Saturday, September 1, 2018

August Sewing and a new September Goal

August was a great month for sewing. With all our kids having flown the nest long ago (and now sending THEIR kids off to school), our focus was just enjoying the summer, family, the garden, hobbies, and - in Bruce’s case - work. Yes, he really loves his post-retirement job at The Leonardo museum where he is the Resident Engineer. It keeps him out of trouble (and my hair) for 4 days a week.  :-)

I completed three quilts, all of which were near the final stages at the beginning of the month. They just needed basting, quilting and binding. More information about them is in the Quilt Gallery tab, above. They are Groovy Guitars for Bruce, an aqua donation quilt and the Farm Girl quilt for me. So glad to have these all done!


But this past week I just focused on moving other projects along.  I basted Linked Squares.


I started another quick quilt (gulp). It’s just going to be a quick patchwork baby quilt for our friends Marilyn and OD from Kenya, who are visiting here in September. It will be a simple patchwork quilt. The patches are already cut. The zebra fabric on the left below is the backing (with a stripe of the blue) and the blue will be the binding. It’s for their son S. This fabric is from an older line called Origami Oasis by my favorite designer, Tamara Kate.


I made progress on Orange Lozenges by sewing up an additional five blocks - each block containing 24 lozenges. The last row that’s pinned to the design board is overlapped by the row above it due to space considerations - my design board isn’t long enough.


So, I only have four more blocks to finish, and one of them is almost done.


The other three are ready for their corners. It was a challenge to make sure that there were no more than two of any one print in any block, so I was sorting and re-sorting until the end.


This WILL become at least a finished top in September, although I want to finish the entire quilt. In fact, I’m declaring that as my OMG - One Monthly Goal - for September as I link up to Elm Street Quilt’s September Goal Link-up, HERE

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Moving along, I also began sewing together my Bow Ties into a quilt. These little blocks are 4” (finished), and there are 288 of them that will be set 16 x 18, resulting in a quilt that will measure 64x72”.  I got half of the quilt done!  I have so enjoyed this Rainbow Scrap Challenge project over the last two years and really look forward to seeing this one completed.


I finally settled on this very basic, traditional set with random color placement. It’s going to be a keeper for me. There are just so many memories stitched into it from all the fabrics!  I would love to finish this top in September, too, but September promises to be a hectic month (more on that later), so we’ll just have to see.

Here are some close-ups.




Alfie and Darla won the voting for the 2018 Pets On Quilts category Cats on Quilts over at Lily Pad Quilting. YAY! Thanks to all of you who took the time to go over to see the contest (it’s for a good cause) and vote. They won a jelly roll of fabric, which they gave to me. And some of YOU won prizes, too, for participation. Way to go!


And now we start on dark blues for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I’m happy we’re finally getting back to the blues. I have lots more birds to make in blue this month, plus all the rest of the blue Irish Chain blocks for the top.  And we have another block for our Squared Away quilt, so there is certainly a lot on my plate for September.


And speaking of a lot on my plate, my brother Steve will be returning to visit us in the coming week. He found a cute house in Montrose County, Colorado (southeast area, about an hour from Grand Junction) with about 3/4 acre of land, and bought it. He closed on it a couple weeks ago and is now ready to return here to gather his stuff and haul it home. 

Steve will return here by train so that he can rent and drive a U-Haul truck and trailer (to tow his 1930 Model A Ford) home. While he’s here for about a week, he also has all sorts of business - banking, medical, etc - to wrap up. Since I’ll need to chauffeur him around, I imagine it will seriously cut down my sewing time for a week or so. LOL. But the upside is seeing him, to say nothing about getting our storage areas and guest bedroom back. So it’s all good, right? 

21 comments:

  1. So many beautiful projects! I love the guitare quilt (I said it a lot of times!), and all your other projects are pretty!

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  2. Dearest Cathy,

    I am commenting for staff given she passed out when she saw your bow-tie. I would like to congratulate Alfie and Darla for their win as Best Pets on a Quilt 2018. However, now that I see how they behave after winning, I will have to rescind my vote. (And I assume only my vote really mattered...)

    Respectfully,

    Molly

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  3. Wow! Very ambitious and productive! I love, love, love the orange lozenge and bow tie projects!

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  4. You are moving right along! Cute fabric for the new baby quilt. You are right to keep the bow tie for you. I know what you mean about fabric memories. Fabric triggers memories like certain songs do.
    Good luck on your OMG. I know you will make it!

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  5. Look at all the pretty projects! I especially love your sweet little birdies!
    And it's so nice of Darla and Alfalfa to share their winnings with you! (I won some fabric, myself! Woohoo!)

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  6. Several great projects but the birds with the Irish Chain blocks is really going to be special.

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  7. just beautiful finishes and WIPS you've got going--as you know, I LOVE those lozenges...they are amazing...hugs, Julierose

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  8. I love all your projects, always! Congratulations on getting three quilts finished in August! I love your bowtie quilt, and have the same thing happen with scrappy quilts - they're always full of fabric we love.

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  9. That bow tie quilt is wonderful. I love that you used "patterned neutrals" (I dislike the term low value) in your blocks instead of a solid white or tone on tone. It's much more interesting this way. You've gotten a lot done since you returned home. Enjoy your brother's visit being thankful that it's short term this time.
    Pat

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  10. You're really zooming along, Cathy! I love seeing your RSC projects nearing the finish line. And hooray that Steve has his own place, now :)

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  11. Fun blocks! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.

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  12. You have some wonderful projects in the works. I love your little birds and look forward to seeing more of that one. Good luck with your September goals.

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  13. Isn’t it fun to look at old scrappy Quilts? We can learn so much from them about the maker, the time period and memories. Your bow tie will be a fabric diary for your family. Congrats on the three finishes.

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  14. Congrats to the kitties for winning! That was so nice of them to give the jelly roll to you instead of playing with it. I won a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop - what a surprise! I love all of your projects, especially the orange lozenges. Did you just work on it as leaders and enders? And was it Bonnie Hunter's pattern? I think I need to make one of these too.

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  15. Hi Cathy! So many fabulous shares - wow, you have a lot on your plate. And you got a LOT done in August. I'm a sloth next to you. Seriously. HAHA! I love the photo of your kitties. I'vm going to start following you - I had so many comments about your project but now that I'm here and can't see them, I can't remember a thing. Geez! So I'd better follow so I can comment one project at a time, right?!! Happy Labor Day! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  16. Life is moving along nicely in your world. I am looking forward so much to September to be a WAY better month than August. Love all the projects that you finished and are working on. I always admire your ability to stitch those tiny pieces into works of art.
    xx, Carol

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  17. love Love LOVE your kitties! So glad they like each other and get along. And of course I STILL LOVE your birdies especially!

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  18. Such colorful fun on your plate! I especially like those little birds. Good luck with balancing your goals and family time this month. I always think that no matter how busy life is, just a few minutes of sewing a day is energizing.

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  19. You really did get a lot of great sewing done this month. Those orange lozenges look fabulous!

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  20. You have been very busy. I love the birds in Irish chain blocks. Is that a pattern?

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  21. So glad the kitties won - well deserved I think! So many pretties to look at in this post - my favourite though has to be those birdies. They just induce happy.

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