One Monthly Goal

At the beginning of the month, I set my One Monthly Goal here to be finishing block #12 of this old, old BOM UFO Flourishes by Piece of Cake Designs.  I am happy to say I finished it today, all 32 leaves and 42 circles.  The circles aren't perfect, but it is done at long last.  

After I finish by Hands2Help quilts, I plan to start putting this together.  I will be linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.  I continue to appreciate this monthly motivation.  

One thing that brought a smile to my face last week was my wisteria flowering.  I have had this plant probably 8-10 years, and this is the first time it has bloomed.  

Because of all the rain we had earlier in the year my flowering  beds are chock full of weeds.  I am still not finished.  See that green stuff on the right-that is this sticky weed that spreads all over the place.  I have a brick patio, and walkway which has moss when it is cool and raining, but then it starts growing grass I have to pick out.  I am about 1/2 way through doing that.  I had 4 feet tall dandelions I have had to cut with a branch cutter.  They are very hard to pull off.

Two days this week I had a migraine that nearly incapacitated me.  I'm thankful that is gone now.

I have one of my Hands2Help quilts quilted and binding sewn on.  I just need to sew down the binding.  I hope to get another one on the frame today.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Happy Easter, Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Easter everyone.  My two daughters and their families are due to come over in a couple of hours for Easter Brunch.  

While I'm waiting for the Hot Cross Buns to bake, thought I would show my Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Earlier week, I found myself without prepped applique work, so I was able to finish off this next nursery rhyme redwork block.  Simple Simon.  I don't remember ever hearing the last three verses. 

Simple Simon met a pieman,

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Let me taste your ware.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

Show me first your penny;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Indeed I have not any.

Simple Simon went a-fishing,

For to catch a whale;

All the water he had got,

Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look

If plums grew on a thistle;

He pricked his fingers very much,

Which made poor Simon whistle.^[1]

He went for water in a sieve

But soon it all fell through

And now poor Simple Simon

Bids you all adieu!

I was able finally to prep this last Flourishes block, and I am busy sewing on the berries or whatever they are.  There were 32 leaves and 42 circles.  

Hope those that celebrate have a wonderful Easter.  

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching

Hands2Help, First Check In

Just wanted to check in with my Hands2Help quilt/tops.  I have one finished quilt, and 4 tops I plan to start quilting this week.

1)    This one is for Quilty Hugs, and is the one I have quilted

2.  Rhapsody in Blue #1:  This one is for Mercyful Quilts.  Needs to be quilted.

3.  Rhapsody in Blue #2.  This one is also for Mercyful Quilts and needs to be quilted

4.  Sunbonnet Sue #1.  This is for Jack's Basket, and needs quilted.  You can see the light coming through the fence boards this morning.

5.  Sunbonnet Sue #2.  This one is for Quilty Hugs, and also needs quilted.

I hope to get another one done for Mercyful Quilts, and Jack's basket, but figured I need to get these 4 quilted first.  

I'm really happy with the Sunbonnet Sue dye from Accuquilt.  They make these quilts a snap.  I hope to get a few more dyes when I have the $$$!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching, Sweet Land of Liberty

Hard to believe another 3 weeks has flown by where we report our hand work.  Twice the past couple of weeks I have been without handwork and have had to get busy arranging more.  Usually I have a stack sitting on the couch beside me. 

I finished one of the redwork nursery rhyme blocks, Mary had a Little Lamb

And I started on Simple Simon.  I'm trying to work on these an hour each night.  

Another thing I have finished this week was April's quilt-along on the Sweet Land of Liberty with Lori of Humble Quilts.

Today I also spent prepping my last Flourishes block, not much to show right now but this will be hand applique also.

Visit the other hand quilt along links below and see what everyone is doing.  


Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

I will also be linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching hosted by Kathy's Quilts.  I really appreciate the continued motivation this Hand Quilt Along and Slow Sunday Stitching give me!

Thanks for stopping by!   Karrin

Hands2Help, Mail Call

I've had a busy week.  Two days this week, I had grandchildren, John two days, and his sister Klara one of those days.  We had a great time and spent some time at the park across the street.  One day, John spent chasing 3 little girls.  Everytime he would stop, they would come back over and say something to him to chase them again.  

Klara spent her time playing with 2 little boys in the sandbox, slide and a maze at the park.

I was able to piece two backings for the 2 blue Hands2Help tops I have ready to quilt    After I got through with those two, I had another stack of scraps that needed to be cut up.  

I got out the Accuquilt Go my DH got me several years ago, and made short work of those piles.  

While I had the Accuquilt out, I had a squirrel moment, and wanted to use the Sunbonnet Sue die I got last year.  I had intended this top to be for Jack's basket, and wanted to use this sashing, but then found that unless I was going to match up the pinwheels printed on the fabric for the sashing, I didn't like them to sit together.  Therefore I added the purple color.  Now it is too big for a Jack's Basket in the Hands2Help, so this one will also go to Quilty Hugs.  I really love how quickly this went together, and plan on making another one the right size for Jack's Basket.

This week was a good mail week too.  Recently here I talked about winning a $25 gift card from Fat Quarter Shop in the All About Strings Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin in the Sticks.  I received the charm square packs I had picked out.  Love them all!  

I need to get out today and get some yard work done.  With the rain off and on for weeks, I haven't gotten the back mowed yet and it is a mess!  Grandson John asked me the other day "When is the yard guy coming?"   Guess I'd better get it mowed  before he gets here on Tuesday!

Thanks for stopping by!

2019 Finish-A-Long, Quarter 2 Goals

It's time to list my goals for the Quarter 2 of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.  You can join in the fun too, it is the start of the new quarter.  I usually link up at Marci Girl Designs, but if you click her link there are a whole group of hosts.  

1.  6 Quilts completed and mailed for the Hands2Help project.  I have 1 completed already, 2 in flimsy stage.  

Completed for Quilty Hugs

Flimsy for Mercyful Quilts, needs quilting

Flimsy for Mercyful quilts, needs quilting

3)  Make 3 Nutcracker blocks.    These are still in the package.  

4.  Applique Flourishes block #12 and assemble top.  I haven't started this yet.  Still need to prep block.

5.  I had originally made my list stating that I would finish stitching 3 redwork nursery rhyme blocks, but I finished one yesterday so it is now down to 2 more redwork blocks.  I finished Little Bo Peep yesterday. I have Yankie Doodle and another one left.  

6.  Sweet Land of Liberty Sew-Along with Humble Quilts for April, May and June.  The past several days I have been working on the April blocks.  Not finished yet, but getting there. 

6.  Two Father Christmas blocks.  These still need to be prepped for hand applique.

7.  All Things Bright and  Beautiful to flimsy.  This is another old, old UFO, combination of stitchery and pieced blocks.  This was on my list for Quarter 1 and never got to it.  

8.  Keep up with Hospital Sketches BOM for April, May and June.  This is by Barbara Brackman at Civil War Quilts.    This was March's block.  The blocks come out the last Wednesday of the month.

9.  Sweet Annie to Flimsy.  This is another old, old, UFO. I found it in the same container that the pink and brown reproduction basket blocks were in.  Annie is stitched and attached to a sort of crazy pieced background.  I might restitch her.  This was certainly primitive stitching I was doing back in 1997 which is when I took this class.  

Well I think that is enough to keep me good and busy for the next couple of months.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Hands2Help, Another Flimsy Finished

I started another quilt for the Hands2Help project this week.  I still have a lot of fabric from the Rhapsody in Blue collection I want to get rid of, plus 2 more of the border fabrics.  So I started making basket blocks. I sewed the 2 rows together.  I had 2 of these.  One was section right, and one I found I sewed on wrong.  

So I ripped that one out.  And decided to sew the sections to the top and bottom of the section I had sewed right.  Started ironing it out, and found I sewed that one on wrong again.  I briefly thought of leaving it, and giving it some quirky name, but in the end I ripped again.  DH was getting a good laugh out of it!

Then I found that the border fabric was misprinted.  This is the bad side.

The other edge is correct.  It is supposed to have those two dark blue strips going down it.  But luckily I had enough fabric to cut just off the one side.  I think I am going to piece together my scraps for the back.  

Finally got it right!  Finished flimsy.  I plan to donate this one to Mercyful Quilts too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

This week, I suddenly found myself without anything on the couch where I stitch by hand.  I decided to trace out the eagle from the Sweet Land of Liberty by Cheri Payne and get started on this month's blocks.  The eagle is almost done, I need to get going on the rest of the blocks.

I also pulled out one of the last 3 redwork nursery rhyme blocks.  This is one Little Bo Peep.  I have had these prepared for months, I want to finish them and pass them on to my dear SIL to set into a quilt for her granddaughter.  This was one of my goals for the first quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long, but I never got to it.  I've lost interest in these, but am trying to work on them for an hour a day.  

I'll be linking up to Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching, which continues to be a great motivation for me, and I thank Kathy so much for this!

Thanks for stopping by!