A Little Sunday Sewing

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to Monday. April is winding up and May is bearing down on us. The merry month of May is when we'll begin our merry journey north, but we're still a few weeks away from that. Nevertheless, it's the start of a busy week, and May will only get busier as we go. 

Today I must make up a shopping list for a grocery shopping trip tomorrow. We might have been able to put it off for a day or two, but we're having the family over for dinner on Friday, and I'll want to do some cooking ahead. Also, I'm having breakfast with my friend, Sue, on Thursday. And then, there's the usual stuff that keeps me busy day-to-day. We're looking at another gray day, although no rain is expected. Warmer weather will come toward the end of this week.

We all had a busy day yesterday. The kitties spent a good part of their day outdoors. They're thick as thieves when they're outside.

Inside, I was busy baking some Carrot Cake Muffins. These turned out really good. They have shredded carrot, golden raisins, and chopped walnuts for a very nice texture. They're also supposed to have a glaze made from cream cheese, but we decided to leave that off. They taste good without the glaze, and that would just add sugar and fat to an otherwise delicious muffin. We thought it would be gilding the lily.

Also, I had some housework to do, and it seemed as if there would be little time for sewing. I was able to make it into the sewing room late in the afternoon, and I had plenty of time to finish two more blocks for the Shop Hop quilt. 

This first one is from Licensed to Sew, which was one of the constellation of shops making up Missouri Star Quilt Company. You can read my post about my visit to Hamilton, Missouri, and all the rest of the shops right here. This was the store where I found the fabric for this block.

And after a day exploring so many quilt shops, what else could I choose but something quilt related?

The second one was from a brand new quilt shop in Moab, Utah, called Never Enough Stitches. I was on the hunt for a particular color of embroidery floss. I didn't find it there, but the store had potential. It was just barely open, and they were still stocking their inventory. I'm looking forward to our next visit to Moab when the store will be more fully populated with fabrics. For this block, I chose this Black-eyed Susan print for all the wildflowers we'd seen along the roadways. The dark orange color made me think of the approaching fall season.

That makes 10 of 16 blocks for this quilt. I'm going to have to shop hard on our journey to Alaska to find six more fabrics to finish it off. What are the chances?

So that completes my list of WIP's projects for this go-round. Next up comes the "Quilter's Choice" section of my whiteboard. I've already done a fun finish and a quilt from a photo. For this turn at choosing something fun, I'm going to make a quilt for a kid...but not the Quilts for Kids charity.

No, this one will go to the fourth child of a high school friend of my son. I've made baby quilts for his other three children...all boys. This new baby isn't due until September, and I'm told it will be their last. (I kinda have an idea they're hoping for a girl. What do you think?) In any case, when I saw this pattern on Pinterest, I knew I'd found the quilt I wanted to make. 

I've reduced the size of the appliqued bear family to 75%, and I'm going to try to add one more bear between the two larger mama and papa bears. It'll be their family of six. And I've pulled these fabrics from my stash. The top three will be for the bear faces and paws. I'll work in that green below as a border, but I'll also use it in the patches that make up the bottom three-fourths of the quilt.

I have only 3/4 of a yard and some scraps of the green, but I was able to score two more yards from an Etsy shop. It comes in three colorways, but the green was mostly sold out everywhere I looked. I found a shop that had the last of its yardage on sale for half price. Score! And then I went in search of a coordinating backing fabric from the same Sleep Tight Teddy Bear line from Riley Blake...the green one on the left:

I'll use that for the quilt back. So I'll have to wait for the bear fabrics to arrive, but I can get started on the upper portion of the quilt. Also, I can start cutting patches for the lower portion. I might decide to add an extra column of patches in order to give myself more room for the extra bear at the top. Ordinarily, I wouldn't start a baby quilt before the baby is born because I worry I'll jinx the outcome somehow. (I know...weird...but that's me.) I'm making an exception this time since I won't have any time for sewing this summer, and I don't want to feel pressured to finish it when we get home. 

Okay, so that's the day I have planned for myself. I'll have to fit in some housework and a Bowflex workout. Also, I'm going to make some trip-related calls today, so I'll be donning my travel agent hat today. (Do travel agents still exist?)

And now...I'll get on with my day and let you get on with yours. How are things going at your end?