Finishing a Long-Languishing Project

 I started this quilt almost a year ago, made the blocks, sewed them into rows, cut the sashing and stalled out.  Didn't pick it up again til last week... Just kept moving it from one area of the studio to another to get it out of the way... but it is finally a finished top.  Need to cut batting and make a backing for it and WHOOSH!  off to the LAQ it will go.  It is an old Craftsy/Bluprint kit (not sure if it's THAT old, but from before they went belly up), and is called 'Whale You Be Mine'... I intend to give this to a friend whose little boy is just old enough to graduate to a 'big boy bed'.   (Sorry about the quality of the photo - my design wall isn't big enough to hold the entire quilt.  There really is a right border there behind the stash).

I also made block 8 of Pat Sloan's Picnic quilt this week.  I had a super-fun time picking fabrics for this block.  Maybe not perfect, but I like them...  Correlating the colors with the pattern, the 4 triangles in the center should have been dark or black like the background, but I liked it this way... black in the middle would have been SO dark. 

Picnic Time

 Going on picnics is fun... maybe not the prep or the planning, but the actual picnic is always a good time... some sun, some shade, some time at the beach, the park, the woods, wherever you want to go...  When we were young, we'd often picnic at the beach, or at Ladera Park, or in the wee hours in the mountains on my birthday to watch the Perseid meteor shower, a yearly picnic favorite.  So here is my 'Where To Hold a Picnic' block:

Making a New Post to Upload a picture

 Sometimes websites really make me mad.  In order to enter a picture of block 7 on another site, it has to come from a unique url from the previous post, so this is to satisfy that requirement... Nothing new to add really... just block 7 of Out West again.

Block 7

Sewing My Way to Sanity

 I am scheduled for surgery today, and woke up early (4am)... Worried about the day to come, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I resorted to my usual therapy - sewing.  I made a couple of blocks for Pat Sloan's 'Out West' quilt.  So here they are - blocks 6 and 7:

Block 6

Block 7

Now it's 6am and I still have an hour and a half before I have to leave for the surgery center.  I need more to do!  I know I've got masks to make but I'm waiting for answers to some color questions (these are being made to order for a friend and i need to know what colors to make), so can't really work on those.  So here I am watching reruns of Charmed and trying to stay sane.  I can't eat or drink so no tea or breakfast... I'm going a bit nuts, lol.

Starting the Day Right... Sewing!

This morning, I slept in late (a rarity for me), and started my day with cutting and sewing Pat Sloan's 'Picnic' quilt, block 6.  Took me just a few minutes to find the right fabrics, cut and sat down to sew.  Had it all finished by the time my husband left for work.  I love the design with the narrow borders and the little HSTs in the corners.   They look a little like butterflies in the corners to me.

Monday, I started my City Sampler blocks.  It's a Tula Pink design, and many (but not all) of the fabrics are from various of her lines from over the years.  Can't wait to see how it develops.  These are the first 10 of 100  six and a half inch blocks:

I'm especially not happy about #6, I don't like the sort-of-tan color, and might re-sew it with something a little more orange... and the almost white gray on block #9 is probably not going to look good against the almost white of the background.  I may re-sew that one too with a different color - maybe a light blue or a darker grey.  Until I decide tho, they will remain as they are.  

Today is my birthday so I think I will take a little time off from everything, and then maybe sew a new curtain for my bathroom window... it needs to get done... two of my cats shredded the lace curtain that was up there before.  I've picked a batik fabric so it will look nice from both sides (not that it matters much because the glass is frosted and no one outside will see it when the window is closed, and it's on the side of the house where only the dogs go most of the time anyway. Still, it will make me happy knowing it will look the same on both sides.

Sewing Takes a Backseat

GenCon is over, Strategicon looms in the near future (first weekend in September) and with my anniversary and birthday both this month, sewing is just going to be secondary to everything else that's going on.   The anniversary was very low key - dinner ordered in, and a quiet night watching a bit of tv and relaxing.  Birthday events are in hiatus at present because the restaurant we wanted to try food from is closed on my birthday.  Perhaps we'll just drive up the coast and try to find a dark bit of beach where we can watch the Perseid meteor shower that happens every year on my birthday.

 

I did a little sewing last week - finishing a top I don't like - it's not horrible, the pattern is actually rather cool (it was a mystery, so didn't know what I'd be making when I started), but the colors are just not my vibe.  I gave it away - it is on its way to Colorado as I write this - to someone who loves it and wants to finish it.  

I also made block 5 for Pat Sloan's 'Picnic' quilt today... just don't want to fall behind on my block of the week/block of the month/mystery projects... I put some bunnies in it because there's always bunnies in the woods and the red plaid for the picnic blanket:

 

I actually got all the cutting done for the Morewood Mystery by Meadow Mist Quilts - the first sewing clue comes out next month and I don't want to get behind.

The first ten blocks for the Tula Pink City Sampler arrived in the mail today along with the pattern book... another project that I will have to try to keep up with!  Aaaargh...

Not much sewing... Gearing Up for GenCon

Well, the title sort of says it all... I am falling behind on my sewing projects from simple lack of enthusiasm, and now with Gencon looming on the horizon (well, not that far ahead - it starts at 11am pacific time tomorrow), it doesn't look like my sewing mojo will return any time soon - or if it does, it will be preempted by my love of gaming.

I did spend a little time sewing this morning - I made block four of Pat Sloan's Picnic quilt...

Not exactly 'hot dogs and hamburgers' colors, but I loved chasing butterflies in the park as a kid, and so to me, this reminds me of picnics. 

Last week, I made these blocks for the Jolly Bar quilt.  I was actually caught up on this one - but a new pattern came out a couple of days ago:

And I made the four blocks that make the center star in the snowflake quilt below (there's more blocks released, but I haven't made them yet):

And two weeks ago, I  took an online class with Latifah Saafir on how to cut and machine piece a clamshell quilt.. It was all run on zoom - so we all sewed from the safety of our personal sewing studios.  Here's mine, all sewn together - just needs a back, some batting and of course the quilting.

All told, considering how much time I HAVE to sew, I'm not doing much... I hope after Gencon is over I will feel more like sewing...