Today

I have so many UFOs I sometimes can't decide which to work on. 

The day decided for me. 

I have 54 patriotic Chunky Churn Dash blocks from a swap and 16 patriotic Twinkler orphan blocks. 

So this morning before the grandkids woke up I started working on 70 patriotic Snowballs. They are awake now so I'll feed them and amuse them for awhile, work in the garden awhile, amuse them awhile and then hopefully get back to making Snowballs before the end of the day. 

I'll alternate the Snowballs with the Chunky Churn Dashes and Twinklers and make a Quilt of Valor quilt to send to my Brother-in-law on Veteran's Day. 

Today I'm remembering those who sacrificed their lives.

 In November, on Veteran's Day,

 I'll honor several family members who served and surprise them with quilts. 

Moving it Forward with Em's Scrapbag

Frazzled (aka Fractured) Flimsy

Frazzled

This morning when I took pics I was thinking it was called Frazzled, not Fractured so Frazzled it is for me.  (What does that tell you?) 

It's just a flimsy

84 x 96

Fractured pattern from

Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession

Made from scraps from a Pickle Dish and Petunia quilt.  

 I think I have enough scraps from these scraps for a small donation quilt 40 x 60. 

There are A, B, C, D blocks.

 I didn't have enough room to lay out a large quilt so just looked at layout and  sewed blocks together as I went. It looks like all are facing the right direction. 

Wish those A and B blocks down the middle blended in a little better with the rest of the quilt but they don't. I guess they will blend together in the dreams of whomever sleeps under it.  When finished it will probably go into the gift pile. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Green Scraps

I used some green crumbs in a couple of Butterflies. I used a free Ghost Moth pattern. 

15 three inch green spools from 1.5 inch scraps. 

I think that makes over 650 spools now.  I need about 64 more blocks for a big 81 x 84 quilt. 

This is the last green ScrapHappy Saturday.  

We will move on to a new color in June. 

OMG: Mission Accomplished !!!

Broken Wheels 

A flimsy (for now).

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) that I declared earlier in the month (make this quilt top) has been accomplished and has resulted in a Broken Wheel quilt top 53 x 66. 

Last year I joined two different birthday clubs and this year I joined one. Everyone in the group asks for a particular block in particular colors to be sent to them in their birthday month.   I received 24 or 25 different blocks and used 20 of them in this quilt that I thought played well together.  I'll use the others in a couple of other quilts so they aren't going to go to waste. That's for sure!

The block I asked for was the Broken Wheel block from Quilter's Cache.  Most of the other ladies ask for their blocks to be made in specific colors but  I said, " make the block in the colors of your choice on a neutral background of your choice."    I really didn't know what to expect so every block was a surprise.  I kind of thought it was a psychology test of sorts. Do the colors the ladies chose for my block say something about them? 

At any rate... I didn't have to make a single block - I just added a thin sashing and I have a quilt top that I now need to decide how to quilt. Suggestions?  Hand quilting or FMQ?  First, though, I guess I need to decide on a backing (and a goal for next month). 

One Monthly Goal with Heidi of Red Letter Quilts

Log Cabin Lunacy

I find that if I quilt along with others in blog land I happen to finish more quilty goals than if I go it alone. Maybe it's the deadline of a linky party. (I like deadlines). Maybe it's because I like to see how others interpret a theme, or an idea, or use scraps. 

Julie is hosting Log Cabin Lunacy and I am joining the lunacy. 

I used my brown short scrap strings and just finished making four more 9 inch wonky log cabin blocks that will join the 9 I made in February when brown was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. 

My goal is to make 30 blocks and then make a donation quilt.. 

Log Cabin Lunacy at JulieKQuilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

In the Hoop

Tulips finally made it to the hoop. It's been sandwiched for a looooong time.  I'm big stitch hand quilting in white #8 perle thread. 

I love 30s reproduction fabrics.  They remind me of grandma's quilts. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Chevrons

I used some 4.5 scraps this month to make HSTs and then made the HSTs into 16 inch chevron blocks.  I've been making these as an RSC project when I have had 4.5 scraps since August 2014.  

I assembled all of the rows so far into a quilt top.

I have orange/yellow, green, blue/indigo, violet rows. 

 I'm just missing the top row of red now and I'll have a flimsy 64 x 80. 

Got scraps?

Join us each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Butterfly Garden - A Finish!

Butterfly Garden

78 x 87

Hand quilted

It's a Finish!

Based on the pattern Follow the Sun from Adding Layers by Kathy Doughty

I have a lot of butterfly themed fabrics and I thought this would be a fun way to use them. 

I used regular hand quilting thread in different colors to stitch around most of the butterflies in the circles. 

I used perle #8 in navy to stitch 1/4 inch outside all of the star points - both the smaller ones directly around the circle (here in aqua floral) and...

...around the outside larger star points (here in yellow floral). 

I used Lizbeth 20 wt threads in different colors and leaf and flower templates for hand stitching in the sashings.  I'm not sure what the green thread was that I used for the leaves but I think it's some sort of old crochet cotton I picked up at the thrift store in a bag of different threads 

The actual stitching doesn't show up much but I know it's there and it has some incredible texture. 

I started out making blocks with that darker floral fabric but ran out so substituted some dark background butterfly fabric.  (I usually never make sure I have enough fabric before I just start in making blocks so my quilts often have "substitute fabrics" here and there). I used the darker fabric in the blocks to represent the shady parts of a garden and the lighter overall floral are the sunny spots. 

I used a different dark (shady) overall large floral for the binding.  

I used this fabric for the backing. I don't remember when I bought or the designer/maker but I'm sure it was on sale or I wouldn't have bought enough for a backing. Anyway, it sure has a silky feel to it.  I like how there are little bits of color here and there from the hand quilting. 

I like the backside almost as much as the front. 

This is the end result of many months of Slow Sunday (and Saturday and Friday...) Stitching so I'm hanging out with other Slow Stitchers today at Kathy's Quilts. 

This was my goal #12

for

The 2016 Finish-A-Long

Green Piece

18 3/4 inch (finished) Triangle Star

from scrappy bits and pieces

One of my many Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

Each month I find I hardly have any light/pastel scraps in the color of the month. 

Threads in My Coffee; Thistles in my Spinach

When I'm not working at the paying job or picking threads out of my coffee (aka quilting) I am usually gardening (aka weeding). 

 I get a lot of inspiration for my quilts from my garden. My quilts are my winter garden. 

I'm off today so took a camera tour around the garden. It's wet and chilly and supposed to rain again this afternoon.  When it rains I'll sew until the grandkids get here for the weekend. 

Tree Peony in bloom  - not to be confused with herbaceous peonies. 

Another Tree Peony

My Azalea. I didn't think I was going to get any blooms this year. The deer ate most of the wood and there are hardly any leaves on the plant. 

Clematis is blooming and I need to tie it up to the trellis and cut out that awful wild mulberry bush growing next to it. 

Centaurea Montana or Mountain Bluet...it's really kind of a weed that pops up here and there throughout the gardens.  I like blue flowers. 

Old fashioned Iris.  They are not as pretty as the Bearded Irises but they are easy to grow and over the years I've dug up the rhizomes and planted clumps here and there. 

Bleeding Heart. 

My strawberries are blooming.

And there are thistles (and maple tree seeds) in my spinach. 

There's never enough time. Is there?

Scraptastic Tuesday: Fractured

I was too lazy to put away scraps and chunks after I made...

...these two quilts, Pickle Dish and Petunias. 

So I made a bunch of these units and turned them into...

...4 "A" blocks, 4 "B" blocks...

... and 24 "D" blocks.

After I make 24 "C" blocks I'll be ready to assemble a Fractured quilt (from Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession).

Unfortunately I don't think this will make the scrap pile I was too lazy to put away last year much smaller.

It's Scraptastic Tuesday!

Time to see what others are scrapping about....Go look. You know you want to!

Two Hats Are Better Than One

One of my granddaughters really loves hats. I'm crocheting her a lot of different ones for Christmas. 

I've finished Knotted Hat.

It was my goal #20 

for 

Finish-A-Long 2016

And this Cinched Cap was my goal #19

for

Finish-A-Long 2016

Both hat patterns are from 

Crochet Boutique Hats by Rachael Oglesby

Green

This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is Loden Green (think Evergreen forest). Accent color is dusty brown. 

From 2.5 inch scraps....12 inch Interlocking Chains

From 1.5 inch scraps I made some Vintage Rails (inspired by antique quilt called Roman Stripes).  From 2.5 inch scraps I made one 8 inch Depression block and some 4 inch miscellaneous blocks for the Kitchen Sink pile. 

And, speaking of 4 inch blocks...I made some little 4 inch I Spy Happy Blocks from some fussy cut green 2.5 inch scraps surrounded by 1.5 inch scraps. I cut too many 1.5 inch pieces for the greens I needed to surround so a fat cat on blue background also snuck in the mix. 

And then there's the Sprouts that nearly depleted my 2.5 inch scraps. 

First I made my normal monthly sprouts. 

Then I made 5 Green Leaf pairs for this month's Block Lotto. 

And then I made four of the seven sets of Green Leaf pairs I need for the Old MacDonald Sampler QAL also going on at Block Lotto.    We are supposed to use whatever we chose for our ground cover for the background of these four. I chose green.  So for these blocks I made my background a dark green and the leaf a lime green.   It was really difficult for me to remember to use dark green instead of the neutral background (like pairs above) and lime green for the leaf when sewing them together! I hope there's enough contrast in these in the finished quilt

Go green...use those green scraps this month!

Link up on Saturdays in May and show us how you've used them.

ScrapHappy Saturday

Rolling Stones (aka Broken Wheels)

I'm a failure. 

I didn't accomplish last month's OMG (One Monthly Goal). 

I was going to make 28 more Rosebud blocks but I only made 14 . 

I'm changing goals this month.

I hope to have my Rolling Stones at least assembled into a top by the end of May.

I requested this block for my birthday from ladies in 3 different "birthday clubs" - in fabric of choice on neutral background.  I will be using 20 blocks that go together pretty well plus sashing in this quilt and the rest will go into the Orphan Box to be used at a later date.  (Or maybe they will go on the back.)

And if I get the lap quilt completely finished that will be a bonus. 

Linking up to:

One Monthly Goal at Red Letter Quilts

Maybe I'll call it Broken Stones, Rolling Wheels or how about - Gather No Moss.