I Like Thursday #150

It's time once again for I Like Thursday. LeeAnna from Not Afraid of Color is our hostess every week. You can visit her page to find links to more uplifting and fun posts. I started quilting the antique quilt top I bought years ago. It's full of bulk so quilting this one will be a challenge. I decided to use beadboard in the border. My thread matches the fabric so closely that it's hard for me to see. I started shining a light from the side. I love the look of this! It's a bit time consuming but worth it. I use a ruler with 1/4" markings and don't mark the quilt top at all.

It's been so hot and humid here. However, it never fails that whenever I sit on the couch, Lily gets right up next to me and falls asleep. I've tried to move away from her but she just gets back to her usual position. I'm just getting used to being hot!

I'm not much of a drinker but we went out to an Asian restaurant last week and I ordered a Mai Tai. It was so good! I'd like to go back more for the drink more than the food although the food was good too!

LeeAnna's prompt this week was asking what we wore most during the summer. I wear shorts and short sleeved tops. These are my favorite shorts. They're from J Jill and remind me of batik and sashiko. They're a nice light weight cotton and feel very comfortable no matter how hot it gets.

This week was nice and quiet although quite hot. I hope you all have a great weekend as well as nice weather!

Couple of Projects

This is the antique quilt top I bought years ago that I'm finally getting ready to quilt. It's from the early 1900's. I bought it in Maine when we used to vacation there when the kids were younger. I had planned to quilt it by hand but I stopped hand quilting years ago. The block is Crown of Thorns or Single Wedding Ring. Both blocks looked the same to me. The quilt has lots of bulk in it and doesn't really lay flat. I'm hoping my quilting will suck up that extra fabric and flatten it! We'll see. I'm still deciding how to quilt it. 

 I finally finished my crazy sock! I just used up odd pieces of yarn leftover from older projects. This was definitely fun to make. I just can't believe I have to do it all over again!!

Keep cool!

I Like Thursday #149

It's time for I Like Thursday! LeeAnna, over at Not Afraid of Color, hosts a bunch of us bloggers to post happy and uplifting posts. This one is bittersweet for me. My son got engaged to his long time girlfriend. I knew they'd probably get married but it still shocked me a little! No date has been set and they're not in any rush so maybe next year?! I'm going to be Mother of the Groom! How did that happen? I feel I was a bride not too long ago. (38 years is a long time  ago!) I'm happy for Ben and 
Tanzy. I'm just a little sad for me since it's a great reminder that time is moving so fast. 

It's very hot today. It's about 92 degrees. I was a little surprised when I got in my car and saw this temperature! My car was only sitting outside for about half an hour. The air is just so thick and heavy. I'm staying indoors for the rest of the day!

We were asked to post our favorite kitchen gadget by LeeAnna. I love this little 2oz measuring cup. You can even measure per tablespoon. (The markings are on in the inside of the cup.) I use this all the time and it comes in quite handy.

Today was my last tutoring session until September. My student is going back to Turkey for 6 weeks. She gifted me this African Violet that she brought from Turkey originally. I hope I don't kill it! I'll miss our weekly meetings but it will be nice to be off for the rest of the summer. 

I hope you all have a great weekend and find somewhere cool!

Weekend Stuff

I'm not quite sure what happened to the weekend. It just seemed to go by so fast! I had hoped to get a lot of sewing done. I did manage to sew on another border to the garlic knot quilt top. I'm in the process of cutting more squares for the remaining 2 borders. I love that scrappy look!

 

I did sew the binding onto Swoon. I had the binding ready for almost a week before I could get to it! I like my bindings to be bold so I chose this nice medium blue. It has little water bubbles as the pattern. I thought it was interesting! I haven't started to sew the binding by hand yet. It's just too hot and sticky. I'll get to it soon!

I Like Thursday #148

It's time for I Like Thursday. LeeAnna, over at Not Afraid of Color, hosts us bloggers as we post happy and uplifting posts. Go visit to read more likeminded posts! I'm diligently working on the pieced borders for my Garlic Knot quilt. I got one side done! Only 3 to go! Cutting all those squares take a while! 

I tutored my student this morning. The library has so many fun activities planned for the summer. Many of them are geared towards children but this one is for anyone who uses the library. This tree is decorated by your favorite place to read. My student entered her favorite place as the library. You can win a gift certificate for gelato with each entry! That's a nice incentive!

I love the Tabletastic series but had a hard time finding the third and final installment. I ended up finding it and snapped it up! These are the nicest patterns for table runners and table toppers. My collection is now complete!

I'm a member of Goodreads and always enter the book giveaways. I finally won! Twice!! I'll let you know how good the books are. I love reading and would be lost without new books!

This week flew by! So fast! I hope everyone has a great weekend!! 

Quilted Swoon

I finished quilting Swoon over the weekend. I was almost afraid to see how it would look once it was off the longarm. I'll have to say I was pleasantly surprised! It looked good once I could see the entire design. There are a few things I would do differently but over all, it's good!

This is just a close up of one of the Swoon blocks. Each block was quilted the same.

This shows the different patterns I quilted between the blocks. I used my boomerang ruler and free motion quilting. The ruler makes curved crosshatching easy since there are markings to follow. I don't mark the quilt at all.

 This part was the hardest. I marked a 10 inch square and made the curved outline for the cross hatching 2 inches within the square. The feathers were hard since they all meet the curves at different angles. I had it all written down and had to follow my master plan which didn't always work. I figured you can always rip out stitches and sew again and no one will know! It sure came in  handy!! But it's done and waiting for binding!

I Like Thursday #147

It's time for I Like Thursday! Please visit LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color to read more inspiring and uplifting blog posts. I added a 2.5" border to my Garlic Knot quilt top. I had to reinforce quite a few seams before I added this border. The next step is a four patch border made of 2.5" squares. I already started to cut them. If I was smart, I would have been cutting them as I made each block but I didn't think ahead. Good to know for next time!

I haven't posted my scrap sock lately. I've turned the heel and I'm knitting toward the toe. I was actually knitting during our 4th of July cookout. Once the heel is turned, this becomes so much easier.

I bought this wide back for the next quilt I plan on quilting. I bought an antique quilt top years ago with the intention of hand quilting it. I used to hand quilt all my quilts but moved onto machine quilting which is so much quicker and less harsh on my hands and fingers. I really love paisley and feel it complements the quilt top. More on that later!

So we had a nice 4th of July cookout. There were only 6 of us but we had a good amount of food. I was getting the table ready and opened the umbrella. This little guy flew out of the umbrella and hit me in the eye. Boy, did I scream! A friend of mine asked me if I kissed him and maybe he'll turn into a prince? I don't think so! He definitely hit me in my eye. He hung out on the table for a while and then took off. I was glad to see him go!

 That's it for this week! I wish you all have a great weekend!

Garlic Knots Top

Even though it's a holiday weekend, I found time to sew all my Garlic Knots together! It measures 80.5" square. I did my best with all the seams. There were too many seams but it's done. Done is better than perfect!

We're hosting 4th of July for our family. Everyone is bringing something so it shouldn't be too bad. I'll be baking in the morning but my husband will be doing the actual grilling. The weather sounds like it will be nice. I'm hoping we can eat outside on the deck. We'll see!

Happy 4th of July to everyone!