One Monthly Goal, Wednesday Wait Loss - I've Been Featured

Well I procrastinated my way through October till the end of last week, and then got busy on my One Monthly Goal for this month, hosted by Patty @Elm Street Quilts.

My goal, which I stated here was to quilt and bind my Nutcracker Suite quilt top.  This was a BOM from late last year, through this year.  I kept up with it, and really want it hanging up for Christmas.  It was offered through Shabby Fabrics, and designed by Cheri Leffler.  I have a large collection of nutcrackers, and this quilt appealed to me, (I had to have it).   My DH kindly paid for half of the program last year as my anniversary present!

I really wasn't sure I would be able to finish quilting it because of issues the machine I quilt on, a Juki 98E.  Last week I was quilting a baby quilt and broke 2 needles, one right after the other.  Since then, the machine has been skipping stitches occasionally.

I was able to quilt my Nutcracker Suite top, though I ended up ripping out 2 whole rows due to the skipped stitches.  After recleaning, oiling, and adjusting the tension some more, I finally finished.  I took the machine up to be serviced before it is used anymore.

This is where it will hang during the Christmas season, in the place of honor, you can see  coming through the front door.   I also wanted to point out the oak quilt holders my DH made some years ago.  They have notches on either side that you can put a curtain rod through to hand quilts.  The notches are at 2 different levels so that if you have a bigger quilt it can go on the top notch.  I have another one in the hallway.  They both measure a little over 5"

For the label, I had a nutcracker stamp I wanted to use.  I used a Fabrico stamp pad, that is for fabric.  You just have to iron the design when it is dry to set it.  

I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.  I truly appreciate the motivation this gives me to finish my projects!

Another exciting occurrence today was to find I was featured on Wednesday Wait Loss @The Inquiring Quilter today.  The Crow's Foot Quilt I just recently finished was one of the ones featured.  Jennifer Fulton @The Inquiring Quilter has a link-up every Wednesday to share projects you have finished or are working on.  Thanks so much Jennifer for the honor of being featured!

I'm going to share my Nutcracker Suite at Wednesday Wait Loss also.   Thanks so much for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching, Klara's BD

Time to check in again for Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts.  This weekend, I'm hand stitching my Buhl-Bushong blocks.  I have three blocks cut out, crowns made, and all ready to stitch.  I was able to get 2 done tonight after getting home from granddaughter Klara's BD celebration.

I've got more cut out and ready to go on the sofa for Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what everyone else is doing for Slow Sunday Stitching.  

We had a nice BD celebration of granddaughter Klara's 6th birthday at a local ice cream parlor.  Her birthday isn't actually until the 29th, but we celebrated early. 

She loved her mermaid bag, with the doll inside, plus a necklace.

Four out of five of my grandchildren.  I don't know what I will do if Jaeger gets any taller!

Thanks so much for visiting, and hope you have some good Slow Sunday Stitching time!

Pedal to the Metal

I feel like I have had the pedal to the metal this week literally.  I feel like I have accomplished a lot.  

First up, as I already mentioned, I quilted and bound Crow's Foot, a Cheri Payne quilt from the book Wednesday's Best.  

Next up I loaded up the Scrap Dance Minuet mystery top created by Carole @ From My Carolina Home earlier this year.  My daughter needed a baby quilt for a coworker's baby that was born way prematurely.  I added some Sunbonnet Sues to this and a frog, but am not sure I really like what those added or didn't add.  Too late to take them off though.  I had some Peter Rabbit fabric I backed it with.  

This quilt gave me nothing but problems.  I broke 2 needles, thread, changed needles and thread multiple times, but it was skipping, a lot.   I know I wasn't making 1" stitches while FMQ.  I ended up ripping out 2 full rows which took some time.  But finally I got it quilted and bound and got the label on, and then noticed it was going sideways.  At least it is labeled!  I'm glad to get this one out of here. 

Then I started working on my Ella Maria Duncan Quilt blocks for this month.  This was such a pleasure yesterday after wrestling with the above quilt and having to rip out 2 whole rows.

These are all 8 blocks together so far.  

Then this morning I put together my Hospital Sketches blocks.  This is the Barbara Brackan BOM from Civil War Quilts Blog.  I still need to decide on the border.  I would like a pieced/appliqued border.  But I probably don't have enough to piece the background to I will need to come up with an alternate plan.

That's it for now.  Will be back tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching.    Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wednesday Wait Loss

It has been awhile since I checked in for Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter.  I actually finished something this morning before I had my Dr's appt. 

I'm trying to quilt up some tops before I have to put my frame down for Thanksgiving.  Otherwise I won't be able to use it till after Christmas.

First thing I have finished is this Crow's Foot.  This was designed by Cheri Payne in the book Wednesday's Best.  I found some blocks started long, long ago, and put them together last year.   

Yesterday I quilted it.  Just simple meandering mostly.  But it went pretty fast, and my machine decided to cooperate and not break threads.  I had one small incident where I left my presser foot up by accident and got a small nest, but it was easily removed.  I hate it when I go across a  whole row like that!

I'll be linking up for Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter.  Head on over there and check out what everyone else has been doing.

This also happens to be #10 on my list for the 2019 Finish-A-Long goals for Quarter 4.  So I can mark this off my list!

What I've Been Up To

I've been really busy trying to get projects done before November 13th.  I need to get all my quilting projects done before my brother-in-law arrives from North Carolina on the 14th.  

First off, I'm redoing one of the Hospital Sketches blocks, the Coxcombs and Currants.  I did not like the colors I chose for my original block.  I started taking the original one apart, and then decided it was too much work.   The last one I put 6 berries on each branch.  This time, I am going to put 12 as the pattern shows and I spent 2 days preparing 48 berries.  This is the old version.  I didn't like the brown and the the yellow was too faded out.

This is the new version.  Not such a great picture with the poor lighting in this house.  I like this cheddar a lot better.  

Next up, I spent about 3 days working on the Buhl-Bushong Quilt.  This is from the Virginia Quilt Museum's collection of quilts.  They are offering it as a BOM.  I have 2 completed blocks, and made crowns for 3 more.    I the components all prepped for the 3 more blocks.

These are the completed 2.  After I finish these 3 by hand applique, I'll only have 11 more to do.  I'm not that fond of paper piecing, but I wanted my crowns to have perfect points or as near perfect as I could.   I was going to do 2 blocks of each color combination, but when I went to cut out and paper piece the above ones, I found I had done crowns for 1/2 of a block more.  So I ended up making 3 of that color combination.  Not that it matters, but part of my cheddars I only have small amounts.  And the one I used for the outer ring I used up on this one.

Next up, I am going to start quilting my Crow's Feet top.  This is on my Finish-A-Long list for the 4th quarter.  I have the backing on the frame, and need to get the top pinned on.  I should be able to get this done in a few hours hopefully, if my thread and machine cooperate today.   This is a Cheri Payne pattern .  My crows don't show up too good, so I am going to have to  do some creative stitching to get them to show better.

Sunday when my daughter Kristen was here, she mentioned she had a coworker that had a micro-preemie last month and asked if I had anything I could quilt up for the baby.  The baby is still hospitalized.  Her due date was supposed to be the middle of November I think.

Anyway, I pulled out the Scrap Dance Minuet that Carole @ From My Carolina Home offered as a mystery earlier this year.  I am going to cut out some frogs and Sunbonnet Sues with my Accuquilt dies and get those machine stitched on today, to be ready to quilt hopefully last this week after Crow's Feet is done. 

Guess I'd better get busy!   Thanks for stopping by!

HQAL, Slow Sunday Stitching

It's hard to believe another three weeks has passed.  Time to check in for the Hand Quilt-Along.  Several days this week were not very productive.  I had a migraine again, and then 2 nights my youngest grandchildren had dance shows at school.  

I was able to finish this month's assignment on Sweet Land of Liberty which is being done through the Quilts by Cheri Friendship Group on Facebook, coordinated by Lori of Humble Quilts.  I think we are nearing the end now.  

I also finished the stitchery on a couple of Christmas presents for a quilter friend.  I need to make them into a stitching bag and a needle book.  These are designed by Jenny of Elefantz.  I have made the stitching bag before for granddaughters Kyleigh and Klara.  

I have also worked on the Buhl-Bushong Quilt this week assembling 2 blocks and I am in the process of making 2 more.

Once I finish making 8 more of the crown pieces, I will be hand-stitching these sections on.

Right now I am working on redoing this Hospital Sketches block.  I was not happy with the first version, which is the bottom middle block, and am totally redoing it, in cheddar, blue and red.  I think I will like it much better.  

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, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi


I will linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Be sure and head over there and check out what everyone has been up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've had quite a bit of slow stitching this week.  I finished stitching on the mermaid that was from Joy of Days Filled with Joy's  Mermay Days last year.

I wanted to use this on the front of a bag for my granddaughter Klara.  I added the mermaid to the front of the bag.  You can see her name pretty good.  These are iron-in letters I had leftover from another project.

When I went to put the bag together I realized her name wasn't going to show very good, but I can't get the letters off, so I guess that will be the way it will stay.  The bag was actually the same bag I made for granddaughter Kyleigh for her sewing bag.  This was a tutorial by Jenny of Elefantz here.  I'm going to be making another sewing bag this week for a Christmas gift.   This was #3 on my Finish-A-Long Goals for Quarter 4.  My list is here.

I did 2 more of the Kathy Schmitz stitcheries which will be put together into a wall-hanging pretty soon.

I also am working on this month's assignment for the Sweet Land of Liberty BOM that is being done on Facebook, with the guidance of Lori from Humble Quilts.

Today I will be working on appliquing these down.  

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over there and check out what others have been doing.  Today she is giving a report on her first ever Slow Sunday Stitching Retreat that occurred last Sunday.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I really appreciate the comments!

Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop, My Day

Welcome to my day of the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop!  First off I would like to thank Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for this Spooktacular hop.  It has been such fun seeing everyone's projects.

I used to have 2 Halloween-based quilts but gifted them years ago.

My local quilt store that closed many years ago used to have a craft project night once a month and we would make items for different seasons. These are just a few I made for Halloween.  

The last is a witch I carved when one of our quilter teachers taught carving.

So for this Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop, I decided to make some decorative pillow covers.  I made an envelope back so I can switch them out for the different seasons.

I went to the Graphics Fairy site that has free images, and I found one that I liked of a witch flying on a broom.

This is my pillow.  I fused the images on, and buttonhole stitched them.

I decided I would make one for each of my daughters too.  My youngest daughter saw mine and liked the black batik I framed mine with and wanted that in hers also.  I just had a strip left, but was able to piece some together for hers too.  Katie also likes owls.  Right now the Wooly Block Adventure is going on and last week one of the blocks offered was an owl block called Whooo's Witchy from the Main Street Quilt Cottage in Hurricane, UT.  

I decided to use that design on Katie's pillow.

This next one I made for my older daughter Kristen.  

Then I decided granddaughter Kyleigh back in college in MA needed one too!  The image on this one too I got on the Graphics Fairy website.

While in my Halloween fabric stash, I found this UFO.  Apparently it was a kit for a pumpkin table runner someone had started years ago. I think a friend gave me this baggie of pumpkins.  Actually there were enough pumpkins cut out to make 3 table runners, I gave each of my daughters one of these too.  

Lastly while I was in my old, old Halloween stash I found this fabric I absolutely love.  I need to create a wall hanging around this piece.  I left it out to give me inspiration.   It was called "witchy woman" by Phillip De Leon for Alexander Henry.

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Be sure and visit the other blogs. I have included a line-up of the whole schedule below.   And thanks again to the fabulous Carol for such a fun hop!  I have had a blast visit the other bloggers!

October 7

Creatin' in the Sticks

Songbird Designs

For The Love Of Geese

Quilted Delights

Kathleen McMusing

Quilts By Joanne

Whims And Fancies

Janie G. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 8

Selina Quilts

Vroomans Quilts

Days Filled With Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Life in the Scrapatch

Just Because Quilts

Brenda's Quilt Blog

October 9

Home Sewn By Us

Kathleen - Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Websterquilt

Seams To Be Sew

Sew Many Yarns

October 10

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

MooseStashQuilting

Cynthia's Creating Ark

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Count it *all* JOY!

Bethni L. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 11

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Fabrication

Melva Loves Scraps
Patchouli Moon Studio

Ms P Designs USA

Karrin’s Crazy World

Patchwork Breeze

Words & Stitches

2019 Finish-A-Long. Quarter 4 Goals

It's time to make a list of goals for quarter 4 of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.   The link-up for goals starts tomorrow, October 10th and goes to the 18th of October.  There are a number of global hosts, but you can find out more about it here at Throw a Wrench in the Works, one of the global hosts.

My list is as follows:

1)  Quilt and bind Nutcracker Suite.    The top is done.  I want this quilt finished for Christmas!

2)  Projects done for the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop.  This is coming up November 11th to 15th, with my day being on the 11th.  This is hosted by Carla at Creatin in the Sticks

3)  Make bag for Klara's BD with mermaid stitchery.  This was one of the mermaid stitchery patterns that Joy from Days Filled with Joy kindly gave out last year.  I'm going to use it for the front of a bag for granddaughter Klara.  

4)  Sweet Land of Liberty BOM for October, November and December. Lori from  Humble Quilts  is guiding us monthly in this quilt by Cheri Payne that is being done through the Facebook Group Quilts by Cheri-Friendship Group.  These are some of the parts I have done so far

5)  Ella Maria Duncan BOM through Sentimental Stitches October, November, December.

I have the first month done so far for September.  

6)  Buhl-Bushong Quilt BOM to do October, November and December  assignments.  I started this BOM through the Facebook Group which is from the Virginia Quilt Museum's collection of quilts. 

I have 8 of the blocks done so far, and the border

7)  Redo Hospital Sketches Civil War block by Barbara Brackman.  I'm redoing the bottom middle block as I am not happy with how it looks with the other blocks.  Figure out plan for finishing quilt

8)  Put together One Stitch at a Time blocks into a quilt.  These are blocks I have been stitching from the Kathy Schmitz One Stitch at a Time Club.  I want to have this finished for Christmas.  These are some of the blocks I have done so far.  I have 1-1/2 more to do.  

9) 2 Christmas panels put together for Christmas.  These are panels I got years ago on clearance.  I had it on my list last year and they didn't get done.  I'd like to get these off my to-do list.

10)  Quilt Crow's Foot.  This was designed by Cheri Payne.  I'm going to get this quilted as a warm-up to Nutcracker Suite above.

11)   Quilt my Fall Into a QAL, designed by Partners in Design from last year.  This is another warm-up, but I am also going to gift it at Christmas.

12)   Mermaid wallhanging for Kyleigh for Christmas.  Kyleigh loved my mermaid wall hanging so much, I told her I would make something similar.

13)  Project for Virtual Cookie Exchange.  This is hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt, and my day will be December 6th

I think I had better stop here,

Thanks for stopping by.  I will be linking up at Throw a Wrench in the Works when the link-up opens.