HO HO HO BLOG HOP

I would like to first thank Mdm Sam for the inspiration of this hop and Carol for being our hostess for the event.  You can always click the button on the side bar to find the daily list of bloggers participating.  I share my day with these lovely ladies:

Abyquilt

MacDonald’s Patch

Life and Everthing Around It

Hill Valley Quilter

Traveling Quilter

Quilting Lines

The Reluctant Quilter

Pig Tales and Quilts

Teatime Creations

Ravelly1

I knew exactly what I wanted to play with once I saw the introduction for this new Hop.  I love the Twister templates and own three different sizes.  And I bought a new toy/tool which just wanted to come out and play too.  So I chose my smallest Twister - yes, that's a 1.5" template.

If you have not worked with a twister template, you start with a block layout first.  With this little guy, I need to start with 2.5" squares.  You can see how that cutting and re-stitching really affects the size of your finished piece.

My finished mini Twister Christmas Tree.  Started with a 32" square piece and ended up with a 15.5" cute little wallhanging for the season.

Of course you have some heavy seams, so I chose to 'tie' rather than quilt this.  So I used various beads, buttons, and metalic threads to tie and decorate my little tree.  It's hard to see, but I also tied little white star buttons in the white background.

And like most quilters, I have other fiber arts I like to play with.  Cross stitching has been a long time love affair for me.

I love to capture structures that show such texture and design.  And who can't remember 'Over the River and Thru the Woods' ......

'To Grandmother's House we go' - Christmas time on the farm is like no other for me.  Animals in their abundant coats for the winter cold, sleigh rides and sleigh bells, a fire and roasting chestnuts, Christmas goodies baking and filling the house with wonderful smells. And family and friends filling the old house to the brim!

My fabric framing tutorial for cross stitch can be found HERE at SewWeQuilt .

As a thank you for visiting and to find some inspiration for your next Christmas project, I have a give away ..........

A layer cake of 'Skater's Village' by Karen Cruden for Windham Fabrics (photos from Missouri Star Quilt Co. where I purchased these).

Easy peasy - just leave me a comment on your favorite Holiday food.  I will ship international and will leave comments open until midnight August 9th (est) and will announce & contact the winner the following morning - be sure I have a way of reaching you.

Enjoy the Hop,

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

July NewFO

Like everyone else, I am wondering where the month went - heck, were is the year going?!  And I've noticed I have been adding the term 'in 2014' in some posts - yikes!!

I love participating in the Monthly Doll Quilt Swap group.  The July theme was Patriotic and my partner and I agreed to stay on theme.  I just love the frienship star Sher used and this is not overly R/W/B so I can hang this with some of my little Americana decors anytime I want.  And I love that she used one of her specialty (stars) machine stitches to finish the binding.

   

And I sent off four doll quilts to Debbie at Stitchin Therapy for the Mrs Claus project - please check it out - so easy and quick to make doll quilts.

And On the previous post, I had my Lorax quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids.  I've dumped my scrap bucket to sort shapes and sizes for another scrap quilt in August to add to the project.

And silly me, joined 4 QALs during July:  Lanterns, Alphabet, Nabby's Diary, and Surround Stars.

I have made progress on my major NewFO project for July - putting those long lost Red Brolly 'Cataliscious' embroideries into a quilt top.  I have to make this in 6 sections and then they will be joined - this is one of the four sections I have done and I hope to get the other two done in August, maybe even completely assembled.  I am thinking of hand quilting this one.

The HoHoHo Blog Hop starts today, and I have two of my NewFos in my August 1st post for this hop. (and yes, I have a give away too)

August NewFO I think is going to be about tackling that 'to-be-quilted' pile - other than my new doll quilt swap.  The orchard is just about ready for picking and processing.  That top photo - a miniature tree I bought for my Dad (after losing our orchards to a tornado - we assessed minis would mature faster), marked wrong as obviously not a miniature.  Our minis had to be propped as the branches are so loaded with fruit they would snap off.  Last year with the early heat and drought - we had a total of THREE apples - this is a happy sight this year. Hmm, Barb, have an apple chutney recipe?  Can you just not smell the cider, apple sauce, pies, tarts, dehydrated slices, cookies, cakes - - - 

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

** linking up with Barbara at CatPatches NewFO2013 **

100 Quilts for Kids

Katie of Swim,Bike,Quilt and hostess of the 100 Quilts for Kids project, has opened up the linky early.  So if you have completed your quilt(s) already, link them up.  And there is still time for August and September to complete those projects or add to the love.

Need some inspiration to get started?  Visit Sue Daurio - she has whipped up a bunch of great string quilts from a single bucket of scraps and strings.  Now you know you got those somewhere in your room!  I think I have time for a couple of those too.

I did get a quilt finished using some parts of The Lorax panel and left overs from another Lorax quilt mixed with orphan JR strips.  And this cute little quilt needed a home when I saw on a friend's post that their guild was in need of donation charity quilts.  So I asked Sheila of Sew,Cook,&Travel if I could assist and off this went and gifted on to the Wilkes County Quilters.  If you need some where to send your quilt, visit and contact Sheila.

     

And I wanted to add to the box I sent, so pulled this SunBonnet Sue quilt from our shop.  I am sure she will make some little girl very happy.

And if this hasn't motivated you, there are prizes for linking up donated quilts!

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

**also, if there comes a need from all the flooded areas recently, please bloggers, give a shout out and/or contact Katie to add to the list of donation areas**

Whooping it Up on Friday

Well, I am whooping it up because our lovely internet provider's new equipment update (for speed) totally put down a whole county - maybe more.  Geesh!!  But we are back, thankfully, as there are some real cool things coming up - and I would have been having a heart attack in not accessing photos, files, draft posts,etc... 

I got all my fabrics cut in prep for the Star Surround QAL with Melissa over at Happy Quilting.  I love this fabric line from CT - super fall colors, pumpkins, tree silohettes, basketweave prints, sunflowers, and burlap look textures.  Not the ordinary fabrics for a star quilt, but I love the conglomerate of color and textures that sings Fall.  Yes, I got a FQ bundle and two layer cakes of this, so I have lots of left overs for another fall quilt. (my cuts are different than the list as I want to make my geese the corner flip rather than the no waste method)

Two more Flower Patch blocks finished.  I actually have all the other flower blocks done - they are partially finished as you need to add the rick-rack stems in before that final piecing and I need to pick up some rick-rack.  Then I can finish this quilt top right up as all the other pieces are waiting to be played with.  Whoop - almost there!

And I finished Morse Code.  Simple straight line quilting and I love how the fun flying pigs fabric for the binding just perks this right up.  Some of you asked if the dot-dash meant something - no, unless you know what NAKNA is for.  Just a design, but wouldn't that be fun to do on a wallhanging - secret message?  Or spell out a name?

** linking up with Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict **

The weather has turned cooler - Fall is in the air already.  The apples are crisping with color in the orchard.  And my black-eyed susans and mums are about to burst open.  I know, we had a long Winter, no Spring, a week or so of Summer - now Fall!  I do hope so as it is my favorite season. (oh yeah, the ragweed has also bloomed out here- achoo)

Hey - we are thinking WINTER - the Hop to get your 'Santa On' - inspiration for the Season.  Oh my - there are so many wonderful new Seasonal fabric lines out there right now.  Get that scribble pad and pencil out - make those lists and check them twice.  There will be lots of inspiration for those projects to be done.  I will be in the Aug 1st line up - what to your wondering eye will appear?

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon 

DWM - 7/22/13

After finishing up a large project and so many QALs in the works, I needed something that went together really quickly - a diversion.  This is 'Morse Code' from Konda Luckau's "Simply Charming Minis".  I threw in some whimsy fabrics - black and white clowns and for a bit of color some flying pigs.  I'm using the pig fabric for the binding, too - uses that bit of scrap up.  AND I'll be honest, I have this piece already quilted and binding is in the process of being hand stitched.

And the reason I'm not doing all those tiny baskets and other bitties - this will be the only time you see this until it is completed.  A long term, slow, enjoy the process, wait for the color bits of squares to be added to the mini tubs, BIG project that I don't care if it takes a couple of years to get finished.

I've determined I HATE my new camera - my helpers holding down the fabrics while I try to get my 'official' July NEWFO project ready.

The FQs are all cut and I got the star and geese blocks done.  The rest is easy going from here on.  My Red Brolly cat embroideries playing with some Free Spirit - 'Fresh Cut' by Heather Bailey.  And oddly - my SIL about had a heart attack when she saw the cut stacks - then pulled her tote to show me her fabrics that had come in the mail.  She had bought some of the same in yardage to make aprons! 

The first two blocks of Pam Buda's 'Nabby's Diary' using Pheasant Hill.  I didn't pre-assemble all the HSTs in the step one of this project (that would turn even me off) - I am using the method of making 8 HSTs with two squares (two charms work perfectly) and doing the blocks as they come out.

CLOSING THOUGHT

I have seen so many blogs discussing slacking, loss of interest, guilt in not getting anything started or finished.  HEY - it's Summer, it's a heat wave, it's family time, it's outdoors, it's smelling the flowers.  I pre-scheduled posts and actually was off and away - yeah, me - not sewing.  Enjoying family, grandies, shopping, traveling.  It's Summer.

"No bought potpourri is so pleasant as that made from ones own garden, 
for the petals of the flowers one has gathered at home hold the sunshine 
and memories of summer, and of past summers 
only the sunny days should be remembered."

-  Eleanor Sinclair-Rhode

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

** linking up with Patchwork Times **

Up the Ladder

I played with the Lanter QAL block #2 - Ladder.  Rather than several fabrics, I kept to two closely themed/coloured strips - oh, these strips are really pretty but so not on the grain so patterns run a little cocked-eye!!

I tried to do a little fussy cutting to get some interest with the patterns.  See that pencil - notice how 'off' the strips are?  I paid a lot of money for this JR, so not scrapping it because it is off grain or cut short.

It's bad enough they pink them so deep, but I marked a 2.5" strip on paper and laid some strips on it so you can see just how short they are of the 2.5" mark.  I did have to throw one strip out as it was run thru the cutter folded so I had a very strange strip.  I've enjoyed and used Free Spirit fabrics before, but as yardage or FQ bundles - this is my first pre-cut.  I don't think I will be buying any more.

And my machine is tied up with this project - block making and playing with my tiny scraps is on hold until this quilt is done.  The 'Forest QAL' - so I can get it into the contest and maybe even Pet's on Quilts.  A lot of thread changes, threads to bury, and a lot of hours into this one - the most extensive quilting I have done on a large quilt.  Gosh, if my workhorse of an old machine ever croaks on me ----- I will be devistated.  She hums along no matter what task on the ladder I put to her.   

CLOSING THOUGHT

Hmmm - Ladders

1. Ladder is like life
2. one has to climb it to reach the top
3. one has to climb slowly so as to not upset the balance
4. one can pause on each step to take in the breath or the view
5. ladder is very useful to reach things placed higher
6. Nowadays there are folding ladders to put away
7. One can climb up in education or career step by step

Ladders in Quilting

1. Ladder Stitch
2. Jacob's Ladder
3. Quilt Ladder (display ladder)
4. Ladder variation - Stepping Stones
5. Climb the ladder of quilting skills

Can you think of more?

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

DWM - 7/15/13

I think this is just a fun quilt - LANTERNS - being done as a QAL over at Quilty Habit.  Today the second lantern pattern will be revealed.  I am using Kona Sand and World Tour by Parson Gray.  There are actually two blocks pinned there as I plan on making the larger lap size and need double the blocks.  I've had a lot of requests for men's quilts and this should fit the bill. 

Boy, did I have trouble finding this month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - I dug through everything and every place!  Some ugly fabric got used - oy!!  I used every bit (smidgy-widgies got tossed) and had to pull a FQ to get the last row on the log cabins.  And to keep with putting whimsy in my Sprout blocks - look real careful - I had a 3.5" square that I used for making HSTs - so two partial fishy fun.

And since my swap partner has received the Monthly Doll Quilt Swap - Patriotic Theme - I can share the quilt that went with that little dolly.

** linking up with Patchwork Times **

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Christmas QAL - July - Update

I was pleased with my progress yesterday.  I even managed some errands and entertaining - I know, NO SEW TIME, can you believe it!!

I finished up two of the dolly quilts; today I want to get these cute kitties done.  They are sandwiched up and ready for quilting.  Bindings are prepped and go fast with a machine finish.

And I will assemble my 'non-green/red' project pieces so it is ready for next month's Christmas QAL weekend.

And there should be time to play with these pre-cut squares to make some Angel ornaments using my TUTORIAL from last year.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon