Making stuff on a Monday...

oooooohhhh... a rare Monday posting...  well, my sewing mojo has returned... don't know how long it will stay but I'm making the most of it... I've recently gotten 2 quilts back from being quilted by Delinda and I finally got the sleeve sewed down a on a quilt I know has been complete for over a year... talk about procrastination.... I'm really really good at it!!  Its a gift!! LOL

So wanna see what I've been up to?  LOTS of pictures ... just like yesterday...

Okay lets start with the 2 recent finishes... I talked about this first one yesterday but I want to include it  here too... 

First is the Flag quilt from the County Seat Quilts book...

Love the variegated thread...

Love the panto...

Then I got the binding on this one...  excuse the floor pics... the design wall is full of blocks I didn't want to take down...

the pattern is Skylight from MSQC you can see it here... and the fabric is Songbook from Fancy That Design House... she's a new (at least new to me) designer and I love her style...  further down this post you'll see another quilt I'm making with her Christmas collection.  Anyway this quilt pattern only take 1 layer cake... and it goes together super quick... I'll make this pattern again... maybe with a Halloween or Christmas layer cake... stay tuned.

This is the quilt that has been languishing waiting for me to sew down the sleeve so I could hang it...

These are leftover blocks from several other quilts I started and then changed my mind about... all done in American Jane fabrics... some Lori Holt blocks and some from The Farmer's Wife that was a QAL that I lost interest in after a month or so... sigh... Anyway I like how they look  and I have a plan to refresh my sewing area with more quilts done in American Jane fabrics... so cheerful and bright... but not TOO bright... I definitely had a quilt phase of about 10 years where ALL my quilts were really really BRIGHT... but I'm over it... and while I still like HAPPY colors I don't need them to scream at me anymore...

Funny story ... most of my really bright quilts were made in the years prior to getting my cataracts removed... someone once speculated that perhaps I didn't see things as bright as they actually were because of my vision... and I think they were right!  

So along with this quilt the little cabinet that sits in front of it needed a new table runner... and this it quite the accomplishment...

See?   Small, very easy construction and wait for it.... I did it while simultaneously watching my 3 year old grandson.... gasp... how did I do that?  Well there are lots of interesting things in Grandma's sewing room, not the least of which is the sewing machine. Both of Elliott's grandma's sew and he LOVES anything mechanical... I'm pretty sure there an engineer in there waiting to escape... we shall see... both of his Grandpa's are mechanically inclined... one has taught math & managed the facilities at the high school he works at for 35 years, the other has a degree in mechanical & aerospace engineering... his Daddy went off to college thinking he was going to do engineering, but after his freshman year he decided while he could do it... he had great grades... he didn't want to do it ...and he wanted to go into law... which he did... 

Anyway where was I???  Oh keeping Elliott occupied while I sewed... he likes to sit on my lap and watch me feed  the fabric through... he knows what the presser food is, and the difference between a needle and a pin... a needle has a hole in it according to Elliott ...and he LOVES bobbins... he likes to see inside the machine where they sit... he like to play with bobbins...

If Maria Montessori  had sewn this would be an activity.... stacking bobbins on a straw...

Another activity he enjoys is sticking pin in my design wall...

And trying to figure out if they come out the other side...

Two weeks ago  "we" made the table runner... last week "we" sewed together these 9 patch blocks and discussed that they were squares and counted 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9....  I'm planning on sewing some more of these with him tomorrow... fingers crossed...

Back to the quilts... I've competed two tops with the Bonnie & Camille swap blocks I did back in 2017... they had matured enough to be sewn... LOL... sorry both of these pics aren't great but you get the idea...

This first one is bed size and it already at Delinda's to be quilted.

These are the blocks I had leftover and I'll take this top to her when the other is complete. 

And wait... there's a bit more... I really like the fabric collection Cheer & Merriment from Fancy That Design House..  not a real in you face Christmas line ... a bit more subdued... you can see it all here... I was particularly taken with the gold fabrics in the collection ... you don't see much yellow or gold in Christmas lines and I though it would be the perfect sashing for this pattern...

The pattern is French Vanilla from the book Perfect 10 Quilts by Sew Emma...

This pattern is sooooo easy to do... since I'm making this bed size I cut 2 10" squares from each of the FQs in the bundle... you make 2 cuts and you have all 4 of the pieces you need to make the block... You don't need any pins to sew the block together... it is super quick!!   I went down to my sewing room Friday around 1: 30 ... by 5:00 I had cut out ALL the fabrics for the blocks and  half of the sashing needed and I sewed together 21 blocks... a very productive day!!   Now I may make the sashing between the blocks a bit narrower... not sure yet... I know that gold is strong but I like it ... it  is very cozy and I think it will look great in my bedroom as I have buffalo check drapes that are gold and white... 

Here's the pieces laid out on a tray...

I hope to get back to this a bit today or on Wednesday but in the meantime it can wait for me on this cart...

I really like this cart... it is  a We R Memory Keepers  Project Cart... I got it at Joanns ...here's the link...  the price now is higher than what I paid... I think I got it for about $75 and if you Google it, you can find it for less than the Joanns price... anyway I like that I can have multiple projects staged and ready to go... the trays slip in an out easily and they sit on a wire frame that has a lip on the back so you don't push the tray all the way through...  I liked it so much I got two... so many projects... so many many projects...LOL

Edited to add:  Last night I went to Joanns website to look at this cart... this morning I got an email giving me 25% off and flat rate $2.99 shipping... I haven't had this happen for a while, but there have been times when I left an item in a cart and a day or so later I get an offer for a better deal... just something to consider. 

So that't where I am right now with my quilting... I want to get the Cheer & Merriment quilt done before I see Delinda again... and I have at least 2 more Christmas quilts I want to play with. I got a layer cake of Cathe Holden's Christmas Faire... you can see it here... I think I've decided on a pattern and I already have some Grunge for sashing... I have a FQ pack of Christmas Joys from Riley Blake which you can see here...not sure what I'm doing with it... and I want to get a layer cake of the new Basic Grey Christmas line called Peppermint Bark which you can see here....  one can NEVER have too many Christmas quilts!!!

And there are a ton of cute Halloween collections this year... might need another quilt for that holiday...again... so many many projects...

But I'd rather have more things I want to do than time to do them in, than be bored... I don't get bored but I do find myself unmotivated at times these days... gotta stay away from the doom scrolling on my phone... I really need some kind of parental controls to stop me after  20 minutes or so...LOL ... too many times I waste an hour or more on IG or other sites...  I think I did pretty well this last weekend...  I gave myself a 3 day stay at home retreat... I sewed a lot on Friday... sewed a bit more on Saturday and cross stitched... and then cross stitched a lot on Sunday... got a new Fall-ish pattern that I couldn't put down... 

And there was some gardening work tossed in too... haven't had to water in a week, but it was needed last night... and I did a bit of weeding and deadheading ... and then picked off more Japanese beetles ... and then sprayed for the beetles and deer repellent as they chomped on my daylilies and my hydrangeas... grrrrr... 

Forecast for this week doesn't have any rain in it at all... and 80 degree temps... I'll be out there at least once a day ... the dahlias in the bed are full of buds and I found 3 partially opened flowers last night... all the same variety... a pink cactus form... can't wait to see what pops next.

So now I think I remember the blogs that did Monday aggregates... Love Laugh Quilt... Small Quilts and Doll Quilts...  I'll link up with these two... 

Hope you have a productive week ahead... I've got some babysitting and lunch with a friend but nothing else on my calendar... I'd like to keep it that way and stay home and sew and stitch... fingers crossed that is the way it turns out...

happy stitching-

carol fun