It was one of those days spent in the sewing room, but not much sewing was accomplished. I had a lot of utility jobs to take care of.
This morning, I finished stitching the third of three stitcheries for the Gardener's Journal quilt. There is just one section left on this quilt, and I believe it contains two stitcheries. That means this one is just about to throw on the finished pile. But I'm getting ahead of myself because that won't happen for another couple of months at least. For now, here's the stitchery I finished up today. This one is called Garden Tools.
And with that one finished, I needed something new for my hand-stitching pleasure, so I made up the stitchery for the Retro Camper.
This is one of the "short projects" I promised myself during my birthday month.
Before I can get started stitching that one, I need to hand-sew the binding onto the Intel Underneath quilt. I want to have this one finished by May 17th when the whole family will be here for a birthday dinner celebration. Today's job was to cut off the edges (one of my least favorite parts of quilting),
and then machine sew the binding in place. I used that same green from the quilt top.
Matthew likes the combination of black and green together, and that is what he shall have for his graduation quilt. Tomorrow I'll start hand-stitching the binding. This quilt is 86 x 88 inches, and so that should keep me busy for at least a couple of days.
As long as I had my work space cleared off, my plan was to sandwich two quilts. I started with "We are the World", which is my finish goal this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I still needed to make the back, which was pretty quick to do. This is going to be the largest quilt I've quilted on my domestic sewing machine. It ended up at 60 x 75 inches, and it just barely fits on my table. (Recall that my rule of thumb for how large a quilt can be before it gets sent off to the long armer is the size of my table. If I can't sandwich it on my table, then someone else gets the job.)
So, of course, I had lots of help with this task from my photobomber helper cat.
Excuse me...would you mind moving off to the side? Thank you. Here it is:
So I'd spent about four hours in the sewing room by that time, and I was getting tired. I decided it was time to quit for the day. I'll save the second quilt...Joseph's Quilt...for tomorrow. I still need to make the back for it too. That one will take a little longer since I'll be working with scraps cut from the sides of a previous quilt back.
Mike and I are attending a concert this evening. We're seeing Chris Botti who is a jazz trumpeter from Portland, appearing with the Oregon Symphony this evening. Mike is more familiar with the musician than I am, but it's something a little special for the weekend.
The rain returned this morning, and we're expecting rain all week. I don't mind. We had beautiful weather all last week, and so we can hardly complain when the weather returns to what passes for normal around these parts.
So here we are in a whole new month. I'd like to say that I crossed off all my to-do's for April, but it was a busy and a sunny month here in the Pacific Northwest. No complaints. I had a visit from my friend Marei at the beginning of the month. And then with all the sunshine, Mike and I did a lot of outside work. So, I didn't do as much sewing as I did, say, in January, and that's not a bad thing.
Here's what I did and didn't accomplish:
1. As my "official" goal for ALYoF, I want to finish the Chili Rounder top I started in March. Complete!
2. As for quilt tops I'd like to finish, I want to finish the top for the "Rose is a Rose is a Rose" table runner. Some progress.
I am not at all happy with how this is going, and so I've abandoned it for now. I may pick it up again in the future sometime. For now, consider it under the category of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". In other words, don't ask me because I won't tell you. Do I look like I'm kidding?
3. I'd also like to sew together my Rainbow Scrap project from 2013. Complete!
4. I'm signed up for a class at the end of the month at one of my LQS's to learn to use their long-arm machines. It means I need to create a sampler top for myself. Complete! And if you want to see how the long arm class went, you can read my post right here.
5. Complete the next door for the Doors of Ireland quilt. No progress.
6. Try again to get going on the Forest Giants quilt. No progress.
7. Make some progress on the Quiltmaker's Garden quilt. No progress.
8. Make Block 2 for It's Raining Cats and Dogs. No progress.
Look for all of these to appear on my list for June. I'll explain more in a minute.
9. My next project for the Let's Book It Challenge. I'm going to make this project called Mom Cats. Finishes aren't required for the challenge, and so this one is only started. And with that in mind, starting it makes this goal Complete! (Did you see that I did there?)
10. If I'm feeling really energetic, I'll make the next block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. No progress. I've been doing these two at a time, and so, hopefully, I'll catch up this month.
11. And I'm hoping to participate in the Block Lotto this month, called Triangle in a Square. Complete!
12. And, finally, my NewFO for the month of April. Portland artist, Rachel Austin, has graciously given me permission to make a wall-hanging from her original art. I'm calling this project "Happy Campers". Again, finishes aren't required for the NewFO Challenge, and so a start makes this goal Complete!
It still needs quilting and binding, but it's almost there.
* * * * *
So...not a great month, but not bad either. I got a little better than 50% of my projects complete. If I were still in school, that would earn me an "F". Fortunately, I'm not in school, and so that "F" is for all the FUN I had in April spending time with my friend and working outside in the sunshine. You can't do better than that.
And that brings me to my goals for May.
It's a month with a lot of real estate in its 31 days, but it's a busy month just the same. In our family, we have three birthdays and an anniversary, not to mention two concerts on the calendar. No doubt, I'll miss more than a few days of sewing with all of that going on. Nevertheless, I'm going to forge on ahead with an impossibly long list. So here goes (in no particular order):
I've been trying to quilt and bind one quilt and finish one quilt top each month. Usually, I set the quilting and binding as my goal for ALYoF, and this month will be no different.
1. As my "official" goal for ALYoF, I want to quilt and bind the "We are the World" top (pictured above). It's going to be a gift for the special granddaughter of a friend. I'll say more about little Frankie when I finish the quilt, but for now, consider it my top priority.
2. As my quilt-top-to-finish project, I want to sew together the blocks for the "Good Morning" quilt that I finished up a few months ago.
3. Bind the Intel Underneath quilt that came back from my long arm quilter last month. This quilt is for Matthew's graduation from engineering school. We are all getting together to celebrate birthdays on May 17th, and so I want to have it finished by then...if for no other reason than I'll have plenty of hands on deck to hold it up for a proper picture! This one will obviously take high priority too.
4. If I'm feeling really energetic, I'd like to finish quilting and binding Joseph's Quilt. This is my oldest UFO, and I'm ready to get it out of my sewing room once and for all. I had in mind to rent time on a long-arm machine at my LQS, but I've abandoned that idea. I'll just do it at home on Big Bertha. She's up to the challenge of this lap-sized quilt.
So those are all the "finishes" I'm shooting for.
For my monthly challenges, here's what I have lined up.
5. As my project for "Let's Book It":
I'd like to get a start on this quilt called "Aspen Tree"
It's a wall hanging from this book by Jean Wells:
6. As my "New" project for "Something Old, Something New":
I'm taking a hand applique class later on in the month, and I'll be learning to make this block by Connie Sue Haidle of Apple Blossom Quilts.
7. As my "official NewFO project for May:
I want to get a start on the Sulky BOM from 2013. This was a free pattern on the German Sulky website. If you like this quilt, you can find the free pattern right here.
8. I want to make a block for my Guild Block of the month. This month's block is Railroad Crossing. We are using a red tone on tone for the first color and white with a small black motif for the second color. Should be pretty! This makes a 12-inch block.
And that brings me to my monthly WIP's. Usually I use this space to tell you what I'd like to accomplish on my "meat and potatoes" projects...the projects I keep chipping away at until all the parts are finished, and I can sew them into flimsies. But May just happens to be my birthday month, and so I'm abandoning all of my current WIP's for the month and working on some small projects I've had sitting around for a long time. These are strictly for fun, and I'll do as many as I can whilst keeping up with the challenges too. (Are you getting tired yet?)
9. The Grim Ripper.
This was a free pattern from the Fons & Porter website. This has been sitting in my sewing room since last October. I even bought some metallic silver fabric to use for the blade on the seam ripper, but I never get around to working on it. For my birthday month, it's getting priority. It's small, and so it shouldn't take more than a day.
10. The Astronomical Quilt Block Challenge.
The challenge invites quilters to make a block to be sewn into a quilt by astronaut quilter Karen Nyberg. You can see more about the challenge on this video:
If you can't see the video, click right here. The deadline for entries is August 1st, and with the way the year is flying by, there's no more time to waste. If you're interested in participating, you can find all the details right here. I've already chosen my block. Time to get to it.
11. I had so much fun with my stained glass applique project from last month, that I want to make another one. This one is called Yukon Sanctuary, but it reminds me of our home here at the Three Cats Ranch.
Recall that this is a project from this book:
There are quite a few projects in this book I want to make. And now that I've made every mistake possible on my first go-round, I'm hoping the rest won't take me more than a day each to make.
12. Finally, I figure I should add in an embroidery project as well. I have lots of short, small embroidery projects, but I'm always so busy working on the larger projects, that these tend to take a back seat. In May, I'm going to put my other embroidery aside, and pull out the pattern for this one. (Obviously, I'm in a camper mood this month.) This pattern is the work of Lova Revolutionary, and you can find it on Craftsy. I think it will be cute hanging on the wall of our camper.
13. Hopefully, I'll also get caught up on my Rainbow Sewing Machines. I'm behind from last month, and there will be a new color chosen for May.
14. And I always have good intentions for making a block in the monthly Block Lotto. There's a lot on my list for the month, but I'll just continue on down that road ...you know...the one paved with good intentions.
When I left off on Friday, I still had the three green peppers to finish in the outermost round of my chili rounder table topper. This morning, I went right to work on them and finished this smoky green pepper:
This spicy green pepper:
And this mild green pepper.
Then I did a little bit of trimming of loose threads, etc., and it was finished!
Here's how it looks from the back:
So, now I'm considering what to name it. "Salsa" can't be used because I already have a quilt named "Salsa". I made this quilt for Erik. It was about the fourth quilt I ever made:
But here are some other names I've come up with:
Chili Today, Hot Tamale
Chili Salsa
Guacamole
Caliente
Salsa Dancing
Do you like any of those? Or feel free to suggest a name. I can't make up my mind.
At the end of the month, I'll be linking this post to the "Finishes Party" at:
Now here are a few updates for you. Remember these images I posted from my walk with Sue yesterday? Thanks to all of you who jumped in to identify them. Thanks to Felicia who contacted me via email to identify this one as a Giant White Fawn-Lily:
Felicia also correctly identified this one as Purple Deadnettle, an edible weed.
And Barb H., I believe you are correctly identifying this one as Spiderwort, although my image is so terrible, it's hard to be certain. Thanks Barb and Felicia!
When I picked up yesterday's mail, I found the sweetest quilled bookmarks from Irina, who blogs at El Petit Taller. Irina held a giveaway on her Facebook page, and I won! I had my choice of animals, and I chose either a cat or a pig. Irina surprised me with one of each. Are these adorable or what?
Irina sells these little bookmarks in her Etsy shop, and there are lots of different animals to choose from. Too cute. Thank you so much, Irina.
And then I wanted to let you know that I saw the pheasant for the first time this morning. I took these pictures through the window of Mike's office. He's looking pretty good, I'd say!
We were so worried about him gimping around on an injured leg last fall, but he seems to be in perfect health now. We are glad to see it! It's going to be a sad day here at the Three Cats Ranch when the pheasant fails to return in the spring.
Finally, I needed some new handwork to do now that I've finished the latest of the Vintage Tin stitcheries. I'm going to do this design from Jenny of Elefantz.
I've intentionally smudged out the words on this because it's a gift for a friend, and I'm afraid the verse will give it away.
So, I've been putting off housework all week while I worked on my chili rounder. I need to get caught up on that stuff, and I'm probably going to repot my tomatoes. Also, I'm going to make up my Squash Enchiladas with Spicy Peanut Sauce for dinner tonight. I wrote a blog post about them quite a while back. You can find it right here. They are delicious, but a little labor intensive. I'll get an early start on those and put them in the oven when it's time.
It's a beautiful day here in Oregon, and now I'm going to get out and enjoy it. But before I go, I can't forget to wish Smitty the kitty a happy second birthday! (He reads my blog daily, and he'd be hurt if I forgot to mention it.)
2012:
2014:
He'll be having roast rib of mouse for his birthday dinner. Yes, it's a small portion.
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