Monday, July 27, 2020
CHRISTMAS IN JULY #2 AND NEEDLE BOOK
I must admit that with four months of being locked down at home due the this Covid virus I am bored. Coming up with afternoon quilt projects is no longer as much fun as it was in the beginning. But, one must find something besides gardening and housework to occupy ones time. 
I pulled out another new pattern from the cabinet and decided that as long as it was still July and I have tons of Christmas stash I would make another Christmas item. 
This is the 19.5" table topper. I considered some placemats and I may actually do some for husband and I. 
I started quilting it, but about half way through ran out of thread. I am using YLI Machine Quilting thread Festival. It is variegated green and red thread. So I have ordered it and it should arrive some time late this week to finish this up.
Actually this is a Christmas gift. Yes, things are really getting bad around here. My guild, hopefully we will be able to meet in December and have a Christmas dinner and we exchange gifts. I usually make something and then pop in a JoAnn's gift certificate with it. I thought this little needle case would be a fun little item to gift. 
It has a felt needle holder in its center and two little pockets on each end to hold, well a gift card!
And it finishes up really nicely with a ribbon tie. 
Yes, last weeks table runner is complete. I think it really is very pretty.
I did lots and lots of quilting on it. I was a bit concerned with all those curved seams and there was a bit of wobble, but it quilted out nice and flat. 
The courtship continues of Marilyn my daughter's one and only peahen by one of her four males. Marilyn doesn't look very impressed.
Monday, July 20, 2020
LAZY SUMMER AND CHRISTMAS IN JULY
July brings summer with 100 degree temperatures in my area. You don't want to go outside after 8am, so on top of the virus the heat keeps one in. 
My Cold Wind Blows wall hanging top is complete. The birds were the perfect borders. 
I spray basted it to my batting and back and started the leaves' quilting. I have become very fond of the heavy double stitch for leaf veins. I just love how much the quilting stands out. I spray baste outside, normally a very straight forward task. However, this time I had a wasp for company, and the little bugger bit me four times before husband rushed out and took care of him. Fortunately I am not allergic so some minor stinging and itching and within a couple hours nothing to show for my mishap but 4 red dots on my arm. 
I keep getting quilty news with all this talk about Christmas in July. So I decided to dig through my stash and patterns for a bit of early Christmas cheer. The pattern didn't seem all that holiday-ish but I made it once before so decided it would work. 
I select this print for my focal fabric.
Our summer garden is in full swing. Lots of nice Swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and squash. 
We even had this little guy visit for an afternoon. Much nicer than the wasp.
This is Marilyn my daughter's peacock. She also has 4 others all males. Marilyn has been sitting on the front patio enjoying the summer shade. She is rather snooty and has no interest in the male peacocks that all seeming to be interested in courting her. 
And sure enough here is one of those guys, sitting on the lawn just on the side of the patio. She won't even allow him in the chair next to her. My daughter says she is pretty sure Marilyn talked to mother duck that early this spring hatched 13 ducklings. She having no interest in motherhood what so ever. Smart peahen!
So it is all ready now to get the pieces sewn together and on to some quilting. It should end up at about 15" by 47''.
Monday, July 13, 2020
STASH BUSTER BABY QUILT
I have been on hold for a bit waiting for fabric to arrive for a couple of my current projects. My daughter asked for a quilt out of the stash I keep of finished baby quilts for her husband's sister expecting in October. She selected one that reminded me I had left over fabric and panel blocks from that original quilt, so I decided to pull those out and make a replacement.
So I framed them out and was able to get them to a 6 inch finished size. After digging around I did find four larger animal prints and framed them into 9 inch blocks finished. 
Then decided to do some simple serpentine quilting on it.
I found this cute print for the back. The grey, black, and white are a perfect match for it. 
Just finished putting it all together. I made a scrappy binding of the black and grey prints to finish it off. 
My daughter's ducks have outgrown they children's plastic swimming pool. This past weekend she upgraded them to a much bigger solution. The hope is that it will keep them in their nice new large pen constructed earlier in the week. She said they were becoming much too interested in their swimming pool. Finding 14 ducks floating around in their pool didn't exactly please anyone. Especially the teenagers in the home, as it is their job to clean the pool.
I did discover all I had were these very small animal blocks. Well it is use what you have.
Monday, July 6, 2020
TILDA HOUSE, COLD WIND BLOWS, & MOREWOOD MYSTERY
I have been able to finish up my Tilda House quilt, it is one of three large quilts that I just got back from the quilter this past week. I was able to get this one bound and the handwork done. 
This is the back I selected for the Tilda House Quilt. I realized when I was doing the hand sewing on the binding that this fabric is perfect to experiment with broderie perse. I have never tried that type of appliqué and this seems like the perfect fabric to try it out. 
I also got all the fused appliqués on the Cold Wind Blows piece. I am now working on machine stitching them with a small zigzag stitch with Sulky Invisible Poly thread. It is a bit of a pain to deal with, but I do love that it really is nearly invisible. 
I am planning a different border for it. The fabric line had some really nice bird pieces in it. I had to do a good deal of fussy cutting to pull them out of the rest of the surrounding print, but worth the chopping up and waste of some of the fabric.
I am trying to decide on whether to use the navy blue floral print or the white floral. Now just to figure out a background fabric. 
For you fans of my daughter's pets. You might remember her very hadsome white and multi colored rooster Patrick. Well here he is with his lady hen Buttercup. They thought they would spend their afternoon napping in my daughter's vegetable garden. She was none too happy about it, as they thought that the little green tomatoes just sprouting on her tomato vines were going to be their afternoon snacks. I think they are headed for lock down.
I decided to start a new project. Meadow Mist Designs has started the Morewood Mystery quilt. This month it is time to pick your fabric. I needed four coordinating fabrics. A nice way to dig into my stash and I found some really good ideas for it.
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