Shop Hop

Every July, We have a shop hop in Kokomo with many vendors in one convenient place sponsored by Nancy J's quilt shop. I look forward to it every year, although, I do try to talk myself out of going. I don't need anything, I have too much, I don't need to spend the money........ It doesn't work and I go. But I have so much fun. I see so many people I know from our guild, and it feels like young girls conspiring to create great things.

 

My big purchase was a quiltsmart pattern for the Marie Webster quilt, American Beauty Rose. I was born in Marion, In., and love this  piece of quilt history. But I have never used quiltsmart for a quilt. I have made the mondo bag. The vendor made it sound so easy.... sigh

A Quilter's version of Pokemon Go and odds and ends

Too Funny Gefilte Quilt   
really a must read with all the Pokemon GO fever.

A quilter's planner from Sew Psyched
A beautiful quilt show in a church from Winter Wanderings
A studio organizational challenge from Prairie Moon Quilts 
 Rectangle and squares quilt tutorial from L&R Designs Quilting
 

and finally, our flowers are still alive. By this time of the summer, we have given up and our flowers begin to look puny. 

Rug hooking Guild Gift

Yesterday was rug hooking with my guild ( Rug Matters). I have made frame cozies for several ladies, since I am clumsy an scratch myself on my frame. I am starting the dark background on my Christmas rug, and I like it.You can read about it here.  Sometimes, when I hook the main design, I become accustomed to the look of the linen background, and I wonder if I shouldn't like a more similar background. I like the dark very much. My cozy is made from fleece with quirky monsters on it that make me smile.

I made this one for my mentor, Carol. It fits her snap dragon.

I finished this tablerunner using a 60 degree ruler and this pattern. Super easy. 5 seams and no quilting or binding. Each 1 1/2 yards of fabric will make 2 tablerunners.

A Bit of the Ocean Lather

The link for this soap is not in English, but it is a beautiful piece of art. The water looks translucent and would more than likely contain glycerin which is always good for your skin.

Trying to finish a few projects

I have several odd pieces left to finish a few of my older projects. I am working on borders for an old Joann block of the month sampler.

I chose a wild border for my easy street ( Bonnie Hunter pattern ) and pieced a back. Now I just need to choose and prepare the binding ( I am thinking purple ) and it will be ready to quilt!

 

I have finished the hooking on my little chair pad, and need to do the finishing edges and back. And My Christmas rug is ready for me to start the background which I have chosen. ( sometimes the hardest part )

I am still finding toys in interesting places from a visit from my Utah Grandchildren last month

but at least it isn't this:

although, I remember this decorating design of my own children many times. Do you suppose they found what they wanted?
I am linking to Jo's Country Junction UFO challenge

New hexies have arrived from Canada

These have just arrived from Lynette Peters. They are so beautiful, and she has added some great goodies as well.

I know when the package has airmail stamp, I am going to love my new hexies.

 

These hexies have arrived from Tennessee and are for my star hexie quilt.

And I made these to send to Canada.

I'm linking to Making Monday at Love Laugh Quilt 
and....

Indiana celebrates 200 years

Our guild is making a quilt to be donated to a local museum to celebrate Indiana's 200th birthday. Each of us will make a 9 inch finished block in fall colors, and then the quilt will be made using the blocks. We were free to choose our own design. I didn't get very creative and used the pattern Indiana puzzle for mine. I am sure there will be be some very creative blocks from our talented quilters, and mine will be needed for visual rest.

Here is the pattern available in 6, 9, 12 inches. I was surprised at how many different Indiana puzzle quilt blocks I found during research.

My Grandmother, Florence Swank Hollister, made this block in red and cream in the early 1900s. I feel very honored to be it's custodian.

Ufo challenge

Jo Kramer, from Jo's country junction has issued a UFO quilt challenge in preparation for Bonnie Hunter's new book due to be published in September 2016. I need to finish some quilts now, so that I might start new ones from the book with abandon. I have an impressive list of Bonnie quilts started.
These  are ready to quilt:
Wild Child - (started because Jo had blogged about her progress)
Celtic Solstice
Lazy Sunday
CactusPatch
My Blue Heaven
I have 40 others in various stages of pieced.
I have decided to  finish easy street. All the blocks are pieced and ready to go, I just need to assemble the top and then quilt it. I don't like this part and that is why it has not been finished. But I love the blocks and the colors are wonderful.

Soap good enough to eat

Yum - doesn't this look tasty? This is a link to melt and pour soap and all the fun ways it can be used in soap making. I have not had much luck with it, and the results are more for fun and show than skin benefits.

This soap ( Melt and pour cheesecake soap slice) was made by Jeanne Mac and found on pinterest.

Block of the month

My daughter, Katie joined several online block of the month groups this year. There are some really great quilts available and are very tempting. I have considered joining myself. Sherri from a Quilting Life has made the Splendid Sampler very very tempting. Katie is doing this Block of the month. I love watching her progress.
This is her design wall

reasons to join  -
Competition: if my daughter can do it....
peer pressure : all the talented quilters are doing it.....
logic: one block is easier than a whole quilt, surely it is more likely to be done.....
trendy: this is an up to the times popular quilting style happening right now
fabric: reason to buy NEW fabric

My quilting truth may be:  I love piecing, and I love piecing enough to cut for it. It seems troublesome to get everything out to cut for just one block. And stressful to have to read through several steps of instructions for just one block, sew 400 half square triangles is much easier to understand. and where and how do I keep a project out for a whole year without losing parts and pieces.

My hourglass blocks part 2

I found the magazine that inspired me to make the hourglass blocks.

Hour glass blocks as leaders and enders

Every year, in July, for several years, Bonnie Hunter has issued a leader and ender challenge. The goal is to concentrate on a particular block only as we begin and end piecing our other quilts. We can then watch them grow into quilts a little at a time. She recently announced the

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/07/hourglass-leader-ender-challenge.html

hourglass block as this year's challenge. She has shared her plans. I have been working on my own hourglass block quilt from a magazine using 3 in squares. Last year I asked my friends to form a swap but they were only interested in a larger 4 1/2 in size. I have just finished my swap blocks and need to send out. But I have my own, smaller size, to work on now.Experience tells me this won't make much of a dent in my scraps, but, oh, what fun to play and see what happens.

A little Tumbling

I finished the top for Carolina Christmas Quilt, and have pieced the back and made the binding. It is now in line to be quilted. My next Bonnie Hunter quilt to finish before her new book arrives is last year's leader ender challenge- tumblers. I have been sewing these in between other projects, but there is a new challenge, so time to finish this up. I have made  2 1/2 inch tumblers using a template from Missourri Star Quilt Company.  
This template will fit perfectly on a mini square precut ( of which I have too many ), but I also have too many scraps and never opened a single mini square pack. This 1876 quilt was my inspiration:

My tumbler has decidedly different fabrics and look. I think I need 5 more rows with 60 in each row.

I love the soccer balls in this photo since I have never bought soccer fabric - it must have been a gifted scrap.

I am linking to Jo's Country Junction Ufo challenge.

Rug hooking Project

I love my rug hooking guild, but have been unable to attend much of the summer. Or maybe, I haven't made time for it because I am working on a Christmas rug, and I need snow to get in the mood.
My pattern is from a Primitive Quilts magazine.

The design is a minnick and Simpson rug. I wasn't sure I wanted to hook a seasonal rug, but as I have gotten older, I ask my self more Why nots, and I wanted to leave a nativity or new ornament out all year, I have no reason not to do it. And it makes me smile, and I like to smile. So.. I expect that my Christmas rug will remain out all the time.

I decided to make my green boughs scrappy with several different greens. I found a velour skirt at Goodwill that I cut into strips. I think it is a fun texture for the berries.

This is my husband's rug hooking project .

Time to decide

I bought this quilt kit many years ago for My oldest son who graduated from Purdue. I thought it was very appropriate. Now, He is getting a masters degree from Indiana University and married to an IU grad so I am thinking this is no longer appropriate for him. Most of the squares are from 1 1/2 inch  strips, and it would be a little time consuming to make. I don't have any wall space left were I to complete the quilt, so what to do... I love the Purdue colors... but I have so many unfinished, still lovely quilts, to do. sigh....

Time for more soap

I needed another batch of soap for home use. This is banana nut bread. It smells good enough to eat. I wanted a little more swirl to it so that it looks like banana bread as well.

My favorite ingredient in this batch, besides the fragrance, is shea butter. I love how it moisturizes my dry skin.

Next string project

I like to have a string quilting project going all the time. I keep it on my treadle sewing machine in the living room where we might watch tv. I can also catch bits of transition minutes to treadle  few strings together. This quilt really appealed to me when I saw it on pinterest.

I have most of the main blocks sewn, trimmed, and ready to start putting this together.

Not enough bobbins

Close to the end of quilting a customer quilt, I realized that I had not prewound enough bobbins. Sigh.. IT is always a puzzle trying to estimate how many I will need. I know it depends on the size of the quilt, the thread, and the design I am using. But not getting it right means I will have to UNthread the machine to wind the additional bobbins , and then REthread the machine. sigh... My husband bought a box of 100 bobbins for me for Christmas, offering the advice to just fill them up and make extras. So far, that hasn't worked. I have one or two of many different threads left, and I still have to guess. And the bobbins are disappearing.  sigh..... But that box of bobbins was better than candy as a present.

A few Feathers

It is time for a bit of customer quilting. I am using curlz n feathers pantograph on this soon to be a wedding gift quilt. I have so many of my own quilts I want to get done... a practice in patience.

Border Time

I am slowly finishing my quilting projects, in an effort to be a little more intentional with my time. This quilt, Carolina Christmas, is a Bonnie Hunter design from her book, Scraps and Shirttails II. I started this 5 years ago and had the blocks finished quickly, but I don't like doing borders, so this has been relegated to the back of the project closet. Borders are cut, I am motivated, and this will move forward. I am linking to Jo's country junction ufo finishing project.