Acquisitions and Visitors

Last week I drove out to Kelly Ann's Quilting shop in Warrenton, Va. with a quilting buddy.  We had been the week before for a Accuquilt Go presentation. I had purchased a die that had to be ordered, hence the second trip to Kelly Ann's.  I've now got a 6.5" square die to add to my collection.  (Did I mention I also bought the kite die recently?)  And, we picked up the row by row instructions. Kelly Ann's is a cute shop with lots of fun fabric, some wools, patterns and a lot of Accuquilt dies.  (If you've never been to an Accuquilt presentation -- go.  You'll learn tips and techniques to get more out of your dies.) 

As we were walking back to the car after lunch I noticed this great mural on the side of a building. I haven't been able to find out much about it except it does represent Civil War times and the building is called the Mural Building. I like how the artist extended the picture with the trees and the look out. 

Do you know about Massdrop? It's an e commerce site where customers help decide what to buy and employees arrange the deals.  I don't buy a lot from them but when I do I generally choose items I need (or want) that provide a decent discount. I'm a member of the quilting community (which has recently added knitting items.)  My most recent purchase were these Presencia threads. 

The price seemed good to me especially considering the suggested retail price on Presencia's website.  I'm happy to see my thread bin has been replenished. Over the next few months I'll probably augment this with some brighter colors.  It's always nice to have a collection of colored threads when you need just the perfect color. 

Yesterday we had some visitors.  We'd planned to go to the pool but almost immediately upon arriving it started pouring rain.  (We needed it so we're happy to have the rain.) 

Theo, 9 months, after his nap.

Ellie, 3 1/2 years, after her nap.

I was pleasantly surprised how well both slept here.  The adults were able to enjoy some quiet time together on the deck. 

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday. Make sure you take a little time to enjoy the various blogs and inspiration. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanders 7 - 3 - 2017

With July comes the new block information for the FCQ E Quilters.   

Pat sent us a fat quarter of bright, print fabric and asked us to make a 12" finished block with it.  I knew right away I wanted to make a Dutchman's puzzle with it.  But I also figured we should be able to get more than 1 block out of it.  So, I made a star block too.  I still have a 5" or so by 18" strip of fabric left so I am thinking about what other block I can make.  Here are the two blocks I've made so far.

The first one just didn't turn out the way I thought it would.  But I'm leaving it as is.  The second one is exactly how I thought it would turn out.

For those who only read on Mondays -- I found my lost project in an already used project box.  Sigh.  Now it has a label including the info on the floral wall hanging! 

It's time to pick a new project for One Monthly Goal.  So, continuing on my effort to finish a UFO I've picked Grid Lock. I hope to have it to top stage by the end of July. It's a scrappy project I started a couple of years ago to try to use up some of my 2" strips.  Here it is on the design wall. (And, no, it hardly made a dent in my strips!) 

It's hard to see but I have all the white squares in between the rail fence blocks.  (Yes, I've got one section at the sewing machine.) I'll be using this as a leader/ender for a while.  

I'll also be working on the new color at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge: blue.  I should have plenty of blues to work with.  I've been using my 2.5" strips to pull scraps for the challenge each month. No, this is not part of my OMG.  Just a reminder to myself to keep working on it. 

I did really well on my goals list last week.  (Surprisingly since I spent a bunch of time reading.) 

June 26, 2017

Bind pinwheel quilt (#3) √

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt√

Make some fabric boxes√

Layout UFO Grid Lock and start sewing into a top√

Make backing for pinwheel quilt #4 and quilt it√

July 3, 2017

Stitch Grid Lock quilt together

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt

Load and quilt A Tisket, A Tasket quilt

Make a couple of giant flying geese blocks

Start on floral wallhanging 

I'm linking up with my regular parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward.  And, because it is the beginning of a month I'm also linking up to Elm Creek Quilts July Goal Setting party. 

Here's a peak at the newest bird to our bird feeder. (Sorry about the fuzziness.  I use the iPhone for my pictures and this was taken through a window in the basement looking up at the feeder. I'm sure if I tried to go outside to take the picture the birds would have left immediately.) I think they are yellow finches.  

Have a great 4th of July and Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Stashbusting June - 2017

Woohee!  Can I say I am jazzed?  Yes ma'am.  I have had a really good month using fabric this month. 

2017	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
June	3.00	52.875	14.5	59.750	6.875

One of the reasons I've done so well this month is because I only bought fabric that I actually needed to finish a project.  That three yards was used as a backing right after I got it home.  Pretty much the whole piece was used up by the time I bound two of the pinwheel quilts. 

Truth to be told -- I have already bought way too much fabric for July and it is only the 1st day.  On the other hand I have plans for all three hunks of fabric.  But I'm not sure I'll use them during July or not.  Check back at the beginning of August to see if I can use some of this fabric this month.  

LOOK what I found! Yep, this is the lost floral wall hanging.  It was in a project box that said A Ticket, A Tasket.  Um, I guess I did put it there cause there wasn't much in there except some binding fabric. The quilt is ready for quilting (with fabric I bought today.) Hopefully it will be done by the end of the month. 

That's it for me today.  I'm linking up with Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap (when available) and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

June OMG - Completed

I'm done with everything for my June One Monthly Goal You can see the first two finishes here. 

This is pinwheel #3. You can see the pieced backing here. I bound it in the same  polka dots as the backing and binding on #4. 

And, #4.  I had run out of any possible fabric to use on the back of this one.  It's 44 x 56" or so.  With a 60% off coupon from JoAnn Fabrics in my hand, I went to see what I could find.  I haven't been shopping all that much at JoAnns recently because I'm trying to use up fabric rather than purchase new fabric.(Well, that and that giant addition of fabric I made in May!)   Let me tell you I was shocked to see the prices on the "calico" wall.  You know what I mean -- the wall that has 3 or so long shelves with less impressive fabric?  Not so many old fashioned calicos were there.  More up-to-date looking fabric but it was all priced at either $7.99 a yard or $9.99 a yard.  YIKES.  In the end my 3 yards of fabrics cost me just under $13.  I liked the cute polka dot on the mottled blue and it = looked good with the top.  

I used a new quilting design that I love!  It is called Malachite.  I had seen it on someone else's blog so went to look at it on Urban Elements' page.  I bought it although it is bigger than I normally use.  I was very happy with how this turned out.  In fact, up close you can't really see the rows. 

I really wanted to get all four of these finished this month but the last week or so I've been goofing off more than sewing.  Today I made an all out effort to bind both quilts.  And, yep, I used up nearly all of the cute polka dots getting these two finished.  It was late in the day so the bottom photo isn't as bright as it should be.

All four pinwheel quilts hanging on the long arm. One thing I need to let you know.  Most of these blocks were already done.  I think I made 2 for the child quilt.  The saddest part is I haven't used all up all of the blocks.  I'll wait a while and do another couple to try to clear these out of my UFO list. 

Today I'll be sharing with Elm Street Quilt and Needle and Thread Thursday. 

Here's some of the day lilies that have begun blooming in the yard.  When we had the landscaping done last winter I really wanted to have different colors of lilies instead of the standard orange.  We've got a lovely mix of colors.  It will be wonderful to see them in a couple of years when they fill out more. 

This red one would probably make a great natural dye. My fingers came away red when I plucked off a dying flower.  And it didn't wash out.

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 6 - 26 - 2017

I decided to try a different outdoor location for my photo shoot this afternoon. Hum, I'm not sure this works as well as I thought it would.  The quilt, on top of a sheet, is sitting on the grass in the backyard.  I took the photo standing on the deck above it.  Yep, keystoning going on here, but overall a brighter picture than the ones I take in the studio. 

And here's the back of the quilt: I happened to have a length of blue with white stars that I added a big of light grey to.  I found an old piece of gold Marbles that wasn't particularly wide but was quite long.  I'm thinking it might have been used for a border at some time.  I was happy to be able to use it for the binding. 

And quilt #2 -- navy blue and beige pinwheels. 

And, the back this one which was one length of fabric. A friend gave me the fabric a while ago when she found out I make QOV quilts.  This one will go to a nursing home since it is so small -- about 36" square.  I was tickled to find some red and black check for the binding. 

For those who read of my dilemma last week, I still haven't found the flower wall hanging -- neither the back or flowers, leaves and stems that are already to be sewn on!  Argh.  I may start panicking one day soon.  I've looked in all the places I thought I might have put it! Do I want to mention I also can't find my fine line chalk pencil too? EEKS! 

Here's the goals from last week.  Not bad. 

June19, 2017

Hand quilt on Civil War Quilt√

Quilt another pinwheel quilt (#3)√

Bind pinwheel quilt #2√ (and maybe #3) No, not yet

Start appliqueing flower wall hanging UGH Can’t find

Make some fabric boxes√

And for this coming week --

June 26, 2017

Bind pinwheel quilt (#3)

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt

Make some fabric boxes

Lay out UFO Grid Lock and start sewing into a top

Make backing for pinwheel quilt #4 and quilt it

I'm linking up with my favorite Monday linky parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  Take some time to visit a few of the posts.  I am always so inspired after looking at several posts.  On the other hand I also seem to have a longer list of what I'd like to do some day.  

Happy Quilting All, Bonnie