October Goal

My One Monthly Goal for October is to get this pile of stuff made into a border.
I guess I've procrastinated long enough on this one!
This will be the final border on my Mrs. Billings top. I've had the "parts" ready to go for a while, so it's about time to just get it done. 

But.....before I started on that, I wanted to get my "First Flakes" block sewn from the Patches of Blue quilt along. I was dreading doing this block, but I followed Edyta's instructions carefully and it all fit together without a hitch. Whew! 

This is the reason I didn't start on my September goal until the last minute. Once I decided to make this little quilt, I just couldn't stop. I love how it turned out but I will have to think for a while on how to quilt it--lol! 

I have two quilt retreats to attend later this month, so no side-tracking allowed for October! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

September Finish

Maize and Blue
(pattern by Laurie Simpson)
My One Monthly Goal for October.
I put off quilting Maize and Blue for so long that I almost ran out of time to finish it by the end of the month. The large zigzags that I had intended to quilt with feathers ended up with some "point to point" quilting and looks a lot like orange peels. I never really know exactly how I will quilt a top until it's loaded on my machine and this is just what happened--lol! 

Willow was pretty helpful....not!
I float my tops when I quilt them on the HQ16, which means the batting and top drape down to floor creating a doggy playground. Willow tore a huge piece out of the batting, resulting in the need to hand tack a new corner of batting to finish the quilt. Then, as I approached the bottom of the quilt while quilting, I discovered a nice naughty little bite out of one of the gold border squares.

Miraculously, I managed to find a piece of the same fabric in my 2" square scrap box. I had to hand applique a little patch over the damaged corner while it was still on the machine. Yeesh! 

I hate changing threads, so I quilted all the blue parts and then rolled the quilt back up as I did the gold areas. My thread was Glide--a very slippery thread that I avoid using, but were the right colors. The thread likes to pop out of the  tension discs, so I wrapped the thread around them twice and loosened the tension. That worked out great until I switched to the gold thread. It would not stay in the tension spring, resulted in major eye-lashing (loops) on the back. Lots of ripping and re-quilting--I'm so glad to put this quilt in my rear view mirror! 

This is the back--mostly flannel which I can see already is going to be a dog hair magnet! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

Half Way Mark Already?

I boggles my mind that we are already in the middle of September. Mostly because I have done nothing to complete my monthly goal--too many distractions!

My set-in seams for the latest Patches of Blue quilt along went together great and I'm really happy and relieved it wasn't too much of struggle!

This is my latest distraction--it's been on my bucket list for ages and when I came across the large print fabric in my stash, I just had to make at least one six inch house--so cute! I've seen lots of the red French General versions, but, you know--I had to do blue! 

I posted this quilt on Instagram, but I don't think I've written about it here yet. This was my second finished quilt in August, in an attempt to use up my  LeMoyne Stars.

I had a big chunk of the Three Sisters fabric in my stash--enough for the entire back. I try to remember to stock up on large or interesting prints when I find a good sale. 

Again, I used the Easy Peasy Baptist Fan panto--love the texture.

As I said on Instagram, this isn't staying on the sofa until Willow is done with her chewing stage--which I hope will happen soon and I worry that will never happen--lol! 

I've meant to replace my Saw Tooth Cats quilt on the wall for years. I'm not even sure how long it's been hanging there--more than a decade for sure. 

And you can see a peek of my Pat Sloan applique quilt in the adjacent hallway. 

This was such a fun project from years ago. A lot of it is changed up to make it my own. Pat said this pattern was her version of a Baltimore album quilt. 

I think I was in my "dotty" phase then and I could never use too many dotted fabrics. 

I added lots of extra birds, bees and butterflies just for fun. 

I had my heart set on using a piece of brown floral I'd had for the border, but, of course, I didn't have quite enough. This may have been the first time I used my "make-do" powers and subbed a closely matched brown to finish up the border. That looked a little odd, so I added some applique flowers to tie in with the floral print. And more dots--haha! 

I remembered being worried about being called out for doing this at the time. Now I love how it turned out--I think it was meant to be. 

No time for napping--I've got to get to work on my September goal!!!

September Goal

Well, I went deep into the UFO archives for my September One Monthly Goal and came up with a top that I barely remember making.  I'm pretty sure I meant it to go on our bed, because I changed up the borders to make it a king size quilt. 

The Maize and Blue Quilt is from Laurie Minick's book Modern Primitive Quilts.
The binding and the backing were packed away with the top and all that needs to be done is the quilting. I vaguely remember thinking that the streak of lightning setting would need some awesome feathers, and that's probably why it never got finished (not my forte). I don't know if my feathers will be awesome, but better to be done!
I do remember the backing--a flannel sheet from Target that Mr. Moosebay detested (too hot!), so it makes sense to use it for a quilt backing.

While working up the courage to quilt those feathers, I took some time to put together the latest Patches of Blue quilt-along block, Shining Star. Now I have to work up the courage to tackle those set-in seams for the star background.
Maybe tomorrow! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE 

August Goal Completed

My goal this month was to make a quilt using some of the LeMoyne stars I've been hoarding. 
This is my Stars and Bars quilt, loosely based on a Missouri Star pattern. It will be donated to our local QOV group. 

Yesterday we had a rainy day (we really needed it!) so I was able to get this quilted and bound with a week to spare--yay! 

The stars across the top are 6" and the side stars are 7".  The stripes are jelly roll strips and the blue inner borders made the math for two different sized stars work out--lol! 

Like last months quilt, I used the Easy Orange Peel pantograph for the quilting.
I like that the design is a little traditional and a little modern.

I was asked about the QOV label on my quilt last month. The labels I use on my QOV quilts are from a panel I purchased several years ago. I don't have a selvage to give more information on them--sorry!
I'm not sure why the label has a space for one's age--is that a thing anyone else puts on their quilts??? I guess if a seven year old made the quilt rather than a 67 year old, it would be something to document, but I think I will pass on putting my age on the quilt!


Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

Design Wall Wednesday

I didn't need to report for jury duty on Tuesday after all, so I had a "free" day to put together Due South. I think the LeMoyne Stars subbed for the saw-tooth stars worked out okay. Those are the last of my leftover stars. I'm so happy to have that bin emptied! 

The borders are ready to be added after the outer edges of the setting triangles are trimmed. Hopefully I will have some time to do that today. Due South was a fun quilt to put together. I have a few more quilts in Miss Rosie's Farmhouse Favorites book that I'm itching to make. I'm trying finish up old stuff, but it's so tempting to start something new!!

BTW, Willow says: " Don't forget to visit Lily Pad Quilting to vote for your favorite dog, cat or pet themed quilt!"
Yes, a shameless plug for little Willow--lol! 
Comment to vote HERE

Tiny Tip Tuesday (and a progress report)

By now, I'm sure almost everyone has one of these mist bottles for dispensing Best Press. As the starch is used, the bladder inside shrinks up making it difficult (at least for me) to refill. I had been using a chopstick to open up the bladder until one day, being in a hurry, I blew into the top of bottle as if I were blowing up a balloon. How did I not think to do this from the beginning??? So much faster!
Of course, one should always wipe the edge of the bottle before putting their lips on it. Nobody knows exactly what's in Best Press--except for Mary Ellen and she's not telling! 

Last week, I had a "buy one/ get one free" coupon from a Sunday paper insert  for Febreze One Fabric and Air mist. Naturally I couldn't pass up that deal and lookie lookie---it comes in the exactly same mist bottle I've been using for Best Press! I'll be up-cycling these for sure. Being a fabric mist, I'm assuming they mean sofas and pillows and not our stashes.
FYI: If you don't have a mist bottle yet and abhor air fresheners, I noticed several quilt shops selling them at the last quilt show I attended. Check your local quilt shop.  Lots of them have cute "quilty" decorations. I've also bought several for gifts (and myself) from this company at a great price.

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So far, my goal to use up those LeMoyne Stars is coming along nicely. I had 6" stars and 7" stars so I adapted a Missouri Star pattern called Stars and Stripes to use both sizes. I'm so pleased to have used up the stars as well as the red and tan jelly roll strips that have been aging in a bin for several years. 

Sooooo....I still have a pile of these matching stars. 

While looking for ideas to use them, I came across this Miss Rosie pattern: Due South. It requires 11 6" saw-tooth stars. I had 8 of the LeMoyne Stars and they happened to be 6".  I decided if I made a smaller size quilt, my 8 stars would work fine. 

As I was pulling fabrics from my stash for the flying geese, I found all three of the fabrics I had used to make the matched LeMoyne Stars. I chose to stitch up an additional 3 stars and make the quilt the size in the book. Also, I realized I have an enormous amount of fabric and need to make a lot of bigger quilts! For Due South, I have to make 212 flying geese.  I like to use my Quilt in a Day Flying Geese tool that makes four geese at a time so I needed to cut 53 squares of dark and light fabric.

Of course I had to make a test block--compared to what I've been working on lately, these geese are enormous!! Okay, only 3" x 6" finished, but still....

Yesterday I finished the two steps of stitching. and started clipping the back seam (if you use the tool, you know what I mean). 

This morning I finished the clipping, gave my squares a final press and now I will work on releasing the geese! I'm not sure this top will get completed by the end of the month--I feel like it's a bonus since I have Stars and Stripes put together. I do want to get that one quilted but I have jury duty beginning next Tuesday so things are a little up in the air!
In the meantime, I'm off for a little "walkie" with Willow!