Almost Caught Up!

My June blocks for the EQ7 Summer Drawing Sew Along have been finished up for a while. This month I learned to do Pieced PatchDraw where you need to draw the block pieces on all sides--not just make lines on the block. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but it was pretty slick.

Obviously this had to be paper pieced--not my favorite thing ,
but probably the best way to do this block. 

Of course, by the time the mid-month lesson rolled around, I had completely forgotten the lesson and had to go back to the beginning!

More paper piecing--this one wastes a lot of fabric! 

My Grandmother's Choice Blocks:

Block # 42: Cats and Mice

Block # 43: Gentleman's Fancy

I also did a little on-line shopping therapy at the Fat Quarter Shop:

Everything was on sale AND I had an additional discount code-I was doomed to shop!

That cute Minick and Simpson box contains their Aurifil thread collection--love it! 

I've been wanting to make this Lori Holt pattern for ages. 

I thought the projects in this pattern were "sew" cute and would make fun little gifts.

Another Schnibbles Done!

I'm still picking up debris around the yard from last weeks storms. The walking path I use is so littered with branches, I'm sure I look like the Prancercize Lady from a distance. 

Mr. Moosebay and his shiny blue truck had a run-in with a tree last week too.
There were so many storms and downed trees--in fact my brother's truck and his girlfriend's car were both totaled by a Maple tree on Friday--sad because I remember my Dad planting that tree.

But that's not what happened to Mr. Moosebay. 

His truck is equipped with a back-up alarm AND a rear view camera. 

Unfortunately, neither of those is useful when you leave the tailgate down. 

Luckily the tree survived the encounter with the truck. 

The new tailgate has been ordered and will be installed later this week.
I could buy a nice little sewing machine with the amount of money the are charging at the dealership!

Because of the rain, I was able to get a bit of work time in at the sewing machine and finished my Vintage Schnibbles:

 Dulcinea. 

The larger pinwheels require two matching charm squares and I just happened to have three packs of matching American Jane. I removed the red and yellow charms (for another project) and I really like the way the green, melon and blue work together. This will be a fun table topper for the porch. 

I wimped out on the pieced border and used up some blue fat quarter scraps. 

Solids from my stack of Riley Blake that I won from The Fat Quarter shop were the perfect colors!

No fancy binding this time.
I miss-cut the fabric I had left for the binding and had to piece in a charm square to squeak out the last few inches.
I hate when that happens!

Love Entwined

There are so many beautiful historic quilts that have been recreated by various designers. 

Usually the patterns are cost prohibitive because they include templates and extremely detailed instructions. The Mrs. Billings coverlet is one example.

Mrs. Billings

The "Burnt Quilt" is another example.
The original quilt was used to put out flames after it's owners daughter's clothing had caught fire.
It was never repaired, hence the nickname, The Burnt Quilt.

Burnt Quilt Variation

Another medallion example:

The Phebe Quilt

How about a sew along where the pattern for a beautiful historic Medallion quilt is completely FREE?
Esther Aliu is in the process of translating Love Entwined into a pattern:

Images of Love Entwined from two different sources.
See Esther Aliu's post HERE.

Esther's first draft of Love Entwined.

Esther is still working on the design and fabric requirements for this free Block of the Month, but in the meanwhile, you can join the Yahoo Group so you don't miss the launch of the gorgeous pattern!
Just a warning: I would opt for the daily digest at the bottom of the sign-up page--it's a very vocal group!
Sign up for Esther's Block of the Month Yahoo Group HERE!

Falling Behind

This is my cousin Barb's Mrs. Billings quilt so far. She is using Kaffe Fassett fabrics.
Check out all the fussy cutting! Beautiful!!
I haven't started mine yet and now that I see all that gorgeous color, I'm thinking that using my stash of Taupes will be pretty boring.

The third week in every month is always a little crazy. It's the week that I have my Stitch Therapy class at Colorz and most months, it's the week we have a sew-in. Tuesday was the last sew-in until this fall--too many busy summer days! This month, Sandi organized the sew-in to take place at the Old Creamery in Randall. We had a great space and the food from the little coffee shop downstairs was yummy!


Attendance was way down on Monday at Stitch Therapy. I'm sure everyone was in summer mode! There wasn't a lot of progress on the Wish Quilts either, but I have heard that there is at least one ready for the quilter--I can't wait to see it!

Twilya's multi-color Wish Quilt is coming along--so pretty! 

I think this was Karen's block.
She redid it in a solid red because her variegated thread was bleeding.

This is about all I got done this week--borders on my Half and Half quilt.
I've been calling it Divided Stars, but that isn't the name on the pattern. It was designed by Quilter's Station  in Lee's Summit, MO. I've had queries about the pattern. I don't see it listed on their website, so if you are interested in the Half and Half pattern, you will need to contact them.That's almost the end of my Indigo Crossing fabrics. I may be able to eke out one more small project!

I'm continuing to work on my Words to Live By blocks--I'm already a little behind--ack!
I haven't done last weeks Grandmother's Choice Cat's and Mice block and still need to print today's instructions for Gentleman's Fancy.
I am slowly but surely getting this months Schnibbles put together. And even with all that on my plate, I am really excited about a project coming up that I will share soon!
Have a great weekend!

Claiming My Blog!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4340547/?claim=5m2da5pby9s">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Apparently Google will be discontinuing their Google Reader very soon. I follow a lot of  blogs on Google Reader (and a lot by email!) but I transferred them to Bloglovin. You can click on the button on the right side of this post to subscribe to Moose Bay Muses via Bloglovin if you are reading this in Google Reader and want to continue receiving it in a reader.

Blog writers also have to claim their blog in Bloglovin--that's what the gibberish at the top of  this post is about and the reason for this post. I hope it works!

Back to regular Moose Bay Muses programming tomorrow!

Getting There

I have a lot of "almost done" projects that just need a little more work.

Too bad I have other things distracting me from getting them completed.

The divided stars are sashed and put together--just a couple fun borders to go on this. 

My hexie table runner top is complete. Now I need to remove the papers and  do some quilting! 

Week Two of Words to Live By: fused and inked.
I am saving the blanket stitching  to work on at a sew-in on Tuesday.

I have been doing the inked word before I place the appliques in case I mess up.
This week, when I fused the wool pieces in place, my inked "Loyalty" disappeared. I thought maybe I hadn't let it set long enough, so I inked it in again, let it dry for a while and continued fusing the wool pieces.
Again "Loyalty" disappeared.
Ack!
You have probably already figured out what I did, but I am a slow learner.
Yes, I finally actually looked at the pen. Yes, I had picked up my Frixion pen instead of the Pilot Permanent pen. Yeesh.
Hopefully now I have learned that lesson and won't repeat it!  

Week Two: Summer Blooms.
Fused and ready to stitch.Thankfully no inking required here.  

Grandmother's Choice Block 40
Art Square

Grandmother's Choice Block 41

Contrary Wife

A Little of This and That

Another package arrived. I have been waiting patiently for the first block in the Primitive Gatherings Summer Block of the Week to arrive. It got here last Friday. 

Block one from the Primitive Gatherings Summer Block of the Week

"Words to Live By"

Inking the word was terrifying. I was going to wait until the block was finished, but then I thought of all that work going to waste if I mess up. I did it in pencil first and then went over it with the pen Lisa recommends. I still need to stitch down the stems.  

Each block of the week comes with a little free block kit.
Words to Live By is a 12" finished block
Summer Blooms is a 4" finished block

The "freebie" week one block from Primitive Gatherings.
"Summer Blooms"

And some catching up with some monthly things:

My EQ7 block for June. This one was paper pieced and used the Pieced Patch Draw tools.
I'm learning a lot from this Sew Along!

My 12" Chicken Scratch block for June

My 6" Chicken Scratch block for June

My Dixie Diary blocks for June:

I'm making a little progress on my stars. 

I've Been a Bad, Bad Girl!

  

Okay, you know the weather has been pretty sucky when the front page head line in the local paper is: HereComes the Sun! 

What else can you do when the weather is terrible? 

I've been doing lots of sewing, but that's not all.

 Even Mr. Moosebay noted that I had been spending too much time on-line when three packages arrived in one day.

Package One:
A couple of Windham charm packs and a little tumbler ruler from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.
The tumbler ruler was free as one of their Daily Deals.

Package Two:
The latest Jo Morton book. I got a good deal on eBay.
The projects feature her Jo's Variety line, but I plan to use my Blue Variety fabrics. 

 Okay, this was realllly BAD!! 

Obviously I didn't need these fabrics--especially since I haven't touched my bundle of Blackbird Designs Blueberry Crumb Cake I picked up last year at Grubers. 

Blueberry Crumb Cake fat eighth bundle. 

BUT...

I have been admiring salivating over the Blackbird Designs line that will be released later this year:

Nature's Basket 

This won't be out until August, but I stumbled across a bundle of fat quarters for sale that had been picked up during Sample Spree at Spring Market. 

I had to buy it because it was on sale with free shipping--what else could I do??

From package three:

I think I will be able to mix Blueberry Crumb Cake with Nature's Basket.
In Nature's Basket:
A large sampler print and 2 different tonal floral prints

Stripes, plaids, and textures

Sprigs, stars and a large plaid star.

One small plaid with stars and large stars.

Thankfully, the sun will be here soon and my credit card can cool off for a couple days.