What We’re Working on

 We finished another quilt this past week, other than the hand stitching on the binding. And I’m making good progress on the Atlanta Garden Sampler, where the blocks are available on Barbara Brackman’s Civil War blog and also here on her Etsy shop. I’ve gone a little rogue on this one. I didn’t like November’s block and December’s is going to have curved pieced Drunkard’s Path type blocks which I didn’t want to do. So I substituted a couple from the Electric Quilt libraries. I've started on the quilt as you go process, using pieced sashing between the blocks to carry over the turquoise found in the centre of each block. As usual, the quilting process is slow going, but so much easier on the neck and shoulders and back than doing the quilting all at once on a big quilt. This one is going to measure 62 x 62 inches square when done. I was hoping to get more done on this one today, but there was a snow squall warning out for our area so school was cancelled. The original alternate plan because of the snow day was for Abbie and I to do some baking of muffins. But somehow the "Abbie and I" ended up just “I" as she decided playing with Papa was more fun. She may have been right. I did up 3 different muffin recipes.... Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Blueberry Oatmeal both of which got baked up. Then I mixed up a batch of Six Week Raisin Bran muffins to go in the fridge to bake up in the next few weeks. And now I’m all tuckered out. 

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I managed to dig around in the spare bedroom upstairs that is acting as our storage facility while our renovations down here are happening and I found my Quilters’ Bee cross stitch sampler. I’ve been slowly working my way through the white hardanger lace work at the bottom. It is very fiddly and slow going, which is the whole point of slow stitching, so that’s OK. 

And when my brain or my eyes are too fried to be able to concentrate on the cross stitch, I’ve been working on a very simple mindless scrap sock yarn scarf. It is knit on circular needles with all of the yarn joins being in the middle where they won’t be seen and therefore don’t need to be neatly woven in. It might be close to being done. And of course, I have enough scrap sock yarn here to be able to do another of these. Then again, I may just start another pair of socks.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

What We’re Working on

 We made great progress last week in our Prayers and Squares projects. The woodland theme row quilt is ready for trimming and its side borders. There is a quilt using various shades of pinks and purples accented with aqua in the works. The sampler quilt got its binding finished and is now on its way to be a blessing to someone. And the Flying X quilt that I’ve been working on here at home is ready to have the hand work done on the backing strips to finish off the quilt as you go. Here’s the full layout of it, before the sashing strips were added. And how it looks with one row all together with one of the long sashing strips added . I think this has become my favourite way to do quilting now. Today I am going to work on finishing the blocks for a BOM sampler I started back in January sponsored by Barbara Brackman called Atlanta Garden. I took a picture of it last week and am hoping to get all the blocks for the earth tone version at least, finished today.

What we are working on

 Progress on our Prayers and Squares projects has definitely been one step forward, two steps back this past week. We had all the rows of the woodland creatures quilt sewn together last week. We laid it out on the floor to get pictures only to find that one set of rows was sewn on upside down. That was a very definite grrrrrrr  moment. So no pictures of that this week. Our scrappy strippy piece is ready for borders to go on the top and bottom and then it can get its binding on and be declared done. And the quilt I am working on at home has all of the blocks finished and the quilting started on the individual blocks. This isn’t its final layout. It will have 1 1/2 inch sashing and cornerstones in between the blocks. And that’s where the next steps backward happened. The front looks great. The back, not so much, This is the second time today I’ve made this mistake which is why I decided to take a break and write a blog post. Time to get out the seam ripper. Right after I link up with Mid week Makers.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve been slow stitching all week long, not just Sunday. And I have progress to show for it too, which is always an encouraging thing. The pair of socks I was working on are done up to the point of grafting the toes and sewing in the yarn ends. And then, even better, the cross stitched hymn that I started back in June is about 6 or 7 stitches away from being finished. There are just a few black stitches to put in to finish the border on the bottom right corner. 

I think after this I am going to go back to my Quilters Bee cross stitch piece and see if I can’t get that one done too, assuming I can find it.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then go searching for that cross stitch project.

What we’re working on

 Once again there wasn't enough progress made in our group projects for photos. There is still hand sewing happening on the backs of the quilt as you go projects. And another one needed some repairs done on a panel that was too short. The quilt as you go process is a fairly new one to all of us so we are learning as we go. There should be some good progress made tomorrow which should result in some pictures of near finishes. Three of us did a road trip down to the quilt shop in Minden yesterday called Remember
Me Quilts and More. Their prices are really good and they have a good sized clearance section that makes for great prices for backings for all these quilts. 

In the meantime I’ve done some more sewing on the blocks that I am working on here at home. I have 12 done now. These will also be done quilt as you go style. I have 8 more blocks to do. They are an Electric quilt block called Flying X. They are simple to do and go together quite quickly. I won’t get a chance to get back to it before Friday though. I’m heading out today to a friend’s place to make a couple of batches of tomato sauce out of the tomatoes that came from the summer garden and also that I bought in 25 pound boxes from the grocery store. They have been stored since then in the freezer, but we need the freezer space emptied, so it’s time to get it made up. 

I’ll link up to Mid Week Makers and then I’d best get busy and get together all the stuff I need for that tomato sauce marathon.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m focusing, still, on my warm and fuzzy socks for winter. It’s impossible to have too many pairs of warm wooly socks. There’s something about the first snowfall of the season that triggers the desire to knit socks. We had our first snowfall of a couple of inches on Wednesday. It’s all melted now. So, I’ve made progress on this pair, finishing the first sock and well into the second. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to work on these this afternoon or if I’m going to make some more quilt blocks. I’ll decide after I link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

What we are working on

 At our Prayers and Squares group we are continuing to work on getting a couple of projects to the finish point. I don’t have a new picture of the woodland quilt since there was hand work to be done on the backing before it could progress any further. The scrappy stripes is getting closer to being done and might get finished this week. It has two rows left to add and the top and bottom border. Because it is quilt as you go, there are seams to be finished by hand on the back. 

As well as working on these projects during our Thursday afternoons, I’ve been doing a sampler independently at home. I love making samplers. It is finished, except for the hand stitching on the back and the binding. It will go off to one of the other ladies for this stage of its being. 

And then, just because I got new fabrics in the mail, I had to start another one that will also go to the Prayers and Squares ministry. It is a very simple block from the Electric Quilt libraries called "Flying X" made from 3 1/2 inch strips. The blocks go together very quickly and let the fabrics shine. They are from a collection called “Backyard”. I very rarely ever buy fabrics that are all from one collection. But this one really called to me and I couldn’t resist.

I will link up to Mid Week Makers, finish my second cup of coffee and then get back to more sewing. We got our first snowfall of the season overnight, at least a couple of inches, so it is a good day to stay indoors and play with fabrics and needles and thread.