Spring 2014 Bloggers Quilt Festival - A QOV

Wow, it's Mid-May already!  Which means it's time for this year's spring installment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  

Thankfully this will be a relaxed weekend at home, so I'll have time to "ooh" and "ahh" my way through the festival posts.  

I only have one finish for this year, but it's a quilt I've really come love. 

I'd been wanting to make a Quilt of Valor for a while, but just hadn't found the inspiration to start one.  I bought a fat quarter collection from Connecting Threads called "Firecracker".  They were just perfect for a QOV.  These fat quarters just sat in the stash until I found the pattern "Mon Ami" from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  But this pattern was for a mini, which is too small for a QOV. So I redrafted the blocks to finish at 9" and started cutting.  

The quilting was done by Trudy Lindermann.  The pattern is a meander interspersed with shooting stars.  

The backing is left over yardage which includes a red and white strip that I could never work into one of the blocks, the stripe just stood out too much. 

The binding is the same red tone on tone used in the blocks.  

The finished quilt is  67" X 76"

Mon Ami
Modified from the pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company
Started December 2012/Finished January 2013

Unfortunately, one of the reds bleed a bit during the final wash.  It's very, very faint, but I know it's there.  Hopefully, I can make that go away and then get this on the way to it's new home.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my entry for this year.  Enjoy the rest of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  

Design Wall Monday - A Finish

This week is spring break.  Drama Teen and I took the opportunity to visit my family yesterday and have a mega shopping expedition planned for today.  Today's schedule includes breakfast at Krispy Kreme donuts (something we can't get at home), major wardrobe shopping for DT, a stop at a quilt shop for me, lunch with my mom and capping it all off with a search for new volleyball shoes for DT before we drive back home to a very lonely My Guy.  He's not used to his girls taking off without him.  Poor guy had to be at work today, so he couldn't come along. 

I got a bit of stitching done on Saturday but not enough for there to be something new up on the design wall. However we finally had a sunshine on a day I was home with time to get the camera out and take a picture of Mon Ami.

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Mon Ami was started back in 2012 as a quilt of valor.  The last stitches were made on the binding back at the end of January.  Between the bad weather and volleyball tournaments, there's not been a chance get it photographed before it gets washed and shipped off.  Since I'm not keeping this one, I really wanted a chance to get some good photographs.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

  
The back was pieced from left over yardage, plus a red and white stripe that didn't make it into the blocks on the front of the quilt.    

Trudy Lindemann did the quilting, which is simple loops interspersed with the occasional star. It works really well with the rest of the quilt.  

It turned out nicely.  In fact it's a bit hard to say goodbye to this one as I really like the finished quilt.  But it's easier to let go knowing it's going to a really good home.  

That's it for my design wall this week.  I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday.  I hope to have some time to check out all the other links and finish a cup of coffee before I have to get Drama Teen up and moving.  

Something Old, Something New - February Update

I almost forgot about the Something Old, Something New Challenge over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.

Link up day is the 2nd, which is today (actually it's yesterday already down under where Lynn resides).  The something old is UFOs or WIPs that haven't been worked on in a while; the something new for Lynn is learning a new skill. I'm using the something new as permission to start a new project.  

For January, my something old was to finish binding and labeling Mon Ami.  Done!

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

It's been rather gloomy since Friday, so I've not had a chance to get a good photo. This is my 2013 quilt of valor, so I'm just a month late getting it done.  

The something new for January was to make an Inverted Star block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Done!

 Inverted Star
by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy as a free download

All those half square triangles didn't want to match up real well. Hopefully my February version will go together a bit easier.  

For February, the something old is to get Jigsaw to the finished flimsy stage. 

Jigsaw
pattern by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

Drama Teen asked for this quilt a couple of years ago. I made great gains on it last year, but then got caught up in Celtic Solstice and haven't made any progress on it since.  

My something new is to pull out the Tonga Atlantis kit I picked up on vacation in Montana and get it started.  It will be my NewFO for February.  

I've never made a quilt from a kit, so that is something new for me as well.  We'll see how well this works out.  

February is a short month, plus I already know Drama Teen has two volleyball tournaments this month.  That will be two weekends with limited stitching opportunities.  Wish me luck, I'll need it to get both of these things done.  

Design Wall Monday - CS and RSCS Progress

Monday morning always seems to come as a bit of a shock, especially after having a three day weekend.  It's just hard to switch gears from the home front back to the stuff going on in the office.  

Having Friday off meant that I got in some significant stitching time.  Progress was made on Celtic Solstice.

Celtic Solstice
a Bonnie Hunter Mystery

I've got pieces made for several more blocks, so this should grow a bit more over the next week.  

In order to make a bit a dent in my scraps, I started the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler being offered by Soscrappy as part of this year's challenge.  

 

I'm having fun playing with my scraps.  Sampler block 5 is cut out and partially assembled.  I also finished the Inverted Star block which is the original project I had in mind for the RSC this year.  It's also this month's planned NewFO project.  

Inverted Star (available from Craftsy,
from Common Threads  

Mon Ami is January's UFO.  The label got made this weekend and the binding is sewn to the front, and I've started stitching the binding to the back.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

So I'm on track with this month's goals.  It would be nice to end January with a finish.  

That's it for what's going on in my sewing room.  There's more January progress posted over at Judy's Patchwork Times.    

Something Old, Something New - January 2014

Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch has a new monthly challenge for 2014, Something Old, Something New.  

I'm a day late with my post, but it's been a bit crazy here the past day or so.  Drama Teen was scary sick yesterday.  She wasn't able to keep food down or stay awake.  She slept pretty much 20 hours straight.  Thankfully by lunch time today she started showing an appetite as well as the ability to keep down what she'd eaten.  Now that I'm not worried, I can think to write a post.  

The "something old" part of the challenge is to work towards completing a UFO.  My definition of a UFO is anything that was started more than a year ago.  I definitely have a few of those.  This month I want to get the binding and label sewn on to Mon Ami.  

 Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

The binding is all made, I just need to trim up the quilt and then stitch on the binding.  

The "something new" part of the challenge for Lynn is to learn a new skill or technique.  Learning something new is a tall order for me as the schedule is a bit packed.  However, I do want to start a new project this month to go along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I think that will be my something new for January.  

 Inverted Star by Jessica Boschem available on Craftsy

I want to start this scrappy Inverted Star project this month.  I've started cutting the fabrics, it takes a lot of half square triangles. 

That's it for my January "to do" list.  Check out all the other challenge posts over at Lynn's blog. 

Plans

It's Saturday morning.  I've spent the morning so far just drinking coffee, reading blogs, and playing with Pinterest.  We have part two of the high school swim meet this afternoon, but the morning is blessedly empty of any "have to do" stuff.  I washed some fabric this morning so I can start my November NewFO sometime this weekend.  While I was pulling the fabric out of the dryer my mind wandered to thoughts of my plans for this week.  I'm off work all week.  Monday, I will be all by my lonesome for most of the day as My Guy as an all day "have to" attend meeting (I'm glad I don't work for his boss) and Drama Teen has school.  Tuesday will be baking day for the holiday and family stuff starts up on Wednesday, but Monday is wide open.  

I really, really need to get a handle on the piles of fabric that need to be washed, pressed and put away.  I've been making slow progress on that front.  But that's not really fun, that's necessary.  The NewFO for November is to start the Starburst quilt along over at Little Bunny Quilts.  The quilt along is on block 4, so I have some catching up to do.  I had to order some background fabric before I could start, so I spent the "waiting" time this week doing a mock up in EQ to check out color placement for the blocks posted. 

Starburst
pattern by Alison of Little Bunny Quilts
(links to pattern found here)

I'll probably play around a bit more before I make the final decision for the fabrics to use in the first blocks.  So a good bit of Monday will probably be spent getting caught up on this Quilt Along.  

The ever efficient Trudy has finished quilting Mon Ami and sent it back to me.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

I love the swirly stars she quilted.  So making the binding should go on the list as well.  If I get that made and sewn to the front, I can hand sew it to the back while I'm visiting with family over the holiday.  So that definitely sounds like something that should be added to the list.  

I will have some quilting time today, tomorrow and Tuesday as well as Monday before the holiday gets into full swing.  Still I shouldn't be too ambitious.  So that's probably it for my list this week; press and fold a little fabric, get caught up on the Starburst Quilt Along and work on the binding for Mon Ami.  

What are your plans for the week?  

October Report - The Year of the Finished Project

Hard to believe that we are already three days into October.  I have a feeling that from now until Christmas, the days are going to fly. October is wrap up time at work, I've got a number of reports that need to be completed by the end of the month.  Though I have deadlines at work, not so much with my sewing.  I'm not trying to have anything done for Christmas this year.  However, since it is the first Thursday of the month, it is time to see what progress was made on September's sewing goals.  I'm linking up with Lynn over at Never to Hot to Stitch for her 2013 the Year of the Finished Project.

My September goals were pretty ambitious.  Not sure what I was thinking when they ended up on the blog. But all in all, I didn't do too bad.  

Mon Ami
     Make backing          Done
     Send out for quilting

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 5          Done
     Finish Clue 6          Done
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9

Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks          Done

Scrappy Stars
     Make 5  blocks          Only 3 completed

Christmas Angels
     Make 9 4-patch blocks         Done

     
       Additional progress:  Finished 14 Triangle in a Square Blocks

Road to Brenham
     Make 32 red/black HST's          Done

      
     Additional progress:  Finished 32 black/white HST's

I need to take the time to press out Mon Ami and it's back so I can send it out for quilting.  I just haven't wanted to spend the time with the iron.  Back to Square one was 5 clues behind in September.  Looks like it will be just 4 clues behind in October, so I'm gaining some ground there.  It's fun to see the progress with Neutral Gems.  The only goal I didn't make this month was making 5 of the Scrappy Stars, but the addition of 3 more is still progress.  Both Christmas Angels and Road to Brenham are ahead of plan.  I like making a few of the HSTs and Triangle in a Square blocks at a time, that way I don't have to stand at the cutting table and trim dozens of them before moving on to the next step.  Making a couple every time I stitch on the other projects makes those blocks a lot more palatable to me.  

So what's the plan for October?  

Mon Ami
      Press, package and send out for quilting

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9
     Finish Clue 10

Neutral Gems
     Make 6 blocks

Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

Christmas Angels
     Make 32 Triangle in a Square blocks

Road to Brenham
     Make 18 black/white HST
     Make 18 white/white HST
     Make 32 quarter square triangles

Scrappy Trip Around the World
     Make 5 blocks  

Another ambitious list for October.  I think this one is doable, but I'll probably have to scale back for November since holiday activities will start showing up on the calender.  

That's it for my efforts this month.  Check out all the other project progress over at Never Too Hot To Stitch.  

September - The Year of the Finished Project

It's the first Thursday of a new month.  That means it's time to link up with Lynn over at Never Too Hot To Stitch to report progress on my August goals for The Year of the Finished Project challenge.  

For August I picked 3 projects to focus my efforts on.  

Mon Ami
     Sew blocks together          Done
     Add borders                      Done
     Make backing
     Send out for quilting

                

Mon Ami as of 7/31                   Mon Ami as of 8/31

Lots of progress on this project this month, especially getting all 5 borders added.  I'm very happy with how this one is turning out.  Not quite a finish, but I'm getting really close.  The back is almost pieced, so I'm hoping this one becomes a finished project by October.  

Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 4          Done
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7

                               


Back to Square One in July              Back to Square One in August

This is Judy Laquidara's Medallion Mystery for this year.  I was finally able to start the quilt back in June.  Which was 6 months after everyone else started.  I'd like to catch up, but I'm not there yet.  Those little Economy Blocks take forever to stitch together.  

Neutral Gems
     Make 10 blocks          Finished 4

 

Neutral Gems in June                      Neutral Gems in August

In addition to finishing up 4 blocks, I started sewing the blocks into rows.  I love these fabrics and really like the secondary designs that show up when you put the blocks together.  So though progress has been slow, it's been moving along in the background.  

So what am I going to do for September?  Once Mon Ami goes out for quilting, I want to focus on Back to Square One and see if I can get caught up on all the clues.  Then there are 3 other projects, I'd like to make some progress one.  Christmas Angels and Road to Brenham are new projects started in the last two months.  Scrappy Stars is my oldest UFO.  Scrappy Stars got put away while I worked on finishing up several quilts that needed to done back in May.  I'd really like to make some progress on it this month.  Here are my September goals:

1.  Mon Ami
     Make backing
     Send out for quilting

2.  Back to Square One
     Finish Clue 5
     Finish Clue 6
     Finish Clue 7
     Finish Clue 8
     Finish Clue 9

3.  Neutral Gems
     Make 5 blocks

4.  Scrappy Stars
     Make 5 blocks

5.  Christmas Angels
     Make 9-4 patches

6.  Road to Brenham
     Make 32 HSTs

Is it doable?  Probably not, but I'm sure I can make some progress on each project and that's really the whole point.  

Design Wall Monday

I worked hard most of the weekend to get some much needed house cleaning done.  My reward for all that hard work is to spend all day today in my sewing room.  That's how I'm celebrating Labor Day. 

My Guy did make it home yesterday afternoon. He had to stay in Montana due to a medical emergency that occurred with one of his crew last Friday.   Thankfully everyone is fine.  My Guy took off for a long bike ride this morning.  His way of celebrating Labor Day, though I think he's also planning to make some ice cream later.  Drama Teen is still in bed, though I really should go wake her up so she'll be ready to go to bed tonight.  She's been unwinding by watching movies, instant chatting with her writing group and working on their joint novel.  But today she has to get serious about her bug collection for biology class.  Thankfully she has drafted My Guy to help her with the all the hunting and trapping.  

Mon Ami is now a finished flimsy.  The last of the borders went on Saturday evening.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

This isn't the best shot, but it was cloudy yesterday so I didn't even try to get Mon Ami up on the photo stand for a good picture.  Maybe that will happen this afternoon.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  Now to make the back so it can be sent off for quilting.  
That's it for my design wall.  I'm linking up with Patchwork Times and then I'm going to get busy on making that back.  

Monday Design Wall - August 19th

It was a quiet weekend for a change, with not much going on.  So the house is a little cleaner and the piles of laundry are conquered for the time being. There was even some time for stitching.   I'm working on just three projects at the moment; Mon Ami, Back to Square One and Neutral Gems.  The only one of those that shows significant progress is Mon Ami.

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Three of the 5 borders have been added.  The 4th border is ready to sew on, hopefully I'll get to that tonight.  I probably won't get it done tonight, it's parent night at the school.  Then tomorrow night I have to work concessions for the high school volleyball games.  The rest of the week looks clear, as is next weekend.  So there is still a good chance that Mon Ami will be a finished flimsy by the end of the month.  

That's it for my design wall this week.  Check out the other design walls over at Patchwork Times.  

Design Wall Monday - August 5th

Monday already?  The weekend was way too short, but they always are.  It rained off and on all day yesterday.  It seemed more like late September than early August.  Not that I'm complaining.  I'm sure we'll have our typical August weather back sooner than we are ready for it.  

Lots of stitching this weekend, though the design wall doesn't really show it.  All the Mon Ami blocks are sewn together and the first border is in progress. 

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

I'm happy with how it's turning out. This one just might make finished top status by the end of the month.  

There was some progress on the other design wall as well.

Back to Square One
by Judy Laquidara (pattern available here)

Only 7 more Economy blocks before I finish step 4 in Judy's Back to Square One Medallion Mystery.  I'd really like to catch up to step 8 this month.  I'm not sure that's doable, but at least I'm getting closer.  
That's what is up on my design walls.  For more of Design Wall Monday, check out Patchwork Times.  

Design Wall Monday - July 22nd

Monday already?  Last week is a bit of a blur.  Both Drama Teen and I weren't feeling well, we think it was something we both had for lunch a few days ago.  We were both pretty much back to normal yesterday.  I did get some stitching in, but that's about all the sewing that got done for the week.  All the Mon Ami blocks are finished and up on the design wall.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

I'm still playing around with the layout, the blocks with the white background especially.  I'm pretty happy with how it's looking.  The blocks have all been squared up, so that they are ready to sew together once the layout is worked out.  

I'm linking up with Patchwork Times today and hope to be able to check out everyone's design wall creations this evening.  

Design Wall Monday - July 15th

It was a whirlwind weekend.  We spent most of it hanging out with My Guy's family.  We all overdosed on home made ice cream. Drama Teen got her annual dose of bingo (it's a family tradition with My Guy's family).  We spent a slow Sunday morning at the farm before we had to head back home.  So a nice, though busy weekend.  

I didn't get much sewing done this last week.  One night I had a pretty nasty headache and another evening, we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.  So there's not a lot new going on with the design walls.  I did finish two more blocks for Mon Ami as well as finished squaring up the blocks so they are ready for sewing into rows. 

Modified from the pattern Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Just two more blocks and this one will be ready to assemble.  I will probably play a little bit with block layout before sewing the rows together.  Hopefully this week will be a bit slower than last week and I'll have some time to stitch.  

That's my design wall for this week.  Check out others by hopping on over to Judy's Patchwork Times.  

Design Wall Monday - July 8th

Our 4 day holiday weekend was relaxing.  We didn't do much, but that was OK with everyone.  But even with the long holiday, Monday comes much too quickly.  It's back to work this morning, which means a full day of meetings.  The rest of the week will be dedicated to wrapping up a major project, which means writing the final report.  Not one of my favorite things to do.  

I did get to spend a lot time on Saturday doing some stitching, which is one of my favorite things.  I had made some progress on Back to Square One, till I realized that the blocks were the wrong size.  I'm still fixing those, so there is nothing to show there.  As I was looking at the two design walls, I realized that Mon Ami was the one in progress project that could be completed without too much more work.  I hadn't really planned to focus on that quilt this month, but I do need to get it off the design wall.  So I decided to change my focus this month and work on getting it done.  Three more blocks made it all the way to the design wall.  

Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Two of the four blocks needed to finish out the last row are on the sewing machine, partially pieced.  The first 4 rows have been squared up to 9.5" in preparation for sewing the blocks together.  I still need to do that to the last 2 rows.  Depending upon how much time I get during the week, I might get this into a finished top by the end of the month.  Probably wishful thinking on my end as it always takes longer than you think it will. Just getting it closer to finished can't be a bad thing.  

Check out Patchwork Times for more of design wall Monday.  

Design Wall Monday - June 9th

It was a really nice weekend.  My Guy and I took Friday off, so it was a three day weekend for us.  Even so, the weekend was just too short.  Not enough time for both chores and stitching, but some of both got done.  

I'm still working on stitching down the binding to the back of Sweet Treat.
 

Sweet Treat
Designed by Judy Laquidara
(pattern available here)

Just one side left to stitch down.  So this should be a finished quilt this week.  

I've been working on a couple of projects over on the machine. One is the May NewFO, which is intended to be a gift for a friend who recently retired.

  Neutral Gems
Pattern is "Gems" by Donna Lynn Thomas
found in the book Patchwork Palette

Only 6 blocks done so far.  I've decided to sew the blocks together in groups of 4, then assemble those into rows.  It will make all the required seam matching a little less crazy I hope. I love the pattern these blocks form.  

Up on the other design wall is Mon Ami, my QOV project.

Quilt of Valor
Modified from the pattern "Mon Ami"
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

There are now 20 blocks done, just 10 left to go.  I've mainly been working on these blocks as a leaders and enders project.  This is not the final block layout, the blocks have just been added as they were finished.  The more blocks there are up on the wall, the more I like this project.  

That's it for what's up on my design walls.  You can share what's up on yours and check out what's up on everyone else's over at Patchwork Times.  

Design Wall Monday - May 6th

It was a wet and cold weekend, which was perfect for sitting in the sewing room doing some stitching.  I did get to do a bit of that before and after the volleyball tournament this weekend.  Club ball is now ended, but this week are the try outs for the high school team.  So practice sessions may still be going on, but at least there won't be any weekend games for a while.  

Over the last week I've been working mainly on Calico Cats as it needs to be finished this month.  

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

The blocks are all done and the sashing has been started.  The rows haven't been sew together yet, hopefully I'll finish adding all the binding strips and make some head way on sewing the rows together tonight.

The Mon Ami blocks are back up on the secondary design wall. 

Quilt of Valor
Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

The half square triangles that make up the Friendship Star blocks are a good leaders and enders project while I finish up Calico Cats.  

That's it for my Design Wall Monday.  Check out all the other Monday design walls over at Patchwork Times.