I Like Thursday #36

Happy Thursday and you know what that means! I'll be sharing a few things that have tickled me or gave me a smile over the past week. There are several of us that enjoy doing this and you can find the group's posts over at Not Afraid of Color. Thank you, LeeAnna, for this weekly opportunity!

My first like has been the French Open Tennis Tournament (aka Roland Garros). I have to say that I don't enjoy watching TV too much but the four major tennis tournaments are always on my radar! The tournaments are two weeks long and, even though I had company during the first week, I managed to watch quite a bit. These last four days will have me sitting on the couch with hand stitching or knitting in my lap.

Speaking of knitting, I'm happy with the progress on my latest pair of socks. This has been a fun pattern to knit by Very Busy Monkey. It is called Eternal Spring. My latest progress photo is shown below.

I really like fresh vegetables and I enjoy seeing my brother's rewards from his garden. Wish we lived closer!

Fresh beans picked upon my brother's return from Colorado

He even grows beets! Now I'm really jealous. I love beets!!!

This past week we really enjoyed our visit with Brody. His parents are pretty cool too! Haha!

Jared fishing; Brody watching; Gracie supervising

Little fish caught in the pond. Thrown back after the picture to grow up.

We were sad to see them go home but we know that we'll be seeing them after Fred heals up from his upcoming surgery. Brody enjoyed breakfast at the Holiday Inn on the way home but he really liked being with his dog at home again.

I hope you've stayed the course with me this far. I really, really like my guild Hearts 'n' Hands. We are located in O'Fallon IL. Due to Covid restrictions over the past year, we were unable to plan for our quilt show which was to be held this year. So as to keep it going as conditions permitted, the Quilt Show Committee decided to do a virtual quilt show! They did a fabulous job! Click on THIS LINK and you will be taken directly there. There are 200+ quilts made by our talented group listed by both makers &  sizes, a virtual vendor mall, and a wonderful bed-turning held at our local Historical Society building! I don't think you'll be disappointed! (I've got 7 quilts in the show!)

And that pretty much sums up my "likes" for the week. Don't forget to visit our quilt show and also visit Not Afraid of Color to see what others have shared this week!

PHD Report - July 15

Well, what do you know? We're halfway through July. Hopefully I'm keeping on schedule. Let's see what I hoped to accomplish this month.

1. Quilt, bind, & label Winnie the Pooh - Don't have anything to show but I found some Winnie the Pooh fabric from a previous project. It will be incorporated into the backing so I'm anxious to get it pieced and ready to quilt!

2. Finish Patriotic Wall Hanging 100% - Yes! Finished and hanging! See my post HERE!

3. Get Star in a Star top assembled. This quilt is due at my LQS on August 25th. It finishes as a queen-sized quilt. For credit at the shop, it will also have to be quilted, labeled, and bound. Definitely a big job for July & August. Currently, 5 of the nine 24" blocks are assembled and the top & side borders are complete. What's left? Assemble the final 4 blocks and finish the 4 border cornerstones. They are hand appliqued Celtic knots. Sounds like a hospital project to me! - Progress here has been slow but steady. The final four blocks need the final seam sewn and then on to assembling the main part of the quilt. The cornerstones have been prepped but not sewn. The original plan was to hand applique these as recommended by ones that have finished theirs. The directions explain how to machine applique these. I'm thinking machine at this point. Maybe give it a go tomorrow?

4. Quilt, label, & bind Hope. - Nada!

5. A little more progress on Eva Grace would be nice too! - Nada!

So there you have it. Thank you, Gail, for keeping us on track. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing and motivating all to get those Projects Half Done DONE! Will be joining the linky party HERE.

See you August 1!

May Final PHD Report

My PHD goals did not materialize 100% as planned but I didn't do too bad. Lately I've been extra busy taking care of DH. This partial nephrectomy of his has wreaked havoc on the entire house. Seems like if I'm not emptying & measuring output, I'm changing bandages and/or doing extra laundry due to leakage. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get to the report.

Here were my goals:

My To-Do List for the end of May:

1. Find Kyoto and make it lie flat. I remember putting it away and not being 100% happy with the finished top. ✅ Found if after quite a bit of digging around. It lies mostly flat now.

Here's where Kyoto's progress went south-ish. I thought the top was done or just about. You know, like maybe needs final border. Turns out I had one strip of the 1st border attached with two more borders (a total of THREE borders) to be added. Might not sound like a lot but this is a hand-pieced project!

How far did I get? I am sewing the final half of the final side of the final border. Finally! Ha! I will most certainly post a picture when done with the top. This is a very large wallhanging -- 58 1/2" X 64 1/2"! Looks like I have about 30" left then!

2. Start thinking about how I want to quilt it. ✅ I can say I started thinking about it, but truly no plan finalized.

3. Select a backing fabric and baste Kyoto. NOPE

4. Make the binding and the quilt label. NOPE

5. Finish Hope Quilt. ✅ I can honestly say that the top has been completed. This one is actually mostly pin-basted too. Ran out of pins so ordered more for curb-side pick-up from JoAnn's on Thursday afternoon. My order is still processing! Really?

So what kept me busy besides Kyoto? Well, there was Hope, a new project started in May. I have it pin-basted (mostly) and have a quilting plan ... as soon as I can "conveniently" pick-up more pins.

I also discovered a new Patriotic Wall Hanging that I want done. The final borders are waiting to be sewn down. Then will come the quilting. It's pretty good-sized too at 26" X 42".

Sounds like I'm looking forward to three finishes next month -- Kyoto, Hope, Patriotic Wall Hanging. We shall see, won't we?

My To-Do List for Mid-June:

1. Finalize quilting plan for Kyoto.
2. Select a backing fabric and pin-baste Kyoto.
3. Make the binding and the quilt label for Kyoto.
4. Quilt, bind, & label Hope.
5. Finish, quilt, bind, & label Patriotic Wall Hanging.

I was going to add more, but I think my plate is full!

See you mid-June! Thank you, Quilting Gail, for trying your darnedest to keep us on track! I'll be posting to the Linky Party HERE and catching up on everyone else's progress too!

Just a Few More

I've got just a couple more Dark Green Awesome Land blocks to show you today. I am certainly loving using them as leaders & enders for whatever else it is that I'm sewing! Dark greens was the color Angela selected for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge's color for May.

At my side, ever ready lay these parts. The large white squares have been sewn corner-to-corner both ways and will make 8 HSTs at one time. Love this method!

So you may be wondering what have they been leaders & enders for? I finished the Hope quilt top with a small border. Then I pieced the back. I found this really fun fabric stashed away by Deb Strain from Moda. It says "Hive Rules Bee Kind", "Beelieve in Yourself", "Bee Respectful" ..... you get the idea and can probably read for yourself. Lol!

The problem was, I didn't have quite enough so I pieced in some remnants of the Hope fabrics that I used and sewed it down the middle for the back. That ought to do it! Hopefully my measurements were correct since I screwed up the border that was going to be borders. I even graphed it out and still managed to mess up. But that's OK, it's plenty big as is.

The main priority lately has been Kyoto. This needs to be finished, which includes quilted, by June 23rd, I believe. I thought all I had to do was sew on a border and then get it quilted but nope! It has three borders to sew on. I finished the first border and have the top & bottom sewn on of border #2. It probably doesn't sound like much but it is 100% hand-pieced and that will include the borders. I love doing it though but it takes a little more time.

The dark blue at the top is border #2 and the striped below it is border #1. I have to fold it up carefully and tightly due to a certain little pussycat that likes to chew on any loose strings! Bad kitty! Lol!

That's been my sewing week. I'll leave with a picture of one of my gardens that I finished up this week. I'm hoping it will be a cool place to visit when the heat of summer finally arrives.

Have a good week! Now go wash your refrigerator & freezer door handles!



Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy HERE to see what the other scrappers are doing!

RSC Dark Green

Here we go again, another Saturday and it's time for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge report. Angela chose Dark Green for May and you can join the linky party to see everyone's progress if you CLICK HERE! As for me, I did pretty good this week. Here are all the Heartfires for this month -- and it's only the 15th!

As you can see, Polly approves while sitting on a dark green rug herself!

The Awesome Land blocks played catch up this week. I used these for leaders & enders while sewing the Heartfire blocks since I hadn't quite finished the light blue ones from April.

I'll catch up on the dark green ones for this month. Again, I'll probably use them for leaders & enders as I hopefully get Hope to the finish line. Currently it is sitting on my ironing board webbed. I've managed to sew a couple of rows together and the next row is pinned and waiting for a little thread!

The other project that gets my attention as often as possible is Afternoon Delight, the Block-of-the-Month from The Quilt Show. My latest:

I've made a good start on the next one too, which is good since it is the last one for April. There are four more new ones posted for May. Arrgh! Will I ever manage to catch up????

Bloomtopia, the Stitch-a-Long from Fat Quarter Shop is coming right along. Thursday night I caught it up which was good because the latest step was released Friday morning. No additional progress to date but here's what it looked like Thursday night.

From this .....

To this!

I'm really excited about the next step because it has a little birdie! And speaking of little birdies, I thought I'd get a shot of the baby robins that are growing up under the deck. The last picture I took was only a week ago. 

Today's picture:

Oh no! I missed their 1st flight!!! Fred & I are truly empty nesters now! Lol!

I don't know if you noticed but I changed out the blog's header again. I took this picture this morning. I love the squiggles of green in the fields where I walk Gracie. The farmers have been busy around here and all the greenness makes me happy!

Have a great week! Now go wash your faucet handles! *smile*

Mid-May PHD Report

I just updated my PHD spreadsheet. I have completed two of my 2020 projects so far with only 11 to go! Oh brother! But I do understand "baby steps" so I will just have to be happy with that. I should be working on Kyoto for another PHD finish. It would also be a finish  for the UFO Challenge at my LQS. It is due to be shown at the end of next month. I really need to get on that one. First step would be to locate it from somewhere in the many basement piles!

My updated PHD spreadsheet now includes the four quilts I've started at the beginning of the year. Two are Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts (Awesome Land & Heartfire), The Quilt Show Block-of-the-Month (Afternoon Delight), and on May 3rd I started GE Design's Quarantine Quilt-A-Long (Hope) with my sister. The first three projects have kept me very busy this year as they have monthly goals that I feel compelled to keep up with as best as possible.

All the Hope blocks have been sewn and the quilt is webbed. Right now I'm joining the rows into a top. Here's a picture of how it looks this morning.

I don't have any pictures of finished quilts today but I can share with you a picture of another finished applique block for Afternoon Delight.

My To-Do List for the end of May:

1. Find Kyoto and make it lie flat. I remember putting it away and not being 100% happy with the finished top.

2. Start thinking about how I want to quilt it.

3. Select a backing fabric and baste Kyoto.

4. Make the binding and the quilt label.

5. Finish Hope Quilt.

These may not seem to be lofty goals but it will be enough for me. I'll be linking up with Quilting Gail HERE.

See you June 1st!

FNwF #2 AND RSC

Last night was Friday Night with Friends #2 and, unlike last week's FNwF #1, I remembered and wasn't too tired to get a few things accomplished. In all actuality, I sewed during the afternoon which means I was sewing with my friends in Australia and Europe!

I worked some more on my Hope quilt. All 24 A blocks and 24 B blocks are sewn and squared up. I'll need to lay them all out and decide what setting I want to end up with. GE Designs gives you five choices but Gudrun also tells you that's just a start. If you play with them, you'll come up with more.

As my leaders and enders, I was busy making more Awesome Land blocks. May's color is dark green. As you can see I also was still finishing up last month's color of light/bright blue.

I also finished up block 14 of Afternoon Delight but apparently didn't take a picture .... yet. So I'll leave you with a couple of "bonus" pics:

My neighbor has bluebird eggs hatching

I have baby robins in a nest under my deck

Fred is getting stronger little by little

Brody has smiles for everyone!

I'm linking up with two gracious hosts this week: Cheryll from Gone Stitchin' for FNwF #2 and Angela from So Scrappy for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Have a great week. Now go wash your doorknobs!

Gudrun Erla's #QQAL2

I wanted to devote a post to the Quarantine Quilt-a-Long #2, hosted by Gudrun Erla of GEDesigns. The QAL was held this past Sunday, May 3rd. The kick-off was at 9am Central Time. There were four more get-togethers every two hours after that. During the "meetings", which could be seen on Facebook Live or YouTube, Gudrun gave tips, prizes, interviews with guests, showed examples of the quilt we were making, and answered questions. Her talks lasted about 30 minutes. Behind the scenes, filming this adventure, was her husband who is affectionately known as Mr. Honey Producer. One more thing -- The pattern cost as much as you wanted to donate, whether it was $2, $5, or $10. Every single dime was split between 3 of Gudrun's favorite charities and she didn't keep a dime. Wondering how much she brought in? OVER $34,000!!!!

Let me just stop right here and let you know that this event was so perfectly run. Two hours is plenty of time to get a feel for the next few steps after listening with & to Gudrun. There was one session that I barely got any sewing done due to requirements here at home. After all, just because I was "attending class" did not mean that I could neglect my husband nor did it mean the dog would not get taken out or another load of laundry thrown in the dryer. The beauty of this QAL was that you could work at your own pace and still get things done that needed getting done!

I would like to thank my sister for sharing the information about this QAL with me. While I sewed here in Illinois, she was busy sewing in Texas. We were sewing the same project together .... virtually. Fabulous!

I didn't take the time to take too many pictures but I'll share with you what I got.

This was my palette. It is from the Urban Jungle fabric line. The strip across the top is my "accent" fabric which I found in my stash.

Here are my first two blocks. The edges look a little raggedy because they have not been trimmed up yet.

Here are my first two blocks trimmed up perfectly. It's also the view out my basement window where I usually quilt. Normally my piecing gets done upstairs but I wanted the illusion of sewing at retreat so I retreated to the basement. Aren't my irises blooming prettily?

At about this time, my sister had finished up eight blocks and put them up on her design wall to get an idea of what her blocks were going to look like together. Her fabrics mostly come from the Desert Bloom fabric line.

At the end of the day I had managed to sew twelve blocks. Here they are up on my design wall. The pattern, called Hope from GEDesigns, shows five different settings. I'll figure out which way I like best when I get the rest finished.

Again I want to give a BIG SHOUT-OUT  to Gudrun Erla and Mr. Honey Producer for giving me such a wonderful day. My husband requires my care every four hours or less and this was such a breath of joy for me. I know this was a lot of work for Gudrun to get this organized and running and the day of the event was a very long day for her, but I'm hoping there will be a Quarantine Quilt-a-Long #3 next month. After all, Gudrun was supposed to be teaching at my guild's June meeting. This is truly the next best thing!

To see some of the quilts in progress AND some of the finished quilts, visit the Facebook Group - Gudrun's Quilt Crew or visit GE Designs on YouTube after purchasing the pattern and make your very own Hope quilt!