To Do Tuesday: Batting Two for Four!

As I am trying to stay on top of things this year, I am finding that Carol's weekly "To Do Tuesday" link up on her blog "Quilt Schmilt" is helping keep me accountable. 

So last week, I had made a list of the "Flexible Four" items I wanted to tackle.  How did I do?

#1 and #3.   Layer, baste and quilt the Committee quilt top (finished last week) and start work on my friend's memory quilt. 

Nope, didn't get to either of these.  For the quilt that needs to be basted, I was still debating on which batting to use.  Fortunately something I did get done this week has helped make that decision (more on that next).  

2.  Start the next Committee quilt.   As noted in previous posts, these are quilts I am making as gifts for the Steering Committee members of my community garden.  I did get the top for the next one done.  

Just a peek for now!

Once again, I am cropping the picture for now as these are gifts.  The backing fabrics are also picked and I have a layout.  

Ironically, this was the project that I was "flexible" about not working on until this week if I was too busy with the others.  However, once I started thinking about the fabrics, it grabbed my attention and held it.  

In as much as I love the "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" design I am using to make these, while the sewing of them is quick, choosing the fabrics and where to place them takes far longer than it does to sew it together!  As I noted in the first "To Do" post for this year, I usually would lay the potential fabrics out on the design wall and then print out a picture to cut up and test the final layout.  With my printer currently out of commission, I instead imported the fabric images into EQ8 to create potential layouts.  Since it is essentially a giant "block",  I had to format it in the software as such instead of as a "quilt made up of blocks". 

It took a long time to choose which one to go with!  What I did do after this one was finalized is type up some notes about what I have learned about this process from the now six tops I have made in this design in the hopes that as I make the next one, I can make the process go a little faster.

#4 was a cross stitch one:  start my next cross stitch project for decorating.  I only got to do a little prep on this one.  The plan is to make this project:

And I had already picked out this 16 count Aida fabric for it with the intention being to make the piece to go into this frame.  

The fabric was leftover from another project and the debate last week was whether I could reformat the design and stitch it as one vertical piece.   Unfortunately while the piece of fabric was long enough to create the three images in the pattern, it was not wide enough as a vertical piece to stitch the images as one long, continuous piece and space them to fall within the frame openings.  However it was big enough to split it into three separate pieces to fit the frame openings.

They are all prepped including finishing the edges by serging them.  

So this week's "To Do" list is pretty much a repeat of last week's:

Quilting

1.   Layer, baste and quilt the Committee quilt top from two weeks ago.  Now that I have the second top ready and will soon have a backing for it,  I've decided to use the Twin size cotton batting I already have to layer this quilt.  I will use the cutoffs to start a "Franken-batt" for the second quilt.

2.  Finish the backing and make a "Franken-batt" for the second Committee quilt.  If I could get it layered too that would be a plus!

3.  Start work on my friend's memory quilt.   I admit I am a little worried for this one.  My friend's birthday is next month and my DH and I are also due to head down to my MIL's the week before it so at this point, I really need to get this in gear!  Even if I can get it just to the point of a designed layout that would be a big plus for this project.

Cross Stitch   

4.  Start stitching "Happy Home" as my next cross stitch project.  Now that I have the fabric prepped, I have to review the pattern and work out the centering of the words and images as individual pieces.  Once that's done, I can then start on the stitching. 

So that's it for me this week.  Now that I've reported in, I'll go over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt blog and check out what every one else will be working on this week!

7 Days of New Year's - Day 7: Happy New Year!!

    

Image by starline @ www.freepik.com

A very Happy New Year to everyone!  Here's hoping that we all have another fruitful year doing the things we love with and for the people we love!

Today marks the end of another  "7 Days" series.  I wasn't able to work on anything or post for Day 6.  DH was off from work so we took the opportunity to make an early run to the warehouse clubs and the supermarket.  Once back home, we needed to defrost and reorganize our auxiliary freezer to fit all the stuff we brought home.  The rest of the day and night was spent fielding calls or texts with New Year's wishes and watching the annual "Thin Man" movies and "Odd Couple" marathons so crafting was knocked off the list of activities for the day!  

And although DH is still off from work today, I'm hoping to start off the year the way I want it to continue: by working on moving some more projects either forward or to a finish!   I had originally planned to try to work on quilting a quilt for Day 6.  For the past few months I've had these three sitting on the back of my sewing table:

The front two (Steering Committee Gift #2 and "Over and Down Under") are partially quilted.  The back one ("Roaring Waves") is layered and pin basted.  The problem with that one is that I am still struggling with deciding on how to quilt it.  

I was tempted to continue the quilting on "Over and Down Under" which is the furthest along.  However, when I last stitched on it, I was still having some issues quilting it with the monofilament thread I was using on top.  Also because I used a National Parks panel in the backing of it,  I really wanted to complete it along with the blocks I started for Pat Sloan's "Ode to Our National Parks" Block Wednesday sew along.  So I think I'll leave both of those projects to work on at another time.  

So resuming the quilting on the "Steering Committee Quilt" it is!   I do have a good reason and incentives for getting this one finished now.  First is that I am not sure why I stopped in the first place!  I had picked out a “square loops” motif that is sometimes also called “circuit board” that I think was influenced by all the squares and rectangles of the piecing:

I thought it was one of those "mindless" designs that really shouldn't have been hard to execute but then I think I got "into my head" as I worked on it.  Looking back at my journal for this project,  I see that I had originally made it to be a second raffle quilt to offer for our community garden's Art Show in 2023.  However, I was "down to the wire" trying to finish it up so was "stress stitching" and of course got frustrated when it wasn't stitching out as quickly as hoped.  Someone once said to me that I must have a lot of patience to make quilts but obviously they aren't around to see me when it comes time to quilt them, LOL!!  Once I gave up on meeting the deadline, it got pushed aside to work on more immediately needed projects.  

Back in August last year (feels odd to say that right now!) when I attended the "Free Motion Quilting Summit"  virtual workshop series, one of the instructors demonstrated this very same stitch pattern.  Watching someone else do it, I was reminded that it really wasn't that difficult a stitch pattern and vowed to get back to it.  I put it on the schedule a couple of times and even took it down with me to try to stitch on while visiting my MIL in October.  Unfortunately, things have been busy up until now so it's finally time to make good on that vow.

The incentive for getting this one done is that this quilt is part of two quilt series:  one is that it is another of my now favorite "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" quilts.  After discovering this easy piecing design, I've finished two, one of which was the one raffled off and won by one of the members of my community garden's Steering Committee.  Since it had been in my plans for a while to make a quilt for each of them,  now that one of them already had one,  I was prompted to get in gear on making the remaining ones.  I already have FQ bundles picked out and organized for the other three I need to make.  So getting this one done would be an incentive to then get the others pieced up, quilted and hopefully gifted before our Spring season starts in March.  

So that's the plan for today! Oh, that and baking the new set of peanut butter cookies to mail in my MIL's package tomorrow.   Here's hoping that you have plans for working on things that will start you off in the direction you want to head for this new year! 

8:30 PM Update:  Quilting Is Done!  

Guess there is something to be said for taking a break from a project.  Will try to bind it tomorrow.

February Recap: Part 1 - A Little Cross stitch Talk

Wow, last month was a busy one for a lot of reasons.  Primarily, things were in a jumble because my DH and I had plans to spend the second half of it visiting his mother in North Carolina.  For those that had seen the icon on my side bar these last few months, you already know that part of those plans were to also partake in a big special event but more on that later.  Now that we are finally back, it's time to recap all the doings that happened both before and while we were away.

There were a lot of quilty things I needed to work on last month but I admit I did not do great on that front so more on that later too.  Thankfully though, before we left I did get some things both done and started on the cross stitch front. 

With regards to an existing project I have a finish:  

The stitching was completed on my "Year of the Dragon" cross stitch piece (link is to the PDF version but it is also available as a printed pattern).  I also pulled more fabrics from my Asian fabrics stash to choose for the "fully finishing" part of this project.  

The plan is to make it into a stuffed lantern ornament.  I didn't get to work on that before we had to leave so it was one of the things I packed to take with me in the hopes that I could finish it while away.

With that "New Years" stitching project from January now done, I decided to start on some Black History month stitching for February. 

Last year I had purchased the cross stitch kit for the Fat Quarter Shop's "Stronger Together" project.  Their "Stronger Together" campaigns support the United Negro College Fund.  I had purchased it for a chance to try stitching on a "dark" base fabric, something I had heard others say is a bit challenging to do.  For this year's campaign, I purchased the fabric pack because I want to make the quilted version.  

For that I was still in need of some background fabrics so planned to shop for those while away.

Back to the cross stitch front:  One of the earliest cross stitch projects I had kitted up was this Harriet Tubman design by the Primitive Hare from her "women who made history" series.  

I'm hoping to hang this one with a display of my Civil War reproduction quilts.  Both of these "in progress" cross stitch projects were also taken with me on our trip in the hopes of continuing work on them either during the drive down and back or in the evenings while there.  I admit I also hoped that I might even finish them up!

There's so much more to report for the month still to come, so stay tuned!!

Quiltville Mystery Season: Indigo Way Part 3

And the mystery continues!  If you are following along on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery "Indigo Way",  you can pick up the latest clue here.  Remember, these links will only be on her blog while the mystery is current.  If you are interested in working on this later on, download the clues now.  Once the mystery is over, Bonnie will "retire" them as a pattern in her online store.  Also take an opportunity to check out the sights and sounds of Vietnam that Bonnie shares from her trip there that inspired this year's mystery design.  

Those that are working on Part 3 will now be making what Bonnie calls "Split Half-Square Triangles" and gives instructions for making them using rotary cutting methods and her "Essential Triangle Tool".  I know this block as the "Shaded Four Patch" because that's what Deb Tucker calls them and I use the methods from one of her technique sheets to make them.  

I've also seen this block called "Cat's Cradle" and there is a Creative Grids ruler to make them which I know about because I had purchased one as a Christmas gift for my MIL a few years back.  Lastly, if you follow the great You Tube videos of Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts, she calls them "Mary's Triangles" and has a PDF tutorial on her website explaining her technique for piecing them.  It's great that there are so many ways to accomplish this task so use the one that works best for you!  

As for me, my mystery season is moving along --- just not as efficiently as I had hoped!  My plan for the season has been to finish up the mystery tops I've already made.  The first of those that I have worked on has been "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".  The plan for this week was to get it layered and basted and start on the quilting.  While the basting is now done....

.....but it was a bit of a trial to get it there!  Last week I noted that I didn't have a lot of basting pins free at the moment because I have other basted quilt sandwiches sitting around in various stages of being or waiting to be quilted.  I was able to get the center of "Cotton Boll" basted with the pins I had free and ordered another set while doing some Cyber Monday shopping.  Unfortunately, when that set arrived, it turned out that they were not quite enough to complete the task!   

I had ordered a pack 50 pins -- yeah right, that only got me through basting one corner of this quilt!!  Needless to say I then had to run out and purchase another set.  I figured that if 50 pins got me through one corner, I'd need 150 to complete the other three.  The Joann's I went to only had packs of 100 or 300 so of course I got the latter.  Guess how many I had left when I finished the basting:

Yeah, used them ALL up, LOL!!  I will also say that when I finally got it all basted and turned the quilt sandwich over to check the back, I had some significant pleats pinned in on one side (how'd that happen?!?).  A similar thing had happened when I made my "Civil War Strippie" back in 2021 although not for the same reason.  So just like back then,  I had to put in straight pins from the back to isolate the area, turn the sandwich over, remove the basting pins in that section in the front and re-pin that area, making sure that the backing was pulled taunt.  Sigh!  Oh what we have to do to "birth" a quilt!!

However, now that it's ready for quilting, I am not resting on my laurels.  Since the cutting table will be empty while I work on quilting "Cotton Boll",  I've already pulled out the next mystery top I want to work on.  That will be "Old Tobacco Road" that was finished up back in 2021.  

Surveying the supplies I have for this one, I saw that I had a Twin Size batting sitting with the top and backing.  However, I had not written down the measurements of the top.  Taking them now, I see that it is a little larger than Twin Size.  The good news there is that the Queen-size batting I had used for "Cotton Boll" had been a little larger than I needed and I had cut a significant strip off of it during the layering process.  Luckily enough, that strip is wide and long enough to provide the extensions I need for the "Tobacco Road" batting!  So after I press the top and backing, I will be doing a little "Frankenbatting" work before I get the layering for that quilt under way.   

This will also help keep me on task for the "Cotton Boll" quilting since I will need the pins I remove from that one to use to layer the next one!!  Here's hoping that everyone is enjoying a little "mystery season magic" along with their Holiday Cheer!  

The Start of This Year's Quiltville Mystery Season!

All the Quiltville fans like me were tuned in to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site today because....

...Part 1 of the new "Indigo Way" mystery has dropped!  Bonnie says this year's mystery was influenced by her experiences traveling in Vietnam.  I was soooo tempted to do this one because the colorway is Indigo Blue, Red and Neutrals, a color scheme I love to work in.   If you are starting on the mystery now, you are making Half Square Triangles for this part.  Bonnie gives you instructions for rotary cutting them either the traditional way or using her "Essential Triangle Tool".  I see that if I make this one in the future, I have a die to cut them the size needed.  That would also take care of removing the "dog ears" from the finished HSTs like she suggests. 

If you are not doing the mystery now, the good news is that you can pick up the instructions now and file them away for when you are ready to make it.  I've made many a Quiltville design long after the mystery premiered so now or later, it will still be a gem!  

Also note: Bonnie is giving a 30% discount on her digital patterns.  She says this is the last sale of the year on her site so if you've coveted any of her patterns, go to the post and pick up the discount code and instructions for use!   If you would like to get the "Essential Triangle Tool" she is also giving a discount on "Notions and Tools" purchases too.

As for me, in my last post I talked about how I plan to spend this year's mystery season taking the tops for the previous mysteries that I have pieced and get them to finished quilts.  However, I still had one more top to complete: "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".  Earlier this week I trimmed, stay stitched and measured the top and then started work on sewing up the pieced outer borders:

By Wednesday I had finished piecing all the borders.  Part of that meant also making corner units out of the extra side border parts although I had some extra strip pieced units I had put aside for this purpose as well.

I had tried comparing the finished borders and the top measurements to determine how wide to cut the inner border but it was hard to get an accurate read on it so I just cut them the width Bonnie suggested and figured I could cut them down if needed.  

The good news there was that the size she gave for cutting them was the same size strips that Fabric Cafe calls for their "3 Yard Quilt Economy Binding" and one of those was the last quilt top I pieced.  So I already had my Stripology ruler marked with GE Designs Ruler Stickers for the "shift cutting" I needed to do to get the width of strips I needed.  BTW, Bonnie also has these stickers in her "Notions & Tools" section so they are on sale if you need some!

After applying the inner borders, I actually wound up extending the top border and one side border by a pieced strip, taking a border piece off the bottom border and the last side border needed no adjustment at all!  The good news is that in the end, it all worked out and the borders are all on and now this old mystery top is also complete!  

The backing fabric is also already in house.  Aren't these just perfect for this?

I lucked up on them all the way back in 2019 and even better they were on sale.  In addition to making up the backing, there is also one other thing I have to do.  Literally, the same week I purchased the backing fabric, I happened to catch an episode of Georgia Bonesteel's "Lap Quilting" show from 1987 on You Tube.  She was talking about her "Cotton Boll Quilt" in the episode and this flashed on the screen:

Oh boy!  I was thrilled because my first thought was "Quilt Label"!!  I traced the image off of the screen to copy the applique design.  

So now I have to audition fabrics for it so I can stitch it up.  BTW, in a recent Pat Sloan video she mentioned that Georgia Bonesteel will be doing the December Birthday Block of the Month for the Quilt Alliance.  If you are a member (and you should be), you will be able to revisit Georgia's work and her many years of influence in the quilt industry.  

I had been wondering which of the mystery tops I'd work on first.  It looks like I will continue with "Cotton Boll" until it's a complete finish.  With its Red, White and Pink color scheme, it goes with the Christmas decorating I will do this year -- a rehash of last year's Red and White scheme.  So when this is done, it can be my holiday bed quilt!  Works for me!!  

The First Moving It Forward Monday For November

 Ahhh, another month has started and we are moving quickly towards the end of the year.  So it's time to see what I have going on for this month and what I hope to get done before it ends.

Quilting

On the quilting front there are a few things that I hope to push to completion by the end of the month.  For starters, I haven't even begun to decorate for the Fall.  Part of the reason is that I really want to finish this "Thankful" wall hanging to start that off.  

As I reported in my last post, I had taken the center of the top which was finished last year with me on our recent vacation.  I had managed to put the borders on while away and now that we're back, wanted to really try to move it forward.  

Today I made the backing for it.  I had a nice piece of fabric but it needed additional strips at the top and bottom to bring it to size and allow for extra for the quilting take up.  I did that and added in a light piece into the bottom strip (the background fabric used in the blocks on the front) for a label area.  

I also gave some thought to how I wanted to quilt it.  I think I want to try curved cross hatching in the setting triangles since I've never done that before.   Next up will be layering it and then hopefully I will get this quilted in the next week or so.

A Bunch of "3 Yard Quilts"

Also while away, I had started work on a Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilt that started with fabric I had leftover from a previous project.  I had originally thought I was going to make this in their usual lap size.  However, after realizing I had quite a bit of the "focus fabric",  I decided to enlarge it to Twin size.  I had finished piecing the blocks by the end of October and in the first few days of November, got the top all sewn together.

This is the "Heartland" quilt from the "Pretty Darn Quick" book.

I already have the backing for this but don't think I'll quilt it just yet.  I also have another 3 Yard Quilt top that was made while I was away but it too will have to wait its turn for quilting.  The reason for that is that I have yet another 3 Yard Quilt that would be great to finish for Fall decorating this year.

This one is their "Checkmate" design (link is to the printed pattern but it's also available in digital form).  I had purchased this as a kit when I Shop Hopped with my MIL in 2022.  I finished the top that year but it has just sat since then.  I've gone back and forth about how to quilt it:  a simple straight-line cross hatch or something special?  While I'm still trying to decide and since I already also have the backing prepared for it, this is the next one I'll baste and then it too will be ready for quilting and display for this season.

The Quiltville Mystery Season Is Almost Here!

Any Bonnie Hunter fans out there?  If so, you know her annual "mystery season" is coming up!  Bonnie has already released the introductory post for this year's mystery named "Indigo Way" which was inspired by her travels to Vietnam.  

As always, I will be excited  to see each clue drop and see if other quilters have changed the colors used and what their progress is each week.  As tempted as I am to do this one (as it's in one of my favorite color schemes: Red, White and Indigo Blue), I had already planned this year to finally get all of my accumulated mystery tops quilted.  

Clockwise from top left:  En Provence, On Ringo Lake, Old Tobacco Road and Double Delight

I have four so far so I know that is a big task but it needs to be done.  Since the holiday season last year, I have also been trying to focus on completing the fifth one:  Bonnie's "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".  It has moved along in dribs and drabs since I started it in 2018 and I am pleased to say that right before October ended I had leader/endered (yes, official quilting term) the blocks and rows to complete the center of it.

Also over the past few months, I've also completed the pieced units that will make up the outer border.

Those now have to be sewn together to be added to the center along with a green inner border which I also have the fabric for.  Last thing will be to make the backing.  The fabric is also already in house for that so hopefully by the end of the mystery season, this too will be ready to be quilted. 

As of right now, the (very ambitious) plan is to spend each week of the mystery working on finishing one of the quilts.  It would be exciting for me to get them all done by January when the mystery season ends.  So this month, I have until the mystery starts on Black Friday to get myself prepared.  After that, we'll see if I can stick to that plan!

Cross Stitch

When I started cross stitching, I had said that I didn't expect/want it to become the obsession that Quilting is for me.  Yeah, that is quickly falling by the wayside, LOL!  Much like with quilting, you see something, say "Ohhhh..." and before you know it, another WIP is in the works!  

That happened to me twice in October and both are the fault influence of Helen D's Flosstubes (love 'ya Helen!!)!  Helen lives in Maine and I have already stitched one of her designs as a memento of our trip to Acadia National Park in Maine although it still needs to be "fully finished".  While I was at my MIL's last month, I  watched one of Helen's videos where she showed this Halloween piece:

I really, really liked it but figured I didn't want to go shopping for the fabric to make it right now.  Yeah, right, never tempt the Crafting Muses like that!  So of course, I'm Shop Hopping (in a quilt store mind you) with my MIL and I see this in one of our stops:

Found @ The Broken Needle

Immediately, I thought of Helen's piece!  Okay the fabric is a little darker but I was intrigued by the idea of adjusting the called for threads to make it work.  Fortunately, at that point we still had another Shop Hop stop to make and since buying cross stitch stuff was not the priority on this trip, I decided to pass on it in favor of the other purchases I was making at that shop and to save some money for the next Shop Hop stop.  

Well, I didn't spend as much as I thought I would at that next (and last) stop sooooo.....of course it was back to the previous shop for the cross stitch fabric!!  Since we were returning home pretty close to Halloween, I knew I wouldn't have time to fully kit up and start this one.  Now that the fabric is in stash, it can wait it out until next year.  I already have another Halloween piece partially kitted up (and come to think of it, that too was influenced by one of Helen's finishes!) so those two will be set up for working on in time for that holiday next year.

However that is not the end of the Cross stitch journey.  I had noted in my last post that I had worked on my "Open Your Heart" piece on the drive home from our trip.  I hadn't gotten much done on it from the previous time I worked on it in July and didn't get all that much done in the car either.  But once back home, I was able to go back to stitching on it daily in the evenings.  I'm pleased to say that as of last night, another page of it is now done!

I've finished Page Six (the right side) after starting the design on Page Five (the left side).  I did that because these sections of the design have the most color changes in them.  Next I will move onto Page Four which will fill in the rest of the left side and complete the bottom half of the whole design.  

However, that is not what I will be working on for cross stitch for November.  That project will be this one:

Which can be seen in this video.

Yes, I'm starting yet another cross stitch project!  Okay, but this one has a quilt angle.  When I finish quilting the "Thankful" wall hanging that I talked about at the start of this post, it will replace the wall hanging currently here:

In the past when I have hung quilts in this space, I have had partner pieces hanging on the adjacent wall to the right of there.

I actually have one for that RWB Log Cabin quilt but it still needs to be quilted (the story of my life).  I would definitely like to do the same for "Thankful" but in a timely manner this time.  I had considered doing another quilted wall hanging but when I once again watched a Helen D. Flosstube and she showed the "Give Thanks" piece it was "Ooooh, I love that and check out that circular frame!".  After stitching the cross stitch piece, Helen had gotten the frame from her mother who had gotten it in a box of frames given to her by a friend.  I had also seen another absolutely stunning circular piece Helen had done for Halloween this year (which is actually by the same designer as the Thanksgiving piece).  She framed it in what had formerly been a mirror frame!

Helen shows how she did the framing process in this video.

When I started this new hobby, I found myself as intrigued by the ways the stitched pieces are finished for display as much as I am by the stitched designs themselves!  I did some research and while I couldn't find the frame she had used for the Thanksgiving piece, I did find an Etsy shop that sells wooden frames that can hold an embroidery hoop as the "backing" for the stitched piece in the frame.

I fully intended to go that route.  After purchasing the pattern*, I found that I already had a fabric for this project having purchased it as part of a discounted pack of fabric when I was sourcing supplies for the cross stitch workshop I led in the summer.  I also already had nine of the thirteen colors of floss needed for it in four other "Haven't Started Yet" projects I have kitted up.  

Prior to embarking on a trip to the local Michael's for the rest of the floss and the embroidery hoop, I looked up "circular frames" to see if  they had any in stock I might like.  There were frames listed but most were either not the size I needed or were a little more than I wanted to spend for a piece to be displayed only once a year.  However, I also saw these:

Grapevine wreaths!  Oooh, how cool and seasonally appropriate it would be if they had one the size of the finished piece that I could frame it with!  At the store I did find one so at least for now, I plan to use this for the framing.

*Note:  As of the time I post this, the link to the pattern is for a "combo deal" for the "Give Thanks" and the companion "Autumn, Please" pattern.  However, both patterns can also be purchased separately. 

So I will stop work on "Open Your Heart" once again in favor of trying to get this one stitched up and "fully finished" in time for Thanksgiving display.  As always, so much to do, so little time!   

Week 2 Project Updates for September

With the long list of things I want to get done in September, I've needed to clear some things off of my sewing and cutting tables.  

Quilting

One of them was a little companion project to the By Annie Piecekeeper bag I finished up back in July.  At the time, I said I was debating between which charm to get to add to the bag.  Well, I finalized the decision and got it recently.  Then I was looking through some of the Shop Hop stash bags and found something to make another accessory to go with it:

Sunbonnet Sue zipper charm by Lori Holt from Fat Quarter Shop 

The fabric License Plate used in the front had been purchased during the Shop Hop last year.  It was an old plate the shop still had in stock from back when the national Row By Row shop hop was still happening and so of course was on sale.  I've always loved these and didn't get any when I did a tri-state (CT, NY, NJ) Row By Row swing back in 2016 so was thrilled to get one now.  

The good news is that this plate matched the color scheme of the Piecekeeper bag.  The English Paper Piecing cheater print I used above and below the plate on the front and for all of the back was actually purchased from the same store the first year we hopped in 2021 so came in real handy right now.  

I have another plate that I am going to pair with more of the Hop fabrics and make up to go with the other Shop Hop project bag when(ever) I get around to finishing that WIP. 

Not the things I should be focusing on but it did help take one thing off of my sewing table so it's a start!

Once I got all of the other stuff piled on the sewing table cleared off, I pulled out the "Christmas Ribbons" project and started work on quilting it.

The stitching was clearer to see from the back.

It may be a little hard to see here but I've finished the cross hatching diagonally across the center of the quilt in one direction.  After the cross hatching will be some free-motion petal swirls in the ribbon border and then back to straight-line stitching with some piano key lines in the outer border.  Hope I can finish the quilting by the end of the week.  

Edited To Add:  The finished quilt can be seen here.

Cross Stitch

I've worked on a couple of my cross stich projects:  I completed all the stitching on the Summer Camp badge.

I still need to do the "Nun Stitch" around the design so I can fringe the edge of it.  I've watched a couple of Flosstube videos on this and it seems pretty doable.  

Admittedly though, I've done no further work on the "Try Something New" project that was the actual camp project.  I'll get back to the "Right To Vote" piece I'm stitching on Linen once I can get past some of these more urgent deadlines.  I'll be more mentally prepared to focus on that once these other things are done.  

I also picked out the finishing fabric for the "United  We Stand" piece I stitched back in June.

I would love to add a trim to the edge as was done in the pattern.  I think this may be the perfect small piece to finally try the Shell Edging  (although not piped) that I talked about back in this post.    

I've also started on the "Christmas in the Round" piece that I want to display at my community garden's Art Show.  

So things are moving right along!

Edited to Add:  You can see the finished cross stitch piece here!