Almost There

It feels like forever since I have been able to sew, really sew.  Well, maybe it just feels that way. Family life has been very busy, in a good way, but today I found myself with a little time. There were messes and piles everywhere in my sewing space. There is no way I can get anything done with the state it was in, so I thought I'd try and clean up a little.  Besides the many projects waiting for attention, look what I found. 

I started these blocks over a year ago when the Scrappy Trip Along was going on. For those of you who might not have heard of the Scrappy Trip Along, it was a Quilt Along started in early 2013 based on Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Quilt Tutorial. 

 This is the last time I remember these blocks. I had ten. 

I really wanted to make this quilt so I left the strips needed for the block, laying around.  

I thought I could make a block here and there. 

Well, now look where I'm at!  I had no idea! 

I found them in a pile and thought I would lay them out and have a look see. 

Gasp! I have 28! 

I need just two more for a nice 60 X 72 lap quilt. 

Yea, that's right just 2 more. : )

I used only scraps or fabric I've had a really long time.There are some really undesirable fabrics in there.  I threw caution to the wind and let some fabrics be friends and neighbors that probably shouldn't be.  I even just laid out the blocks as is and only moved one to another spot. This quilt is so fun to make and the blocks are addicting.  

I think I'm going to really love this one! You can see some 

amazing Scrappy Trip Quilts  in the Scrappy Trip Along Flickr Group 

It's been awhile, but I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

Happy Stitching Everyone : )

Wendi

Dreamin and Moving Along.

Not enough sewing has been going on here, but things are settling down. 

I'm home from work for a few weeks, so I'm going to do my best to change that. 

I feel like I haven't sewn for the past six months. 

My "want to make" list is long and growing longer by the day and I am itching to get sewing. 

I managed a little dreaming, planning and tiny bit of quilt sewing. 

I was hoping to have a whole quilt done. I started out with this little block.

It measures 16.5 X 16.5, making each square one inch.  

I thought I might prefer it a bit larger so I remade some 

half square triangles and came up with this.

I know, they look the same, 

but this one is made with 1.5 inch squares and 

measures 24 X 24. You can really see the 

difference side by side. 

I really think I'm leaning toward the smaller one 

with the larger block on the quilt back. 

Aww, its back to dreaming about it. 

I've got two "Elsa" dresses to make, a toddler backpack,

finishing up on this quilt, 

and this one for do Good Stitches

I'm a bit further than this.  Layering is next.

(cheer ladies, thanks for your patience)

I'd better get moving along.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stitching : ) 

Keeping Busy

Just thinking of the last few weeks brings a yawn of tiredness.

There have been bee blocks





A Science Fair, a quilt show, some wedding prep and shopping for The Dress. My daughter has had her heart set on wearing my dress since she was a little girl, but we went looking anyway. I've been updating and altering her dress.



We've celebrated three birthdays.


This is my favorite six year old  : )


There was time spent together with family on day trips and visits.


It was wonderful to see our sweet Aunt R, visiting from Oregon. This is with my three daughters

There was a little sewing.



A weekend with these two,


and a little one growing quickly, right before our eyes.

Sweet Q at two months

This post needs more quilts, so I'll leave you with this one from the quilt show.

I have long been in love with this pattern and its on my bucket list of quilts.

May your week be full of HaPPy StitCHes.  :)

Slow To The Party

Here's my 2013 mosaic showing a small sampling of completed projects. 

There were so many projects that I just didn't get a photo of. 

 Looking at my little mosaic, I'm still pretty pleased! 

My 2014 goal is to document better and more. At least one photo of each project.  

2014 is already off to a busy, busy start. 

First up is a little doll quilt for DQS14 that I'm working on now. 

Here's to a productive 2014 : )

Goodbye 2013 - Checking In

I hope you all had wonderful holidays!  

We sure did. All of our daughters and their families and my mom were here for Christmas and all but one for Thanksgiving. It's always wonderful to get together and just "be."

The festivities are over and believe it or not, I'm still trying to catch up on the dishes, laundry and such. Seems once I get behind, it takes a bit of effort to catch up. 

The Christmas season is always busy, but our family had a bit of extra busyness.  

The beginning of  December these two got engaged 

Congratulations you two!!!

Doesn't our youngest daughter look happy?

Then if that wasn't exciting enough, we were blessed with our 

fourth grandchild, our third granddaughter. 

Meet sweet Quinn and her mommy, our daughter, Emili.

Big sister is very happy. 

She sang to her as soon as she saw her, it was so sweet.

We topped the month off with a Christmas day filled with love and family. 

This year, 2013 has been one of blessing for our family. 

Difficulties and struggles have all been a part of this year, 

but in the end we see blessing.

We ALL feel so very blessed.

See you in 2014

The Real Meaning of Christmas

Thankful

            

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; 

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Psalm 105:1 & 2

Paper Piecing

Recently my Father-In-Law and quilting Sister-In-Law came for a visit.  

Since we live on opposite coasts we don't get to visit often, but when we do, 

we ladies spend some time quilting. 

Our styles are different, but we don't let that get in our way, 

it just adds to the appreciation and admiration I have for her work. 

She specializes in hand quilting and does it both beautifully and fast. 

I can hand quilt, but rarely do. 

As I'm thinking about it, 

I realize I have a quilt half quilted from eight years ago. 

Yes, eight years ago!! 

My oh my!  

I'm embarrassed! 

Enough of that, I'll just pretend I didn't just realized that and move on.  

While she was here she wanted to learn to paper piece.  

I am not an expert. In fact I've not done that much and although 

I love the results of paper piecing I don't like to do it. 

I keep a large three ring notebook of patterns and ideas. 

We went through and picked a Lone Starburst from Anna at Six White Horses.

She picked a few fabrics from my stash and we got started.  

It was the perfect pattern to learn on. 

Not too many pieces and not too few. 

The repetition helped to get the concept, because we all know 

paper piecing can be confusing. 

It didn't take long before we had all the pieces.

I think it turned out great!  

This isn't the best photo, but the light ring around the star is a nice mellow yellow. 

It's just beautiful in person.  

Thanks Anna for a perfectly wonderful and lovely pattern 

and thank you Diana for bring dad and visiting with us for awhile. 

Have a wonderful week  : ) 

I Must Conquer....

I've always admired nicely knit items. I learned very basic knitting 

as a young girl and didn't remember much of it. 

For my birthday, a few years ago, my mom retaught me to knit.

When she wasn't near by and I needed help, I turned to the internet.  

There is so much great knitting info available!  

I'm still learning, but I fell in LOVE with knitting!  

I 'm giving socks a try. 

Well, I've started them about seven times, 

even changed yarn for a mental fresh start. 

These are now looking pretty good. 

I've gotten past the gusset, the heel turn, the heel and .......really? 

One sock is looking a bit large. 

Seems I have too many stitched on the needle after the heel. 

Oh No!  Upon checking the other sock I have too few?  

UGH!  

How did that happen?!  

I WILL succeed, I WILL conquer these socks! 

I guess I'll start over, but meanwhile, I'll go back to some quilting for awhile. 

Here are a few Bee blocks

This is just to claim my blog on bloglovin, I guess I forgot.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Have a great week everyone ; )

Got One, But Not The Other

It's been a busy month and I just realized that sadly 

I forgot to post a September goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

Ugh!  

I was on a great roll up until then.  

I got in a minor car accident on the first of the month and 

I guess my mind was preoccupied. I thought I posted something. 

Oh well, I'll focus on October's goal and 

be ready to post.

Have you been over to Happy Quilting? 

Melissa has done a great job with our Quilt Along and

tomorrow is the parade of finished quilts.

There are so many participants and lovely quilts being finished, 

you won't want to miss it. 

I got my Quilt Along Star Surround top done, 

but not completely finished, so I won't be parading.  

Since I rarely purchase anything larger than a quarter of a yard 

 this top will have to go in my to be 

layered and quilted pile until I can get a backing. 

This is Hope Valley on dark grey Kona.

 64 X 64 

I love this 16 inch quilt block. 

Now on to other projects. 

Happy Stitching.  : ) 

Lovely Finishes Goal Met

It's time for my end of the month post for 

A Lovely Year Of Finishes. 

I completed my goal for the month. 

All 384 inches of binding. 

Fingers are a wee bit sore, 

but I'm happy to be done!  

I took a couple quick photos for this post, 

but I will take some proper photos and post them soon. 

Hopefully the recipient of this quilt will get a good sneak peek

and love this quilt as much as I do.  

Hoping to get some 

stitching in this weekend. 

Finished Stars

I'm on target with these little stars. 

They are the 8.5 X 8.5 star centers for our Star Surround blocks.  

They took a little longer than anticipated, 

but all are done by the Sunday night deadline. 

Bring on Monday's assignment.  

Happily Stitching Along 

A Peek At My Week

Whew! 

I got my flying geese done for the Star Surround Quilt Along. 

It was a lot of trimming.  

Last week I decided to enlarge the quilt by seven more blocks, 

going from nine to sixteen and this week while trimming, 

I wondered what I was thinking.  

My piles are a bit messy, but overall I don't think they look too bad. 

I'm ready for tomorrow's step.  

I also finished up a couple of bee blocks. 

For me, its a bit early, but making string blocks is so messy, 

I wanted to get on it right away.

Two together, don't they look great?

I've only gotten about 15 inches of the binding done on this super large quilt. 

Its 91 3/4 X 100, so I've got a long way to go. 

I'd bettered get going!

 I have to have it done by the end of the month to meet my goal. 

Well, that's it for my week peek. 

I'm off to put a movie on and work on that binding : )

What have you been up to this week? 

Happy Quilting

Goal Setting and A Quilt Along

Ok, so its August and I must post about my August goal. 

Actually, I can't believe its August and I've linked up with 

A Lovely Year of Finishes for the past seven months, 

meeting my goal each month. 

It's been a wonderful accountability experience for me.  

So here's my August goal

Get the binding on this big, heavy quilt.  

It,s on the larger side of queen size and I anticipate some sore fingers. 

I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it slow.   

Also for August, the Star Surround QAL I joined is starting to roll. 

We've just begun making our half square triangles. 

I originally posted nine fabrics and planned on nine stars, 

but once I got started I decided I'm probably going to really love this quilt 

so I added more fabrics and went with 16 stars. 

 

Come and join the Quilt Along. 

Its not too late!

You can make one large block or several smaller ones. 

It's your choice. 

Melissa has them all planned out beautifully!

Happy Quilting : )

Back With A July Finish

That's right I'm back with my July finish.  

I started the month with my Lovely Year of Finishes goal mentioned here.

Decided it was going to turn out too small. 

Added some blocks.

Ended up with this little quilt for charity.

Here's a close up

The backside

This quilt was made with the blocks sent to me from the 

ladies of the do. Good Stitches Cheer Group

It  measures 42.5 X 51

and is going to Project Linus

I'm linking up with 

A Loverly Year of Finishes 

and Freshly Pieced

Happy Stitching Everyone  : ) 

New Quilt A Long

I'll bet you thought I was posting to show you my July finish for 

A Lovely Year of Finishes?  

I am done, 

but I'm very excited to be starting a new quilt along, 

so I'll be back with the finish later this week. 

I really don't need and shouldn't be joining in a new QAL, but I just couldn't resist.  

Usually I'm in the middle of something and can't participate, but I'm Free!  

Well, not actually, but I'm stitching down a lot of binding,

 so to break it up I thought I'd join. 

 Ok, so you want details. 

It's a starry quilt called Star Surround.

It's a real beauty!

Melissa over at Happy Quilting is running the quilt along. 

She has different sizes all planned out, 

so you can be involved as little or as much as you like. 

She even shows color schemes.

I'm stalled on a couple of my current projects, 

but this one is drawn completely from my stash.

Woo Whoo! A stash buster!

Here's my fabric all cut up and ready for the next step. 

Kona Grey & Hope Valley

Want to join? It's not too late. 

Head on over to Happy Quilting.

The details are here.

Summer Break is Over

My summer break is over, and I'm back to work, but that hasn't stopped

 me from making progress on my sewing and quilting projects. 

I'm nearly done with a little charity quilt and

I finished a little girl's skirt and another toddler backpack.

 Sadly, I didn't get photos of either one.

Here's the little charity quilt I'm still working on.

Basting 

Quilting

 And getting ready for some binding.

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced

July Goals

I can't believe I'm posting a July goal.

JULY!

This year has gone by so fast.

 I have two weeks left of my six weeks off work. 

I thought I would accomplish a lot of quilting and house projects,

but family fun and events come first.

I'm always thrilled to spend time with familyso I don't mind!

I still have a bit of a holiday weekend and beach time coming up, 

but I'm ready to get some quilty projects done.  

Priority on my list and my July Year of Lovely Finishes Goal is this 

quilt for my Cheer group of do. Good Stitches

I want to layer, quilt and bind it by the end of july

Since this month is very busy it's probably all I'll get done.  

Here's a  few small finishes from the past few weeks. 

A bear/baby carrier.  

I made a proper carrier  for my granddaughter who 

puts her babies in her shirt to carry them.

Wouldn't you know, she's really not interested in it. 

Oh well, at least it looks cute hanging on the bed post. 

Maybe someday. 

A new backpack for the same granddaughter.

Pockets on the side.

Fully lined and a pocket inside.

She has one her parents have used for a diaper/toddler bag, 

but now that she's a big girl four, its all hers. 

It 'll be handy when she heads to pre-school soon, 

but for now she is excited to carry her toys in it.

Happy Stitching