Star Storm - Quilted!

I finished quilting Star Storm a few days ago. I was in the middle of working a few days in a row but found a little time to finish that center star. I don't even have the binding cut out yet but I'll be doing that soon! It was a great feeling to know I had finished this quilt. I approached this one completely different than I usually do. I quilted each seam first before beginning any quilt design. I was able to move over the quilt any way I needed once it was all outlined. I wasn't sure that would work but it did!

I took random pictures of different areas of the quilt so you can see the quilting.

I made a little "road map" I could follow so I would know what to quilt in each area. Once I saw that my plan worked, I could relax and get the quilting done!

I've already posted this picture but the middle is my favorite part! I really love the texture. So fun!

The binding is next!!

I Like Thursday #102

Welcome to I Like Thursday where a group of us bloggers post happy and uplifting pictures and ideas. Please visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to read more fun posts. I know I've posted pictures of Lily sleeping before but I took this picture the other day and just had to share! She looks so comfy and relaxed. How I wish I could sleep like that! She surely keeps me warm even if it's hot and humid! Isn't that nice of her??

This is my husband's little vegetable garden. He has 2 tomato plants, 2 jalapeno peppers and 2 zucchini plants. We had to put the fence and mesh around it to keep the wild animals from nibbling on our plants. It's actually fuller than it looks in this picture. The plants have been doing well with all the rain we've been getting. 

Speaking of the rain, I haven't opened the umbrella on my deck lately since it's been so wet and humid. I opened it today and almost screamed. This little green frog fell out of the umbrella. He jumped onto my deck railing and has vanished as quickly as I found him.

I finished quilting Star Storm. I still need to trim it and get the binding ready. I just love the texture in the middle of this quilt. This quilt was a challenge to quilt for me but I'm really happy about how it turned out. I planned the quilting motif for each of the stars. I followed my little road map and it worked out well.

That's my week! Enjoy your weekend and stay healthy! Covid just won't go away!

Triangle Border

I'm almost done quilting Star Storm. It's been a challenge coming up with designs for each of the star segments. I found a few great tutorials on creating a triangle texture border. The hardest part is making sure I'm making my parallel lines going in a different direction from the closest triangles. That's what makes the great texture!

My first step is marking the triangles. The space I'm filling is on the diagonal so it was a little difficult to make the triangles exactly even. I sort of did the best I could. After marking, I took out my ruler and outlined by sewing each triangle. I also marked what direction the parallel lines should be sewn. You can see little dashes in the above picture. I used them as guides but I did screw them up a few times!

I quilted 1/4 parallel lines. As you can see, this process creates a great texture. Once this area is done, I just have the center star left! I received 2 customer quilts yesterday so I'm glad to almost be done. I'll blog about them soon!

I Like Thursday #101

 Welcome to I Like Thursday! A bunch of us bloggers get together every Thursday to write fun and uplifting posts. You can see more of these posts over at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. My post starts today with these 2 adorable baby deer. I've seen them in my yard a few times but they got very close to the house this time. I never see their mama but I'm sure she's around keeping an eye on them. They are just so cute!

We have a patio in our backyard where my husband keeps the grill. We have a retaining wall that had the perfect place to plant these hydrangea. They're just starting to blossom. I love that blue color!

We've been getting so much rain lately. We've had lots of thunderstorms complete with hail and much lightning. The weather app said we were going to have another storm but we never really got it. I could hear thunder but that's it. I did notice this weird cloud. It had this orange tint to it. It looked a little ominous but it never amounted to anything. It just went away.

I just finished this book yesterday. It's so charming. It's about 4 women who enter a cooking contest during World War II in England. It's heartwarming and full of recipes. These women aren't rich and have many problems but they're strong and courageous. So good!

That's it this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Color My World Through July

I finished July's directions for Color My World in 2 days! So quick this month! This picture shows all my progress to date. 

These are the July buildings knows as Tall Buildings #2. These buildings are long and skinny. However, the real time saver is the window construction. They're basically one long rectangle. I made the door first and then added each window along with the little piece of the building background. 

These are Tall Buildings #1. These are a bit shorter than the July tall building. However, those windows, although small, took a long time! They have a little bit of the building between the windows to make them look like 2 windows side by side. You start with one window, add building fabric, add the other window and then add building fabric to either side. This takes a long time! July was more fun!

The buildings are getting taller. Once they're all done and put together properly, they will square off the round center. I almost didn't make this quilt because I thought it might be too difficult. I'm so glad I tried it. It's so much easier than I expected!

I Like Thursday #100

Welcome to I Like Thursday! This is my 100th I Like Thursday post. A group of bloggers post happy and positive posts every Thursday. You can visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to read more of these posts. I was watching General Hospital this afternoon. (One of my guilty pleasures!) Lily sat next to me and took a little nap. She looked so comfy that I just had to snap a picture of her. It was quite a hot day today and she was very warm but I didn't dare move! I kind of liked her sitting so closely.

As I said, today was very warm. I wasn't that hungry so I made a vegetarian pizza. I basically saute onions, mushrooms and eggplant. I use a cauliflower crust. I spread Rao's Pizza sauce on the crust before adding the vegetables. It bakes in the over for about 15 minutes. It's so good and light!

I'm making some great progress machine quilting Star Storm. I quilted these arcs that are also called pumpkin seed. I love the secondary circular design. I measured a 4 inch square and drew diagonals as guides to where the arcs would be drawn. Once you get the hang of it, it works up quickly.

I received a gift card for Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts. I had heard she was going to publish some new patterns so I waited a little bit before buying anything. I ended up getting this great kit from her online store. This is the pattern I bought, Picnic Flowers.

This is the fabric that came with the kit. I love it! It's basically 4 very big blocks made up of lots of half square triangles. I'm sure there are some tricks and tips in her directions. I can't wait to work on it!

That's my week! I hope you all have a nice weekend. Stay cool!

Happy 4th of July!!

 

Happy 4th of July! It's on the cool side and little rainy out there but we're still having a cookout! I hope the weather is better for you.

I don't have too many patriotic projects. These two are the closest I have. I still display them every year. What fun is a party without home made decorations?? Enjoy!!