FNSI October & SSS

 I had a great time sewing last night for the Friday Night Sew In. Early this week, I had finished my sewing machine cover/mat. I am so smitten with it that I decided I need a matching thread catcher.

So for FNSI, I dug into my scrap bins for 3 1/2 inch squares and did lots of cutting and ironing. These will turn into small hourglasses for the thread catcher.

Don't you think a matching thread catcher is needed? Especially because I have a quilting retreat next weekend!

 I also whipped up my Little Letters L blocks; shockingly, so far I have been keeping up with all the blocks! 

Then, I watched some TV and worked more on my Journey of a Quilter BOM embroidery. And I ended my Friday night with a soak in the tub with bubbles and my funny book! Talk about a prefect Friday night, sewing therapy and soaking therapy. Check out what everyone else accomplished here http://sugarlanequilts.blogspot.com/2014/10/fnsi-sign-ups.html

Today, my friend, Lindsey, came over to quilt and I worked on the hourglass blocks for my thread catcher and getting the wool prepped for the fence block for this BOM. I am behind and my mom is already hand quilting hers! 

For Slow Sunday Stitching and football Sunday, I am going to work on my Journey of a Quilter BOM embroidering, finish up my matching thread catcher, make my Little Letter M blocks, and get everything together for next weekend's retreat. We have parent/teacher conferences this week which means late nights and not much sewing time, so hopefully I can get lots done on Sunday! See what Slow Stitching everyone is working on herehttp://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

Columbus Day

 I tried to make the best of my day off today! I got my sewing machine cover completed. It fits both of my sewing machines.

Here it is doing its other task as a mat with pockets. I have my baby, a 1961 Singer Featherweight, in minty white on it. My Pfaff fits into a drop down sewing machine cabinet, so this will be mostly for traveling. We have a retreat in a couple of weeks and I am excited to try it out. 

 The design comes from Lori Holt's book, Quilty Fun.

 Between football yesterday and sewing with the girls this morning, I got one of my "Journey of a Quilter" blocks done.

I also started on another block from "Journey of a Quilter." I also took care of a couple of errands and started preparing my projects for our upcoming retreat.  Val from http://myplvl.blogspot.com just e-mailed me that she is featuring one of my posts on her link party tomorrow, so be sure and pay her blog a visit. There is always great eye candy and fabulous organizational tips!

Mom to the Rescue!

I did not get much sewing in this week, but thanks to my mom I have a finish. She quilted up this Angry Birds quilt for me on Friday

and I bound it yesterday. It is for a nine year old, so I machine bound it.

My mom stippled it on her long arm and used lime green thread.

I pieced the back with some left over nocks and a $4 a yard lime green since that is his favorite color.

I did keep up with the Little Letters this week and made my I blocks,

my J blocks,

and this morning I made the K blocks which are a little tricky, but came out perfectly.

My hubby harvested the rest of the carrots from our garden and I made spicy, pickled taqueria carrots with them and our home grown jalapeños.

There was no need to can them as they will be eaten up quickly.

 The leaves are changing and we have had some rain lately, so the grass is still green. It is windy today and rain is dropping.

These pictures are looking out my kitchen window. It is hard to tell, but there are two horses in my neighbor's pasture and it is fun to watch them run around.

 I am going to finish binding this today and work some more on my Journey of a Quilter for 

Slow Sunday Stitching. See what everyone else is up here http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

I have tomorrow off from work and plan on working on some UFOs. 

October FNWF & SSS

 Last night was the first Friday of the month, so that means Friday Night with Friends sewing. Here is the link to the party http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/fnwf.html

 I started working on this block for my Journey of a Quilter BOM. I made pretty good progress as I joined my family to watch a movie.

 Today I attached the binding and ties for my sewing machine cover/pad. I am using a pattern from Lori Holt's first book. I hope to finish hand stitching the binding down tomorrow night for Slow Sunday Stitching. During the day, we will be road tripping over to Aspen for a college fair. The drive should be gorgeous with all the trees changing and sunshine expected. See what everyone else is working on for http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

I have been keeping up with my Little Letters and got the H blocks completed. I am excited about tomorrow's new instructions.

Lucky Stars Finish!

 I finally was able to get outside between rain showers and get some pictures. This was a commissioned quilt I made for my sister. She wants to give it to her friend for her birthday. She sent me a 18 pack of Up Parasol by Heather Bailey fat quarters. There were three solids in the pack and opted to leave them out. I was really stumped with these fabrics as they were not really my taste and there were lots of big prints. I decided to go with an older pattern, Lucky Stars by Terry Atkinson. I hit my LQS and found some more fat quarters that went with them. I also opted to use a slate grey Kona for the star background instead of a white. I think the grey really highlights the stars!

 I just quilted it up with a grey thread on my mom's long arm. It was washed and dried and crinkled up fairly nicely.

 I just did an all over loopy design. My free motion machine quilting skills are not impressive and loops are my go to. I prefer them much more than stippling. 

 Her friend's favorite color is orange and I considered an orange backing, but thought it might be too much. I found this perfect grey print for the backing. It is a wide fabric 108 inches, so no piecing needed and it has a darker grey swirly print, plus it was only $10 a yard and there was enough for binding.

 Little Letters G instructions posted on Sunday, so I dug into my scrap bins and came up with these two blocks.

 Here is my progress so far on all my Little Letters, brights and country colors. 

 I am using a scrappy background for both of mine and some reds and greens in my country version.

I think this bright version is incredible! I hope my scrappy background looks ok. Letter H should post tomorrow and I am so excited to add to my growing collection.

F is for Fall, Football, & Food

F is for fall, football, and food. I got my F blocks done when the Little Letters pattern posted on Wednesday at http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com

Here are all my blocks so far. The bright blocks and the country blocks are so much fun to make and a way to make a dent in my over flowing scrap bins. I look forward to Wednesdays and Sundays for the next letter's directions.

I finally was able to speak with someone at the quilt shop where I have been getting my Journey of a Quilter BOMs from and they posted pictures of the last three month's worth of blocks plus the block that has not even arrived yet. I pieced two already and need to work on this one. Then, I will trace them and add them to my handwork basket to embroider. 

I went to my mom's and used her long arm to quilt this Lucky Stars quilt today. I will put the binding on it in the morning and spend the day hand binding it for Slow Sunday Stitching as I enjoy football. See what everyone else is slow stitching here http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com 

Do you see our garden in the background? We have not had a freeze yet, so we are still picking tomatoes and other goodies. It was 80 degrees today, we don't usually make it this far into fall with our garden. It is supposed to rain between 1 and 3 inches tomorrow and I plan on making some comfort food and baking up something delicious between sewing and doing laundry. It sounds like a perfect way to spend a Sunday in the early fall.

What Is the Name of This Block?

 I got this top completely cut and assembled this week! I used fabrics from my scrap bins and stash fabrics for the sashing and border. I even have a similar fabric to the border for the backing.

I had inherited 4 of these blocks from my sister and made 26 more for this quit. I have yet to find the name of this quilt block...Can anyone help me out?

 I also made my E blocks for the Little Letters quilt along over at http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com

The cutting directions left out the measurements for the middle line of the E, but Debbie figured it out and posted the dimensions in the comments and it went together perfectly.

 As you can see, I am making two Little Letters quilts, one in bright colors and one in country colors.

I want to piece some of these Journey of a Quilter BOMs I started in April, but it is very difficult because the shop in South Jordan, Utah has not posted any pictures for the last three month's blocks. Needless to say, I have gotten behind and I am ticked. I have called twice, e-mailed three times, and posted comments twice on the shop's blog. It is the Material Girls Quilts in South Jordan and their customer service sucks!!!! If I had not already invested $115, I would just quit. Spread the word that they are unreliable and have terrible customer service. I will just have to wing it and piece one of these blocks to work on for Slow Sunday Stitching. Check out what everyone is up to for handwork here http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

P.S. The quilt that I completed this week was supposed to be a wedding gift, and I was going to have a contest to name it. However, the wedding has been cancelled and this quilt will go into my UFO pile until I need it for something else. Sorry for any confusion!