Lakeview Terrace Progress

I pressed all the blocks from my OMG quilt and played with the layout a little.  I’ll try to get it up on the design wall to make a decision.

They are both a zig zag look but one is vertical and the other is horizontal.  Would love any feedback.

September 2021 OMG

Normally I already know what my goal will be before the previous month is out.  This time I thought I’d pick the next scrappy quilt I had under waythen changed my mind.  I didn’t have anything else in mind so not sure what I was thinking.  I’m just going to go with the original idea which is my scrappy Lakeview Terrace by Missouri StarQuilt Co.

I finished making my blocks on Saturday.  They need to be pressed and laid out.  At this point I’m not planning to add a border.  Here is my work in progress.

I look forward to getting them pressed and up on the design wall.  

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for September OMG.

Are you playing along?

August 2021 OMG

Looks like I got lazy on the blogging!  I’m trying to think if there’s a reason why but can’t come up with anything.  I happily worked on my goal for the month and just stopped once I had the rows together. A weird phenomenon happened.  Once I saw the rows up on the design wall I felt the impetus to keep going just fade away.  You see, I wondered what all this scrappy goodness would look like.  In a way I had accomplished my goal.

I have a few commission quilts and I wandered off into that camp and worked on those.  After all I do need to get them done.  I even planned to blog about one of them but that didn’t happen either.  But

then…Patty posted the wrap up post for the OMG.  I thought to myself,the end of the month?  Already?  

That post was just the nudge I needed to get back to my goal.  I pinned the rows together and got the top sewn together last night.  Then this morning I took it to church and pressed it on the big board.  I enlisted a quilt holder and snapped this pic.  No border and I have gotten rave reviews.  Happiness abounds!

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts Finish linkup.  Hope you met your goals this month too!  

Great Progress!

Every Saturday I meet my friends at church.  Moo moo always goes and is a big hit with most everyone.  Study this picture and think about what the thought bubble is above his head.

I sewed several evenings last week and chipped away at making my blocks for my Stacked Squares.  The tutorial can be found here.  This was me flexing my scrap using muscle.  I had made my envelope quilt and had a stack of fabric leftovers from that.  When I knew I was going to be short on colors I grabbed fabrics from a bag of scraps someone had left at church.  One night while sewing I wanted more red so I pulled my red bucket down and picked several.  Wow that was fun!

When I got to church I had all but 10 blocks done.  I had the pieces cut and ready to add.  I quickly sewed those on and then spent the next several hours pressing all those blocks.  Ugh!  Press as you go girl!  Yes, hours.

I threw them up on the design wall.  I already had in my head that I wanted them in rows.  I decided to try out the layout that Melissa showed in her tutorial.  I hated to admit I liked the circle design.  The girls were teasing me that I should put it up for a vote.  The overwhelming response was circles.  I did have a few in the lines corner.  My daughter even texted me and told me she liked the lines better.  It was very entertaining.

I’m seriously considering making one in the RSC colors.  I need to get more serious about finding projects I want to throw my scraps at.  More to come.

So back to Moo moo.  There are three of us that meet regularly.  Moo has known Linda from the first week I got him and has seen her every week since.  I’ve had him for a year now and he loves her.  Then there’s Karen.  Let’s just say she has too much energy for his liking.  He’s getting more accepting of her especially when she’s sharing her lunch with him.

I glanced over and saw him staring at her. I was a little surprised that I knew exactly what he was thinking.  I asked her if she knew what he wanted and she said she did.  He was not trying to get up on her lap.  This is what he wanted.

This is what he was thinking…. “ can you please get out of my chair?”.  In the past he jumped up when she went to cut or press.  Now he’s just downright rude and stares trying to will her to get up.  Spoiled!

Happy quilting!,

Swooze

Round 3

I just finished sewing round 3 on all 42 blocks for my OMG.  I’ll have to press them all tomorrow and get the fourth anf final round ready.  I have about 10 blocks I’m trying to choose specific colors for and will sort those out first.  At this rate I’ll have my blocks done this week.  All the more time to play witchy he layout!

August OMG 2021

I’m working from this tutorial by Happy Quilting.  I have most of the pieces cut.  I would say all but as each round is applied I’ve come up short a piece or two.

As I was applying the second round I was antsy to see a finished block so I sewed ahead.  This particular block is all purples but not all of my blocks are like this.  Some are themed in greens, metallics or red, whit and blue.  But mostly scrappy.

The setting will be 6x7.  My goal is to complete all 42 blocks and set them.  Adding a border will be a bonus as I have not thought that far ahead.

One thing that has been good about this is that I’ve had to dig into my scrap bucket for a few more pieces.  This has got me thinking more about using my scraps.  Doing a thing seems to make that thing easier.  Here’s hoping you’ll see more scrap use from me.

Linking with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal setting.

Vacation Continued

We had planned to head to the Alabama coast after leaving TN but Ray had a really rough start to the trip with poor health.  I had to keep reminding him that just because we said we were going to a place didn’t mean it was written in stone.  So, we skipped Alabama and went to Baton Rouge.  After a wonderful overnight with Glen and Frank we traveled a short 80 miles to my brother’s house in New Iberia.  We parked in his rented lot across from his house and camped there.

It was a nice visit.  A sight that caught me by surprise was a local cemetery.  I have seen pictures of those in New Orleans but forgot about them.  Due to a high water table the graves are very shallow.  They’re  either covered with a ledger stone or a vault partially buried or above the ground.  I’m generalizing so google for more info.

My brother was off work for the week so we had lots of family time.  We cooked and ate a lot.  We swam. My brother even took me to a quilt store!

In order, my niece and her son, my sister in law and her grandkids (children of niece),  my brother and his sons, my nephews again and my brother and I.  My brother and I have not had the greatest relationship.  We spent a lot of time talking.  He fell into his old ways of trying to be hurtful.  Ray always told me don’t let it bother me which was hard to do.  So the best part of this trip was that I felt very unaffected by him.  In fact, every time he tried to do this I just laughed, usually included with a look of maybe surprise that a laugh was about to spill forth.  I also spent a lot of my talking with my sister in law.  I had never really connected with her before but I think we connected finally.

So on a lighter note.  I asked my brother to make his pizza.  His wife did it but it was so good!  Home made dough, fresh veggies, sausage and pepperoni.  Yum!  My brother has a flat top griddle and made his bacon cheeseburgers for us.  So good.  Marinated chicken and veggies another night.  If you went hungry it was your own fault.  Their neighbor was so sweet.  He saw us come in and went and bought us chocolate bars and cokes.  We got to visit with him before we left and thanked him.

I asked my brother to take me to the quilt store one day.  Their hours were always such that I was there when they were closed.  This time was the right time.  Four little Cajun ladies were inside.  They were so sweet and we were all laughing.  One of them even came out and taught me a few cuss words in French.  I dented my bank account a little but it was worth it.  Here are a few of my finds.

Look closely at the fleur de lis fabric.  There are crawfish alternating with the flower.  There were several more panels but this one was my favorite.  The shop is Emily’s Closet.  They had a lot of unusual (to me) fabric selections.

From here we decided to go to Jefferson, TX.  There were 4 campsites to choose from but I picked Johnson Creek because Johnson is my maiden name.  I had been to Jefferson before and thought the area was nice so thought it was worth returning.  When we checked in I told the lady at the kiosk how I chose their camp. She told me she picked the place to work at because her name is Johnson!  I was amused.

We pulled down into the site and were greeted by some friends.

They would come to visit twice a day.  They stared at us waiting to feed them.  Eventually I gave them dog food.  My dog Bandit wasn’t too sure about his food being given away so he strategically parked himself.  He ultimately was mistaken by a fawn to also be a fawn.  The baby stood and stared at him happily wagging his tail.

Ray met our campground neighbor.  He managed to get an invite on his boat so we got to do a little fishing and touring on Lake of the Pines.  The dogs weren’t too sure about it at first but then settled in nicely.

We spent three nights here just relaxing and talking.  It was a nice end to a long vacation.  We plan to visit this area again.

Happy quilting!

Gifted Quilt

I’m back from vacation and all in one piece!  We went to Bristol, TN and saw Ray’s son and grandkids.

We camped in his yard under a tree and were parked next to the horse barn.  Our neighbors were very good neighbors.

Moo moo thinks he can take him!  We really had to watch that one!  We enjoyed farm fresh eggs and were gifted a dozen, including a duck egg.  We visited several nearby dams, a horse farm where one of the grandkids works and the downtown area to see a Fourth of July parade and small festival.  We were there a week and really enjoyed ourselves.

We drove to Baton Rouge next.  We went to visit my friend Glen from Quilts and Dogs.  

We had a small incident on our way there.  We hit a tire tread.  Pulling a trailer you cannot make fast lane changes.  We had traffic on both sides of us so slowed as much as possible.  The tread wrapped around the electrical cord for the trailer and pulled it out of the truck then was dragged the rest of the trip.  When we arrived Ray went to work to find a replacement cord.  After two tries he was able to locate the correct one and replace it with assistance from Gen’s husband Frank.

Bandit really enjoyed the backyard.  He had his own personal watering fountain.  It was untouched by Bassett lips because their legs are too short!  Moo was left out too.

I had mentioned to Glen that I was looking for an old quilt top or cutter quilt I could use to restore that top I showed previously.  She said she had one she’d give to the cause.  When she showed me what she had I refused it.  It is a vintage 30’s feedsack quilt.  I was not going to cut that apart.  She urged me to take it because she said she’d never finish it.  I happily accepted it but am now on the search for a vintage white feedsack to complete it.

Isn’t it amazing?.  Any leads on a white feedsack please let me know.

I will be back later with more on the trip.

Quilt Repair

I mentioned the quilt I plan to repair.  I looked it over and there are several areas of popped stitches at joins.  The main damage is to a few blocks where the folded edge wore through.  The fabrics are a true scrap basket assortment with poplin, plaid and polys. 

I thought the assembly was clever and I had never seen it before.  They took a square and folded in the seams then folded in half and whip stitched closed.  Then they were whip stitched together into blocks then rows and so on.  No batting.  I really love the weight and texture of it.  These triangles are applied to the two sides as well as a prairie point border.

While on vacation I am searching for vintage textiles to try to restore it but so far no luck.  Will try harder once I return home.

Should be a relatively quick repair.  

Hope you’re having a great day!