August Monthly Mini and Churn Dash SAL

I might just be able to sneak this under the wire before the clock strikes midnight. Here is my August monthly mini, for the mini making mayhem over with Wendy, The Constant Quilter.

This was from a pattern by Sheryl at Temecula Quilt Company. It is called Independence Day, and she released the free pattern on July 4th. I cut it out and sewed the top that very week, but I have been slower than molasses in January at getting this quilted and bound. Obviously not in time for summer, but just in time for Labor Day (after which I take down all the patriotic decor).

In this photo you might be able to tell that I machine quilted around all the red in the pieced blocks. Then I hand quilted diagonal lines through the navy squares, using a dark blue quilting thread. 

If you would like to make one of these little quilts, you will find the free pattern download in the Temecula Quilt Company post here. You know, you aren't limited to making it in red/white/blue. Fall colors or Christmas colors would be fun, too.

If you'd like to make it, go to the link above and download the pattern, and then leave a comment below if you would be interested in a die-cut kit to make this top in red/white/blue. I have an extra kit and would be happy to send it to someone.

Next up is Chooky's Churn Dash SAL. I am just as pleased as punch that I have been keeping up with this. That is a rarity for me.

These are all the 9" blocks so far--including my two attempts at a triple churn dash block, with teeny 1" centers. I MIGHT try making one more of those, somewhere in the remaining dozen blocks. And then again, I might not. ;)

Hubby and I are prepping for our first ever cruise. I have never really wanted to go on a cruise, but hubby has. So if I am going to go, the destination would be Alaska--which it is. We are going with 8 friends from our community, and I am surprised at how much I am looking forward to it. I will be crossing a few things off my bucket list. I am signed up for shore excursions where I will be kayaking, zip lining (I do not like heights, but I am determined to power through this), snorkeling, and riding a gondola. I can't get a single soul in our group to snorkeling with me (they all think it will be too cold), but I am going anyway.  

That is all for now. 

Until next time, be creative, and be kind!

Janet O.

Monthly Mini x2

With Mom's passing in July, I didn't get a monthly mini made that month. I have made up for it this month by making two. I am linking this post with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog. She is our monthly mini motivator and mentor.

 On the left is "Busy Thimbles in Blue", and on the right is "Scrap Basket Half-hex with Chrome Detailing."

 

I wanted these to be the same, but different. Each one has two striped borders and two tone-on-tone borders. The tonal and striped prints are reversed in position from one to the other. The centers of each are scrappy, and use one shape that repeats and flips. The tonal print on each one got cable quilting, while the striped print on each got straight line quilting. I tried to use an unexpected color on each binding, though I will admit that the chrome yellow is definitely more unexpected than the grey/blue.

I did stitch-in-the-ditch around the thimbles. I knew that there wouldn't be good daylight to get a photo showing the quilting by the time I had this one bound, so I took the photos before sewing the binding down on the back.

The quilting on the half-hex was a little harder for me to decide. I started out quilting vertically between the rows of hexie shapes, but it wasn't enough. To quilt along the seams horizontally would have emphasized that these were half-hex shapes, and I didn't want to do that.  I finally chose to do diagonal lines through the rows of hexies, as if I was doing the hanging diamond design. Then I wondered if I should make diagonal lines coming from the other direction, but decided that would be too dense for this little thing. So I left it alone, and it has grown on me.

I am writing this on August 23rd, the day Hubby officially retired, after over 40 years with the same company. In the morning we are flying out to the east coast. By the time this post goes live I will have spent a week in New England hunting down ancestors, while including a couple of quilty adventures along the way. From Maine to Massachusetts, I will have scoured graveyards, visited historical societies, and witnessed where my Mayflower ancestors landed and lived. And if all has gone according to plan, I will have met Wendy, The Constant Quilter (see link above), and have paid another visit to Cyndi (Busy Thimble blog) at her Busy Thimble quilt shop. 

The day this posts I will be trying to squeeze in a visit to The New England Quilt Museum on the way to the airport to fly home. It has been three years since I was last in Massachusetts for our oldest son's wedding reception, and six years since I visited Maine while on a trip to see my oldest daughter who was living in New Hampshire at the time. This is my 6th visit to New England and I have loved every trip. I will share more about it after I have recovered from all the fun.

Thank you to everyone for the very kind and loving comments on my last post about Mom's passing. I tried to get as many answered as I could before we left, but I didn't get very far. I will try to catch up soon. Is anyone else having trouble with comments on their blog NOT coming through to their email? About midway through the comments I received on my last post, they stopped coming through. I went to settings and it doesn't even give me the option to select an email to receive comments. That has never happened to me before. I sent feedback to Blogger. Hopefully it is a glitch they will work out. They finally fixed the header photo problem, so I will wait and see. But it is a pain to not be able to reply directly.

One last glamor shot of the two little quilts and then I am out of here. :)

Take care, until next time!

Janet O.

August Monthly Mini--etc.

This monthly mini (with Wendy @ The Constant Quilter blog) is posted with not a minute to spare. I had thought I would quilt the indigo/cheddar quilt in my last post for my monthly mini, but I still can't decide how I want to quilt it. I was down to the wire time-wise. I rummaged through the sewing room looking for something that would be a quick finish. The black/red/gold quilt in the photo below is what happened.

It was probably 5 or 6 years ago that I assembled the 4-patch and gold blocks. When I noticed that one of the black 4-patch units was turned the wrong way I decided I needed to fix it. I set it aside, but every time I thought I would fix it I decided I didn't love it enough to put the time into it to either fix it or finish it. I was desperate enough this time that I felt I could finish it without fixing it. So I slapped a couple of borders on it, did simple diagonal lines through the blocks and straight lines around the red border, with some loops in the outer border that you can see if you click on the photo to the left. I think I even like it now.

This week I also sewed up the final two rows of my Pam Buda Circa 1880 Quilt. I am loving this quilt, and I have enjoyed slipping in a few "rogue blocks." In fact, I added another one to my very last row. If you have ever tried to draft a churn dash block to finish at 2", you know the challenges I faced. Blocks based on a 3x3 grid don't play well on a 4x4 grid--but I persevered and finally ended up with parts assembled for three blocks.

I stitched them up and proceeded to add one of them to my last row. After pinning it to the design wall along with all of its friends, I stepped back and wondered what had gone wrong.

Okay, I admit I was sewing late at night--again! In my sleep deprived state I just added this block to the row, without removing one of the other blocks to make room for it. I still haven't fixed it. But I need to do it soon, and start sewing the rows together.  I made mine with 27 rows. Every other row is made with blocks I swapped from another quilter. So I made 14 rows from my own blocks, and 13 rows with blocks from friends. I have really enjoyed the swapping.

Last, but definitely not least, Julie (My Threadbear Life blog) and I had agreed to do a little exchange. It ended up being a pincushion exchange--and so much more! Her package arrived today from New Zealand, and I am a little hesitant to send hers now. Look at the glorious contents I received.

The whole package smelled like lovely lavender, thanks to the soaps and the sachet. There are amazing flavors of chocolate, and a beautiful handmade card.

Get a closer look at this clever pincushion from an up-cycled old spinning wheel bobbin. Notice the little alphabet beads spell "quilt", and there are tiny hexies, and sewing related charms attached. I love it!

Up-cycling is Julie's specialty and her blog is a constant source of amazement for me. She is so creative.

I told Julie I hadn't sent her package yet because I wanted to include some of my herbal soap, and it isn't finished curing yet. I will probably send it next weekend, and when she has received it I will share with you what I sent. A huge thanks to Julie for the fun surprises, and for all of her inspiring blog posts!

If I don't hurry and post this it won't be August anymore, and my monthly minis are tired of always being late.

Until next time,
Janet O.