May Day

Well the sun will shine, it will get warmer, and the lawnmowers have been primed for the first cutting of grass.  The tractors and machinery have been delivered to the crop fields which means they will be getting land in ready for planting, then the planting and soon little signs of new life will appear across the flat lands.   I love the smell of new mown grass, fresh tilled soil, and new sprouting crops.

This will be my inspiration for May's 'Let's Book It'.  I had a hard time narrowing down which project to use - again a book that should not have sat idly on that dusty shelf.  AND yes, my shelves are dusty and need some tidying.

Since I've been wanting to do a 'curve' project, I thought this would fit the bill.  I, also, have a basket of various plaids, stripes, and flannels that need to be played with - perfect.

RSC15 - the color for May is green - the darker greens in your scrap pile.  I have one of my large rolling cart's drawers full of greens (and I spy some blues that got mixed in).  So some color sorting to ensue (and put those blues where they belong) so some block play can happen.

I have that binding to finish, so I need this reminder to join in on Slow Sunday Stitching. 

I have participated with Marcia's May For Me from the start.  With my 'simplify' year, my May For Me will be a little toned down this year because I need time for ME.

I will be a Hands 2 Help guest blogger on Sunday, May 3rd over at Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

And my Birthday week will have a special give away.

I Hope your May is wonderous,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Good Bye April

April here in the NorEast was much like March - cold, snow, and wind.  So I truly bid a farewell to April and hope May brings something wonderous.

In my keeping it simple - one project on my to-do list was getting the border on my Snowball/9-Patch.  Not only did I get the border on, but I finished it.  A simple SID quilting and used the same border fabric for the binding - not my usual.

Another to-do item is to keep up with the RSC15.  April was the color purple and all my blocks were completed.  Actually, I made a lot of blocks - not just purple - during the month of April.  BUT I tend to fall in love with a block and just keep chaining them until there is a pile.  Then I send them all off for some lovely ladies to finish playing with them.

And my Let's Boot It project - the nickelquilt.  Now whether I get to those borders in May???  You all know how I love to add borders.

I was very bad in participating in Slow Sunday Stitching.  The flower cross stitch got picked up - the floss sorting got to me and I was caught up in other things.  Even my hand stitching on a binding didn't get done.

  

My distraction was playing.  Not just with lots of blocks (and three commission quilts), but with this cute lamb fabric.

Just some fun organic quilting for some texture and the last of my 'fun' fabric for binding.

And I had to make sure my guest post was ready - but that I will tell you about tomorrow - MAY - may it be wonderous.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Let's Book It - April 2015

Where has the time gone?  Not only the month is almost over, but it is the 4th month of the year - already!  And Spring has not happened here yet.

I love this book and could make every quilt in it - really.  I will be re-visiting this one in the near future.

This was the project I chose for the month of April.  What is really nice with this book is that Pat has a chart for each quilt in various sizes - baby, lap, queen, king.  So the math work is all right there for you.

I had to resort to an indoor photo as the weather has been horrid for outdoor photo sessions.  I decided to go with a 6 X 6 block setting which made this 72" square.  It didn't even put a dent in my 2.5" squares, but I did a great job at depleting the strips. As tempting as it is to just call this done, there will be two borders added like in the book. 

Remember - large projects can be broken down into workable monthly sessions and used for Let's Book It each month with show of progress.  Now I could carry this one over to next month for those borders, but I have another project/book I want to visit.    

  

This month's charm to go with the Vintage Machine Pin is the Carolina Lily.

Now it is time for you to share:

An InLinkz Link-up

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Monday Making

Since I am still waiting on my big roll of batting, I will join in with Beth and do some small projects.

I have my Batik Chain Link quilt (from so long ago) under the machine, but I really have trouble handling Batik fabric for some reason.  I can only work one or two 'links' and then have to wash my hands and take a break - my hands break out just like I was handling wool.

So while on those breaks, I will play with this fun pile of the R/W/B scraps from those commission quilts.  Pulled some zips and will prep all the pieces for This Wristlet at Sew4Home.  I've made these before and they take a little time to prepare all the pieces, but then sew up very quickly for some great little bags.

What are you playing with this week?

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Hands2Help - Guest Blogger #3

Please hop over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Sarah's third guest.  There is still time to join in - check those shelves, closets, tubs as there might be a flimsy hiding or a quilt that just needs a binding.

I should be joining in with the Slow Stitching Sunday, but there has been a run on the shop for baby quilts - Spring does bring baby showers and babies.  So I am playing with this cute lamb print that I got over at my friend Kris' Etsy Shop - Lavendar Quilts.  I laid my favorite little bunny scissors on the print so you can see how large those little lambs are.  It is too sweet to cut so the yard piece will be a full center with some fun 9-patch flower borders.  

And some serious Spring cleaning needs to be done which is hard to wrap myself around since Spring just doesn't seem to want to arrive in these parts. 

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Snow???

My poor furries are confused.  "It started to get warm Mamma, but this morning we went out and there is that dratted white stuff on the ground.  And it is falling from the sky.  And it is COLD'!  How better to spend a day like this than to nap in cozy fur piles on that great mound of pillows, blankets, and quilts. 

My commission work is on 'wait' for now as I didn't have any batts big enough.  After a browse of the web, I found a great sale on top of an Earth Day discount, and free shipping - I am waiting on a queen size roll of Quilter's Dream Select batt to be delivered to my door.

I thought best to use my wait time to clean  up some side projects (and the side table).  Being it is the last weekend for RSC15 -purple, I thought the first clean up should be the Itty Bitty blocks - just needed to put all those parts done as leader/enders into the final block format - done.

I saw this block on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville and made a little change to it.  I had passed on some strips/strings to my Mom for a project she was working on and I got those cut-off bits back.  So I used those for the 1.5" squares, changed the corners to a full 2.5" square, and the center is a 3.5" square.  I am using up three different size scrap squares with some left over muslin strips.  Can't get any better than that!  I will sash with 2.5" muslin and 4-patch (1.5" squares) corner stones.

And a lovely shout out to Bea Lee who is now selling her patterns with Connecting Threads.  I had the pleasure of being a pattern tester for Bea and she is currently running several give aways of her patterns to celebrate this wonderful business adventure.  So go give her some love - and maybe win one of her patterns (browse back thru her last few posts for each pattern intro and give away).

** linking up with Feline Friday, RSC15, and Oh, Scrap

I'm hoping Friday AND the weekend shows us some love - No more snow!

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon 

Simply Quiet

I will be quiet for a little time as I have some commission work to do.  Things don't have to be ready until the first weekend in June, but I don't want to be in another quilting marathon.  So I am getting quilts, pieced backs done and then allowed plenty of time to space their quilting.  Patriotic fabrics are as difficult for me to work with as Christmas fabrics - not my thing, but we have to step out of the box (and mind) sometimes.

To keep me happy, I have used some wonderful scraps sent to me by a lovely blogger.  These sweet 9-patches have grown as leader/enders while I am piecing the commission work.  I think these will make a great 'big-girl' quilt for my granddaughter when she is ready for that grown up bed.  Since that may be a time, I might even hand quilt it.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Hands2Help - Guest Blogger #2

Please hop over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Sarah's second guest blogger with a wonderful QAYG tutorial.  It is also a check-in link up time to report on progress with your charity quilts.

I will be joining Kathy for some slow stitching.  She has a link up for your handwork as well as would like some sharing on ideas for carry totes/bags for handwork taken on the go.

I have a binding that needs to be prepped for one quilt and another that needs to be sewn down.  So a little machine time mixed with a little hand stitch time.  And a few necessities of house work mixed in, too.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Borders

Most of you know that I hate to do borders.  I decided that yesterday was the day to get those quilts sitting on the shelf that were waiting - bordered!  This is my snowball/9-patch that I have been stitching along with Terry.  A back has been pieced for this and will be my next quilting project.

This is a free pattern by Me and My Sister Designs and can be found HERE.  I made this as a Let's Book It project and still needs finishing.  The back has been pieced and it will be quilted next in line.  This pretty fabric is Crazy for Red by Minnick and Simpson.

As much as I hate to do borders, I hate more so to make large quilts - HA!!  This is a sampler for my Quilt Guild challenge of a block a month - to encourage members to make at least one block a month.  I have an 'aged' extra wide on the shelf that will be used for a back on this one - so I can move that fabric on.

And this one is even bigger and was impossible to photo outside - we are a bit still in the mud season and there was some wind.  This thing wanted to sail!  I had seperated my lites (low volumn) from my medium/dark 2.5" square barrel storage system - I had two barrels crammed.  So this quilt evolved just to use it up.  This will get an extra wide backing (I move scraps out fast, but my yardage sits on the shelf forever) and not sure if I will quilt it or send it out to a long armer.

Now that my borders are done - to move on to a project that should have no borders:

  

There is an urgent request for quilts to be passed out to the Illinois tornado areas.  I don't want to copy/paste/repeat - so will let  you visit Cheryle's blog to get all the latest information.  There is a very quick upcoming deadline, so find a quilt sitting on the shelf, finish up a flimsy, a quick panel, or a quilt that has been sitting just waiting on it's binding.  I have two quilts I pulled from our shop and they are heading out in the mail tomorrow.

** link up with Whoop, Whoop Friday **

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Design Wall Monday - 4/13/15

I had to pick up my quilting project - rain and kitties with muddy paws that just seem to find a light color quilt - not good!  So I've started to put some of the blocks together for my 'Let's Book It' project from the Nickle book.  These go together very quickly as all the sub-units are made, so I may get all the blocks done this week with a goal of a flimsy by next week.

That is  - if I can keep this fat cat from thinking my container of units is her personal 'nest'.

These 9-patches were going to be a border for the Snowball/9-Patch quilt, but I didn't like the look.  So they are being 'cornered' with some solid scraps (use them right up - gone).  I like this look way better.

My SIL is learning to set aside every little smidge from her projects - so I can play with them later.  Actually in case there is an 'oops' and we need that little piece.  We mathed her latest quilt right to the 'intz' with little waste and the need for real care in that 1/4" seam.

They are now cute little hour glass blocks that will be thought on for a future project.

Now that the sun is out and drying things up - and furries have found a sunny, warm spot for  a long nap - I think I will pull that quilt back out and try to get the FMQ done.

** linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday **

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Hands2Help - Guest Blogger #1

Today is the first of seven guest posts over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Please go over and visit - enjoy a wonderful tutorial - and hopefully join in the Challenge for 2015.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Stitching Thru the Rain

It has been raining all week, so I have been stitching away those gray skies.  I found another baggy of HSTs and did them up into Sawtooth Stars - I think these went with the other baggy I did.  These will be joining some other blocks that are in the works and then heading out to Sarah's group.  Have some orphan blocks or lonely flimsy or a box of unloved fabric?  Consider a donation. 

She is, also, the spearhead for Hands2Help and you can still join in.  Starting this Sunday, April 12th and the following 6 Sundays - there will be quest bloggers with tips, tutorials, patterns, and helps - you won't want to miss out on all the fun and information.  My day is May 3rd and I will be doing a post on Scrap Management.

I made a little dent in the pile of twosies and bricks to make some of the units for my Let's Book It project.  I may need to step this one up next week to be sure I am on schedule for at least a flimsy by the end of the month.

  The next Bitty Block was the 'floating pinwheel'.  These are quick and fun - you can find them HERE.  If you use the no-waste method that makes 4 geese at once - they are really fast!!!  BUT, I am trying to use up those scraps, thus I am wading thru my smallest pieces and it is taking a little longer - a little longer, really.  I am doing 10 of each of these Bitty Blocks and trying to do them in the RSC15 monthly colors - the yellows and purples are cut and being assembled as leader/enders.  The purple baskets are sitting too - NO purple finishes this week.

Then I decided I better get at least one quilt 'quilted' this month.  Yea - hard to quilt around a furkid.

 This one goes back a ways.  These were a BOM with Red Brolly called 'Cataliscious' and the patterns are still available HERE.  These were stitched back in 2010!  Then made into a flimsy in 2013.  AND now, borders added and half the quilting is done.  Hopefully Miss Bella will move elsewhere for a nap tomorrow so I can finish this one up - it's aged long enough.

** linking up with Oh, Scrap, Whoop,Whoop Friday, and Feline Friday ** 

Sewingly (soggily) Yours,
Sharon

Let's Book It March 2015 Winner

Have you pulled your book, magazine, saved file or pattern for your April project yet?  I could make every quilt in this book - seriously!

And this is the project that I hope will make some kind of dent in the scraps.

I've gotten some twosies done and some bricks cut, but this is probably half what I will need.  At this point I don't count anything.  Once I start getting a good pile of sub-units together, I will put them into piles of 10 to make the counting easier.

                              

The winner of the Vintage Sewing Machine Pin and Crazy Quilt Heart Charm is: #4 JLVerde @ Just Something I Made
She makes the cutest stuffies - some a little strange, but I find them most adorable and full of character.

  
I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend.  Yes, I enjoyed my first 'day' trip to spend an wonderful Easter with these three, my daughter, SIL, son and his girlfriend.  A super meal, lots of conversation (that little peanut in green dominated that part), some outdoor play time (and we saw snowflakes), and hugs I will cherish until the next time.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon