Design Wall Monday

To see what other quilters have on their design walls go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Please excuse the propane tank and garden mess. That's part of living in the country sometimes.

Here is a photo with the propane tank cropped out. The old adage, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning" may prove true for us today. We are predicted to have severe weather later in the day. Because of that Husband is trying to finish up a partial field of corn today. 

The wet weather, along with warmer than normal temperatures, we have had lately has caused some of my flowering plants to put on a late season show.

The hibiscus is loaded with buds - I counted 19! 

This mum grows larger every year.

This hummingbird was here for a day or two last week.

I haven't seen any in the last two days. They are fun to watch. I will miss them.

Inside I have been busy. I have sewn 47 blocks for the Pins and Paws quilt. 

I also cut the inner border. That is put away for the moment while I add borders to this Quilter's Exchange quilt. 

I am second-guessing my decision again. I am unsure if the outer borders are a good idea. 

I was thinking that maybe it should just be bound with the solid purple with the setting triangles being the outside edge. But, then I got on Pinterest and saw a lot of quilts with more borders added after the setting triangles. So I guess I need to just add the top and bottom borders to this top and it will be ready to quilt. This is Johnny Around the Corner from quilterscashe.com and makes a twelve-inch block. My Exchange group exchanged six-inch blocks to fit in the middle. I decided to set mine on point and borders to make it bigger. 

I finished quilting the rainbow scrappy squares quilt.

It has been very windy here so I haven't been able to take photos outside.

I got all the blocks pieced for the Exchange mystery.

All the fabrics except the backing have arrived for the Duck Goose Panel quilt. The backing is the same as the gold to brown ombre only it's a wide back.

I think they look great especially considering that I picked them out online. I'll use this pattern for the borders.

This quilt is no longer a priority since the person who requested it changed their mind, but I will still go ahead and make it at some point, in my spare time. Hahahaha!

I'm continuing work on the Disappearing Rail Fence project.

And, I have cut and started sewing on another project.

These blocks will become a futon cover - Cubs on one side, Packers on the other. 

My son has a futon that he is giving to my SIL and BIL. They plan to put this in their basement for extra seating when watching sporting events, when young family members visit, for the dogs to lay on. I think it is mostly for the dogs to lay one, thus the need for washing. Anyway, my son thought it would be cool if I could make a removable cover with the sports-themed fabric and that it could be made so that Cubs are featured on one side during baseball season and Packers on the other side during football season. My son apparently thinks I can do anything. I will layer it with batting and muslin and quilt it, add the zipper and hopefully, he likes it. My biggest concern is the very long zipper that will need to be inserted on one end so the cover can be removed for washing. I can do zippers, I just don't like to. 

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!

Design Wall Monday Oct. 4

 To see what other quilters have on their design walls go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I have been feeling a little scattered lately. A lot like the leaves that are falling. There aren't a lot of them, but they are steadily falling. I am NOT ready for fall, and especially for winter.

Husband continues farming - between rain sprinkles when this photo was taken.

We got enough rain over the weekend to put a stop to that.

I have flitted from one project to another, finishing none.

I cut fabric for a new project - Pins and Paws from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

The cutting was done while on the phone with Son. The good news is that I am cutting up fabrics from stash during these phone conversations. The bad news is I am getting a lot of projects cut, but not sewn!

The next clue for the mystery quilt my group is working on has been posted. I am just randomly putting them up on the design wall.

I don't know what the final layout will be yet, but I kind of like the staggered placement of the stars.

I'm looking at Diamond Head and contemplating loading it on the quilt frame.

I'm not crazy about this quilt, but it would be a good way to practice with the longarm.

I got some more blocks made for the Disappearing Rail Fence quilt.

I have 14 blocks made. I need 99.

I got the rainbow scrappy squares quilt quilted, trimmed, and am sewing down the binding.

I thought this backing fabric was perfect for this quilt.

I wondered how the backing would look as binding.

And that is what I am using. I'm kind of second-guessing that choice now, but I am not taking it off. I thought about making a scrappy binding, but I knew I would want to make the colors in the binding match up with the colors of the quilt and I really didn't feel like doing that. I may regret it later. And, yes, that is a hand quilting project under the scrappy squares quilt that I am also working on.

I continued to search for fabric to go with this panel.

I had already received the panel and coordinating print. I found other fabrics that I thought would work with them and they have been ordered. Last week I texted the person who asked me to make it showing him photos of the fabric and pattern idea I had along with the cost. He finally texted me back today saying it was more than they wanted to spend. Well, darn, but that's ok. I am going to make it anyway. It may end up as a fair project. Who knows, maybe someone else will like it .

These are the last of the Endangered Species quilts. 

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!

Design Wall Monday

 To see what other quilters have on their design walls go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I got all the papers cut for Coral Reef and need to cut the fabrics. The space I work at in the TV room is not big enough for that.

But the big cutting table is in the unheated garage and temps have been well below freezing, even falling into negative temps lately. And, the space I work at in the sewing room (used to be Son's room) needed some cleaning/decluttering/rearranging. I had decided to put a bed in their for when people might need to spend the night. Well, we hardly ever have overnight guests. The only one I can think of that will need to spend the night here is Son and that will be when he visits during fair week. So I decided to give myself more room and take the bed down. Husband wondered why it took me so long to decide to do this.

 

The mattress and box spring are now leaning against the wall so they can easily be laid down on the floor in the rare event that the bed is actually needed. The slats and side rails are nearby in the closet. Years ago Husband worked at a printing plant that went out of business. They allowed the employees to take or buy items that were going disposed of. He was able to bring home a couple of office cubicle walls. They make pretty good design walls. I moved one in to lean against the mattress/box spring and immediately moved the Churn Dash blocks onto it. 

 

 Now I have more room and a bigger design wall! There are still a lot of things in this room and I try to use every bit of the space well. 

 

 

This is the closet filled with projects. But let's face it, this room is just too small! HA. It certainly can't be that I have too much stuff, right?!

Even though I haven't cut any fabric for Coral Reef yet I did get some other things done.

I cut all the fabrics for the 

Quilter's Exchange Mystery.

And, got Week 6 blocks made for the 

Stash Buster Challenge.

I am cutting ahead with this project so I can just pick up a pile and sew. That is handy when Son calls. I put him on speaker and head to the sewing room and stand-up sew while we chat. I pulled fabrics from my stash for this project. Sometimes there isn't enough of a fabric to cut two blocks, like the ones above. Sometimes there is just enough.

This is all that was left after cutting one set. Not much left, but most of these pieces went into the scrap bag for a future scrap quilt.

I also made the yellow block for the 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

When moving things around in the sewing room I came across some cross stitch kits. I decided to pull one out to work on when watching TV (like I need another project!).

And, that made me think of another project I wanted to work on - A Year of Celebrations by Hands on Design.

 

 There is a design for each month. I had finished February and started March (I didn't get the pattern until after the first of the year and just jumped in will-nilly!). But, where was it? It wasn't in the cross stitch kit drawer. It wasn't stuck in any other project tub. I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon thinking and looking and looking and thinking. Where could it be? At one point Husband asked me what I was looking for so I described the bag to him - orange with blue floral print, about this big. 

I turned around and there it was. Then, I remembered that when hung it up there on the corner of the mirror that I would probably forget that I had done that. I was right. It has been there, in plain sight, right where I put it weeks ago.

When cleaning I also came across lots of memories. Things from high school that my mom had sent home with me the last time I saw them - my track shoes, letter jacket, Who's Who books, newspaper clippings, old photos. Most of these memories are specific to me only. I don't know what to do with it all. I know my son won't want most of it and there is no one else that will either.  

I am keeping this though. My dad as a young man. Isn't he handsome? 

And, now he collects rocks from their driveway. He puts them in egg cartons and hands them out to family like they are some kind of treasure. These were given to me a year ago. Dementia sucks.

Stay safe and well.