Weekly Updates--Quilts, Cross Stitch, & Clothes

I didn't do too badly, all things considered.  I finished one of the tanks I was working on for my daughter.  I need to do a little seam ripping on the other in order to fix it.  Speaking of my daughter, she is a really super fast seam ripper and ripped out a ton of quilting for me on a quilt I made more than 10 years ago.  I had started quilting it on my domestic machine at the time and had two large tucks in the backing.  Stopped working on it, there it sat, etc.  So now I have that one ready to re-quilt.

I did get the Windermere #2 onto the frame last night and am planning to work from the front of the machine to quilt it.  I also have a call in to the store where I bought my long arm in an attempt to order some dampener plates to help with the massive vibrations my Juki has.  I was kinda rolling my eyes when the first guy I talked to said it's really hard to get parts from Juki.  Big surprise there.  Anyway, we'll see what happens.

I finished the cross stitch I needed to have done last Friday and we even got it framed.  It hasn't made its way to its new owner yet, but hopefully she will like it once it gets delivered.  This was a free pattern I found on the Internet.  It's well traveled since I worked on it on our trip this summer.

I had a lot of car time over the weekend, so I worked a little more on the bluebird cross stitch. It's a kit from Bucilla.

I even put in a very small amount of stitches on the never-ending project.
I put together my little Thimbleblossoms Vintage mini.  I used B&C Handmade for this one. 
I'm going to use some of the leftover charm squares and partials for the backing.
I also finished up all of my Sewcial Bee Sampler blocks.  Not sure what I'm doing with those as far as setting or finishing yet.

I've cut just a few of the Fishline quilt HST.

I added a picture of the pink and brown Valentine quilt to my 2017 finishes.

Until next week...


What I'm Trying to Work On & Row by Row Junior

I feel like I have a million things I should be doing right now.  And I've given myself all these abitrary mental deadlines on them.  Then I beat myself up when I don't get stuff done.  I've had the same group of stuff on my to-do list for three weeks.  :(  Both my kids have day camps this week.  I'm spending about three hours a day driving them because they start and end at different times.  Not much is getting done.  Frustration mounts.  Luckily I haven't had jury duty yet, but it looks like I could get called in next week.  Sigh.

Here are some of the things I'm planning on for the week, although most of the week is gone. Even bigger sigh.
I'm working on a B&C mini for myself.  I need to sew these HST that were trimmings.
I'm three weeks behind on #SewcialBeeSampler.😩
I need to remake this tank for my daughter since I made the dumb mistake of serging
before having her try it on.
I also have to fix another tank we made her.
I need to cut all of these into HST and trim them all.
There are currently 140ish squares, so 520 HST.
Fabric is Fishline by Kristen Berger for Maywood Studio.
This is ready to get onto the frame and get quilted.
Fabric is Windermere by Brenda Riddle for Moda.  And Kona Snow.
This will be a gift.  I really need to get this one done today.  Probably won't happen.  :(
My daughter participated in the Row by Row Junior this year.  We picked up a pattern at Crimson Tate and she worked diligently on it.  She selected the fabrics from my stash.  I did the cutting and part of the pressing.  She did the sewing.  Then she decided she wanted to make the row into a pillow, so I marked quilting lines for her and she quilted it.  We figured out how to make an envelope pillow.  She also made the pillow form.  The first try was stuffed way too firmly, so she opened it back up and took some of the stuffing out.  Still too big.  So we made it smaller and she redid it a third time.  It took some doing, but we did manage to finally get the form into the pillow cover.  It may never come out again!  Then we made a trip back to the store so she could claim her ribbon.  They made a big deal about it, made her feel good, and posted her picture on social media.  She was just thrilled!
Fabrics L-R are Moda Bella, Cotton + Steel, Dear Stella, Moda, Dear Stella, and C+S.
Background is a Lizzy House print.

Crimson Tate embellished their Row by Row ribbons--Nicole of Modern Handcraft made the fancy parts.
The print is Heather Givans' (Crimson Tate's owner) fabric.
In other news,  I watched a baby red headed woodpecker learn how to come in to the feeder and eat.  There was an adult who came in with him and waited until he figured out how to land on the suet cage before flying to a nearby tree to watch over him.  In case you aren't a bird aficionado, it's the bird on the left that I'm talking about.  
Have a great week!

Bonnie & Camille Barn Quilt Swap 4 Reveal

I received the cutest mini for the B&C Barn Quilt swap from Kristen (@heartfullyhandmade).  This was one I'd had my eye on and I was so happy she made it for me!  I brought the package in and told my husband I had a good one (before I'd even opened it!).

I made my mini for Ally (@Woodberry_way).  I couldn't decide between two she had in her mosaic, so I made both.

The first one is a traditional Eight Hands Around block. I will be offering this pattern as a free download soon.  This is a 6" finished block.
The second is a paper pieced butterfly.  This is the Gidget design from Lillyella available here.  It finished at 5".  I had to laugh when I got done quilting, because all I see in the echoing above the butterfly's head is the Wonder Woman symbol!

So another B&C Barn Quilt swap has wrapped.  The hashtags for these are always so inspirational--lots of great work happens in these swaps.  I'm looking forward to the next one.

Shopping Sprees!

I've gone way over budget (I don't really have one) on fabric purchases lately.  😮  I just HAD to get  a FQ bundle of Lori Holt's new line, Bee Basics.  Then I purchased some random novelty prints from JoAnn's.  And since I was near a quilt shop, I thought I should stop in.  Lots of old Bonnie & Camille came home with me.  Then I decided I wanted to sew some quilts for Christmas, so I needed the extra fabric for the border, binding, and backing and Fabric Shack so kindly sent me an email flier and the fabric I needed was on sale.  Plus I could get a random Moda patch free with purchase.  Then I got a bee in my bonnet that I should make a Row by Row quilt and I simply must go to Crimson Tate when I was in Indianapolis for an appointment.  I truly was only going for the pattern and a fabric license plate and came home with way too many goodies.  Someone take away my credit cards!

Here is some of my haul and sewing over the past week or so.  😳
The Crimson Tate haul.  The bottom leaf fabric is knit and will be a shirt for my daughter.
This one is made mostly from leftovers from a quilt I made my aunt last Christmas.
I have four more rows to sew (hence the opening where two rows have been removed for sewing).
This is on my design wall in the laundry room.  It has poor lighting for photography.
I already had the pattern and the three charm packs.  Bought fabric for binding, border, and backing.
Still need to cut the white background, but I already had that too.
The free patch Fabric Shack sent with my order.  They got me pretty well!  LOL
This is my first scheduled week of jury duty.  Luckily I don't have to report at all this week.  I have to check in again Sunday night.  

I mailed my B&C barn quilt mini swap Monday, so hopefully I can share what I made next week.

In the meantime, I have plenty of sewing to do!!!