Star and Crown Progress

 Back in January - Pat Speth talked at our guild ( via zoom) 

We were inspired by her Star and Crown blocks - and at our late January sew day -we started making blocks.

This is where we were at the end of our sew day:

I put the blocks in a container to marinate - and then last week - the bucket magically appeared on my sewing table .... so I went to work.....

Got all the Blue Blocks finished, and started on the rest of the reds......

as of last night :

I actually got tow more of the Red Blocks finished, but they weren't ironed when I went to take a photo.... I can feel the end of the quilt now.... Must.... Keep.... Quilting.....

Oh ya!! and we did this most of Sunday:

I'm the smart one, I volunteered to drive... K did the Hay Pick up... we get it right out of the field, so its nice to have a cool overcast morning to load it.   

Now to unload it.... ...

Happy Stitching!!!!! 

Linking to:

• Design Wall Monday
• Sew and Tell Monday
• Monday Musings
• Wait Loss Wednesday
  
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• Oh Scrap!
  

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Purple RSC Blocks

As we are almost to the end of the month - I am just really getting started on my purples!!

That timing thing is really throwing me off this month haha!!

Here are the purples blocks that I have finished:

These are really fun to make. I had scraps, and then I picked some up at a guild meeting. So much fun to combine the purples and patterns  and... you know!! the plaids!!!

I got one purples had done - its sort of a dusty purple - but! it finished the yard ball!!

I finished the two green ones from last month ;-)

so my hat pile is growing. We need them by October to fill the Operation Christmas Child boxes.

At least I am not behind on that deadline ( yet)

ms Crazy Bella - she was helping to pick out which purple scrap to use next ;-) she is such a helper 😇😇

And us!!

we were heading out to a shoot ( mounted shooting competition off our horses) early in the morning. I thought we better get a good before photo - as the afters...

We are tired, and dirty, and the hair.... well the hair is not so pretty after a 100deg day and the humidity we have been having haha

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• Sew and Tell
• Design Wall Monday
• Monday Musings
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge
  
• Oh Scrap!
  

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I went down the Rabbit Hole, Saw a squirrel and made a hard right.....

 a bit ago I was browsing blogs - and I was reading LA Paylors blog . She mentioned the Jelly Roll 18 pattern, so I went googling, and I found it - and a You Tube video ...and there was a printable pattern....

then!! I drug my husband all over the state and of course, might have bought a strip pack ( they didn't call it a jelly roll, but same idea....

And then it got hot.....

So!! Ta da!!! I have started a new quilt - and!! used one of the things I purchased!!  ( the Bernatex strip pack from On Pins and Needles

Go me!!!

and my Ms Baby Bella turned two!!!!

she loves to run, chase sticks, chase her sister, play in the water system of the trees, and snuggle with me. She also loves snacks, Cheetos, and anything you deem safe for her ;-)

Linking to:

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell

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Po tah to - Po tot o - Potato Chips or the Whole Potato?????

There has been a trend that I have been seeing  - on blogs and socials... about the Potato Chip Block!!

I've seen it before, but this time - I paid attention - and I love them and I have scraps, and I have made a goal to clean up the piles around my sewing machine before adding to them.

So the Potato Chip block seemed like a way to go with my 2 1/2 inch scraps sitting on a paper plate.... 

until....  I realized I didn't want to cut the pieces into the little ones - I wanted to use the WHOLE potato!!

So I did - sort of!! Some of my scraps were squares, and some were strips - so I started with the smallest pieces to make the center.  Then worked the lights in - I had so many scraps I Didn't even need to CUT any!!!   Crazy....

I did trim tho - at each round - just in case!!!

The blocks were growing....

The men took over the Turkey cooking, and the pie making, and so I could keep stitching.....

and I Finished all the blocks!!! Whoo hoo... But wait? Is there still fabric left on that plate? There is!! *sigh*  However NONE of it is Red or Blue any more!!! 

I am going to call that a win!  But I also have figured out why those piles don't shrink!!! Scraps make scraps , and Alycia has a Piling problem......

off to tackle another pile..... ( there is plaid in that pile tho... so its good!)

Don't forget to mark your calendars this year for Finished (or not) Fridays on this blog!! Come brag about your week - show us what you are up to!!

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Sew and Tell

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Oh Scrap!!

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Blocks, a Motorcycle top, and ... the dreaded .... Piles

 We are doing a little block drive with the Diamond chain blocks - Jan gave these to me at our last guild meeting:

Aren't they cool? My personal goal was to make 80 of them out of my plaids... I am sure that I can - but!! So far I am only up to 40... I see some stitching in my future! ( not really a sad thing right?)

I have  QOV presentation coming up for some Motorcycle Veterans - and so I put together another Motorcycle Top... I need to QUILT it now!!! Get moving on that! 

The cool thing is - it is about time for my projects. I have just finished the last *MUST GET DONE* client quilt for the Christmas rush - and YAY!! Its all about me now!

and check out these piles.... they must be tackled - I bet there is a Quilt or Two in there ( sigh)

Okay - its really all about me, but I pretend every so often that its about someone else 😊😂

Linking up to:

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell

Monday Musings

Finished ( or not) Friday

Beauty Pageant

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Gratitude 18 and Crumb Blocks

 

Opening your eyes to more of the world around you can deeply enhance your gratitude. 

This was in Rocky Mountain National Park, after a great hike - and those are my husbands feet, He was threatening to throw me in so I took out my camera so he would remember he didn't want to replace it.

I got a wild idea... I have a scrap box at the side of my sewing table. For some reason I decided it was time to sort it. I think It might have had to do with the fact that my husband wanted to move some panels.... and I didn't want to - so I had to look busy.

I found enough Greens or greenish looking fabrics to make 14 -  8 1/2 inch crumb blocks!!

and then I saw a stack of things in a cubby.  Note to self - NEVER LOOK IN THE CUBBY!

I have more orphan blocks...

Happy Monday!

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• Design Wall Monday
  
• Sew and Tell
  
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Orange RSC top

 Well - I think it turned out how I wanted it to !

It is no longer in the block stage. It is now a top, and it has a backing made, and!! I even have an idea of how I am going to quilt it.

So yay!! Orange became a top before the month was over. and Today - I have to go back to just being a month of normal - I can't tell everyone its all about me ....  

haha - just kidding - if you know me - everything is ALL ABOUT ME!!

But!!! If you are in the Greeley area - guess who is coming to speak at our guild?

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/  I am so excited!! and I am also linking up with her Sew and Tell today!!   Come join us!!!

also linking to

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

Rainbow Scrap Chhallenge

Catching Rainbows, Jackknife and 1638

The best thing about my *Month of me* ? I am finding things that I forgot about ;-)

Back in 2021 - I saw these blocks on Bonnie Hunters site, and then I saw them on Quilt Fabrications, and then the EQ blog - and I made TWO... TWO  people , and I pulled fabric to make more, and then I am not sure what happened!!

Probably I had to clean off my sewing table to do that dreaded binding of some quilt, and I just piled them places... but now!! They are out again!!

I had two blocks and just fabric in the pile and now!!

And 4 more cut out! These are detailed little buggers! But aren't they cute? 

Also - last weekend ( two days ago last weekend) We got to go to a friends wedding and it was Gorgeous!!

They mowed part of their hayfield for us to sit in and do the ceremony !!  Isn't that a cool venue .

We were joking and my husband said - I bet the bride comes in on a horse drawn carriage. I did not take that bet, cuz I didn't think that was the brides style.... hers was BETTER - she drove in with her dad on the tractor, and the two of them escaped on it!! So super sweet!

Check out my Men!! My husband and my youngest - we had such a blast!!! We wish our friends the best marriage ever! 

Linking up to:

Design wall Monday

Monday Musings

Sew and Tell

Midweek Makers

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The first week of a Month about me ;-)

I think this might be a good idea!! Maybe I will have to incorporate this *Month of Me* every year!!! 

I am having too much fun with no stress. The first day I had  QOV zoom meeting, and it was one with no questions - they were just detailing some of the things we need to know and introducing us to the new Director. Did you know there is a QOV backlog?

Sunset after smoke from the the fires are moved out a bit

There are a few states that have more requests than Quilts. So QOV is asking us to share any extras - so!! If you are one that has wanted to make a Quilt of Valor - you can email them on the website (QOVF.org) - they have places for it to go.

 My Dog Trainer came!!! I have decided I am not equipped to make these dogs love each other - and I am missing something. So She came over!! Yes!!  a traveling Dog trainer - I love it. We learned that Daisy needs more personal space than Bella does, so she gave me a lot of things to work on.

I know they are *This Close* to loving each other. I just don't know the next proper steps. 

So Daisy (left) is less trained that we thought - so we are going back to basics with her... but she does have a lot of basics. 

She also has the desire to run like the wind and ignore you... not so good when she finds a bunny!!!

Saturday - we competed on our Horses again - and lawsy mercy people!! We must have walked 7 miles, getting to and from the competition rings. My feet hurt, and on the last walk - My horse Vapor locked haha. It was 100 degrees and no shade.  We park our trailers at angles to make shade for them. 

She got to a part of the hill and just stopped. She was done! we convinced her - but man was she happy when we took the saddle off and pulled out the hay and cool water.

I got a little bit of quilting in. There was a tag on this quilt with the year it was made ( and I don't think I made it)  - But lets just say - it was TIME!!!! I will show you it when I finally have the binding on..... Fun to quilt one of them in my *to be done someday * pile.

I got to see sunrises from the ground. Lately we have been horseback when the sun comes up - so this was a nice little change to see... and the smoke from the three fires to the east of us sure adds color.

I have a lot of other things on my To do list now - I wrote them all down. That is sometimes good and sometimes bad . Often I write them down - then consider them done and start new things.... oops

This time... man I am going to give it a try!! I think I am off to a good start!

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Linking to:

• Moday Musings at Son Bird Designs
• Sew and Tell at Melva Loves SCraps
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• Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Goofy Geese

 I get teased a lot about my Leader/Ender projects - and I get picked on about the piles by my sewing machine - but I am a DEDICATED Leader/Ender person!! My Grandma used this method when stitching garments, and she would have Quilt blocks made at the end of making a dress... She used them to *stitch off* the garment, and to make sure the needle didn't get stuck in her good fabrics...

Well!!! I have been making Half squares ( ahem - I know!!) with my 5 inch squares here and there, and assembling them into flying geese.

Thursday night I might not have been able to sleep so I started throwing those Goofy Geese up on the wall...

And I might have decided I kind of liked that random pattern - so I added some creams and white, played a little tetris with figuring how to piece it  - and now!! I have a 60 x 70 ish top!!!

I even have a backing made, and if all goes well it will be pinned and ready to load on the longarm today - and when there is a spare moment.... I will quilt it!!!

Here is a description of Leader Enders if you are interested: Leaders and Enders Explained

Linking to:

Sew and Tell at Melva Loves Scraps

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

PS - want to see Baby Reno? He is 1 month old now:

Cute right????

One thing at a time....

I have been inspired by Joyful and her 100 things decluttering.... but I twisted it my own way ;-)

Joyful has been making an effort to declutter one thing at a time - and it hit me... I should be doing that with my Parents stuff - I get so overwhelmed with what is left, and what to do with it - that if I touch just one thing at a time, maybe it would seem easier - 

So I have - and 2 whole boxes are ready to donate ( again) and the pants... my Dad had gorgeous suit pants and apparently I just boxed some up when trying to move everything out of his house.... those are going to our church...

and look what I found:

Me!!! Back in the day!! I raised Guide Dogs for the Blind out of San Rafael California thru my 4H - and I had to do a demo.... Wasn't I so cute haha!!!! 

And then I thought - hey - what is one thing a day that would make me happy? And I realized that I need another Churn Dash Project.... so I started making 1 churn dash a day ( just for April) 

Since I already have a bucket of 5 inch squares... I was ready to hit the sewing table!!

and then - only because I really don't want UFOs - I decided to pull out my Bonnie Hunter Mystery and get those pieces trimmed - and start on the blocks.... this is Block 1? 

They DO NOT go together as fast as my Churn Dashes - but I am liking them now. 

And my Baby girl - this is why we LOVE her!!!

Back to One Thing at a Time... Anyone need cleaning supplies haha! I opened one of the boxes and its all the cleaning supplies... I think my Dad loved to buy them - I won't have to for about 5 years.... Oh boy....

Linking up with

• Design Wall Monday
• Sew and Tell
• Monday Musings
• Midweek Makers
  
• Needle and Thread Thursday
  

Designing on the Table

 Because the Design wall is full!!!

But I wanted to lay out my Purple RSC blocks so I could make sure that the colors didn't touch...

so!

I improvised!

I laid out Three rows at a time, pinned two - moved three to the top and laid out two more... so when it is all stitched together - Fingers crossed I didn't turn anything!!!

I am growing to like the pale yellow with Purple . Sort of....

Linking to:

Monday Musings

Sew and Tell

Design Wall Monday

Midweek Makers

Needle and thread Thursday

Ohio Stars ( again)

 Remember this post?

Ohio Star Ideas

wellll I kept playing in EQ8 and have a few more to show you.  

These are Assuming that you are using blocks made by a group - but if you are making your own top I don't see why you couldn't make a few with just white corners. It gives you a whole Nother Look:

\

Someone on the last post asked what size the alternate blocks were . The Ohio star is 12 1/2 (unfinished) so the alternates would need to be 12 1/2 as well ;-)

I Spent Super bowl cutting kits for this block for our February Sew day ... It should be fun!!!