Humble Quilts String-a-Long

Last day of the month. Here's my String-X block for the month.

To see what everyone else has managed to do this month, visit Lori at Humble Quilts!

See you next month!

Movin' It Forward

What did I move forward this week?

Block #2 of the Circus Embroideries

Borders completed for my version of the
Bonnie Hunter 2014 leaders & enders Lozenges
I Spy Quilt

Bunches of double blocks for my version
of the Bonnie Hunter 2017 leaders & enders Checkerboard Rails
Shark Bite!

Plenty of quilting activity my way. Have a great week!

Pink is Coming to an End

We are almost to the end of July which means we're closing in on the end of "PINK". Tuesday will be the last pink Tiny Tuesday block and Thursday we'll get a new color to work on. I'm actually surprised by how much fun I had working with pink. It's not really a color that I work with much. So let's move forward!

In my previous TT post I mentioned that I wasn't all that happy with my piggy block but I'd keep it. After seeing everyone else's blocks, I decided that my pig just had to go! The background fabric I used (which was very pretty) was much too much too busy and so I decided to remake it. I managed to find a bit of my main pig color fabric but I had to change the snout & ears fabric due to not enough left in the scrap bin for a repeat. So here they are, both the good and the bad.

1st Try = FAIL

2nd Try = Keeper

So that was the new & improved piggy from last week. Here's the Wonky Star from this week. I like it!

I also finished the Pink String-X block for this month.

Yesterday I allowed (haha!) my husband to accompany me on the St. Louis Summer's Last Blast Yarn Crawl. Kind of like a shop hop for quilters, only it's yarn shops for knitters/crocheters/weavers. So sad that once upon a time we had eight or more shops and this year there was only four! Of the four, one was a new shop and looks to be a very nice shop. Yup, bought more yarn so, not only will there be more quilting in my future, but there will also be more knitting for me!

A pretty picture from my flower garden this morning ...

and of course a picture of Big Boy Brody with his Daddy.

Good picture of my son

Better picture of Brody!

Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Angela for Scrappy Saturday

Movin' It Forward & Random Happiness

Hooray! It's Monday which means time to share what I've been Movin' Forward. The sweater I'm knitting for Brody (which is also a Camp Loopy project) now has both sleeves and all but one tail has been sewn in. Ta! Da!

Just need to finish the neckline.

I also finished up my circus clown embroidery.

Next up I've picked out the roller skating bear and I'm going to embroider him in bright orange. Color is what it's all about!

I mentioned earlier that I'd finished my UFO for this time period. It's a challenge run by my LQS, OSew Personal. They're a friendly group and I relish any challenge that gets me moving on projects already started. Here's the picture.

It's quite a fun baby quilt at 33"x36". There are all kinds of I Spy fabrics. Check it out here.

I Spy a giraffe, birds, puppies, a rainbow, and flowers just in this one small corner. FUN!!! Now I'm considering a border and how I plan on quilting it. Needs a little thought.

The other day on my walk, I saw this really neat spiderweb with the sun shining on it. The sunbeams were coming through the slats of the fence. Very cool!

Yesterday we celebrated the last day of HOT TEMPS with a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. Just look at all that deliciousness swirling around. We love the Pioneer Woman's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe.

And of course a random shot of my happy grandbaby. Have a great week!

Linking with Em's Scrapbag to share what I'm Movin' Forward. Lots of fabulous projects going on at her blog. Check it out!

Good Intentions

Tonight being Friday Night Sew-In, I had good intentions to sew my String-X block for the month. Rainbow Scrap Challenge has picked PINK for July and I was ready to get started. However, Polly had different ideas. She decided that my lap was the perfect spot for a long, evening nap.

Hard to fit behind a sewing machine with her on my lap, so knitting it is! You can see where I was the other day on my Abate sweater here. Yesterday I took my vehicle to the shop because there was a recall on it. I managed to mostly get a sleeve knitted while waiting and finished it last night. Tonight for FNSI I got a great start on the second sleeve while watching the Cardinals game.

As for a Scrappy Saturday progress report, I am pleased to say that I managed to complete two Tiny Tuesday blocks. I had gotten behind due to being away on vacation. The first block I needed to complete was from July 9th -- an adorable Bear Paw block. Was glad it was an easy one!

Then I looked to find the block for the 16th. Ugh! A pig? Really? Well, OK. Pretty sure I can manage it and we had a guest designer, for which I'm grateful. I thought about volunteering a block but not sure my skill level would be up for it so who am I to complain? Anyway, here's my Tiny Tuesday Piglet.

Don't look too close at the wonky seams. The entire block measures a perfect 7-1/2", unfinished. Works for me!!

Earlier today I also put together a Leader & Ender top by Bonnie Hunter that she called a Lozenge Quilt. It's an I Spy quilt that I thought I'd give to Brody. Changed my mind on that because I don't think his mother would like it. It's VERY scrappy. I didn't take a picture of it but you'll see it when it's finished for next month's UFO project at my LQS.

It's been a flurry of activity on my projects. You might think I missed my sewing machine while I was gone -- I did!

Have a great weekend!

Making Our Way Home

We start making our way home today. It's been a wonderful vacation but I know I'll love being in my own space again. This will be another short post.

Managed to take the Abate Sweater (which is my Camp Loopy project) from this to this.

Before

After

The upcoming car ride home should show some good progress. Obviously I need to add sleeves!

Yesterday I pulled out the little clown embroidery and it got a little further too.

Earlier

Now

Not a bad Movin' It Forward post at all! And now for the picture I'm sure you've been waiting for -- a selfie of me & Brody!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Scrappy Saturday Tiny Tuesday

Quick post to say I got my Tiny Tuesday block done!

Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy!

Happy July!

New month means new projects, new color. Rainbow Scrap Challenge for July will be PINK! I looked ahead and have discovered that there are five Tuesdays in July. This means five Tiny Tuesday blocks in pink. Making me smile already!! Brace yourselves for pink all month long! And don't forget: That also means a big PINK String-X block will be coming this month as well.

I accepted the UFO challenge from Country Threads. They're calling it the Dirty Dozen and you can see my list on the right. You may notice that Snowman Quilt is #8 and also #12. That's because #8 was selected and I'll be short on time this month due to vacation and wrist surgery when I return. I only picked 11 UFO projects and decided that whatever number was picked for July would also be my #12.

Here is a picture of my Snowman quilt. I'll have to look back to see when I got the top pieced. I know I did the bulk of the work (and maybe all of the piecing) at Todd Hall retreat quite a while ago. I fell in love with the colors and even ordered the backing at the same time that I ordered the kit. Did you see that the border fabric looks like it's knitted? Part of my attraction to this project too, of course!

That's the backing on the right side of the photo. In case you hadn't noticed, this project is Polly Approved!

I took my Cat Hair Wall Hanging to OSewPersonal for the Show & Share portion of their UFO Challenge. It ended June 25th and the next one is due August 27th. Number 4 was selected which coincides with my Lozenge Baby Quilt. It was a leader/ender project with Bonnie Hunter several years ago. This baby quilt took me 2 years to finish most of the top. I'll roll this one to the finish line in the next month or so. Might end up being a Project Linus donation quilt. I'll take a picture when I get it pulled out.

Of course there is my knitting and I've decided to join Camp Loopy for the month of July. I didn't join June because June was SO BUSY with the quilt show and Sarah coming to visit. However we're going on vacation so there will be lots of time to knit. I've chosen a size 2T sweater using the pattern Abate by Alicia Plummer. You can follow my progress on Ravelry here. I ordered my yarn from The Loopy Ewe last month but wasn't allowed to start knitting until July 1. The deadline for finishing is July 31. I got a good start on it watching 1st Round of Wimbledon yesterday.

The yarn is Malabrigo Rios, colorway Denim. It is so soft and I'm loving picking up my knitting again.

 So there you have it -- my upcoming July in a nutshell!

And of course, here's a darling picture of our little Brody. He's almost one month already and growing in leaps and bounds!

Movin' It Forward!

Sarah & her kitty Penny left Friday afternoon. I'm going to miss them but two things kept it all in perspective for me. 1.) I'll be seeing Sarah again in a couple of weeks when we head out to visit the Washington, DC area to meet Brody; and 2.) I had quilt retreat Saturday & Sunday! Yay! I must say that although this picture looks like Polly & Penny got along, it was more along the lines of a healthy respect between the two.

I managed to work on several projects at retreat. Saturday was devoted to sewing the sashing on Simplify by Cluck, Cluck, Sew. All the blocks were sewn, including half blocks. Then I sewed all the rows together ...  well, mostly since I was short two sashing strips. To refresh your memory of Simplify, here's a picture of one of the blocks.

It's a very scrappy quilt with heavy Kansas Troubles influence. It will end up being queen-size so seriously too big to put the rows together at retreat.

Sunday I was going to work on a kit I bought from AQS but I hid it before Sarah's arrival and now it's somewhere, which I haven't a clue! Ugh! Hate when that happens!! So instead I put the finishing touches on my Tiny Tuesday blocks for June.

That was easy enough so next up was to start a new project. Yup! You heard that right! Because I don't have enough projects going and because I've been dying to start Gameboard by Country Threads. I even had my patriotic fabrics already starched and ready to cut up!

This is the center. I regret not having my Studio 180 Flying Geese ruler. Go ahead and look closely -- I ended up cutting off the points of my star. Would have never happened if I'd had my ruler. But I was at retreat and it was all systems GO! Not so much a Movin' It Forward project but that's what I did this weekend!

Linking up at Em's Scrapbag for Movin' It Forward.