This Week's Progress

Its been a productive and fun week in the hovel.  First, I finished this small snowball quilt top that I started sewing along with Temecula Quilt Co. 

Next, I reorganized my scraps.  I had been cutting/storing them in strips and squares by size, but I realized that I work more by color than by size.  I now have plastic drawers with assorted sized scraps by color, and it seems to be much easier for me to work this way. 

Yesterday a group of  us took a day trip to two shops in Northern California.  The first was Friends Around the Block Quilt Shop in Colusa.  It is housed in a refurbished old mortuary that looks like a chapel.  It is bright, airy, well organized and well stocked with a wide assortment of fabrics.  The people are delightful too.  It may be my new favorite shop.

Next we headed up I5 to the Quilt Corral in Willows.  Again, this shop had very helpful and friendly owners, although it was rather small.  No problem!  We all managed to support the local economy in Willows.

I found the border fabric and background fabric for two quilts that are in progress as well as a few orange fat quarters to use in a Halloween quilt (someday). 

Today I finished the gold round of EPP on Summer Circles.  Next up is dark/med. blue. 

I have many options for keeping busy this weekend--I hope you do too.  I'm linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict.



A Finish!!

I actually finished a quilt including piecing, quilting, binding and EVEN A LABEL!!  Working with the l inch strips was such fun.  I never count pieces in my quilt but this one has 3,879 pieces.  The pattern is called Four by Four by Temecula Quilt Company.  I saw the quilt in person when I was in the shop and fell madly in love with it.  Just my style:  Reproduction fabrics and zillions of tiny, scrappy pieces.

It finishes 50 x 64 and I machine quilted an all over meander to let the piecing take center stage.


Meanwhile I've been working on Summer Circles.  I'm not really sure what color I'll do for the next concentric square, maybe blue.  Any suggestions?

Hand quilting has come to a standstill, as it is too hot to sit with a quilt in my lap.  No problem, I'm never at a loss for a hand project to work on.  We continue to have fire after fire here in our beautiful state.  Fortunately none in our area, but the smoke from all the fires collects in the central valley.  Not good for people with breathing problems. 

Handpiecing and Applique

For Slow Sunday Stitching  http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com I'm working on my basket quilt.  I have 135 blocks completed and 17 left to applique.  I'm thinking maybe a lap sized quilt for these blocks.  I have really enjoyed the applique on them.  I used the back basting method because they're such simple shapes.  Very addictive!

Another addictive slow stitching project comes from Temecula Quilt Company.  Its called Summer Circles.  I adore all the small quilts this tiny store creates.  Go to their blog http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com to learn more. 

We took a road trip to Oregon to visit family over the 4th, so I had plenty of time to stitch.  Sadly, much of our state is on fire.  We encountered two huge fires on our trip.  One on the northern border closed Interstate 5 to traffic, but we were lucky to have made it through before that was necessary.  It was clear that the fire was out of control and spreading everywhere.  Fortunately this area is sparsely populated.  I've have lived in California all my life, and I've never seen the amount of fire activity that we're seeing now.  My prayers go out to everyone involved, especially the fire fighters who risk their lives on a daily basis.



Slow (Hot) Sunday Stitching

I've been getting a lot of hand stitching in lately, as there as days when I don't have much energy to do much else.  I'm so thankful that I have this hobby to keep my mind and hands occupied.  Today I will be stitching on this Fig Tree Frivol.  I'm almost done quilting it.   Just a few more blocks and 3 borders.  Its small, so it is comfortable to hold even in the heat. 

 

Last week I finished up my paper pieced hexagons.  Each hexi is 1/2 inch and most are fussy cut.  I started this back in November 2015 when I attended a Jo Morton hand sewing retreat at Lied Lodge in Nebraska with my friend Nancy.  I haven't worked on it steadily, as it became my car project.  We make several 12 hour trips to Arizona and back every year, and I occupy myself with a hand sewing project or two.  This in addition to having a 17 pound Shih Tzu on my lap!  I have it pin basted and will hand quilt it when I finish my current quilt. 

 

This past week wasn't my most productive week, but this coming week should bring me more energy and motivation.  I did read a great book this week called  Beneath a Scarlett Sky by Mark Sullivan.  It is based on the true story of a heroic young man in Milan, Italy during WWII.  Not the most uplifting of things to read when you're feeling poorly, but it definitely made me realize that things could be waaaay worse! 

 

Have a great Sunday everyone.