A Little Progress

I have had a lot of things going on, getting tax stuff ready, being sick, working, getting my house ready for new flooring, etc.  I have been sewing in my free time.  

I did finish my Tula Pink City Sampler, quilted and bound!  I entered it an Instagram contest, but there are a lot of great entries!

Tula Pink City Sampler - 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

quilting closeup

quilting closeup

I also have some tops together out of my BIG MESS in my last post.  I also have one more almost together and another one I am piecing as leader/enders.  I bought a bolt of backing and had hoped to do some machine quilting, but that hasn't happened yet.  These quilts will be donated to the American Hero project.  I will eventually do a couple for Quilt of Valor.

Blocks were all donated or won in a block lotto at a retreat 64 X 80

Center was given to me as well as two different sets of blue blocks.  I came up with this setting

We have had six snow days so far this year at school and more snow is predicted.  We do have some makeup days to do, but snow can also be pretty! 

one of our fields on the way home from work last week

 Linking up to Patchwork Times.

Finished Projects and a Big Mess

In an earlier post I showed small quilts that I was finishing during a quiltathon.  They are completely finished and I'm working on the last label.   Here they are with binding.

Deb's flower basket

quilting closeup

Christmas Wishes

Scrappy Bright Stars mini

I pieced the backing for my Tula Pink City Sampler using all the leftover fabrics.  I have just small scraps left.  Now to get it basted and quilted!

Today being it was MLK Civil Rights Day/Day of Service, I started a child's quilt using my box of 2" squares.  I don't have anything to show for that.  I also pressed my pile of hourglass units I have been working on as leaders and enders.  They were all triangle cutoffs from a large quilt I made for the American Hero project a few years ago.  I got them pressed, but not trimmed.

hourglass units ready for trimming

Now to the Big Mess.  Over the years I made many quilts for the American Hero quilt project.  I have collected blocks from people and made blocks and threw them all in a bin with assorted fabrics, a lot of them donated.   It's deceptive but that is a large gray tote underneath.  I am now switching gears and making a couple Quilts of Valor for a local presentation, then will go back to the American Hero project.  I have two Army officer nephews currently serving.  I had fully intended to dump out the bin and do some sorting today to see what I really have but other things came up today.

BIG MESS

Linking up with Patchwork Times.

OMG and Two more finished tops!

I am joining in the One Monthly Goal challenge this month.  My goal to finish will be my Be My Neighbor quilt picture farther than down in this post!  This quilt is also my Main Crush Monday quilt.

We had a great Christmas and I have been on vacation from work.  The roads were not pleasant driving to Boise, but we had a great time with our daughters, their husbands, our two grandkids, and many other family members, too numerous to list!  It was a great time and we had decent roads coming home.  It's a six hour drive normally.

After we got home I started sewing.  I assembled my Tula Pink City Sampler, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks quilt top.  These blocks are 6" finished.  I avoided lining blocks up with the setting I chose!

City Sampler - 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

block closeups

I only had 7 of the Moda Be My Neighbor blocks done and the 16th one was released just before Christmas.  I worked for a couple days sewing the rest of the blocks and then a couple days assembling the quilt top and figured out the border, along with making a pieced backing.  I used cut offs from the triangle piecing to make a border and sized them all to 2 1/2" unfinished.  I had designed a border, but realized I didn't have enough of the white fabric so I cut up a bunch of the fabrics and made a random piano key border. 

Be My Neighbor top - queen sized

another view, my design wall isn't tall enough!

The quilt top is now queen sized and will go in my daughter's room. When she was six she wanted a house quilt.  She went through my stash and picked fabrics and I made a quilt, even hand quilting it!  The quilt is worn out!  She is my bright colors lover so I thought the Be My Neighbor quilt would be a great one to have on her bed here when she comes to visit.

Lisa's house quilt circa 1994

bright house block with sidewalk

rotten chimney fabric and my hand quilting

top of the quilt - completely shredded!

The backing I pieced for Be My Neighobr is VERY bright, there is one piece that sticks out a sore thumb, but I can honestly say I made a dent in a box of fabric!  Some of these fabrics have been in my stash for years and years!  Now to get the quilt quilted before the end of January to enter into the viewer's choice contest!  These pictures don't do the colors justice!  This will be my OMG - or One Monthly Goal.

pieced backing

another view pieced backing

In the windows of some of the Be My Neighbor blocks I used cat fabric. Lisa loved cats growing up and made a Chinese Coin quilt of all cat fabrics.  She tied it as a 4-H project.  

cat fabric in the window closeup

pieced borders closeup

Lisa's Chinese Coins cat quilt

closeup on the quilt showing the same fabric I used in the windows

My husband and I have made a tradition of going on a New Year's Day walk.  The snow was pretty deep and hard to maneuver.  We have snow shoes but I haven't the slightest idea how to use them so we waded through the snow.  Our dogs were thrilled to go, but the snow was a bit deep!

Leia - will be 2 in Feb.

Kanobi - age 11 1/2

picture in the front of our house a couple days ago at sunset -
farm machinery implements waiting for spring!

I am linking up to Patchwork Times, MCM and OMG.

More blocks

Life is so busy!  I am sure I said the same thing last week!  I did make the next block in the Be My Neighbor sew along and I am up to date on the 100 blocks 100 days Modern City Sampler sew along.  I also volunteered to be an angel and made a mini for a recipient in the Teal Mini Swap to support Ovarian Cancer research. I showed the one I received and one I sent in my last post. That's basically all I have gotten done  Someday I really am going to learn how to take straight photos!

I tried something new to me on the binding of this mini.  I have done flange accents many times and generally I sew my bindings down by hand.  However for this mini I cut a 1 1/4" strip of teal and a 1 1/2" strip of pale green and sewed then together and pressed in half leaving the green larger.  Then I sewed it on from the back and machine sewed the binding down on the front in the seam between the green and teal stripe.  Corners were tricky, but it's a method I will try again.

Dresden Teal Mini 18" square

Be My Neighbor sew along

68 blocks done!  only 32 to go!

This is a kit I bought at the Spokane quilt show last weekend.  It's so cute and two friends bought the same one.  It came with snowflake buttons.  I will work on it at a quilt retreat in a couple weeks.

Check out what others are working on at Patchwork Times.

Bunches of blocks

Life is busier than usual it seems!  My works hours have been extended again and it's been 30 years since I worked full time!

I am up to date on my Modern City Sampler blocks on a sew along on Instagram.  I have 62 out of 100 done!

Sorry for this crooked photo, but the top row is sewn together and not put on my design wall straight!  This is the sew along Moda's Be My Neighbor.  I love the brights and some of them have been in my collection a long time.  The blocks are huge, the big house on the bottom row is an 18" block.

Another sew along I am doing is Lisa Bongean's Magic of Christmas.  I am behind as we have already been given up through pattern 11.  These are Fairy Frost fabrics with a print in the middle I have had for years.  It will be sashing and borders.

I was able to get these blocks done this past weekend on a mini retreat with a friend in Spokane.  The big quilt show was this past weekend and we stayed at a hotel for three nights.  We met up with several friends and had a great time at the show and at a quilt shop the next day.  

Linking up with Patchwork Times.

City Sampler blocks

I am still working on the tree skirt and decided to not show progress right now. I am not happy with it at this stage and I know it will come together, but I need to keep it to myself awhile longer!  Since I am doing it in sections, it's hard to visualize it altogether. I need to have it to my cousin to be shipped to DC by October 1st.  

In the meantime I took a bunch of wheat from our field and met her for lunch Friday (she lives 3 1/2 hours away and we picked a town in between). She thought she was getting wheat elsewhere and I happened to post a picture on Facebook of one of our combines in the wheat field and she contacted me right away.  She is making ornaments out of it along with the thousands she has in progress with her committee of all kinds of state symbols.  She brought some for my students to assemble as well.  This is the project she is working on.

Here is the pic I posted.  The next day I was actually driving this combine!  We have been farming for 30 years and I have never had to drive before.  Both of our hired hands wanted the day off.  I wasn't about to drive the semis!

The tree skirt is extremely time consuming, but I have managed to keep up on the Modern City Sampler on Instagram, 100 blocks in 100 days. Here are the first 20 blocks.  Totally not my usual colors!

Today I made relish out of my garden cucumbers, zucchini and peppers.  I usually have onions but had to buy those this year.  This relish will last a couple years!  I also made zucchini bread.  I have some food allergies, so this is the recipe I used. It is really good and I forgot to take a picture!  I am severely allergic to dairy and eggs.

The first week of school was interesting, and I was exhausted!  Hopefully we will get into a routine soon.

New Sew Along and an Old Project

School starts next week so that will be the end of my summer vacation. Officially it ended today as I had an all district meeting to attend and tomorrow I have a day long math training.  Even though I am considered a paraprofessional, aka aide, I teach Kindergarten and First Grade.  Per district requirements we are adding all day Kindergarten and now my hours will be extended.  Not sure how that is going to work out as I am used to most afternoons off, so we shall see.

I spent two days last week cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room. I didn't have time for a full gut job of getting rid of stuff, although I did get rid of a few things and some "yucky" feeling fabric.  I need to sort through my vast collection of books as I know there are some I will never ever use.  I am working on the tree skirt I need to get done, overwhelmed by it's sheer size, but I am doing it in panels.  Hopefully I will have some of it to show by next week.

One project I found was in a pizza box and had belonged to one of my best friends who passed away in 2010.  I acquired a lot of her stuff including a sewing machine, quilts and fabric.  She had shown me this project on a visit and I knew her intention.  The blue and white print in the cornerstones belonged to her grandmother.  There was a chunk in the box for backing and it said General Fabrics.  The weave is nice but the feel of the fabric is coarse.  I looked at it during my clean out and thought wow, only three dimensional flowers need appliqued down and the strips were all cut for a piano key border.  So I did that.  There wasn't anything for flower centers, so I added some buttons I had on hand.  Now it's a 22" wallhanging ready for quilting!  

Deb's Flower Basket with Memories of Grandma

I joined another sew along.  In a post in March I mentioned purchasing Fabric for Tula Pink's Modern City Sampler.  A sew along started on the 17th and I thought wow, I can do this!  The blocks are being sewn in order and you can follow along on Instagram at #100blocks100days or check out the directions.  I am julie.huffman on Instagram.  Catchy I know!

First Six blocks from Modern City Sampler 100 blocks in 100 days SAL

I am in a small group swap of 6" 9 patch blocks with 6" friendship star blocks.  I made a few extra, but will be sending one of each block to the other swappers.  I have LOTS of Christmas scraps!

Check out other fun projects at Patchwork Times.