Time for family, butterfly blocks and friendship stars.....

I took off yesterday to be with my daughter in law and youngest grandson. He had to have nose surgery. He broke his nose over the weekend on the trampoline. Ouch!  He did great yesterday but has to stay calm and not run around all week.  He's 5 years old.  That is going to be really hard to make him be calm all week!  I really feel for my DIL and son. They will have their hands full this week. I'm so happy everything went good.

After we brought him home, I got him some bubblegum ice cream and a big Lego Farm set to put together. My DIL, grandson and I sat at the kitchen table and put the set together.  I should say my DIL put it together. I sat and talked to the grandson while she did it....We watched some movies after that.  It was a stressful time but ended up being a pleasant day too. 

I left their house when it was time for him to take a nap and went shopping.  I shopped for shoes and a new purse and of course, went to a quilt store. I just gotta go to a quilt shop when I'm off work, right???  I had skipped breakfast and lunch and was starving. I stopped and ate then went to tatting.  A friend of mine and I are showing some ladies from our quilt group how to tat and they are doing really well.  There were about 6 ladies Saturday that we were teaching and all of them have learned to flip so far!  That's the hardest part to learn.  They are all working on chains right now and doing well.  One of the ladies came to be with us last night for tatting and she's got the chain stitch down, so we talked to her about picots and she started doing those. Next lesson will be rings and then we move onto patterns from there.  So excited to show this craft to some ladies that really want to learn....

After tatting, I got home in time to make the last two Butterfly blocks and I also made  5 friendship star blocks.  Four of these are for my Friendship Star quilt. They are 6 1/2" blocks and will be cornerstones for the outside border.  The rest of the quilt is made up of big friendship stars that are 12 1/2" blocks. I finally made up my mind to do the little stars on the corners with a 6 1/2" border.  I'll do that tonight.  The other star will be for my Rainbow Scrap quilt that I'm working on...

Here's the last two butterfly blocks I'll be making.

 

 

Here are the little friendship star blocks.  4 of these are cornerstones for my big Friendship star quilt and the other one is for my Rainbow scrap challenge. 

 

 

I'm still working on getting caught up on the Rainbow scrap challenge but now I'm closer.  til next time, happy stitching!

 

Butterfly Rainbow block and some tatting. Happy Late National Quilting Day!

I hope you had a great National Quilting Day yesterday. I was lucky enough to spend it with a new friendship group. There were fourteen of us in all and we had coffee at a local coffee shop first then went to Shirley's house, the leader of the group. We unloaded our machines and other things we would be working on and visited for a little while. We then headed to a restaurant and had lunch to celebrate the first quarter birthdays.  Yum, food, fun and friends.  Can't beat it....We went back to Shirley's house and my friend Cheryl and I started teaching  a few of the ladies how to tat.  Lots of laughter and fun along the way.  We had a few quick learners and get the "flip" right off but we will be continuing to instruct everyone and hopefully everyone will understand and get to know how to do this great artform.  I didn't sew at all even though I dragged my machine and some projects with me but I had a great time with some new and old friends....

  I got home and the grandbaby was there and we got to spend the rest of the evening with her and the great-much needed rain. 
  Today, I got up and fed the grandbaby. We then headed into my half sewing room/half baby room and while she played with her doll house, I cut and sewed this great block. I used teal for the butterfly so I could count it as my Rainbow scrap block!    I have two more of these cute butterfly blocks to make but they will be made in different colors. These are our summer blocks for my friendship group.  I'll turn them in for a chance to win more blocks.  For every block turned in, your name goes into a drawing for all the blocks.  I hope I win as I love this block.

 

I finished up some tatting this week and wanted to show you what I ahd been working on.  I haven't shown you any of my tatting in a while so I thought it was time to share.

 

I finished this blue cross Monday night.  The other little bookmark started out as a cross but I didn't have enough thread so I made what I could out of it.  I finished this one Wednesday night.

 

Last but not least, I've been working on this necklace for a few weeks and finally finished it. I will be making a bracelet to go with it too.  I'll be giving this one to my sister as these are her colors.   I made a blue and white one for myself but my niece saw them and loved them so I gifted them to her. Now, I'll be making me another blue one.  I love this easy pattern. It's not fast but it's easy to remember and fun to make....

 

Now, it's time to go to lunch witht he kids and hopefully, we'll get back in time for me to do more sewing. I haven't had my fill yet this whole week and I really want ot catch up on my Rainbow scrap blocks.  Til next time, have a great week and happy stitching.

 

Rainbow Scrap Blocks and a finished wallhanging.

I hope you have had a good weekend. I've had a busy weekend with the grandkids but I have had a little time to sew too.  I have been working on my Rainbow Scrap challenge blocks this week and I got my Boxed in Block done for this month. I didn't do a pink one as I had already made a pink one last year for this project...one more block closer! 

 

 

I also got these little 6 1/2" blocks done. I am playing catch up for the rainbow scrap challenge. These are from January and I have alot of catching up to do but these blocks are fun and easy to do so far and I'm hoping to get caught up soon.

 

I made more Carolina chain blocks too...I made these for this month's color but I also made alot more colors and I had enough to put together 9 blocks.  I now only need 10 more blocks to finish this quilt....woo hoo, I'm so excited. This has really been a fun and easy project and I have enjoyed it alot.  These blocks are easy and quick to make and you can just sit and sew them together without thinking.    I just went in my sewing room and shut the door and just sewed away the stress

I put together these blocks too. These are cobblestone blocks or that was the name of the pattern I have. I have seen these same blocks on different blogs and I've seen them referred to as Happy blocks, whichever name you choose, these are easy too.

 

After the grandkids left today, I finished this little wallhanging. I quilted it this week but put the finishing touches on it today with binding, a hanging sleeve and a label.  This is another project that's been laying around for a few years that needing finishing. 

 

 

That's all I have for now.  I had so much going on this weekend, I could not make it to the Dallas Quilt show.  This is the first show I've missed in years but there are others coming soon that I hope to go to.  I hope you have a good week and get to sew or craft and show us what you're working on. Til next time, happy stitching, Linda

 

Some Projects I've worked on this month

 

Here's some of my blocks for the Rainbow scrap challenge. This month's color is teal or bluish green from the Caribbean Sea.  I'm still searching through my stash to find some scraps.  I made 33 different blocks yesterday but they weren't all teal.  I'm playing catch up from February too so I did some pink blocks too.  I made blocks for my Carolina Chain quilt and Cobblestone quilt. 

 

 

 

I made this little wallhanging during the week. This was a fun little project. I've had this little kit for about five years and decided to finally put it together. I used fabric markers for the words and hearts.  The hearts were two different methods. The bottom part was paper piecing and the top was just regular piecing. I had to make half square triangles and quarter square triangles for the top of the hearts. 

 

The next block is for a swap in our guild. It is a disappearing pinwheel block.  Here are the steps to make it.....

 

 

 

 

Here's two  hand embroidered wallhangings I finished. I took an embroidery class to do this project. 

 

I crocheted around these two little fleece blankets.

 

Last but not least I put the top together with black sashing and scrappy cornerstones for my friendship star quilt.  I'm trying to decide on the final border.  I'm thinking about a full black border or a black border with small friendship stars for the corners....I'm really leaning toward the small blocks on the corners but not sure yet....

 

 I'll show you the finished quilt top once I make my mind up. 

 

I have several other blocks to make this week  and I'll show you those once they are all together. I hope you have a great week. Until next time, happy stitching!

Rainbow Scrap blocks and rainbow bracelet

I decided a few days ago when the new year rolled around that I'm not stressing out this year over how much I get done.  I'm just going to enjoy myself and work on whatever I want to. Yes, I want to finish some projects and get as many things done as I can but it's going to be as I want to.  Yes, I have a whole list of projects to finish, projects I want to start, quilts I need to quilt and I could go on and on, but this is the one area of my life that is keeping me together. So, I am just going to go at my own pace and hopefully get everything done that needs doing.   I am going to continue to do the rainbow scrap challenge hosted by Angela...I love this and enjoy using up my scraps. I stopped halfway during the year last year and now it's time to start it up again.

This month is blue for the rainbow scrap challenge.  Blue I can do!  I have alot of blue in my scraps...I didn't realize it when I first started sewing that I was buying alot of blue.  Nearly everything I made had blue in it.   It finally dawned on me that I'm a blue girl!  Anyway, I'm glad it's blue month and I can make some blue blocks....

I pulled some projects out and decided to work on them once I saw what others were working on.  I decided I would pull out my Carolina Chain blocks and I call it the Box in a box block. I forget what the actual name is....Anyway, I was able to make the blue blox in a box block for this month to add to the other blocks I made last year.  I hope to get this quilt done this year. I plan on being a good girl and sticking to the program. 

Here's my box in a box block for this month.

 

Here it is with the ones I did last year.

 

I made 18 blocks of the Carolina Chain.  These are quick and easy. They are just 9 patch variation blocks.

 

Two different blocks and they actually go together like this. 

 

I'm not sure how many blocks I need yet, but I'll soon be taking a count. These are fun to make with scraps.

 

Here's my rainbow bracelet I made yesterday morning.  I thought it only fitting to show it now that I'm working on the rainbow blocks challenge.  If you want to see what everybody else is working on, go over to Angela's blog or click this link and see what they are doing.

'

That's all I have for now, I've got to get busy finishing another scarf for a friend of mine.  So, that mean's its TV time too!

Rainbow Scrap Green and Civil War Quilt-another Get It Done challenge off the list!

I worked on my green blocks this weekend.  I got eight green blocks finished. These are Crossroads blocks and I wanted to go back and do the previous months rainbow colors but didn't get around to it yet. I do plan on doing that but wanted to work on putting together my Civil War quilt too....

Here's my Crossroads blocks:
These blocks are easy and fun to do. I saw these on other blogs that are participating in the Rainbow Scrap challenge and loved them.  The tutorial was on Connie's blog, Freemotion by the River, her tutorial is great.  She gives you 3 different size blocks to make. Mine are 9" blocks but I plan on doing 12" blocks too. This one is going to be for me. I want to make the  12" blocks for communtity service quilts.  

 

Saturday morning I was repairing a baby blanket for my granddaughter and wasn't paying attention. I got too close to the needle and sewed through my thumb.  Boy, did that hurt.  The needle broke but luckily it didn't break off in my thumb.  That stopped my sewing for the day.  I had to go to my grandson's soccer game anyway so I turned the machine off and doctored my thumb...

 

I came back later and started sewing my borders together for my Civil War quilt.  I put the center together during the week and just had to get the borders on....I worked on it a little Saturday night and finished it up today after the kids left.  My husband held it up but you can't really see the border on the bottom two pics so I did a closer view of the border in the third picture.

 

Here's the border.  This quilt was a swap quilt all last year.  We made 5 blocks each month, kept 1 and exchanged 4 of the blocks. I really like this quilt and think it will be wonderful all quilted up.  This is number two of my Get It Done challenge finished for the month!

 

Now, it's time for bed. I hope you enjoy your week and get lots of sewing done.  I also hope you didn't have to pay any money and you get lots of money back from the IRS so you can buy lots of fabric goodies!  Happy Stitching!

Get it Done Challenge, Rainbow Scrap Green and book drawing!

I haven't been very busy this weekend.  I went and sewed with my friends at the church Friday night and I had a great time with them.  I didn't have to pick up the grandbaby so I stayed longer and sewed longer.  I got some blocks sewn together for my scrappy Carolina Chain quilt and got to visit too.

I thought I would sleep late Saturday since Carmen wasn't here to wake me up but another grandchild, Trent had an early soccer game.  We went to watch him play soccer (well, he ran around on the field more than he played) along with all the other 4 year olds learning to play!  It was fun to watch.  My husband and I had some errands to run and we ran around all day. I didn't get any sewing in at all yesterday but I did have fun and rested too. 

I got up early and sewed this morning and now I'm going to sew a little bit more too.  I did finish putting the binding on my scrappy half square triangle quilt earlier in the week and wanted to show you that one.  I worked on this one all last year as a leader/ender project and finished putting it together and gave it to my friend to quilt for me.  I got it back and finally put the binding on to call this one a finish. This is the second one I've made like this.  The first one was made a long time ago, maybe 8-10 years at least, with my small quilting group.  We made it as a swap quilt. I made mine and gave it away. I saw the pattern in my files last year and decided I would remake it for me.  I started making these randomly and just throwing them in a box when I got through with one and they started piling up...it's fun to see a project come to life after you haven't really been "working" on it..  That's why I like the Leader/Ender method. You work on a project and don't really even work at it until you have alot of pieces to put together.  I have two more Leader/Ender projects in the works now and I'm not sure how big they'll be... This one is on my Get It Done Challenge list for April, so I can mark one off my list!

 

 I also wanted to show you my blocks I finished this morning and Friday night....

This month is green for the Rainbow scrap challenge and I pulled out some green scraps to work with.  I made my Boxed in Block for this month and  the others are The Carolina Chain blocks I've been doing all year.

I made 20 blocks Friday night and then two more blocks this morning along with the Boxed in Block.  Now, I'm sewing on my Civil War quilt and later today, I've got a binding to sew too for slow stitch Sunday. 

 

One last thing, don't forget to go to the post below and leave a comment if you haven't already. I'm giving away books for the Giving Quilt and the drawing is today.  You have until 6:00, Central Time and then I'm going to draw. 

Some orange rainbow blocks and a few hats!

Here's what I've been working on today while the grandbaby is asleep.  I was able to finish these rainbow blocks and I did my orange boxed in block too.  These are fun and quick too.  I'm loving these. Go check out what others are doing too on the Rainbow challenge...

 

 

 

Here's my orange Boxed in Block for this month. 

 

My design wall with the other blocks I've made.  It's a work in progress.

And, last but not least, here's some hats that will be given to the Community service person this week for cancer patients.  Uh, I'm not sure if these will be too hot now that it's getting warm weather but maybe they'll come in handy for night time wear...  I like the blue one in the middle cause it is reversible. It can be white with blue cuff, or blue with white cuff.  These are all made out of fleece.

 

 

Ok, gotta go for now.  I've got to get busy and work on my tension problem with my machine. I have some ideas that I hope will solve the problem. I'll update later...Now, go sew or enjoy the beautiful day outside!