RSC Purple Coming to an End

Feeling pretty good about this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I think every participant had good production this month. Here's mine ...

All seven purple Heartfire blocks have been completed.

All 9 purple Awesome Land blocks done.

I finished up Oh My Stars! just in time for Show 'n' Tell at my LQS's UFO Challenge. We meet using Zoom and this 100" x 100" queen-size quilt was really, really hard to hold up to show everyone but I managed. Look! It even has purple in it! After we had all shared our show 'n' tell projects, the next number was announced -- #4! That's my Tiny Tuesday quilt from last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Currently it's a pile of 44 blocks. I put a purple one on top in keeping with this month's color.

I'll need to come up with a final plan for these. Then work to get this top put together and then get it quilted, bound, and labeled. I'm already trying to come up with a plan!

In June my guild started a block of the month (BOM) and I decided to jump in by keeping true to the colors of the RSC. There were two blocks for August and the first block I did was a Pineapple block which I did it in purple, August's RSC color.

The second August block was called Castle Block, I believe. Also done in purples.

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and sewed up Brave New World. It was the block for June and the RSC color for June was pink.

Soon I'll be working on Crystal Star for July in Dark Blue. September's block has been announced from guild but we won't know the RSC color until September 1. Until then, I'll wait patiently. I wonder what color Angela will choose!?!?!

As a little side note, I also finished up another Liberty Tuffet top. That tiny star in the middle finished at 2-1/4" square. It's SO TINY!

OK, Angela, what color's next? Linking up at SoScrappy HERE and will enjoy looking over everyone's purple progress!

RSC Saturday & PHD mid-August Reports

 Here I was so excited about PURPLE being August's color for RSC and all I got done for that was cut a mess of strings for the Heartfire hexies. Progress is progress though, right?

I did manage to get together another Easy Breezy block. Guess I could should have made sure the stripes were coordinated. Oh well! I did notice that I need to cut more background fabrics. I've got several baggies with squares at the ready but no background fabrics set.

How did I manage an Easy Breezy L&E block without any sewing progress towards RSC? I quilted up my 2nd adorable Liberty Tuffet! If you noticed that my seams don't seem to be perfectly aligned, I noticed that too. I'm OK with it ... looks like my flag is flying proudly!

I've got another project that has kept me occupied this week. Harmony kicks off Sunday morning at 9am central time. I'm so excited to be sewing with Gudrun Erla of GE Designs again. Joining me again also will be my sister! Most of my fabrics are starched, pressed, and cut. Since I mis-cut two pieces, I've got two small pieces drying with starch and they'll be properly cut tomorrow. Here's my scrappy palette.

So what has kept me REALLY BUSY this week? Progress on my PHD!  I've been SO BUSY quilting Star In a Star!!! So many bobbins have been emptied!!! The Celtic knots & borders along with the inner backgrounds have been quilted. I'll be starting the stars next and will move to the outside borders. Pretty sure I'll be finishing this monster off with a scrappy faux-piping binding. Still trying to decide which colors to use for that!

Here's my PHD (Projects Half Done) report for mid-August:

1. Get Star in a Star to the finish line. Working VERY hard to get this done by August 25th. Not only is this for PHD, but it's also the project for the UFO Challenge at my LQS!

2. Quilt, label, & bind Hope. I basted Hope with InvisiFil wash-out thread so I could get my basting pins for Star in a Star. Does that count for progress? I think not!

3. Stay caught up with Afternoon Delight applique blocks. One block is almost finished being appliqued with one left to go.

4. Get 7 Heartfire hexies done in RSC color PURPLE. Some strips cut. Other than that, no progress.

5. Get 9 Awesome Land blocks done in RSC color PURPLE. 5 of the 9 are done.

So I've got my work cut out for me for the last part of August. Guess I better set myself down at the sewing machine! Have a great week!

Linking up with So Scrappy for RSC and Quilting Gail for PHD.

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!

July FNwF and Rainbow Scrap Blues

During the week I purposefully had prepared an applique block for sewing on Friday night. Cheryll had sent out the invitation for Friday Night with Friends and I fully intended to be there! This is #20 for Afternoon Delight which is being offered on The Quilt Show. All you have to do is join and the block of the month is FREE. You can get all the details HERE.

So last night night I finished all the nooks & crannies of the circle on the left. I also started adding the "spokes" in the picture on the right. It will end up being a circle in the middle of the circle on the left. I am working this "off block" as my friend Katie taught us during one of our meetings for TAS (The Applique Society). An earlier similar block I did not do like this and, while it turned out OK, it was a pain to sew. I'm thinking (and hoping) that this will be more Sue-friendly!

Previous Twirly Block

So that is what was accomplished last night while watching Blue Bloods. We managed to get into Season 6. Thank goodness for DVD rentals from the library as there is no good TV-watching lately.

Wednesday was July 1 and so Angela chose our next color. It is sky blue. I have totally run out of shades of blue so I have decided to take a pass on the color this month. However, I was late starting the hexies for Heartfire so I will catch them up this month. I have ZERO light/bright green ones for January and just the start of TWO orange ones for February. I also cut out the pieces for ONE teal and TWO dark green blocks for Awesome Land. That will catch me up for those months as well. It all works out perfectly for me because I knew I only needed EIGHT colors for Awesome Land and only SEVEN colors for Heartfire.

I did manage to finish up the pink Heartfire hexies.

My Patriotic Gameboard is finished and hanging.

I finished Block #19 for Afternoon Delight.

I also completed the June 15th clue for Bloomtopia (bottom right motif).

I located my Star in a Star basket, sorted my pieces, and determined that not all the blocks had been pieced entirely. This is my challenge UFO that is due at the August 25th meeting. It is also on my list for the 2020 PHD Challenge.

Various Parts Waiting Completion

Glimpse of 5 Completed Blocks

And how could I end this long post without a picture of our handsome Brody. I think he's looking more boy and less baby!

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy to see how the others are doing with Sky Blue and also with Cheryll at Gone Stitchin' to see how and what my international friends are doing.

Special thanks to my friend Millie for picking me up to visit a quilt store and enjoy lunch out. Fred's kidney will be removed this Tuesday so I don't know how long I'll be house bound taking care of him. Nothing like a good friend to cheer one up, right?

Have a great week!

July PHD Report

I'll make this short & sweet ... hopefully. What did I hope to accomplish by month end?

To-Do List for June

1. Get that Kyoto to the finish line!!! - Finished in time for Show 'n' Share at my LQS via Zoom. This counts on my PHD list!

2. Get Pooh finished too! - Top is completed. Count that as a win too! Started this QAL with Quilting Gail in June.

3. Cross Patriotic Wall Hanging from my list! - Finished except for stitching down the binding & hanging sleeve and writing on the label. This is the project I found when I was reorganizing my upstairs sewing space due to the baker's rack I snagged. You can read about it HERE.

All in all, I think I did pretty good reaching my June goals. Just a couple loose ends and then I'm done. So what will I hope to do for July?

1. Quilt, bind, & label Winnie the Pooh

2. Finish Patriotic Wall Hanging 100%

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!

4. Quilt, label, & bind Hope.

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

Thanks to Quilting Gail for keeping us accountable with our PHDs. I'll be linking up with the others and cheering my fellow PHDers on!

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!

Last of the RSC Green Saturdays

This is it! Last Saturday of May which means it is last Saturday post for dark greens. We're all wondering what color Angela will select for June. Many are hoping for a warm color and here and there I hear someone looking for purple. Hmmmmm ...... Well, anyway, here's what I've been working on. If you'd like to see what others have done, you can find it all HERE. Angela hosts a wonderful Linky party!

Earlier this week someone from my neighborhood posted she had a free baker's rack if you want to pick it up at her address. There was a post underneath saying the baker's rack had moved but it didn't fit so it was now located at her house with a new address. A couple of hours had passed but there were no further posts. I decided to see if it was still by the curb. Hot diggity! There it was! So I loaded it up and drove home.

It was obvious this baker's rack used to live in a kitchen because there was a bit of an issue of grease build-up but nothing 409 & elbow grease couldn't handle. I cleaned it up and it now resides in my upstairs sewing space. It even holds my small TV just fine!

Sooooo, in the process of moving the bins to the baker's rack, I found an unexpected UFO I  had started last year with the intention of having it completed for this summer. I was making it patriotic and had gotten as far as the red & white 9-patch cornerstones & border. All the fabric choices were there as well as the pattern. As I looked at what I had already sewn, I remembered I wasn't thrilled with my sewing. The flying geese units had points cut off because I didn't have my Deb Tucker geese trimmer at the time. Oh well, I decided to jump back in because, in the famous words of someone, "Better done than perfect!" So that's what I did  although it's not quite done yet! There are six 9-patches in the bin above it that will get attached to the ends with some spacers and then a final border.

Sheesh! From here you can't even see that the star points aren't that great! So glad I'm getting this one done. The pattern is called Looks Like a Gameboard from Country Threads.

While sewing Gameboard, I of course used Awesome Land blocks for leaders & enders. Got four more done which makes 6 for the month. There are two more cut out and ready for sewing and the month is not quite over yet! *wink*

I made fabulous progress on Kyoto. Last week I was working on border #2, the dark blue. I finished that and am close to done with the final border. All that's left are the two long sides of border #3, another stripe fabric. I've started one of the sides with the rest of it pinned.

I did manage to finish the last applique block of April for Afternoon Delight. Pretty sure I won't get the four May blocks done before June 1st! Ha! I love the purples in this block. I won a package of scraps from Jan Patek and these were in there!

That just leaves Bloomtopia, the cross-stitch project from Fat Quarter Shop. I got the little bird on a branch finished up last night while waiting for the Tater Tots to cook. Wonder what the next section will be!?!

To keep you up-to-date on hubby's health, we went to the doctor's this week. The output numbers have improved significantly lately so we're giving that kidney 2 more weeks to shape up or it'll be forcibly shipped out! Lol! Anyway, we're keeping our fingers crossed that this is a positive trend and he gets to keep the remaining portion of his right kidney. Time will tell and prayers are appreciated!

Have a great weekend! Now go wash your hands AGAIN!

Normalcy Returns

Things are finally getting back to "normal" around here. The laundry is caught up, the house was thoroughly vacuumed, and the bedding changed on all of our beds. No guilt getting back to my hobbies!

No pictures of Kyoto this time but I am 100% finished through Clue 6. There are only 8. I viewed the video tutorial for Clue 7 and it looks pretty complicated. This will take some major time. When I get the six wedges completed, I'll have to audition to see what setting I want to go with. There are 18 different ways to sew this one together! From the video however, I've already nixed twelve so that helps narrow down the choices.

Before leaving on vacation, I picked out some yarn that I had purchased during the Summer's Last Blast Yarn Crawl this year. On the drives to and from, I knitted my heart out on a scarf. I plan on gifting it to my neighbor for Christmas and as a thank-you for taking such good care of Miss Polly this vacation and the last one. I blocked it the other day and, now that it's dry, I only need to take care of the loose ends.

I hope she likes it! (The colors are a bit brighter in real life.)

Before going on vacation, I had finished off a pair of mitts. The yarn for these was WONDERFUL to work with -- so soft! This yarn was also purchased on this year's yarn crawl and the pattern was a freebie from Knitorious. (If you're a knitter and in the St. Louis area, this is a shop worth visiting!) Anyway, the mitts were blocked and also need the ends tended to for the final finish. These are also a Christmas gift for someone special.

This morning I prepared this wall hanging for quilting. It is a Kathy Schmitz pattern that I sewed up a long time ago. I listed it on my UFO list at my local quilt shop. It has to be finished by December 10 to qualify. Will probably take care of it this weekend. I need to buy some matching thread and I'm not going anywhere today. Maybe tomorrow ...

That's the end of the crafting portion of this post. If you don't want to read on, feel free to exit now!

Monday I went to the orthopedic doctor. Remember when I fell on my hip due to the ice last February? Well, I decided I'd waited long enough for it to heal. My PCM earlier had taken an Xray and declared nothing broken yet I was still limping and it was only hurting more. Turns out I've been living with traumatic bursitis. I was definitely NOT looking for hip replacement as so many of my friends have been having lately. Just wanted a shot and to get better. So ... I got the steroid shot and it felt better immediately. Turns out, it was only the lidocaine working. When it wore off I was in worse pain than before I went to see the doctor! Yesterday marked 48 hours and it was certainly better, practically 100% right. It was the last day before expecting rain and Mom had loads of leaves in her yard. Hubby & I raked and then I raked, and raked, and raked some more. I didn't even stop for the blister on my thumb!

Front Yard Raking in Progress

Back Yard Raking Ready for Hubby Part 1

Back Yard Raking Ready for Hubby Part 2

Suck It Up, Hubby!

We finished the job after a little bit over three hours. Rushed off to buy a jug of milk and make it home for Jeopardy. We are true fans!

Sorry to end on such a sour note but I have to say one more thing. I started raking between my mother's house and the neighbor's but had to stop. Apparently they use the side yard as an ash tray. So many brown-colored cigarette butts buried in the leaves! Can I get a big, fat YUCK here! See them in the leaves? Too bad you can't smell what I smelled while uncovering them. 

Several times while sucking up the leaves we stopped to pick the butts out and toss them back over their fence. Didn't want to stink up our blower/sucker! So nasty!

And on that note, I'm off to get properly dressed since of course I walked Gracie. Have a fabulous day!

Linking up here with my friends around the world that share their love of quilting, in particular scrappy quilts. Thank you, Angela, for another Scrappy Saturday!

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.