Rhapsody Shawl, Scrap Dance Two-Step, & Upcoming KALs!

Not exactly where to start but I know I need to post. I've done a lot lately but not finished a lot. I guess this will be a wishy-washy post.

Here's my Rhapsody Shawl which I completed yesterday. It was a knit-a-long that ended today. Whew! Made it just in the knick of time! When I logged into Ravelry to post my finish, I discovered that I had a message from Mary-Ann Lammers, the shawl's designer. She was contacting me to let me know I was the winner of some stitch markers! Yay!! They are beautiful and I'll share a picture when they arrive!

I also had the opportunity to sew at a couple of retreats recently. I signed on to a Mystery Quilt-a-Long on one of the blogs I follow, From My Carolina Home. You can visit Carole HERE . The MQAL was called Scrap Dance Two-Step and it was fun because each month you got a two-part clue. It finished mid-July and I've been scrambling to get my blocks done. Here's a picture of 5 blocks I got done at one of the retreats. My fabrics are mostly Kim Diehl fabrics but I threw in a few "twinklers"!

Since then I've finished up 18 of the alternate blocks and I'm working on getting all 17 of these blocks done. Of course I'm making a queen-size quilt! I'll be sure to post a picture when I'm done.

Apparently I'm a sucker for new projects. I'm anxiously awaiting for August 1. I'll be participating in a mystery socks knit-a-long through Very Busy Monkey on Ravelry. Four clues starting August 1 and published every Tuesday through August 22. Project must be finished and posted by September 30. Doesn't sound like too much, right? But wait! I'm also on board for a knit-a-long with The Loopy Ewe. I've got my yarn and I swatched to be sure everything will size up correctly. I've chosen the pattern Colorful Wedges Baby Blanket. You can check it out HERE . This one also starts August 1st but must be finished & posted by August 31st. Wait until you see my yarn choices ... so pretty and yet gender neutral!

Both of these upcoming knitting projects will keep me busy but they won't keep me away from my sewing! I'm making very good progress on Mosaics but will have to share that another time.

FNSI Wrap-UP

Well, what do you know? I sewed all day Friday at retreat and then came home to make a quick dinner. After cleaning up the kitchen, I sat myself down to sew some more. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to put a few more stitches into my Mosaic project by Irene Blanck. After all it was FNSI!!!

Progress on my Mosaic consisted of 8 more leaves sewn down. Here they are:

Impresssive,  huh? This morning I sent myself right on down to my sewing space and glued the stems in place!

I just  now returned from sewing all day with friends again. I'm on track to  make dinner (after my cocktail, of course!) and then those stems are going down!! Haha!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'll try to remember to take some pictures of my progress at retreat too!

FNSI, Retreat, & Garden Delights

I have so much to tell you this time! Before I get into some of my projects, let me just remind you know that this Friday night you can stitch with me & lots of friends. Yessirree! It's Friday Night Sew In! Pop on over to Sugarlane's website HERE to sign up. Then hurry on back! Signed up now? Good job!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going on retreat from Friday through Monday. Four whole days! My BFF Vickie flew in from Cleveland and I had us all packed up for a weekend of fun. And fun we had!!!

I took a few projects, of course. The first day I worked on my French Roses quilt. I had my 40 blocks done but they needed to be sewn together. After that I had to cut out 82 three-and-a-half inch squares for the inner border. I ran out of fabric for the outer border so I'm on the hunt. I visited my favorite LQS but it was a bust. Then I took a 30-minute jaunt to another store that I was so sure would have something I could use. Nope! I'll find it, don't you worry. I do have fabric for my binding set aside so I'll be ready when I can make more progress on it.

Next day I worked on a Mystery Quilt-a-Long called Two-Step that I started with From My Carolina Home. We're getting really close to the finish as far as the release of patterns but I'm terribly behind. Carole is so generous to give you directions for various sizes and no doubt I picked a queen size. Anyway I had plenty to do to start playing catch-up. I'm doing mine in mostly Kim Diehl fabrics that I'd picked out for another sew-along but changed my mind on participating. While I was at my LQS the other day, I picked up several more pieces and got them starched this morning. (Yes, I'm a starcher!) So far all I have sewn for Two-Step fits in a basket. Enjoy this picture! Ha!

The third day I started catching up on Marvelous Mini Mondays brought to us by Temecula Quilt Shop. I follow that blog too and absolutely loved doing 12 Days of Christmas with them a few years ago. I decided I'd give this one a try too. These blocks are only 3-1/2" UNFINISHED! I got myself caught up but I'm not entirely please with the last block and will probably redo it. Check them out! (Sorry about the blurry picture; I'm in a bit of a hurry to get this posted!)

So here's the plan:  Tomorrow I start a retreat where we sew all day for three days but go home at night. It's great because we can leave our sewing stations all set up and not have to break it down each evening. My first project to work on will be to get going on Two-Step. Then I plan on putting together a baby quilt that was a Bonnie Hunter (don't you just love her????) Leader & Ender from a couple of years ago. After that who knows? You can bet your booties, though, that I'll stay busy!

I mentioned that my BFF went to retreat with me. Here's a picture of her quilt before the squares were sewn together. Isn't it gorgeous? There was a bit of laughter when we found out she didn't know the meaning of the quilt title -- Caligula! I'm betting that the designer didn't either! Hahaha! Wikipedia told us all we needed to know! Thank Internet for enlightening us!

Speaking of learning from the Internet, while we were walking back from a meal, I spotted this huge beetle-thing. I sent the picture to my daughter, the bug-lover, and she confessed to Googling it. It is an Easter Hercules Beetle! That's Vickie's foot next to it so you can get the size of this critter!

One last thing I wanted to share with you. It's a gardening thing. The first is my beautiful plumeria tree. It is really getting ready to bloom. Some years I get a few flowers but it looks like this year will be a bumper crop. And oh! the fragrance!! These trees grew in the park behind our quarters when we lived in base housing in Hawaii. This tree just takes me back every time!

The other photo is of a couple of concrete fowl. They are actually pretty big and HEAVY! I had a hard time making up my mind as to which one to get. I ended up with Henny Penny because I already have a terra cotta rooster. I may have to go back and snag the rooster .... or the adorable frog that was there too!

Have a great weekend and I hope to see what you've been up to on FNSI or whenever!

Plenty of Quilting Opportunities!!

My activity during June is not one that pleases me. I feel like I didn't get that much accomplished. Part of it was due to the fact that my mother came home on the 19th. She arrived with my brother and two of his kids. I was busy cleaning before their arrival, cooking while they were here, and hanging with them when I could. I was also getting ready to leave with all of them on June 24, heading for my sister's house in Denver, CO. My beautiful niece once again had a softball tournament out there June 26 - July 2. That's her on the right hanging out of the dugout to watch the game. Isn't her smile gorgeous?

Our other mission in Denver was to drop my brother's oldest (his son) off at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He was to report there on June 29 at 8:50 am. My brother was having a hard time saying good-bye to his one & only son. My nephew is also the first to leave the nest and the nest is located in North Carolina ... a long way from Colorado!

We had fun climbing around the Rocky Mountains and making our annual trip to the place my parents want to be let loose together for a final time. Dad passed away 7 years ago but Mom is still going strong!

As for quilting, the APQ 2017 UFO Challenge was project #1 - Atlanta Mystery Quilt. Let me tell you, it was certainly a mystery to me. I couldn't remember what this one looked like. Here it is ...

I've got it pinned to the design wall now. I'm trying to figure out how to quilt it. The pattern is pretty cool. It's only 50" x 50". I think I'll do something a little masculine-ish and put it away in my Grandma Hope Chest. One day I may have a grandson that would look adorable snuggled up in it!

I did make progress on my Mosaic quilt.

Before

Now

While I don't have any progress to show on my Clam Shells, I did decide on how big I want to make it and figured out how many more I need to make. I also had to decide on how many of each colors I was short. I'm still planning on keeping the patriotic theme going and will probably have a narrow inner border with a wide outer border. I'm thinking about some applique design out there. We will see ...

This month looks to be VERY productive. At least there seems to be an overwhelming amount of opportunities! I will be taking Gyleen Fitzgerald's class on Wednesday next week through my guild. Then my best friend arrives Thursday evening and off to retreat we go for a 4-day weekend. The following weekend is a 3-day retreat with another group of friends. Surely I'll get a lot accomplished!!

Successful FNSI This Month!

You may recall last month I totally skipped out on Friday Night Sew-In. Almost happened again this month but then I regained my sanity!! This is how it happened ....

There I was sitting in my recliner just knitting away while watching our St. Louis Cardinals. They were playing in Baltimore, a stadium I've been to WAY more than once. We used to live in the area before there were Washington Nationals. Loved going to watch the Orioles play ball back in the day. 

So anyway, there I was knitting away actually rooting against (well, sort of! Ha!) the O's when all of a sudden I actually remembered about FNSI! Thankfully it hadn't gotten very late. I ran downstairs to my sewing space, turned on the TV, switched over to the game, and started working again on my Becca Bags. Here's what happened ... Ta! Da!

Do you see how nifty the zipper is sewn in? It's actually sewn in flat and then you fold your bag in half and put the zipper pull back on! Easy enough for this Quilts-Only-Quilter!

I also added a little ribbon on the pull because at a retreat I was told it looked more professional! Hahaha! Yup! That's me! Pro all the way!

And on this highly successful morning-after FNSI, I leave you with a couple more pictures. I would also like to thank Wendy for hosting this event. You can check out what the other quilters did last night by linking over to Sugarlane Designs HERE!

 Have a GREAT weekend!

You Know What Tonight Is!!!

So happy today is Friday. Third Friday to be even more precise! Friday Night Sew-In!!! Wendy over at Sugarlane Quilts is a most gracious host of this monthly event. All you have to do is click HERE to sign up and party with us quilters! Party = Sew in this case. Lol!

And while sewing is a lot of fun in and of itself, it's extra fun to pop on over to the party goers and see what they're working on. As for my own plans, I hope to finish up my Becca Bags, designed by Lazy Girl Designs. You can check the pattern out HERE. I must confess that I'm very afraid of zippers but these promise to be a snap. I bought the pattern as a kit hoping that the extra bucks spent would MAKE me actually sew these up. I've had the kit for a couple of months now and tonight is the time to break out into a sweat (not really -- remember? I said they promise to make zippers easy!) and get 'er done!

Maybe, just maybe, I'll finish the bags up lickity-split and also get the chance to work on my APQ May UFO project! Yup, a little behind there! So, what will you be working on??

Quilt Show Month!

My local guild (Hearts 'n' Hands, O'Fallon IL) is having their biannual quilt show. We have over 270 quilts entered! That is mind-blowing!!! If you are in the area the weekend of June 10-11, come on out! I am sure you will be impressed. If you miss it this year, you'll have to wait until 2019!

My progress for the quilt show is really good ... for me! I'm entering three quilts. Two are totally done and the third only needs its label attached! Might be a good project for today actually.

I wish I could show you an updated picture of my clam shells. They are in the same PHYSICAL state as before. However, I have since formulated my plan and need to prepare the remaining fabrics and get that project going. I think Irene Blanck is amazing with this technique. I love how the Australian quilters are so focused on handwork. Anyway, stay tuned on this project because I do plan on getting back to it soon!

Speaking of Irene, I've been appliqueing away on the Mosaics pattern. I would love to tell you that I'm almost done with the center medallion but not yet. However, I'm making progress and will be excited to take it to Denver later this month to show my sister. She was present when I picked out my background fabric and then, after I'd flown home, I asked her & my mother to go back to the store and pick out 1/4 yard pieces of the Jinny Beyer fabrics I had earlier eyeballed. The only direction I gave her was 3 blues, 3 reds, 3 purples, and 3 golds ... or something like that. Anyway, my sister is rather particular when she picks out her fabrics and can't believe I'm just "winging it" with their random fabrics! I keep reminding her that it's a scrappy project and it'll be just fine! Hahaha!

As for the APQ 2017 UFO Challenge, May was a complete bust. I noticed Project #10 is up next for June, which cracked me up since June 10 is my daughter's birthday. That should be inspiration, right? Anyway I see that my #10 is Hugs & Kisses, designed by Gundrun Erla. I used Kansas Troubles fabrics and the top is assembled. Once again I need to get the quilting done! No excuses since I'm pretty sure that even borders are in place. I'll have to double-check that though.

Unfortunately I have some rather bummer news ... Remember I was busy with a Mystery Knit-a-Long? Well, after working really hard to catch up with the clues, I discovered that I had been knitting on 2-sizes-too-large needles! UGH!!!! That certainly explains the huge piece I have going plus the loose weave! Jeezy, Peezy! I started the 2nd triangle with the correct size and it is certainly considerable smaller with just the first few rows. I will be frogging my first piece and not worrying about catching up. There is just no way and I'd rather enjoy my knitting instead of working at break-neck speed.

I also took a tatting class from our renowned tatting guild member. With all the knitting I had been doing, my fingers were pretty much locked up and not working that shuttle too good. However, I've been practicing when I could and watching YouTube videos and I must admit it seems to be getting easier. I never did learn how to connect my picots and I'm hoping that lesson will be coming up on YouTube soon. Next tatting class is June 15th!

Yesterday the roofers arrived. We were hit with hail back at the beginning of March and repairs are underway. I have a simple project I'd like to start (and finish?) today to drown out the banging of the new roof. I've been enjoying the French Open Tennis so I've also got my label and clam shells on tap for handwork!

Happy stitching to all and don't forget to come to our Quilt Show June 10-11!