March forward

March : a new month;  so what is there to look forward to and plan. Spring is just around the corner.

A)  My guild has its quilt show next weekend. So if you want to see some beautiful quilts and vendors come to Mukwonago Crazy Quilter show at the middle school on the main through street of town. In Wisconsin, that is.  I have been going for almost 30 years and it is my favorite local show, even before I became a member.

B)  Easter is at the end of this month.  And that means a break from school!  Yeah!  Plus HB and are  going away.  Where? I don't know yet.  But away from yucky winter weather.

C )  Goals:  I have made the Stash Bee block.  Check!



My string blocks: I just took the purple apart to realign and restitch.  And light green is the color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Plus I need to add the black and white to my light blues and sew them together.





Gooseberry patch  next block section ( 4 completed for February so far)



Covered in Love:  Hunters star: pieced with half square triangles for March and April in blues.
http://katandcatquilts.blogspot.com/2018/02/new-covered-in-love-block-drive.html  Here is the link of you might be interested.
One          Two  

Row by Row:  ( March and due mid April.)  This is the most challenging  row of all. in my group.  The details and preceding rows are so incredible. I think I have a plan for a train station and old train.




Transportation quilt for my grandson!  A must!



So many ideas, so many UFOs.   And how many can I work on?

Finally something to show!

And this is not sewing.  But I am so excited.  I have my 30's quilt I am making strings for in between my blocks.

Believe it or not, I am running out of fabrics, 30s fabrics only. I have had a bag for many years and have completed at least 5 quilts of different sizes out of it.  So my good news is that I got the first selection as the left overs from my guild's raffle quilt from a few years ago. Bargain!  

The 2nd assortment came from a friend with whom we had shared 30's fabrics for a quilt earlier. I had a wonderful container full of inch and a quarter strips that were leftovers from a quilt of hers. I knew I would have repeats of many of the fabrics that are currently in my quilt.  

This is some of my Rainbow scrap challenge blocks. The blues  and the  purples are in 2 strips each: one of 6 blocks below. ( Which  I see I am going to have to take apart and redo as they don't line up. ) The 2nd strip of the 2 colors is 14 blocks long. ..not photographed.

Next is my Magnolia mystery from Meadow Mist Designs.  I have lots of the blue for borders and  backing.

Another mystery is the Square Dance by From my Carolina Home.  Using up more of my homespuns. I did buy Kona black on sale for the background.  I like how the black makes a great contrast.

Seriously, my issue was that I left my phone at school for a 3 day weekend. Ugh..!

SNOW day!

My school district called at 5:15 telling me school is cancelled for the day.  "We have about 6 inches on the ground so far,"  my husband the snow remover says.  But the snow is to still continue to accumulate until 9:00 this morning. I know that all the students and teachers are glad for some time off.

So that means a sewing day  ( maybe a little cooking and cleaning, too.).

O.K. I had a blast last night doing an art project for Valentine's Day with my grands.  I gave the 3 year old strips of colored paper ( reds, sparkles, pinks) and a pair of children's scissors. A little guidance and he was cutting away having a great time.  So the little guy ( 2 year old) was given the cards I had prepared with glue on the center of the heart. His job was to take the cuts from his brother and put them on the glue.  They both stayed at it for 45 minutes. Great job by the little guys! Now to send them to special loved ones.



First project up:

Finishing up the purple strings into blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge.



I still need 6 more for my row for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

2nd project:

Cutting out some homespuns for the Square Dance Mystery  by From my Carolina Home.
My light is going to be black solid.

A new month, another week

Not much in the land of cold.  It was a sad week at at school as a 7th grader had died. Sometimes, life is not fair.  It touches many people.

But on another note, I didn't get much sewing; I think a bug has hit me again. Fortunately, swimming really seemed to boost me mentally and physically.  I can't really describe how being in the water makes a difference. I swim laps for a half hour before school a couple days. It is peaceful and yet a time to focus on the inner self while working on the repetitive stroke, stroke strokes.

So I did not sew much at all during the week.

I did get my new Stash Bee block done.  I try to be prompt at the beginning; and it gives me a small accomplishment at the beginning of the month.



Then I pulled my purples out for the new RSC color. I really don't have much purple.
But here is the  start



And then I just wanted to do something fun.  And as it is February, I pulled the hearts I had started last year:
These blocks are made using fusible interfacing with a grid on it.  Cut the fabric in squares. Arrange on the grid.  Iron lightly to adhere. Fold on the back and sew rows. Clip seams, open them up and then resew the perpendicular lines.


Here is my inspiration for more blocks to add to them from Small quilts and doll quilts.





So I started creating some new blocks:
These are just after ironing.

These are after vertical rows are sewn:


These are some letters: done on grids:



Now to finish them and assemble all together.

Friday Free Day

I am so lucky to have today, Friday, off from school.  It is the end of the semester and a day for teachers to complete grades.  I have my new schedules for next semester, Monday. Should be interesting?

I needed a day to relax and had hoped to sew with my quilting buddy, but she left for warmer climates. Hope she has a good trip! And after dealing with a sick grandson last night, I am tired, too. I felt so bad for my little buddy. His mom took him to a clinic last night.

So I need to get stuff done. Three projects are in pieces around me.

And the reveal for a weekend's worth of work:

1st: this is the finish of the row by row on the Christmas quilt.  My contribution is the row on the right comprised o 3 blocks.



2nd:  Here is the totally appliqued top ready to be quilted.  4 months work of applique for the leaves, flowers and berries. I have a callous on my finger tip to show for it. 2 pictures one from top and the other from the bottom. Hooray! Hooray.  I added the borders and did the last applique to connect the vine to each corner and finish the flower there.







More strips for my 30s quilt  I spent many hours just one strip at a time. It is getting closer.


Changed to blue for my RSC project.
 I had fallen in love with this quilt from Scrap Box Quilts by Kat Scribner which she finished early last year. She revealed a few of  the rows being assembled using the hatchet block



So I played around with my strips and then made a 6 and a half inch block using Kona black and white. Having a ruler that size really helped for the trim purposes.


I have at least a dozen completed and have decided to do a twin sized quilt and a baby quilt to donate.



Then I found out that my mom has pneumonia.  I feel so badly for her. She has no pep and lives so far away.  I had been planning these mug rugs for her and quickly finished them up to put them in the mail on Monday.  One for her, and one for my step dad.








Lastly, a birthday celebration in the family. We gathered to have a turkey dinner and chocolate cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream frosting. The turkey was because I had 2 in the freezer and it is her favorite.



Notice the boys had to help open the presents, blow out the candles and say cheese just right so the pictures do not look cute.  But we had so much fun together.  Family is the best.