I Like Thursday #175

It's time for I Like Thursday. A bunch of us bloggers try to post happy and uplifting topics. Please visit LeeAnna over at  Not Afraid of Color to link up to more like minded posts. I had a birthday this week and received these gorgeous flowers from my brother and his family. I always try to downplay my birthday so it was totally unexpected to receive them. It was a great surprise! They're just gorgeous. Thank you, Jimmy, Peggy and Gina!

I have a friend who just loves to shop. She knows how much I love to knit and quilt so Christmas gifts from her are always fun. She got me this great kitty yarn bowl. I've always wanted a yarn bowl but didn't see one I was crazy about. Until now! It's so cute. I love it!

That same friend has a daughter who saw this book at an antique book store in Boston and got it for me. It was published in 1915. This is going to be one of my most prized possessions! I was so surprised! There's a lot of applique in this book which will be helpful with the blocks I've been making.

 I started quilting the string quilt. I had planned on stippling a good portion of it since it's so busy. I almost changed my mind after seeing a discussion on Instagram that bashed stippling. I've always like the look of stippling on quilts. I know a lot of people like pantographs but my last few quilts were all quilted with a panto and I'm sort of sick of them. I really like to free motion and it's going to be stippling! I don't care what the quilt police say! I hope I don't get arrested!!

Our prompt this week is color. I love most colors. However, I've always been partial to pink and I still am! My sewing room is pink themed. The walls, chair, cutting mat and irons are all pink! I also love to wear pink. I think it looks great on olive skin. I did go through a purple phase when I was younger. I had a purple passion plant named Penelope. I'm not sure why I remember that! I do like other colors depending on the situation but pink is my favorite.

Have a great weekend! Our snowstorm fizzled out last night and the weekend looks clear and on the warm side. Yay!!💗

More Applique

This little piece is called The Bud. It's the partner to Sadie's Choice Rose which is the last block I made. It measures 5 1/2" by 20 1/2 ". This block was so much quicker than the last two. Smaller is better sometimes!

These are my blocks so far. It's slow going but they do look nice when they're done. I'm working on the next block. I start by tracing the pieces on freezer paper. Then, I cut them out and iron them on the wrong side of the fabric. Each piece is basted and then ready to be sewn. I make little markings on the background so I know where the pieces go. Applique is quite forgiving but I do try to keep as close to the pattern as I can.

I've been sewing down the binding on this quilt too. It's a nice project to work on in between the applique blocks. Much less intense!

I Like Thursday #174

I can't believe it's time for I Like Thursday again! The time is just flying by. Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to read more happy and uplifting posts. I always feel that Winter is the longest season up here in New England. I went to HomeSense and bought this floral centerpiece. Everyone knows I love pink and it reminded me of Spring and Summer. How could I not buy it??

I bought this wideback fabric for my Garlic Knots quilt. I bought it from the Missouri Quilt Company. It was a great price! I think it was one of their specials of the day.

Here's the progress I've made so far on my next applique block. It's quite a bit smaller than the previous 2 blocks. This one measures 5 1/2" X 20 1/2". This one doesn't have too many pieces to applique which is a great thing!

Does anybody else use these? I used to always burn my hands or wrists while taking out hot dishes/casseroles out of the oven. These clip on to the edge of the racks and you won't get burned! Mine old ones looked terrible so I thought I'd get new ones. They work well and I don't want new new burns!

I just finished this book and highly recommend it. It's a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very last page! So good!!

Our prompt this week is lists. I rarely make lists. If I do, I make them on my phone and delete them when I don't need them anymore. I might have an old list or two in my sewing room but I don't use them too often. I rarely make grocery lists unless I need ingredients for a specific recipe. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. We're expecting a snowstorm tonight into tomorrow. I'll be at home sewing!

Sadie's Choice Rose

I just finished the second block of Carrie Hall's Sampler. It's called Sadie's Choice Rose. It measures 20" square finished. This one took a few months since there are so many pieces to applique. I use freezer paper so it takes a little while to prepare each piece. The directions were to piece the pink triangles in the middle to the dark red cones but I decided to just applique the whole thing. It just seemed easier for me. It probably took longer but I felt it was the best method for me.

Here are the first 2 blocks on my design wall. The first block is called Oak Leaf and  Cherries. I'll be using a few different backgrounds throughout the quilt. I think it will add a little more interest. I also have to keep reminding myself that this is a slow project. I should enjoy the process!!

I Like Thursday #173

It's time for I Like Thursday! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to read more like minded posts. I have a few finishes to show you this week. I finished my Kaffe Scrap Pin Cushion. I filled it this morning with crushed walnut shells. I like them when they're nice and pudgy! It measures about 5 inches square. 

I quilted this yesterday on the longarm. It's small and I was unsure whether I should even try using the longarm but it was fine. It was quick and a lot easier to outline those small pieces with a ruler. I stippled the background and made wishbones in the border. I sewed down the border while watching the Chicago shows last night. 

I'm still not done this darn block! I'm in the process of sewing those big buds between the stems. These pieces are on the large size and move around too easily. I use scotch tape to hold them down. I don't like to use pins since I feel they alter the background. They makes things lumpy. The tape holds everything down nice and flat and I remove it as I sew along.

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Our prompt this week was calendars you like to use. These are the 2 calendars I'm using this year. The top one was a Christmas gift from my friend, Sarah. We're both cat lovers. It's hanging in my sewing room. The bottom one is from my mother. She knows I love cats and couldn't pass it by! I have it on my refrigerator. I usually write appointments on the bottom calendar so I can see what I have coming up. It's easy to see since I walk by it all the time.

I'm so late today. I was sewing a binding on a quilt and I knocked off a thread cutter. I had no idea where it came from. I ended up getting the manual and looking for it. I tried to google it but nothing helped me. I finally found it and put it back in but it took forever. Ugh.

Have a great weekend! It's snowing here but it's all supposed to turn to rain. (I hope!)

Small Projects

Before I start any large project, I wanted to finish up some odds and ends. I finished quilting this quilt a few weeks ago and finally got around to making the binding. That will be a nice quilt to have finished. It's so big! It's about 92" X 105". Poor binding baby has lots of binding!

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I thought I would get this loaded and quilted today. Haha, silly me! I changed the thread and needle on the longarm before I started quilting. When I practiced to view the stitches, I noticed I would get a skipped stitch here and there. I fooled around with the bobbin. I made sure the thread was in the tension disks. Ugh. Nothing worked. I happened to check a Facebook group for longarmers and someone said she changed to a larger needle when this happened to her. I tried it and it worked! I got to outline the wall hanging but it got too late to do much else.

I'm trying to write the pattern for this pincushion so I decided to make one while I wrote up the instructions. I'm calling this my Kaffe Churn Dash Pincushion! It measure 5 1/2" square. It's a great way to use up some scraps. It's a nice quick project! Let's hope this one quilts up faster than the kitty wall hanging!

I Like Thursday #172

Welcome to I Like Thursday! A bunch of us bloggers try to write happy and uplifting posts once a week. Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to link up to more like minded blogs. I received this seam ripper for Christmas from my husband. It's so cute that he got it personalized. He sort of made me laugh when I opened the package. He said he wasn't sure if I ever use one. Haha! I wish I never had to use a seam ripper but I end up using it more than I'd like!!

I'm close to having this applique block done. I have 8 more pieces to sew on. This block is so detailed and made of so many pieces. However, it's coming out great even though it's taking forever! This block is called Sadie's Choice Rose and is part of Carrie Hall's Sampler quilt. It measure 20 1/2" sqaure. 

My mother had her first Bloody Mary at Christmas dinner. My future daughter-in-law brought a bunch of items to make a Bloody Mary smorgasbord. They were so good!

Here she is enjoying her drink! After one drink, she declared she was drunk!!

My cat, Lily, was always thought to have some sort of colitis. The symptoms weren't too bad. However, this past September, her symptoms got worse. I called the vet after exhausting a bunch of home treatments. She recommended this food for her. I was sort of skeptical but I'm happy to report it works great! She seems so much healthier now. I went and bought another bag this morning. I'm not going to run out of this food if I can help it!

This week's prompt was any type of classes that we'd like to take. I'll have to say that I miss the MQX show. The Machine Quilter's Expo took place in Manchester, NH so I could drive to it. I miss taking hands on classes while quilting on a longarm. The teachers would see your work and be able to tell you how to improve. I really miss that one on one interaction. I've bought online classes but they're not the same. I need someone to see how I quilt and let me know how to fix it. Maybe, someday, MQX will be revived. We'll see. 

Have a wonderful weekend!