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.

I Like Thursdays #2

 I like looking back over the week to see everything I have to be thankful for. Won't you come along to see what made me happy this week? If you'd like, you can also check in with Not Afraid of Color and read some of the other happy posts!

First off, I had some happy mail. Because I attended The Applique Society's annual meeting (virtually, of course!), I got this handy bag to store my projects. It has our logo on it so I'll ALWAYS know where it came from. Love the see-thru middle so I can easily see which project is currently in it. Pretty sure it'll hold my Afternoon Delight blocks as I work on them. I can put all the threads I'm using also in here with my scissors, needle case, and of course my thimble pads. Wouldn't applique without them!

If you enjoy applique, you really should look into joining too. There's a lot of useful info  & tips shared among the members!

My walk this week had some happy pictures too!

Pretty Hibiscus & Gracie

The Corn is as High as an Elephant's Eye!

Petunias say, "Don't Fence Me In!"

There are cantaloupes in there! Yum!
Think they'd notice one missing? Lol!

Saturday night and into Sunday morning we received over 5" of rain in a very short period of time. The pond out back flooded.

Paddleboat without a dock. Top of ladder just barely visible.

Water went up & over the dam ...

... and down the hill ...

... then around the shed before getting to the creek.

Now are you wondering why I liked this situation? Because it stayed away from my house! THAT made me happy!

Then Monday afternoon we got another weather alert warning us about a derecho. WHAT??? Here's what Google had to say about that:

de·re·cho

/dāˈrāˌCHō/

Learn to pronounce

noun

US

1. a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds

I'd say that pretty accurately described it. Here are pictures around my neighborhood Tuesday morning. So thankful we only had sticks and leaves to clean up.

House by the Bike Trail.

Up the road from my house.
Large branch on the fence broke at circled spot.

Next door neighbor's flag was lifted out of base and now rests against fence.
(You can see how the pond water level has returned to normal too.)

It was DH's birthday last week and I made German Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches to celebrate! You can find the recipe  that I used HERE. I think I saved this recipe from a Saturday Seven post on

A Quilting Life's blog but I can't find the exact post.

Double Chocolate Cooke with Vanilla Ice Cream
Rolled in Toasted Coconut Flakes & Pecans

Mom Enjoyed DH's Birthday Treat, Too!

I didn't get a picture of the Birthday Boy eating his treat because he downed it so quickly! Lol!

How could I post without a quilty photo. This is what I'm working on -- quilting my Star in a Star. It's a monster! 100" x 100" = queen-sized!

I hope you had a good week too. It's raining again right now here in southern Illinois.  I think we've had enough already!

RSC PURPLE

First week of PURPLE! I was thrilled to remember that I had a bag of scraps donated to me from my sister which had been gifted to her from her mother-in-law. So I dug through, unpinned what was pinned, and look what I had!

There were loads of approximately 6" blocks and some leftover strips/lengths. Looked to be the perfect Awesome Land opportunity! Ta! Da! Five out of nine already completed!

Since then I've starched the strips. Next up will be Heartfire hexies out of these fabrics. In between the Awesome Land blocks I managed a couple more Easy Breezy leaders & enders.

I also finished piecing another little tuffet.

I'm looking forward to seeing what all my fellow RSCers have done with purple this week. Linking up to see with Angela at SoScrappy!

I Like Thursday!

My friend Diann at Little Penguin Quilts posts every Thursday with happy things from over the week. I love reading her posts on Thursdays. Today's was another happy, positive post ... a great way to start the day. You can read about her week HERE. She joins in the linky party every week at Not Afraid of Color and I've popped over there a few times and have also enjoyed the posts. So much so that I've decided to give it a go. I think it'll be a nice lift mid-week.

Have you ever seen so many black-eyed susies in one place? This is along my front walkway. Hard to believe that I shared a couple of clumps last Fall with my brother in NC and my sister in TX. Wonder how theirs are doing? Think they're multiplying like mine?

My mother's hairdresser shared some "surprise lilies" with me a few years back. The first two years all I got was the leaves. Last year after the leaves had come up and then died, I got two or three stems with the flowers.

2019 Surprise Lilies

This year not only did I get loads of black-eyed susies, but my lilies have multiplied as well. Check out that picture of the many stems coming up.

July 2020

Here they are today. So many gorgeous blooms! Wish you could smell their sweet aroma.

August 6, 2020

My grandson Brody turned 14 months yesterday. My DIL sent me these pictures. Made me smile how much he has grown.

And this made me smile .... (I hope I did this correctly so you can enjoy too!)

Pretty sure he'll be walking soon. Just not ready yet.

I hope you finish your week off with a smile! Don't forget to visit Not Afraid of Color. Betch smile!

End of July PHD Report

I've really been trying to keep my nose to the grindstone. So many projects I'd LOVE to jump on board with but I'm keeping myself in check. Well, until August 16th when I'll be joining in on Gudrun Erla's next sew-along. You can find all the details on Gudrun's Quilt Crew group on Facebook this Tuesday. She'll let us know what pattern we'll be doing and fabric requirements.

But until then, I'm quilting, quilting, quilting! I finished up Winnie the Pooh. Now it's not on my PHD list but I did start it in June and finished it July 31st. Counts as a good finish!

I was hoping for some sunshine for the photo shoot but it just keeps raining. I took this picture while it was sprinkling and you can see the rain drops on our deck floor.

Sorry to say that I didn't write down the name of who gave me the brilliant idea of how to do the quilting. She had done a wall hanging and described her method for it and I thought it would be perfect for this little 46" x 46" quilt. I didn't want to detract from the characters! This is what I did following someone else's directions: Bernina stitch #4 (serpentine), stitch length 3.0, stitch width 5.0. I followed the vertical seams which are 2" apart. Then I was afraid that the channels in between (2" x 46") would be too long to stay secure so I quilted horizontal serpentine stitches 6" apart.

View from the back

Quilt Label - Used my Bernina Built-In Letters

This quilt will be mailed out sometime next week and it goes in the "Done" column!

The Star In a Star quilt has been my other focus lately. I managed to get the large 24" blocks assembled, the 12" Celtic knots for the outside cornerstones were completed at a recent retreat, the borders finished and the outside frame attached.

This big boy is 96" x 96" and is pictured without the outside frame. I didn't even have room in the basement to lay it out completely but I think you can get the idea. The top is now finished and I'll be basting and quilting it as quickly as I can but it will surely take some time!

Let's check my To-Do List at the start of the month and see how I did.

________________________________________________________________________

1. Quilt, bind, & label Winnie the Pooh - Finished!

2. Finish Patriotic Wall Hanging 100% - Finished!

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! -  I ended up doing the applique by machine. The top is officially a flimsy!

4. Quilt, label, & bind Hope. - No progress here.

5. A little more progress on Eva Grace would be nice too! - A girl could dream, right?

So what's in store for PHD progress in August?

1. Get Star in a Star to the finish line.

2. Quilt, label, & bind Hope.

3. Stay caught up with Afternoon Delight applique blocks.

4. Get 7 Heartfire hexies done in RSC color PURPLE.

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

That ought to keep me out of trouble. I'll check in with you around August 15th. Wonder how the others are doing with their PHDs. I'm going to see for myself right HERE and I invite you to see too!

August = Purple!

Friday evening, Angela let the cat out of the bag that the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for August will be PURPLE! I will be looking forward to working with purple fabrics in August because it is one of my favorite colors. It will also be a great month for visiting all the Rainbow Scrappers to see how they work with purple. But first we need to wrap up July's color - DARK BLUE.

I was happy to take this month off because I needed to catch up my Heartfire hexies. I managed to get all 7 green blocks sewn for a January catch-up last week. You can see those blocks HERE. This week I played around with a few smaller projects and check it out! There's DARK BLUE in the midst!

The block on the left upper corner is Easy Breezy, Bonnie Hunter's Leaders & Enders block for the year (July 2020 - June 2021). I'm going to concentrate on oranges and blues for my blocks. The 4-patch in the bottom left corner will be the center of the next Easy Breezy block. Just look at those adorable animals ... I spy a giraffe AND an elephant! I'm using these blocks for leaders & enders at my sewing machine upstairs, where I do most of my piecing.

The Half Square Triangle in the bottom right will be used in another of Bonnie Hunter's quilt patterns. It's called Split 9-Patch and is one of her many FREE quilt patterns which you can find HERE. There are a lot of HSTs in this pattern so I had a stack of them going. I'm using this pattern for my leader & ender at my sewing machine downstairs. This is where I do my machine quilting and also where I sew on borders, bindings, and where I also sew together large quilts. This  Split 9-Patch project will probably take me a LOOOOONNG time to finish since I don't spend as much time down here!

The upper right and bottom middle blocks will be little pillows or pincushions. The top one is complete except for the pillow finishing and measures approximately 3-1/2" x 6". The 2-1/4" star will have red & white stripes attached to be flag-like. I plan on using these as little pillows in a basket. The pattern is called Sweet Liberty Tuffets and you can find the FREE pattern HERE. They're really fun to make and don't take any time at all! I'm thinking you could make these in Christmas colors or even Halloween fabrics! Lots of fun!

Speaking of fun, I'm very excited because Gudrun Erla of GE Designs has announced that she will be doing another Sew-A-Long Day on August 16th. It will start at 9am Central Time with clues given every 2 hours. She will be sharing all the details this Tuesday, August 4th at 7pm Central Time on her Facebook Group page (Gudrun's Quilt Crew) to reveal the pattern, fabric requirements, etc. You can bet I'll be there and,  just like when I sewed along with her last sew-along Hope, I'll be sewing with my sister who lives in Texas! But wait! There's more! I'll also be sewing with my BFF who lives in Ohio! She will probably have to set her alarm because that is 8am Eastern Time! Lol!

In the meantime I finished up Winnie the Pooh. That's right! I saved my finish for last. It is quilted, labeled, and bound. Unfortunately it's in the wash right now but I can share a couple of pictures that I took last night while finishing up the binding. Stayed tuned for the photo shoot later.

Polly Loves a New Quilt!

In other good news but not quilty, I got to "harvest" a zucchini this week! I'm having trouble with the flowers falling off but no fruit. I'll water more frequently, I guess, to see if that improves my production! Thank goodness for my rain barrels!

My red giant hibiscus bloomed this year! It's a favorite of the Japanese beetles so I'll have to take care of that next week if we get some sunshine.

This week I spied a visitor soaring through our backyard. Hubby actually got a decent picture of this Broad-Winged Hawk before it didn't like being the center of attention and flew away.

Have you stayed with me this long? I just noticed some more quilty pictures to share with you. I'm all caught up with the applique blocks on Afternoon Delight, the block of the month from The Quilt Show.

Block 22

Block 23

Block 24

August blocks will be released today sometime. I think there are only two again which is manageable for me. Unfortunately, these past two months I've been supposed to be making twelve double 9-patch blocks along with the applique blocks! That means a total of 36 DNPs by the end of August! Oh no!!!

For real that's the end of this post! I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy HERE. Can't wait to see everyone's joy at the color purple for August and to see their wrap-ups of dark blue!