Progress on 2 BOMs

I'm on the 9th month of the Laurel Ridge BOM designed by Lynn Wilder. This month we had to make 16 blocks known as 9 Patch in a Star. These were tedious and the pieces were small! I would sew and measure just to make sure I was accurate. It was slow going but worth it in the end. I got my 16 blocks measuring at 5.5" square. I'm glad these are done. 

I'm working on the last block of the Frightful Fun BOM. This will be a fun haunted house! It will measure 24" square. It's definitely on the large size and has many sections to work on. I love adding those little scary characters in the windows! So fun!

We had a very rainy weekend so I had plenty of time to sew. I stayed inside and sewed!

I Like Thursday #286

It's time for Thursday likes!! Please visit LeeAnna to link up to more participating blogs. I'm working very diligently on the Laurel Woods BOM. This month I have to make 16 blocks called Nine Patch in a Star. They measure 5.5" square. This is slow going and very tedious but they're coming out great! I'm working on a few more. Slow and steady is key!!

My needlepoint project, Peacock at Sunset, is finished! Well, the needlepoint portion is done. I still have to block it and make it into a pillow. It measure 14" X 13". I'll be watching videos and reading up on how to finish this into a pillow for my family room.

I'm almost done this book and I just love it! If you like libraries and some history, you will love this book! A librarian discovers a secret room in her library that has 2 dollhouses. They were made years ago and are not considered to be toys. They're miniature versions of people's homes. It's a wonderful book to read. You'll love it!

The question this week asks if you went back to school clothes shopping at the start of school year. I usually did go to stores at the end of August to buy clothes for school. But a few years, my dad would make me dresses for school. Back then, I could only wear dresses. I hated the dresses he made me! He was a great tailor but his specialty was men's clothing. He made everything very plain! I wanted a few little embellishments or something cute. Nope, very well made dresses that were plain as can be! I wore them but I tried to get new clothes as the year progressed. I took my own kids to the mall every summer to buy clothes for the school year. I let them choose what they wanted. I didn't like my parents choosing for me so I didn't choose for them either!

Have a wonderful weekend! We're in for a warm and humid weekend. Just as I was getting used to the cooler weather!

Laurel Ridge Month 9

Month 9 of the Laurel Ridge BOM is called the 9 Patch in a Star Block. This quilt was designed by Lynn Wilder and and part of the The Quilt Show membership. I didn't count myself but I heard this block is made up of 45 pieces. That's a lot for a 5.5" block! I started by making the half square triangles. There are 8 HST's per block so I had to make a total of 128! I know that sounds like a lot but it's manageable if you use the 8-at-a-time method. There are lots of charts you can find online that will explain the method and tell you what size to cut depending on the finished size desired for your half square triangle. I always like to make them larger and then cut them down to size. 

The next step is to make quarter square triangles. I'm using the same 8-at-a-time method to make half square triangles. I only have to make 64 of these so that's a little better!!! However, there is one more step in making these that wasn't needed in the half square triangles. I have to sew two half square triangles together to make the hour glass shape/quarter square triangles and then cut them apart.

This picture gives you an idea of how they're finished. Hopefully, I'll be done soon! These blocks are very demanding but I love it!

I Like Thursday #285

It's time for Thursday likes once again! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up with more participating blogs. Since I'm coming to the end of my Halloween BOM, I bought this fabric for the backing. It's called Sophisticated Halloween Floral Raven by Riley Blake. I thought it would complement the front of the quilt very nicely.

Speaking of Halloween, I finished these 2 projects. The top is a birthday gift for someone special. The bottom wall hanging is for my daughter and her boyfriend's place. Even though I'm working on 2 long term BOM's, I like making quick projects between monthly directions. The table topper is designed by Doug Leko and the bottom one is a Riley Blake design.

I found this recipe on Facebook and thought I'd share it. I haven't made it but it looks good!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! It definitely feels like the end of summer up here in the Northeast. It feels much colder this last week. I'm not even sure what we're doing for the holiday but we'll think of something!

 

Purple Round - Facets Quilt

Here's my Facets quilt so far. The red blocks are all sewn onto the quilt and I've begun to sew the next round. I'll need 36 dark purple blocks for the next round. 

I'm supposed to use dark purples but since this is a scrap quilt, I'll use whatever is in my stash. I really enjoy using up some of those small pieces that have been in my stash forever! Each block is 6.5" square and I'm using some paper piecing to make the block easier for me to sew. 

Quilting Kittens

I did finish the two small quilts, Not Kitten Around. They measure 12.5" X 14.5". They're not very big so I thought it would be so quick to quilt them. Wrong! The pieces are so tiny that I have to be very careful. I usually use a ruler for my arcs but I don't have anything small enough so I had to free hand everything. That's something I'm not used to!!

Each leaf block finishes at 3" so those squares  and HSTs are only 1" square. I did arcs in the full squares and along one side of the triangles. This took awhile only because I had to be so careful.

Here are the two blocks side by side on the longarm. I quilted some ribbon candy in the pumpkins. I used white thread so far but switched to black when I started quilting the cats. 

This is so hard to see but I quilted large pebbles on the cat. Using black thread made it hard to see what I was doing! I think it worked out okay. These little quilts are so hard! I'll take a larger size anytime! I'm planning on switching back to white thread and finishing up the background. I'm hoping to have them done soon before my next BOM directions are released next week.

Not Kitten Around Progress

 I'm making 2 versions of Not Kitten Around. One version uses the fabric that came in the kit but the other is just similar fabrics I had in my stash. The stash version will be going to my daughter and her boyfriend. It's a little bit of a challenge keeping the fabrics separate but I've caught myself before I made too much progress. Here are the cat heads and bodies.

Here are the two tails.

Here are the two pumpkins the kitty will be sitting next to.

These leaves will be placed at the top of this piece, above the kitty. This pattern is from Riley Blake and will measure about 12.5" X 14.5". I think it will be a cute addition for Halloween!