Ooops - missed a week

 Its been two weeks since I last posted, so I missed my goal to post every week on Sunday.  What can I say?  No excuse, just forgot.  Well I did just turn 3/4 of a century old, so I guess I can forget things, haha.

Going down my list in APIP order:

APIP #1 - Meryton; I am having fun hand quilting on this quilt.  I chose to not worry so much about filling in backgrounds sand just to echo quilt around applique and use straight lines on borders.  This has freed up my mind from having to come up with patterns and how to mark the quilt. My appliques are so close together that I don't think it necessary to quilt the background behind them, although I would have done so before this quilt.   I have also decided to go ahead and add a final border of the same yellow and dark grey of the two inner borders.  I lucked up and found some more dark grey on the internet and now I have enough to do this, that is will have enough as soon as it gets here.

I am currently quilting the two inner borders and the petal border between them.  I have 8 threads going at all times, three on each yellow border and two on the petal border.  I can usually get one hoop worth quilted each day.

 

APIP #2 - Bloom and Sew; Finished block #5 this morning.  Gail has already sent us block #6, which is the final block and I am anxious to get started on it.  I will save the quilting on that one for September 20 when I am doing a hand quilting demonstration.  This quilt has lots of applique and embroidery and even a little English Paper Piecing - so it will be fun to do the quilting and also talk about the quilt itself. Thank you, Gail Pan, for such a cute design.

APIP #11 - Quilt Maker's Journey Quilt;  This is a joint project I am working on with another quilter, I cut out the pieces, wrote the pattern and she is making the blocks.  Once they are done, I will put the quilt top together and quilt it.  Its fun to work on a project with a friend, but nothing I can do now until I get the 36 blocks she is working on.

APIP #14- Bright Hopes Crochet Lap Quilt;  I completed enough blocks to make one complete row and just had to put that together as I was anxious to see how it would look. instructions. 

Front

Back

  

APIP #15 - Hues Clues; I have pretty much completed this block for the Hues Clues challenge at SewEndipitous Quilt shop in Rock Hill.  Its been fun and a challenge for me to use the colors on my color card, and also to make a Native American theme block that I chose based upon those colors.  I still have some Heishi beads to add that I have ordered.  These are small round beads that were made from shells, bones and stones by Native Americans and then used to make necklaces or to embellish clothing.  I did order some that are made from shells, bones and stones, but they are coming from Japan and will not get here in time for me to put them on my block.  So I ordered some off amazon that are made from natural materials and they should be here on Monday. The ones I found at Hobby Lobby were polymer and didnt want to use those.  Soooooo I will just wait until next week to show a picture of my completed block :)

 

     

Looking at my APIP (Active Projects in Process) I see that I have had 15 projects listed for 2025.  I have completed 10 and have 5 still in process.  I am so glad I started keeping this list and it does give me pleasure to see what I have completed and the steady progress being made on the current active ones.

Its been good and bad this week

Well my 75th birthday was Wednesday and its a blessing I am still doing well.  The day started out bad as our power was off for 5 hours due to trees down from a storm...but good it came on in time for me to get a shower and meet Friends at Ruby Tuesday to celebrate - but bad because while they were all here, my husband fell in the bathroom and we had to call EMT for help to get him up and to the hospital...but good because he did not break any bones and is now just dealing with some soreness.  We were in the ER for 12 hours!  But Thanks be to God, I have been blessed with fairly good health and able to take care of him.

Yesterday was our 51st anniversary and we simply spent a quiet day at home.  He was not up to doing much.

APIP #1: Meryton - Whoopee - I have it in the hoop and did a little quilting on it this morning.  I just love hand quilting, find it so relaxing.  And I needed some relaxation this day.

  

APIP #2 : Bloom and Grow - I did complete all the stitcheries and had hoped to start putting the blocks together - but life happens!

APIP #13: Rose and Tulip Applique (Tote Bag)

This started out as a demo to my Guild and club using Golden Thread as an applique "underlay."  I liked my sample so much, I turned it into a tote bag, with the applique on the front anda Bolar Fusible panel on the back.  I had made the panel in a recent workshop and did not know what I wanted to do with it. So here is the finished project;

APIP #14 - Bright Hopes Crochet lap quilt - I won't attach any pictures as they pretty much look the same, but this week I did finish enough blocks to make one row, and maybe next week I can show you that!

APIP#15 - Hues Clues Challenge (New) - I guess I needed something else to do, so I signed up for a block challenge at my LQS SewEndipitous.  Its called Hues Clues and you draw a color card with four colors and have to make a 20" block using those colors.  Its a light, medium and dark of a particular color and one complimentary color.  You do not pick the card you want, you just had to choose it and only found out the colors after you chose.  I am happy with my draw, and decided they looked like earth tones to me and with a complimentary color of Turquoise, reminded me of Native Americans.  So between yesterday and today, I completed  a star block and then one side of a border using Seminole piecing.  I have the one border and another couple borders fabrics to see how they look.  Its a fun project, but has interrupted my progress on other projects as I am so excited to see how it turns out.  I plan to do a little beading in the Turquoise color.  Has to be done by June 21 - Yikes!

So now, I think I am done for the day.....hmmm...maybe go and hand quilt some.   There is always something for me to work on so makes it hard to find time for cooking, laundry, cleaning......

Bright Hopes and Bloom and Sew Quilt Progress

 To day is May 18, and three more days and I will be 3/4 Century old.  So hard to believe.  We celebrated May birthdays in my family yesterday and it was a fun day.  My birthday is the 21st, my Granddaughter Tess's is the 22nd and my Daughter-in-law Holli's is the 24th.  Add to that my 51st wedding anniversary is also on the 24.  

This past week I have worked primarily on my Bright Hopes quilt and the Bloom and Sew Block of the Month by Gail Pan.

APIP #1 - Meryton; this quilt top is now in the hands of my friend Martee who is going to baste it for Hand quilting on her long arm machine.  It is so nice to have her do this as I know it will be basted straight and without wrinkles.  When I thread baste them myself it can take all day to complete the basting on a Queen size quilt, not to mention the back ache that results after that is done.

APIP #2 - Bloom and Sew;  I completed two stitcheries, have two more ready to be blocked and then another in the hoop, almost done.  That leaves one more to get stitched.  Hopefully by the end of next week all stitcheries will be completed.  I would like to have the block completed by the end of the month.

My three blocks in process

Two completed blocks

APIP #13 Bright Hopes Quilts - I have decided to call this quilt the Bright Hopes quilt after the name of the block.  I now have all the blocks made, and have started the blanket stitch around the blocks and then the crochet.  I find I am really enjoying the crochet as I used to crochet a lot.  Since quilting took over my life most of my other hand crafts have gone by the wayside.  Lately I have gotten more interested in doing embroidery and crochet and enjoy incorporating them into my quilts.

 The instructions call for the blocks to be blocked and I ordered this blocking board to accomplish this task.  I have never had one of these before and look forward to blocking all my blocks.

 I have been playing around with how to arrange the blocks.  

This is option one, with the Bright Hope blocks making up the quilt top.

Option 1 - the floral side making up the quilt back.

This is option 2 where I flip every other block over to put the floral in between the Bright Hope blocks.

Guess I will study the pictures a little more before I make up my mind.

Happy Mother's Day

 I hope all you Mom's out there have had a good day.  Mine was very nice, with dinner here at the house, my daughter Jennie brought over some delicious brisket, mac & cheese and roasted potatoes.  I fixed fried okra, cookies and rolls and my daughter in law, Holli, brought a delicious lemon cake and green beans.  It was a very nice family gathering.

APIP #2 - Bloom and Sew:  I received the 5th block instructions from Gail Pan yesterday and got the stitcheries all prepped and ready to embroider.  Started on one this morning.  Nice one to do today, as I am very happy to have had my family here today!

APIP #14 - Bright Hopes Quilt:  I have primarily been working this week on the Bright Hopes quilt, completing all 36 of the Bright Hope blocks and getting the blanket stitch around several of them,  I had to go back and re-read the instructions a couple of time just to figure out how the blocks will go together, and I think I have it straight now.  I am not to the point of putting the blocks together yet, but its nice to at least think I know how to do it.

APIP #1 - Meryton: I had to order the quilt backing and batting and they arrived this week.  Now to get the quilt to the long arm quilter and maybe get it in my hoop and start the hand quilting this week - or maybe next week.

Meryton Quilt Top completed

 I completed the quilt top this morning.  After much debate, I decided not to add a final border primarily as I have not been able to find a border fabric that I think would enhance the quilt.  Katrina's design is so beautiful, I am happy with it just as it is.  I hope to get it long arm basted in a week or so, and then I can start hand quilting :)

APIP # 13 - Bright Hope:  I completed one block just to see how it would look.  Have not had much time to do much else - well I did get all the blocks cut out .

A little off schedule

I missed another Sunday, but have been steadily moving on.  

APIP #1: Meryton  - I have made some good progress on the Meryton.  All the outer border blocks are made, but I do still have to applique the Whirligig blades to the pieced blocks for the outer border.  Three are complete, 5 more to go.  Then I can start putting the top together, have it basted and then start the quilting.  

These are two of the completed blocks.  They are machine pieced and I am right proud I got them to come out right with all the points in place.  I had to make 4 of each.

The are the four outer border blocks together,  The border with have 4 of each of these blocks.

APIP #2: Bloom and Sew - I have completed blocks 4 of the BOM.  Block 5 will be here May 11, so I have a couple weeks to work on other projects.

Completed Block 4

Blocks 1 - 4 together

APIP #14 - Bright Hopes with Crochet Sashing:  Not sure what to call this quilt.  Bright Hopes is a block I found in the Quilt Maker's Gift book and have chosen this block to use in a quilt that is in the May 2025 Magazine, called Leaping Fences.  This quilt had 5 1/2" rail fence blocks with a crochet sashing.  I had been wanting to do a little crochet lately, and this quilt just caught my eye.  I am using a Bright Hope block instead of the Rail Fence.  I think it will be fun and different from any quilt I have made before.  The blocks are quilted as you go, then a blanket stitch added around the border as a base for crocheting a sashing to hold the blocks together. 

Thread I will be using for Crochet

Bright Hope Block

AQ Magazine Picture of Quilt

Catching up

I have missed two Sunday posts now.  I took a bad fall Thursday, April 10 when a cart I was pushing down the hall simply collapsed and I fell over it, face down.  It was the kind of cart that folds flat, and I pushed it over a threshold in my house, it folded flat with me on top.  It was  a painful fall, and for about 4 days I could barely walk or breathe, but remained confident that I had not broken any bones.  Fred finally convinced me to go to the hospital, and no broken bones, but I had sprained all my ribs and sternum and the muscle tissue around these bones were inflamed.  A true blessing that I did not break anything, and the doctors gave me some medicines that relieved the pain. 

So I lost about a week of sewing just lying around the house.  By the time I got better, Easter was upon us  and I needed to get a scavenger egg hunt together for the grandkids as well as getting groceries and cooking for Easter dinner.  My granddaughter, Tess, helped me get the groceries and egg hunt together and my daughter, Jennie, helped with the meal - so it all got done, and we had a blest Easter.

APIP#2 - During this time, I only worked on the Bloom and Sew project.  I completed four of the stitcheries for BOM Block #4 and have two left to go.  I hope to get all the stitcheries done today and get started putting the block together.

APIP #13 - Tulip & Rose Applique block.  I have the pattern for this block up on my design wall and stare at it a lot, trying to decide what fabrics I will use and how I will use the block.  I had decided to make a pillow out of it to go with my Meryton quilt (APIP #1) but I was befuddled if I really wanted to do this.  In the meantime I finished a block I had made to demonstrate how to use Bolar fusible to Stitchin' Friends.  I really like the sample I made with batiks and have decided to make the Tulip & Rose block with the same vibrant batik colors.  I have been wanting a tote bag to carry my projects in, and voila, I decided to do this.  I will be demonstrating to my guild's First Friday sewing group how to use Golden Thread paper for an applique underlay and I plan to use the Tulip & Rose as my example.  I already have the pattern traced onto the paper, so now to prepare the fabrics for applique.  Its so nice to finally have a plan!

This is the block I made to demo this technique to my quilt club. These are the vibrant colors I will use in my applique and I am thinking of using a black background.  I want the bag to have sides and a squared of bottom, but not too big.  Maybe just 3 inch sides made like the piano key border on the block and using some of the bolar fusible to make the sides. 

Here is the pattern pattern for the Tulip & Rose block, and behind it is the Golden Thread paper pattern I traced for the underlay.

We shall see, I have been know to change my mind, haha.