ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC16 - Week 31

Welcome to Week 31 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!

On SUNDAY, my friend Helena came over to sew.  I photographed my pantograph inventory and made a donation block for Covered in Love:

July's call was for ANY star block at 12.5" unfinished.

MONDAY is for Knit Group... and a client meeting.  I'm really not ready to talk about that.  (The wounds are too fresh.  LOL!!) Between those two meeting, I scheduled an impromptu hair appointment. It's been nearly 4 months since my last haircut!

 On TUESDAY, I stayed home for the majority of the day. After lunch, I decided to quilt The Missing Quilt to take to the monthly meeting of NT Nights tonight.

Since our meetings finish up early, I used the time after the meeting to attach the binding to my Calico Rick Rack quilt:

WEDNESDAY was spent working on The Tennis Quilt... until it was time to leave for Ladies' Night Out with my knitting friends. Kat at Kat and Cat Quilts posted the August Block Drive block today.  Check it out and contribute, if you are so inclined.

On THURSDAY, for the first time in several weeks, I returned to my weekly Quilt Group meeting.  :o))

I showed off The Missing Quilt, along with the FIRST pantograph quilting done on my new-to-me longarm:

When I got home from running errands after quilting, I did some more work on The Tennis Quilt.

FRIDAY was a play day at the museum.  Here's a little HOT PINK to last you through the day:

How can you not LOVE that?!?!?

Or the sweet PINK knitted bear shown above???

I enjoyed an afternoon of sewing, while bordering another 2 rows worth of blocks for the Tennis Quilt.

On SATURDAY, I joined Angela's LINK PARTY.  Make sure that you have a look at all of the HOT PINK scrappy goodness going on this past week (because next week there will be a NEW Color of the Month.)

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Design Floor Friday - Match. Set. Point!!

Welcome to the next edition of Design Floor Friday!!  As you may have guessed, I've been busy arranging and rearranging the shirts for the Tennis Quilt.  This week's festivities included a(nother) meeting with my client.

A little history that I may not have shared prior to now...

My client is also one of my very best friends.  Oh!  Did I mention that she is an artist?  Yep!  Have you ANY IDEA how picky an artist can be about a quilt made for her "baby"???

Well, she can have fairly strong feelings about the quilt design, I can assure you.  (This week's meeting is the THIRD that we've had concerning said quilt project.)  I must admit that this one formed less of a bruise to my quilter's pride.

Most clients get TWO meetings.  One when they deliver the shirts and another when I deliver the quilt!!  I'm sure that you can understand the extenuating circumstances in this case.  I really do want the quilt to be EXACTLY what she wants it to be... or I'll NEVER hear the end of it!!!  LOL

This is the layout that I had decided upon:

The top half was rearranged a little bit...

... And the bottom half saw a few revisions:

I won a couple of points, but the match went to my client (as she was more concerned about "order of importance" than "color balance" for a pleasing quilt.)

I look at it this way...

I never have to see the quilt again (once it's been sewn, quilted, bound, and delivered.)  She will have to see it every time she washes the bedding for the next four years!

At least she didn't ask me to arrange everything in chronological order!!!  THAT made for a TERRIBLE quilt!!!  :o((

Until next time...

The customer is ALWAYS right!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Weekend Productivity

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  This past weekend was a welcome relief from the working weekends our family had during the first couple of weeks in July.  Done is the flooring.  Goodbye to the painting.  Hello to my studio and quilting friends!!!

SATURDAY

Britt came over in the early afternoon.  While she got busy on a special quilt, I got busy on a couple of miscellaneous tasks.

First,  I applied borders to the Missing Quilt.

Then came a Knife Roll for DS1:

Cute little package, but WHAT is a knife roll, Joyful?!?!

DS1 has recently become a collector of pocket knives.  Some of them are (as he refers to them) "homeless", meaning they weren't shipped in their box.  This makes it more difficult for him to store them without damage.

So...

Back before school got out for the summer, DS1 came up with the plans for a knife roll.  His girlfriend drew up the plans for him. Unfortunately, he left them at school and later explained what he was hoping his carrier to be.

HERE is what I made from the rough sketch I drew back in June...

Unrolled:

Opened:

Content Detail:

Note:  DS1 designed and made the beautiful wooden knife scales.

After dinner, I remembered another project that has been sitting on my To Do List for quite some time.

SEW...

I gathered the necessary materials for:

2 Recycled/Upcycled T-Shirt Pillowcases for DS1 (using parts of SIX old T-shirts).

Case One:

Case Two:

Please excuse the bad lighting.  I took these photos at night.  Just before bedtime.  Sleep well, DS1!!!

SUNDAY

Helena came over during late morning and stayed until midafternoon.  As she worked on first a pillowcase and then her Daybreak Quilt, I got busy with a project that SHOULD have been taken care of at the end of May.

My Personal Panto Inventory:

Taking photos of these kept me busy until it was time for lunch.

Thanks for including these with the machine, C!!

After lunch, I finally had a workable idea for my July Block Drive block for Covered in Love:

Thank you for making it easy to contribute, Kat!!

Next up, came taking stock of Diane's panto offerings:

Thanks for giving me "right of first refusal", Diane!!

After Helena left, I was feeling ambitious and continued working.

I was pulled toward my Calico Rick Rack and completed the following tasks toward completing it:

Reloaded it on Longarm
Quilted the Inner Border
Removed it from Longarm

By this time, it was time to eat... Whew!!

With dinner done and a trip to the grocery store behind me, I read a chapter of my book then decided to head back upstairs.

Here's what I accomplished:

Squared up Calico Rick Rack

Then I moved on to the Missing Quilt:

Loaded the Back
Floated the batting and top
Auditioned Thread:

Only a few minutes left until bedtime!!

Quick!  Choose a Panto so one MORE task is crossed off the list:

What a wonderfully productive weekend!!!  I am SEW pleased.  Most of all, I am so thankful that my friends were able to schedule time for a (working) visit.  Come back soon, you two!!  

Until next time...
Make time for your quilting friends!!!

Mail Call Monday - Library Destash

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  This issue (as you may have gathered from the title) is about books.  Books in the mail.  :o))

NO!!!  I did NOT (am not) get(ting) rid of any books (as you might have thought when you read the title of my post.)

Happy mail.  In my very own mailbox!!  After answering an ad on Ravelry about a quilt book destash that ManicSpinner was hoping to accomplish.

SEW, you see...

I was doing my civic duty by helping a fellow Raveler.  (Why, yes, that IS my story - and I'm sticking to it!!)

I only selected these few books from the HUGE stack that was offered:

This is a quilt from Strips That Sizzle by Margaret Miller:

My quilt bee did a workshop a number of years ago, but I was involved in a project at the time.  I've wanted to make a Sizzle Quilt of my own ever since.

The quilt from Colorful Quilts For Fabric Lover by Amy Walsh and Janine Burke shown below is one that I've seen out in BlogLand and thought that it would be a nice pattern to use for a Kids Quilt:

The Cut-Loose Quilts book by Jan Mullen features wonky style piecing using ruler-free cutting.  The following Star Quilt looked like it would make a great Quilt of Valor donation:

Those stars appear to be Maverick Stars (like those I'm making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.)  However, if you look closely you will see that these stars are formed in the sashing NOT by assembling blocks.

Each book offers something a little different.  I am pleased to have added each of them to my own Quilting Library (for future use.)

Until next time...

Read me a quilt!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC16 - Week 30

Welcome to Week 30 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!! 52 - 30 = 22 Some such math.  YIKES!!  I'd really rather not THINK about that.  Instead, I focused on getting some HOT PINK sewing done this week.

Would YOU care to have a look???

Of COURSE you would!!  Otherwise, you wouldn't be here.  Come along on a tour of my week:

SUNDAY was filled with MULTIPLE loads of laundry... and not much else.  :o((

On MONDAY, I dropped DS2 off at orientation at UNC Chapel Hill and continued on to Knit Group.  Unfortunately, I forgot my knitting at home!!  That turned out to be no problem whatsoever, as Tracy always comes prepared with a number of projects to keep herself entertained.  Thanks for sharing your sock project with me, Tracy!!

Bonnie Hunter announced this year's Leader/Ender Challenge (and I have barely gotten a start on LAST year's Tumbler Challenge!!)



My evening was filled with a DOQ meeting.  The program was Symposium Road Show (my name, not theirs) by the Show Chairs. Our quilt guild, in conjunction with the NCQSI will be hosting the annual Symposium event May 18 - 21, 2017 at William Peace University, Raleigh, NC. We really DID learn a lot about Symposium.  There are going to be SEW many wonderful teachers!  I can hardly WAIT for the registration materials to be released at the beginning of January.  By that time, maybe I will have narrowed down my course selections.  I hope to see YOU there!!!

TUESDAY brought a visit to the Senior Center Donation Quilters.  I needed to drop off blocks...

The blocks that I made this morning!!!

Of course, I forgot to take a COMPLETED photo!  Oops!

...  For the NT Pulse Quilt and my friend Joanna had planned to be there to share the CCLQ Pulse Quilt:

While I enjoyed visiting, I certainly don't need another activity cluttering up my calendar because ultimately,  MORE meetings = LESS actual sewing time!!

After a trip to the grocery store, I went home for some lunch... and a trip through BlogLand.  Thank you to Bonnie Hunter's number one fan, Angela Neff at The Modern Diary, for the tip (that I posted on the actual release day.)

On WEDNESDAY, I posted my Lemonade edition of Wonderful Wednesday here on the blog, spent the morning cutting shirts...

... And spent the afternoon with my PINK scraps.  I ended up with ONE String Block with lime accents:

HOORAY!!! for a productive day.  :o))

THURSDAY morning, I went for a walk and visited with a friend. The afternoon was mine to... have a phone conversation with a friend from Ravelry and organize my next sewing project (because my fingers hurt too much to do any cutting today!)

However, I did a bit of HOT PINK sewing...

Completing ONE Slab Block:

And ONE Crumb Block:

I hope YOU don't think it sounds terrible, but I just wanted to get the HOT PINK sewing out of the way so that I could concentrate on other projects.  There are currently two other QALs that are taking place and I really, Really, REALLY want to participate!!

On FRIDAY, my world was turned upside down. It started with a casual review of my quilt group's blog post and ended with:

Deborah shared that Quilters Newsletter is going out of print.  This information was found on a blog post by Abby Glassenberg at While She Naps.

To which I responded:

"I wish I had not read the entire post. I am bereft at the news of the demise of Quilters Newsletter. It has long been my FAVORITE quilting magazine and I will miss it more than words can express."

I wanted to sit down and cry at the news.  :o((

In order to work through my grief, I worked on the Tennis Quilt and released a Design Floor Friday post.  Spoiler Alert:

SATURDAY is LINK PARTY day over at So Scrappy.  Join me on a tour of the participating bloggers.  TONS of HOT PINK goodness from around the globe awaits!

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Design Floor Friday - Tennis, Anyone?

It's time for a new edition of Design Floor Friday!!  Today you will find The Tennis T-Quilt all over the floor.  It was ready, but the Mom wanted to help arrange the shirts.  This is what we came up with together:

Time is running out on this one and since the squares were cut earlier this week, it only made sense to lay it out one more time and figure out what to do with:

The MISSING shirt!!!

That one little shirt caused a LOT of rearranging.  The layout made its way through several incarnations...

The changes were so subtle that even I couldn't distiguish a difference, so I just posted the final image.  First, I plonked in the shirt up near the top:

 Then I change a few things and then a few more.  Ultimately, HERE is was I ended up with...

... A bit of asymmetry added some balance.  Go figure!!  That was BEFORE the addition of borders on the smaller blocks, though.  

We'll see what happens THEN!!!

THIS is the direction that I'm headed:

 Stay tuned for what that will look like.  I'm hoping to have the top done by the end of next week.

Until then...
Wish me luck!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Lemonade

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!!

In this post I'm going to share a little secret.  It's a secret that will take us back to that special  time in the life of a quilt. The time to advance to the LAST section of quilting the borders:

Back to the back.  Roll, roll, roll.  Around to the front and...

Hey!!  What's that?  It looks like a popped seam or something:

That's weird:

This little half-moon shape is my fingernail:

POKING THROUGH ALL THREE LAYERS OF THE QUILT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray!!  A design challenge to overcome.

But what are you going to DO about it, Joyful?!?!?

Well, you'll just have to wait and see.  I've got an idea, but don't currently have time to implement it.  I will tell you this...  It's a REALLY good idea!  I think YOU are going to like it.  :o))

Until next time...
Things don't always turn out the way you expect!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC16 - Week 29

Welcome to Week 29 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  I don't know about you, but I'm hoping for MORE (read ANY) sewing this week.  Only time will tell.

Let's take a look at how the week panned out, shall we?

On SUNDAY, I took a ride to the beach.  I didn't GO to the beach, mind you!  I only rode the 2.5 hours down/over there, turned around and drove home.

Well, I did eat at Flaming Amy's...

... And dropped DS2 at UNCW Summer Jazz Workshop!!  SEW... (obviously) NO sewing was done on this day.  :o((

Oh!  I'll be heading BACK on Friday for the reverse trip.  Only then it will be drive down, have dinner, move his things out of the dorm, attend the concert and head home.

Whew!!  I'm tired already!!

MONDAY is the day that I go to Knit Group.  Look at this wall art:

Wouldn't that be a cool quilt installation?!

Today I went... and didn't knit a stitch.  :o((

I was STILL tired from yesterday's excursion!

There was a small amount of digging in the HOT PINK scraps:

Just no energy for sewing blocks.  I'll save that for another day.

On TUESDAY, I met one friend for coffee...

Too bad that it was TOO HOT to sit out front or out back!!!

... And another for lunch, then visited my LYS for an afternoon of weaving in ends on my Tubularity.  OK, so I didn't go to the yarn shop for the express purpose of working on that project and, as much as I love my LYS owner, I didn't even go there to catch up.  The catching up was a delightful side effect of needing to replace my missing darning needle... AGAIN!!!  They disappear faster than stitch markers (and if you're a knitter, you KNOW that those have a way of hiding from us - especially when we really need them!)

Quilt sighting:

Downtown Hillsborough by local artist Ali Givens

Displayed at the new HPW Realty office.

WEDNESDAY found me standing at the ironing board for ANOTHER hour (adhering stabilizer to T-shirts for the Tennis Quilt that I'm working on.)  I'm SEW glad that's DONE!!!

I dug through my watermelon fabrics and some random bits. HERE is the initial layout for a Star Block for Covered in Love:

Are YOU having trouble seeing the star in the Star Block???

Me, too!!  I'm still working on that part.  :P

Check out my Wonderful Wednesday - The QAL Edition post HERE... to see what I plan to use for the Star Light, Star Dark QAL over at Quilty Habit.  It's not too late for YOU to join in the FUN!!!

THURSDAY was the start of the:



I've been waiting several weeks for this to begin, as I have (had) a Holiday Quilt in the works (for too many years to count.)  It made its way onto my Q3 FAL List and I thought this Blog Hop would encourage me to make some progress on the quilt (since Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is running a sew along during the Hop.)

During the afternoon, I put some of my HOT PINK scraps to work on...

... TWO Tiny Nines:

On FRIDAY, when I should have been sewing, I was headed BACK down/over to the beach to pickup DS2.  :o((

It was a LONG ride, but the concert was FANTASTIC!!!  :o))

Oh!  Remember those working scraps from yesterday???

I also put together ONE Maverick Star in HOT PINK:

It's done in a different configuration than (my) normal, but I think the quilt is going to need MORE of this style.

Early SATURDAY morning, I visited Angela's So Scrappy Blog to see if she had posted this week's LINK PARTY.  She had so I'm all linked up and looking forward to seeing what the other RSC Quilters have been up to this week. THAT will have to wait until a little later, as I have a few things to take care of around the house before I head off to BlogLand.

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!