Quarantine Sewing

Hi friends! I am sorry for being MIA--I have been working, sewing, cooking, and of course staying home. This whole situation is surreal, but we are making it work. First, I have to say how thankful I am that our daughter is home from college. She and my hubby pretty much drove straight through from Syracuse to Montrose in 29 hours. They arrived here on 3/16. Prior to being sent home, she had been ill at school--fever, aches, chills, cough, etc. We are pretty sure she had Covid-19, but neither my hubby or I have any symptoms. So either we are asymptomatic or she was no longer contagious, not likely. Several of her friends have tested positive since they have been home, so it is pretty likely she had it too...She has recovered and is working on finishing up her classes online. Her graduation ceremony has been rescheduled for May 2021 and we expect her job to be delayed.

Our school district has cancelled in person learning for the rest of the year and I am busy teaching distance learning. I am grateful that I already used a lot of digital platforms with my students before this, so it has been easier on all of us. I love checking in with them through Zoom meetings weekly--for the most part we are sticking to our regular schedule. I am actually working about the same amount as usual--it is just different not seeing the kids in person. 

I have used this time to put all my blocks from my Sunday Best Quilts Sampler. I of course used Bonnie & Camille scraps. I am trying to decide if I should add a white outer border like Sheri did or leave it as is like Corey did. What are your thoughts? I just ordered a wide backing that is big enough for either size...

 I also made all 64 blocks for Summer on the Porch in Boundless Garden Party fabric. I got this kit for Valentine's Day from Blueprint (they are closed during this time, but keep this one in your want to make queue https://shop.mybluprint.com/quilting/kits/summer-on-the-porch-garden-party-expand-a-quilt-kit/672545?SSAID=384437&sscid=41k4_hwjiw&sasClickId=41k4_hwjiw&cr_linkid=ShareASale_Banner_ShareASale&cr_maid=46579&cr_source=ShareASale&cr_medium=ShareASale) and I want to use this queen sized quilt on our bed this summer. I just ordered a solid looking turquoise for the backing. My goal this week is to sew it together, so it looks like this (below)!

Thanks Myra for the beautiful fabric and design!

Do you remember this finish? This was Clementine that was a quilt along with Fat Quarter Shop in 2018. I had the privilege of making one. My daughter and I are gifting it to one of her besties moms. Fran (the mom) is a doctor in Kingston, New York and has been extremely helpful to my daughter while she was at college. She has been battling the virus that she got while treating patients--a true hero. She was released from the hospital this morning, so we are sending this as a quilty hug for all her kindness and her recovery. I hope she enjoys snuggling under this cheerful quilt as she heals.

I didn't get to make a last care package to send to my daughter at school, but I did get to put together an Easter basket.  It was harder just picking out things online, I missed wandering through Target and Marshalls.  I still put some fun self-care items together: bath bombs, French lavender lotion & shower gel, face masks, hair masks, chai k-cups, a water bottle, and Reeses' eggs. She loved it and likes being home with me cooking, her dad cleaning, and our dogs to cuddle with.

During one of my Zoom meetings this week, a kiddo asked me if I had been to the local food pantry yet. I said no and she told me they had been twice. I am heartbroken that my kids are suffering during this time. I had a grocery gift card sent to their home anonymously and may need to send more to their family and others before this is over. Take care of each other and stay healthy!

Tanya

Fresh As A Daisy Finish

 We had Friday off from school--hooray! We did not get MLK Day or President's Day, so we were "teacher tired" and desperate for a three day weekend. I hit Target, the bank, and the grocery store early and got us stocked up. My freezer was already pretty full because I buy meat when it is marked down and I also buy in 20 one-pound increments of ground beef from a local processor. My daughter is being sent home from college, so I needed to get some things for her too. We can probably go for a month, but milk will run out and choices will get slim. I went to the liquor store on the way home on Thursday--priorities right?

I even found excellent respiratory masks at Target for my hubby and daughter. They are traveling home from her college, so masks and wipes were needed.  It is doubtful that there will be a graduation for her class in May. I am so sad for them--I have fond memories of my own college graduation. The good thing is she has her dream job--she has been interviewing since October and had to do 11 separate interviews and several writing tests. She is working for a small firm in NYC that consults with companies about mergers and acquisitions. She is scheduled to start in July, so it will be nice to have some time with her before she leaves our nest for good--I guess it is a good thing I have not taken over her room as a bigger sewing room yet!

Friday night, we got notification that our school district is closed from now through April 12th. Our spring break was scheduled for the week of April 6th, so now we have a whole month off.  We were told to expect communications from the district by Wednesday about our responsibilities during this time. We were also informed on Thursday that we would be paid and not have to make up the days, so I hope that holds true. If we go to online learning, I am not too worried as I already use Google Classroom with my groups and have great wifi to work from home--most of my students have access to electronic devices. I just wish I could have sent a bunch of books home with my kids to keep them busy reading for the month. I will get lots of reading time myself--got to love checking out books on my Kindle from the public library! After seeing what is happening in Italy, I support the decision to cancel school and wonder if it may be even longer!

I used Friday and Saturday to pin and quilt this Fresh As A Daisy baby quilt. The back is lavender minky. It has not been washed yet. I adjusted the pattern to offset my daisies slightly and it measures 49" x 51". Of course, I used my go to wavy stitch and quilted it grid style every two inches and bound it by machine. I like it so much--I am tempted to make a larger one with an aqua background and yellow flower centers to keep. It is such a cheerful design and could be rather inexpensive if I bought the Kona solids during a 60% off sale at Joann's...So many projects temptations!

Sunnyside was quilted last weekend, but I am hand binding it. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2020/03/slow-sunday-stitching_15.html
I will get some photos of it completed soon. I have one more baby quilt to make for a baby due in June, then a break until September. I am still working on my Farm Girl Vintage 2 and need to add borders on a few tops and prep backings. I am trying to restrain myself from starting a new project, but with a month off and plenty of possibilities in the closet my resolve may not last.

I am a total homebody and will make the most this surreal time at home quilting, reading, and enjoying my family once they arrive back from NY hopefully tomorrow night. Please stay home and exercise social distancing practices--it will help. There are too many vulnerable people in our communities, to continue on with life as we know it. Stay healthy and make a quilt!

Baby Quilt Factory

 The two Bjorn Bear Baby Quilts are done. The identical twin boys were born on Saturday, 2/15 and are still in the hospital.

 Excuse the lighting--it is a gray day, but I made it outside when it wasn't raining. This one has a light green background. I made most of the bears identical, but there is different bear in each quilt.

Their finished size 44 x 56 inches after washing. I quilted them with my wavy stitch on a 2.5 inch grid.

 The backings are Sew Lush from Joann's--so soft! These quilts are the first time I opted to not use any batting and I think they came out great.

The bears, deer, and foxes will be perfect colors and for the nursery theme! 

I sewed this top together today! The pattern is called Sunnyside designed by Myra Barnes of Busy Hands Quilts http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com. I decided to make it 48 inches square before quilting and washing. I will pick up a gray  minky backing and quilt this one on the diagonals with the wavy stitch. 

Next up is a baby sized Fresh As A Daisy Quilt. The lavender is the background, white petals, and the pink for the flower centers. I may also us Lori Holt's Spelling Bee to make block letters to spell the baby's name. When this one is done, I am going to take a break from baby quilts--I have one more for a June baby and two more for babies due in September, but I want to work on something else for awhile!

FGV2 Blocks 21-30 QAL

 Welcome Farm Girl Vintage 2 Quilters and Fans! Fat Quarter Shop has allowed me to participate in this amazing quilt along. I absolutely adore Lori Holt's designs and had preordered FGV2 as soon as it was announced. My favorite quilts to make are scrappy--the scrappier the better, so all of my Lori Holt Quilts are just made from my scrap bins with Kona white as my background (I buy it by the bolt). I volunteered to make blocks 21-30 to share with you.

These are the blocks that I made in the 12 inch versions of.

 This is my Happy Horse Block. It is actually hanging on my pasture fence. Our pasture has never had any animals in it while we have lived here, but it is our dog's private dog park and they love to run it.

 This is my Honey Bee Block and I am very tempted to make the Beekeeper's Garden Quilt on page 136 because I have a good friend who is a beekeeper and I am sure she would love it!

 I used one of the fabrics from my Bonnie & Camille stash for  my Mama's Apron Block.

 My Milk Cow Block is made with some fun black and white gingham from my stash. To me gingham is farm girl fabric through and through.

 More gingham, but on point for my Mixing It Up Block.

And my last 12 inch block, Mr. Scarecrow.

 These four blocks I made in six inch versions.

 This is my Maple Leaf Block and my Little Acorn Block

 and my Lazy Daisy Block and Mama's Applique Block. I need to go back and add my embroidery details, but I love how scrappy and darling these blocks come out!

I know it is overwhelming to make the large quilt, but you could make some blocks and easily turn them into a cute door banner like this one I created with six inch versions of the Autumn Pumpkin Block, the Curious Crow Block, the Maple Leaf Block, and the Little Acorn Block and a 12 inch version of the Mr. Scarecrow Block along with some appliquéd letters and a border.

Thanks for stopping by there is a link at the top of my blog on the right side sidebar for information about this quilt along!

Frolic Blocks Together

This is what I have been working on the last couple of weeks! It is Bonnie Hunter's Frolic Mystery. There are many full size blocks, half blocks, and sashing. She had us make a bunch of half square triangles to make a sawtooth border, but I think it is already busy enough. I am going to test some border colors at my LQS and incorporate all the half square triangles into my backing. I have a link on my righthand sidebar if you are interested in finishing our more about this mystery quilt.

Next up, I need to get started on making some Bjorn Bear baby quilts for a set of twins. Have a great week!

Welcome 2020!

Happy 2020! We stayed in on New Year's Eve and enjoyed our hygge lifestyle. Hygge is a Danish notion where you enjoy the cozy, simple things of life--a good meal of comfort food, hot drinks, warm blankets or quilts in our house, a crackling fire, cuddling our dogs, family time, etc.

I made the flying geese for the Frolic Mystery Quilt which was clue 6 that came out on New Year's Eve. I have never made flying geese with Bonnie's method--it cuts down on waste, but I am more accurate with the rectangles and squares method. I am glad we finally got to work with our green fabrics.

Clue 7 posted last Friday and I spent most of last Friday and Saturday completing it. Someone did some math and posted that there are over 3100 pieces already for this mystery quilt. I am excited to see how it is all going to come together. We have not used a lot of the neutrals we pulled for it, I have a feeling they will factor into the setting...

I am almost done with Clue 8 because it involved no cutting and just some easy piecing. I think we are making two different blocks because we are keeping things in sets.

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January is to get my Sunday Best Sampler top finished. I have most of the components done, but need to lay it all out to figure out my block placement. These are the projects I wish I had a real design wall for...

I have my first finish of 2020! This is a baby quilt for a coworker. I used the baby quilt design from Spelling Bee by Lori Holt--I did make mine slightly bigger, but I wish I had even gone a little bigger because of shrinkage. It measures 37 x 41 inches after washing.

The truck block is called Grandpa's Truck and can be found in Lori's new Farm Girl Vintage 2 book.

I used a minky backing and quilted it with the wavy stitch on my Pfaff. I quilted along the perimeter of the squares and on the diagonals. I only purchased the minky backing and the binding otherwise all the fabric came from my stash. I have five more baby quilts to make for March through June babies, so those will be taking up some time in the next few months.

Happy 2020!

Ending the 2019 Strong!

I usually know when teachers are expecting at one of my schools, but I was surprised the week before Winter Break to find out that one of our male teachers was due to have a baby within a week. Austin was delivered on Saturday 12/21, so I started digging in my stash immediately. My spies informed me that navy and grays were the nursery color. I decided to make the Name Quilt from Spelling Bee by Lori Holt. I made a six inch block of Grandpa's Truck from her Farm Girl Vintage 2. I made mine slightly larger than the pattern. This project is definitely my Drop Everything and Make It for December---here is the link for other DrEAMi! projects:

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2019/12/dreami-35.html

I bought some gray minky to use for the backing and I will get it quilted up this week. Stay tuned for my first finish of 2020!

Rachel longarmed this old Sister's Choice UFO for me. She did an all over leaf pattern. It is rustic and lovely--perfect for a lodge-style home in Breckenridge. I finished binding it before Christmas and it will be sent to my daughter's friend as a thank you gift ASAP.

 The leaf quilting is very detailed and she used a rust colored thread which is perfect.

Here is the backing after washing it is 64 x 74 inches, so a good size for a lap quilt.

Bonnie Hunter released her Frolic Mystery Quilt Clue 5 yesterday. I wasn't finished with Clue 4 quite yet, but between binge watching the second season of You on Netflix with my daughter in my sewing room--I got Clue 5 completed

as well as Clue 4. We still haven't touched our greens, but I have been keeping up! https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/frolic-mystery.html

 Before Thanksgiving, I stopped by my favorite antique store and scored five milk glass lace edge candy dishes. Three are small and two are larger. I already have a larger one that I use to hold my binding clips and thread. I paid $15 for all of them which is a great buy! I gifted a large one to my mom for Christmas with scissors and Wonder Clips.

I turned this small one into a pin cushion for my longarm friend, Rachel.

I also completed my One Monthly Goal for December--to get my Ombre Gems top completed and I also ordered a backing for it. It will go into the to be quilted queue very soon. 

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2019/12/one-monthly-goal-december-finish-link-up.html

I have four more baby quilts to make for spring arrivals. One of my coworkers is expecting identical twin boys in March. I hit a great sale at Connecting Threads and ordered the pattern and fabrics to make two Bjorn Bear Baby Quilts. One will have a mint green background and the other will have a light blue background. I am planning on making the bears from the same fabrics for each quilt.

I made a Bjorn Pillow as a sample for my local quilt shop a few summers ago and I am looking forward to crafting some more cute bears.

I have also been working on my Sunday Best Sampler Quilt--I have all the blocks done and now I am getting them ready to sew together. My blocks were made from my Bonnie and Camille scraps, so they are stunning and deserve their own post.

Happy New Year!