7 Days of New Years --- Day 2: A Slight Detour For a Gift

Today was a little busy.  I was supposed to meet with a neighbor to get some information on potential contractors.  Unfortunately my neighbor felt a cold or flu coming on so that meeting was postponed.  This freed some time to find a box and pack up the peanut butter cookies I baked yesterday for my MIL and her sister.  It is an annual tradition that I send them some to munch on during the holidays. 

Since I'd be shipping a package, I also needed to finish up something that needed to go along with it.  Back in March, DH and I had visited my MIL and while there I had helped her make a batik version of Pat Sloan's "String Beans" Block-a-Day design.  

My MIL's "String Bean" blocks

When it was done I picked up all the small aqua and cream scrappy bits and planned to make a commemorative mug rug for it.  

After that I was stumped for the longest on how to quilt it and what color threads to use (All Cream?  All Turquoise?  Change threads?).  Then as I went to bed last night, I had a brainstorm for it:  monofilament thread!  Taking cues from all the angles of the piecing, I stuck with straight-line quilting and got it done. 

Good thing the "West Wing" marathon was still on!  DH and I watched (well, I listened) while I stitched.  Stitching done, we broke to set up jerk chicken to marinate for dinner then it was on to prepping binding.  For that I got to use a new gadget:

Got to admit, this "Binding Eaze" by the Quilted Heartz ladies makes for easy pressing of the binding and keeps your fingers from the hot iron.  Once the binding was attached, everything was ready to be packed up for shipping to North Carolina. 

My MIL is doing the Fat Quarter Shop "Sewcialites 2" Quilt Along.  She normally doesn't like small blocks but is trying her hand at the 9" ones so I bought her a surprise gift of the logo charm to support her efforts.  

Then it was on to making dinner and then eating and watching the "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" we taped yesterday (neither of us have seen it before).  I had hoped to have finished the mug rug earlier so I could also get back to quilting the Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch today.  It's late now so I think that will have to wait until tomorrow!  

And So Starts the "7 Days of New Years" and Rolling to the End 2022

 

Meme by Greedo09

For me, this one was appropriate for two reasons.   While I did get my tree up.....

For some reason, the red lights photograph pink....

.....despite the best of intentions,  this is the only one of all the quilts I planned for Christmas decorating this year that is completely finished.

Temecula Quilt Co. "12 Days of Christmas"

The glory of what is now the "post holiday" season is that Christmas is back for me.  With the pressure of preparing for events and the events themselves now past (or in my case, a few cancelled at the last minute), now I get to spend this week finishing up the rest (or trying to anyway)!  

At the end of my last post, I talked about how I needed one more quilt for my plans.  Well, I found a real easy one.  I had heard of the "Disappearing Quilt Blocks" technique before but never saw it applied to a whole quilt until now:

I happened to catch April's video demonstrating how to make a "Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt" where the "block" is made up of Fat Quarters and knew this was just what I needed!  If you watch the video, you will find out that she originally saw the technique demonstrated (originated too?) by Darlene Michaud on her You Tube channel.  After watching hers, another video by Matt that also referenced Darlene's method was great for picking up a bunch of tips for choosing fabrics for making this quilt and planning their ultimate placement in the quilt top.  As a result, I managed to get this top done that day:

I also got the backing made for it, layered it, did the stabilizing stitching around the sections and came up with a plan to quilt the sections.  That was as far as I got.  Now that I can take my time, I'm hoping to definitely get this one finished this week. 

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas --- again!  

(Last) Trip Recap: Mini Quilt Retreat and a Special Stop on the Way Home

As noted in previous posts, my DH and I traveled to North Carolina for his last vacation of the year.  For the first part we camped and for the second part we visited my MIL.  She and I shop hopped during the first few days of our stay with her.  The remainder of our time was to be a mini quilt retreat for she and I.  Well, for all the shop hopping we did, I must say I got a lot less actual sewing done!   

Although it was not like that's what I planned to do:  as usual I took my trusty Featherweight (in the red tote I made some years ago) and a bag full of projects to work on:

Our stay was shortened due to the camping trip, the three days we spent shop hopping (and visiting a relative) and the need to leave a day earlier than we normally would have.  All of that cut into the time in the quilt room!  Sigh!!   

The first thing I set up to work on were the scraps I had brought that I am using for the APQ Scrap Happy QAL.  I wanted to continue adding to the blocks I had started making before we left home:

I managed to get ten blocks done during the trip.  I had hoped that I'd make enough blocks to be able to finish the whole top but I guess I'll still be working on those.  To help augment my scraps, I went through a big Rubbermaid tub of scraps my MIL had been holding for me.  After sorting through all the goodies and cutting some for use in my project, I bagged up the rest to take home for further sorting through:

I also brought the materials to get a travel-related project done.  Two years ago I made the large version of an iron travel tote for a Sunbeam travel iron I had at the time.

That tote was also big enough to carry a full size iron.  Unfortunately, that travel iron burnt out early this year so I purchased another mini iron to use at my sewing table and when traveling.  Not long after getting it, Gay Bomer at Sentimental Stitches offered a pattern for a cute little mini tote.  I really loved the idea of having a scaled down version to carry the new iron.  Knowing we'd be going to my MIL's, I kitted it up with fabrics from my stash to work on while there.

I'm very happy that I did manage to get this finished!  I also helped my MIL make one for her own mini iron made from some Tula Pink fabrics she bought on the Hop.  She was finishing it up when we left.

I had brought last year's Shop Hop book with me on this trip as I planned to work on one of the projects offered in that book and that I had purchased fabric for last year.  I also wanted to make Annie Unrein's "Piecekeeper" bag which was offered in this year's book (but can also be picked up free on her website).  I'll be making that one from fabrics from this year's Hop.

Well, all I got done was the cutting for both projects. 

And this was a chance to use a fun new notion!

I cut and appliqued two fussy cut motifs from another print onto that border print.  

That red fabric is one designed for last year's Hop that I was still able to purchase on the Hop this year.  The fabrics designed for this year were all sort of busy, big and bold motif prints and I wanted some of the colorful small print and tone-on-tone coordinates they had offered last year to fill out this project.  

Now that we're back home, I'm going to work on getting both of those bags done.  This way I can bring them on the next trip down to hold purchases and projects!  I had two other projects I planned to make using the Shop Hop themed fabrics that I also didn't get to as well as two other non-Shop Hop projects brought along.  One of those is a Halloween themed project that it looks like will have to be pushed forward onto next year's "To Do" list.

A Very Special Stop

On the way home I was able to indulge in a special treat!  I watch Pat Sloan's daily videos and as a Virginia resident, she often promotes the Virginia Quilt Museum.  In fact, right now she has a quilt auction going on with them for some of her quilts.  I've long wanted to go to the museum but always thought it was too far west in Virginia to be able to veer off course on our travel route either down or back.  However, this time when I mapped out our return trip,  I realized that it was not that far off the return route the GPS had mapped out for us.  So on the drive back, we stopped in!

Located in a 19th century house with it's own extensive history,  I got to view the exhibits on display.  What was cool is that two of Pat's auction quilts are hanging there.  One of them, "Hometown Charm" is the one that influenced me to augment the Minick & Simpson Pear BOM that I've been receiving kits for.   

My plan is to change the coloring of this to be similar to this. 

So cool to see the inspiration quilt in person!

As we were making our plans for the trip home,  I also happened to read Lori DeJarnett's Humble Quilts blog and learned that she too had a quilt on exhibit at the museum!  There is a group exhibit of quilts replicating the Buhl Bushong Quilt in the museum's collection.  

The antique quilt

So I got to see Lori's and other reproductions of the original quilt too!

Reproductions by Nancy Swanwick (in Grunge), Antonio Munoz, Lori DeJarnatt and Ellen Malenfant (in Kaffe)

The museum also has a great vintage machine collection....

....and a current exhibit of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) juried art quilts....

....as well as an exhibit of 9/11 blocks.

Another surprise nod to my own project intentions:  in my last post, I talked about shop hopping for fabrics to make a red and white version of this quilt:

Needless to say I was thrilled at discovering a blue and white version on display here!  Oooh, don't tempt me....

Big reproduction fabrics fan that I am, I also purchased raffle tickets to try to win a reproduction of a sampler crib quilt in the museum's collection:  

The antique...

The raffle reproduction

I am SO glad I had a chance to visit!!  Now that we are back home and October is coming to a close, I am setting up my project plans for November and the end of the year. 

Summer Recap: August

Trip To Maine and More Adventures in Cross Stitch

I've had a dream for a while to visit all the National Parks.  Or at least all the ones shown here:

Okay, maybe the panel was another factor in finalizing that dream!  It was also always part of the dream to do this in an RV.  DH and I have discussed the possibility of getting one for over ten years.  Now that our sons are grown (and one is out of the house), the prospects of just the two of us traveling has reignited the RV discussion.  Earlier this year we did make a final decision on the travel trailer we'd like but until recently still had the hurdle of getting a vehicle with the capacity to tow it (more on that at some point in the future).  So for now, we have to start "the park tour" by tent camping.  This is fine as I had mapped out all the parks on the East Coast.  

When discussing what to do for DH's August vacation, I suggested we try to get to one of the parks.  Given the immense heat this summer, going South was NOT an option!!  So Acadia in Maine became the choice for the first trip.   

We watched a bunch of You Tube videos about other people's experiences making the same trip so we would have an idea of things we might do while there.  We have now also decided that as part of our trip to North Carolina next month to visit his mother, we will take a couple of days and visit Great Smokey Mountain National park.  This way we get two of the parks in our East Coast swing checked off the list this year!  We went to our storage unit to review and organize our camping equipment and looked forward to traveling. 

A week before we were due to leave, I saw a You Tube video thumbnail picture of a project made by a Flosstuber I've watched before named Helen D.  It was a little pillow with the words:  "Loons, Lakes, Blueberries, Black Bears".  

From the research I had done for the trip, I had learned that Maine is known for Blueberries and Loons and there are lakes in the park so could this piece be about Maine?  Not only is it, but it had been a freebie design Helen had made for a Maine Stitch Get Together!  Needless to say it immediately went on the "must make" list!  Even better, I decided it might be cool to see if there will be a quilt shop near to where we would be camping that I might be able to find "Maine themed" fabrics for finishing the little project.  It is a given for me as a quilter to make a quilt shop stop where ever I travel!

After downloading the pattern,  I was able to pick up floss for the project before we left.  I did change up some of the colors used and where I would use some of the colors in the design.  I had a choice of two different Aida cloths in my burgeoning CS stash.  One was a white 14 count and the other was a Lori Holt 10 count in "Buttermilk".  Since they were different colors, I decided to wait until I could find the finishing fabrics to determine which I would use.   I also took the supplies on the trip in the event that once I got the finishing fabrics, I might be able to start work on the project at the campsite or in the car driving home.  

The Acadia trip was a blast!  My DH and I like to say that every view in the park is a postcard!

The shoreline near our campsite at Seawall.

The view at Otter Creek

Just after sunrise on Cadillac Mountain

Hiking around Jordon Pond

Excursion ships out of Bar Harbor

Acadia is one of the top ten most visited National Parks and the Bar Harbor area in Maine is a summer resort destination so in that first week of August, it was packed!!  Since we were only able to luck up on a two night camping spot (and that was only after checking back daily to see if any spots had opened up at all), we didn't get to see and do everything we wanted to.  So our plans now are to book early next year and try to get back there again so we can visit some of the sites and do some of the hikes we didn't get to this time.

On the cross stitch front,  I was able to pick up some Maine fabrics at a quilt shop in Bar Harbor called Fabricate.  Even better, the day we went there I learned that Nessa, one of the owners and who helped me find what I was looking for, is actually a former New Yorker!  However, I wasn't able to get the project started until after I got back home.  Fortunately, I had noted in my planner that Friday 8/12 was National Cross Stitch Day so figured that would be the perfect day to get it started.  

With the finishing fabrics I found, I decided to go with the Lori Holt Aida.  This was my first time using 10 count which will make the piece slightly larger than patterned.  It was really easy to stitch especially since I've learned to stitch using the "sewing method" which works better without a hoop.   I worked on it a little each day and by month end, the stitching was finished!

Of course there is still the "Fully Finished" work to do but I am already glad I got this done as a memento of our trip to Maine.  Additionally, I saw and purchased this cute pattern which I hope will become my first attempt at a  "full coverage" piece.  

I'd love to finish this as another pillow to add to our our camping setup (or our future RV when we get one)!   

 Fat Quarter Shop Simple Zipper Bag Gift

Back in 2016 the Fat Quarter Shop did a YouTube video with Sherri McConnel of "A Quilting Life" for making some "Simple Zipper Bags" Sherri designed.  I learned about it when Pat Sloan made the same bag and embellished it with a Bee applique she designed to make use of buttons she received from a FQS monthly Button Club mailing at the time.  I thought it cute and downloaded the info for a potential future project.  

It was two or three years later when one of the members of the community garden I belong to and with whom I did a lot of projects in the garden revealed how much she loved bees!  She was also always misplacing her keys and other things in the back pack she usually carried around with her so I thought it would be great to make the pouch for her using "Bee themed" fabric.  I picked up fat quarters with bees on them as I saw them.  Eventually, I lucked up on a mini charm pack that I felt coordinated perfectly with the fabrics I had already collected and would use it to create the bag front as the pattern directed.  I also added some additions from my stash to help round out the finishing.  

For a long time the remaining debate was what to use for the bee applique and whether to embellish it with buttons as Pat did.  

Then like most things in the last few years, COVID interrupted our garden attendance.  Even when the restrictions began to lift, the member was by then dealing with family issues so wasn't at the garden for all of 2021.  Then just before DH and I went on the Maine vacation,  I happened to see her and she said she expected to finish up her dealings and would soon be back in the garden regularly so I said  I'd see her again when we returned.  I then made plans to work on the pouch when we got back.  

On our way to put our camping supplies back in storage, we stopped by the garden.  The member who schedules the volunteer shifts was there and was surprised to see us since the scheduler said the woman had told her we were away on vacation.  The scheduler had re-assigned our shift to her and another member not realizing that we planned to be back in time to do the shift as promised!  So since we now had that Sunday "off",  I decided to use that time to make up the bag.

It's not a hard make so thought I could start it that same day and make it up quick enough to bring over to the garden before the member I was gifting it to left that day.  

Since I rushed to make it up, I also made some changes to the original plans.  To save some time, I decided not to do Pat's bee applique after all but instead fussy cut a motif from one of the bee prints I had collected and appliqued that to the back of the pouch on top of the bee fabric I had used there.  I did also add a mesh “pocket divider” which is something Pat did in her version.  Rather than the fabric zipper pull called for in the pattern, I added an empty clip and key ring I had so she could attach her garden keys to the pouch and also easily remove them when she needed to use them.  

Unfortunately, when I finished the bag and headed over to the garden to give it to her, I didn't quite make it in time to catch her before she left!  No matter, with the bag now done, I gave it to her the next time we were both in the garden together a couple of weeks later.    

So that's (finally) it for all the projects I worked on over the Summer!  Here's hoping I can bring some of what I reported on to a finish before the end of the year while keeping up on the current projects that are "front and center" as the Fall progresses!