July and August F2F blocks

Two more months worth of blocks have been completed and the pics submitted.   Blocks will be mailed out when safe to do so.

First up July:

Monthly colors were blues and golds/yellows, with white background

  

Augusts Blocks went to Kate.   Her chosen colors were light to medium grays, white and pops of any color except yellow.

Gratitudes:

1. For the encouragement of friends

2. For the encouragement that the songs I've been listening to during work have given me

F2F block catch up

I've been bad about getting pics of the blocks I've been making posted this year....so here are the blocks for March, April, May, and June.

June blocks -
requested colors were indigo, gold, a touch of fuchsia, and a white background if needed

May blocks - 

Red, White and Blue were the requested colors

April blocks - 

Purple, Emerald, Gold, were among the requested colors

And March Blocks

Colors requested were true blues and browns

Gratitudes:

1. For Summer days that have not been too miserable so far

2. For the new HVAC system that makes the inside temps much better than last summer.

February F2F Blocks

I've signed up for the next round of the F2F block swap.   In it everyone makes 3 different blocks to send one person each month for the duration of the swap.   This round it will last 10 months, and the first month to send is February.

I saw this block in a quilt pictured somewhere and don't remember where now.   I like the quilt and the look of the block.   It worked up quickly and I do plan to use it for each month.   And am thinking I'll also use it in the future for a quilt.
















I also saw this block in a quilt pic on one of my social media accts....original blocks tho were 12 inches so I down sized to 6 inches to show the repeat.   Not hard to do, just tedious as I paper-pieced them.   Doubtful that I'll do this one again, even for me......















Final block made is one that I experimented with.  I used two different greens and two reds in the center of this block, and pieced the striped center in a spiral.  With the closeness of the colors though it's a little hard to see.  I pp'd this block and will make it for the remaining months as well.

I've got an idea for a setting for this block so I'll likely use it for a scrappy quilt in the future.

Gratitudes:

1. For pharmacy techs who have the time and inclination to look for coupons / better deals to help the customer save money on prescriptions.

2. For meds that are helping to knock this sinus infection.

First set of F2F blocks received

The first set of F2F blocks arrived yesterday and are beautiful.  Kathy R did a wonderful job on these and I'm looking forward to using these in my curtains.

These colors are going to look so good in where I want them. 

Gratitudes:

1. Wonderful swap blocks for me to drool over.

2. For a smooth commute this week.

Love this bird!

July F2F Blocks

My F2F blocks have been completed and mailed off to Sue who was the recipient for July.  She choose this lovely picture as her inspiration.   And the colors of blues and whites to match the inspiration.













Below are the three blocks I made for Sue.  The first two are my designs, and the third one is an adaptation of a block I saw online.

 This block continues on with the patterns that I started last year with the flying geese designs I was working on.

In addition, I made this block in testing my pattern for the first block.  And yes, I don't always manage to follow my own patterns.....sigh.   This block will be going into an American Hero quilt.

Gratitudes:
1. I get to work from home the first four days of the week.

2. For praying friends.

Goals for the next couple of weeks -

Time sure is flying by this year.  I have several projects in various stages of the process that need to be completed over the next week or two.


1st -

Finishing my row-by-row quilt.  The top is complete for this, next steps include the following:

             -- piece backing (pulled), layer and quilt it
             -- bind it
             -- turn it in somewhere.

2nd -

I have three blocks I need to get for made for this years F2F swap.  July's color inspiration is this collection of blue & white vases.  The recipient has requested - blue and whites, with the blues ranging from Navy to cobalt to light blues.   Have two patterns in mind, just need to pull fabrics from stash for them and decide on a third pattern.










3rd -

Get the sample block made for my August BOM (already designed).   Just need to pull fabrics and make the block.




4th-

A secret project that will be revealed in September during the "My Happy Place" blog hop hosted by Marian.

   -- this is fused.   Next step is to layer and quilt it and then bind.  Followed by finishing the pattern for it so that I'm ready for the row hop.









5th -

Figure out how to best us this strip of squares left after cutting out the blocks I needed for the dance floor of one of the rows for the row-by-row quilt.  There were actually two strips but I sewed them together along the straight edges.

And then through all of this I need to continue to make progress in getting stuff done around the house so that I can get my quilt frame set up - hopefully this week sometime!


Gratitudes:

1.  For having gotten my rental deposit back from the last place I lived.....I've needed it since payday is almost 10 days late.

2. For a "cooling" trend here in N. TX - only supposed to be "99" instead of the 114 it was on Saturday!

Final F2F Blocks Complete - Don't look Claire!

First thing to be completed after returning from QuiltCon were the final two F2F blocks for Claire.   The colors to be used in these were a bright blue, orange and lime green, with white for the background.

These blocks are the final ones for the swap.   Here's hoping that the colors I chose are what she wanted.  =)

Gratitudes:
1. The fun of having been a part of this swap over the last 9 months.

2. Spring weather!

Next American Hero Quilt

I always have multiple projects in progress, and this is one of the ones currently being worked on.  Yes, I fully admit to being bored if I have to only work on one thing at a time....lol.

In between other things, I'm working on putting the next American Hero quilt together.   Blocks are complete after getting a border on the square ones.  There will be 3 rows of 4 blocks and 2 rows of flag blocks in the quilt.  

I need to put sashing in between the rows to bring it up to size and to float the flags in their rows, along with a border of it.

Was thinking of using the remaining fabric of the lighter one that I used as block borders, but in looking at the remaining fabric I don't have enough to do what I want.  so will use a piece of shirting that works with the fabric in the blocks.  A friend had suggested maybe a colonial blue, but I don't have anything in my stash that color and I don't want to buy anything to finish off the quilt top.

Gratitudes:

1. Had time this week to make progress in getting the next three BOM patterns written up....it's good to be ahead of the game.  =)

2. For blocks already being made that I can work with when I have time for them.

Weekend Finishes - Gunn don't look! =)

Thanks to getting the commissioned t-shirt quilt mailed off this past Monday I've been able to finish up a few things I've been running late on getting done.

Finished up the tea cozy and snack mat for my niece today.   The polka dot material in the mat is also the lining fabric of the cozy.   I used insulbrite for the batting of the cozy to help keep her teapot warm.











Also finished this weekend were my first two blocks for December in the F2F swap.  the colors this month were bright blue, bright pink and yellow.   White could be used if needed.   I've one more block to make but am debating about what pattern to use.

Both blocks were me playing around with new pattern designs.

Gratitudes:

1. A warm roof over my head

2. Friends who are always there when needed.

New Block Design

I worked on one new design this week...and love how it turned out.....  This one is "simple" with only 57 pieces of fabric in the finished block.  Well, simple compared to a couple of the blocks I designed and made for the Modern Quilt block design contest.

I finished the sample block last night, and it is my final F2F block for this month and will be going to one of my best quilting buddies, Susan.  =)  Love the colors, and the purple has metallic gold dots all over it.

The design for the block reminds me of the ribbons used in rhythmic gymnastics.

However, once this sample block was finished I realized I forgot one teensy thing for the pattern...lol...  See the difference between the block below and the latest block?  Yup, they spin in different directions.   Seems I forgot to flip the pattern for this latest block so that it would spin in the correct direction.  I've corrected that in my pattern....but I know that my friend won't care so the sample block isn't wasted.

This makes 6 blocks I believe that I've done w/a common shape (but not pattern).  Time to be working on patterns for using them and on writing up instructions for each block.   Once the latter is done then I can put out a call for friends to test the block pattern for me.

Gratitudes:
1. Low pressure is here or through and my knee is feeling much better!

2. Time off for Thanksgiving has been approved.  =)

Weekend work......

Lots of running around this weekend as I had blood work done to start the process of figuring out what has been causing some of the things that have been driving me crazy the last couple of months.  A probable answer is hypothyroid.......and that can be dealt with by medication.   We'll know when the blood test results come back.   Next thing after that is working even harder to change my eating habits so that I can start losing weight again.......have a lot of pounds to go, but gotta start somewhere.

Once my errands were done yesterday, I continued making blocks for my American Hero Quilts and finished up the next 6 blocks.   These range in size from 8" finished to 12" finished.  The top right one is a Carolina Lily block....I loved that one so much when I made my quilt, I found a pattern that only uses those blocks to make the quilt.   One of these days I'll actually get it made.

The sorta log cabin blocks at the bottom right were originally the corners of the piano key border.  





Next up were the first two out of three F2F blocks for November.  

These are for my friend Susan and I love the colors she chose.  =)   Both are made from my designs.   I've made them both before, but I played around with color placement on these blocks.  

Still thinking about what I'm going to do for the third block.

Final thing I did this weekend was to go to Joann's and pick up some light grey felt.  Then with some thumbtacks that I had here, hung it up on the wall beside my desk here in the living room that I use as my sewing room.  First time in all my years of sewing that I've actually had something to use as a design wall.  =)

Gratitudes:

1. Doc didn't give me grief over the bloodwork I wanted done.

2. Finances are slowly stabilizing.

Final F2F blocks Received.

The final blocks for my month were received this week from my friend Susan.   And they are so much fun.    I especially love the polka dots.  =)

These will be going into American Hero quilts.


Gratitudes:

1. Doc appt tomorrow.....and I'll see if my research online might help lead to the root cause of several of the problems I've been dealing with.

2. The weather is cooling off finally.

F2F blocks received from Kate

Wonderful blocks from Kate were received over the weekend.  these came from Australia and are lovely.  The kangaroo fabric is one that she uses on quilts for military heros from Australia.   Love all of the blocks.

Kate also included a lovely appliqued tea towel.   I look forward to using it.

Gratitudes:

1. Good recipes as I work to overhaul my diet and eat better.

2. Work continues to go well.  =)

More F2F blocks received

3 more wonderful blocks were received from Esther over the weekend.     Wonderful fabrics, and great placement/fussy cutting on one of them.   All of them are stitched wonderfully.   They will be beautiful in my planned quilts!

Gratitudes:

1. Fall is coming!

2. Reunion is coming, will be good to see long time friends in person again.  =)