Bowtiesnstars

I have been to the Abilene Quilt Guild a couple of times now. Seems like a wonderful group of people. I was able to join a few others for National Quilts of Valor Sew Day and worked on these blocks:

I made 8 there and these 4 at home. Such an easy block, but like a log cabin, can be placed in so many different lay outs. I may have to do this for myself!

We are in Month 10 of the Manchester By the Sea BOM! It is much easier when you don’t need to do months worth at a time to catch up!

This will be a lovely quilt! I am so excited! I love how it is coming together and all the colors. So very well balanced, and a great mix of blocks.

I made this quilt several years ago. I believe it is called Lift Off. I haven’t had a baby boy to gift it to, so put it with a couple of other space themed baby items for a basket auction at church. It made $120! Later that afternoon, one of the youth leaders asked if I would make a full size quilt that could be raffled for another fundraiser! On Mothers Day! I have a pattern in mind and pulled fabrics today, will be patriotic. Looking forward to wrapping up the BOM to focus on this new project.

I really don’t have much to report. Football season is over, at least for the college, but not apparently for high school playoffs. We may be hosting some games where we will have to do concessions. I am really over it.

This month I did get to have a day off to join Denny and family at a Texas A & M game. My nephews are alum so Zach bought a package of different games that he and guests can attend. What an experience! Huge stadium and campus!

Nick, Denny, and Zach

Last week, my cousin sent a picture of his mom in the nursing home. Some of us cousins gave him a hard time about the drab blankets on her bed. A couple of days later, Phyllis went to see her and told me she needs a quilt! I had a flimsy on hand, only lap size, but it is faster to add borders than start from scratch. It uses all Kansas Troubles (which I still have so much of!) so I added a side border and two top/bottom borders for more length. I had a few blocks that Kim and I made back in 2009 for a sampler quilt that I put on the back. I think all the blocks but two have been used now. Unfortunately not in any of my quilts. But I can hear Aunt Burdie saying “Look at all those small pieces!” I miss talking quilting with her. It went in the mail today to Jeanette, who will quilt and bind it for me and mail it to my cousin to deliver.

The pieced back – I am never too particular of the backing as it is the back of the quilt, a close up of some of the blocks, and the lap quilt, pre added borders.

It is Thanksgiving week! Tomorrow I will head to my brothers for a couple of days, then home to get started on a Vikings quilt! Hoping it will be a Christmas present!

That time of year again! Donna and I made a day trip to Sisters for the quilt show!

I didn’t take as many pictures this year. Again, my favorites were Log Cabin Quilts:

Someday I will make myself one – I actually have the materials and pattern set aside. For me, a must see is always the Cherrywood Challenge Quilts as well. Previous years, I have seen Lion King, Prince, and Van Gough. The theme this year was Princess Diana. There are many talented quilters out there!

Beautiful display! So impressed with the talent displayed! Nice to see so many stellar Minnesotans entered, but there were international participants as well.

And I love patriotic quilts as well:

And last, I love the idea of a weather quilt. The idea can be as simple or as detailed as you like it. I have seen a single square representing the high temperature of the day, two color blocks to represent the high and low, three color blocks representing the high and low temperature, and a third color representing precipitation. They are typically done in columns, two columns per month. This lady made house blocks with her temperature guide. But also went a step further by embroidering names on special birthdays. I love this idea! I had started recording the temperatures in Minnesota the year that I moved. Now moving to Texas, I am curious to see if there will be much temperature fluctuation to make a nice looking quilt.

This is the first time we stayed late enough to see the end of the day and saw them take them down. Truly a community effort!

On my own quilting front, I finished the red and white quilt! I decided to add borders, unlike the original. A thin white, little bit wider red, then larger white again. Then I will likely bind it in red again. Very happy with how it turned out and am excited to see how Jeanette will quilt it!

Jeanette has already texted me with ideas on how to quilt it. It is going to be gorgeous. Not so gorgeous was my sewing machine. I was getting frustrated because I don’t have time for it to be serviced, yet I know it is overdue for it’s regular maintenance. I figured out how to take the base apart (I am always scared I won’t be able to get things back together again). What a mess! So much lint build up!

I have the hearts quilt back! Binding is on and will be put in the mail tomorrow!

In the spring, Primitive Gatherings put out a challenge for Red and White Quilts. They are classic and look lovely. But red is such a strong color. I am always afraid it will bleed onto the other fabrics. It did in a flannel flag quilt I made about 10 years ago. I was so disappointed.

At the time of the announcement, I needed a challenge that wasn’t work related so signed up. Deadline is October, so I should have time. I found a pattern that I liked in a book on one block quilts. I messaged another blogger who makes a red and white quilt every year for tips, and she kindly replied. I bought the fabric, washed it, and then changed my mind to a different pattern. Hopefully I bought enough white for it to still work.

The new pattern I chose is from the book Treasure Hunt by Linda Collins and Leah Zieber. They made a quilt called Minuet in a butterscotch and cream color. It has a pieced center section with a toile border. On the last page of the section, they show the antique quilt which was the inspiration for their design. It was a red and white quilt but no border.

The blocks are on point with a white square separating them. This gives an idea of what it will look like when complete.

Glad I took a picture – noticed the one block with an error and was able to fix it right away. Since I won’t have the border, I am not sure how many I will need to make. From another angle, the first 25 blocks.

This has been fun to make and coming together pretty nicely. The block finishes at 4 1/2″ so once again working with 1 1/8″ pieces of fabric. Nice chance to listen to some audio books and podcasts as well.

All the beautiful foliage in this area is what I think I will miss. So many colors of Rhododendrons, lilacs, and so many that I don’t even know the names of at all.

These were taken around campus, Brad’s house and neighborhood, and at the Rose Gardens. Pictures of roses will have to happen another day as they weren’t blooming yet when I went last weekend.

In another week I will fly to Abilene to see the campus of the school I will be transferring to and look for a place to live. My brother will meet me for a day – they will be 4 1/2 hours away. I know it will be a much different environment, but I will be back in the central time zone and hopefully a more affordable cost of living. It has been hard to stay connected with my family and friends 2 time zones apart. Excited for the next adventure!

My goal was to start and finish 2 baby quilts. Greg is having two more grandbabies this fall! Megan and Ian know they are having a girl this time so am planning a pink and red heart theme quilt I saw first on instagram. It is from the Spring Quilts and More magazine and designed by Heather Briggs of My Sew Quilty Life. It is called Heart on a String.

I made the mistake of using directional fabric for the background. You can kind of see a little white on white image in the picture – it is just little hearts, but they all go the same direction in the fabric. And of course, they were printed the opposite of how I strip cut the required pieces. I managed to keep all the big pieces directional, but when it came to 1″ corner triangles, I didn’t bother.

My other problem was in the directions. Spacer fabric is sewed onto the bottom of the diamonds, but in the next step, half of them are flipped to have the spacer on top. That doesn’t work when you are working with directional fabric and have everything placed how you want it. But in the end, I got it all worked out and am happy with how it looks. Will be sent to Jeanette for quilting!

The other baby quilt I planned to make is the butterfly again, but I would like to reduce the block size to 4″. Unfortunately, I moved that pattern into storage. Perhaps Kim could send me her copy as we both purchased and made this quilt once already….

Since that didn’t happen, I offered to test Jeanettes quilt pattern that she is writing. Also gave me a chance to go fabric shopping (like I need more fabric)! Since this is just a test, I shopped off the sale section. Only a few hiccups and a fun crib size quilt at the end of the weekend! Picture will have to come later, once the pattern is complete! Her working title is Modern Granny!

I still had part of Sunday to work on things so went back to the flags. I may be done making them. I have learned that itty bitty piecing isn’t my thing.

Part of a beautiful block, but that is enough for me. I have made 15 of the 20 blocks. The original would be something like 69″ x 72″, with a lay out of 4 x 5. I don’t need one that large. My lay out would be 3 x 5 and depending on sashing and borders, I am thinking more lap size, 54″ x 70″.

I am very happy with how most of the blocks turned out. Love the look of this sampler. Honestly, the more I look at it, the more I want to keep making them. If only those triangles weren’t so small!

5 more weeks in the semester! We’ll see if I get anything done.

This quilt is for my cousins, Gary & Joni. One Thanksgiving holiday, I had brought a few quilts along to show my aunt. Joni and Gary were home and Joni later asked if I would make them a quilt. Well three to four years later it is finished, except for a label. I mainly used Kansas Troubles fabrics for the trees and background. I believe the setting squares is a Kim Diehl fabric. That was part of the delay, it took a long time to find a shade that blended with all the other background fabrics. I really love how it turned out and hope Joni does too! Once again, Jeanette of JanieCreates.com, did the fantastic quilting. If you are near Eagan, Minnesota, or willing to mail your quilt tops, I highly recommend her!

So many triangles, but after seeing the final quilt, I would like to make one for myself as well! Will have to add it to the list….

I have completed one quilt top. The fabric is Spring Brook from Corey Yoder. The colors just feel like spring and are so cheerful. I love yellow, and these are the perfect shades of blue and green. The pattern is from the magazine American Patchwork and Quilting. I didn’t have it with me when I purchased the fabric – I used primarily fat quarters and a charm pack. When I went back for the border fabric, the only floral left was the stone background. Not my first choice but I am happy with the final quilt top.

I will send this also to Jeanette to quilt. I’m thinking a Baptist Fan quilting pattern…

While at Denny’s for Christmas break, I started cutting out my next quilting project. From Primitive Gatherings, a patriotic sampler quilt.

I brought along my smallest cutting mat, 12″ ruler, rotary cutting blade, and a few baggies to keep the pieces in. Not the easiest on such a small mat, but it worked out well. I have 7 blocks finished now, and a lot of the stripes together. It is really going together pretty fast considering how much free time I have to work on it.

Jeanette has made one too, but she chose to put a star block in the blue instead of the sampler look. Looked great. I am excited to see this come together!

I also joined Primitive Gatherings Red & White Quilt challenge. I found a pattern in a book I recently purchased, at Powell’s in downtown Portland. It is made using one block, but in that block design, a secondary block appears when put together. Once I get the starting info in the mail, I will order fabric and get it started. I also have two baby quilts on the agenda. Greg is going to have two more grand babies this fall! I made Ryer and Rowen each a quilt, I would like to make one for the next two as well. One of them will be a girl, and I already have fabric and pattern for that one. Hearts on a String was also in a magazine. I will have a busy Spring Break! Hopefully my health continues to improve and I can get it all done!

I have said before I have a problem with Block Of the Month programs. I pay to play but then life gets busy. By the time I am able to get started, I usually feel it is too late.

Fig Tree & Co. has done a BOM program for years. Some are based on a color way, some themed, etc. I had collected the Autumn Splendor blocks, all in order, but not even started. In the fall, they announced the coming mystery quilt, Charcoal and Cream. I have wanted to do a two color quilt and had been gathering neutrals for the NCU quiltscape, so was intrigued by the idea of a Charcoal & Cream quilt for myself. By this time I was in my townhouse and had a designated sewing room. With so many projects piling up, this time I started right away and mainly kept up. Some blocks were new to me, some months were more challenging than others, and I am really happy I participated. I didn’t like one of the fabrics, flowers were too orangey red to my taste, and I wasn’t expecting another color, but I am happy with my quilt, and it is actually on my bed now!

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With this BOM, all the blocks were the same size and at the end, three different lay out options were offered.

Last years program was called Sea Glass, beautiful shades of blues, aquas, and teals. But I missed it! Sign-ups had ended by the time I got to the website. But after the year was over, they had a few kits for purchase & I nabbed it! But again, it has yet to be made.

When I moved to Portland, the Autumn BOM was one of the projects I didn’t put in storage so was able to start working on that. I was enjoying the different blocks, colors and variety of sized blocks so much I decided to sign up for the Strawberries & Rhubarb BOM, this years program. But this school year started out so busy, I have not started it.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeanette, my fantastic quilter friend, mailed the Autumn quilt back to me. It. Is. Amazing. Get ready for photo overload because all the blocks were quilted differently and Jeanette has such a good eye at how the quilting will enhance a block, I kept oohing & aweing & taking more pictures!

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I absolutely love everything about this quilt! I love it so much I signed up for next years BOM! I have the pattern for their Christmas Sampler, and have been gathering red, white, and green fabrics, Strawberries & Rhubarb for Spring (yet to be made), the Autumn sampler, and next year a summer beach themed sampler! Already excited! Once I get them completed, I’ll have a Fig Tree sampler quilt for all seasons!

Well that went fast! I spent the month of May in a depressed funk over how the semester ended, which didn’t help. Next year I will know better, I tell myself, and won’t take things personally. Right. And I will get started on summer work early! Now that is more doable. I think I finally pulled out of my funk when Jeanette came to visit in late June. Amazing what time with a friend can do for your attitude.

We stayed at Rockaway beach two nights and explored the coast during the day – visited quilt shops in McMinnville and Tillamook, cheese factory, Cannon Beach, Astoria, Lewis & Clark. It was a packed week end, and so uplifting! I was able to send two quilts back with her – the Butterfly and the Fig Tree Block of the Month. She is going to custom quilt both of them. So excited to see what she creates.

The next week Donna and Kim came to visit. So much miscommunication between all of us, but it worked out in the end. Again, I was in such a funk the previous month, I didn’t do well at making plans myself.

Kim was last here just a couple of years ago, but it has been 20+ years for Donna, so we did a few traditional touristy things and a few new things. The first day was a quick drive to the coast, stopping at quilt stores as well. My company signed a new account in Salem, and since Donna also works for the company, we joined the opening crew for dinner. The next day we went to Multnomah Falls. What an adventure that turned out to be! I had one bar on my gas gauge left, planning to get gas at the Costco on that side of town. No big deal. I took the old, scenic route to the falls, but somehow missed a turn and started heading up Larch (?) Mountain, behind the falls. Ended up on a very steep, one lane dirt road. And my gas gauge beeps at me. Donna had reminded me of needing gas, but she handled the stress very well. She was more concerned with my stress as she said my knuckles were pretty white gripping the steering wheel! We made it to the closest gas station, came back for Ice Cream Cake for Donna’s birthday and drove down to Medford for the night. The next day we went to the place that has been on my bucket list for decades!

There was a forest fire in the county so a lot of morning haze – you could smell the smoke in the air!

We stopped off at a scenic look out before reaching Crater Lake. Beautiful area! Then we continued on to the North entrance of the National Park.

We continued on to the AirBNB that my sister-in-law had secured the previous year in Tumalo. The next day we visited the quilt stores in Sisters and Bend. My favorite store is Sew Many Quilts in Bend. I spent much more than I intended to spend, and my credit cards reflect it. And I now have three more projects all ready for me to begin. The projects just keep stacking up on me! Saturday we went to the Sister’s Outdoor Quilt Show! Fewer quilts this year, and I think fewer people as well. But just as hot! We got there early to avoid the heat of the day, but by noon we had to buy some hats to help with all that sunshine.

Such beautiful quilts we saw! I took a lot of pictures since my SIL Donna could not attend, but I will only show a few here.

I think this spinning stars one was my favorite. Adorable, unpretentious, and something I would be able to make myself. The most amazing one to me was part of the Tula Pink challenge from a quilter in Pella, Iowa.

That top picture is the center of the bottom picture! Such excellent detail and using such tiny pieces! Just amazing. I was so impressed. There were so many beautiful quilts. And representative of many different styles and skill levels. Maybe next year I will have a quilt ready to be shown. I should make that a goal!

Outside the Stitchin Post, host of the Quilt Show, they hang quilts made by store employees, I believe. Several Log Cabin quilts. Another favorite block as there are so many ways to set the blocks!

I finished the Tree of Life quilt top and made a Christmas quilt for my SIL.

We start feeding athletes on July 29th! I am so anxious, but mainly because of things outside my control. My main food distributer is having labor issues. The Federal Unemployment bonus checks don’t end until September, employees have to pass a drug test and Portland is in a state that has legalized drugs, and the supply chain is facing similar issues. They hope to have it resolved by September when hopefully people are willing to come back to work. My salesperson asked me to reduce my order to 30 cases and only a once weekly delivery. I eliminated all the produce items, and agreed to go to Will Call to pick up some dry items. I got there at 8:11, checked in my order a little before 9:00 and was told it would be 2 hours. It actually turned out to be 4 hours later and I was finally on my way. When we start serving meals, I will not be able to drive south of my house, hang out for 5 hours just to go back to work with it all. I believe the competitor will be getting much bigger orders this year.

So in my 3 months of summer time (with reduced work hours). I completed 4 quilt tops. I am happy with that. Unfortunately, I also bought more fabric so have many more quilts to make! I will not have to go to a quilt store for a year I do believe.