Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching

The past 3 weeks has flown by, and it is time for another Hand Quilt Along report.  I've done lots of hand stitching these past three weeks.

I got 8 of these Buhl-Bushong blocks done.  I have about 56 more to go though.  I did paper piece the crowns, but hand-pieced/appliqued everything else.

I finished this Father Christmas guy.  I am trying to finish 2 more before the end of the month.  The other 2 are relatively simple, don't have the star borders.

I finished the last block of the Hospital Sketches BOM by Barbara Brackman

These are all nine blocks.  I'm going to redo the bottom middle block.  The brown/yellow just doesn't work for me.  The navy blue is fine, it is everything else.  

I finished this penny rug project called All My Stars by Blackbird Designs in a book called Higdon Camp-1928.  This has been a UFO for years, and I put it on my 2019 Finish-A-Long list for quarter 4.  So I can cross that off my list.

Right now I'm working on this crazy quilt piece for a friend.  I have some more stitching in the two blue patches to do.  I think I will be able to finish this by the end of the month for my One Monthly Goal.  

Check out the Hand Quilt Along links below and see what everyone has been 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, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

I will also be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.   Head on over there and check out what everyone has 

Ella Maria Duncan Quilt Stitch it and Give It Blog Hop

I was finally able to get my 4 blocks for the Ella Maria Duncan BOM done for this month yesterday, after I got my background problems sorted out.  I ended up using another backing, and am going to use the one DH bought me, and I dyed for backing for something else.  

I was able to get them done in an afternoon.  That first block on the left top, I ended up doing that green piece twice.  My first one was wonky and I couldn't live with it.  I haven't done set in seams in years, and I'm happy with the way it came out.  

Coming up soon is the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop October 7th-11th hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.





Also, coming up is the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop November 11th-15 hosted by Carla at Creatin in the Sticks.



I guess I had better try to get SOMETHING done today.  So far I have gone grocery shopping, and gotten a pedicure and manicure which DH kindly treated me to.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

This week has flown by, I can't believe another Sunday has come around so fast, and not so much accomplished.  I guess most of it has to do with helping out with the grandchildren.  My daughter Kristen asked if I could take Keaton to the ophthalmologist one day, and drop him off at school.  Then Friday John-John and Klara had a day off.  So I watched them.  Then Saturday Keaton was going to be on his own for most of the day as his brother and mother were at Jaeger's Polo Meet in Napa.  So he came and spent part of the day with us.  All these days I did absolutely no sewing of any kind.  I love my time with my grandchildren and we had some good days.  Keaton and I watched Mama Mia II again.  We saw it in the theater the first time, and then Kristen gave it to me for Christmas last year.  Keaton is the grandchild that loves to watch musicals.  

Today John-John turns 9.   This is a picture of him with his dad John.  

Anyway, today my slow stitching will be to hopefully finish up this Father Christmas.  My goal was to finish 3 of these guys for the 2019 Finish-A-Long Quarter 3.  Quarter 3 is up next week, so I better get busy.  I've been working on these stars.  Just need to get the rest of the long strip done and then I will start on Father Christmas.  They are rather time consuming, Father Christmas should be a snap.

The other thing I hope to get to is to hand piece this Ella Maria Deacon block 1.  

I spent a large chunk of this week messing with the background fabric.  This quilt, that is being offered as a BOM by Sentimental Stitches requires 9 yards of background fabric.  DH, sweetheart that he is purchased 9 yards of fabric online for me.  Trouble is, it was white, and I really don't care for white, I would rather have an off-white.   I used to purchase the Rit tea dye stain.  But I found out this week they no longer make it that I can find.  So I purchased a beige color and did all 9 yards at one time.  Having a front-load washer now makes it a little problematic.  You turn on the cycle, and then pour the dye through the soap dispenser.   This ended up in part of it being really dyed and the rest turning a pinkish color.  Another mistake I probably made was only using 1/2 bottle.  So yesterday I tried actually tea dying it, and now it is a blotchy beige-ish color, but I'm still not totally happy with it.   I will just use it as backing for something.  

So I went and got some Kona sand color at Hobby Lobby and cut this month's blocks out.  

I'm going to machine piece the other 3 blocks for this month, but this one I think I will hand piece.  

I'm going to link up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Be sure and head over and check out what everyone else has been doing.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

2019 Finish-A-Long, Quarter 3, Another Goal Finished

I finished another goal on my list today for the Finish-A-Long.  This was from a kit I purchased, probably in 2003 or so.  It was from a Blackbird Designs book called Higdon Camp-1924.  I've always loved this book. It has a lot of my favorites in it, baskets, flags, and this penny rug.  

It is called Oh My Stars.    It probably would have been better if I read the instructions first, but apparently I didn't.  It had you attaching the circles in the middle directly to the background fabric.  I buttonhole stitched the stars onto the wool backgrounds, and then realized I was supposed to do it directly to the blue background.  But happy to have this project done, and I can take it off my UFO list.

I also was able to quilt my friend Nerissa's two projects.  The larger quilt it all neutral fabrics and it is impossible to take a picture of.  Hopefully will meet up with her later this week and get them to her.  

I need to work on my One Monthly Goal, which I haven't started yet.  And I have 2 grandchildren on Friday, as apparently they have the day off.  

I am awaiting delivery of my fabric for the Ella Maria Deacon BOM Quilt being offered by Sentimental Stitches.  I have the first month's blocks, but no fabric yet.  I thought it would be delivered yesterday, so hopefully today.  

Thanks for stopping by!

And the Winner Is... For My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop

Last week, during the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop, hosted by the fabulous Carla of Creatin in the Sticks, I showed a small basket quilt I was giving away, and today was the name I randomly generated a number of the commenter.  

This was my post on my day of the blog hop.  This is what I am giving away:



I used a random number generator to chose a number.   


True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:29

And the winner is:

Leah said...

Love all these baskets! Thanks for the inspiration.

I will be contacting Leah to notify her.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching. Buhl-Bushong, Sweet Land of Liberty

It's time to link up again for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  I do so appreciate this weekly link up and seeing what everyone has been doing.  

I've been doing a lot of slow stitching this week.  First I finished this month's assignment for Sweet Land of Liberty.  

I've gotten 4 of these Buhl-Bushong blocks put together.  I am paper piecing the crowns, and the rest is hand applique.

I have 4 more to put together today for my hand stitching.

I'm also blanket stitching these pieces for a penny rug called O My Stars.  As this is one my list for the 2019 Finish-A-Long for Quarter 3, I am trying to get these done too.  

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Pop on over and see what everyone is up to!

My grandson Jaeger this week was kind enough to make room in his already crazy schedule of school, water polo practice and water polo games to come help me put my Handiquilter back up.   I bought one of the Handiquilter frames right after they came first came out.  It involved taping some rails to a table and then attaching the units that hold the rails with clamps.  At the time they did not have any machines to be used, and I bought a Juki TL 98E.    DH elongated the rails, so I can quilt up to about 92 inches.  When it is up, it is in my dining room.   The rails are attached to a laminated particle board and it resides in my guest room when not in use.  And also the banquet table it attaches too.  I need some help getting them out of the guest room but I can set everything else up by myself.  

I had put everything away in August because we were having a family dinner, and then I thought I was going to have Bunco here last week, as it was my turn to have dinner and Bunco.  But our Bunco disbanded this month, as members have other activities they need to do.  So I've been trying to get Jaeger to help me get my tables back out.  I'm back in business now, and quilted one of my friend Nerissa's quilts yesterday, and will be ready to load the other one up.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

My Dance Card is Full!, Buhl-Bushong, This is a New One

I have fallen in love with another quilt project, this time a BOM through Sentimental Stitches called the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt.  It starts tomorrow, September 15th, 2019.  It is a beautiful vintage quilt from 1841-1842.  Gay will be releasing 4 blocks a month, at a minimal cost of $2.50 a month.   It will be done over 21 months.  I think taking on this project,  my dance card is now full!  But maybe not.  

On the Buhl-Bushong Quilt front, I have gotten 4 blocks done, and 4 more crowns prepared for the applique.  I'm really happy the way they came out.  They aren't perfect, but at least my points are pointy.

Several weeks ago, some former coworker friends came over for breakfast.  I had asked Nerissa to bring the quilt top she was making for her daughter.  Nerissa is a nurse, and decided she wanted to make a quilt for her daughter for Christmas, the year her daughter started college.  It never got finished. Her daughter has now graduated from college.    Nerissa is not a regular quilter, has not taken lessons, it was just something she decided to do.  I told her I would finish it up for her and quilt it.  She actually brought her daughter's and another small top.  The seams are all 5/8 inch mostly.  She has pressed the seams open, which is nice.  But apparently her tension was off. 

She started out putting borders on her daughter's quilt, sort of log cabin style.  She would put on one border, and then go to get the next one on, and she didn't have enough fabric, and then would start another one.   This is the quilt top, very low volume prints and hard to photograph.  You can see the corners here on both sides.  Yesterday I took all the borders off to start over on that.  Her tension was way off, so it was really easy to take these off.

This was the second small quilt she brought over.  No major problems, I thought.   I  got it on the machine and started quilting it, a simple meander.

This is the new experience part.  I am quilting along and all of a sudden I came to an abrupt stop.  I was about 2 rows from the end.  Apparently one of her loose tensions was in this block, and I got stuck in a pocket.  In fact, I quilted myself into a pocket.  I had to loosen some stitches to get my quilting foot out!

Luckily I didn't go very far.  I picked that stitching out, ladder stitched that seam together, and finished quilting it.  Today I plan to bind this one, and machine stitch it down, and then put the borders on her daughter's quilt and get it loaded up.  

I was in the middle of writing this post, and DH got up from his nap.  I have an October birthday and he has already gotten me a new phone.  I was talking to him about some Accuquilt dies I wanted to get, so he gave me $$ to buy the Storm at Sea die, and the Sea Life applique dies.  I also have a November anniversary, so I joked I would almost be at Christmas on my gifts now!   I have a very supportive husband of my habit, and he spoils me to pieces!  We will be married 44 years in November.  

That is all for now.  Time for me to think about preparing us lunch.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop, My Day & Giveaway

When Carla of Creatin in the Sticks asked bloggers if they would like to participate in the My Favorite Quilt Blog Blog Hop, I jumped at the chance.  Welcome to my day to share my favorite block.  

My favorite block is a basket block.  Doesn't matter what kind.   I love baskets, am a basket collector, and love basket quilts.  

I have baskets hanging from the ceiling, on shelves, and baskets holding fabric for certain projects.  I also  have a basket on the couch at night beside me with my current hand stitching project.

I was in several blog hops earlier this year in which I finished up UFO's which had basket quilts as the theme.  There was the All about Strings Blog Hop also hosted by Carla of Creatin in the Sticks.  I had some old, old swap blocks of baskets that I made string triangles to set them upright.  These were pink and brown Civil War Reproduction fabrics.

Also earlier this year, I was in the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop by Marian, of Seams to be Sew  and finished up another basket UFO, this time, a crazy quilt project in which participants had embellished the wool basket blocks I put together.

So for the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop I needed to figure out which basket block I wanted to make. I got out some of my basket books and looked through them- but couldn't make up my mind.  

I even got out a project I have not started yet, and even have all the wool to make this basket quilt.  Luckily the squirrel did not convince me I had time to do this project!

Finally I looked online and found these 30 Free Basket Patterns in a post by Quilt Inspiration.  I decided on this one, Baby Basket, by Anita Shackelford for American Quilter with the free PDF download here.

I went ahead and made up this pattern with my Civil War Reproductions.  This measures 14 x 14 and I am offering it as a giveaway.  You just need to leave a comment to be in the drawing.  If you are a no-reply blogger, make sure you leave an email so I can contact you.   I will do the drawing on 9/18/19.  

I actually made two other basket block table toppers, sort of improv thing.  I basically took a bunch of my 2.5 inch squares and sewed them together, making 4 patches first and then sewing those together.  They amounted to 25 4-patches of low volume prints.  I then got some scrap paper and cut out a basket, crow, sunflower and leaves machine appliquing these down.  I made two of these as table toppers for when Bunco is at my house.

Thanks so much for stopping by.   The rest of the participants for today are as follows:

Wednesday, September 11th

MooseStashQuilting

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Kathleen McMusing

Karrin's Crazy World
April Grace Quilts
Hazel’s Daughter
Seams To Be Sew
Limeleaves

The whole schedule for the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop is below if you haven't had a chance to visit the first two days.

Many thanks to Carla @ Creatin in the Sticks on putting this together

Monday, September 9th

Just Let Me Quilt

Words & Stitches

VroomansQuilts

PamelaQuilts

Songbird Designs

Days Filled With Joy

Quilted Delights

Tuesday, September 10th

Quiltscapes

Melva Loves Scraps

Stitchin At Home

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Mary Mack Made Mine
Just Because Quilts

Den syende himmel
Selina Quilts

Wednesday, September 11th

MooseStashQuilting

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Kathleen McMusing

Karrin's Crazy World
April Grace Quilts
Hazel’s Daughter
Seams To Be Sew
Limeleaves

Thursday, September 12th

Websterquilt

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Nutz 4 Redwork
Quiltsbyjoanne
Ms P Designs USA
Pampered Pettit
Hill Valley Quilter

Friday, September 13th

For the love of geese
Life in the Scrapatch

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Alycia Quilts - quiltygirl
Domestic Felicity
The Joyful Quilter
QuiltFabrication
Creatin' in the Sticks