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 its 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"!

September Recap: A Lot of Life and Finally A Lot of Quilt Stitching!

Unlike the Summer months, September started off with a lot more "life stuff" than quilting stuff. 

Life:  Travel and Gardening 

For the Labor Day Weekend, my DH and I went camping with some of his co-workers to Watkins Glen State Park here in New York.  It is known for its gorge and waterfalls! 

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

One of my husband's co-workers is a Nascar fan so we also checked out the race track in the area.

We got to watch cars run the track and then visitors got to bring their personal cars onto the track and drive a few of laps around it! 

On this trip, for the drive up and back and for sitting around the campfire, I brought my "Open Your Heart" cross stitch project with me.  When we got back home I continued working on it and got another page of it completed! 

The left side of this is what I worked on. 

In our community garden, the new beds are still under construction.  

My husband and I had demo'd our old bed back in May and I had to move whatever we had in the bed into Grow Bags and keep them on our terrace until we had a bed again.  Then in June we were assigned one of the beds that had been renovated last year since the members who had that bed are no longer using it (although they are still members of our garden).

I returned the pots of mint and the Swiss Chard plants I had salvaged from our old bed although the garlic starts I had planted last Fall didn't survive the move.  I planted a new Collard start that settled in well and we were able to harvest some which we cooked for one of the meals on our camping trip.  I had also seeded a bunch of tomato plants but admit it was a bit too late of a start for those.  I also didn't go over to the garden much due to the very hot Summer weather so only two plants grew enough to fruit and ultimately neither yielded much.    

Determined to do better for the Fall, I watched videos of some of my favorite gardeners on "You Tube University" for tips on what to plant in August but then never got that done.  So I watched what to plant in September and finally got a late start on that during the second and third week of the month.   Luckily, at this point things are starting to sprout so I'll see how it goes as the Fall progresses into Winter.  

Finally A Finish!

As I had talked about in Part 1 of my July Recap, this was the month I finally quilted my "Apple Crisp" project that I started back in June. 

The full finish report is here.

 More Cross Stitch

Cross stitch is slowly but surely becoming the kind of obsession for me that quilting is, LOL!  Despite having "Open Your Heart",  two "Christmas In July" starts and the Summer Camp project going,  I started yet another new cross stitch project!   

If you've read my cross stitch posts, you know I love "snarky" cross stitch designs.  I also love that crafting (either cross stitch or quilting) helps with decorating.  I've had an area on one of my dining room walls that I've long wanted to fill.  I have plans for a mini quilt for it but had also thought about adding cross stitch to the space. Then I saw this kit and had to have it:

However, at almost $35 it was expensive for an impulse buy!  However, I realized that a lot of what was in the kit I already had in the house.  The only thing I needed to purchase was the pattern and frame.  Fortunately, the pattern was available on Etsy.  The frame looked like the ones I have purchased before: 

Sure enough it was and I ordered it, bringing the total cost of the supplies down to $13!  Score!  This turned out to be a relatively quick stitch for me and I got it done in about a week.  In order to prep it for framing,  I realized that a Gadget Fanatic opportunity also presented itself:

I'd long wanted this ruler because the pattern seen here and purchased back in 2021 needed it.  Well now I can justify the ruler purchase, LOL!  Once the cross stitch piece has been washed and cut with the ruler, it'll be ready for framing and hanging!

Pat Sloan Quilt Alongs

This month I started following two of Pat Sloan's quilt alongs.  The first is one I am actively participating in: her  "Ode To Our National Parks" Block Wednesday quilt along.  This is the first time I've been ready to participate in one of her quilt alongs while it is actively going on!  This was partially due to the fact that I knew right away what I wanted to use for it and already knew where to find them.  

I had become familiar with what was offered in Riley Blake's National Parks fabric line when I had shopped for a panel to make a quilt that will chronicle our own National Park journey.  So I mapped out which prints and colors I wanted to stash.  This is what I got:

I'll also be adding some "Grunge" and "Freckles" tone-on-tones to the mix.  One of the prints I wanted to get was the black one in the middle which was on sale at Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Ordering that gave me the opportunity to add something else to the order I had long wanted to buy:

I needed these for the other Pat Sloan project I am following!  Pat has been doing another quilt along for the "Piece and Quilt Sampler" from the book "Celebrate With Quilts" by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache.  She is using fabrics designed by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts for that.  Rather than doing the sampler, I decided that when she worked on hers I'd work on catching up on my "Scrappy Figs" project.  

I was inspired to make that project when Pat made Joanna's "Christmas Figs" sampler back in 2018.  I started on this project as a self-directed BOM in 2020.  I had made a few more blocks for it back in January when the project came up on my APQ UFO Challenge list.  Now Pat can help me move it further along!  

However, one issue I've had as I have stashed Fig Tree fabrics for this project is storage.  Until now I had used this bag...

...but it was getting difficult to keep the fabric organized and to easily see what I had.  I had seen the MSQC bags earlier this year and figured they might help corral the stash.  Since I was ordering the National Park fabric (and admittedly a few other things during their Labor Day Weekend sale), I decided to also get the bags.  What's lovely is now my Fig Tree stash is neatly stored and visible!

Admittedly though while I did the cutting for one block and pulled stash for another, I didn't get to sew them up.  Sigh!  Oh well, when Pat works on this next month I'll be ahead!   

Quilt Stitching On National "Sew A Jelly Roll" Day 2024

When I saw announcements early in the third week that it was once again time for "Sew A Jelly Roll Day", I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to continue what I'd been doing!

The term "Jelly Roll" when referring to a rolled up bundle of 2-1/2 inch precut strips was coined by the MODA Fabrics company so they take the lead on promoting this quilty holiday.   Each year they also offer fun free patterns to get your quilt along motors running!  However, all of the quilting fabric industry has enthusiastically embraced this pre-cut which can be also found under names like Rolie Polies, Maple Rolls, Roll Ups, Pixie-Strips or Bali Snaps.  So you can celebrate the day with strips no matter what they are called!

I did so last year with a kit bundled with strips from Windham Fabrics "Gala" line in order to make a quilt I'd wanted to make for years:  Bonnie Sullivan's "Over and Down Under" quilt.  

Last year I spent Jelly Roll Day cutting and piecing the parts and then finished putting the top together about a week later. I had started quilting it right after that but ran into some snags.  My then relatively new Juki 2010Q didn't seem to like the monofilament thread I was stitching with and broke constantly.  Also I had wanted to outline stitch along the "woven look" strips and my Juki walking foot didn't have a guide bar so I had to tape off the rows and columns adding considerable time to the process.  As a result I wound up setting the project aside partially quilted in order to move on to other projects.

Since that time, I've discovered some things that have helped address those problems.  I learned there actually is a guide bar contraption that can be attached to the Juki walking foot and got that.  

I also picked up some tips about working with monofilament during the virtual "Free Motion Quilting Summit" I viewed in August.  The other good news about this project is that since I am currently participating in Pat's "National Park" quilt along, I'd love to finish this quilt during that series for this reason:

I had purchased this Riley Blake Pillow Panels yardage to insert into the back of this quilt for two reasons:  the colors went so well with the strips from "Gala" and I had started the quilt right before my DH and I took a camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

I had actually hoped to finish the quilt to take with us on that trip but that didn't happen.  We were supposed to go back to the park again this year but we've been so busy with other trips that we did not start the planning for it until late.  By that time there was so much news of increased Bear activity and wildfires in the park that we decided to hold off and do the trip another time.  Good thing we did too since now there's the issue of the hurricane storm damage in that area.  Now that this quilt is a little closer to being finished, one day it may still get to the park!!

So for this year's Jelly Roll Day, I was able to move the quilting on it a little further along which encouraged me to continue stitching on it until it is complete.  It was also great to find another way to enjoy this quilty celebration whether you are able to work on an old or new project!   At this point I am about three-quarters of the way through on finishing the quilting up.  

Unfortunately, I will have to break off from it to work on a deadline project but will probably finish it up when we come back from North Carolina later this month.  

Last Stitching Project:  Heartland

In my August Recap post, I talked about finding inspiration for free-motioning a Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilt design that I had made the top for last year.  I had tried to longarm it at my MIL's earlier this year but couldn't get the machine to stitch out the pattern I wanted.  Armed with a design learned in the "Free Motion Quilting Summit",  I've got this one about half way done too!

As with the "Over/Under" quilt, this one will now have to wait until we return from our upcoming trip down South to be completed.  

Lastly, Another Big Quilting Industry Loss

This month I also learned of another loss to the quilting industry.  On Kimberly Jolly's Jelly Roll Day live stream, she mentioned that Daniela Stout of  Cozy Quilt Designs had passed.

I have many of Daniella patterns but admit I haven't made any yet.  Interestingly, Kimberly noted that while Moda gave the name to Jelly Rolls, it was Daniella who started the whole thing about cutting and using 2-1/2" strip cuts for workshops in her store!  Then eventually the quilting fabric industry picked up on the idea of adding strip pre-cuts to their fabric line offerings.  Once again another huge light in the industry has gone out and she will be missed!

Now that I'm all caught up, hopefully I can keep up to date on posting the progress of projects as we zoom towards the final quarter of the year! 

October in Review

It's the end of October and this is the first chance I've had to post this month!  Well that's because it's been a very busy month!!  It started off with our annual Fall vacation which included:

Click on the pictures to enlarge them for a better view.

A four day camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The park is bisected by the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina and part of that border is also part of the route of the Appalachian Trail.  

My DH and I stayed on the Tennessee side of the park in the Elkmont Campground.  We visited many of the major attractions including the panoramic views after hiking up to Clingman's Dome, the historic Appalachian community buildings in Cades Cove,  the turn of the century summer resort homes in Daisy Town and hiking the Alum Cave Trail.   As usual it was a good trip although GSMNP lived up to its reputation of being the most visited National Park in the country.  Our campground, the park roads and every location were pretty crowded.

This trip was the follow-up to last year's stay on the (North Carolina portion of) the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Back then, I thought the Parkway was part of the GSMNP but I learned on that trip it was not.  On our way out of the park this year, we made a stop back on the Parkway to visit the Ashville Folk Art Center that we didn't get to visit last year.  It did not disappoint and we saw some great craft demonstrations and exhibits there!

Prior to the trip, I had tried to get the "Over and Down Under" quilt I had pieced for "National Sew A Jelly Roll Day" quilted but only got some of it done.

Because of how the backing related to our destination and how cold it was forecast to be in the Smokies, I really wanted to get to use it while on the trip.  However, I was having issues with my new Juki and my choice to use monofilament thread on top to quilt it.  I have one more tip to try out that I hope will allow me to get this one finished up -- perhaps by the time of our next trip there?  Then I also had hoped to work on it at our next stop on this trip but was too busy there to try it out!

That next stop was our two week visit to my MIL's in Rocky Mount, NC.  She is also a quilter so for the two of us, a visit is also a mini quilt retreat!  During our time there, I went to her guild meeting for a class with modern quilter Charles Cameron for his "Crooked Crosses and Bent Boxes" workshop.

Charles has ribboned at Quilt Con and already has two quilts juried into next year's show in Raleigh, NC.  We're planning to head back down for that so I look forward to seeing more of his work at the show.  I also got to go to a mini quilt group meeting where we were given a short workshop by one of the members.  She introduced us to doing "Decorative Big Stitch Binding" (the link is to one of the You Tube videos she recommended).

For the last three years, when we visit in September or October, that also means my MIL and I go shop hopping!

This year's All Carolinas Shop Hop Magazine and my "Passport"

We only did the region in her area this time but as you can see, we did get around!  We did two new stops this year:  one was that we finally got to go to the Quilt Lizzy store in Warrenton.  They were unexpectedly closed the day we went the first year we Hopped and we didn't Hop in that direction last year.  At one of the other locations, we learned they are transitioning this location to only being online.  As such there were huge discounts since we Hopped there during their last week as a "brick and mortar" store.  I mostly focused on stashing two things there:  Grunge and Fig Tree (the two stacks on the right in the picture)!

The darker Grunge pieces on the left were purchased at three other Hop stops and the rolled up ones were remnants.  

The other new Shop Hop stop we made this year was to Whatever's Quilted in Wake Forest.  Big news there, my MIL purchased a longarm!!

It's a floor model Handi Quilter Moxie with the Pro-Stitcher Lite attachment.  Unfortunately, the dealer was vending at a show right after we picked up the machine and frame so my MIL won't be going in for classes on how to use it until November.  We helped her clear out some of the furniture in the room where it was to go, managed to get it assembled and was able to load fabric onto it.  However, after that we were having trouble getting it to properly baste and to set up for the programmed stitch patterns.  I'm hoping that by the time we go back in February, she'll have a handle on how to use it and I can bring down a few tops to get quilted!

I took quite a few projects to work on while away but only got to a few of them.  First, I finally put the borders on Pat Sloan's Fall "Thankful" wall hanging I started back in October of last year:  

I had brought the batting and backing with me hoping to also quilt it while there but just didn't have enough time to get to that.  I also did the cutting for two Fabric Cafe "3 Yard Quilts" but only got one to a top while there.  The good news is I found the perfect backing for it on the sale rack at Bernina World of Sewing in Raleigh while on the Shop Hop.

The quilt is "Dominique" from the "Modern Views book".

For the other 3YQ I cut out,  I realized that I actually had a little more than two yards of the focus fabric (leftover from a prior project) so decided that I would make it twin size rather than the basic lap size Fabric Cafe designs their patterns in.  Using their instructions for enlarging their patterns meant I needed more of the other two fabrics I planned to use.  I was only able to get one while in NC so had to wait until I got home to pick up more of the other in order to finish it. The blocks for that top are now done so assembly of the top will continue as November rolls in.  

Finished blocks and backing fabric for "Heartland" from the "Pretty Darn Quick" book.

Good news is that its backing was also found on a sale rack on the Hop!  This time it was from the Quilt Lizzy store in Wake Forest.  While there and as I have done the previous two years, I also purchased another new 3 Yard kit that comes with a free pattern.   

To add to a future "African Fabrics" themed series of quilts.

I also brought my "Open Your Heart" cross stitch project on the trip.  Unlike on past trips, I didn't get any stitching in while sitting around the campfire (it was too cold!!), had no time to do any while at my MIL's so only got to it once we were on the drive back home.  It's an eight hour drive and between naps, the stops we made along the way and switching off to help with the driving, I didn't get much further on it.  

Not much got done on this trip!

Once back home, it was no less busy!  After putting most of our camping equipment back in storage, within two days of our return, I volunteered at the annual day our community garden hosts the fifth grade of the local middle school.  

Students from the local high school came in the day before to help set up the garden for the middle school garden day.  It also seems my garden bed had a late season growth explosion while we were away so now I also had a lot of harvesting to do as this season comes to a close!

It may have been a bit of a jungle but it yielded some good eats!

So needless to say, October has been uber-busy!  The sad part is that now with the holidays coming up, things are likely to get even busier!!

June Recap: More Events Than Stitching!!

Well, the second half of June was far busier than expected!  Starting with the Canadian Wildfires bringing smoke to New York State:

This was not only spooky and caused potential health hazards but it meant the cancellation of the last two weeks of my volunteering in our community garden with students from the Garden Club of a local charter school.  This actually worked out well as it meant it gave us more time to review our activity plans and pack for our upcoming trip.

And There Was Some Travel....

Next up, we got to run away from the smoke conditions (despite traveling towards Canada!!) for our planned vacation camping trip back to Acadia National Park in Maine!  We got to do all of things that we didn't get to last year like hike the Bubble Mountains:

This is the view of the North and South Bubble Mountains from the entrance to Jordan Pond.

The elevation at the top of the South Bubble.

The view of the pond from the summit!

After which we made our now obligatory stop at the Jordon Pond House for popovers and lunch!  

We spent another day in Bar harbor where we also got to finally walk the Bar Island Sand Bar and hike that island.

When the tide is high, Bar Island is a boat ride away...

However, when the tide is low, it is a simple walk to the island!

The view of the "path" from the Bar Island side.

Another day we visited the "quiet side" of the island and one of the things we did there was check out the Seal Cove Auto Museum.  For those that know about Acadia and its famous Cadillac Mountain, did you know it had a connection to the Cadillac car brand?!?  I didn't!!

Click the picture to read the history of the connection between the two.

This information is from when we visited Cadillac Mountain last year.

By the way, if you're like me and thought that electric cars are a new invention, think again!

As members of a community garden, we also looked forward to visiting two gardens in the area: Outside of the park, we checked out the Asticou Azalea Garden (and unfortunately at the time of our trip, the Thuya Garden wasn't open yet for the season).   Inside of the park, we visited the Wildflower Garden and hiked the Jessup Path at the Sieur Du Mont Nature Center.  Needless to say, over all it was a really great trip and there is still more we'd like to see if we ever get back to this park! 

Now Back to the Stitching! 

All of that meant that a whole lot less quilting and cross stitch than planned got done!  For starters, June was supposed to be about "Stitch June", the patriotic themed stitching prompt from the Fat Quarter Shop.  As noted in my June Plans post , I had picked out three patriotic themed projects to work on.  I also wanted to finally start my first "full coverage" piece called "Open Your Heart" during our trip.  The stitching plan for June had been to stitch the patriotic pieces on a three day rotation over the course of the month and work on "Heart" during the week we would be away.

What actually happened was that I started with "United We Stand", a small pin keep designed by Primrose Cottage Stitches.  I thought this would be the easiest of the projects to do considering that all three were delving into stitching on tighter weave fabrics than what I have used to date.  

I stitched "United" on 18 count Vintage Country Mocha Aida, a fabric coloring I've heard referred to on many a Floss Tube video.  Well this presented the first problem in that after getting the first two lines of stitching done, I realized that I had stitched on the "wrong side" of the fabric.  

The wrong side is on the left, the "right side" is on the right.

Vintage Country Mocha is a mottled fabric but it turns out the mottling is only "printed" on one side!  Since I wanted the mottled look in the piece, I had to rip the stitching I had done and re-do it on the "right" side of the fabric!

Up to now, I had mostly stitched on 14 count Aida and one project stitched on 10 count.  I had previously started a project on 18 Count but that used silk floss so didn't stitch any different than when I used cotton floss on 14 count.  The 18 count fabrics are a much tighter weave than 14 count, meaning it has much smaller holes.  Using cotton floss, I found it really hard to get into and keep track of the holes when using the two strands of thread and size 26 needle (stitched over one) that I have traditionally used up to now.  

It wasn't too long before I did some research and found that for 18 count using cotton floss, it was suggested to stitch with only one thread and a size 28 needle.  So I ripped and restarted again!  The change did make the stitching go sooo much easier although I was not always sure that I liked the coverage that a single strand of floss gave.  

I will also say that when I continued working after changing the thread and needle, while the stitching was now smooth, the counting was not!  Over the course of it, I had to rip and restitch to make "adjustments" on many parts of the piece as I stitched.  Count twice, stitch once!!

Needless to say that all the issues I had stitching on this meant that I in no way wanted to rotate off to another piece!  I continued stitching "United" right up until our trip to Acadia so wound up taking it and "Heart" on the trip.  Although our stay in Acadia was longer this year, because of all of things we wanted to see and do, I did not do a whole lot of stitching while in camp.  

However, I did manage to finish all the words before we headed back home and completed the outer blue border once we got back.  Additionally, contrary to the "Stitch June" plans, I didn't manage to get to the "fully finishing" of it yet. 

In other cross stitch news:  Since what little stitching I did in camp was on "United",  I wasn't able to finally start on "Heart" until the drive home.  "Heart" is a six page (!) pattern and I had gridded my fabric before the trip.  

I had decided to start stitching the part of the design on page 5 since it had both a lot of filler that needed to be done in a single color but also picked up enough of the color changes in the design to give me some opportunities to work through that.  However, in the car I was only able to start on some of the filler.  

This project is going back to the easy stitching of working on 14 count Aida but with a "full coverage" design it means there is A LOT of stitches to lay down!  Even working with just one color, you have to count carefully to leave space for the color change areas.  Once back home, I started on the color changes and this is as far as I've gotten:

With the stitching on "United" finished, it also meant I could start on the second of the planned "Stitch June" projects. 

  

This is another Primrose Cottage design called "Home of the Free".  Much like "United", this one is also proving challenging, once again, because of the base fabric used.  

This is my first foray into stitching on Evenweave (25 count also in Vintage Country Mocha).  While I can stitch this with two threads, I am "stitching over two".  Unlike the easily visible holes of Aida (which are stitched "over one" meaning from one hole to the next),  I have to count the threads in the weave of the fabric and stitch over what is effectively a 3 x 3 area for each stitch (stitch in one hole, skip a hole then stitch in the next hole).  I love the look of the tighter weave of the fabric but this will be a very slow stitch until I get used to working with it.  

As for my quilt projects, I thought about them (particularly all of those that need to be quilted) but none got worked on at all this month.  I do have big quilty plans for July so I'll see what I can get done for that!