August and Fair Sewing

In one of my sewing groups we had to show our "long-term" project. Most of my projects are not real long term as I like to make and be done. This scrappy trip around the world is my slow WIP. I make a couple blocks every other month or so. These are the latest 12 that I have done. The main top is together, but I decided it needed to be bigger, so I have to make at least 26. I'm half done with those, then I'll decide if it's big enough.


I'm currently working on the Take Along Bag. It's going to be great, but I'm sore on zippers, so I have to wait to pick those up. Only 1 store in town carries them. The bias binding and straps are done.

Mikaela wanted to enter the cats in the fair, so we spent Saturday afternoon sewing and stuffing. She did a great job. Papa and the other kitties will have to wait. This was the extent of her sewing time.

I was visiting with Jen the other night and saying I hate BOM's and I thought this one would be bigger and it wasn't so I quit on it. She said just finish it and be done, so I took it out, fixed the few spots I felt needed to be sewn better and put a white border on it. It's 90x114" which is actually plenty big, so now I'm working on trimming all the threads on the back and getting it ready for quilting. I need to get a backing and batting. It's going to Marie to quilt.

When I was at Herbergers going out of business sale, I found this in the kids' section. It's hexie dry erase, magnet, and cork boards. I'm going to cover them in fabric and decorate with them.

The other day I had the chance to go to a friend's hairdresser. Look at the great cut she gave me. I love it being short again. I took this picture in the Radiology waiting room. Isn't the quilt awesome? I had to have additional testing done and it came back cancer free!

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe it's been four months since I last blogged, but looking back I can understand why. I worked every weekend in April and then May flew by as I taught my first graduate class in Student Affairs Administration. The class was one month long, so it took all of my time. June was busy with a family trip to Brookings for a family reunion/work trip as well as starting our 3-week vacation at Hart Ranch. I was off for the first 2 weeks of July, but it seemed we were almost too busy for me to sew. My MIL's knee surgery mid-June saw me playing transport to therapy for 4 weeks, so used up any free time I did have.
My priority for vacation was to finish my husband's t-shirt quilt. It turned out amazing, but it's huge! 116x120. Just how I wanted it, so it would fit on our bed and we wouldn't have to pull on it. He loves it and I'm sure I'll be doing another one soon. He has a lot of racing shirts!

Flat Jack needed a bag, so I made this one for him. I still have another to make, but wanted to make sure this one worked first.

I took my leftover blocks from scrappy Trip Around the World and made a table topper. It needs to be quilted, but my quilting machine is in the shop, so I'll have do this one at home. My other Scrappy TATW was pieced on vacation and is on the longarm frame waiting for the machine.

I've also been working on Quilters Planner BOM blocks. I've finished May-August to get caught up again.







I'm also excited to try a miniature scrappy trip around the world. These finish at 3"! It uses up my leftover yellow and blue scraps.

My next project (a new one) is a Cobblestone Quilt with Glamping Gypsy fabrics. I laid it out at work on the table and it took three table widths to get it laid out. Hopefully, it will sew up just as nicely. I'm thinking once we're back at Hart Ranch on August 15th, I might find time to sew it then.

This past week my boss Lindsey Hamlin was out from Brookings for a Lunch and Learn event at Ellsworth AFB, so we got a picture with Jack!


My numbers are looking significantly better after a few big finishes in the last couple months.

Stash Numbers:
In July - 18.5 yards
Out July - 27 yards
In Year to Date - 137.5
Out Year to Date - 153.75
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I'm AHEAD by 16.25 yards!

June Accomplishments

April OMG Goal

Well, I failed to meet my March goal. I did work on making the scrappy trip in Y/B into 4 patch blocks, but put other priorities ahead of it, including my Nova quilt that is finished and my CR quilt that I got the blocks done for, as well as Mrs. Brown's quilt is done.
This month my OMG goal is to finish the Crown Royal top. It's going to look something like this. I'm not piecing it the way I traditionally piece quilts, in a web, so I'm going to just have to getter done!





I also got myself a new look for Spring (if it ever gets here). I have to work every weekend this month, so I wanted to look great for it.



Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for OMG

March OMG Goal

March is going to go by so quickly. The first week was just crazy and I'm sure it won't slow down much.
My goal for March is to get my yellow and blue scrappy trip around the world into a quilt top. I've made a lot of the blocks and have about 14 more strata sets left to make and about 20 blocks that are cut, but need to be ripped and sewn. Hopefully, I'll be able to get this top done. It's my UFO for Judy's challenge, so this gives me a reason to keep on pushing forward.
 
Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for OMG March Link up

UFO February Progress

February was so busy! I feel like I was going full speed ahead all month. I did get a lot of sewing and quilting time in, so I'm not complaining. I've been working on both the APQ and Judy at Patchwork Times UFO challenges. In February APQ picked #9, my Scrappy Trip Around the World. I made the top in 2016, but it wasn't as big as I liked, so I needed 26 more blocks. I finished 2 blocks and got 10 more strata sets made and cut. I am currently ripping them and getting ready to sew more blocks. I'm proud of this progress because I had a lot of deadlines and worked on a lot of other projects, but I did make a concentrated effort to make some blocks.



My UFO # 1 for Judy's challenge was Sprinkles, which is a Jaybird Quilt pattern. I was able to finish the 2nd half of these triangles. They will then be made into half hexies. This was one I started at the end of last year, so it's not a long time UFO. I just decided it wouldn't be a class, so it's been on the back burner. It's moved forward, so to me, that's a good feeling.

February Progress

While my last post showed a few finishes, it really didn't showcase all I worked on this month. I said at one point over the long weekend (with a snow day added), that I had quilters ADD. I was working on 6-8 projects all at one time!
I finished this green and gold bag for the SDHEA conference silent auction after I arrived at the conference! I set up my sewing and had it done in less than an hour, start to finish. I donated 4 bags in green/gold and blue/yellow.

While I was away a the conference, I made all of these blue and yellow Blue Ridge Beauty blocks. I would like it to be bigger and have plenty of HST's but needed more 4 patches. Since it's the scraps from my Scrappy Y/B trip around the world that I'm using for the 4 patches, I needed to make more of those blocks!

I'm teaching a class on making Crown Royal quilts or really any focus fabric and designing a quilt around the fabric, so I made my brother pillows to match his quilt.

I made a few more yellow and blue scrappy trip blocks.

Then I made a few more... and a few more... and a few more. I didn't take pictures of all of them, but I'm sure I finished about 20 this month. I do about 3 each round of chain piecing.

I made Mathew a blanket for his teddy bear. 


I made this doll blanket for an auction at Mikaela's school.

I made this backing for a black and white baby quilt.

I'm doing the Quilters Planner Sew Along, so I made this block for January.

This is the February block for the Quilters Planner Sew Along

I was able to make a few more 4 patches

And a few more yellow and blue scrappy trip blocks.

I had a quilting day at my dad's house and quilted this baby quilt I made from the leftover blocks of my quilt.

My 5-yard quilt in black/white/ pink/green was also quilted at dads. I need to bind both of these.

I also made this doll blanket with minkee for the auction, but Mikaela kept it for herself.


It doesn't look like I posted my in/out for January, but I was neck and neck, 30.75 in and 33.75 out... Well, I didn't do quite so well this month. I was at the quilt shops a bit too often and my "big" finishes didn't get bound due to a fall that hurt my back on Saturday, so I'll have to keep them for next month. I will be ahead of my stash soonish.

February In - 29.25 Yards
February Out - 14 Yards
Year to Date In - 60 Yards
Year to Date Out - 47.75 Yards
For a total of 12.25 yards, the stash is ahead!

One Monthly Goal - February Finished

This month has been a busy one. I celebrated another birthday and finished quite a few projects.
I finished my OMG with the quilting and binding of this Crown Royal table runner. I'm making a queen size quilt with the same block and I wanted to see what it would turn out like. I love it and the block is really simple, so I hope to have the top for the queen done in March.

I also made 2 Crown Royal pillows for my brother to match his quilt. I'm teaching a class on how to make Crown Royal quilts in April/May and I made both of these items for samples.

I loved the Positivity table topper pattern by GE Designs, so I used scraps to make this topper. It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but it's done and bound and I'm happy.

My son wanted a quilt for his teddy bear since his sister has doll quilts she's made. He picked out the fabrics from his "stash" and I used the leftover pieces from his bed quilt to make this small quilt for teddy. If someone doesn't want to make a Crown Royal quilt, I'll also be showing how to use focus fabrics to design a quilt in the same class I'm teaching.


My other February UFO's were Sprinkles - which I got all of the sections completed and they are now ready to be pieced into blocks. I'm trying to decide if I should keep them pink/blue/yellow or mix them all up.
I also worked on blocks for my Scrappy Trip Around the World. I have 2 completed and 10 more strata sewn and cut apart. I'm currently ripping. I figure I started roughly half the blocks I need this month, so I'll keep moving it forward.



I also made a bunch more yellow and blue Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks and Blue Ridge Beauty blocks. I also sewed a few bags and blankets as well. I quilted at my dad's and got my Black and White quilts quilted, so a very successful month!
 I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal Finish Party