CHARITY QUILTS AGAIN AND THE PUPPY BOWL

 My Warm Wrappings group is back to meeting again after 18 months of Covid lock downs.  This group is part of my quilt guild and we make charity quilts for 5 different local agencies.  I have a goal each year to make 12 quilt tops with a prepared binding.  I do these out of my own stash.  Other members of the group quilt them and every October we hand out the quilts to the agencies.  Last year we handed out 302.   

So I am back at it again.  This 36 inch square quilt will go the the Pregnancy Center.  They specify 36 inch quilts.

This quilt was a effort of cleaning out my scrap stash.  I am pleased to say that many of these blocks completely finished off a number of scraps fabrics.  I have cut out another in the same pattern using all floral prints.  Once done with this one and the second one cut out I am pleased to say that I actually eliminated a full wire basket.  More room for new stuff!!!!!!

An update on the Flower Garden.  Just one more block to go.  Next lattice between them and borders.  I have not decided what to do with borders.  Some appliqué on them for sure, but no exact plan as of yet.  I have modified the pattern a good deal.   

This is Zoey, not a very happy dog.  I think she heard me on the phone with the vet making an appointment to have her spayed.  It appears this is one of her favorite spots in a bowl under the sofa table to hide.  Seems the fit is perfect.  She was spayed on Thursday of last week and if one insult was not enough, she had to have three retained baby teeth fangs removed as they failed to come out when her adult fangs came in.  It appears that Yorkshire Terriers are famous for that particular issue.  She spent Friday hiding in various spots around the house.  She is still on pain medication for the 5 days after her surgery so a bit mellow especially in the mornings after getting it.  But, she is definately on the mend now and back to her normal wiggles and running around.    

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NOTE BOOK FOLIOS AND GIFT BAGS

 I am often looking for an easy home made gift to make for family and friends.  Something different that I can use as a little extra addition to birthday and Christmas gifts.  Not everyone sews so I like to make items that are useful for everyday.

I make these little boxes and use them instead of paper gift wrap or bags.  

Another cute little item is a note pad folio.  These go together in just a couple hours.

They take very little fabric.  I used Tilda fabric and I even had a matching button for the fabric.

The inside has a pocket that holds a 5 by 8 inch tablet.  Fits nicely in your purse.

The front has just three pieces and elastic cord makes an easy closure for the folio.  

They go together really fast.  I finished off three in one short afternoon sewing spree of about 2 hours.  Ready for some Christmas gifts.

A little more progress on blocks 7 and 9 of the Flower Garden, just waiting for one additional fabric to arrive for number 8 in the center there.

And my second mini project coming along nicely as well.  

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SKINNY QUILTS AND THE FINISHED ROSE

I finish the quilting on the Rose Quilt this past week.  My guild asks members in their birthday month to donate a finished quilt to their Warm Wrappings Charity Group.  So it will be presented to them on September 14th.

I spent some time this past week going through my quilt books.  Over the years I have purchased many and find that often I have used pattern out of them many times and they have now sat on a shelf for ages.  So I looked through every one, there were lots of them, and I clean out about half.  They will go to the free table at our next guild meeting and some may also be stored away for a boutique at our next quilt shop and sold for very low prices.  But, when thumbing through they I ran across this particular book.  

And this pattern.

It immediately call my attention to a stack of fabrics that have been in my stash for years.  So, time to pull them out and do something with them.

Plus I had a stack of solids the were hand dyed that blended with them beautifully. 

Time to put these to work.  

I have a start.  I still am not sure if it will be as big as the pattern.  I have in mind a table runner or a wall hanging.  Just something interesting to do while I continue working on the Flower Garden appliqué project.  Plus the book has some other very interesting patterns to think about too.

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QUILTING THE ROSE AND THE FLOWER GARDEN PROGRESS

 This week I was determined to finish the Rose quilt.  Normally I do not try to manage quilting my own projects.  I have occasionally quilted small pieces but try to keep them between 36 to 45 inches in width or length.  But, I decided on the Rose quilt to give it a go and see how things went.  It is 45 by 58 a bit larger than I usually try to manage.  I knew I was getting into uncharted territory.

Nothing fancy, just a serpentine stitch with a 50wt variegated thread.

In the beginning I though that I might have completely lost my mind in thinking I could quilt it.  But, it is not a difficult as I thought it might be.  I didn't spray baste it either.  I have just been pressing a row smoothly, pinning it down, quilting it and repeating again on the next row down.  I will go back and quilt on the red roses and the leaves, as I have not stitched through them with the serpentine quilting.

Still a ways to go as I am only down to the middle now.  Then I will have veins to quilt into the leaves and some stitching around the blooms.

Zoey immediately decided it absolutely perfect, always nice to have a positive critic.

I have also been working on The Flower Garden.  I have modified the size of the pattern so these six block have me half way done.  There will be a lattice between the blocks of 1 inch and the borders are 10 inches wide on all 4 sides.  It should measure out to about 65 by 70 complete.  I am really happy with the results so far. 

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DRUMMER BOY, THE FLOWER GARDEN AND A HAIRCUT

 I finally finished my Drummer Boy quilt.  I picked it up from the quilter this past week.  This was a long project.  I purchased the pattern in April 2019, picked it up from the quilter on August 4th, and finished the binding handwork within a day or so afterwards.    I will admit that it did get stashed as a UFO for a good part of the beginning of 2020, but Covid left me with lots of time on my hands at home so I pulled it out and it is DONE!!!!!!

Now I am off to another long range project with my Flower Garden quilt.  Step one, thread to match the fabrics for the appliqué pieces.  The fabrics our shown in my post The Flower Garden. 

I found that in order to avoid the black dots on the background showing through my appliqué pieces I had to put Pellon Woven Fusible Interfacing SF101 on the back of the appliqué pieces.  I used it on the first two blocks, but on the third one in progress now I have change to using Floriani Stitch N Wash Fusible.  It is a non woven stabilizer and I am hoping it work a bit better avoiding stray thread from the woven interfacing on the outsides of my appliqué pieces.    

Once the appliqué pieces are cut out using Lite Steam A Seam 2, I paint on Terial Magic to seal the edges of the appliqués to avoid any fraying.

The first two blocks are done.  Once I finished with the blanket stitch on the appliqué pieces I also painted the edges over the thread to seal them with the Terial Magic.  The quilt is very large 89" by 91" so I am planning to cut it down to approximately 65" by 70".  I prefer to use it as a wall quilt and the smaller size is more useable in my home.  

This is our little dog Zoey, she is just 5 months old in this picture and in serious need of a haircut.  

Three days later Zoey returned from the groomers less a great deal of hair.  She survived her first haircut with not too much drama and seems to be enjoying feeling much cooler given our current summer heat wave of temperatures in the low 100's.

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QUILTING THE RUNNER AND A HANDSOME FACE

 I completely finished my hand appliquéd runner this past week.  I will admit that quilting it was more of a worry than the actual appliqué preparation and handwork on it.  Free motion quilting is not a skill I have ever been able to master. 

I started with just putting veins in the leaves, using a double straight stitch in a matching green thread.  Then finally decided to stitch in the ditch all around each appliqué and down the sides of the vines with cream colored Superior Bottom Line 60 wt Polyester thread top and bobbin.  It almost disappears in the cream background fabric.  

At last the borders got a cable pattern sewn down them.  I used Borders Made Easy by Quilting Made Easy Inc.  I didn't want to sew over the leaves or blossoms that extended into the borders so I cut those areas out.  All done and ready to put on the table this fall.  

My grandson Ben's favorite duck.  Not sure wether this is one of the males or females.  My daughter has 15 or maybe more of these Muscovy ducks.  They all have very interesting faces that only a mother could love.  Well in this case also it seems that Ben loves them as well and thinks they are all very good looking birds.   

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THE FLOWER GARDEN AND A MANTIS NURSERY

I am on the last three rows of blocks to finish my Confetti quilt and also just finishing the binding handwork on my hand appliquéd table runner so it is time to start a new project. 

I attended a Chat and Sew group in July and several of the ladies were showing off their completed flower garden quilts.  Penny offered me her pattern, so I took advantage of the gift.  Several of the girls used Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I do love Fassett fabrics and have some scraps left over from other projects in the closet.  However, I have 12 one yard pieces of Laura Heine's Color Fusion fabric sitting waiting for a project and I am using it.

The black print I will be using for the vines in the blocks.

The green fabric is another addition and is a Kaffe Fassett left over from other projects.

And again the green a new Kaffee Fassett addition. 

I order 9 yards of this Swiss dot by Riley Blake from the Fat Quarter shop so hope to get started when it arrive this week.  

The first block, top left for the pattern, is ready to go.  Yes, this will be machine appliqued.  While my hand appliquéd table runner was fun, that is way out of my league.  This should be such fun!

We continue to find our little praying mantis babies about in our garden.  Seems like we have a growing nursery for the little guys.   

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APPLIQUE PROGRESS, SCRAP INSANITY, AND A DOG'S LIFE

 It has been a couple weeks now of VERY HOT weather.  The only thing to do is stay in the house with the air conditioner on.  However, it makes for some progress in the sewing room.  Not much one can do about it except for walk the dog in the early morning, before 8am for sure, while it is still below 80, and suffer through with a bit of housework here and there.  

The last blossom is going on my hand appliqué runner.  One more center piece and another leaf and it is ready to get on some batting and a back and start quilting it.

I am not sure how to quilt it.  I do expect to put some veins on the leaves, other than that I don't know yet.  The binding will be the same green as the bias vines. 

This pile of 6.5 by 1.5 inch strips are all ready to add to the last 40 blocks in a very scrappy quilt.  I am bound and determined to rid myself of a good deal of small scrap fabrics.  This seems to be doing the trick, well maybe.  I will admit that no matter how much you cut fabric up and attempt to use it up somehow it multiplies and you end of with just as much as you stared with.  

Here are the finished blocks.  They measure 6.5 inches square.  I have 60 blocks done so just another 40 to go to finish a 60 by 60 inch scrap quilt.  And no I have no idea what why I am doing this. 

This is Zoey now, our 4 1/2 month old Yorkshire Terrier puppy.  She has grown a good deal since we got her in June at 8 weeks old.  She is very much in the need for a haircut.  

As you can see, she makes herself right at home.  An afternoon nap on the sofa with the ceiling fan on high, and the air conditioner running is truly a dog's life.

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August Challenge and Praying Mantis Babies

At our August guild meetings we have a pot luck dinner for members and their families and a challange with prizes that go to the ones voted the best.  This year it was a 16 inch square mini quilt, that would be used on our mini quilt display that is displayed monthly through out the area to retirement homes and other facilities.

I decided to make this little piece I had taken a picture of it and stashed it away in my binder of future to make ideas.  Simple appliqués and some hand stitching on their little bodies and button eyes.  

Next some grasses.  I found that 12 wt thread and a small zigzag works really well.  

I like the results, just some pulling the thread ends to the back tying them and hiding them in the batting.  I do not like machine knotting them as it leaves a big lump on the back.

Then green stems, flowers and leaves.  Great use of all those fancy stitches on my machine that one rarely uses.  I was really impressed with how well they worked for me.  

And a finish!   Well not completely, but just a bit of quilting on the borders and binding it, adding a sleeve and label.  But, lots of fun to make.

Our praying mantis babies are growing up.  A few weeks ago we had one little guy just barely an inch.  Yesterday my husband found another, but double or more in size.  This guy looks to be maybe three inches long.  It dropped by to visit, so we quickly snapped a photo and transferred it to one of our mini citrus trees.

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