Saturday Sampler

I signed up for a BOM called Saturday Sampler. The color fabric is Fleurish by Benartex and the background is Moda Bella solids in white or black. I chose black as did most of the 40 people making this quilt.

We paid for the pattern and I think the first months kit. If we show up at our scheduled time with the block complete we get next minths block kit free. If not we pay $6.50. Not a bad deal!

I have attended every month religiously and watched as everyone showed their block. Some made slight changes but for the most part they all looked the same.

I was at a sit and sew at the store offering the class. Hanging on the wall were completed sample blocks in both the white and black colorway. I had an idea! After the sixth block I switched from black to white.

I have now made two blocks with the white background. I also received the finishing kit which had all the border fabrics. It had black and I added white as well. I cut out all the border pieces and assembled two sides.

I started having doubts about my decision when I put the borders together. I made the second white block yesterday and decided to audition everything together.

I am going to stay with the plan until all the blocks are made. I think that’s the only way I’ll really know if it’s all going to work. Can you see my helper jumped into the picture?

I’m committed to using the seam ripper and redoing some things if need be.

Can you see my vision? It won’t look like anyone elses!

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Friday REVERSE Fling

A good friend of mine passed away about six weeks ago.  I’ve been going to her home helping her daughter fold her fabric in preparation for a sale.  I practiced as much self restraint as I could but did set some things aside for myself which her daughter encouraged.

I helped her promote the sale and worked the sale Saturday.  I was overcome with such a feeling of sadness at all the fabric and other things sitting there.  I could only see them as unrealized dreams.  

I had a chance to talk about this with the daughter during slow times.  She told me her mother was happy.  That even though she didn’t sew everything, she did sew and she got to enjoy her things.  I was happy to hear her say this.

I’m working on getting more organized in a way that will allow me to still find my things.  I’ll continue to modify my behaviors in order to get more fabric out and less fabric in.  Getting it out may become making tops and sending them to subcontractors to get finished in addition to my own finishing efforts.  Also letting go of the leftovers instead of hoarding the scraps.

Her daughter ended up paying me by giving me the fabric I had set aside.  I did not need payment and expected to pay for the things.  I didn’t count the yardage but hope I can say it was less than 20 yards.

Sadly the sale contents only scratched the surface of what’s left to be sold.  There are still boxes full to go through, an 8x13 foot room full and there are plastic crates lining a wall.  I’m going to continue to help but am thankful I will be going on vacation for 2 weeks next month so only have to endure the temptation a few more weeks.  Please pray for my strength!

I did fling a few household items and am working diligently to fill another 2 boxes.  One is non-clothing items and the other is clothing.  Inch by inch life’s a cinch!

Happy flinging friends!

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What Does Tom Make?

He makes Horned Toad figurines. Mine are mostly hand painted pewter figurines.

These are glass shelves with a mirror behind. If you want to see a close up let me know. I’ve been collecting these over twenty years. Every species known to man is represented here.

https://hornedlizardcreations.com

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Progress since Retreat

I haven’t sewn much since I got back from retreat. My sewing room exploded and I’ve also been decluttering my bedroom and closet. Somehow my sewing mojo is quieted by decluttering.

I did work on my borders for Saturday Sampler a little more.

I had this crazy idea to make half my blocks with a black background and half with white. I then decided to carry that idea to the borders. I’m feeling a little uncertain right now. I’ll either love it or hate it. There’s always the seam ripper!

i went to the State Fair of Texas to see the quilts and visit Tom the Horney Toad man. I’ve known Tom for over 20 years. He has invited me to his workshop many years. This is the year! My aunt lives in Phoenix so I’m road tripping to see her and will drop in on Tom as I pass through! I am taking two weeks and will go where the road takes me.

I think I’ll go tackle my sewing room a little to see if I can uncover my mojo!

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Packing for Retreat

It was my goal to not overpack for retreat. Either projects or stuff in general.

I took five projects with me and worked on all of them!

1) Scrappy Mountain Majesties

2) Walk in the Park

3) Cut my border for Saturday Sampler. Sewed a little too

4) Sew my drunkards path animals. 2 of 3 done

5) Sew on bug rail fence. No pictures but I know I need 9 rows and completed 2 or 3

I am learning what can be accomplished in these timeframes. Boy it was hard sitting for four days. I had a chair pad and got up and down regularly. I started stretching a little on the third day and decided I need to make that a general practice now.

I had a great time and got to see people from previous retreats. I semi controlled myself at the guild garage sale table. I bought some yarn, a tote bag; fabric, books and a magazine. I already have plans for most of the fabric! Bonus!

Have you been retreating lately?

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A Walk in the Park

I made this jelly roll quilt in a single, long day of sewing. It’s called A Walk in the Park and can be found on Craftsy. When I first found the pattern it was free but now they charge.

It’s much prettier in real life. This is another one from my estate sale fabrics. Two small jelly rolls which cost me about $3 each. There was also a FQ bundle that I will use to make a backing big enough. I picked the backing up at the retreat guild table for a few bucks. More projects coming.

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October OMG Complete

I am away at retreat. It started yesterday around 9 a.m. I went straight to work on my Scrappy Mountain Majesties. Added the last two rows. First border added. Second border added.

First finish of the retreat!

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts( when it opens)

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4Q FAL

I had quite a few finishes at the beginning of 3Q but then I fizzled out. Mainly because I couldn’t get into finishing the current quilt on my frame. Easy start to the list!

1) Nancie’s Floral

2) Ray’s horse quilt

3) Dylan’s Yoda quilt

4) Tom’s Scrappy Mountain Majesties

5) Dr Liang’s pincushion
6) 3 swap postcards
7) Pink and Green Strip Stacks
8) Red Strip Stacks
9) Purple Strip Stacks
10) Yellow and Green 3 yard quilt
11) Red and Black 3 yard quilt
12) Lavender and Yellow 3 yard quilt
13) Yellow Spider web quilt
14) BCS Mystery
15) Renee’s Navy
16) Pieced Together Contest
17) Double Wedding Ring
18) Armadillo wall hanging
19) Fishy Fishy wall hanging
20) Lighthouse wall hanging
21-25) 5 Charity quilts
26) The Aquarium
27) Vikki’s baby quilt

I don’t expect to get through this list but it gives me options through the end of the year!

Linking up with Leanne at She Can Quilt.

Are you participating?

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Tuesday?

How do retired people keep up with the day of the week? I only had yesterday off and wondered at least once what day it was today. The only thing that gave it away was that I was at church sewing with the ladies.

I took two projects with me. One was my Scrappy Mountain Majesties and the other was my selvedge Christmas tree wall hanging. I worked on SMM sewing the rows together until I realized I was missing blocks. I sewed half the rows together.

While I was trying to decide if I wanted to sew the rest together or wait I switched to my Christmas tree. I decided to miter the borders.

I sewed the top and bottom border on. I repaired some missed seams. I sewed one corner and didn’t like the results so picked it out. The corners are pinned. I’m thinking of top stitching them. It will sit while I’m at retreat.

I continued on with SMM and added two more rows. Now I needed the missing blocks (left at home) in order to finish.

I went home and found the errant blocks. They’re all safely packed with the rest of my things heading to retreat.

How many projects this time for this 3.5 day retreat? I think there are five. Scrappy Mountain Majesties, rail fence project, Walk in the Park (jelly roll pattern), drunkards path project and Saturday Sampler borders. Oh, I better find that pattern!

That’s it folks. Next time I’ll be reporting from Witchita Falls, TX.

What are you working on?

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Week of Vacation

I work for a bank so I get bankers holidays. Today is Columbus day plus I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off so I decided to take the entire week.

Today I decompressed a little. Watched tv, ran an errand with a friend and went to a medical procedure to talk to the doctor with him afterwards. It was easy after the weekend I had!

Saturday we went south to Kerens, TX. What beautiful country! We picked up a friend and his dog before heading down. We had three young men that followed soon after and met us there.

The mission was for those young men to ride an unbroken horse.

We told Prince, the horse, of their plan and he showed his reaction.

This horse has never been ridden. But these guys gave it a try!

Up for a second. He was never able to get back on in spite of trying.

This guy stayed on about 1 second longer than the first. He was able to get on several times but was thrown off quickly.

Prince won the weekend! While this was going on, a storm was building to the west. Luckily when it passed over it only dropped a few sprinkles before building behind us to the east.

Everyone walking back together after all the fun.

We all left happy but tired. I think we wore someone out. She’s laying on the back of my dog who also crashed.

We look forward to going back. Hope you enjoyed our fun. More soon!

Where are you going on vacation and what are your plans?

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October OMG

It’s not rocket science. I almost didn’t participate this month. I’ve had the same goal two months in a row and failed to complete it. You see I was trying to use OMG to force myself to get quilts quilted. It’s not motivating me for whatever reason.

So this month I’m switching gears. I was working on a quilt that I’ve been wanting to make fir at least a year niw. When I was planning for retreat I decided it was time to cut it out and get started.

This month I’m going to get my Scrappy Mountain Majesties to top stage, a flimsy.

I’m going with this layout. I have picked all the matched pairs apart. I didn’t trim them before but decided I needed to. I’ve trimmed and sewn 11 pairs back together and have two complete rows. I need 8 rows in all.

I will be choosing one of the plaids used in the blocks to make a narrow inner border. Then there will be a wide neutral border using the same consistent neutral from the blocks.

Linking with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal.

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Scrappy Mountain Majesties

I have all my blocks made and sewed them into pairs. I am bad about reading to a point and stopping where I should have read just a sentence or two more and I would have saved myself some work. I layed them all out and wish I hadn’t sewn them into pairs.

I like the last layout the best but I lost the variety by pairing them together. If I do go with this layout I will have to take apart 4 of the pairs to achieve the pattern. I think I’ve already decided they need to all come apart to reintroduce the randomness.

I can see making this quilt again all in one color. In fact I could even make a red, white and blue version. So many possibilities!

I’ll be making another plaid quilt very soon but not of this pattern. Stay tuned!

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Last Day of Retreat

Yesterday was it. Back to the grind today! I spent the morning sewing more of my Scrappy Mountain Majesties blocks. I have 32 blocks total to make. My neutral is all the same. The rest are an assortment of colors. I have 13 pairs of HST to go which will yield one block per pair. 17 blocks are done so that means I am short somewhere. That explains the extra color squares I have! 18 blocks to go!

I did take a few things that I never touched. I was only disappointed about not getting to one of them. Nothing urgent. It’s pieced borders for my Saturday Sampler that I just completed block 7 of.

Lesson learned from this retreat. I have two projects that I couldn’t complete because I didn’t bring extra fabric. I had cut ahead and for one didn’t cut enough to bring, for another I had not calculated the right width strip and didn’t want to cut them all down in order to make my planned block. That resulted in a bonus quilt! So do cut ahead just bring extra in case of a math error!

We packed up and left. It had rained all weekend and was a little dicey on some of the unfamiliar back country roads. Going was worse than coming home. We took the road less travelled and went through some small towns off the beaten path.

I will share more about our adventures in a later post.

Where is your favorite retreat place?

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Retreat Day 2

Testerday we were at it all day long. Hete are some pictures.

Mary Quicky Strippy

Three bindings

Started Rail Fences (need more fabric)

Selvedge Tree (need more fabric)

Scrappy Mountain Majesties

I started this one in the a.m. It’s going to take awhile to fonish. I’ll be working on this today.

Here are some pictures of where we are retreating in Quitman Texas.

Made some new friends made too! There were rules though.

Happy day to you!

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Retreat Day 1

Started the day with a memorial service for a lovely friend that I know through church sewing and guild. I will miss her terribly. I had taken up the habit of taking photos at quilt shows for her as she was home bound. I would go to her house and we would have show and tell.

We arrived at tbe retreat center about 4 hours after everyone else. When we walked in they told us the power had been out and just came back on right before we arrived.

So far I made a Mary’s Quick Strippy, 3 bindings and added 2 sides of borders. Didn’t bring enough fabric to finish it. I’m about to start working on a rail fence. Tomorrow will be dedicated to my Scrappy Mountain Majesties.

Pics tomorrow.

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Retreat!!!

That is what I should be saying to my desire to add more and more to my list of things I’d like to work on this weekend. I have one full day and two half days to sew.

If I try to narrow it down to the things I really want to get done the list is still too long! How do I decide? I really want to sew all the things!

Two BIG projects are borders for the Saturday Sampler I’m working on. Lot’s of cutting and piecing there. Then there is the Scrappy Mountain Majesties that I’ve started cutting. I have several little things too. Piecing together bindings, adding borders to small items, cutting and sewing a Mary’s Strippy and cutting for some Project Linus quilts.

There’s more. In fact I borrowed an idea from Glen and have all the pieces cut for that. I think I’ll slip that in too.

Any bets on how much I’ll get done? 4 new tops, add borders, make borders, 3 bindings.

Here’s one I’ll be adding borders to.

I have sewing at church tomorrow so will be getting a jump start there!

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Halloween

I went to Jo-Anns with my friend who was searching for fabric for the Hocus Pocus quilt being done in the fandom stitches blog. I went for moral support.

I wandered off for some reason and encountered Halloween fabric for licensed characters. They had Nightmare before Christmas, which my daughter loves.

Of course I had to look for something for my son. I saw Pokemon fabric and was heavily considered it. But then I spotted it! Star Wars fabric with Halloween chibi charactures. It features Darth Vader as a skeleton and R2D2 as a ghost.

Of course this all sent me scurrying back to the other Halloween fabric to find an appropriate flange and cuff.

Here they are with at least six weeks to go til Halloween!

Both kids liked them so I am happy!

Are you making anything Halloween themed?

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What Came First? The Pattern or the Scrap?

I am trying to figure out how to use my scraps. I am stuck in figuring out the perfect pattern mode.

I pulled out a bunch of red strips with the intent of using them to start log cabin blocks with. While I dug through, lots of thoughts churned through my head.

First of all, digging through the scraps is very inspiring. So do play in them. Digging through your patterns is very inspiring to the point of overwhelming.

My son asked for a purple quilt so I suggested Shakespear in the Park. He accepted. My daughter asked for a Halloween quilt. I plan to make that in all half hexies. While looking through patterns I saw Jamestown Landing and I have eanted to make that quilt for myself since it first came out.

With these patterns in mind I will be making JL from the scrap bin. The SITP will have scrappy neutrals. I will get started on these and see what other ideas I can come up with for the scraps.

Which Comes First?

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September OMG

I didn’t finish August’s goal. So here’s the repeat. I did work through some technical issues so that’s a bonus.

Quilt this quilt. Have to before I can move onto something else. Unless I want to take it off the frame 🙄

Linking up to Patty from Elm Street Quilts.

Are you joining in?

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