November Update

Look, it's a new post! Wow, I don't even have an excuse. I have not been overly busy but I have become consumed with cross stitch. Did I need another craft? No but I have one.

I finished stitching Take Time.

I found this kit at Walmart.

I need to frame it and add the shells.

It will be displayed in the bus at the beach.

I learned to coffee/tea dye Aida.

I followed this video but paid close attention to time because my fabric was different from their's.

I really like how it turned out and can't wait to dye more.

Because bright white isn't necessary for everything. 

Then I started stitching this for the grands.

I bought the pdf chart from Aliton Embroidery Etsy shop.

I'm still thinking about pulling out the gold and restitching in a darker gold.

Next up is sewing news. 

I finally made my blocks for our quilting group Christmas party.

I'll show you those after the party.

I cut out and sewed a new knit shirt. 

I'd show you but it's sitting on the machine waiting for a hem.

I love mixing up the textures of knits.

This is a raglan top with the stripes for the sleeves.

I pulled fabrics finally for the new Quiltville Mystery Frolic.

It took me a while to decide on my fabric.

I'm using stash and I have almost no blues at all.

I have lots of purples so that's what I'm using.

I thought about using bright yellow since I have very few aquas.

Daughter Crystal and I went mystery fabric shopping and

I decided to buy 1 piece of aqua and use that.

I did add a few more purples and of course I had to add to my neutral stash.

These aquas were put back in the bin.

I'm happy with my fabrics. 

I have not quilted anything since Hawaiian Sunset 1845.

I've made backs and now need to have a basting party.

I pulled out some little Churn Dash blocks to use as leader/enders 

and decided to finish making up these blocks 

so I can get them turned into the top I have designed in my head..

Of course it's not fun until the seam ripper comes out. 

It seemed like everything I touched that day had to be taken out and redone. 

Farm News

Hubby decided he wanted to hatch out some chicks.

He put 22 eggs in the incubator and we now have 19 babies.

We had a raccoon problem and lost quite a few of our hens.

The kids have fun with the names.

In this group are Peanut Butter, Peanut, Peanuts 1-5, Banana Split, Turtle.

Honestly I only know Peanut Butter because she is the only red chick. 

Always fun on the farm.

Until next time........

I'm Back With A Design Wall Monday Post

I certainly didn't intent to take a long blog break, I thought maybe a week or so but it turned into 3 weeks.  I don't know how consistent I'll be now but I'll give it a go today.

I've been putting blocks together!

Virginia Bound and Chunky Churndash leader/ender blocks.

(VB is in Scraps and Shirttails and CC is a free pattern on the Quiltville blog.)

I hope the next time (after the reveal at retreat) you see VB,

it will be a completed quilt.

That's my plan right now. 

In my last blog post I told you about getting sidetracked with these blocks.

I had planned to take these to retreat and work on them.

But my plans changed as I sewed and trimmed just a few more and a few more.

Pretty soon there were no more blocks to take to retreat.

Survivor was on so I grabbed the stack of blocks and an empty trash bag

and plopped myself down on the couch to watch TV and depaper.

On Saturday I got out the Go! Cutter and took care of a pile of scraps.

When that was finished, I decided to go ahead and get the blocks into

4s so I could sew my big blocks at retreat.

Bahahahaha,

I have several of them already sewn together.

I'm now hoping to reveal the finished quilt at retreat 

since I how have a new roll of batting and renewed energy.

We spent a couple weekends at the beach.

The beach always refreshes my soul.

I took along some fabric strips with a plan to cut and kit up some blocks.

I think there are 40 little blocks ready to go.

These will to taken to retreat.

Maybe. 😉

Now I'm headed over to check on what everyone else is working on at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Until next time,

Have a wonderful week.

Design Wall Monday

After finishing the Hearts and Flowers From Friends quilt,

I decided to work on Oklahoma Backroads.

This is a free Quiltville pattern.

This is my UFO #4 for Judy L's 2019 UFO Challenge.

I needed to add the borders, make the binding and the back.

 That is all done, 

I need to give these both a good pressing

and piece up some batting leftovers from the last few quilts.

I laughed at myself.

Evidently I can't read my tape measure because look how much extra backing I have.

That will be trimmed up for the scrap user bins after basting.

I don't need the extra to get under my quilting and

as well as I know myself, that is pretty much guaranteed to happen. 😎😏😒

Check out the great design walls at 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday

2019 UFO Challenge--March

I am on a mission to cross 32 projects off my UFO list.

I have a list of 20 Finishes Before 2020 where I am listing my finished and

Judy L's 2019 UFO Challenge where my 12 projects are listed and updated.

(both lists are in the tab section above)

For March, Judy L chose #4 which is my Oklahoma  Backroads.

This is a free pattern from Quiltville.

I used this as my 2017 leader/ender project.

There is a story behind my wanting this quilt. As a young child, my dad told me about coming from Oklahoma in the back of a covered wagon. One day, maybe I was 10 or so, I asked my Gramma to tell me about that trip. She had a look on her face that I will never forget. When she asked me what I meant, I told her the story I had heard numerous times. All of the sudden she glared at dad and said

"Charles! How dare you lie to these children!" She was serious. I chuckled out loud because dad got in trouble from his mom. Oh she was mad! 

I'm sorry Gramma but that this had become a funny story that has been shared over the years. 

I'm sure you still don't think it's as funny as I do.

So I had wanted to make this quilt and finally started.

I had asked daughter Crystal if she ever saw covered wagon fabric to buy me a couple yards.

She just happened to have this in her stash and gifted it to me.

Then dad got sick.

I couldn't work on the quilt.

Then dad passed away last year,

I couldn't look at the quilt.

I decided to work my way through it and put it on my list.

I lovingly put it in the UFO bin.

When I took it out, it brought a few tears to my eyes.

But I think I'll be OK working on it.

If not, I'll work on it when I can.

Another January UFO Report

WhooHoo! Quilting is finished, binding is on.

I'll stitch it down in the evenings while watching tv.

I'm going to call this one a finish.

I'm not the best free motion or straight line walking foot quilter

 but I'm not the worst.

I have fun.

I'm a firm believer in Done is Better than Perfect!

Life's to short to be a perfectionist.

Last night I laid the quilt down on the floor to see if I really should 

quilt in the black half square triangles.

After the quilt inspectors report, 

I decided I should.

This was started in my first Bonnie Hunter class in June of 2014.

When the top was finished, 

it went straight onto Mt ToBeQuilted

where it marinated for a few years.

This will be sent off to a special girl as soon as it takes a trip through the washer and dryer.

I love sending quilts to my special people.

Since this is our day,

I'm going to go in a start quilting another one for a different special girl. 

Design Wall Monday

Quilting Mojo has arrived at my house.

I hope she stays for a while.

After finishing the Gypsy Rose Quilt last week,

I basted 3 more big quilts.

Then I went right in and started quilting.

Cathedral Stars was last month's UFO Challenge quilt.

After ignoring it all month, I got it basted on the 31st so I could report that I made progress on it.

Yes, I really did do that! 😉

I'm doing free motion curves in the star points and half square triangles.

I'm using the walking foot for somewhat straight lines thru the 4 patches.

I'm hoping today this one will be ready for binding.

Tony and Daisy kept me company from the table fort.

Kids and dogs love a good table fort. 

Little dog is cozy on dad's lap.

I really think they are sad when the tables are put away.

Check out the cuteness and the fabulous design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Wishing You Good Fortune

 I wish I could say I am finished with my Good Fortune Quiltville mystery.

 I  cannot.

I have made great progress and have had a blast with this mystery.

I still have some red and orange blocks to complete.

I think there are 15 more that need the last seam. 

Of course it isn't any fun if you don't get to use your seam ripper.

Whoospie.

I didn't see these until I was pressing to make my first block and

saw one of these things is not like the others.

Turns out that one thing was the only right one. 

Before long all the seams were out and 

blocks were sewn correctly.

Then the fun begins.

Which quarters to sew together,

which halves to sew together.

Can I do it without having 2 of the same fabrics in the block.

The answer is no.

It happens, it doesn't bother me.

It happened in the very 1st block.

Of course it did,

why would it be any different now. 

To me this is small stuff and I don't sweat that.

I have 4 left halves of the half square triangle border together.

I sewed one strip set between each section,

starting to use a pair as a leader/ender but got to excited to "see what it will look like".

I'm anxious to head over to Quiltville Mystery Monday Link Up

and see the fabulous progress and reveals. 

Don't forget to check out 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Have a wonderful week.

Mystery Monday Link Up & Design Wall Monday

Quiltville Mystery Good Fortune Step 5 

How fun to mix up all the colors!

I love pulling neutrals out of the bin.

I had fun cutting from the orange yardage.

I strip from each piece. 

I'm sure I won't be using all of this.

I am so glad I made sample blocks first.

I used my piecing machine to sew a couple gifts 

and that means taking off the seam guide, 

so when I put it back on, I had it so wrong.

I even questioned myself when I did it.

But it's all fixed now and these blocks are fun!

I finished my string blocks Thursday.

They were so much fun that I made about 20 extra,

I knew part 5 wouldn't happen for me until after Christmas.

I'm excited to check out the link ups this week.

Quiltville Mystery Monday Link Up 

and 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday

Merry Christmas

Mystery Monday Link-Up and Design Wall Monday

No sewing has happened in my house since Tuesday and 

I am not happy about that! 

I plan to make up for it in the next couple of days.

I spent the weekend at my daughter's house with her kiddos.

I asked if I could go stash diving for oranges and yes I could.

My darling daughter needs to up her orange game.

But thank you for a few more orange fabrics.

This is a horrible fluorescent light picture of my orange yardage, 

but how about that texture!

I still need to get out my orange scraps, strings and strips for even more oranges.

I'm pretty excited about this clue. 

But first I will get these finished.

This is where I left off on Tuesday.

I can't wait to fill up this bin.

I'm linking up at

Quiltville Mystery Monday Link Up 

and 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday

Have a great week!

Design Wall Monday

This past weekend I was a hunting widow.

My plan was to quilt this quilt.

I started on Friday.

Soccer season is ending.

Some of the kiddos are sick of soccer so they asked to stay at Gramma's house

 Saturday morning instead of going to another soccer game.

I seldom say no.

So  no quilting happened Saturday.

They weren't here all that long but I got sidetracked on other things.

I did work on it for a while on Sunday.

Sunday morning I downloaded a few audio books to listen to while quilting.

This one is called A Spool of Blue Thread.

Hmmm, I'm having a hard time staying interested in it. 

I'll keep listening for a while. 

I hope it gets better.

I love these bags from JoAnn's and have several.

While packing for retreat, I noticed the binding coming off.

So I sat down and sewed all 4 seams.

I can't have my bag falling apart.

I am considering this my mending for the month. 

Halloween was treat day for Bonnie Hunter mystery fans.

Good Fortune is the new mystery.

I pulled some of my reds.

The ones in front are my iffies.

Still not sure even after changing to black and while.

The reds are the only fabrics I've pulled. 

I told myself to get that quilt finished first and then find the remaining fabrics.

I'm trying so hard to be a good quilter!

I'm still working on doll clothes.

This outfit will stay on Clella's doll. 

I need to make a few more shirts before Thursday!

Hmm, quilting and doll clothes.

I can do it! 

So with finishing the quilt and the doll clothes,

I need to get things ready for retreat Thursday.

I can do this.

My string bins are packed, the book and the papers are in the bag.

Everything else is in the rolling cart that houses my Featherweight.

Hop over to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday 

to see whats happening around Blogland.

Design Wall Monday

What a fun, full week I've had! 

My plan was to quilt and quilt I did.

Tuesday was a good day to channel my friend Julie and get some basting done.

I set up my basting tables and basted 4 quilts,

2 baby quilts, 1 twin and 1 queen.

I had one already basted and on the machine with the quilting started.

When Ernie is away hunting for the day,

I take advantage of no interruptions.

This is the Calendar Wall Hanging that was 1st up.

I can't show it to you until I share it with the gals at Christmas Club.

I'm so happy to have it finished finally and can't wait to hang it.

Next up is baby quilt 1.

I don't know who designed this block. 

I've searched and searched but have no idea.

It was fun to sit down at EQ7 and figure it out.

Baby quilt #2

These will both go to a local charity.

I loved digging in my strip bins and using up strips from our swaps.

It was also fun deciding on backs for these.

I wanted fun and bright (and fabric out of my stash!).

My next retreat is next weekend.

I had already planned to work on Virginia Bound from

Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps & Shirttales.

My string bins are overflowing and I've wanted to make this one for a very long time.

Friday I decided to cook up my last Blue Moon pumpkin

and get the puree in the freezer.

My friend Pam gave me 3 of these,

I gave 1 to Crystal.

I saved the seeds from my 2 to share.

She saved her seeds too.

We are going to have plenty of pumpkins next year.

Isn't it pretty.

I don't think mine is going to last very long.

Hubs has decided he really really likes pumpkin bars.

We celebrated this weekend with Leland.

He's in the blonde in the middle.

Happy 9th birthday Big Guy! 💗

My plan for this week is to take a short break from quilting.

I'm going to make some doll clothes for some special girls

 and a couple sweaters for myself.

Then it's back to quilting.

This is the next quilt to be quilted.

Have you watched Angela Walters' on You Tube?

She has a series on Dot To Dot quilting.

That's what I'm going to do on this one. 

Or we can say that's my plan. 😉

Check out other design walls around Blogland at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.