Mid Month Check In

 I've been busy.  Nothing new here.  Ah but there is something new.  I started a new BOM through Connecting Threads.

It is called "Seasons".  It runs for 6 months.

1.  Here is month 1 blocks.

The blocks were really easy to make.

2.  Quilt Doodles BOM

This is going to be a huge quilt.  Each month's blocks consist of 4 10" blocks sewn together to make one large 20" square.

3.  3030 Block of the week.

This is block 5 from last week.  Today I need to make this weeks block, 4 sawtooth stars.

4.  Barbara Brackman's Yankee Notions.

This is a simplified version of the block.  

5.  Bee in My Bonnet Quilt a Long.

These are the last three blocks.

I added sashing and a muslin border (not shown in this photo).  It was a fun a fast quilt to make.

I'm working on the sashing for my  Providence BOM.  As soon as I get it done I will post a photo.

I hope you have been productive and are finishing up some projects.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Playing Catch Up

And starting new...

1. I finished the applique block from last month for my Derby House BOM.

I love the fabrics used in this quilt.  They are Mackinaw Island by Minick and Simpson.

2. Quilt Doodles.

These blocks finish at 20".


3.  I started a new quilt project.

It is a new BOW by Bee in my Bonnet using her Christmas book.  This will be a quick quilt.


4.  Another new quilt.

This is the first block for Sentimental Stitches BOW called 3030.  The original used fabrics from the 30's.  I'm going more country colors.


5.  Here's the photo of my finished Rainbow Quilt.

I quilted it in a large cross hatch.  


6.  I finished my Salt Water Taffy quilt top.

Hubby held it up outside.  It was a sunny day and the colors look a little washed up.

I'm still working on last month's Mary Brown block.  There are so many tiny leaves and my eyes get tired working on them

Oops, I did it again.  I signed up for another Connecting Threads BOM.  This one will also come with fabric.  It is a Calendar themed quilt.  When I get the first month's package I will show you what it looks like.

I don't think I'm doing too bad for the first week of June.  However, I have so many projects and so little time.

Thanks for stopping by.  I so enjoy hearing your comments.

Hugs, Cathy

A Good Day to Sew

It's cold, dreary, rainy and very overcast.  Welcome to Michigan.

I've been keeping busy and I am ahead of schedule on some of my projects.  I have a few to share with you.

1.  Quilt Doodles BOM

These blocks are 20" x 20"  and I am using scraps for the background.  

2. Cheddarback BOM

I'm so excited that we are almost done with this quilt.  One more month.  I can't wait to get this quilt all put together and start hand quilting it.

Well my to do list is dwindling down.  I have finished a few more blocks but can't share till the end of the month.  

I have 3 quilt tops ready for quilting and hope to get them quilted by the end of the month.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Hugs, Cathy

Keeping Busy

I've started so many new BOMs that I have to keep them all written down so I can keep track of them all.

In my last post I shared a photo of my Cheddarback blocks for the month.  Now I will share 4 more BOMs.

1.  Quilt Doodles.  These blocks are 20".

I'm making my blocks scrappy looking using different reds and whites or off whites.


2.  Pat Sloan's Out West.

I bought a FQ bundle for this.  I liked the dark blue so much that I purchased some yardage of it to use for the border and binding.


3.  Barbara Brackman's Yankee Notions.

I am using the same background in all my blocks.  I am really loving the grays and tan fabrics.


4.  Minick and Simpson's Derby House.

For this BOM I receive the patterns and fabrics each month.  I absolutely love the fabrics.


I have a finish to show you.

This is a 2016 Sugar Block club BOM.  I've shown pictures of the quilt top that I finished last year.  Well I got it sandwiched and machine quilted using my free motion foot.  Then I sewed on the binding.  While doing this I noticed how bad the quilting was....I mean really bad.  So what I ended up doing is taking out the machine stitching one block at a time and then hand quilting the block using gray #12 Perle cotton.  I really like how it turned out.

Here is a close up.


I have so many UFO's and tops that need quilting.  I'm slowly working on them.  I have chosen my next UFO to work on.  It is a quilt inspired by the Fat Quarter Shop's Patchwork Quilt Along.  There are 12 different blocks but I have chosen to only use 3.

I plan on doing a row of each different pattern.  You might remember that I started working on this as a wedding quilt for my Grandson.  They didn't want brown.  So I made a different quilt for them.  The quilt will be 8 blocks by 9 blocks.  3 rows of each block.  The blocks are 5" finished, the sashing is cut 1 1/2" and finish at 1", and I have made corners stones out of the blues.


I want to thank you for stopping by.  I hope you found something you like.

Hugs, Cathy

Super Bowl Sunday

What do you have planned today.  I might watch a bit of the game but mostly I am going to be sewing.  With the weather we've been having I've been doing a lot of that.

First up is my Quilt Doodles 2014 BOM.  It is now a flimsy.  I finally got all the rows sewn together.  It now resides on the "To Be Quilted" pile.

Next I found a BOM I couldn't resist.  It is a wool BOM from Stacy at Buttermilk Basin Design Studio.  I did mine in cottons.

It is so adorable.  I can't wait to see what she has designed for next month.


I was going through my Project Boxes (I have 16) and came across a Medallion Quilt I started a few years ago.

This is how far I had gotten.

I added another narrow border and today I will finish adding a solid border.  I want to add another narrow border and then some small blocks.  It will probably go back into the box after that.


Seeing it is February 1st I pulled out my Temecula calendar to see what this month's quilt is.

So I pulled out a pink, white and dark red....

And whipped this together yesterday/  It went so quickly.  I even got it pinned ready to quilt.  I would have finished it yesterday but my dog Sammie wanted some cuddle time.  She is such a doll.

Well it's snowing...and snowing today.  My daughter Kelley and her husband and daughter are at the airport waiting to board their flight to Florida.  It was one of the only flights not to be cancelled.  They will be in Florida for the night and then tomorrow the go on a cruise....wish I were going.  LOL

Before you leave, please head on over to Huckleberry Stitches.  I am involved in a group she has started.  We make a quilt a month from the book "101 Fabulous Small Quilts".  

January's Quilt was "A Box of Chocolates"  She has a quilt show of all the quilts made by the participants.  She also has listed the quilt for this month. And it's not to late to join in the fun.

That's it for today.  I need to get a movie on (I'm watching the series of Lord of the Rings movies) and pull out projects to work on.  Stay warm and keep busy.

Hugs, Cathy

First And a Close Second

First....I finished the top for my Primitive Sampler.

I used the same dark gray and added a 1 inch border.  Then I added a 2 1/2" border of the light gray.  I love it.  It is now on the pile of quilts to be hand quilted.

My Close Second is the Quilt Doodles 2014 BOM.

The picture is a little wonky and you can't see all of it.  That's because it is so big that I have going sideways on my design wall.  I also noticed that where I have my blog address in the photo that one of the rows fell off the design wall.

But at any rate...I have now emptied another project box.  Today I will finish sewing the rows together.  BTW...although the fabric looks gray it is a blue check.

The weather continues to be cold.  On Sunday we expecting a high of 12 degrees.  So I see lots of sewing and quilting in my future.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep warm and keep busy.

Hugs, Cathy

Sunshine...

We've had rain, fog, thunder, lightning and hail.  So it makes the sunshine all the more beautiful.

I have finished 2 items on my "To Do" list and I have added another project.

First the finishes.

This is the August row of Quilt Doodles.  The blue check I chose doesn't photograph well.

This is a close up of the candy block.

Next up is my Globetrotting BOM by Pat Sloan.

Here are all the blocks made so far.

Today I am working on the Country Threads BOM.  This month it is a row of blocks.

I will be testing another quilt pattern for Cindy @ Quilt Doodles.  This is a new addition to my "To Do" list.

I hope you get to enjoy some sunshine and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

Goodbye July....

Hello August!  (Warning!!!  Photo Heavy)

July was a busy month for me.  Lot's of sewing and lots of traveling.  We went on a 2 week camping trip to the Upper Peninsula.  

We started with a family get together to visit with my 2 nephews, Nathan and Jake.  Nathan is stationed in Montana and it was the first time we had seen his 3 boys.  Jake is stationed in Ohio and he and his wife will soon be stationed in Guam.  They will be there for 3 years.  That was on the 12th of July.

We left for the UP on the 13th.  Hooked up our trailer and headed north.  This was one long trip.  It took us 10 hours...without the trailer it takes 6 hours.  We went to my son's house just outside of Marquette and picked up our granddaughter Ashley for a week of camping.

We landed at Van Riper State Park on Lake Michigamme.  It was cool and rainy the first couple of days.  But I had lots of crafty stuff for Ashley.  I also took along a featherweight and a box of charm squares to teach her how to sew on a sewing machine.  She took to it like a duck to water.

Here once and off she went.  She said it beat sewing by hand....lol

I signed up for a 9 Patch swap with Barb at "Fun with Barb".  So I showed Ashley how to make 9 patches.  This is the first batch.  Then we went to a quilt shop and she found some fabric she loved and made more 9 patches to match.

This is the backing fabric she found.  She made a pillow (That needs to be stuffed)

And this is the front of the pillow.  Just to let you know....I did all the rotary cutting and ironing.  She did all the sewing of the 9 patches.  She did a great job.

My son and his dog came to camp with us on the weekend.  We took a ride and found a nice little lake to go fishing called Perch Lake.  Even the dogs got in on the action.

Ashley caught the biggest.

My son's dog Roxy tried in vain to catch one.

And Sammie didn't even want to get her paws wet.

We had fun sitting around the camp fire.  Ashley made us a Peanut Butter Smore....and it was delish.  She spread peanut butter on the graham crackers and then added the chocolate and marshmallow.

We left Pat's on Monday and headed home.  We camped for a few days at the State Park in St. Ignace.  It is right next to the bridge.  A little noisy with the sounds of bridge traffic  but at night I turned the fan on and didn't hear a thing.  I was a beautiful park.

We took a ride and went to the Bridge View park.

As you can see it was a little overcast and very breezy.

I found a large of crop of seagulls growing in the park....lol

Sammie loved the wind and strained at the leash trying to get to the seagulls.

All in all it was a wonderful trip.  Glad to be able to sleep in my own bed.  And I'm still emptying the trailer.

Since being home I've been getting some sewing done.  

I signed up for both Modern 9 Patch swap and Reproduction 9 Patch Swap.  I have to make 10 more pairs of the modern 9 patches and start the modern.

This is the July block for Hip Chicks BOM.  I still need to  prep the applique block.

Here are all the blocks together (minus the latest applique block).

And finally the latest Quilt Doodles BOM.  I really love this row.

So I finished all my BOM's for July on my "To Do" list.   Since being on vacation I didn't get anything else done.

Now for my August "To Do" List.

BOM'S

1.  Sugar Shack

2.  Globetrotting

3.  Hip Chicks

4.  Country Threads

5.  Quilt Doodles

6.  Aurifil

I've been commissioned to make 2 small photo quilts that are due in Sept.  So that is another priority.

And I need to finish my Modern 9 Patches and make my Reproduction 9 Patches.

That's it for August.  If I get anything else done it will be a bonus.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope I didn't bore you.

Hugs, Cathy