Full aqua hearts

 Hi everyone! How are you doing? I am getting a little better, but I still don't want to talk about it. I do appreciate the kind messages and comments, though, so thanks! I am really cheered by them, and by all the spring that is happening. We already had to cut the grass, after first getting all the sticks picked up. Danged trees! I do have some very happy news, though-- my sweet niece has had her baby! She had a cute little girl with a very old-fashioned name. I know she's very tiny, but I swear she looks just like her mama!

If you recall, my niece requested a baby quilt in 'aqua and gray and Harry Potter.' She got a lovely aqua heart full of love. Take a look:

It turned out almost exactly like it looked in my head. I feel like there is something 'off' about the heart, but I didn't have a pattern and I fussed with it enough. My niece loves it, and that's all that matters. As you can tell from all the wrinkles, I washed the quilt before I photographed it, because I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures first. Oh, well! I did iron it, but it didn't much help.

I couldn't bring myself to put gray on the back of a quilt for a baby, so instead I used these fun owls. If you know anything about Harry Potter, you'll know that owls are pretty important to the story, so I feel like they fit. And the quilt looks great on both sides, too.

But what about Harry Potter? Well, if you look very closely, you will find several things in the quilting, including:

A magic wand!

A Golden Snitch! (Which looks like baby Yoda, but oh well!)

And the part that made my poor niece cry. . .

"You are so loved."

There are several other things hidden in the quilting, but you get the idea. They aren't perfectly quilted, but they're meaningful to my niece and her husband, and that's what counts. All in all, it's a little unconventional, but the baby looks adorable on it, and she should be able to use it for quite a while, as it finished at just about 40 by 50. Can you get any better?

Hope you are having a good week! I'm getting better slowly, so I hope to see you again really soon. Take care!

Sharing at all the usual places. See sidebar for details!

Attention Baltimore quilters!

I was contacted by a lovely woman named Cindy who is the founder of Ryan's Case For Smiles, which makes and donates pillowcases for kids hospitalized for cancer. Sadly, the coordinator of the Baltimore chapter is retiring and they are looking for a new person to head this very active chapter. If you are interested, please contact dana (at) caseforsmiles (dot) org.

Thanks!

Last of the stars

 Hi all! How have you been? I have been very, very busy. I know, who could've guessed, what with the end of the year (or at least the semester) in sight? I did manage to finish off my niece's quilt, which turned out great, but I think she should see it first, don't you? Oh, and did you realize that Thanksgiving is next week? Yikes!

Before all the panic-cooking sets in, here are the final four stars for my RSC quilt this year. I'm a little behind, but my intentions are good, and the stars are pretty. Have a look:

 

As you can see, there are more leaves. I've decided to just let them be. It's a losing battle, and they'll break down. But let's talk about these stars! Aren't they cute?

I had cut the fabrics for the last two aqua stars, so I stitched those up and I'm pretty pleased with them. I *love* the aqua one in the picture above. I also added another yellow star because I like yellow and it adds a little more sparkle. The yellow is yet another Ohio Star variation, but it's different from all the others.

My one disappointment with the stars project is that I didn't make a true Lemoyne Star. The two above are kind of approximations of a Lemoyne Star. I don't really know what happened there. I tried one way back at the beginning but totally messed it up, and then I'm pretty sure I messed up the paper pieced version, too. Maybe I'll give it one more go and replace one of the stars I don't like. They're not all winners, after all.

For the sashing, I decided on this Riley Blake fabric called Blossom, which I still have just enough of. I've used it a couple of times and I really wish I had more of it. It makes such nice backgrounds and sashing, and I'm pretty sure it's going to make a great complement to all the colors in the stars.

That's pretty much all I accomplished after I finished my niece's gift. I also made some flannel blankets for her and a bunch of other stuff. I made sure to get some beauty shots, though, so once she gets her gift I will show it off to you all. It was an adventure!

So, happy weekend, everyone. I hope you get some rest and relaxation before the big holiday. I'll leave you with what might be the best nature picture I've ever taken. My son came to visit from Maine, and I took this while waiting for him in the cell phone lot (of all places!):

Finally-- Cathy, if you're reading this, we are all thinking of you! Best wishes!

 

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC23

Sandy aqua heart

 Hello all, and welcome to another fine fall weekend. As I write that, though, I'm watching the clouds gather, and I'm pretty sure that means we're going to have some fine fall rain. Pretty sure that will whip even more leaves off the trees, too. Can freezing winds and the dreaded s-word be far behind? I'd like a little more fall color first, please!

This week I worked really hard to get a quilt all finished, but I'm only done with the top. The top is adorable, though! Take a look:

This heart is kind of 'freehand,' in that I just made it by arranging pieces on the design wall, with no pattern. It's pretty easy to make a heart, though I might have messed up there in the middle, but I am going to find a way to be okay with it. It was kind of fun, and pretty distracting, making sure that there was no place where the same fabric touched. I didn't quite manage that, but again-- let's find a way to be okay with it!

It will not surprise you that the aqua to turquoise pieces were cut for a different quilt that I never made. For the rainbow scrap challenge this year, one of my goals was to make something small with the scraps and quilt it up, so this is my "use-it-up" for the aqua month. I am so, so happy to use those pieces, and I think I have just enough for a scrappy binding, too. The background looks white but is really a sandy batik with splashes of yellow and a pale pink. This is just about 44 by 50, a perfect size.

There's another reason that I'm so, so happy about this quilt-- my niece is having her first baby, and she asked for "aqua and gray and Harry Potter." Well, I have the aqua covered, that's for sure! And I also have a gray backing for this quilt, but I'm looking for a way to sneak a little Harry Potter in there. We'll see what fun stuff I can think up that goes with the quilt at least a little bit. I'll probably just have to quilt some Harry Potter symbols into it.

I feel like that's a win, even if it isn't completely finished yet! If it rains this weekend I'll be able to at least baste it, otherwise it will wait a little bit. The baby isn't coming until January, so for once I'm a little ahead of the game. 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I went out and took these pictures while I'm waiting for the windshield replacement guy to show up. Something from the road hit the windshield right at my eye level as I was on the way home this week, and it cracked all the way across. It was a little scary! Everybody be careful out there, because those big pieces of glass are really pricey!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique and soscrappy for RSC23.

Catching some falling stars

 Hi all! Long time no see! How have you been? We are only talking about good things today, so no need to go into how I am. But hey, here's a happy thing-- the part for my sewing machine made it here from somewhere in the outer galaxy and my machine is now back home, stitching away happily. If only it could stitch away without me there, I would get so much more done! 

Today I'm trying to catch up on my RSC blocks. I'm not behind, I'm just going at my own pace! Thinking about it that way makes me feel so much better, especially since I haven't put together one of last year's projects yet, either. This week I managed to make two turquoise blocks:

 

Are those not very cute? Yes, I will lose a few points when I put everything together, but I just can't care. I think they'll look great anyway. And, of course, the leaves are falling in earnest now.

This is a block called Odd Fellow's Chain, and I made a whole RSC quilt from this block once. Yes, it has a lot of pieces, but sometimes I find that very relaxing. A lot to keep track of, no time to think about bad stuff. And I love how it looks in the aqua!

Ignore the water spots! It decided to rain this morning, but took just enough break for some pictures. The second block is called Broken Star, and I also made it before. This time was a smaller size, which made for some really interesting cutting sizes. I must have messed up somewhere because I'm going to lose a few points, but I still like it.

I have 34 blocks for this project now, and I haven't made any yellow ones yet, so once I make a few of those I'll be closing in on the final number of blocks for this year. I thought I would set these with an alternate block, but I think that would make the quilt too big. So I guess some playing around is in order.

That's it for today! I feel lucky to have gotten this far, and I think I may have some more time in the coming weeks. This stuff we're dealing with is heavy, folks, and it's not coming to an end soon. I need to build in more happy spaces for myself, that's for sure.

The last tomato! Time to pull out those plants and get everything cleaned up. Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm off to search through some happy yellows.

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC23.

Lacy yellow stars

 Hi all. How has your week been? Our weather is up and down, and we are staring down the possibility of a "bomb cyclone," because "snow, rain, and wind" just doesn't sound scary enough. The good news, though, is that snow, rain, and wind on the weekend means (say it with me)-- sewing time! I think the hubster is working this weekend, so I have a plan. . .

This week I made some Twinkle Stars for the yellow month of the RSC. They're almost the only thing that I sewed this week, but it's something, right? Here are the "yellow" stars:

Hey, those don't really look yellow, do they? If you recall, I'm making all of the inner stars yellow, and I knew I would have to figure out what to do for the yellow month. The only solution, of course, is to use my black prints. They're a little bit bumblebee- ish, but I like them.

These stars will be 9 inches finished and are made from Angela's tutorial from a few years ago. Now that I look at it again, though, she had colorful centers. I kind of like the white centers-- they're kind of lacy-- but what do you think? I'm thinking maybe I should go back and add centers to two of each set. That would make an interesting quilt, wouldn't it?

Since I didn't show off the aqua stars from last month, here they are as well:

Yes, I really like the constant yellow stars. These look so festive, don't they? Aqua is such a great color, and paired with yellow it always looks so happy.

So those are my stars! I was also working on the medallion, but didn't finish it yet. Wait till you see, though. Spoiler alert-- it's spectacular. 

Hope you all are doing really well as we slide into spring. How do I know we're sliding into spring? Look at this:

Those are the daffodils on the hill between our property and the county property right next to us. They'll be blooming soon, and I am so happy! The sun apparenty bleached out the stars, but I'll take sunshine any time, you know?

Have a wonderful weekend! You know what I'll be doing!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday and soscrappy for RSC22.

All the aqua birdies

 Hello all! First, thanks to everyone who sent their good thoughts about Hands2Help after the last post. I'm excited about what's happening this year. If you want to check it out, look back to the post right HERE. Also, if you scroll all the way down, Roseanne was kind enough to make a clickable button, and you can get the code right there. Thanks Roseanne!

But more on that later! This was yet another hard week, but the situation causing all of the stress should be coming to a happy resolution soon. Yahoo! I'm looking forward to amuch nicer March, that's for sure.

This week I managed to make some fun aqua birds for the rainbow scrap challenge. I love aqua, so I love all of these birds:

 

 

It was quite windy, but I managed to get a few useable pictures. Aren't they adorable? I made five, but I had to make myself stop, because these babies are really addictive. You could make your own using Lynne's tutorial, which you can get right HERE.

 

 

I need to make more right-facing birds. I don't necessarily want an equal number, but a few more would be nice. Plus, how adorable is the bird on the left? Half the fun of making the birds is trying out all the different color combinations, especially the beaks and the legs. I know I should have just made a "legs" panel and cut them off there, the same for all the birds, but what fun is that?

The purple beak and legs are my favorite! A kind of drab aqua turned out super colorful and fun.

And the final pair, chasing each other. I think that might be my last piece of the yellow dots on turquoise. I'm sorry to see it go. It makes a great bird, though.

When I got home yesterday, I had to make one more bird, just for Lynne:

Obviously, this is a catbird and will occupy the catbird seat in my quilt. I think it will blend nicely with some blue sashing, and keep watch over all the other birds.

That was my whole accomplishment for this week. Not a lot, but moving forward is always good! Hope you all are moving forward, too, and that everyone has a great weekend. Spring is on the horizon, so I'm going to start garden planning. That sounds happy, doesn't it? Bring on the flowers!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique, and soscrappy for RSC22.

Twice around

 Hi everyone!  Gosh, what a week I have had. If it wasn't one thing, it was ten others. I feel like I've run a marathon every day this week. You ever have a week like that? With rain, to top it off? I am glad to put this one in the archives. The happiest part of my week was the response to the announcement earlier this week about the Hands2Help Challenge. Thanks to everyone who is enthusiastic about participating! I'm looking forward to it as well!

With all that was going on, I only had time to make a little bit of progress on a couple of projects this week. Thankfully, one of them was my medallion quilt for the RSC this year.  Here is the aqua/ teal round:

 

I love that dark aqua fabric. It's so pretty, and it looks really good next to the red. This is now 16 inches square, but we have eight rounds to go, so it will grow quickly.

The only other thing I worked on was the Stay at Home Round Robin quilt. This round was stars, so I took the opportunity to add stars to the top and bottom to make the quilt into a rectangle:

Gosh, this is a happy quilt, isn't it? The stars are what I call spinners and they remind me of those whirligigs that come on a stick that some people put in their gardens. I guess if you made them in black they could be ninja throwing stars, too. These are much cuter, of course! The stars finish at 4-1/2 inches each, and you can find a tutorial for them right HERE. The quilt now measures about 27-1/2 inches wide and 36 inches long. It's really shaping up!

Okay, that's a short post, but that's all I have in me right now. I hope you all have something really fun planned for this weekend. I'm going to try to read a book and maybe watch the Olympics, or something equally mindless. Do you think brownies go well with that? Let's find out!

 

(Brown bat update: still hanging out. Hasn't moved. I think he's with us till spring!)

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC22 and Home Sewn By Us for the SAHRR, and Finished or Not Friday, too.

Just three more

 Hi everyone! It's the last weekend before school starts for me, and I'm nervous as all get out. We had a ton of meetings this week (ugh) and by the time the last one was finished there were students on campus. Actual living students, right there on campus! It was thrilling, like the campus is alive again. We require vaccines and we all have to wear masks, but I still don't know whether to be happy or terrified about going to class. What a strange world this has become.

Thankfully, the sewing room remains its messy self. I've come to believe that the one constant in life is scraps. They never really go away, and the more you use, the more you make. In that vein, I've made three more Saguaro blocks for the RSC this week:

 

 

All of those meetings meant not a lot of stitching time, but I'm glad I was able to eke these out. I love aqua and turquoise, and choosing the fabrics for these was kind of hard. I think I made decent choices, though. 

I counted all of the blocks that I've already finished, and I have 22, including the new aqua ones. I can either make three more and have a square quilt that is at least 60 by 60, or make eight more and have a quilt that's at least 60 by 72. I'm pretty much ready to be done, so I think I'll just make three more, whenever we get to orange. (I know I could just make two more and have a quilt that's 4 blocks by 6 blocks, but that's 48 by 72, a bit long and skinny for me.)

 

I didn't do any other stitching on the RSC projects, but I did have a little retail therapy arrive, in the form of some wide back fabrics, shown above. Look at the size of those dots! That was a real surprise, though overall the fabric is really pretty. I'll find something to use it on, though it won't be a small project. Speaking of retail therapy, don't forget to hop over to Bernie's shop for her retirement sale, where the fabric is now 30% off. Still a lot of bargains!

Hope you all are having a good weekend! Enjoy these last few days before school, because after that comes fall. Maybe it will cool off by then!

 

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC21.

A cool spot in the heat

 Hi everyone, from a very warm and very wet Baltimore! It was more than 100 degrees on my home thermometer twice this past week, and 104 degrees on my car thermometer. I've said it before, but God bless Willis Carrier. Plus, we had some storms with spectacular lightning and very loud thunder. It was quite exciting. As of this week, we have now lived in Baltimore for two years, so I'm trying to think of the flashes and banging as a celebration, kind of like fireworks.

 

This is when I'm happy that my sewing room is in the basement bedroom. It's much cooler down there!  And here's what came out of the room with me when I had no choice but to go back upstairs:

Slightly drenched flowers and the final scrap basket for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! Yay! The picture isn't the greatest because I was in a huge hurry to get back inside before the skies opened up again, so here is one that is a little more focused:

 

Look at those pretty and cool aquas, with some turquoise tossed in. I love aqua and turquoise and had a lot of scraps to choose from. I've made all of the baskets differently, and this one is strips of aqua in random widths, assembled quilt as you go style. It worked really well and went fast, and hardly made a dent in the scraps. They're all so pretty that I don't mind looking at them, though.

Here is the whole scrap basket family (ignore the creative mess):

 

I promise that they are mostly the same size, but some of them are a little more squished than others. Taking this picture is when I realized that I somehow skipped making a yellow basket. Yikes! I don't know how this happened, because yellow is one of my favorite colors. More to the point, where did I put the bin of yellow scraps?

That's a question for another day, because this weekend I'll be finishing up those positivity quilts for the quilt along, which ends next week. I never finish on time, but this time I feel like I have to get it done before school starts. We have meetings next week, so I'd better get a move on!

 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend! If you feel like doing some shopping from your sofa, my friend Bernie at Needle and Foot has marked down the fabric in her shop even further, with some really good bargains. Check it out HERE and be sure to tell her I said hi, too!

The best-laid plans

 Hi everyone! Here we are at the last weekend in July. How is that even possible? This was a very productive week for us here at the AQ household. Last weekend we decided to take down the enormous mirror that took up an entire wall in our bathroom. Seriously, it was about 8 feet by 6 feet. Huge! If you've ever wanted to watch yourself shower, this was the mirror for you! We managed to get it down, in many, many pieces, only to discover that there really wasn't a wall behind it. They had put the mirror over some plywood and the very old built-in medicine cabinets.

Those of you who have done home improvements know where I'm going with this. One thing lead to another, and now we have completely re-done the bathroom. Yeah, we had a "good" time with wallboard and new lights, and new mirrors and rugs, and a shower surround, and everything else. I wish I could say that it was fun, but at least it's now over. It took forever!

All of this is leading up to this week's small finish, which I had planned to quilt this week, but did not get a chance to, what with all the scraping and sanding and whatnot. Here is my project:

 

Ah, it's luminous, is it not? I love these colors individually, and together they look even better! I started this project quite a while ago, and intended to make a full quilt from it, so I had plenty of fabric for the small borders. After it's quilted, I'll use the green that's in those little squares for the binding. I think that will be just right and really make the whole piece.

 

 

I did intend for this to be a full-size quilt, but, alas, it was not to be. The project went into a box when we moved, and it's only now come out. I still had dreams of a nice lap-sized quilt, but it was either make a smaller project, or keep it in the box. I made the (really hard) decision to make it into this small table topper or wall hanging instead of shutting it up in the box again. I've done a lot of repurposing this year, and I don't regret any of it, even though giving up on the bigger quilt was really difficult in this case.

 

 

I love this whole thing-- the blocks, the sashing, the colors, the fabrics-- and now at least I'll get to look at it every day, even if it isn't a full-size quilt. If you want to make the block yourself, the instructions are HERE. (It doesn't look like the same block, but it is! Color placement is everything.) I wish there was a pattern for the sashing, but I just made that up myself. You could try a piece from a Storm at Sea block, though, to get the same effect.

But I do regret not getting to quilt this piece this week! I really should have known better-- a mirror that size had to be covering up something. I do plan to quilt this little topper really soon, and I already have a quilting plan all drawn out, which is really unlike me. It might not be a big quilt, but it certainly will be a pretty one!

Hope you all have a really good weekend as we move into August. (August!) I know for sure we're not doing any home improvements this weekend because my niece will be here, and we will be showing her and her hubby all of the wonders of Baltimore. It should be fun! 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and Finished or Not Friday.

Stress planning

 Hi everyone! How are you today? The last couple of days we've been having amazing weather, so much so that I've managed to get several miles worth of walking in. I even considered wearing sleeves one morning because it was a bit on the chilly side, relatively speaking, when I started out. I warmed up plenty, don't worry. But it's been just a lovely late summer these last few days, which feels fantastic. We even ate outside last night! And they made progress on our renovation! Happy spots in the midst of this weird year.

Do you all make careful quilty plans for what you want to accomplish in the sewing room? I have not been doing so, because who knows how I'm going to feel or what I'm going to feel like making? We started back to school this week, though, on the meeting end of things, at least, and the stress level is already pretty high for me. Going remote was absolutely the best decision, but I know that I'll have a high stress level for the rest of the year.  With that in mind, I've planned three projects to keep me busy this fall.

I had thought that I would keep working on my closet full of UFOs, but it turns out that's even more stressful. So many little pieces! I love complicated piecing, but it's just not going to work for me, and I'm definitely not looking to make up my own designs right now, either.  With that in mind, I looked for patterns that had bigger pieces and easy piecing. Easy to push through the machine and not think very much, and easy to fix if I mess up. Totally not what I usually do! But I think these will look good: 

First is this pile of pretty fabrics:

 

I'm going to use these to make Sharron Holland's Phoenix pattern, which you can get HERE. A lot of pieces, but all of them big and easy to construct. And look how cute it turns out! This is the first one I'm going to tackle, I think. 

Next, I've been planning to make a quilt for our bed for quite some time. I may have shown you this before, but I'm planning to make this pattern:

 

Big pieces, easy strip piecing, and it will look terrific in these fabrics:

It looks like a pile of laundry, but I promise that they are really pretty in person! I want this one to look like beach glass, in various shades of aquas with a sandstone background. I've been collecting the aqua batiks, and I got some from friends, too. I definitely need a few more of the greener aquas, but otherwise I think this will be ready to start once I press all those pieces. 

In preparation for the quilt above, I bought a bunch of fabrics which were advertised as aquas and teals but turned out to be mostly blue. What a disappointment, because I don't use much blue. I pulled out the aquas that I could use, but what to do with the leftover blues?

 

Pair them up with some yellow scraps, of course! I'm thinking of making the pattern that's shown with them, another Busy Hands Quilts pattern. I'm less sure about this one, though, so I'm thinking I'll leave it for last. That's if I make it through the others, of course.

So, not usually a sewing room planner, but just for now having a plan is making me feel better. I still have several quilt tops to quilt up, too, so I can always work on those if I feel like it. I honestly have no idea how this semester will turn out, but so far, it's looking to be a lot like last spring. Here's one thing about teaching remotely-- it's exhausting! Much harder to be on camera than to teach in a classroom. Here's hoping these plans will keep me sane and unstressed. 

Hope you all are having a good week! Hope your fabrics are happy ones, and that your projects are turning out well. And that your stress is manageable, too!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.