Grand Old Flag Finish

There is only one more day of June and I am not going to make my OMG goal--I had wanted to finish my Quilty Fun Sampler. I had finished the top at the beginning of June, but I took it to a long arm quilter and it is not done...Kind of a bummer, but I have plenty of other projects to work on. 

I had a moment of weakness last Friday and succumbed to a new project. Pat Sloan had published her free pattern earlier in the week and when I spotted a perfect turquoise at the fabric store, I had no willpower to stop myself from making my version of Grand Old Flag. Here is the link to Pat's post with the free pattern:

http://www.ilovetomakequilts.com/2017/06/grand-ole-flag-a-free-first-day-of-summer-pattern-for-you.html

My version has an additional row of flags. The flags are were very quick to make--they were done on Friday evening. I pieced the top together on Sunday--again it went together quickly and easily.

 Monday, I pieced together my backing. My goal was to make do with fabrics from my stash and not buy anything else--that goal was met and it is cute.

I was going to make a smaller flag block for my label, but then realized if I made a regular sized block it would help with my pieced backing. Plus, the information fit perfectly in the white stripes of the flag--I embroidered it.

On Tuesday, I pinned and machine quilted it. I used my go to wavy stitch that is built into my Pfaff along with my walking foot and just followed the spacing on the center of the stripes. 

I spent Wednesday and today hand binding it and washing it. After washing and shrinkage, it measures 50 x 60 inches. Plus, I only spent $12 on the turquoise fabric and everything else came from my stash! This was definitely my Drop Everything and Make It for June. The link is on my righthand sidebar.

Today is my sister's birthday and I sent her this kit to make a pineapple quilt. I am currently binding mine and hope to have another finish soon!

Quilt Shop Projects

 This week I have continued to help out one of my local quilt shops with making samples. I made this Touchdown top in Bronco colors and kid sized. This is a great pattern designed by Cluck Cluck Sew and I am looking forward to making a bigger one for my hubby.

 This one is my own design and I need help coming up with a name for the pattern. Any ideas?

 This is also my design--meet Quilt Berries. The disappearing ink I used for the quilting has not all disappeared, but will in a couple of more days. I finished binding it this morning for Slow Sunday Stitching: https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/06/slow-sunday-stitching_25.html

I tried something new--bunting! I made two of these that say "Row By Row." The one pictured is the smaller one. They were quite easy and fun. I am thinking of making some buntings for myself now...

For those of you like me who have a tight budget for quilting, I recommend helping out your local quilt shop with sample sewing. They often need help with making samples and it lets me play with fabrics. They give me a discount for helping out and I get the samples when they are done with them. It is a win win for both parties.

 I helped my dad out and put together a kit for my mom to make a Lori Holt Milk Cow Quilt. This was his anniversary present to her. I can't wait to see how it comes out with her brown and white cows.

 A few weeks ago, I went fabric shopping at a town a half hour north of us. There is a charity shop near the fabric store that benefits hospice. I always pop in there looking for treasures...They had a Singer treadle machine that was in pretty bad shape. It was priced $49--I did not buy it initially. I thought about it and decided to call and see if it was still available and amazingly it was. I was planning on buying it just for the base. My hubby went with me to pick it up and agreed it was a good deal and would be fun to repurpose it. It was manufactured in November 1910.

 Here is the machine itself--someone sewed a lot on it! We will probably sell the machine on eBay and maybe some of the drawers--there were 6. I want to keep them, but either way the project will pretty much be free.

 My hubby painted the base as we decided to use it as a table on our front porch. The top is an old cabinet door left over from my ironing station repurposing project. Doesn't it look great?

Yesterday, I went over to my mom's and used her long arm to quilt my Pineapple Picnic Quilt. I will be binding that today and working on a squirrel project I started on Friday night! Stay tuned...

Strawberries & Pineapples

I am designing some quilts for one of my local fabric shops to feature as quilt kits at our upcoming quilt show. This is my second attempt at a small strawberry quilt and I finally got the dimensions right. My hubby thinks I should call this on "Quilt Berries." 

I just need to stitch the binding down on this Whimsical Pineapples Quilt. The stitching will be my Slow Sunday Stitching this evening:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/06/slow-sunday-stitching_18.html

I went out of town this week for a training in Denver and did not have that much time in my sewing room. I did manage to embroider this label for my pineapple quilt and hope to get it quilted up this week. The yellow fabric will be an amazing backing for it!

B & C Birthday & Pineapples

My birthday was last weekend and it was celebrated with lots of Bonnie and Camille fabric goodness.  My mom knows my love for vintage goodies, so she found this cool vintage lunch box. Don't you love how she used buttons and ribbon to close the latches? 

Inside was a fat quarter bundle of Little Ruby. So adorable!

My sister sent me a fat quarter bundle of Handmade! My hubby also fed my Bonnie and Camille fabric habit--he gave me money to preorder a fat quarter bundle of The Good Life and the tins that will be out in August. Now, I need to work up the courage to actually use all of my B & C bundles--I have seven all untouched!

I finished my Pineapple Top this week. My mom already has hers quilted, bound, and finished!

The pineapple theme continued. I am working on this sample for my friend, Bernice. We also kitted up a bunch for her shop to sell at our local quilt show next month.

This quote will be embroidered in the middle--I am thinking in green. I will be working on that for Slow Sunday Stitching

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

My daughter (the one in the skirt) returned from Italy this week and started her internship. She will not be home at all this summer--she moved into a campus apartment and started making money to support her travel habit! It was a great week!

Quilty Fun Sampler Top & June OMG

This beautiful top started last week with a few demo blocks left over from the Quilty Fun class I taught last year. Lori Holt and the Fat Quarter Shop hosted this sampler quilt as a quilt along in 2013-14 and all of the assembly patterns can still be found online.

I made a few changes to my version--no mittens on it because I want to hang it during the spring and summer. I used some leftover string blocks instead and made more cocoa mugs because hot drinks are a big part of my quilting process. Somehow my middle row was 2+ inches smaller than the side rows. I added additional 1.5 inch strips to the top and bottom--problem solved. I am trying to embrace my new motto--

Done Is Better Than Perfect

I have pre-ordered Lori Holt's new Spelling Bee book and will make a quilt using her letters for my motto. She also showed the quilt with an additional wide border, but I am leaving mine this size--about 54 inches square.

I will be figuring out a backing and plan on quilting this one myself on my Pfaff. I am thinking maybe cross hatching it. Getting this one finished is my June OMG. Check out other June OMG goals here:
http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2017/06/one-monthly-goal-june-goal-setting-link.html