That Word

 

Yes, that word - SNOW!  We actually had about 3 inches here in the valley and the mountains had over 8 inches.  Schools ran 2 hours late.  I didn't get out early for the photo and the change to rain had it almost gone.  We have been on high alert burn bans and there was some fires in parts of lower NY and Mass.  People's wells were running dry - in November - almost never happens.  

I'm trying to finish up the last commission - a sweat shirt quilt.  Just the left panel to put on and then the top and bottome sashing border.  Just straight line quilting this as it is a BEAR.  T-shirt quilts are bad enough, but sweatshirts do take a tool on your machine. In fact one of mine went so out of timing sync that I have to take it in for repair as I couldn't get it sorted out.  And I NEVER do another one of these again.  Besides, I've desided to take a year off from committions for at least a year so I can catch up on my own things.

I wanted to share my little 'feral' kitty.  this is 'T" - what I yell when I put out her food dish.  She is a drop off fixed feral (notched ear) that has been here for 4 years.  It has taken that long for her to come to the edge of the porch.  She waits until I go inside and shut the door before she;ll come up on the porch to eat.  She is a wee thing and I respect her space.  Not to worry, she has a comfy and warm spot in one of the barns abd sge gets fed twuce a day.

And you'll see more of Doopey in the future.  He was another feral drop off 2 years ago.  I've had 6 of these poor drop offs in years with some either wandering off or probably not making it.  I have reported them as feral collections are suppose to be released back to the same area.  I suspect he was a family pet that was dumped in a feral location as he just wanted attention but had learned the feral habits.  Bellas was taken by him and over the summer she let him come in the house for a bit and now he is a permanent house kitty.  

We will be doing just Mom and me for Thanksgiving - have meals being delivered.  I know she will want to watch the parades on TV and then probably nap the rest of the day,  I plan on sewing.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

A Long Time Ago

 I have been gone for so long I had to kick start the blog.  Thank you to those who private messaged me to see how things were going.  Momma is still with use - celebrated a birthday for several weeks!

 Yes, the flowers went into their 'yellow' phase as Fall came upon us.  These Susans I did NOT plant - birds or critters did some creative design.  I had a small stroke in July caused by heat exhaustion.  So quilting has not been on my schedule for some months.

I did travel with the Quilters Hall of Fame raffle quilt for several months - keeping to just 1 hrs. drive away.  Monies raised went to 10 different charities thru out the 5 counties. 

And I managed to stay healthy enough to finish my co-chair position for the Hall  of Fame Quilt Show in September.  I even went on a local radio station to promote the show - a first for me!

My sweet Bella is still the queen of the house.  She will turn 18 in April.  A dear friend made me this double sided plushy throw and she has 'called' it hers and I think she is entitled.

As the cold is creeping in (we've had that 4 letter word already), it means it's hibernation time and I hope it leads to getting back to that sewing machine.  I made no head way with my motto for the year of working even small things.  I need to concentrate on finishing.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Quilts and Flowers

 

It's a bad picture, but pulled from the Library site.  This is where I will be along with fellow quildmates.  This is our 5th year hosting this show, the flower club joined us 3 yrs ago and it makes for a lovely combination.

The Arts Council is sponsoring the music groups thru the day, lots of vendors on the lawn, some 'make and take' activities for the kids, and several food trucks.

Hopefully the weather clears for the day (we've had several rainy days).

Will share pictures of the day later,

Sharon

Happy Memorial Day

 

On the Road Again

 

I would like to thank CAROL for hosting this month's HOP.  The challenge was create anything that shows travel - use your own inspiration.

I am fascinated with history blocks and quilts with stories.  I've been working slowly thru the 'Hobo Quilts' book.  The history is quite fascinating and I am making the blocks for the full quilt, but those I really like I've made small wall hangings with.  

It has a lot of train cars with the story of each and what they meant to the 'warriors of the rails'.  This one showscases some of the other Hobo Signs for the rail and surrounding on each of the freight cars - something planned for the future.

I chose this one - an open car that was easy for large groups and families to get on and off to avoid capture by the railroad bulls (guards).  They would share what they had as well as any information about the surroundings of the rail to make travel easier.

I played in my tote of homespuns, plaids, and stipes to make this fun quilt.  It will be displayed in an up coming show at our local library.  I think the kids will like it.

A bit of a close up of the cars.  I used the vintage stripe ticking for the row dividers - to look like the rails.

It's hard to see, but the backing is another vintage ticking.  I had been gifted a box of it in 'chunks'.  So I cut 12" squares and sewed them alternating stripes up and stripes across.  Some simple meandering and straight line quilting with a varigated brown thread to keep it soft and cuddly.

Thank you for visiting and be sure to show all the other bloggers some love:

MAY 20

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Doodle Designs

Karrin’s Crazy World

Sew Many Yarns

Vroomans Quilts

MAY 21

Selina Quilts

Just Sew Quilter

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Words & Stitches

High Road Quilter

 MAY 22

Ms P Designs USA

 Scrapdash

Quilting Gail

 MAY 23

MooseStashQuilting

Quilted Snail

Beaquilter

Bumbleberry Stitches

Happy Mother's Day

 

I have taken some much needed ME time.  For those who are care takes, you understand the need for that valuable time for self.  I wasn't 'idle', but busy with my little local guild in prepping for and being one of the host guilds for the Empire QuiltFest (you can see all the top winners here).  I'm not able to do all the heavy lifting for the main set up, but I did set up the guild table and manned it during the show.

I got to see so many quilters I know and haven't seen in such a long time (Covid) and met a lot of NEW quilty folks.  350 quilts and 22 vendors and all host guilds had tables -  yes, it was quite the show.  We had 15 members enter a total of 48 quilts and we had some impressive wins.  Myself, I was honored to have received the Judge's Choice Award for my 'Lakrakeen'.  I won several ribbons and a Vendor Award as well.  The icing on  the cake I was already enjoying.

I am ready for the next HOP and so appropriate for me as I am getting time to be on the road again.  I have my project ready, just waiting for some nice weather (rain, rain, rain) to do some photos outside.

I need to apologize to all the folks who participated in the last HOP for not getting to leave comments because I was away (plus my internet was down more than up for several weeks - service upgrading they claim).  It has been a problem with the past several hops - people do visit all the sites, but very few leave a nice comment.

Wishing everyone the best DAY today.

Sharon

April Showers

 

 I would like to thank  JOAN for being the hostess of this month's HOP.  She give us a pretty big window to create our own piece.  Baby shower, wedding, rain,  etc......

April here has been pretty much RAIN and more RAIN.  Like when it rains, it pours!  Which leads me to.................

                 

The little Morton Salt Girl.  I immediately thought of her and then a light bulb moment - I used her for another April Shower Blog Hop in 2018 (had to really search  this one),

 She became a mug rug for a swap.  It was hard to let her go.

But we need something NEW which brought to a fun pattern that I've done several times as it is a great scrap eater.

The Chandelier Block or Cascading Beads Block.  There are a number of free patterns, torials, and UTubes on this pattern.    It certainly looks like rain drops to me OR the drippity drip drops that fall from a roof in such a pattern.

It can look so differnt in pastels for baby quilts, or bright solid colors for a teen.  Colors of a new homeowner's living room for the perfect Welcome quilt. 

OR change the color back ground.  I like to make the dramatic change with black.

Thank You for visiting and be sure to stop by today's other hosts:

Just Let Me Quilt

Inflorescence    

Quilted Delights

Vroomans Quilts

Scrapdash

High Road Quilter

It;s Raining, It's Pouring

Monday April 22

MooseStashQuilting

Words&Stitches

Quilting Gail
Quilt Doodle Designs

Kathy's Kwilts and More

 

Tuesday April 23

Karrins Crazy World

BeaQuilter

Selena Quilts

Songbird Designs

Just Sew Quilter

 

Wednesday April 24

Quilted Snail

Ms P Designs USA

 Days Filled With Joy

Quilting Between the Rails (Facebook)

Bumbleberry Stitches

 

Thursday April 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Inflorescence    

Quilted Delights

Vroomans Quilts

Scrapdash

High Road Quilter

Up and Down

 

Yes, our weather has been up and down - and even back and forth!  March is such a fickled month for sure.

Our region was lucky to get this last storm on the 'small' size.  It would snow for a couple of hours, then rain and sleet to ice it over, then a repeat a few times over.  The icing was pretty on the trees, but so it too damaged them and took a lot down over several areas - along with the power.

I find that I rather do bindings completely by machine, but with power loss they were tackled by hand rather than sit.  And you make yourself sweat over 'is that binding long enough' just for giggles.  Geesh, I could have had something with color!  3 black and one dark brown for these grey days BUT they are all done.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Give It A Whirl

 

First I'd like to thank CAROL fir organizing this HOP.  The challenge was anything that whirls or spins - use your creativity and imagination.  With March winds, so perfect - and we have had winds here!

Also, at this time our guild's program was about quilting rulers.  Members to bring in a ruler or template and share it's use (good or bad experience) and a project you made from it.

The perfect ruler to cover both venues.  This was one of my first bought rulers many years ago and like all things, it seems to be back in style again.

Some members said they had tryied it, but there was so much fabric waste.  Well, I don't waste and I showed a solution.  *I was luck to have another member bring many of her small projects - so we tag teamed* 

 I happen to have all three size rulers.  The largest for the 10" squares, the medium size for the 5" square fabrics, and the tiniest for the 2.5" squares.  If you cut your largest carefully, you get nice 5" squares to use again, and so with cutting the 5"  carefully (my trusty mini rotary) you get 2.5" squares left for a mini project.  Very little waste and three projects out of one.

This quilt was made using a layer cake (10" squares), some Kona black, and the largest ruler.  I have saved the left overs to play with another time.

They have so many fun pattern layouts for seasonal projects, flags, hearts, and even the popular gnome.

Thank you for visiting  and be sure to 'blow' in on all the hosts:

                                                  MARCH 18  

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilted Snail

Pattern Princess

Days Filled With Joy

Quilted Delights

A Quiltery

Bumbleberry Stitches

MARCH 19

Selina Quilts

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Quilting Between The Rails

Sew Many Yarns

Vroomans Quilts

MARCH 20

Quilting Gail

Just Sew Quilter

Karrin’s Crazy World

Scrapdash

Time 4 Stitchn

MARCH 21

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Songbird Designs

Beaquilter

High Road Quilter

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Wind Blown

 

As I was preparing my project for the next HOP, this popped up in FaceBook.  So true to our weather the last few weeks.  OH THE WIND - yes it goes with the HOP, but I could do without that blast!  Pinwheels would certainly fly, but I didn't like my shingles all over the place.

 And I have been prepping things for this big show.  347 quilts and 22 vendors - I can't wait as this show has been on hiatis since Covid.  I actually have 6 quilts entered - five for judging and one for display only.  The EQF has been doing a super job in highlighting on  FaceBook - each vendor, past winners in various catagories, and soon each of the host guilds.  Our little quild is one of the hosts and our job was to  make the vendor award ribbons.  Our representatives pulled together the vendor venue and they did a great job.

It's going to be windy and rainy today - a good sewing day and I do have something fun to play with.  Some relaxing, no heavy thinking play time.  I hope you all get some stitch time in on World Wide Quilting Day.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

It Moose Be Love

 

I hope you are enjoying a very different Hop this month.  The challenge was hearts, or moose , or combo of both.  Thank you JOAN for such a fun and inspirational new Hop.

No hearts on my post, except for the love of my Dad and eldest brother who we've sadly lost too soon.  I made this quilt in their memory for the GUY HOP.  They had an experience with a moose on a hunting trip - goosed the moose with the car and the car paid for it.

I had the honor (gosh back in 2016) of being a guest on the Henry Glass fabric site for their 'Desire to Inspire' project.  They sent me the greatest fabrica.  It really represented our love of the Adirondack Mountains and we camped/fished there often.

And it had the best Salvedge that I used to make some zip pouches.  I thought I would revisit my salvedge jar for a new project for this hop with a quick tutorial.

I pulled the jar and my tote of strings.  You need two 1.5" by size - I'm planning a 12.5' piece - so a bit longer for wiggle room.

 I used a 14" square of backing and 13.5" square of batting.  To help keep your strips running straight, mark a line every 2".

I found a moose on a free clip art site, some fuseable, and piece of black.  Follow the directions of the fuseable you are using - I use Steam A Seam 2.

 

I put my machine's portable table on to help keep the piece flat while sewing.  You start with the scrap strip, just lay your choice of salvedge on edge (1/8 or 1/4" overlap). and with walking foot stitch close to edge.  Just keep sewing your salvedge strips across the batt/backing sandwich until you get to the end and stitch the second scrap strip to end your piece.

**I always cut my salvedge off with at least 1/2" to 1" fabric print on for using with these types of projects**

Then square up your piece - all quilted for you.  That simple.

Cut out your silouhette and fuse in place.  You can stitch around the edges, but this piece is small and will not get the wear or washing a quilt would.  Use hanging sleeve or corner hangers, binding, and done.  And easy afternoon project.

Be sure to visit todays hosts:

A Quiltery-For the Love of Geese

Quilting Gail

Quilted Delights

Words & Stitches

VroomansQuilts

Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Moose Crossing

 

The February Hop should be 'moose'tastic!!  Can't wait to see what these creative folks come up with

Monday February 19

MooseStashQuilting

Pattern Princess

Karrins Crazy World

Quilted Snail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Tuesday February 20

A Quiltery-For the Love of Geese

Quilting Gail

Quilted Delights

Words & Stitches

VroomansQuilts

Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Wednesday February 21

Selena Quilts

BeaQuilter

Ms P Designs USA

Kathleen McMusing

Days Filled with Joy

Quilt Schmilt

Thursday February 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Inflorescence

High Road Quilter

Just Sew Quilter

Scrapdash

Sewingly Yours

Sharon

Lost in Traffic

 

I find it hard some times to get into Blogger - and then there are days I just shut off the computer completely.  So days get away and I get lost in traffic. 

If you live in our area, this chart is just too real!  We went from a week of cold and lots of snow right into a week of rains and grey, then blessed with a few days of FINALLY seeing some sunshine and getting up into the 50's.  Now we are going into our second Winter phase as temps are dropping, it's gray and snow is in the future.

The paperwork went in for an upcoming show in April.  A few quilts have been quilted, and now making binding for them.  This is how I keep bindings while they wait.  Hang tags that indicate the quilt and help hold them onto the hanger.  The larger pieces with no tags are waiting to get under the machine - there is one in progress right now.  Then it's bindings, bindings, bindings!!

And do you find that you totally lose your technique' when you just haven't used it in a while?  I have my piece ready for the Moose Hop and thought I would do a little piecing (before all the bindings).  OMG  I think I need a week or two of just piceing my brains out to get back on the bike, so to speak.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon