Slow Finishing

I'm still working on the path hexagons for Stars in the Garden, but I also want to get my little Temecula Instagram Summer Sew Along project completed now that the finishing instructions have been posted.

I auditioned so many fabrics before coming back to this blue--you know I love blue! This is just a 2" strip with the body of the quilt laid on it (I used tiny dots of basting glue to hold it in place).

Then the hexagons are appliqued to the 2" strip to make a small border.
I haven't removed the outer rows of hexagon papers yet, but I will get those plucked out later today. 

On the short ends, the instructions were to trim off the hexagons to make a straight edge. I am going to leave them as is and also applique a 2" blue strip to each end so there is a border all the way around. I didn't have the heart to chop off those hexies!

I think it will look alright and I am happy with the blue--I plan to use the same fabric for the binding-- if I get that far. I'm going to attempt hand quilting this since it's very small--hopefully the wrist will hold out!
Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching HERE
 

August: Mission Accomplished!

Last night I put the final stitches in the binding of Sophie's Garden....

(if you go to the above link, and scroll down a bit, you can see how Pam quilted her blocks)

It was a little overcast this morning when I took this photo, but I think the colors are showing up pretty true. 

In the quilting, I used several leaf vines because of the garden theme of the quilt.
I stippled around a few of the applique blocks...

...and some I echoed. I did a few "worms" and paisley fills also. 

This is my new favorite--bump, bump, bump, swirl!
Well, I tried to do it the way it was shown in this video, but my brain works in mysterious ways and this is the design I ended up with on my quilt.

I liked it so much, I used it in the border too.

I really like the bias plaid binding--my friend Val's idea.  

I was pretty nervous about quilting Sophie's Garden, but once I got into it, it was a lot of fun--and I finished with two days to spare--yay!!!

Linking with A Lovely Year of Finishes HERE

and WIP's Be Gone HERE

 

Fast and Slow...

I spent a lot of time this week reorganizing some of my quilt room storage. It feels good to have some order again! Now if I could motivate myself to do the quilting on Sophie's Garden, life would be perfect! 

All of the "stitch in the ditch" quilting is finished on Sophie's Garden--now I have to be creative and figure out what to do for the "fun" quilting. So far, I have only done some pumpkin seed quilting in the half-square triangle sashings.
Yesterday I spent several hours (finally!) watching a few machine quilting classes that I had purchased long ago on Craftsy. I feel a little more inspired now, and hopefully I will have this UFO completed by August 31st! I have forbidden myself to work on any other projects (other than handwork in the evening) until it's DONE!  

 This beautiful pile of fabric came in the mail yesterday from Pam Buda.
 She was giving away some leftovers of her fabrics and I was a lucky recipient!
These will be a fun addition to my stash.

During a recent road trip with Mr. Moosebay, I got a big pile of background hexagons basted for Stars in the Garden.
I'll be working on adding the path hexies tonight while checking out Fear the Walking Dead--not exactly Poldark, but it's new, so I'll watch at least once to check it out!
Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

 

Something Completely Different....

You would think that after all my gallivanting around the state of Minnesota, once I had time to be in my sewing room, I would work on one of my many UFO's, WIP's or PIGS (actually mine are PIQS since I use quilt shop sacks--not grocery). 

Wrong! 

As I was admiring my purchases, free shop hop block patterns and the Row by Row Experience patterns (that I occasionally remembered to ask for), I realized that a lot of the Row patterns had boats in them. I've been wanting to make a boat quilt for a while and, in fact, it's one of my PIQS.  I made a mental note to put the boat patterns in the sack with my other ideas for a boat quilt. Then last Thursday, for reasons I can't explain, I started pulling out fabrics and made a Row. And another Row.

Friday I was traveling again, so on Saturday I made a few more Rows and a couple more on Sunday.  Monday was a Stitch Therapy meeting day, but that night I found a little time to figure out a setting and do a little more sewing. I wasn't really thinking that there were any shops around that hadn't already given out their prize, but since I was close to the eight required rows, I did some finagling and figured out a way to get enough rows and still have my boats upright. 

I used some Riley Blake solids from a  fat quarter bundle that I had won a while back and my background is a Kona cotton that somewhere along the line I purchased massive amounts of for my stash.
To fill in the empty space on the lower right side, I used the free Temecula Quilt Shop Little Letters patterns to add my initials.  

The quilting is a wavy water line done back and forth across the quilt--it literally took about an hour to do the whole quilt. Fast, easy and fun!

I had a lot of yardage of this canoe fabric in the stash--perfect for the back.
I think I have enough left to make my son some pillowcases that I promised long ago--fingers crossed!!

I love the red check binding--I was a little nervous about it, but decided it would be fun and a little whimsical.
For the quilting, I used Aurifil 50 wt. color 4060--a variegated silver/gray. I like the way it shadows in and out of the waves.

And today, I even found a shop that hadn't given out a prize yet!

A rainbow of dots from Quilted Treasures!

  FYI:

All of my Row patterns are from Minnesota Shops:

And now back to those UFO's, WIP's and PIQS.....
Linking with Needle and Thread Thursday's HERE
and WIP's Be Gone HERE

Stash Report....

I've been doing a little shop hopping--well, maybe a lot from the look of the piles on my cutting table.....

This is my pile of bargain fabric--most were marked down and a couple were bolt ends. I was lucky to find the large Minick and Simpson print in the background on sale. I think it will be perfect for the backing of my Austin Bluebird Quilt (still in the planning stage--lol!).

These are my "full price" purchases.
The fabric in the background is my favorite of the Shop Hop Fabrics--could it be because it's blue?? I think the tossed Paul Bunyan and Babe, cabins and tents are pretty cute on that blue.

I've heard this Lady Slipper print is the most elusive and sought after fabric--if you have some, you better keep it on the down-low!

Scrapin' It Up

I have a couple scrappy projects that I think are getting close to the end. 

These will be the final rows for the Temecula InstaSewAlong doll quilt, with finishing instructions coming soon.
I thought this project would make a dent in my stash of 1.5 inch squares I use for the 3/4 inch hexagons, but unfortunately my box of scraps is still pretty full. 

With the Week 10 blocks for the Temecula Summer Sampler, there is a total of forty blocks so far. It looked to me like the model shown at the beginning of the sew along had forty blocks, so maybe next Monday will bring finishing instructions!

This project will be going on for a while longer, I'm sure.
The fourth clue for the ThimbleCreek Halloween mystery came to the inbox this morning. Be sure to sign up for the Gazette on the sidebar HERE to get all the clues!

These were pretty fun because of the larger pieces--perfect to show off some fun prints!

Linking with Scraptastic Tuesday HERE

Some Slow Goings, Going On...

I'm not sure where this week went--it all seemed to go by so fast! I didn't do much sewing because of an enormous amount of time spent in my car (lots of shopping opportunities though). 

I'm keeping up with the Temecula Summer Sampler: these are the week 9 blocks.

And I used my teeny, tiny reject Lemoyne Stars to make a teeny, tiny table runner.
Hand quilted, no less! (painful too)
I haven't decided where it will reside--maybe on the sideboard in the dining room....

....or on the chest in the foyer.....

....or maybe on the little painted cabinet in the living room???
It only measures 5.5" by 19.5", so it will fit just about anywhere--even on top of the toilet tank (sorry, no photos of that!).

Today is our wedding anniversary (46 years--yikes!) and also my youngest son's birthday (41 years--double yikes!) After a family dinner out, I'll be doing some Slow Sunday Stitching by putting the final three rows on my Temecula InstaSewAlong doll quilt.

A Little Slow on the Slow Stitching....

I didn't accomplish a lot this week as far as sewing goes, but my gardens are looking a lot better and my house is cleaner too--yay! 

Yesterday I did some traveling for a little family reunion/cousin's luncheon--lots of fun! The Minnesota statewide shop hop started on Friday, so in my travels yesterday I managed to get my passport stamped three times. Of course, all three shops are in different sectors, so it doesn't bring me at all close to qualifying for a prize, but we'll see what the next three weeks brings--haha! 

I have two more rows added to the Temecula InstaSewAlong--waiting to find out the next step.

Sophie's Garden will be my project to finish for August. I have the top pressed, the backing pieced, and the binding cut--now I just need to talk myself up to start quilting!!

In the meantime, I have most of the components made for Stars in the Garden and I decided on a fabric for the background path. I need 300+ hexagons, so I'll be working on them later tonight.
Off for a little spin on the pontoon boat!
Linking with a Lovely Year of Finishes HERE, Slow Sunday Stitching HERE, and WIP's Be Gone HERE