A new quilt top filled with old memories on Design Wall Monday...

Another week has whizzed by, hasn't it?  And so much has gone on in the world in the last week...the eclipse and Hurricane Harvey and now the epic flooding in Texas... my heart and prayers go out to all of those affected by this storm. Mother Nature proves again that you can't control her.

And since I can't control the weather...and I pretty much complain about it all the time...except for right now...right now the weather in SW Ohio is just about perfect... 70 degrees ...low humidity...I've got the windows all open and it feels so good... where was I?? Oh can't control the weather, but can control my sewing and I finished a top for this Monday morning...

This is my Puss in the Corner quilt done in all Lori Holt fabrics. I started with two layers cakes of her newest lines Bee Basics and Bee Backgrounds. Now I did add a couple of other fabrics to this top, some of the prints that are only available in the extra wide 108" background fabrics and a piece from an older collection, but they all play together nicely.

Now this is a brand new quilt but it is filled with old memories for me. I am a child of the 50's and 60's... a time I remember as perfect... my Mom was a stay at home mom before that term was ever coined. We played outside all day, we walked to school (and no it wasn't uphill both ways but it was about a mile away). we caught lightening bugs in a  mayonnaise jar with holes punched in the top, and life was good.  So many of the fabrics in this quilt brought back these kinds of memories for me...


Where to start...  the border of this quilt is a lovely yellow print from the 108" wide collection and when I saw it I immediately remembered the cafe curtains in my Mom's kitchen that were hung with little brass clips that slid back and forth...

And when I think if my Mom, I remember sewing... she let me use her Kenmore sewing machine with the cams when I was 6 years old. I started out making doll clothes and moved on into making all my own clothes by my teen years...

And as the child of the 50's and 60's TV played an important role in my life... the Mickey Mouse Club and Lawrence Welk and  Midwestern Hayride (a  local WLW show) and Bonanza were some of my favorites...

and don't you love that penmanship print?  My handwriting was never that pretty...

And I remember getting my first two wheeled  bike for Christmas when I was in the first grade...

And why does that green print with the circles remind me of the test pattern that use to appear on the TV when they signed off for the night???

And when it was hot we sat in front of a fan...

but we didn't have any cute baby chicks running around in my 1960's suburban neighborhood.

And I learned to type on a "portable"  Remington typewriter that weighed about 50 lbs...ok that is a bit of an exaggeration... but not much...

This is the only print that isn't from the current LH collections and it was too cute not to include in this quilt.   And if you remember the start of this top you might recall  there were some gray prints in the collection... I thought I could use them... I really did...but in the end I just didn't want then in this quilt... I just wanted bright happy colors so that's what I used. Insert stompy foot 8 year old me in 1961...LOL

So many good memories...

This was a easy quilt to make... I was going to link to the tutorial I used but somehow it has disappeared from the web...how did that happen?? I thought everything on the web was forever...at least the bad stuff is ...well anyway... I just stacked a print and a background square... I cut them down to 9.5"...then I cut a 2.5" strip off of all 4 sides... then I shuffles the squares and you get two blocks with the positive /negative of each other...easy peasy.

Now to get this off to Terry to have it quilted... I'm looking forward to sleeping under this one and hopefully dreaming of the 60's... that would be nice.

I'll link up today with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  and  Em's Scrapbasket and Love Laugh Quilt.

Hope you have a good week and send prayers and maybe a donation to a charitable organization for all those people in Texas.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Juggling act...

Did you know I can juggle? Not things like balls or chainsaws, but quilt projects... I can juggle quilt projects!  Now doesn't the verb juggle sound waaaay more purposeful... more conscientious... more responsible...than OMG I just saw another shiny pattern I just have to try ... RIGHT NOW!!!!

The true fact is that my crafty ADD has me running in several circles...at the same time... too bad it doesn't seem to burn off any calories...LOL!  So what am I working on right now, well first...

I have two rows of the big tulips sewn together.. 3 more to go...here's a close-up of the border fabric...

a nice sunny yellow... need to get this one done and off to the long arm quilter if I have any hope at all of getting it on my bed while there are still tulips in bloom.


And then I was distracted by this project...the quilt pattern is called Arcade and it was on the cover of the Winter 2016 edition of the magazine Quilts and More. The designer is Sherri McConnell and her blog is A Quilting Life. When I saw this pattern I thought it would be a great match for the layer cakes of the Basic Grey collection Saturday Morning that I had already purchased.  You can see the collection here.  So far I have 6 of the big units complete but I've run out of sashing fabric...

Sorry for the wonky angle but my design wall is still full of tulips, so I'm using the living room floor.
The pattern makes a 66" square quilt using one layer cake... I want it big enough for my bed so I'm using 2 layer cakes and a border. I like the shabby chic feel of this fabric.  Those hourglass blocks are going together nicely... no bias edges on the outside...yeah!!!

This unit is BIG... over 18"... so it should make up quickly...

And the since there are already 2 balls quilts in the air I thought I'd add a third one! Have you seen this new book...

My friend Robin posted about it on IG and well I was intrigued. I'm very impressed as there are several quilts in this book I'd like to do. Some take just 2 charm packs, others need 3 or 4 which is layer cake territory and I have lots of them in my stash.

This is my first choice from the book... the pattern is called Lunch Box...  and these are my fabric picks...

Now I completely forgot that I had this layer cake... it is by Momo...and I LOVE Momo, but it isn't more 70's avocado/harvest gold/chocolate brown colorway I'm most familiar with...this one is very bright and Spring-y...perfect for right now...as the temp is 70 and I have the windows open and there is lovely breeze... oh back to the quilting (see how easy it is for the ADD to pop up?)  Anyway there is a quilt along for this book on Instagram which you can follow here...

I couldn't wait to sew up a couple of blocks of this pattern... the blocks start like this...

little Puss in the Corner blocks... and then you slash them and slash some background fabric and sew the pieces together and  they look like this...

and here is one all sewn together...

I love the scrappiness of this pattern and the Spring-y colors and the yummy-ness of that lime green Grunge. I picked it up at a new to me shop in town called Home Grown, Home Sewn... you can see their website here. I was very impressed with this shop... it is small but packed full of colorful fabric and notions and patterns and samples... the whole place has such a happy vibe... I'll be visiting again soon as it is only about 15 minutes from my house. I saw several fabrics I'd like to have some yardage of.

And pairing this brand new Grunge fabric with this well aged Just Wing It! layer cake has been interesting. Like I said I had totally forgot I even owned this fabric... I know it is older collection as the price marked on it was $32 and I'm pretty sure I paid less than that ... I believe  this was marked down at a sale at Fabric Shack a couple of years ago. Also,  I know this is "vintage" as when I went to cut it up the squares were actually more than 10"... I had to trim it down and it trimmed off the pinked edges to get it to 10"... that doesn't happen anymore. Now they are barely 10" including the pinked edges.

So three projects (we aren't even going to think about the other two year long QAL's I'm working on) are all in different corners of my sewing space... that still leaves one corner open...LOL... I think I'll stop here right now. I've been very energetic and productive on the quilting front these last couple of weeks... the cross stitch and the knitting have fallen by the way side but I'm sure they will return. I don't feel guilty bouncing from project to project anymore. Everything will get done in due time... at least I think it will...LOL!!!

 I'm linking up with Patchwork Times and Love Laugh Quilt and then I'm off too juggle and sew!!!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Design Floor Monday...

Hello there... well yesterday was quite productive... and I'm still totally baffled as to why this is occurring, but I'm happy it is... I was able to get caught up with my blocks for the Three Dandelion Shop 100 QAL... you can check out all the stuff being posted for this on Instagram here.  I was about 4 weeks behind... 8 blocks... but I knocked them all out...yeah!!!

Here are the 26 that are finished... 25% of the way to Tula Pink"s City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks... I had to use the floor as my design wall is full of my tulip blocks... hope to get them off this week as my sashing fabric has arrived... so this is what I got...

If you want to see them individually you can check them out here on my Instagram feed.
It is nice to look at them all in one place... it lets me see that I'm using a lot of the aqua and blue...I know that I'm going to use my favorite butterscotch-y Grunge for my background and I think all of these colors will play nicely with it. Maybe today I'll get a few more done... it takes waaaay longer to pick out the fabrics than it does to cut and sew these little gems... decisions decisions decisions... And I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the next collection of Momo fabrics... it is called Lucky Day and you can see it here.  If you enlarge the picture you can see the prints better... lots of small scale ones which would work great in this quilt. I think they are going to be released in July.

And I was also able to catch up on my FQS Patchwork Quilt Along which you can see here. They are up to Block # 3 Box-in-a- Box... again this month I made 6 little 5" finished ones and one 10" finished one...

You can find the cutting dimensions for the 5" blocks here... and here are my dimensions for a 10" block.

Background:
A   2.5" x 6.5"  cut 2
B   2.5" x 2.5"  cut 2

Print:
C 2.5" x 10.5" cut 2
D 2.5" x 6.5"   cut 2
E 2.5" x 2.5"   cut 1

Now I had to do a little finagling to make my 10" block as all I have from these Elizabeth Hartman collections are layer cakes which are only 10" square. I picked a busy print and pieced the strips to get it to the right length... if you are looking for it you can tell where I pieced it but otherwise I think it blends nicely.

Scaling these blocks up is simple to do... just take the dimensions given... subtract a half inch, that is the seam allowance. Double the figure you are left with and then add back on the half inch seam allowance.

Not sure what I'll do with these blocks when I get them all done but I have lots of time to think about it...and I'm sure I'll need it ...LOL

Well the Open Day Parade for my beloved Cincinnati Reds, got off without rain...but the game doesn't start till 4pm and the weather guy there is an 80% chance of rain then... I hope he's wrong... but no matter what I'll be watching from my nice dry stitching chair.

I'll be linking up today with Patchwork Times and Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Defying Mother Nature...

Last week the weather was glorious... I even shaved my legs and worn sandals one day!  This week is starting gray and yuckky... but I'm not going to let Mother Nature get me down...I'm making tulips... GIANT BRIGHTLY COLORED TULIPS!!!!

So far I've completed this dozen...

and this one of a kind aqua tulip...

There is very little aqua in any of the American Jane collections... as far as I can find it is just these 6 prints... I am very fond of the square in the bottom center of the tulip...those cats are sweet... the collection from several years ago  was called Fairy Tale Friends.

I've been pushing myself to think outside the box where the color of the leaves are concerned and I've made red leaves and blue leaves and yellow leaves along with the traditional green leaves... and I may have just enough fabric to do one tulip with aqua leaves...oooohhhh   very trendy....LOL!

I like the 30's vibe of the American Jane fabrics and that there are always some novelties to play with...for example....

there's a gingerbread boy making a run for it in the upper left corner of this tulip.

And paper doll clothes appear in this minty green designer tulip with the pink leaves... very Spring-y!

Bees, and old fashioned items like cursive penmanship and a rotary phone are included in this ginormous tulip.

And of course my favorite motif... CHICKENS....

in 2 different colorways... so cute!

So I have 13 sewn and 17 to go...and they are ALL cut out!!!!

Now to find time to sew... at the moment I'm waiting for my furnace guy to come and figure out what is wrong with the furnace... I have heat...thank goodness, but the water pump thingy keeps cycling over and over and over and over ...and well I'm not a repair guy but even I know that isn't right.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to have my left eye cataract surgery... I'll be happy to see approximately the same out of both eyes... and then to figure out if I can get by with just reading glasses or do I still need prescription lenses... I'm okay either way...and after that I have a bit of a double vision problem that needs to be corrected. It comes and goes and it  is mostly when I focus really far away but it is annoying... now I can rectify the situation by closing one eye so maybe I should go for a pirate look and just say "aye mateys" a lot... probably not a long term solution. There is always something isn't there?

Hope you have a good week...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Making stuff on Monday....

Happy Presidents' Day...although I prefer the schedule of my youth that gave you 2 holidays in February... Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday... it made a short month even shorter and during the Winter that is a good thing.

Well, I find myself wrapped up in projects that have me making blocks ...which will become quilts... someday... the the future...and I'm liking that a lot!

First, last week's assignment for the Three Dandelions QAL, from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.

Block 11: Pound Sign... this shows how old school I am... most people today would call this a hashtag... whenever I see it I think pound sign...sigh... I'm getting old (notice I said getting old, not I'm old... I'm still delusional)

Block 12:  Flower Cross... not  an imaginative title... I can see why Tula didn't name each block...

I'm still loving the Momo fabrics... I'm actually a little ahead on this project as I didn't know if I would be able to see well enough to sew with only one eye corrected ...but I'm doing okay...and you know how it is... as soon as I think I can't do something or go somewhere, well, I just GOTTA do it!

And last week,  I stumbled upon the FQS Jolly Jabber Patchwork  Quilt Along... which you can see here. On the 15th of each month the pattern is released for an adorable 5" finished block. The plan is to make 6 of each block and at the end of the year you'd have 72 blocks to make a quilt with.

So, first thing I considered is what collection/designer to use... my crafty OCD insists on a plan... I perused my stash and found 3 layer cakes from Elizabeth Hartman... 2 are the Rhoda Ruth collection and 1 is Paintbox Basics... I love both of these collections ...and I found yardage of a cute multi-color speckly  fabric for background... I'm all set.

I started with January, Souvenir of Friendship and quickly made 6 adorable little blocks... and then I stumbled on a bigger version of this block (I know I should be black and blue from all the stumbling I'm doing...LOL) ... check this blog out... Out of the Blue Quilts... she made bigger versions of the blocks. Well when I first saw them she hadn't posted the dimensions of the bigger blocks and I assumed she had simply doubled the size to 10"... so I figured it out myself. If you go to her blog you can see that she has made them 12" ... but I'm sticking with my 10" size...here are my Souvenir of Friendship blocks...

if you bigify the pic you can see some of the cute prints in these collections... that big block has limey green foxes and the yellow one has giraffes.. too cute!

And here is my second month of blocks, Diamond Pane...

I see X blocks or if you turn your head sideways I see bows... hey at least I don't see dead people...LOL!

Anyway since I worked out the math...and it actually works... I'll give you my dimensions to make the 10" versions.

Souvenir of Friendship

Background:
A -  2.5" x 2.5"            Cut 8

Print:
B - 2.5" x 6.5"             Cut 2
C - 2.5" x 4.5"             Cut 4
D - 2.5" x 2.5"             Cut 3

Now you can't get this entire block from one 10" square...you will be short one 2.5" square. I picked a print that I had 2 squares of but you could also just use another fabric for the last square and put it in the middle of the block.


Diamond Pane

Background:
A -  5" x  5"               Cut 2
B - 2.5" x 4.5"           Cut 4

Print:
C - 5" x  5"                Cut 2
D - 2.5" x 2.5"           Cut 1

Now, when I made the HSTs for this block I started with the 5"squares... drew a diagonal .. sew a very scant quarter inch seam on either side of the diagonal ... cut on the line...opened it up and trimmed the blocks down to 4.5" square. You don't have a lot to trim off, but by only cutting the square 5" to begin with you can get this out of one 10" square.

I'd like to come up with at layout that uses both sizes of blocks in the same quilt... I have a couple of ideas already, so I'll see where this ends up later in the year.

And if that wasn't enough to play with I was alerted by my friend Laurey to look at this quilt by Lori Holt...

 on this blog... Why Not Sew.... OMG... GIANT TULIPS!!!!   I want a bed size quilt of these beauties.... and I want it NOW!!!!  Okay, deep breath... I decided to use my well aged stash of American Jane fabrics and I have my first block done...

I love the folk art quality of this block and the fact that not all of the leaves are green...the fact that I made the first block with blue leaves is a big deal for me... normally I wouldn't think of doing that... but I like the look... a lot!!!  My calculations have me making 30 blocks and with sashing and a border it should be large enough for my bed....now how quickly can I get the other 29 done??? Hopefully before my interest wanes... or they'll end up in a plastic bin like the last bunch of tulip blocks... but they will see the light of day in the end... of that I'm sure.

Sooooo... I'm off to cut some more tulip blocks... and watch the sun set out my living room window... it has been another be - yooo - ti - ful day... a good day for growing more tulips...LOL!

I'm linking up to day with Love, Laugh Quilt's Making Monday... and Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday... I haven't done that for a while...and it feels really good!

happy stitching-
carol fun

I HAVE to make this quilt...

really... I have to... since the moment the pattern arrived in my mail slot it has been talking to me...shouting at me... MAKE ME...MAKE ME!!! (Remember when I said I was only a little bit crazy?  It may be more than a bit...LOL)

Here is the noisy little pattern...

I purchased it here from Villa Rosa Designs.  I couldn't wait to start this Chatty Cathy quilt, but I was having trouble deciding which fabrics to use. The pattern used Cotton & Steel fabrics but I don't have any in my stash., and in examining the pattern and how the geese are made (they are 2 HST) I knew I wanted to use fabrics that would "meld" where the two HSTs came together.  I thought about some large scale prints I have but was pretty sure that they would end up going in two different directions which would set off my crafty OCD... not a good thing... and then I thought of my Kaffe Fassett prints... YES... these would work!!!

Well the pattern calls for 10 FQs...and somehow that proved to be more complicated math than I could handle as I ended up making 11 GINORMOUS flying geese... mine are bigger than the pattern and are finishing a little over 16" high and 32" wide... sooooo I have to decide which of these layouts I like best...

Door No. 1....

Door No. 2...

Now I will admit these aren't the greatest pictures and I'm not sure that clicking on them and making them bigger will help but I just want to point out that all those dark purple-y ones in Door No. 2 are slightly different in tone.  All ten flying geese are different paperweight fabrics.... I know which Door I like... which one would you pick?


I'm very happy with how these Kaffe paperweight prints "meld"...

And that turquoise grunge background looks like sky in real life.... I still need to sew the blocks together and I'm going to add a small border on all four sides so that when I bind it I don't lose the points.

Now when I'm going to get to that step I'm not sure... today has lots of running around and tomorrow I'm scheduled to have the first of my two cataract surgeries.... I'm a bit nervous ....anxious to have it over with.... but my friends who've had the surgery keep telling me how happy I will be and how well I will see... and considering how near sighted I am I'm looking forward to better vision.  Well this quilt will definitely call me to come back and finish it ASAP so maybe by the end of the week it will be a top...

Wish me luck on the quilt and the eye surgery!

happy stitching-
carol fun

The tulips are blooming....

The tulips are blooming...not the ones in the yard but the ones that have taken 3 years to "grow" in my sewing room...obviously they didn't get a lot of sunshine shut up in their plastic bin...imagine that... and to think I call myself a gardener...LOL!

Dotty Tulips...this is my take on Lori's Holt's Tulip Patch pattern in  her book Quilty Fun... my tulips are a bit plumper than hers and they are all dotty fabrics and each one is a different fabric and all the stems/leaves are different greens and  ALL of the fabrics in this quilt came from my stash  so it is a FREE quilt.  The rationalization for the FREE designation is that I don't remember what I paid for these fabrics... a form of  crafty Alzheimer's... without the dementia element... at least I think I'm not crazy....okay... just a little crazy... or as my older son tells me, "you are crazy it just isn't the kind of crazy I can have you committed for....YET"... LOL...who knows when that will be!

My best guesstimate is there are a little over 100 different bright fabrics in this quilt... the reward for accumulating a large stash of pretties!  I tried hard to not have two of the same color fabric touching each other... when I started sewing it together I was adamant about it... as time went on ...not so much. Occasionally a fabric touches a fabric of the same color, but they are different fabrics of the same color family which somehow soothes my OCD about this.  Now I need to get a back together and get this off to Terry my long arm quilter.

I'm proud of  myself that I'm keeping up with the Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks for the Three Dandelions  QAL... we are still in the  "cross" section...

Block 9: Polka Dot Cross

Block  10:  The Cross in the Garden

These were easy blocks...not a lot of pieces... it took longer to pick my fabrics than it did to cut them out and sew them together!

Well for what I thought would be a quiet week somehow there was still a lot of running around...and tomorrow has  several things on the schedule... and Saturday has stuff I want to do but may or may not get done... and next week... well next week is chock full of  running here and there... when does a gal find time to sew????  Gotta squeeze it in some how, some way...

Hope you find time to sew too!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Trying to find a routine...

Hello there... well last week was a bust in getting anything posted. I LOVE the idea of the 3 day weekend but the reality of the 4 day work week meant too much got squished into too few days. (Kinda like this blog post...you'll see what I mean) I was looking forward to the weekend. but when Friday came I was plum tuckered out and not much was accomplished besides some napping, and I did manage to pull together a family dinner on Sunday evening... I grilled out steaks... on the 22nd of January in Ohio... unbelievable!  It was 60 degrees and I figured we wouldn't see that again for quite some time.

Today was the first day  I've had in a while that I didn't have to go anywhere... so  I didn't... I stayed home and got some sewing done...yippee!!  I'll show you some of the stuff I've accomplished. This was not all finished today but there is some productivity to show for the last 2 weeks.

First, my Bonnie and Camille Swap Blocks...

This is a stack of 64 10.25" half log cabin blocks... now I  need to send off 36 for the swap part. I made enough that when I get my swap blocks back I can put together a quilt for my double bed. I think it will look very summery.

Here's an example of the block I'm planning to do...

I want to do a white on white sashing with assorted colored cornerstones and a nice wide white border... that's the plan right now...we'll see how it turns out.  They were fun blocks to do and I have high hopes for what I'll get back in the swap as the requirements were to only use Bonnie and Camille fabrics and the blocks all have the last round of logs cut 2.5"... that will let you trim your block down if you need.  Now if I can only remember to go get a padded mailing envelope... so far I've been out at least 3 places where I could have picked one up and either they were out of them... or I forgot about it... ahh tomorrow is another day!!!

And something else I forgot to do ...I  forgot to show my progress on  the Three Dandelions Shop QAL of Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. Here is the link to the Instagram board and this my Block 3: Fly Away!

I'm calling Block 4: Put a Cherry on Top

I didn't get my blocks for last week posted till today, because I didn't make them till today... oh well,
Block 5: Raindrops bring Rainbows... this is straight IRL, the picture is wonky...sorry...

and Block 6: Into every life a little rain must fall...

 

that has me caught up till the end of the week when Blocks 7 and 8 are due... gotta sew faster!!! Oh these blocks are a lot smaller than they appear... they finish a mere 6 inches square... and some had 25 pieces in one little block...sheesh... glad these last two were easier... haven't looked at the ones for this week yet.

Also I played around with this project...

polka dotted deer with flowers in their antlers... sounds kinda trippy, doesn't it???  LOL  All the fabrics are from my very well aged stash of Debbie Mumm.  The deer is from the pattern Dear Deer which you can see here.  I reversed the direction of the one on the left and the whole piece is about 20" wide and 9" high. I plan to minimally quilt it and hang it on my back door as a ode to my little city Deer Park.  I know I gripe about the deer a lot but if you can't beat them... and I can't... I can celebrate them... a little bit.

And speaking of deer and thinking of Spring...( I know where did that thought come from??... trust me my mind is a very strange place)... I got this catalog from David Austin Roses  ...

and here's a link to their website. I got to thinking (and that is always dangerous) about what I'd like to plant in my yard this year... I LOVE LOVE LOVE my rose bushes even though it was a constant battle with the deer and the Japanese beetles and the black spot. But hope springs eternal in this gardener's heart and I think I can stay ahead of some of those problems this year ...and yes I may be delusional but I'm okay with that... it is a nice happy sweet smelling delusional little world !  The more I think of Spring and Summer the more I want MORE roses... more English roses!   I've decided I could plant 2 or 3 bushes by the front corner of my house where I had a dead bush torn out last year. I couldn't find a tree/bush I wanted for that spot and now I'm glad I waited. I think climbing roses would be super in that spot as they would grow up the corner post of the porch... in my mind's eye it is going to be gorgeous (again let me have my dreams)... and the young man who mows my grass and digs holes for me said he could put another flower bed in on the other side of my driveway and I could put a couple of rose bushes there too! And David Austin sent a coupon for 15% off if I order by March 24.... and you know I will ...LOL!

So hopefully I'll get into some sort of a routine in the next couple of weeks...no more 3 day weekends till late in February ... I want to stay home more and sew more so that when Spring comes... and I'll be chomping at the bit for it to arrive I'll be able to play in my yard again...roses and petunias are in the forecast for me!!

happy stitching-
carol fun