To Do Tuesday - Two Days Late!

 I missed  the last two weeks of checking-in with Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt" for "To Do Tuesday".  Now due to technology problems,  I'm two days late to review how August finished up and to set up the agenda for September!

The past couple of weeks were as productive as the weeks that started the month but as always when they were done, there was still more to do!  

I also had a slight interruption as I decided at the last minute to sign up for this year's Free Motion Quilting Summit hosted by Mary Davis of Mary Go Round Quilts.  I had enjoyed last year's summit and picked up quite a few new stitch pattern ideas so joined in while the early registration discount was still in effect.  I'm glad I opted for the "All Access Pass" as I still have some videos from Day 2 and all the ones from Day 3 still to watch.  

So the things I was able to accomplish since my last To Do Tuesday report were as follows:

1.  Add the borders to the QOV top by adding "filler" to the strips sent in the kit.  That got done although it took way more days, time and thinking than planned!  

Then last week there was more to do here as I seemed to have messed up that lower right corner of the borders as you see in the picture.  I don't know why but that was the only border section like that and it was pretty wavy so had to be be opened up, trimmed and re-done.  I also pieced together the binding strips that were provided in the kit which was an easy enough task.  

I contacted the guild's charity quilt coordinator for instructions on where to send it and checking the tracking, see that it arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday.  Next it will be passed on to the guild's longarmer for quilting.  

After it's quilted, my MIL will probably put the binding on it unless they can wait until we go down to visit her in early October for me to add it myself.  The guild's QOV presentation event is in November.

2.  Continue the "Alaska" BOM block making.  

Did well on that too!  As before, I continued to sew up the blocks as I worked on the QOV top.  The good news is that I got them all done for the second month of this self-directed BOM!  

I also sewed up the four scrappy blocks I also cut out.  

So looks like I made the month-end deadline ahead of time for a change!  

3.  Focused on getting the QOV done and on the "Alaska" blocks, I'm not sure if the "Gathering A Garden" backing will get a push this week.  

Well contrary to expectations, once the QOV top was off the design wall, I did finally make  the backing for the "Gathering Garden" top that had been completed in July . 

I basically mimicked the front layout using strips to create the pieced backing.  The light strip will also serve as my label area.  I also already have a simple quilting plan for it.  However, I don't know if it'll move any further forward since I now have two deadline projects I need to work on.

4.  I have now gone back to working on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project. 

Definite progress on that:  I now have two pages of the pattern completed on this one!   

I still have three more pages to go and figure each will take at least a month.  This means I should get this done by the end of November and then hopefully can display it before the end of the year.  

Speaking of which, I also did some more shopping at my local "At Home" store that is closing and was lucky enough to find the perfect size frame for this!

A $10 score that I'm hoping to mount the finished piece onto the board in the frame.  What I'm not sure at this point is whether I can do that and still have it under the glass or will have to remove it.

So moving forward for the start of September:

1.  I now need to get September's "Alaska BOM" blocks cut and ready for leader/ender sewing.

2.  I will resume stitching on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project.  However, once again I won't be "monogamous stitching" this month because I have something new I've decided to add to the cross stitch rotation.... 

3.  Continuing work on a new holiday cross stitch project.

The Fat Quarter Shop had done a Quilt and Stitch Along for "Christmas In July" called "Up On the Rooftop".  While I downloaded the free patterns, I hadn't planned to do either since I already have two Christmas quilts that need quilting and had finished last year's "Letters To Santa" cross stitch for CIJ this year.  

However, thinking now about how things will be displayed, I realized that another piece that could go along with "Letters" would help fill the space where I want to hang it.  I also plan to incorporate the "Patchwork Bow" I had made for Melva's "CIJ Blog Hop" into the display as well.

What pushed this to the forefront was that the "called for" fabric was the same used for "Letters" and I had enough of it left over to make up the new one.  Once I saw the finished design, I liked that it seemed like a relatively quick and easy stitch.  I also liked the look of the Classic Colorworks "fancy floss" it was stitched up in.  I like hand dyed flosses but since they are more expensive than DMC I need good reasons to stash them.  Needless to say, this seemed like a good enough reason, LOL! 

Once the threads arrived, I got started on it during the last few days of August and did a little more on Labor Day.  

4. Make a quilt to raffle at the community garden Art Show.  

At our monthly meeting two Saturday's ago, the President of our community garden announced that they'd like to try to hold another of the garden's Art Shows and want me to participate.  A date hasn't been formally set yet but I've thought about my display theme which will be "Fall Quilts".  

Everyone would like me to sell quilts but it's too short notice to think about making something for that.  However, I can make another "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" to raffle off like last time.  It just so happens that I already had a fall themed FQ bundle that I purchased on a Shop Hop back in 2023.  This design is quick to make and hopefully to quilt with tips from the Summit so I could be ready for when a show date is announced.  

5.  Start work on the Children's Tumbler quilt for the North Carolina guild's donation efforts.  

I had picked up the set of pre-cut tumbers shown above from the Charity Coordinator back in February.  While down there I also got the backing (on the top right).  I had also purchased a light fabric to make more Tumblers and another for a coordinating border fabric.  Unfortunately, I decided to use those in another project so then had to purchase the replacements shown.  

I have the same Accuquilt die that was used for the pre-cuts so plan to cut more out of the light fabric and work out a pleasing arrangement in EQ8 while I work up the raffle quilt on the design wall.  I want to get this one made up and quilted so I can take it down with me in October completed and ready for donation.   I feel like it's a doable project but it means I have to plan it out in order to be sure to stay on track.

So with a list slightly longer than in the past few weeks, I'll stop here so I can amble back over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt and check out the plans everyone else has more promptly posted for "To Do Tuesday" for the coming week!

To Do Tuesday: August Is Moving Right Along.....

It's time for another "To Do Tuesday" check-in with everyone gathering at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" to share their project progress!

Last week had some twists and turns to what I thought were simple project plans.  On last week's list were the following:

1.  Finish the QOV top.

I thought I was ready to get right to work on putting the top together after finding a batik in another project's stash to fill in the empty spots for blue fabrics for my layout. 

However my MIL called and I sent pictures of the layout with the new fabric and she agreed with me that while the batik worked okay it wasn't great.  She also told me that the August deadline was loose: as long as it was in by the end of the month I was fine so still had some time to get it done.  

She looked through her stash and offered to send me something else that might work.  However she was going away for the weekend so wouldn't be able to mail the fabric out until this week.  I resigned myself to a big delay in working on it.  However, I soon realized I actually had the perfect replacement sitting under my nose all along!  Ironically,  I had shown it in the top of the kit picture whenever I blogged about it.

Turns out that print was the one to keep the project moving!  When I had picked up the kit in February, the guild's charity quilt rules were that if you made a top, you had to also supply a backing for it to be submitted to the guild's longarmer for quilting and who would supply the batting.  I had found a great wide-back print while down there so purchased it (and some extra for my own stash) with the intention of using it to send back with the finished top for the backing.  

Well the problem with being a long distance member is that I am not there to hear updates at the meetings.  My MIL had let me know that they've changed the charity quilt rules:  Now you make the top and send it along with $20 and the longarmer will handle the backing, batting and the quilting!   So I had separated the backing fabric from the kit stash and basically forgot about it.  Fortunately I saw it as I went looking for something and realized it was the perfect fabric to add to the layout!

So the good news is that the center of the top is now pieced together!

There is more work to be done on it but I'll cover that in the "To Do" list for this coming week.   

2.  The "Alaska" blocks will take second position and be the leader/ender project for the QOV top.  

More good news, in the course of sewing the center of the QOV top together I managed to get two "Alaska" blocks done:

So now I have six more blocks to sew.   Since I'm doing these in "Block of the Month" fashion, I have the rest of the month to work on the remaining blocks.   

3.  "Fully finishing" a Cross stitch project:  My local At Home store is closing so I went in to try to find a frame for a recent finish.  Fortunately I found one!  So I'd like to work on this and get it hung up. 

More good news:  this is now "fully finished"!

I discussed the finishing details here.

4.  I spoke last week about having finished a top for an old project and wanted to look into what I have for finishing it (backing and binding).  

"Gathering A Garden Is A Snap"

I've narrowed down the stash of fabrics related to this to what you see here.  

Some or all of the fabrics on the right will be used to make up the backing while the fabrics on the left are binding choices.  

Alot of the time spent sorting was reminding myself that I wanted to make another "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" quilt like the one I donated for a raffle back in 2023.  Many of the fabrics for that one came from this same stash of fabrics.  So any full FQ cuts were put aside for that future project.  

Coming up for this week:

1.  Add the borders to the QOV top.  Turns out this is presenting a new challenge!  The border fabric was sent in the kit but it is only three strips!  So now I am figuring out ways to add "filler" to the strips I have to make all the borders.

2.  Continue the "Alaska" BOM block making.  I also cut four scrappy blocks that I want to get sewn up too.  As before, I have the rest of the month to work on these so how ever many get done is progress.

3.  Right now since I'm focused on getting the QOV done and on the "Alaska" blocks, I'm not sure if the "Gathering A Garden" backing will get a push this week.  However, if I get inspired, I have no problem doing so!

4.  Having finished "Craft Supply Lies", I have now gone back to working on my "New York Skyline" cross stitch project which is my "monogamous stitch" for the rest of the month.

So still keeping a short list and feeling very focused for the coming week!  You can check out (or join in!) what everyone else is gearing up to work on this week by hopping over to Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" for another installment of "To Do Tuesday"!  

Slow Sunday Stitching: A May-nia Project Fully Finished!

Good morning on a sunny Sunday for a quick "Slow Sunday Stitching" check-in with the good crafty folks over at Kathy's Quilts!

Last night I finally "fully finished" my "Craft Supplies and Other Lies" piece!

I had started stitching this for "May-nia", continued it during "Red, White and June" and completed the tail end of it along with resuming work on another piece for "Christmas In July".   After that I found a frame that I liked and decided to go the route of mounting it on it rather than putting it in it.  

I debated a long time about how exactly to go about that.  In the end, I mounted the piece on some foamcore and batting and laced it in place.  It needed a little something around the edge so I made some cording from the flosses it is stitched with using the Clover tool purchased awhile back.  

Then I nailed it to the wooden patterned surround in the frame using brads.  The hope was that the nail heads would disappear between the fabric threads which went fine for all but one corner that took some tugging to cover.  I  know it's a little skewed on the surround but I think I can live with that --- well, I'll see if I still feel that way after a few days (or weeks) of looking at it displayed, LOL.   

So with that done, I am now ready to get back to some stitching!  I haven't stitched on anything since finishing the "CIJ" piece.  Now to fill my evenings,  I am going back to another "May-nia" start:  New York Skyline by XstitchByTA.

This is how far I've gotten on the next page of the pattern (it is a total of five pages).  I expect this to fill my days through the Fall and probably right through the start of the actual Christmas season --- not the shopping season which will probably begin in earnest in the next week or so, LOL!!

To see what other crafters have filled their stitchy days with (or to add yours!), head over to Kathy's Quilts for this week week's "Slow Sunday Stitching" link up to see what others are whipping up in their craft spaces! 

To Do Tuesday: August Is Off To A Good Start!

 The temperatures have cooled greatly and I've been on a roll setting up things to work on!  So I am going to continue to check in with Carol's "To Do Tuesday" at her blog "Quilt Schmilt".  It seems to be my good luck charm lately!

Checking in with the things on last week's list:

1.  After speaking to my MIL and finding out about the August deadline to turn in the top for the QOV donation kit that I took,  my plan last week was to get it made up stat!  

NOT DONE!

While it's a pretty easy design and I had hoped to get it made up by the end of last week, I hit a snag.  The kit was pre-cut but when I laid out the fabrics provided, I found that there were way fewer blue rectangles than anything else.  As a result it took me awhile to go through my general stash and other project kits to see if I had something I could add to it.  The only blue fabric I had that I liked with the others was this one:

This is a batik that was in with my "Catch" Alaskan Sampler project that I haven't worked on since 2017.  However, I had this fabric slated to go into a block in that project.  The good news was that reading through the block instructions now, I saw that I had more than enough fabric to fulfill both desires!  And of course, picking up the project again, I couldn't resist making the block up just to get it out of the way and move that project a little further forward:

It's the block pictured on the lower right on the book cover.

Well, I made up the pieced portion of it anyway -- there is a Polar Bear applique that also has to be added to it.  I haven't done the appliques for any of the blocks I've made for this project because I still need to decide if I will do those in cotton or in wool.  

I had embarked on this project back when my DH and I were big fans of the TV show "Deadliest Catch" about Alaskan Crab fleet fishermen.  We haven't watch the show in years but when I looked it up, turns out a new season of it just premiered last Friday!  So I've set the episode (and the season) to record.  Maybe this was a sign from the Quilt Muses to return to this project, LOL!  We'll see if I'll pick this up again.  

And now that I've cut and laid out the blue pieces for the QOV top, I'll continue work on that this week. 

Although the layout might still need a little tweaking.

2.  I had made a Fat Quarter Gypsy - Sew Organized Design "Stacking Pop-up" bucket to use in our tent when we went camping for the Fourth of July weekend.  It's the second one of these types of bucket that I have made and last week the plan was to make a third for my Featherweight's travel kit.  

That DID get done and both were reported on here!

3.  My last task for last week was to cut out the next set of "Alaska" blocks for this month's DIY BOM progress.  

That too is done!

As noted previously I am making the red, cream, blue and pink version of Edyta Sitar's popular design.  I'll be making the same basic style Kaleidoscope blocks as I did last month but the blocks needed this time will be colored differently.

This time too, I have to piece a "left" and "right" version.

I am also continuing to make the scrappy Kaleidoscope blocks too so cut scraps and parts for a few more of those as well.

I didn't note before that the scrappy blocks are cut with the Small Kaleidoscope ruler that I had to purchase in order to make pieced triangles for the larger BOM blocks.  I'll need to use both rulers to make next month's "Alaska" blocks!  

The good news is that with everything cut out, I should be able to stay on track with this even if I only have as little as fifteen minutes to work on them on any given day.  

So this week's (still) short "To Do" list is to: 

1.  Finish the QOV top.

2.  The "Alaska" blocks will take second position and be the leader/ender project for the QOV top.  They don't need to be completely finished this week since I have the whole month to work on them.  

3.  Cross stitch is coming back into the project queue:  My local At Home store is closing so I went in to try to find a frame for one of my recent finishes.  Fortunately I found one!

So I'd like to work on "fully finishing" this one and get it hung up. 

4.  I spoke last week about having finished a top for an old project:

"Gathering A Garden Is A Snap"

I want to look into what I have for finishing this in terms of backing and binding choices.  I've also already thought about how I want to quilt it (simple straight-line cross hatch) so I might even try to get it layered if I can also get my cutting table cleared off!

So that's it for me this week!  Now to head back over to Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" and see what everyone else is up to for this week's "To Do Tuesday"!

Slow Sunday Stitching: The End of "Christmas In July"

With July drawing to a close,  I managed to finish the "Christmas in July" cross stitching for this month just in time.  So I am joining in over at Kathy's Quilts for a little "Slow Sunday Stitching" show and tell!

First off a stitching finish:  the Fat Quarter Shop's "Letters To Santa" pattern is done!

Stitching on Aida and then being able to go back to "mongamous stitching" this past week helped get this done.  At this point, I don't know how I want to "fully finish" it.  I might take cues from how FQS did theirs:

I'm particularly eyeing the bow on it since I just did a project for a blog hop and made a Patchwork Bow using Liza Taylor's tutorial:

Although it is patterned using 2-1/2" cut squares, she says you could use any size squares.  So I could see using one or half inch finished squares to make another bow to use for finishing the cross stitch piece.  Once I decide where and how I want to display it for the holidays,  I can make more decisions about the "fully finishing" of it.

And speaking of "fully finishes":  My little "Christmas Log Carrier" ornament is now done!

I was supposed to stitch this as part of "CIJ" last year but didn't get to start it until the end of August.  During a few spaced out stitching sessions (probably between other projects), I finished it in October.

The pattern finishing just called for putting some seam sealant on the edges and turning under the handle loops and glueing them in place.  However I wanted to finish it just a little more so first cut some fusible interfacing to secure the back of the stitching:

Next I cut some coordinating holiday fabric so I could line it.  I really liked this fabric but it was directional so I seamed two pieces together so that I could make a lining piece where the print would run vertically on both sides.  

I stitched them together along what had been the cutting lines, leaving the handle ends open and an opening on one side so I could turn all the edges in and so no sealant was needed!  I edge stitched the opening closed and all around the edge and stitched the "handles" down to form loops.  

Last step was to find some wooden dowels for the handles.  I didn't have a dowel the size I needed on hand but did have something that worked perfectly in its place:

It pays to hold on to some of these chopsticks after all!  I cut a chopstick down into two pieces the size I needed.  Then it was finding some ribbon in my stash and Cinnamon sticks from the pantry and this little ornament is now done!

I look forward to seeing what everyone has for this last "Slow Sunday Stitching" for July over at Kathy's Quilts!   

Slow Sunday Stitching: "Christmas In July" Stitching Has Started!

I'm checking in for the first time this month over at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching"!

In my report for the end of June,  I talked about unfinished projects for that month and the plan to start on projects for "Christmas In July".  Since July 1st was on a Tuesday,  my hope was to use the last Sunday and Monday of June to finish up the stitching of at least two of those projects.  Good news, one of them -- Primrose Cottage's "Home of the Brave" -- did get done!

No plans as yet as to when I will "fully finish" this one.

Then we had a camping trip over the 4th of July weekend to Letchworth State Park here in New York which was great!  It is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" for the large gorge that was cut through the area over time by the Genesee River that bisects the park.  

These are the "Middle Falls" and there are an Upper and Lower set as well.

A view of another part of the gorge from one of the outlooks.

On the trip we learned something new to us:  the Genesee actually flows north from Pennsylvania to Rochester in Northern New York State to empty out into Lake Ontario.  That makes it one of the 48 rivers in 16 different states that do that.  This happens because rivers flow downhill so they will flow towards the lowest elevation which can sometimes be north of the river's source or headwaters.  

The Appalachian Mountain range (the "Rocky Mountains of the East") extends from Alabama up to Canada and this part of New York State lies west of the range so the land in the Genesee Valley area slopes from there.  

Image courtesy of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Mount Morris Dam exhibit

On the trip I took my "camping project":  Emma Congdon's Stitchrovia "Open Your Heart To New Adventures".  I have been working on this one since 2023 and on our last trip for Memorial Day I had stitched half of a page of it (the fourth one I've worked on of this six page pattern) so had hoped to finish that page on this trip.

I did get the page done but only got to work on about half of that remaining half page during one campfire session and the drives up and back during the portions when I wasn't driving.  I finished the rest of the page once we were back home.

Now this project will be put away again until our next trip in late September.  My hope is to complete whatever is still unfinished after that during our annual Fall trip in October to visit my husband's mother in North Carolina.

With all that aside,  I was then ready to start back in on my "Christmas In July" stitching:  the Fat Quarter Shop's "Letters to Stanta"!  

I had expected to be "monogamous stitching" on it this month.  However,  I only had some filler stitching left to do to complete another June project.  So instead,  I worked on both in the hope of completing them both by the end of the month.  So there's more good news now because the "Craft Supplies Lies" project from June is also now done!

Although I have to say,  doing the filler stitching in that bottom box wasn't easy!  In a recent "Two Tall Stitchers" flosstube,  Carol and Jen's closing "Viewers Poll" question was:  "Do you love or hate stitching big blocks of the same color?".  In the past I would have said that while it can be a little boring, it is a necessary evil.  

However, for some reason (probably the "Are We There Yet?!? of it all),  this took so much longer and was harder to do than anticipated!  Not to mention, I kept getting off count on the Linen threads as I filled in the black stitches around the letters.  It got to a point where I only felt up to stitching on it for no more than 30 minutes at a time and often wanted to stop at fifteen!  It wasn't until I was down to the last word that it finally clicked in and I was able to get through it less painfully than the way it started!!  Now I'm glad that's over and I can go shop for a frame to finish this in.

As for the holiday project, after the last two months of stitching on Evenweave and Linen, the return to working primarily on Aida -- even if it is on a dark Charcoal fabric which usually has it's own challenges -- is a pleasant and faster-to-stitch reprieve!  So as of today,  I've finished another page of it and now only have one more left to do:

So that's it for me this week!  My quilting plans for "Christmas In July" have taken a bit of a back seat to cross stitch as the hubby has been home on vacation this past week and will be so this week as well.  With only a little less than two more weeks of the month to go,  I hope I can squeeze in some time for that either in between or once this last bit of cross stitch is completed!    

Now to go check in on what goodies others are working on this week at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching"!