a call for patriotic quilts to be donated to Leashes of Valor. Their goal is to bring service dogs to post 911 veterans.  The guild is suppling quilts to the vets and mats to the dogs.  I offered 2 finished patriotic quilts and one top. (see one finished quilt here.) Surprise! I have never shown the other finished quilt.  

Below is the top I donated.  It was originally set 5 by 6 which wasn't quite big enough.  So I added 1 row and 1 column to bring it to 6 x 8 or approximately 60" x 80".  I was happy to add the extra blocks since most of these blocks came from the FCQ Equilters group. These are Happy Blocks for Maine from MaryQuilts. I'm pretty sure mine started with a 6" center block. I didn't square mine up so the blocks ended 10" square.  Mary has other directions for 5" centers and 4 1/2" centers.  I can't tell you how many of these blocks and quilts I've made over the years.  They work particularly well with novelty fabric.  

I haven't shown my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks since the first month.  So here are 6 colors. I'm glad I pulled these all out as I realize I don't have enough blocks of each color.  I'll be making more of most colors over the next few weeks.  Blues came up twice -- light and dark although I didn't do all that many of either.  I'm looking forward to next month's color. These are 6 1/2" blocks so I definitely need to increase the number! 

I'm hoping to get two small quilts finished next week.  I loaded the quilts one after another on one long piece of backing.  I need to use the leftover backing for a sample so I won't take them off until I get the sample done, hopefully soon.

I'm calling it done for tonight.  Here are the parties I'm linking up with: Mid Week Makers, Needle and Tread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, and Scrap Happy Saturday. when it is available. Have fun checking out lots of great blogs. 

I'm ready to call it a night.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings

Whee! What a weekend.  Or at least one day of the weekend. It proved I'm not a 30 OR 40 year old something  any more.  Our granddaughter's birthday was yesterday so the big celebration was at a waterpark.  It's actually a pretty amazing smaller water park about an hour and a quarter from our house. Slides, fountains, and a lazy river in which to enjoy a day of fun, sun and water.  My big thing was the lazy river which wasn't as lazy as it might have been.  Natalie the bd girl had a lot of fun doing all sorts of things.  Ellie and Sophie were doing the things they liked best.  Darling (or need I say daring) Theo was a real risk taker -- better described as going off in the lazy river by himself without telling us -- a couple of times.  EEK.  He's almost 5.  Wait til he's 16! Double EEK! 

I actually got a lot of quilting/sewing progress this week, just not yesterday.  (Did I mention the part it was about 1 hour 10 minutes away?  And it took us 2 1/2 hours to get home? Yea, the not fun part.) Anyway,  let's look at the goals list from last week: 

7/12/2021

✅Sew Positivity blocks together

✅Make a few Ombre log cabin blocks 

✅Quilt another quilt

Cut out customer’s quilt (nothing done...) 

✅Knit on baby blanket 

Here's the top I quilted still on Ruthie, the long arm.  I actually loaded 2+ yards of fabric and quilted two small quilts. (This is the second strippy-style quilt I made from one yard of fabric.) 

Here's what I hope to accomplish this week:

7/19/2021

Make July Table runner

Knit on baby blanket

Cut out customer blocks & begin sewing 

Attend quilt guild’s open sew — make patriotic happy blocks. 

I sure hope I can get all that done this week. 

One last comment on the travel time from the water park.  Within 3 miles of our house this happened...

What????  Crazy geese. Are Canadian geese still on the endangered species list?  Because every place I've lived in the last 20 years or so there have been an overabundance of them.

I'm linking to my regular linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday. Have fun checking out a bunch of blogs! 

 
Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Christmas in July Blog Hop Day 4!

Welcome to Day 4 of Christmas in July Blog Hop sponsored by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  That link will take you to Sarah's first day of Christmas in July.  Have you seen the great quilt she has designed for this year's blog hop?  If not check it out -- it just might be something you have to make this year. 

I'm all about Christmas ornaments and cookies for the blog hop.  I've been making ornaments for my grandchildren for 10 years or so.  I make 4 ornaments a year for the 3 girls and one boy.  Sometimes they all get the same ornament and sometimes I vary the colors and or designs.  Here's a review of some of the ornaments I've made.  (Sad to say I couldn't find pictures of all the ornaments. Say what????) All the pictures should enlarge if you click on them.  

2013

2014 

2015 

2018

2019

2020

That's a good variety. I gave up the counted cross stitch ornaments as I would make so many mistakes reading the graphs.  Then I decided machine embroidery would be a bit faster and I could add my initials and the year on the back. I often pick designs from Embroidery Library which is where the stars are from. The Safety First Gingerbread ornament is by Urban Threads and is stitched in the hoop.  The one shown above is my sample attempt. 

This year I'm trying some hand embroidered designs. I bought a cute stocking pattern second hand. I've been unable to find information on the company on the Internet. If you've got a link to them please let me know and I'll add the info. (The date on the pattern is 2006 so it may not be in business still.) Thanks to Linda I can add one place to buy a kit with this pattern: "I found that River Town kit on eBay! It is item #402872383080 and is 6.99 plus 8.50 shipping for the complete kit, if anyone is interested."  I bought only the pattern as the seller had made the stockings.   

Pattern from RiverTown Warehouse LLC

The pattern has the stockings made out of white batting. I started right in but was faced with how to transfer the design from the paper to the batting. Hum, I "thought" I had some pattern tracing paper.  Maybe that would work... Please note the prices: 25¢ and 60¢. 

These are from my grandmother and my mom.  I'm sure I've used the 60¢ version when I made clothes for myself and my kids. But would it still work? 

It's hard to tell, but yes it did work. But I wasn't sure how well it would stay on or would I be able to remove stray marks after I finished. 

It's hard to see but the designs did transfer.

This design has a lot of stitching in it and I wasn't thrilled with the batting. I put it aside and went looking for some wool felt I thought I had.  Fast forward to a different design that didn't lend itself to using the tracing paper and the wheel.  How could I transfer the next image. Hum, perhaps some thin interfacing and a water soluble pen. 

I traced the design on the interfacing with a Micron Pigma pen -- permanent ink.  Then I placed it over the felt and used the water soluble pen to trace the design.  It worked.  Please note -- I did test to make sure the light blue ink would come out of the felt and I tested the floss I was going to use to make sure it wouldn't bleed as this design will have to be spritzed or possibly submerged in water. 

The tree is almost finished.  But part of what makes the little stocking so cute is the blanket stitch used at the top of the stocking and stitching it together.  I'm tickled I have gotten this embroidery almost done.  But it will take me a while to get the blanket stitching done and the stocking together.  I will continue to work on this between my quilting projects.   

I did promise you cookies, didn't I? Forgive me for not actually making hot tea and pouring it out.  It's too hot here these days but these cookies go well with a cuppa. 

Yep, here's my favorite drop sugar cookie recipe.  Go to Google Docs to pick up a copy of the whole recipe.

Are you so busy making ornaments that you really don't have time to bake?  Might I suggest:

Ok, in all honesty -- the cookies shown above were thea mix. Sigh. Remember what I said about time?  My recipe is better than the mix but it takes a bit longer to make.  

Are you ready to visit all the blogs that have already been posted for 12 Days of Christmas in July?  Here's the whole list.  The links go to the blog rather than a specific post. I've enjoyed reading the previous posts and am looking forward to the rest of the posts. 

Wednesday, July 14th

Joy of Days Filled With Joy

Thursday, July 15th

Moira of The Quilted Snail

Friday, July 16th

Jamie of L'Fair Quilts

Saturday, July 17th

Bonnie of In Stitches With Bonnie (you are here!)

Sunday, July 18th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Monday, July 19th

Kate of Katie Mae Quilts

Shasta of High Road Quilter

Tuesday, July 20th

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Wednesday, July 21st

Leanne of The Devoted Quilter

Thursday, July 22nd

Kathy of Kathy's Kwilts and More

Sandra of Musings of a Menopausal Melon

Friday, July 23rd

Carole of From My Carolina Home

Saturday, July 24th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt (Part 2)

Sunday, July 25th

Karrin of Karrin's Crazy World

Hope you find a lot of fun ideas as you browse through all of the Christmas in July links.  It's going to be a great 12 days of ideas and fun. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Positivity Top Done!

I have to admit I was surprised that our Positivity blocks were suppose to be a top really soon.  I thought it was Saturday -- silly me it isn't until Sunday.  But I was working like a pro and finished the last blocks over the last few days and actually got the top together today. 

Although I repeated background fabrics every single green is different.  Yes 48 different greens and I could have done quite a few more.  I hit up the greens from my fat quarters, 2.5" strips, some from my scrap baskets and may be one or two from my yardage stash.  Sadly, I really didn't make a big dent in the greens.  Sigh. However the background fabrics wiped out quite a few left over fabrics.  I had no problem with the beiges and whites.  But I really didn't have a lot of variety in the grey.  So, yep I repeated a lot of the grey.  

If you like this block (and it is very easy to do) click on the Positivity link on the right side bar. Then look for the block instructions.  Preeti has done a wonderful job of providing all sorts of different layouts and blocks.  I was happy to work in my greens and hope they are restful to the new owner. 

I'm now in the midst of trying to find a backing fabric.  So far I haven't found a wide back that really strikes my fancy.  I may start looking at 45" fabric.  I've found a couple but need to make up my mind. 

That's it for today. (Yes, I am much earlier than my usual Friday afternoon or evening posting...)  I'm linking up to Midweek Makers,  Needle and Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, and Beauty Pageants. I'll finish linking up Friday Saturday morning.   

I'll be back tomorrow to link up the rest of the blogs.  Come back Saturday for my blog for Sarah's 12 Days of Christmas in July.  I'm sharing a yummy cookie recipe and a look at some ornaments I've made over the past Christmases.  Check the beginning post and daily posts since by going to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. You will also see the people (like me) participating in the Blog Hop.  Hope to see you here on Saturday too! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 12 - 2021

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.  No, I'm not the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland but I am definitely later than usual for my normal Monday blog post.  My excuse?  Um, er, I was reading and didn't want to stop. I haven't got much to show you either.  

First up is the set of string blocks I mailed out to my friend in FCQ Equilters.  It was so much fun to make these blocks.  I guess I got a little carried away... 20 went out in the mail.  I'm thinking I'd like to make more but I've got so much to do before I can even consider something new. 

Next is reviewing my goals for last week and listing what I want to work on this week. 

7/5/2021

Load ✅ and quilt one quilt (maybe two!) 

Knit on baby blanket ✅

Continue cutting and making Positivity blocks✅

Finish new small quilt, find backing fabric -- didn't do much on this one.

Make a few Ombré log cabin blocks✅  

I didn't get the top quilted because of technical difficulties -- the computer wasn't talking to the long arm.  This afternoon I tried once more before I planned to call the manufacturer for help.  Well, you guessed it -- it quilted the whole quilt with no problems.  So as of now one quilt is done. Refer to issue about about reading for why I didn't get every thing listed done. 

Here's this week's plan.

7/12/2021

Sew Positivity blocks together (and make the last 9 blocks)

Make a few Ombre log cabin blocks 

Quilt another quilt

Cut out customer’s quilt

Knit on baby blanket 

Not as productive as some weeks.  I did get my stash busting statistics done for June. Not as good as I had hoped but not that bad either. 

2021	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
June	15.875	56.125	18.250	79.250	23.125

I brought in 3/8th of a yard more than I used.  Not bad at all! 

I mentioned I was reading a lot recently.  In the last five days I've finished 5 books.  The one I read today is called The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake. This book grabbed my interest from the start to the finish.  It is not for everyone. "An exquisitely detailed journey through the harrowing field of medicine in mid-19th century London." by Tracey Enerson Wood, USA Today bestselling author. I do not know if Nann who blogs at With Strings Attached recommended it or if I noticed it on the new books page. The story line is mixed in with details  of information about medicine in the 1840s so if you are squeamish it might not be a good choice.  But if historical details fascinate you this is good historical fiction.  The medical information is accurate to the time period.  

Time for me to get on to the next book I've started.  (Honestly, I hope it isn't as good so I will actually quit reading and do some sewing!) 

Please take a look at my normal linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday. Enjoy the surf! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 5 - 2021

Good Morning All! 

Not much to share today.  Here's the completed goal list.  Everything got marked off.  But most of it is repeats of ongoing activities. Always happy to move along projects though. 

6/28/2021

✅ Finish sewing binding on remade log cabin

✅ Continue cutting and making Positivity blocks

✅ Make a few Ombré log cabin blocks

✅ Cut out and begin sewing a new small quilt

And here's what I'll be working on this week.

7/5/2021

Load and quilt one quilt (maybe two!) 

Knitting on baby blanket 

Continue cutting and making Positivity blocks

Finish new small quilt, find backing fabric 

Make a few Ombré log cabin blocks 

Did you notice knitting on the baby blanket?  Nobody I know is having a baby so it isn't a gift.  I have a lot of yarn that I'd like to move out of the house and this is one way I can do it.  I will be donating the finished blanket to a group that passes them on to people who need them.  It's a win-win to me.  I use up some yarn and someone gets a pretty baby blanket.  This one is turquoise.  I had made myself a sweater in the 80's when we lived in Pennsylvania.  Out next location was Georgia.  Nope, didn't need a sweater there very often.  So I unraveled the sweater and have kept the balls of yarn for years.  I figure a baby blanket would be great to make out of it.  So I've been slowly knitting on it.  

One thing I did do this week was relist all the tops I have that are ready to be quilted.  Then I also figured out how much backing fabric I would need.  Here's my worksheet. You can enlarge it if you want to read the nitty gritty.  I will update my spread sheet with this info.  And print it out to have it handy at the desk I use with my long arm.  

Then I checked which tops would work with patriotic fabric.  JoAnns had patriotic fabric on sale for 50% off over the weekend.  I took a list of 5 or so tops but decided not to buy that many backings.  I feel that many of JoAnns fabrics have improved over the years but they still have some "stiff" fabric. You know, the ones that don't drape or flow?  I've bought some over the years thinking they would soften up in the wash -- nope didn't really do that after a few washings.  I made sure I bought fabric that would be cozy and drape nicely.  Here's what I got: 

Do you see the little yellow tape measure on the bottom of the dark blue one? Enlarge the photo to get a better view. That selvedge is 1.5" wide.  GRRR! In the past the selvedges have been an inch wide and I had to buy more to be able to fit the top on the backing. I sure hope this  isn't the new trend. I've bought this fabric before but I don't remember the wide selvedge. Rant, rant! 

Here's my linky party list. Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday.  (hanging my head -- I've not done a great job going back to link all of my list.  Today being Monday I'll get the first 3 done and hope I remember Tuesday's blog! Finally did it Friday night!) 

Have fun surfing the web.  You can get a ton of ideas for your next project! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Rebuilt Log Cabin -- Finished!

Yes!  What a great feeling to finish this Rebuilt Log Cabin.  It's been a long time in the making. From what I can tell, I started it in December of 2011.  Yep, it is an old UFO.  You can see it progress in posts from 12/5/2011, 12/14/2011, 2/23/2015, 1/4/2019, 1/31/2019,  9/6/2020, 9/9/2020, 9/22/2020, 9/29/2020, and 9/30/2020.  OH Good Grief!  I think I went a little crazy. Many thanks goes to Elaine Adair who blogs at Elaine Adair Pieces, for posting a tutorial on the Rebuilt Log Cabin.  Now on to the finished quilt!  And another thanks goes to Nancy who blogs at Wyoming Breezes who noticed and told me about 1 block that was turned wrong.  Jack and I ripped it out and replaced it correctly! 

It was a beautiful sunny day when Pat helped me take pictures of this quilt.  Rain was coming but not until the next day. 

Well, rats this doesn't show the back all that well.  Except I did piece the back together using a 3 yard piece and then splitting a Kona black 3 yard piece in half  to put on both sides. 

The photo op was finished and Pat was tired of holding it up!  I can't say I blame him -- it's a twin size quilt.  I was worried because he had to stand on a little ladder to make sure the quilt was totally visible. Thank goodness he didn't fall off.  Nice to see the butterfly bush and some day lilies in the picture.

Next up, (a couple of days later,) I took some pictures of the quilt on the twin bed it is going to be living on. My doll Kirsten just had to be in the picture. 

And how about a close up of the backing. You can really see the quilting well in the black part of the picture. And, if you ever wonder about "hiding" your quilting -- use a really busy backing fabric. 

Details: 

Quilt Pattern is Rebuild Log Cabin by Elaine Adair

Quilting Pattern is Fern Gully by Hermoine Agee 

Thread White So Fine (sorry, don't remember the specific number.) 

And a few odd ball things.  I purchased the "ladies" print from my friend Nancy.  She was having a sale to rehome fabrics, notions, patterns before her impending move. Pat and I drove up to Maryland to see what she had.  I thought the fabric was cute but it didn't dawn on me to use it for this log cabin until several weeks after we got it home. Many years ago I bought a nice black and white stripe I had planned to use for the binding.  Nope, didn't do it.  The red binding worked much better.  

Some time in the next week I'll finish doing my stashbusting statistics for June.  This quilt busted some serious stash! 

Here's my Friday linky parties.  Midweek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursdays, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Fridays, and Beauties Pageant. Enjoy surfing -- quilters are creating all over the Internet.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie