Where do I begin

I don't even know where to start, taking one week off of blogging led to two and then three and before I know it two plus months have went by.  Thank you to those of you that asked if I was okay, the answer was yes I am fine just in need of a break! Plus I didn't really have anything knew to show you. I took three weeks off from sewing during that time, pretty much unheard of for me!

Since getting back home I have fired up the longarm and she purred like a kitten so I have a couple of finishes.  This is made with the Accuquilt BOB die called Morning Star.

And since it's getting close to summer I have been thinking of strawberries.

We definitely had some yummy strawberries while in Arizona. 

A couple of sites we discovered while ATVing in AZ.  

An old mine🠟

The remains of a long ago house. Can you imagine living in a small one room house! 🠟

And of course gotta love some  prickly pear cactus blooms.

Our wild plum trees are in full blossom and oh they are so fragrant!!

Linking up with these linky parties: Wednesday Wait Loss, NTT, TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday

Tulips for Spring

 What is prettier than red tulips, I think they make all of us think of Spring. So this past week I worked on piecing two table runners. 

The pattern for the tulip block is from Center Street Quilts.  I chose to make each runner with 5 tulips and then I added sashing in red gingham. After quilting them I will add a red binding. 

For this last Week of February I am checking out these linky parties...

Wednesday Wait Loss 

NTT

Finished or Not Friday

TGIFF

Starting another scrappy string quilt

This is the start of yet another scrappy string quilt using greens, blues and a tad of neutral. I need lots more blocks, these are 9.5".

The pattern is Two Bits by Cynthia from Quilting is more fun than Housework blog. It's a fun pattern but I wish I would have had a lighter neutral available for the pinwheel. They don't stand out as much as I wished. I am going to take a little break from it. 

Here are the slippers I have knit in the last couple months. 

And here is what we saw the other day while ATVing. These big horn sheep were actually on the golf course lawn!  We saw a couple others in the mountains but didn't get their photo as they disappeared too quickly and were farther away. 

Linking with Monday Musings, Design wall Monday and Sew and Tell Monday.

 

Another scrappy string UFO

 So glad to have moved a scrappy UFO along. I had several green string blocks hiding out in the closet.

I added more green blocks and began the blue blocks. These blocks are formed by piecing the strings to a phone book page. Because I wanted the blocks as big as possible they came out to an odd size of 7.75" x 10.75" before assembling into rows. If you piece this way be sure to use a larger needle and a small stitch, this makes for easier removal of the paper. 

A couple days later I had a flimsy lap size all pieced. This makes the third blue/green flimsy pieced in the last month.  If you missed the other two you can see them HERE and HERE.  I do see a small dent forming in the string bin. But I want to see more so I started a fourth flimsy. Not sure I am liking it yet. 

Here are the Monday linky parties: Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday,  Sew and Tell Monday and NTT What are you working on this week. 

Back to the pineapples

 After taking a little break from the scrappy pineapple blocks, I buckled down...

and made the last two.

Then I set them into rows, added them to the previous rows and a flimsy was born.

Won't it look great on a couch and used to snuggle in while reading a book or watching TV?

Now it waits it's turn to be quilted. It is approximately 50x60. 

Linking with Wednesday Wait Loss, NTT, Oh Scrap!

Using up some yellows

 It was a busy few days using up some yellows that I had cut and kitted up last November. Four morning star table runners almost identical except for the outer borders.

I would never attempt to cut and sew these triangles without the help of the Morning Star BOB die from Accuquilt. 

Now here I can finally see a dent in fabric usage! This bin was full of yellow and white triangles and the borders and now look how much is gone. 

I bet you expect to see another pair of knit slippers...ok here ya go! It kinda looks like they are different size but they are the same, it's just the angle I took the pic.

Linking with Sew and Tell Monday, Monday Musings and Design Wall Monday.

Three more stars and stripes

 Hello quilty peeps, how are you doing with your projects this week.  I am pleased that I finished piecing three more of my stars and stripes table runners. Yes these three are identical which makes it really easy when cutting. 

This time the blue fabric is different from the previous two which you can verify right HERE.

In the evenings another pair of slippers were produced. I talked with my DIL this week to see if her group was able to give out the slippers I previously gave her. She said a big YES and they could use more!  I am so happy about that. So I will continue to knit away. These are red 4 ply with a gray sport weight yarn. These would probably fit a 6-8 year old.  

Linking with Friday linky parties... Beauties Pageant, Off The Wall, Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF

Disappearing four patch

 Several of you thought I was teasing you with my stack of greens and neutrals, I have a reveal for you! They quickly became four patches...

That I cut up... red lines are my cut lines.

Rearranged and they became disappearing four patches(D4P).

And a bunch later...

they became a lap size quilt flimsy at 40" x 56".

I used lots of different green and neutral 5" squares. Yes there are several repeats too, and I am okay with that.

This will eventually become a donation quilt. And you might think this made a dent in my scrap bins, nope! How can one make a quilt and not see a difference!! But I feel better knowing I used some at least. 

I hope you will join me in linking up to, or at least visiting these fun linky parties.

Off The Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF and Oh Scrap!

Green and neutral scraps

 A long time ago I cut charm squares of greens and neutrals using my 5" die. Their time has come to be used(at least some of them).  As you can see I will need to be trimming those strings as I go. 

Stay tuned for updates on what these become!

Linking with Monday Musings, Sew and Tell Monday and Design Wall Monday.

Homespun Tumblers

 Remember me talking about kitting up projects to work on this winter? This is one of them. I have a lot of homespuns in browns, golds, greens, reds, and blues.  This particular set is all browns/golds. I used the larger tumbler Accuquilt die to make fast work of cutting. The alternate is muslin I had setting around also. 

This was an easy project that only took 3 short afternoons to sew up.  I didn't use all the homespuns that I cut so they will be future seed for another someday;)

Two more pair of slippers knitted. I used three strands of sportweight yarn and a size 8 needle for these.  The pair on the left were two shades of blue and a green. The pair on the right were blue, green and aqua. It's fun to mix the colors to see what they turn out like.

Linking with Beauties Pageant, Finished or Not Friday, Off The Wall Friday, and Oh Scrap!

Stars and Stripes and Slippers

It's here, it's here...the New Year, 2025!!

I know it might be early to start working on patriotic projects, but hey I was in the mood;)  My original stars and stripes design has been a popular one for me so I hope to have 8 pieced over the winter. These are the first two. These were started on Dec 30th 2024 and finished on January 1st. 

And to continue the blue theme is a pair of hand knit blue and gray slippers. I used a blue 4 ply with a gray sport weight yarn for these. It's fun to mix the colors and see how they come out. These are actually a size that fits me. The pattern is called Grandma's slippers found on Fave Crafts. I only knit on these a little each night as I am in no hurry, it's all for fun.

I started another pair with different yarns in a small size this time.  Lots of people are making plans for projects in 2025, my plan is very loose...do what I feel like and enjoy it!! 

Linking with Friday Linky parties TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant and Off The Wall

 

Pineapple progression

 My blue and green pineapple blocks progressed a bit today. I was going to use this many blocks and then add borders. But after getting it this far I decided I didn't want borders. So I will make a few more blocks to add two more rows. 

It's kinda a miracle I even sewed yesterday as I got sick with a stomach flu on Thursday night and all day Friday I was down in bed. Still wasn't feeling anywhere near top notch but was a bit bored so I decided to try sewing, glad I did as it passed the afternoon while hubby napped, yep he now has it. 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2025!!

Linking with Oh Scrap!, Sew and Tell Monday and Monday Musings

Christmas quick gifts

 Merry Christmas everyone!!  

I needed a couple of quick gifts so I whipped up these two Christmas tree decorations for a couple of neighbor ladies. They seemed thrilled. I found the free tutorial for them HERE.  I did add one more flying geese to each tree, which of course meant longer borders. I did a little stitch in the ditch(SID) around the white and across the bottom of each of the geese and down the middle of the red borders. I braided 4ply red yarn for the hanger. Easy peasy and pretty quick.

For the other gift I bought a kitchen towel and made two of these towels to go over the oven or door handle. I found a You Tube video for these, there are lots of them out there. 

I like how these don't require a button and buttonhole. It's hard to see in the photo how it is hung. HERE

is the video I followed.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas. We will be heading to my brother and SIL soon. I will leave you with this little video I took during the Christmas light parade we attended recently. And a couple of lighted scenes from the neighborhood.

A short video of how one person decorated their ATV for the parade. 

 Linking with Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers

Kite blocks

 Yesterday I took a break from the pineapple blocks and started something new. These kite blocks are made using the 12" cube from Accuquilt.  Each kite makes a six inch block and when you put four together it makes a twelve inch block. This makes a fast quilt. 

The die has the dog ears cut off which makes for very accurate sewing.

After picking the background of navy(which photographed as black) with multi colored dots I chose the kite colors.  Shape 14 and 15 from the Companion Angles twelve inch cube make up these blocks.

Accuquilt sale of the day... Use the code below on 12/20/24 only!

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS (12/20) -- $50 Off GO! Qube Mix & Match Blocks, Specialty Sets & Companion Sets (Use Code: 50QUBE)  (Affiliate link)

I'll be working on the kite blocks today in between checking out the other links at these parties!   Linking with Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF, Beauties Pageant and Off The Wall