Lavender Blue Baby Quilt Top

It has been hot which has not helped my sewing mojo. This week though I worked on cutting and piecing the triangles for this baby quilt. I have a teacher friend expecting a little girl in September and she will not be coming back to work. She told me she was decorating her nursery in lavender and teal. I found this equilateral triangle pattern, Lavender Blue, on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog, here is the link:

https://cluckclucksew.com/2017/05/lavender-blue.html
It measures 44 x 51 inches right now. I pieced a backing and machine embroidered a label. I also pieced some batting scraps and I plan on pinning and quilting it up tomorrow. I already have a leftover dark purple binding from another project. I am pleased with how modern and fresh this top came out. I had to buy most of the lavenders because my stash was pretty lacking, but I just bought quarter yards and only used half of them. All the teals and aquas were in my stash.

Check out our sunflower patch--some of the plants are 12 feet high and are beginning to bloom.

I stood out on the road to try and show you how big the patch is. Our lot is on the corner of a cul-de-sac and this part of our pasture is nearest to the corner.

For some reason, most of the blooms are on the end near my hubby's workshop. We have had a couple of strong thunderstorms in the last few days and got 1.5 inches of rain. There was one storm midday today for only a half hour, but there was a half inch in that short time. Hopefully, all the rain will help our garden--my hubby already has eight gallons of raspberries in the freezer. We have a bunch of zucchini and golden beets--that I just keep pickling them in the fridge and eating them in salads with our homegrown lettuce. I made zoodles (zucchini made into spaghetti style noodles) for the first time the other night and they were so delicious--we will be eating them often. The tomatoes and peppers are starting to trickle in. It is so easy to eat healthy with what we grow and what I can get from our local farms this time of year. 

I have 2.5 weeks until I am back to work, but I confess I have already spent a little time in my classroom that was moved--I get too overwhelmed and stressed if my work space is not organized. A little bit of work here and there will help keep me calm. I also have another baby quilt to get finished before I head back to work...

Good Fortune Finished

 I finished binding my Good Fortune Quilt last night. This one makes me do a happy dance! This quilt was my first time sewing along with Bonnie Hunter for her mystery after Thanksgiving and it will not be my last for sure. I have made other Bonnie patterns, but this one was far more intricate. I followed her pattern and color suggestions, I did opt to use a royal blue for my binding instead of a cream as she did. I only purchased my backing and binding everything else was from my stash. More information about Bonnie and her quilt designs can be found on her website here:

https://quiltville.blogspot.com

 Rachel quilted this one. I am not sure what the design is called, but it adds lots of lovely texture. I let her make all the quilting decisions for design as she has a good eye and is still learning about long arming. I have not washed this one yet, but it will crinkle up even more.

 The quilt measures 69 inches square which is on the smaller side for a Bonnie Hunter quilt. 

 I used our garden fence for these pictures and a couple of our sunflowers are starting to bloom. My hubby's raspberries are really starting to produce and he already has a gallon bucket full in the freezer--last year he had over eight gallons!

 This is the first sunflower that has bloomed in our sunflower patch. Don't you love the beautiful color? There were several honey bees buzzing around it.

Here is our sunflower patch. It is three rows wide and about 30 feet long. I would like to plant a bigger space in our pasture next year, but this year is our test run. A couple of weeks ago we had a big hail storm and some of the leaves got holes, but overall the the plants survived. Some of the giant sunflower plants are already eight feet high.

I snapped this picture of Fergie this morning. She was on lookout duty. Our dogs have their own room, it is our sunroom. It has very long windows that are basically eye level for the dogs when they are standing. I used to have a plastic wicker set in there, but they destroyed it and the only piece that survived is the coffee table which they often perch on to sit and see the backyard and pasture. Fergie is such a good watch dog!

 I picked up my To Spin a Star Quilt from Glenn, my other longarm quilter friend, yesterday. This was a scrappy pattern from Diane of Butterfly Threads. I pattern tested it for her this spring and made my version square. You can find the pattern here:

https://www.dianedknott.com/shop.html#!/To-Spin-A-Star-PDF-download/p/134474083/category=19199037

I am going to go back and dig in my stash for a binding as soon as I finish this post. Diane also emailed me about testing another pattern for her soon, so I can't wait to see what scrappy goodness she has created. Stay tuned!

 Glenn also finished quilting my Scrap Dance Waltz Quilt a few days ago. This was a pattern from Carole that you can find here:

https://frommycarolinahome.com/my-patterns/

This is the first quilt I have ever made for our bed! I have been quilting for 24 years and never made us a quilt--I know ridiculous. It is 104 inches square and I used Bonnie & Camille scraps with a charcoal background. I attached the charcoal for binding and I will be working on hand stitching that down for several Slow Sundays of Stitching. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

As some of these UFOs get finished, I am trying to get more prepped for quilting. I have another month until I return to work and I need to make the most of it!

Threadology Twisted Top

Happy July! I was sewing along with the Fat Quarter Shop's Threadology Quilt Along, 

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/threadology-quilt-along/

but I fell behind and had put catching up on my summer sewing list. I was not sure about the large spool setting, but Melissa Cory showed an alternative setting that I fell in love with. You can find it here: 

http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2019/06/threadology-quilt-along-quilt-top.html

Melissa just made multiple blocks from the original design, but I broke out an old quilting book and found some additional blocks to make. It measures 72 inches square with this setting. I dug into my Bonnie and Camille scraps and even opened my Miss Kate fat quarter bundle. Making this was my DrEAMi project for June for sure!

I have this B & C Scrumptious green floral in my stash that I will use for the backing and I already prepped the red Smitten binding. I just need to make my label and get it ready for friend to longarm quilt it. 

 Last year, I made the Postcard from Sweden Quilt and used my leftover solid scraps for another quilt. Since then, I have been drawn to solid quilts and I made my Pineapple Quilt with them too. On Pinterest and IG, I saw all of the Moda Modern Building Blocks Quilts from several years ago and I have been on the lookout for the pattern and even a kit. I had the pattern in my Amazon cart, but then last week @sherrysmart was having a destash sale on IG and she was selling the whole kit. It was like spotting a unicorn. I used my birthday money and bought it immediately. It arrived yesterday, but it will sit in the closet until I get some UFOs cleared and start on it!

 Another birthday money splurge was this vintage ladder! I have a taller one in my sewing room loaded with quilts, but I bought this one for a couple of quilts in our TV room.

 Rachel finished quilting my Good Fortune Quilt this week and I picked it up on Wednesday. I did not have a binding, so I bought this mottled royal blue that is in the quilt and frames it nicely. I am going to work on hand stitching it during the World Cup final for Slow Stitching Sunday. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

Go USA!