How'd Your Week Go?

I feel like I made pretty good progress on several fronts this week. Much satisfaction here.

First up Farmer's Wife. Got another three blocks posted. Here they are:

#39 - Grandma (Paper-Pieced)

#38 - Golda (Paper-Pieced)

#40 - Grandmother (Paper-Pieced)

I also included a picture of Polly supervising my 1/4" seam. What a sweet kitty!

As for Mosaics, got another 36 diamonds prepped, sewn together in three rows, and papers removed and Best Pressed. Now I'm ready to glue it to the background and get to appliqueing it down. That's the part I look forward to doing most. No picture, too boring.

Kyoto is coming along as well. Two rounds sewn around the six triangles and I'm busily getting the third round ready. Kitty jumped in my lap for nap so there has been a bit of a pause in the project.

I also decided that I really, really wanted to get my APQ 2018 UFO Challenge project for May done. I listed #6 as My Gold Star. I later located the steps to this mystery and it was actually called Miss Millie's Mystery. So I pieced together a back from some of the leftover units, got it sandwiched, pin-basted, and have gotten a good start on the ditch quilting. I also spent a morning looking through quilt patterns on-line and in some of my books so I have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to quilt it. Anxious to get back to that machine and get it done! Here's a little progress photo:

Fair warning: We finally got a bunch of rain and my flowers are blooming and looking pretty. Here's an overload of garden pictures (only six really) so, if you prefer not to look at them, I grant you permission *wink* to scroll to the end to leave a comment or leave now.

Looking down at the oakleaf hydrangea from the deck

Pot o' Petunias

Pot o' Zinnias

Shasta Daisies &  Coneflowers

Clematis

Dogwood Tree with Railroad Lilies

And a few days ago on my walk, I saw this spider web glistening with dew in the sunlight. Pretty!

 And here's Gracie waiting patiently for me to take the picture. See the web just to the right? No, Gracie, hop on down here to the bike trail. We're not going through the woods today.

I'll be linking up with Em's Scrapbag on Monday with Movin' It Forward.

Have a great week!

A Monday Post

I like the idea of sitting down on Mondays and checking out what I've done, what I've bought, and what I'm thinking about doing. Got the idea from Em's Scrapbag blog -- she calls it Moving It Forward Monday. Check out what she's been up to this week and all the others that have linked up HERE. I'll be adding my link when I'm done here. And thank you, Em, for doing this and inspiring us to keep on Moving It Forward!

So what have I done this week? I finished second panel for Border #2 (diamonds) of the pattern Mosaics by Irene Blanc. This picture shows it in progress but I can assure it's now done. The picture at the top of my blog is the first panel done. Two more of these panels to go and then on to the four cornerstones. They are gigantic hexie motifs which I've completed. Only need to remove the papers and applique to the backgrounds. I've already finished the four panels for Border #1 (hexies) and the center medallion. Looking forward to getting this project completed.

Hexie Motif

Four Completed Hexi Borders

Center Medallion

 I also joined up with Jinny Beyer's Mystery QAL called Miyoto. I'm hand-piecing this. The first two clues have been completed and here's my progress on Clue #3. There are four more rounds to go on these six triangles.

I also managed to sew three blocks in the Farmers Wife 1930s Sampler Blocks this week, which makes me happy!!! In order to keep up we're pacing it at 2/week. This means I caught up half a week! Goodness -- what was I thinking when I thought I could accomplish all this! Hahaha! Anyway, here's a peek at my latest three 6" blocks for Farmers Wife.

I hope to sew 3 or more of these blocks this week and make more progress on the other two projects. I also took advantage of Fat Quarters Shop's birthday bonanza and purchased a load of 1/2 yard pieces. I hope to also get this fabric starched (yes, I'm a starcher!) and ready to go for a quilt for my son and daughter-in-law.

Have a great week!

Link Up with Sugarlane Designs

Today I'm linking up with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs for FNSI. I've talked about it plenty in the past but, in a nutshell, there are a group of us that stitch virtually once a month. Wendy has sign-ups and then we link up to share what we worked on. That way we can check in to see what everyone else has been up to. It's a great way to keep in touch with like-minded beings! We have participants from all over the world! You can see for yourself at Sugarlane Designs while you see how creative this group is!

As for me, I decided to put a few more stitches on Miyoto, a sew-a-long with Jinny Beyer. Jinny is the master of hand-piecing and I wanted to join her on this mystery project. I believe it ends up being a large lap-size. Anyway, I chose my kit from her four colorways -- blue/teal. It's a beautiful selection of fabrics.

We are on Clue #3 and there's quite a bit to accomplish this month. It starts with six triangles that you are to sew five rings around, log-cabin-wise. The sixth round you are to only sew on two sides. That translates to six triangles and eighteen pieces for each of the five rings and twelve pieces for the last. The triangle starts off dark and the rings get gradually lighter as Jinny does so well.

I had started this a few days ago, getting my triangles cut out and the first eighteen segments to be attached for the first rings. I had also gotten two of the triangles completed. Last night I completed two more and this morning I finished off the last two. Here's a picture of the six:

 And here's a picture of one triangle on top of a ruler to give you any idea of the size. So tiny!

And now it's time for me to get busy cutting out the next 18 segments for the next ring. Wonder how big these are going to end up?

Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Anthea!

Good morning! Today I'm linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches for PYT, aka Piece Yourself Together. You can check it out HERE to link up for yourself and to also see what others are up to with their own English Paper Piecing projects. Hint: Anthea is working on a "monster" project!

As for me, I'm still busy with Mosaics by Irene Blanc. I'm loving how it looks and I'm still loving to work on it. That really says something since I've been at it since October 2016 (?). Really? Has it been that long? I believe that's when I took her class so, yes, it's been that long!

Right now I'm on diamond border #2. Just appliqueing away to get it sewn down. These outer borders are 48" so you KNOW this takes a bit of time to get all three rows of twelve diamonds each stitched to the fabric. So portable and easy. LOVE IT!

Here's how to tell my progress: See how the middle row of diamonds have no tails sticking out? That's because that row is done. See how the row on the right has some tails and some not? That's because I've stitched down the inside portion of those diamonds and am working on the outsides now. If you look real hard you can see my needle and thread waiting for me to pick it up and work in some more stitches!

While the other project is not EPP, I want to share my progress with you while I have your attention. Hahaha! It is the Miyoto Mystery Quilt I started in April, I believe, since I'm on clue #3. It's a monthly program from Jinny Beyer through her newsletter. I posted my clue #1 HERE if you'd like to take a peek back. Since then I've completed both clue #1 & #2. Clue #3 was a little late posting as there was trouble on the website but it's up now and I've started. I get to work with COLOR this time. So excited since the previous clues were mostly background fabrics. Check it out!

Clue #1 - several mirror images.
(Shared in earlier post)

Clue #2 - A little color added.
Two each mirror images.

Clue #3 looks to be a fun section. So far I've got 2 of these little triangles up to this point. The inside triangle sides finish at 2-1/4" long so a wee bit tiny. I've sewn the first round on. There are four more rounds plus the final round which we are to sew on only two sides. Isn't the fabric pretty??? Each round gets a little lighter so it will be gorgeous!

Clue #3 - in progress

This clue, when completed,  has six units with 5-2/3 rounds each. Lots of pieces to attach. Oh! I almost forgot ... Jinny explains in her how-to video how you can paper-piece this together if you like (pattern included) or you may want to continue hand-piecing. I chose the latter. So portable!

Have a great day!