The Sun is Shining

 It's been so long since we've had sunny weather.  It is beautiful out.

I've been getting lots of sewing time in.

1.  Celebrating Mary Brown

I started this block last month.  It took some time to get all the little flowers finished.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I started a couple of new BOM's this month.

2.  Open Skies BOM by Connecting Threads

I love the blues in this quilt.

3.  Manchester by the Sea by Fig Tree Quilts.

I think this is going to be my favorite. 

4.  Autumn Frolic Month 7

I need to applique the owl's eyes.

5.  Sew Happy Quilt by Lori Holt.

These blocks are 4" and eventually will be the center of a couple of blocks.  

6.  Red and Green Quilt.

7.  This month's APQ UFO is #3.  That is my September Sun by Aunt Em.

I had 3 columns finish with 2 to go.  I'm pretty sure I can get the top finished this month and possibly quilted.

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm getting ready to watch the Tiger game.  Hopefully I can finish my Aviary block 3 and if time allows, I have my April Mini prepped and ready to go.

Have a great day. 

Hugs, Cathy

Time Flies

 Especially when you are busy.  I was hoping to post earlier.  I didn't realize the date.  Better late than never.

We have had the craziest weather.  Cold, snow, rain, warm and cold again.  Yesterday it was cold.  The temp was in the 20's.  Today it is in the 50's.  The sun is shining and the sky is blue. I'm hoping the weather is going to stay right where it is so I can start walking again.

Meanwhile in my basement sewing room I've been busy.

1.  My APQ UFO is Home For The Holidays.  It is a BOM from Connecting Threads and ran for 6 months.  I got the first 3 months done.  

These are the last 3 rows.  I need to add a strip of fabric between each row, then I need to add an inner border.  The next border is made up of squares of the fabric used in the blocks.  And finally add the final border of black fabric.  I hope I can finish this one this month.

2.  I started a quilt last month for one of my daughters who is having surgery.  It was supposed to finished by the sixth of this month but they delayed it till May. 

It was made using batiks.  I have all the blocks sewn together.  I need to add an inner border and outer border then quilt it.

3.  Red and Green Blocks.  I'm trying to make 2 blocks a month.

Here are this month's blocks.

And above are all the blocks I have made so far.

4.  Autumn Frolic from Fig Tree Quilts.

Each month the blocks get sweeter.  I love the gathering basket and the mushrooms.

5.  Be My Neighbor.  I decided to work on this quilt Pat Sloan is hosting.

This is block one.

I continue to work on this month Aviary block.  Hopefully I will be finished in a day or two so I can show you the block.

I hope you are enjoying some good weather and that Winter has finally left us.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

February Chill

 It's been cold and it's been snowing.  The perfect weather for sewing.  I managed to get a few things done this first week of February.  First up, I had my check-up with the urologist.  I have to have a cystoscopy every three months for 2 years.  Tuesday I had a cystoscopy and it showed my scar is healing nicely and there are no growths.  Yeah!  On Friday I had a check-up with my GP and she said my sugars are looking good.  I had blood tests done and was told I to come back in 6 months instead of 3 months.  Another Yeah!

Now for the sewing.

1.  Pat Sloan's Sweet Dreams BOW.

2.  Autumn Frolic.

3.  Red and Green Quilt. 

 4.  The APQ UFO for this month is #7.  My #7 is Fig Tree's Sparkle and Cream BOM.  I had 2 months left to do.  I have a third of it put together.

It's made up of Low Volumn fabrics.  Today I work on the next third.

5.  Aviary BOM

This is a BOM offered by Dawn Heese and Bonnie Sullivan.  It is now a closed group.  We just got the first block's instructions.  It was designed to be a wool applique quilt.  I decided to do it using cottons.  I have to reverse the applique patterns.  It's going to be a beautiful quilt.

That's it for now.  Thank you so much for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy

January Projects

 I'm trying to keep the total number of projects down for each month.  Not always easy for me.

Each year I join in with the APQ UFO Challenge.  This month's number was 12.  This UFO was a jelly roll quilt I started a few years ago...okay more than a few years ago.  I had 16 blocks made and need to make an additional 40 blocks.  Well I got them made, sewed them into a quilt top and actually got it quilted and bound.  The jelly roll used was called Ugly Sweater.

Other projects are:

1.  Fig Tree's "Autumn Frolic" BOM

These are blocks for month 4.  I wasn't going to sign up for any more BOMs, but Autumn is my favorite time of year so I just had to sign up.

2.  Celebrating Mary Brown.  I'm really behind on this so I'm trying to get at least one block a month finished.

This is one of my favorites. 

3.  January Mini.

4.  Ladies Aid Blocks 6 & 7

5.  Red and Green Quilt

All of the above projects were started last year.  Here are a couple of projects I started this year.

1.  Pat Sloan's "Sweet Dreams" BOW.

2.  Last year I signed up for Fig Tree's "Little Fig Boxes".  I just received the last box.  I made a table runner from the first box.  The second box was Autumn themed.  Today I finished sewing the top together.  I need to add borders and then quilt it.  I hope to have it finished to show you next month.  It is called Acorn Woods.

Well, that's it for January.  It feels so good to get back to sewing.  I continue feeling better and hope this continues.  I go for my three month checkup with my Urologist on Tuesday.  I'm hoping to get more good news.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are getting time to get some sewing done.

Hugs, Cathy

A Small Finish

I made this little Jan Patek quilt a while ago.  I finally decided to machine quilt it.

I did cross hatch quilting.  I have so many quilts to finish I figured I better start getting some of them done.


Next I did another block for my Red and Green quilt.

This is an ongoing project.  I'm in no hurry to finish...seeing I've been working on for 2 years...lol.

I finished all the blocks for my second Christmas quilt.  I plan on sewing the top together later today.

I'm working on the first block for the "Dearest Boy".  It is probably the hardest block I've ever made.  I had nightmares about this block.  Hopefully, I can get it done.  What a pain this block is.  The rest of the blocks look to be a lot easier.  Wish me luck.

Lori at Humble Quilts has posted the blocks to make for month 5 of the "Sweet Land of Liberty" quilt.  So it's going to be a sewing marathon here at Big Lake Quilts.

Well, we had 3 days of hot weather.  Now we are having a couple of days of rainy weather.  We go from one extreme to the other here in Michigan.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend.

Hugs, Cathy

Rain, Rain

Go Away.... The May flowers are being drowned by all the rain.  Oh well, this gives me more time to sew.

I finished another 6 Box in a Box blocks and I have the last 6 blocks prepped and ready to sew.

I will have a total of 24 of these blocks.  I'm not sure how big this quilt is going to end up seeing I'm going to be adding different blocks to the pile.

 Here is Block #4 for my Red and Green quilt.  Applique is taking a little longer to do.  My hands are better but I still have to take it easy.


I recently got the book "Sew Charming" by Country Threads.  I made this little quilt from charm squares.  It is called "Split Square".

I need to do a better job of reading instructions.  I cut the center strips 1 1/2" instead of 1 1/4".  The charms I used were from Buggy Barn.

Here is a better picture of another quilt I am working on "Walnut Grove Sampler".  The first 2 blocks where Ohio Stars.  The second group of blocks were Square in a Square.  I chose instead to make spool blocks.

I'm working on another applique block and hope to get a few more prepped.  This weekend I'm planning on getting another couple of quilts ready to machine quilt.  

I hope you have great weather and have some exciting plans for the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by..

Hugs, Cathy

A Few Finishes

I'm trying to finish up a few projects before my Carpal Tunnel surgery on Monday.

This is block 3 for the Red and Green BOM.

This is block 13 for my Sally Post quilt.  I still have block 14 prepped and ready to go.

I got all the blocks sewn for my Cross Terrain quilt.  I put them up on my design wall and played with them till I was happy with the placement.  I took the blocks down and clipped them together by rows with binding clips.  I got one row sewn together.  Hopefully I can start sewing sometime next week.

This morning we went to watch my granddaughter Ashley play hockey.  She had one game last night (they won) and one game at 10:00am.  We had about an hour drive to get there.  It was like a family reunion.  All four of my kids were there and 3 of my grandchildren.  My brother and his wife were there and even my ex-husband came.  It was a nice time.  Ashley's team won 8-0 and she scored a goal.  They have 2 games tomorrow.  I'm hoping to make it.

Monday I have my surgery scheduled for 6:00am.  Hopefully I will only have a few days down time.  Until then I hope you get some sewing done. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Cathy