Free motion quilting my scrappy HST quilt

My HST quilt top is basted. Time to get it quilted.

I picked a soft pink/peach fabric for the backing...it's quiet enough that it won't fight with all the design on the front.

The white thread and swirls aren't very visible on the front....

But they show up on the back.

It's about 3/4 of the way done...probably going to take a few day to complete. My back gets really tired if I try to do too much in one day. AND it's hot out...not the time of year to be buried under a 

quilt.

And when it gets too hot and I'm not quilting, I'm playing with my favorite little man, Henry.

Cherry pillow for Cherry Festival

Cherry Festival is over!!! It's fun, for a bit but OH THE TRAFFIC!! 

I hid out at home during part of it and did some sewing. 

I wanted a pillow for the entry seat that fit the season. Lori Holts cherry block was perfect.

I had some small scraps of green plus this cute black and white fabric that says Eat It All!

At the Suttons Bay quilt shop, I found a FQ of Lori Holts pink cherry fabric...so adorable.

And the backing was a FQ left over from a quilt made YEARS ago.

I didn't do a TON of sewing lately but at least STARTED AND FINISHED something. :)

A little sewing, lots of beach time

There has been very little stitching around here the last few days. Al and I biked around town and relaxed at the beach.

Today we hit a new park on a large lake north of us...very pretty. Until a storm popped up.

Babysitting tonight and tomorrow...then maybe a little sewing. 

Summer :)

Making my July scrap blocks

Four blue unnamed blocks have been added to my pile of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. Sixteen more of these and I'll call it done. I need pink, orange, brown and a few of colors already made.

This quilt needs 12 blocks in total so an orange, pink, brown, black, and tan? Maybe? 

Today these SPOOLS blocks will be put together and will be added to the pile. There will be twenty of these.

But first Al and I are enjoying brunch at Red Spire. If you're ever looking for a great little breakfast/brunch restaurant in Traverse City, check out this one in the Commons (the old insane asylmn!) The Commons is a fun area to shop and eat.

Yum!

My breakfast is here!

July is blue

Blue blocks are being stitched up...

Lots of blue blocks!

Cherry Festival is happening downtown....crowds, congestion, traffic...so I'm happily staying home and sewing.

I also have this top ready for quilting...and it just so happens that it is the UFO of the month for July...perfect! I should have this months projects wrapped up quickly.

And this is much better that carnival lights...I may just stay home all month :)

UFO and color for July

The scrappy color for July is BLUE💙💙 if you're playing along with the RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE.
The Patchwork Times UFO for this month is #12.
Time to grab my blue scraps and start stitching.

Getting ready for the 4th

Three rows done, 4 to go on my Charlevoix quilt. I'm very happy with the design of this one. 

Henry went strawberry picking with Al and I. He found a HUGE double berry...and of course had to eat it. It's a good thing they don't weigh little ones on the way out! He ate his share:)

When we got home, I made freezer strawberry jam (our favorite) and pumpkin cookies. The cookies are for my brothers that are stopping by on their way to the Upper Peninsula...heading to their summer cottage. They love these cookies that I usually only make in the fall. 

Cherry Festival is being set up downtown and traffic is getting bad. I'm just going to hide out at home and get ready for the biggest week of the year!

Charlevoix UFO...continued

Well I ended up with 21 blocks....I had to squeeze out one extra for the design I decided on.

I BARELY had enough.

So this is the design I settled on. I needed a larger quilt than 4'x5'. An extra 21 blocks will give me 6'x7'. 

I had plenty of the background fabric and a good sized piece of the light blue. The orange had to be pieced to get enough for the centers.

So the light blue squares had to be a very specific size...3-5/16"!! And I had to cut 84 of them. I cut a paper template that size first then used double stick tape to temporarily attach it to my 3-1/2" template. It gives me a good visual for lining up and cutting blocks. 

It's all cut now and I'm starting to stitch blocks ....I think the layout will work. 

Sewing up a UFO

I'm working on an old UFO today. This is from 2011 or so.  The fabric is "Charlevoix" from Moda designed by Minick and Simpson. 

There was enough fabric to make 20 blocks.

If I stitched scraps together like quilters of old did, I might be able to squeeze out one more block.

There's a few yards of the background fabric and plenty of backing. I also have a piece for binding. My problem is I want to make this quilt larger. A large border of the background fabric would be nice and maybe a sawtooth border of background and the orange/ rose fabric. 

I'm searching the internet and local quilt shops first to see if I can find any more fabric. 

Just another day in my sewing room.....

Scrappy Saturday sewing

Today was a true SCRAPPY SATURDAY... Finished up all my yellow blocks for the June #rainbowscrapchallenge 

The scrappy spools quilt is now halfway... It'll be 20 blocks when done. 

The Scrap Jar Stars blocks are also halfway. This quilt will be 12 blocks. I think it would look good with nine patches as cornerstones. I'm going to stitch up a few and see if I like it.

Here's this months yellows. My supply of scrap yellow was very limited so I was lucky to get as many as I did. 

And after finishing up the yellows I tackled the Scrappy HST quilt. The top is now done. Tomorrow I'll find a backing and get that pieced. It finished up at 64"x80". Not a bad size for picnics and the beach.

Look what popped up in my backyard...we didn't plant these. Such a nice surprise!

June is YELLOW

The scrappy color for June is yellow so I'm digging those out. This is one of three quilts I'm making in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge...see the button on the left sidebar of this page. Here's two of the four blocks I did for this quilt,

 It's surprising how much yellow I DONT have. But there's enough for these blocks with leftovers for my spool blocks, which I haven't cut yet and my scrap jar stars.

 As I stitch the yellow blocks, I'm using HST scraps as leaders and enders.

I have quite a pile of those! I cut my scraps into strips then cut strips into squares or triangles. These are 4" finished half square triangles. 

 Here's where the HSTs end up:

As I get enough for a row, I add it on....need at least five more rows for a 64" square quilt. It will probably be much larger than that ...I have SOOO many scraps!