A little here… a little there

Little Pink Houses

After ripping out all the straight-line quilting and smoothing out the puckers, I went right back to quilting using an all-over meander. Ahhhh, much more forgiving and no puckers! I auditioned a couple of fabrics for binding and chose a green print (like a wall of hedges around the ‘neighborhood’! Hahaha).

Here’s a close up of the binding and the variegated thread I used to zigzag stitch the binding to the front. I was so worried the blue chalk lines left over from the straight-line debacle weren’t going to come out…and they didn’t all come out in the first washing, but after a second wash with an all purpose cleaner, they’re gone!!!

And one of my friends here in the neighborhood wants to purchase this so, Yay! 🥳

Positivity QAL 2022

Another neighbor that had expressed interest in this quilt in rainbow order decided she was not going to purchase it so I’m putting it together in the scattered pattern I liked better 😉 I’ve got the top two sections pieced and I should finish the rest by the end of the day. The lighting is horrible in this picture, but you get the idea!

Enlarged Tall Tales

Once I get the Positivity top done, I’ll start making the enlarged Tall Tales blocks. The friend that I want to surprise with this Book quilt has a birthday in October. But if for some reason I miss that deadline (ugh) I can always give it to her for Christmas!! I’ve chosen this FQ bundle I got from FatQuarterShop last year for the book covers. I checked my stash and I only have one FQ with text print so I’ll use that for the ‘pages’ part of the blocks. If it won’t do the 25 blocks I need I’ll use some of the other FQ in the picture to fill in.

That’s about all for now… have a great rest of your weekend!

Reverse quilting

Ugh, I spent 2 hours doing straight-line quilting only to end up with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My instincts told me stop after the first pucker but did I listen? Nope! I told myself “you can ease it in” then “it will blend in when it’s washed” Hahahahaha!!! So I spent several more hours reverse quilting = ripping it out!! LOL

I think the issue is some of the fabrics were cut on the bias so I’ll be doing a nice ‘forgiving’ meander on this instead!! I guess it was meant to be because I really didn’t like this quilting design on this quilt after I stood back and looked at it 🤦‍♀️

In other news, I bought some more fabric…just because it was on sale!! I got these Alison Glass prints from 5bucksayard. They weren’t $5 but they were on sale for $8.25/yard which is still awesome!

I finished all the Positivity blocks but now I need to decide on a layout…here are the two choices I’ve landed on for now. I realize the rainbow order one needs some repositioning but you get the idea 😜 One of my neighbors has expressed interest in buying this quilt in the rainbow order, if she’s really serious I’ll make it in that layout… if not, I think I’ll go with the scattered layout!

I finished the enlarged Tall Tales sample block and I really like it! I enlarged the pattern to 130% and with sashing it measures 10×12.5. Now I need to print the pattern on freezer paper and make more!! I’m thinking about changing the fabric I use for the ‘pages’ so there is some contrast… hmmm, we’ll see!

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DH is doing better now but he was not well on Monday so we went to urgent care. They checked him out, did a chest xray and said he had early signs of pneumonia 😲 Darn good thing we didn’t wait any longer!! They gave him 2 different antibiotics to take for seven days and by Wed he was starting to feel better. Each day he improved and he was feeling MUCH better yesterday – now he just needs to build his stamina back up. I continued to wear my mask in the house until Friday and it must’ve worked because I didn’t catch it!! Yay!!!

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I forgot to mention the gift I got from my niece while we were in Maryland. Her wife is very talented and likes to make crafty things. They gave me this canvas print for Sammie and I found a place to hang it in my sewing room so she’s always with me ❤️

That’s about all for now…have a great rest of your weekend!!

QAL Updates

Even though I’ve still been watching Wimbledon every day, I’ve been able to make considerable progress on my quilt along projects. As for my Ladies prediction…Ha, I was not even close! LOL The finalists were Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina and the unlikely winner… Rybakina. I think the whole tennis world was pulling for Jabeur but she just couldn’t keep her nerves under control.

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Before I get into my quilting updates I wanted to share this blog post from Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged. If you are spending a lot on prescription drugs, please take a moment to check this out: Are You Paying Too Much for Prescription Drugs?

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Summer Book Club QAL

I’m happy to report this quilt is completely finished!! Woohoo! I put the final stitches in the binding Thursday evening. I’m really happy with the way this turned out and I’m STILL in love with that backing fabric… I may have to hunt down a few more yards 😜

Taken indoors right after finishing

Taken outside the next day

When I posted this on IG one person asked how I kept the quilting lines so straight. I explained that I used the edge guide that came with my machine. This little tool comes is so handy when straight-line quilting!

I’ve put this quilt up for sale but if I don’t get a buyer I’ll add it to my donation pile 😊

Positivity 2022 QAL

I started making more blocks as soon as I finished the book quilt and I’m more than halfway done… here’s a pic of the first 40

ugh, bad indoor lighting ☹️

I’m using Alison Glass SunPrint 2019 and these bold colors are just GORGEOUS!! This is not the final layout, I’m just putting them up as I finish the blocks. I may have to see if I have enough of each color to try to organize them in a rainbow theme 🤪

APQUFO Challenge

Unfortunately I haven’t done anything for this challenge. I did not complete the project for June (my Rainbow Postage quilt) and the number pulled for July is #4 which is my Skittles quilt. Now I’m torn between two projects I really love… do I finish the June project or move forward with July…???

That’s about all for now… The Men’s final is on and I need to go watch it!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

QAL updates

Before I get into my sewing updates I just need to say I’m sickened and enraged by the SCOTUS decision released last week. Women have fought hard for equal rights and with one decision we’ve just been set back almost 100 years. To not have full autonomy over our bodies is cruel and inhumane.

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Summer Book Club QAL

I’ve almost got the top pieced together and now I need to decide if I want to add a border or leave it alone. The top measures 44×54 which is a generous baby quilt so I may just leave it as is and use a bold fabric for binding… decisions, decisions!

Positivity 2022 QAL

I finally started cutting and piecing some blocks for this project. I’m using a long hoarded layer cake of SunPrint 2019 and I decided to swap 2 squares from SunPrint 2021 to have enough bold prints… hopefully they’ll play nicely together 😉

The yellow & orange fabrics are from 2019, the other two are from 2021. These are the first 8 blocks, only 72 more to go! 😜

Pink Houses

I’m disappointed to report there has been absolutely no progress made on this quilt. It’s STILL hanging over my ironing board, basted and ready for quilting. I’m struggling with how I want to quilt it. I think I’ll go back to Debbie’s QAL site and see what she did with this one – maybe that will spur something!

APQUFO Challenge

June’s number is 1 and that’s my big Rainbow Postage stamp quilt. Unfortunately I’ve done nothing more than think about completing this project! LOL With only 4 days left in the month, it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting it done…but depending on what number is pulled for July, I might just keep this one on-deck.

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Wimbledon starts tomorrow so I’ll be consumed with watching those matches for the next two weeks. Serena is competing again but with this being her first singles tournament since being out 12 months, I don’t have high hopes she’ll make too far 😕 My guesses for who will take the title:

Women’s Winner: Iga Swiatek

Men’s Winner: Novak Djokovic

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That’s all for now, have a great rest of your weekend!

A Day Late…

I was so captivated with the French Open Men’s Final yesterday, I completely forgot about posting to my blog! Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t heard who won yet…don’t read any further!

Rafael Nadal won his record breaking 14th French Open title yesterday… he broke his own record! Congrats Rafa!! 😀

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I’m starting a couple of new quilt projects, I’m hoping that will help me get back into the routine of spending at least a little time every day in my sewing room. I’ve joined a couple of QAL’s:

Summer Book Club QAL from Kate Basti is the first one, it started this week. I didn’t participate last year but I happened upon the notice this year and thought it would help me get back on track. Plus, those Tall Tales Blocks are just so cute!!

Here’s my fabric pull, right now I’m planning to make two book covers from each of these fabrics then I’ll see how big I want the quilt and decide if I need to make more

Here are the first two books, one still in progress. I’m using Kona White for the background.

The second QAL “Positivity 2022” gets kicked off next week but this week is about fabric selection. I’ve decided to use two layer cakes I’ve had sitting around for far too long!

And lastly, I got the Pink Houses quilt basted…now I just need to get to quilting on it! I think I’m going to do organic wavy vertical lines…but I’m not 100% sold on the idea.

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That’s about all for now, take care!!