The Rail Fence and Friendship Star top is assembled. I wasn’t happy with this one at first, the blues lean a little too close to turquoise for it to look like a veteran quilt to me but now that I’m done with the top I’m happy with it. It will be donated when finished.
I’ve also made good progress on the other 3 projects I’m working on. The crochet linen stitch blanket is done except for weaving the ends in, the hand quilting is done on the doll quilt and the binding is ready to be hand stitched down, and the magic loop hat is about half way done.
The modern square in a square top is assembled and will go back to Tampa for quilting. This one is made from a layer cake and as I said, it’s a bit busy for me but I will eventually try this with squares cut from stash. It was an easy and quick one to cut and piece.
I was missing the extra work surface my Big Board at home gave me so I ordered one for here. More room to press and room to pin rows as I’m assembling a top – I love it.
Rainbow HeartStrings #3 is assembled! This is the last one for now although I have some blocks leftover so eventually, I’ll probably make enough to have another top but that’s way down the list for now.
All three of these will go back to Tampa to wait their turn for quilting and just like that I’m behind again! I don’t mind so much because even though I’ve got lots of quilting to do … everything I’ve started so far this year is either finished or at least a finished top. I expect to end up with over 30 new starts this year … that’s a lot for me and due to us buying the Big Canoe house in April and spending lots of time here.
Eventually, Keith will end up back to a more normal work schedule where he is traveling again which will mean we won’t be here in Big Canoe as much. Unfortunately, the airport is 2 hours away and it’s not just feasible for him to have to do that every time he travels or I think we would both be ready to move here full time.
Keith will drive Rae home tonight after he finishes work … we’e enjoyed our time with her and she’ll come back on Sunday to do it all again next week.
Rainbow HeartStrings top #2 is assembled … it pretty much looks like top #1 but the third one will look a bit different since I decided to go with light colored sashing for that one. I made a start on it today and will hopefully finish it up tomorrow. I should be ready to work on something new on Thursday!
I always feel like I’m behind! Traveling seems to eat away at my productive time whether it’s going between Big Canoe and Tampa or the frequent pre-COVID trips I took but I’ve made a good start on my list.
This is the first of 3 of these Rainbow HeartStrings blocks on my agenda over the next few weeks. You’ve seen similar quilts from me since we’ve done these blocks before and as much as I dislike sashing blocks … I love these blocks with black sashing and bright cornerstones so all 3 will get the same treatment.
This one is about 53 x 75. There will be one more this size and I’ve already put the next blocks up on the design wall. They might get moved around a little before I start to sew.
I’ve also laid out the smaller one which will be about 42 x 53. Originally I intended to make one or two of these and take rest of my blocks to Maine for group quilts but the Maine sew-in has been canceled this year so I’ll make all 3 of them. I was a bit heavy on pink and purple blocks so this one is less random than the other two. I do know that one purple block is rotated the wrong way in the photo below but I’ve already fixed it and picked the blocks up off the floor.
Our time here is winding down and I wanted to get out on the lake one more time … today was supposed to be completely clear … I thought I was going to have to make a run for the Marina as the sky darkened.
But I was lucky, after a little drizzle, the afternoon turned out beautiful. The clouds kept it from being too hot and there was a nice gentle breeze.
I did manage to piece a little Strippie top when I got back. These are always so cute. I also cut one out from the leftover fabric from the puppy quilt. That leaves me 4 Strippie “kits” here assuming I don’t piece another one before we leave on Monday.
This one took me a while … I don’t love it but I don’t hate it either. It’s a perfect example of the good and bad of using precuts. The good is it’s easy to pick up a Jelly Roll or two (I used 2 with some leftovers) and start sewing, the bad … they can be too busy. Ideally, if I was working at home I would have added in fabrics from stash to calm this down a little. It’s not that I don’t love some of the fabrics, it’s just that it could have used some tone on tones. With some Jelly Rolls you can just use a consistent background fabric but others like this one would benefit from lots of stash fabrics being mixed it.
But … I’m not going to fret over it. Sewing in two places means sometimes I’m going to want or need stuff that’s at the other house. I’m just happy that I have great sewing spaces set up in both houses AND lots of projects to work on too.
Adam and the kids are coming for the weekend so I won’t be sewing for a couple days … not sure what I’m going to start on Monday. Maybe a Quick Strippie or two since I’ve just got one week left here after the kids go home before we head back to Tampa.
I got the Puppy 5 yard quilt assembled. That makes 5 tops plus some camo yardage that Chris wants quilted up to take back home … and just like that I’m behind on my goal to finish as many of my quilts as I start.
We will go back to Tampa in August and I plan to get a bunch quilted but I’m not sure how long we’re going to stay. With the rising number of COVID cases and deaths, I don’t see Keith flying for work in the near future and if he’s working from home he can do it here in GA just as easily as in Tampa.
My precut July quilt is assembled – that was quick!
I gave you all the wrong information on this quilt. First, I called it the Stop and Go quilt … that is incorrect – it’s called Walk and Stop. Second, I said I bought the kits from Craftsy but they were both bought from Connecting Threads. Mom pieced the batik one I showed yesterday and now the black and bright top is done too. I did exchange the solid black in the kit for a print from stash. I feel like a solid black picks up and shows lint really bad so I rarely if ever use it for a background.
The kits are no longer available at Connecting Threads and it’s been several years since I bought the two I got but I will definitely be using this pattern again – just 2 yards of a background fabric (2.5 yards if you’re going to bind it in the background fabric) and scraps or fat quarters from stash and it makes a quick and easy quilt. Mine will go back to Florida for quilting and eventually be donated.
Finally! Adam’s T-shirt top is assembled and it will go back to Tampa for quilting. So glad to have this top finally done. No pattern although I did look on Pinterest for inspiration on uneven block layouts. I drafted it in my TouchDraw app which helped me make sure that the sashing strips were offset and that each row came out to the same size! The finished top is about 70 x 92. Sashing strips are cut 2.5 inches.
