Dog days of Summer and the Summer Spread

As the grandkiddos will say -
'Grammy, it's stinkin' hot!'
And I respond, 'that's because it's the dog days of Summer'.
(That's what my Great GrandmaB would say,
so I guess that's where I picked that up,
but wonder where that originated...)
But it has been stinkin' hot...
Good weather to stay in and stitch a little, for sure.

As of last night, before the stroke of midnight,
I finished my #SummerSpread #SewAlong quilt top!!!!!!

8/8/18, Summer Spread on the bed!!

These last blocks were a little more splinted logs than whole logs

At this point it's at 88 inches square -
and I need to decide if I add another row or two.
I did this sew along with Barb when I saw her #SummerSpread idea on Instagram... (here's her link to her blog - Fun with Barb)

I used little pieces from trimmed logs to piece the last blocks together, and love that look.  

Lovely shirtings strips readied

This last picture is how I prepped my strips for block making:

A block center and logs stack, at the ready... I could stitch a block in a few spare moments, and it sure seemed to go together quickly!
Now to decide how to finish it!

Hope your Dog Days of Summer are going well.

Well that took a while

New computer shopping & set up?
Not.  My.  Favorite.
Just saying.  
The young guy that helped me
during choosing and purchasing process
said it was super simple set up these days.
But, he would not give me his direct call number for support. 
😀😀😀

So - a long time to catch up on in blogland.
Don't know how to get it all without writing for hours non-stop,
so I'll just start and add some photos of a current project in progress.

My most current obsession is this - 
#SummerSpread #LowVolume
#FunWithBarb on Instagram
#SummerSewAlong #LogCabinQuilt

Aren't those just the greatest shirtings??!!  I was so out of light setting fabrics in the Springtime (until retreat and no new fabrics challenge ended), and when I restocked, I really restocked!! 💖💖

Though I had plenty of other projects in the works, when I saw on Instagram that Barb, of @FunWithBarb was starting this cool Summer Sew Along, I HAD to join in!!
AND.... I just happened to have all those ^ cool shirtings that would be perfect!!

'Cause who doesn't need a summer-weight quilt for the Summer???

1st blocks and I'm in love with this!

Blocks:  

more blocks:

About half way there already!!

FYI -- I'm using:  

• 2.5" cut center
• 2" cut logs
• three 'rounds' of logs
• for a finished 11" block

It really is going so quickly!
My goal is to have it put together by month end. 
There are no rules to this sew-along - no minimums/maximums, colors or sizes, no fixed-date to finish, you can join in if you love this look as much as I do. 

Enough for today!  
Hope everyone is enjoying their July!  

Computer issues have me down

I’m sad to say that is definitely time for me to go computer shopping. With so many choices and so many options available, it’s always mind-boggling to me.
I’d like to share pictures from a quilt retreat;
I could share a quilt I made for another swap I’ve participated in;
I’d share a little, long-term project I’ve started - 3.5 inch baskets;
or even share three freshly made baby quilt gifts
for new twin nieces and a coming soon nephew.

But.... no pictures can be added from my mobile device. ☹️

I hope you’re all keeping busy and enjoying your Spring.
Happy Stitching!
And I’ll try to check in again, soon.

more swapping going on around here

Following my annual tradition of joining in on swaps,
I decided I'd do another block swap this Winter,
when Barb, of Fun with Barb blog fame, 
offered her (what has become) annual block swap. 
She offered the swap in Modern or Reproduction fabrics,
and the block she chose for us to make was 
the Churn dash - six inch finished; 
44 of one color way, and 22 of a second colorway.  
We'd make and send 66 blocks and get 66 in return!

I chose the Reproduction group and used two of my favorite fabrics:

and made forty-four of the blue, twenty-two of the cheddar. 

It doesn't look like a stack of 66 blocks, I know, but Whew!!
Yes, it was a lot of blocks to make.
Made and mailed the end of February, 
so we'll be getting our swap blocks back soon!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!!   
☘☘☘☘☘
Hope you enjoy your weekend!!

Little quilt swap

One of the quilty, online groups I'm in
offered a small quilt swap... 
requirements: 
primitive, small, theme of basket and berries, 
(but not Easter themed), 
and mailed by the middle of March.
I decided to join in, and am so glad I did!

The swap coordinator made the swap assignments, 
and I was assigned Karen of Washington, 
and Karen got me in return.

Here's the one that I made and sent:

CW reproduction cottons, with a little wool in the berries, and quilted on the Sashiko machine with hand-quilting YLI threads.  I don't even recall that I measured it when I finished, but it was about 14"x18" I believe.
The back, with hanging corners and label:

note pad of paper slipped into one of the hanging corners

And the one that I received from Karen!!:

So CUTE and folky!  Great fabrics, and hand-quilted, and just my style. 💖💖💖💖💖

I find it interesting that we have such similar tastes!  We'd never spoken to each other, and I don't even know if she has a blog, so no looking for clues early.
It was a great little interlude of stitching and gifting, for sure!!!

Happy middle of March, everyone!!

Sweet land of liberty #2

February is a short month, I know, 
but it seemed to me to fly by.
I did seem to accomplish quite a bit in 28 days though!!
I made 66 churn dash blocks for a swap.
I did a couple of Dear Jane blocks to send to a friend who's under the weather.
I'm working on a small quilt for a swap.
AND...
I have my second month of blocks done for the
Sweet Land of Liberty sew-along 
(LINK to see all the fun:  hosted by Lori of Humble Quilts):

Looking at this picture, 
I think I'll add some stitched eyes now 
instead of buttons later, though.
It's fun to be back working on this one again after a long vacation from it.

Oh, and I had a birthday this month!
I get to be 59!!!! 
A friend made me a decadent cake

It's now one candle per decade they said, 
and they rounded up to 60 for me 😊

and Sweetie and friends took me out for a pizza party!

I'm thankful for another birthday to celebrate, wonderful family, and special friends and celebrations of any kind.

Happy Stitching everyone!
Hope your February was sweet and
you had some time to spend with your stitching 
or whatever trouble fun you like to participate in.

stitching away play

I mentioned last week about my 
quilting friends' group challenge
to use up stash.....
I'm just here to say that fabric diets are difficult 😁
But I don't "owe" any fresh pretzels - yet.

I have been playing,
stitching away on some projects in progress,
and it feels good to play with my 'toys' I haven't had out for a while.

In this stitching vein/thread,
I've joined Lori, of Humble Quilts blog,
and a great group of like-minded folks,
to stitch on the quilt -
Sweet Land of Liberty,
an old Cheri Payne design (now out of print).
It made total sense to me, as I'd worked on this great primitive quilt before.
Like nine years ago, before.
Ooops, where does time go when you're having fun?
And I still love it, so I'm not counting how long it's been resting, 
and am declaring it part of my 
Get it Finished This Year challenge.... aka GIFTY.

So, for month one of the Humble Quilts Sew Along,
here are the first blocks I've done...
(link to the group challenge to be added later this week)

I already had the big applique blocks done, but had to add all the embroidery... AND, I made the Economy Blocks, plus a few extra, which I have not trimmed down as of yet, (because I know how some of these Cheri patterns sometimes need a coping strip added occasionally 😀).

I'm off to go do some more stitching, 
(and not purchase any new fabric)!
Hope you are enjoying your day, too!

a new year!

I welcomed in the New Year with happiness, and hope you did, too.
We (Sweetie and I) hosted a new year's eve dinner and card party - 11 people, with delicious foods brought in by all attending.  It was perfect and peaceful and fun.
Lots of visiting and laughter.  We chose to play progressive euchre with two tables of four, and three sitting out each game rotation, so we all had time to visit AND play cards, with the games ending right before the televised ball drop in NY.

I don't usually make New Year resolutions, only to fulfill my long-ago promise made to my Great-Grandma B - to learn something new each year (which can be something small or something monumental).  
Last year, I learned more about gut health and how it affects so many things in overall health and wellness.  Don't get me started here, LOL, or I'll go on and on, but it is AMAZING what gut health controls.

In the quilting realm, I've decided this year I will finish up some already started projects.  Who knows why I have all the blocks for an entire quilt made, some not even sewn together or without borders attached. 
Like this ongoing project - 

 Farm Girl Sampler quilt blocks now together, but not pressed.

(book Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt)

Also!, a few friends and I who retreat together, 
have an ongoing challenge.... a 'bet' of sorts. 
We have chosen to not purchase any new fabric 
as we work on our unfinished projects this Winter/Spring - 
to try to use our stash.  
The first person to purchase new fabric 
will have to buy pretzels for the others -  
the awesome, freshly made, pretzels from Shipshewana, 
when we see each other again in November.

So, back to blogging, back to stitching, and back to learning!!!
Hope your January is wonderful, too!!!

I LOVE having company!

(I thought it had, and don't know why this did not publish in April, but I'm going to try it again!!!!)

So many fun & busy times were had here in April!!!
Why?, well, because
I had house guests from out of the country!
My Norwegian friends, 
who I met about five years ago at a quilt retreat,
came to visit me!

I'd not seen them for about 550 days...
but who was counting? 😁
From the time I collected them from the airport,
it was like we'd not been apart those 18 months.
We visited and caught each other up with our lives.
We grocery shopped, cooked, shared recipes,
and, of course, we ate well.

Outside the Morgan House restaurant

They were here after Easter, so we shared the tradition of 
one of our family Easter dinners with them. 

making Sun Buns!

We laughed and enjoyed ourselves to the max...
even attending a couple of wine sampling events. 😂

We visited the #1 Zoo in the United States...
THE Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

We walked and counted our steps together.
We also did some important shopping....,
visiting local quilt shops!

 

And not-so-local shops, too!

The last full week they were here,
we attended a quilt retreat in the Amish area of Indiana.
Where we also visited, ate, laughed, walked;
and shopped those local quilt shops:

Gohn Brother's

Caroline's Quilt Cottage

Just that last week of visiting the quilt shops and retreat and back to my home, we traveled 600 miles!

I love my quilt-y friends and can hardly wait until we meet up again!!
(I may be counting down the days, again!)

Beautiful October

I don't think I have a favorite month,
or even favorite time of year....
But this October, here in central Ohio?
It has been awesome!!!
The weather has been almost Summer-like,
with lots of family fun times,
many special times with friends, too,
some stitching time thrown in,
and even a little fall decor I've put out! 😄

Here are a few of my favorite, Autumnal, little quilts:

Geese in the Cabin small quilt

12x12 Fall Colors, hand tied

Pumpkins and Geese - 
this pattern was in a quilt magazine 
a handful of years ago, 
that I free-motion-quilted on my long-arm

Bringing out and seeing those little quilts makes me reminisce...
Don't you just LOVE all those fabrics???  
Even if you're not a real fan of Civil War era repro fabrics, 
I think they're so home-y, so warm and vibrant.
Those little quilts, above, I made while working at a 
reproduction fabrics quilt shop, The Good Wives Company.  
The Good Wives Co. was a totally awesome shop, with such inspiration, creativity, quilty love, and wonderful people, and we were all just devastated when they closed four years ago.  I feel there's still a hole in our quilt shop community from them closing their doors. 
I'm thankful for my time there and all the quilty friendships made, and still think about them often, and miss their fabric availability, too, as you can probably tell from this writing. 

Do you have a favorite month, or favorite season for quilts??  
What's your favorite style of fabric?
And do you have a favorite quilt shop?
I try to support all the local shops, and online shops, too....
 - and laugh as I say that, 
because I don't truly NEED any more fabric,
or any more projects, either, for that matter,
to add to my Want-To-Make-Someday list.  

Happy, beautiful October to you!
I wish you wonderful Autumn weather, 
crunchy leaves, and plenty of stitching time in your day.

bad bad blogger - UFOs

UFOs ... in fabric, projects, and blogs.  
I offer my sincere apologies to anyone who's been awaiting an update 
from my little part of blog-land.  
All is well here in central Ohio, and there are no excuses, 
I've just not taken the time here to sit down and write on this blog.

Fun with the family, and activities with friends, quilting and hand stitching time, too.... life just happens! Don't know how to go back and put it all into written word now without making myself crazy trying to remember what happened when, 
so I'm just going to start back in, jumping around a little as I come across pictures.

In May, at a quilt retreat, a couple friends and I started a FB group -  
Scrappy Four Patch Friends ... 
using the simple four-patch block. 
We discussed that we really wanted to challenge ourselves to 
step outside our usual fabric box - 
and not necessarily use the fabrics that we are normally drawn to.
 
I have many double four patch blocks made:

 Like 400!!  
(Most of us are making the little four-patch pieces cut at 1.5", and the larger squares cut at 2.5" to make the double four-patch.)
Stitched into rows and ready to press:

Lots and lots of polka dots in double four-patch blocks!
Definitely NOT my usual civil war repros!, but loving it!!!

Such a simple layout, but will be a great look, I think.

If you are interested in joining in, 
you can search facebook for the group 
Scrappy Four Patch Friends, 
and I'll get you added!

Happy middle of September, and hope everyone is doing well!

little swap quilt recieved!!!!

I'd shared previously that I was again participating
in a little quilt swap, hosted by Lori, of Humble Quilts blog...

Well, guess what I received??
A little quilt from the hostess herself!!
How lucky can a gal get?!?

 Sticks and Stones!!!

It was hand and machine quilted, 
and has the most wonderful little binding!

Thank you Lori, for your wonderful work of art!
I love, love, love all the fabrics, and the pattern, and all the
effort you not only put into it, but also everything you've done to host all the swaps!!!
It's so wonderful to find more quilty friends around the world! 💖

You can visit the link up party to view all the swapped quilts here:
Humble Quilts Swap

Little quilt swap

Again this year I joined in on the fun
of a little quilt swap with Lori, of Humble Quilts blog.
Since I'd been working on my 42-Cents Forever Stamp quilt, 
(and I just happened to have a few leftover stamps)
I decided to use them in my little quilt for the swap.

I made it in March, bound it in April, then carried it along with me to a retreat in Indiana, to mail from there, so it got to do some extra traveling!!

I was given a gals' name that seemed not to have a blog or facebook presence, but just in case she did, I didn't share here what I'd made, until I knew she'd received it.

where have I been?

A whole lot going on, but not a whole lot going on...
while I've been absent from blogland.
I'm guessing you probably know how it is, too. 😊
Great times spent with family the last few weeks
and over the local school Spring break.
 
I have continued working on my postage stamp quilt -
42-Cents Forever Stamps quilt,
and it's a top, 
not just thousands of little one-and-a-half inch pieces!!

I love it!! 
And someone may have enough little 1 1/2" squares left over
to make another some day.😂
(pattern from the book 19th-Century Patchwork Divas' Treasury of Quilts)

Happy April everyone!!