I got the Drunkard’s Path top pieced this week – I love how this turned out!! The fabrics are so bright and the big circles remind me of planets 😂
I haven’t chosen the backing yet or figured out how I want to quilt it…so for now it will wait.
I finally pulled out the tops that I should’ve finished in April & May for the APQ UFO challenge. I’ve decided I’m going to make a double-sided quilt with them. I don’t ‘love‘ either one of these tops – that’s probably why they’ve been sitting so long!!
These fabrics and layouts don’t really match but I guess that makes them perfect for a double-sided quilt! Haha!
The APQ UFO number for June is 1 which is my Rainbow Postage Stamp top 😯 This one has been intimidating me for years so its time to get it done!! I’ll be using the smashing atoms fabric I bought last week for the backing…once it gets here 😏
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I’m still walking…mostly everyday. The weather has been quite nice here even though by now we usually would be experiencing lots of heat & humidity. It’s been a pleasant relief!
That’s about all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!!
I had planned on sending the Orange Modern Irish Chain quilt to Little Lambs but realized it’s way too big to be considered a baby or even child’s quilt (71×71). So I pulled out my stack of finished quilts from the ‘to be gifted’ pile and chose to send these six quilts instead!!
I’m sure they’ll be much happier with 6 quilts instead of 1 big one! ❤🐑
I put the final stitches in the orange Modern Irish Chain quilt yesterday and even ran it through the wash to remove the glue basting!! Yay!! It’s ready to be sent off to one of the charities in the Hands2Help 2023 challenge.
I found this striped fabric in my stash and used it as the binding since it had some orange in it. I am so over the color orange at this point I don’t want to see it again for a very long time!! Hahaha!!
That’s about all I’ve done in my sewing room this week. I have the drunkards path blocks all sorted the way I want them and they’re lined up by my sewing machine ready to be pieced – hopefully I’ll get to that later today 😏
I made some fabric purchases last week from Missouri Star, they had a couple of 108″ fabrics on sale I couldn’t pass up and with their bundle program I can shop over multiple days to let things add up to avoid shipping charges
And wouldn’t you know it, Connecting Threads has a great sale going for the holiday and I found another 108″ fabric…actually it’s the sister to the dark one above, only with a white background. I actually wanted this one first but by the time I checked out at MSQ it was sold out ☹ I’m glad I found it on sale at Connecting Threads! I also got a navy fabric called Word Play
I walked most days this week but missed Friday & Saturday because it rained ALL DAY both days 🫤 It’s still raining this morning but should finally clear up this afternoon so I can get my walk in!
That’s about all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!!
I basted the Modern Irish Chain and I’ve started quilting on it. Last time I showed a very rustic drawing of my quilting plan and I love how it’s coming out! I’m using a light tan thread so it doesn’t show very well in this picture
Between basting and quilting I finally got the Drunkard’s Path blocks up on my design wall and I’ve chosen this layout – I’m still moving blocks around to get a good balance of color and contrast. This top will finish around 47 square, I have 6 blocks left over that I’ll incorporate into the back.
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I walked most days this past week – no reason for missing Sun & Thurs other than I just didn’t feel like it 😞
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That’s about all for now – enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I’m happy (and a little surprised) to report that I’ve kept up with walking at least 1 mile a day in May!! I’ve actually been doing 1.5 miles most days. I haven’t ventured to the beach again because most days I don’t get my walk in until after dinner…but at least I’m doing it! LOL
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I finished the final two seams in my Sewcialites2 top and I put a border piece at the top so the butterfly is centered. I’m thinking about adding borders to the sides as well but for now this top is sitting in the ‘to be quilted’ pile because…
I need to prioritize the Modern Irish Chain quilt so it will be finished for the Hands2Help challenge. I needed to make a back for it so I dug into my remnant pieces and came up with enough for this:
Now I just need to get it basted and start quilting on it. I think I know how I want to quilt it. Please excuse this sloppy rendering, it’s my first time trying to use the photo editing feature to mock up quilting designs! Now I just need to decide what color thread to use…🤔
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We went to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans game on Wed night. The weather was gorgeous but unfortunately they didn’t play well enough to win 🫤 That’s OK we still enjoyed our night out! And how about that “bat boy”!
That’s about all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I’ve been looking for a way to get my rear moving, some accountability to help me stay consistent and I think I’ve found it. After my 30 day break from Facebook I logged back on and started searching for a walking group and came upon Healthy Living – Walking Women over 60. I think this is just what I need! There are no specific challenges, they just encourage everyone to post a picture from their walk each day. I decided I was going to start with walking at least 1 mile a day and so far I’ve done it! Mostly I’ve just been walking in my neighborhood but I did venture to the beach one day. It was a gorgeous sunny day with temps in the mid 70s.
What I didn’t expect to see this early in the season is JELLY FISH! Yuck!!! Someone from the group called this a Cannonball Jelly fish… THIS is just one more reason why I don’t swim in the ocean!!! LOL
We finally got some hummingbirds to show up at the feeder…I was worried they’d skipped SC this year LOL
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I’m slowly making progress on my Sewcialites2 butterfly… two more seams. I think I’ve lost my sewjo with this project but I’m not giving up until the top is done!!
Next up I need to prioritize the Modern Irish Chain quilt for the Hands2Help challenge. I need to make the back then get it basted & quilted!
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I finished a really good book this week, “Two Nights in Lisbon” by Chris Pavone. The story had twists and turns and I wasn’t quite sure exactly what was going on until about 3/4 the way through. I’d give it 4 stars.
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That’s about all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I finished my Elephant Abstractions quilt!!! Cue the confetti!!! 🥳
I basted her early in the week and then started straight-line quilting. You may recall I didn’t want to quilt her until my machine had its annual service and I talked to the machine shop about my issues with straight-line quilting. They didn’t have much to offer except to recommend I use the foot meant for ‘stitch-in-the ditch’ so that’s what I did. I also slowed down the speed on my machine to its lowest level. I’m not sure if it was that combination that worked or if only one of those solved my problem… regardless, I successfully completed the quilting with no puckers or bumps or shifting!!!! YAY!!!
The next day I got her trimmed and bound, adding corner triangles and a middle loop for hanging. Now I need to get a 1/2″ dowel rod and get her up on the wall!
I also got caught up on all the Sewcialites2 blocks and chose a layout. I saw a picture of a butterfly layout that I liked so I replicated it with the leftover fabrics from the same line I used for the blocks. It’s up on my design wall just waiting to be pieced into a top.
That’s about all for this week… have a great rest of your weekend!
Highlighting my Word Of The Year: Experiences (not things)
First up, I decided to take a Facebook & Instagram holiday for the entire month of April… now THAT’S an experience!! It was a little difficult to break the habit of checking these two sites every few hours but I was determined to do it. I even went so far as completely removing the apps from my phone 😲 Yes I’ll admit I felt very ‘out of the loop’ for the first week but then I settled in. I quickly noticed that I stopped reaching for my phone every 5 minutes ‘just to see what was going on in the world’. It was also quite nice to take a break from all the ‘input’ and just ‘be’.
DH’s birthday was April 7th and we took a trip to Charlotte to celebrate at his favorite restaurant Del Frisco’s. We stayed at a nice hotel literally two blocks from the restaurant and although we had rainy weather the entire trip, we still had a good time. The dinner was phenomenal, from the server (shout out to Kevin), to the atmosphere, to the food…it was perfect! And of course he got his free favorite dessert, their 7 layer lemon cake – so yummmmmmmy!
My Sewing/Quilting Club meet up was the Monday after our trip. There were only three of us this month but we had a good time. It still amazes me that we can find things to talk about for 4 hours, Ha! I took a new project with me called Drunkards Path and got to show one of the ladies a new technique. I also brought along all my table toppers to show her which covered quite a few other techniques she was not familiar with. All in all a great day.
A few days later I got a call from a friend that was visiting the area and she invited me to go shopping with her and another friend. I usually turn down these offers because I’m an introvert, but on this day I accepted! We met at Hamrick’s, a regional store that carries everything from clothes to housewares and in between. The next day DH & I met up with them and their family at a local restaurant on the beach for dinner.
The big experience this month was a girls trip to Biltmore with my friend Mary!! We had planned to do this back in 2020 but we all know what happened 🫤 We were determined to go so we booked another trip. It was a 5 hour drive from Myrtle Beach to Asheville but we had amazing weather and light traffic. I could go on and on about this trip because we had such a great time and there’s something to be said for traveling without our hubby’s…it’s so freeing! Below are just a few pictures from the trip.
Margaritas at Texas RoadhouseDrinks at the hotel barDinner at renowned restaurant Curate’
The rest of April was pretty uneventful from an ‘experience’ stand point.
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Reading
I finished 2 books this month and I’d rate both 3 stars. They were good enough to make me want to finish but not so good that I’d recommend them 😏
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Quilting
I got lots done this month in my sewing room! I finished my Elephant Abstractions quilt. I got it basted and straight-lined quilted all in one day!! I finished the binding the next day adding corner triangles so it can be hung. I’m so thrilled with this one and can’t wait to hang it on my wall, all I need to do is get a 1/2″ dowel rod then enlist DH to climb his ladder to place the hooks on the wall!
I also finished the remaining blocks for the Sewcialtes2 QAL and chose a layout. I saw a screen shot on another blog of a butterfly layout and I had just enough fabric left over to make the additional 6.5″ blocks for the setting. Now I need to sew it all together 😜
I finished the top for Dos Cuadrados and I pieced all the Drunkards Path blocks I mentioned earlier
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I think that just about covers my month. I had some new experiences and made some great memories 😍
I haven’t done anything in my sewing room since I posted last week…wait, check that… I did put together a new TV stand I ordered off Amazon (I’m not affiliated).
The TV in my sewing room came with legs that attached on the far ends of the TV…unfortunately the table I use is not that wide so I’ve been making do by using my 2.5″ strip AccuQuilt die to bridge the distance 😳 clearly not recommended!!
The new TV stand has a wide center base and attaches to the TV as if you were hanging it on the wall. This is a double win for me because I now have access to my die whenever I need it and the TV sits about 4″ higher than before making it easier to see the whole screen from my cutting table 😉
Of course I didn’t take a before photo but here are two ‘after’
The stand is made to accommodate TV’s from 27-55″, mine is 32″ so unfortunately the brackets extend above the TV. Yeah, it’s not so pretty but it works!!! The only other issue was the HDMI hook ups on my TV are right behind the horizontal bracket and the slots were not big enough to allow it to fit through so…. DH took it to the garage and ‘modified’ it to fit!! 😂 There’s no returning it now!! LOL
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I have a list of projects I plan to start working on later today through next week – hopefully I’ll have lots to share next time:
Baste & Quilt Elephant Abstractions
Make last four Sewcialites2 blocks & decide layout
Make Back for Orange Irish Chain top (Hands2Help)
Make Back for Triplicate top (APQ UFO #4)
Decide layout for Drunkard’s Path blocks
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That’s all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I didn’t spend much time in my sewing room this week so I don’t have a lot to show…but I did get the borders on my Dos Cuadrados quilt! Woohoo! It measures 65×88 – I’m gonna have fun pushing this through my machine :-p
I also started a new project – shocker, I know! LOL We had our neighborhood sewing club meeting on Monday and I decided to take a new project with me. I’ve had a drunkards path quilt on my ‘to-do’ list for quite some time so I purchased templates a few weeks ago and I pulled a Riley Blake layer cake from my stash to take with me. I was able to get all the pieces cut and I pieced about 20 blocks. Of course I didn’t take any pics that day but here’s the beautiful stack of trimmed blocks
But I have several other projects I need to finish before these two:
My Elephant – I finished the top & back in Feb but I’ve been waiting to start quilting on it until after my machine was serviced. I plan to do straight-line quilting (like in the pattern picture).
2. Orange Modern Irish Chain – This quilt is going to be donated for the Hands2Help challenge with Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I still need to make a back and then quilt on it.
3. APQ UFO Challenge – April’s number is 4 and that’s my Triplicate quilt top. I finished this top way back in 2017 and it’s been sitting in a box ever since 😦 The pattern is from Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle book by Jeni Baker
4. Sewcialites 2 QAL – I need to make the last 4 blocks and then decide on a layout. There are so many options listed on the Sewcialites FB page…I just need to pick one!!!
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I’ll be heading out of town tomorrow with my girlfriend Mary…we’re going to Asheville to see Biltmore. We were supposed to go back in April 2020 while the Downton Abbey exhibit was there, but we all know what happened! Hopefully this trip will be uneventful and I’ll try to do a better job of taking pictures 😉 We’ve also made reservations for dinner at a highly recommended restaurant, Cúrate Tuesday night before heading home on Wed.
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That’s about all for now…have a great rest of your weekend!
I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
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