On the wall

Got my next Row quilt and I think I'll be doing applique on this one.  Machine of course and I plan to see about finding one of my dies for flowers..

Time for Lotto blocks and got the next ones made.  Got a little carried away and made 3. This pattern is great for 2 in. strips and 3.5 in squares.  I got lots of those.

A little update on scrap cutting.  Got a pretty good pile of 8.5 squares and 6 in squares for triangles.  Plan to make "Shattered dishes", a pattern for triangles by Lynn Roddy Brown.

Lots of this to work on on mental health days.

Scrap cut up day

I started on the pile of fabric on the end of the cutting table.   Funny how when you start, it's like you fluff up the fabric and it multiplies. I will spent time today with this and some occasional sewing and post a picture at the end of the day.  I hope to spend more than one day cutting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 While I'm doing this I will continue watching season 1 of Downton Abby. Wow it is good.

This includes 1.5, 2, 2.5 strips and squares, also 5.25 squares and 5.5 for baskets and house glass blocks

Both 8.5 and 6 in. squares for half spare triangles by Lynn Roddy Brown method

Best news is the pile is smaller.  Still more to go however.

Works in Progress

UFO-WIP whatever you want to call it, I've got plenty of those floating around.  One I consider a work in progress is dealing with my scraps.

One pile

So much of this is only big enough to make a few strips.  My stash of 2 in. and 2.5 in strips need boosting since my choices of colors is getting slim.. Also Happy Scrappers has a challenge on to fill a box with 2.5 in. strips.  We will exchange these at Christmas I think. And then most of too small to put back in the stash.  So will moving back into the sewing room I started this pile.  it's sitting on the other end of my cutting board and I won't move it until I deal with it.

Pioneer Braid

I got this quilt top made and tried it on my bed.  It's not wide enough so I'm add two more rows of the braid.I think it will be wide enough then and I can get it quilted.  I had worked on it some, then pulled it back out to try to finish it.Something I can do in between working on Alex's quilt and cutting scraps up.

On the Wall - Bits and Pieces

Often I think that I need to show work I've finished, when most of the time I'm working on bits and pieces.  Leaders and pieces which are really bits and pieces.  I've worked on Bow Ties for a long time and still want to keep making it bigger.  So many quilts I want to make and all very scrappy.  That takes time, so I need to post more pictures  of work in progress.  So here goes.

Bow ties and Hour class blocks that measure 3.5 in.

Been cutting for Alex's quilt

Pinwheels and 9 Patch blocks 6.5 in.

Row Quilts

In one of my groups, this year we are doing row quilt.  We started in Feb. and do 12 in. to the other person's row.  As we pass these along it grows and at Christmas the original owner gets the quilt.  We are to put fabric with it, some don't add enough sometimes.
It's a challenge to figure out what needs to go on the quilt next.

The first quilt I got and I added the top and bottom rows.  In the picture the blocks haven't been sewn yet.  It turned out real pretty.  It was simple to add stars since the person started with stars.

This quilt started with the Madri Gras them.  I felt the two rows of 12 in. blocks needed something different.  Since the blocks contained pin wheels and stars, I thought this would be a good addition.  I had to add some material to this quilt.

Aidan's visit

Aidan came on Monday and Alex left that day.  This is his first visit ever, so we were apprehensive about his hearing implants and if he really would stay the whole week or not.  So far, he's been fine and no trouble with his implants. He goes to sleep so fast it's amazing.  He's pretty quiet, and really good natured.  It's so wonderful to get to know him a little.   We're really enjoying his first visit.

His favorite past time is playing his I pad

He got a play dough baking set and spent hours playing with this

Play dough set

His pad wasn't charged enough, so he went into the sewing room and sat to play

I took him to SPAR to the water park

He had a fine time

Landscaping

I've been wanting to get something done with my front yard for several years since I retired.  Knowing because of allergies and knee replacements that wouldn't be me or John with his back doing the work.  So, my next door neighbor suggested a Landscaping group.  I contacted them and accepted their offer.  They got the work done and I'm very pleased with it.  Since it was finished, it's grown and is looking so pretty.

Alex's Visit

Alex came to visit again this year.  He's eight now and more grown up.  Edward had me buy him a new set of Lego's before he came and that kept him playing all the week.  We swam at water park too. I was surprised he had gotten tall enough to go down the big slides.. He loved it.  He did enjoy playing in my sewing room, he had lots to room to play with his Lego's and unlimited TV and U tube to watch.  I enjoyed his visit.  They'll be moving now to North Carolina and our visits may be a lot different if he even gets to come.  Time will tell.

Lotto Blocks

I volunteered to do the Lotto block every month to get some participation from the member.  Actually this has been fun so far.  I make one or two blocks to get the members an idea of what the block will look like.  We'll see how this goes. It's been fun for me anyway.

I didn't get a picture of the second I made, but so far have done three.  I'm using the Bonnie Hunter magazine articles "Addicted to Scraps".  The directions are so well written and there is a good color photo for them to refer to at home.  They can also look online to see a suggested site to see way to set the quilt if they want.  Hope they keep participating.  I may need to add something to the newsletter for them.  I'll think about that.