July OKCMQ Blocks

This was the hard one (in comparison to the other one), that's my excuse for the not so good points.  I like it though, it reminds me of envelopes.

And the easy one, just 3 pieces in a 12 inch block, and I got a really big bonus triangle.  The block is supposed to be a letter "J".

It's Picking Up

The sewing front has picked up a little.  This is the July Craftsy 2013 BOM.  It's a big block, 17 1/2 by 18 1/2 inches.  I think that this may be the center pattern for a baby quilt for my newest great-grandbaby due in October.  It would be cute in little girly baby fabrics, I think.  Maybe some bow ties around it as a start. 

The year is over half finished, and projects are starting to come together.  Hope this one turns out well, some of my color choices are a bit odd, but I wanted quilts that looked different from each other colorwise, too. 

I have the initial cutting done for 5 or 6 blocks, and then July BOM's will be pretty much finished.   I'd like to do a dresser top cover for the other dresser in our room as part of the RSC for July, but don't know if I'll get time.  We have out of state company due and even though at this point they aren't staying with us, I hope to get to be included in some of the festivities.  It's my niece and her 8 children.  They range from almost 2 to going into the second year of college.  Quite a family. 

A Week Off

Really not much on the sewing front.  I've thought a lot about it, but all I've actually done was this block 2 for the Nabby's Dowry sew along from Heartspun Quilts.   I'm really looking forward to this little quilt (wall-hanging), as I am excited to use up some of my little bonus HSTs.

I have done a few dishcloths, or as I call them "Sweat Sweaters", as my daughter and I use them as feminine glisten gleaners at the gym we've joined.  A friend told me that her mother told her "horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies glisten".   I'm not much of a knitter, but I've enjoyed doing them while my husband watches his Red Sox.   It's kind of nice to switch between watching with him, going on my ipad and knitting.  I should add a fourth category, dozing off.

One of my grandsons passed his real estate test this week, so a few of the family went to a sushi restaurant for lunch.  Three of my grandsons are in the picture, but it's not a very good angle.  My husband wore the hat to protect his head, the bandage is also protecting his recent skin cancer bout and keeping the bandage on.  No offense to you Yankee fans, but he was given the Yankee hat as a joke from a Yankee fan and he has been wearing it during his healing process so that if he messes up a hat, it won't be a Red Sox one.  The restaurant was so empty when we went that we felt like we had a private room.

My dinner before digging in.  It was pretty tasty, but not as good as the company.  As you can see, I'm not authentic, I can't seem to master chopsticks, but I do think that they are handy sewing tools.

Seventeen of Seventeen

It's nice to have the flowers finished, now on to frames and borders.  Not too far away from having a quilt top. 

Second Teal Week Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Nabby's Dowry Sew Along

My July teal kaleidoscope block.  And below, my bonus kaleidoscope block from June and July leftovers. 

  July's scrappy trip along block.  I really am enjoying the teal and  turquoise.  (Below)

This evening we went to a local club with my daughter,  her husband, a grandson and his friend, a grandson and his wife and son, and we all listened to another grandson and his band perform.   (My grandson is the red head with the guitar.)   They get better each time we hear them and I think they are really good.   They are on a small stage in the middle of the bar surrounded by liquor bottles. I think I'd be too nervous to play afraid that I'd fall. 

I've been accumulating bonus HST's from my Deck-ade the Halls, Quilty Barn Along, and especially the Flower Patch Quilt Along.  They are only 1 1/4 inch finished, and I was wondering what I would do with them.  Along came a post on Kathy's Quilts and lo and behold, lots and lots of HST's, hers are 1 1/2 inch finished, but my 1 1/4 inchers will just make a smaller quilt, 30 by 30 inches if my figures are correct.  Just a nice size for a wall quilt.  The Nabby's Dowry Sew Along is here on Heartspun Quilts.

Add caption

Here they are, I think I'll have plenty.  You'd think with all these that I wouldn't have had any duplicates in my little block.  I'll use the excuse that I was doing this at 3:00 am.  Even in broad daylight my brain doesn't always function well.  3:00 am is very iffy.

I thought originally that the HST's were 1" finished, but I guess that they are 1 1/4" finished. 

Candace

PS.  As usual, to see more RSC entries go to Angela's soscrappy's blog here.  

Fourteen out of Seventeen

There are other things that I should be working on, but these are cut out, and morning is the time I'm best at cutting out.  Mornings have been busy, so I take the easy way.  This was my last one with leaves and a stem, the last 3 are just flowers.  

Step 4 - Done

Not my favorite, but fun to make. 

Nine and Ten, I Think and......

I think that this is blocks nine and ten of the Flower Patch Quilt Along, plus the five leaf blocks.   I believe there are seventeen total flowers, and they are already cut out, so I am moving along on this one.   Should be moving along on other things, but what the hay.  

Eleven and Twelve, too.

Block 11 and 12 of the Quilty Barn Along

I meant to work on the RSC, or some of the BOM's, but somehow, I ended up making my last 2 barns.  I'm putting them aside for awhile though while I catch up other things.  Maybe, I could have a finish by the end of July?  Haven't decided if I'll be doing the silo barns, but I do want to do the tractor block for the back. 

July Teal Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Mail

I have all my July Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks cut out, except for the kaleidoscope block and a table runner, but this is the first that I have actually sewn. 

Later in the day, I got these made.  My 6 inch finished 9 patches, 4 1/2 inch finished 9 patches and 8" finished 16 patches.   The year is more than half over now, and I have 21 of the snowball and 9 patch blocks, and the 16 patch blocks.  I have 42 of the larger 9 patches and 14 of the smaller ones.  Not too shabby.

I definitely had to dig a little deeper to come up with 24 different fabrics.  Here are the 16 x 2.5 inch strips ready for my rainbow scrappy trip along.

New fabrics in the mail this week from Form and Fabric (http://www.formandfabric.com/).  Another blogger had mentioned on her blog the great deals she had gotten and so I had to look.  I'm glad I did as the fabric is all nice quality, I like all of them, and I got 13 yards for $37.67 including shipping.  I'm happy with the older lines of fabric and not the latest, as you can often get them on clearance, and I figure what the heck, they are new to me.  Mostly, I do scrappy, so if they aren't all harmonious, that's ok with me, too.

To me turquoise or teal is just a different shade of blue, and I got to wondering, since some of the same fabrics were used in both, how much different the teal would be from the blue in the quilt.   I think that it will definitely be no problem to pick them out in the crowd.  

As usual, to see lots more RSC and lots of teal, go here to Angela's Soscrappy blog after Saturday morning.

Happy Fourth of July America

And from Arthur J. Goldberg:
Our fundamental liberties were guaranteed in the Constitution, not for enjoyment by a majority but for the protection of a minority—whether it be one or many, in war or peace, equally for the weak as for the powerful. True patriotism, it seems to me, requires us to guard jealously those liberties for others as well as for ourselves.

“Oh beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years.

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee.

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.”

Deck-ade The Halls - Step 3

This is going to be such a cute quilt.  So far, the gingerbread men, the stars and the ornaments, and each step just gets cuter.    It has been pretty easy, just have to get organized and it's like putting a puzzle together.   Monday DH had his skin cancer surgery on his lip, and he has been very miserable.  Hopefully, each day will get a little better.

More Medical for Husband Little Sewing

Not much sewing going on around here, what with husband, Ernie's, skin cancer surgery last Monday.  Today is more surgery, this time on his lip, so it is going to be another hard day, but hopefully not like last Monday.  The doctor said he had one like that (had to go in 5 times, took almost 10.5 hours) about once a year, or one out of about 600. so hopefully this one will be a 1 timer.   I have cut out the ornaments for my Deck-ade the Halls, and there were many, many corner squares to mark.  I always have just put my ruler down, it slips, I straighten it, and it slips again.  Today, I discovered something that probably everyone knows but me.  I put it down on my mat on the 45 degree line and it was a one time effort each time.   Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks, or another saying, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.  That's one of my favorite rulers, by the way.  I use it constantly, probably for every project.  
 

More Barns

Quilty Barn Along blocks 7, 8, 9 and 10.  Just 2 more to go.  There is also a version with a silo, and a tractor.  Will I be tempted?
I finished these up today, yesterday was over 10 hours at the dermatologist with my husband.  He had a skin cancer that seemed to go on and on, they had to go back in 4 times, for a total of 5.  He was in a lot of pain last night, but is feeling better today.   Sometimes, it seems to never end, he has another one next Monday, this one on his lip.  Amazingly, he keeps a cheerful attitude most of the time.

Catching Up!

 Catching up, I may even be an overachiever now in my Flower Patch and Quilty Barn quilt alongs.  I think that I have more blocks done than I need on the Flower Patch quilt along, and I have the small blocks done on the Quilty Barn along, and when I finish 2 more barns I'll be caught up.  There will still be some month left, so I'll probably work on a small quilt for my husband's dresser top, or work a little bit on my Scrappy Lattice.  Today, I did finish these 2 blocks, but I spent most of the day driving back and forth to St. Augustine for lunch with my brothers, my nephew, my daughter and her husband, and my grandson and granddaughter.  It was a nice day.   My husband wasn't feeling very well, but he went along with me, which I appreciated. 

 

Barn Art

The blocks on the right are my versions of block 7 and 8 of the Quilty Barn Along, and the 2 on the left are because I have accumulated a few bonus HSTs.  I think I'll use them for barn 9 and 10, hope I don't regret it when I see what Lori Holt has come up with.  I made her mini design boards too, but mine aren't as cute as hers.  I'm not good with the glue gun, and I think I made a mistake in getting the cheapest $2.98 ones.  Also, I ran out of glue and all that's holding this one together is a fabric glue stick.  It may not last, but at least hopefully, it'll last long enough for my trigger finger to stop being sore. 

Out of the Barn and Back to the Flower Patch

I went ahead and did the 5 leaf blocks so that I could sew the last row onto the flower.    I haven't sewn down the rick rack, will probably wait until all 5 are done so I only have to change the bobbin one time.   I lost some of my points on these.  I had changed to my regular foot and forgot to change back to my 1/4 inch foot.  I guess another senior moment.  I consider myself a lazy perfectionist, an energetic perfectionist would have fixed it, but since I'm a lazy one, I decided that I can live with it, and if I do give it away, probably it won't even be noticed.