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.

Fast, fun, and bright

 Hi all! How was your week? I've had yet another doozy of a time. It's pretty obvious that we have some serious family stuff going on, but I keep trying to stitch a few things when I can. And this week one of the administrative people at school became a grandma for the first time, so how could I not stitch her up something really cute? Want to see? Here it is:

Isn't that adorable for a first time grandma? This is a variation of the Quick Strippie from Mary Quilts, a super fast and cute pattern that is suitable for any occasion. I just couldn't cut the fun alphabet print into smaller pieces. I wanted to keep as much of the alphabet together as I could and not cut the pieces too small. It's not the pattern, but I think it works.

I did not think to look at the selvage, and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and dig it out of the trash, but I've had this fun print for a while. Come to think of it, I've had all of my fabric for a while, including the lime green and the last bits of the purple that are also in the quilt.

This quilt is about 40 by 48, the perfect "play on the floor" size.  I used the last of the Hobbs Poly Down batting that I had and quilted it with the serpentine stitch. The Poly Down is really quite nice, very light and not at all like the old poly batting. I think it works pretty well for this type of quilt, too. Easy to wash when someone spits up on it.

The backing is also a fabric that I had for quite a while, from the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric. I'm so happy to use this up, and it works as a nice backing here. And check out that striped binding! You know how you have a fabric for a while and you just get tired of seeing it in your stash? That's how I felt about these, and now I can forget about them because they are used up and happy in a quilt!

That's about all I've been able to accomplish lately. Things are weird, and my regular machine still isn't back from the repair person. I miss it, even though the backup machine is doing great. Should be finished this next week. I think they had to get a repair part from the moon or something. I hope the shipping isn't too much.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Tomorrow is my birthday and Mother Nature is giving me a tropical rainstorm. Won't that be fun? I hope it comes with pie. Brownies would be nice, too.

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

Peace and plenty of color

 Hi all! How has your week been? We have moved on from hot and dry to extremely hot and just about to storm like crazy. We broke temperature records four days in a row this week. Try to imagine college students in a classroom in a building built in the 1890s when it's 100 degrees outside. Zero fun, do not recommend.

I have a fun finsh to show off today, though-- I have finished the top of the Peace and Plenty quilt! Take a look and see if you think it's as gorgeous as I do:

Wow, that's a lot of color! This was one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for this year. We're finishing off with aqua for this year, and after I made those blocks it was only a short step to completing  the top. That idea of making a few blocks a month really works out!

Above are the aqua blocks by themselves. Aren't they pretty? Aqua is such a great color and I tried to choose one that was 'greener' and one that was 'bluer' and one I just liked. The truth is I love them all, of course. And that pink rose is a lovely contrast!

I love how this turned out, but I do recognize that all the colors kind of break up the pattern and the movement in the top. If all of the blocks were in one color there would be a lot more secondary patterns across the quilt top. There are plenty of secondary patterns in here, though, and all the color is definitely more fun. If you'd like to make some blocks yourself, the directions and cutting sizes are right HERE. I made my blocks in the 12-inch size.

I wasn't going to add a border, but I added the very colorful one just to finish off all those raw edges. Why not? It was all the perfect colors and finished everything off nicely. I think I have enough for the binding in that same fabric, too. My top finished at just about 66 by 78, a nice cozy size.

Now that this top is done I've started getting last year's projects ready to send out for quilting. I love long arming, but it would work so much better for me if I could load a quilt one day and stitch it over the next few days instead of having to get two quilts done in the space of less than 6 hours, including loading. It's time to admit I'm not going to do that and get these tops sent out so a real longarmer can finish them up.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to try not to get too wet in the storms and I also have to take my main machine to the machine-fixer-people. I was stitching away happily and hit a pin, which broke the needle, which then fell into the machine. I couldn't get it out, and the timing is off now too, so time to call in the pros. Hope that never happens to you! I'll close with a picture of a volunteer coleus that sprung up in one of my pots. It's so pretty-- and it kind of goes with the quilt!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC23 and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique.

This way and that way

 Hello all! Well, that was a long and unexpected blogging break! Not to worry, I am fine. It was all for good reasons. My Dad and my sister came to visit, and when that happens, you drop everything and spend time with them. Which of course meant that I didn't finsih off any of the projects that I planned to before we had approximately 300 meetings. So I'm behind on everything, but this is pretty much my normal state, so it's all good!

 

We had a great time showing them around Baltimore and just hanging out, so no machine time for a couple weeks, but after they left I did finally manage to finish off the second Positivity top for the Positivity quilt along sponsored by our friends Preeti and Bernie:

I really meant to have both Positivity quilts quilted by now, but you can blame my Dad if you want. Or my sister, though she really deserves a medal for driving Dad all the way here.

Check out all those leaves on the ground! These are coming off the neighborhood trees because of all the heat this summer. It is odd and no fun. As you can tell, I did not follow the pattern exactly for this quilt either. I just have to be different, you know? If you look back at what Preeti now calls "the pot quilt" you'll see that I really never follow directions. I think this one turned out great, plus it used up a bunch of my fall-like scraps, too.

You may not be able to tell, but there is a lot of variety in those leaves. Anything I could get a 2-1/2 inch piece that was long enough and looked vaguely fall-like went into the top. There are a bunch od golds, some purples, various greens, and even a couple of turquoises. And I love the background fabric, too! It looks perfect with those scraps.

Because I rearranged the layout of the vines, my quilt is a little smaller, about 56 by 72. I think it's going to be a fine size, though, and I plan to send it along just the same. I think I'll quilt it in just straight lines going across. That will accent the vine movement, don't you think?

So, there we are! A second Positivity top, done before Labor Day. I can't believe the summer is over, can you? I just realized today is the first of September! Yikes!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend! It's supposed to be 98 degrees here, so this would be a good weekend to clean up the mess that is my sewing room, but I'll probably just take a nap. The last few weeks have been fun, but exhausting! Did I mention that classes started, too? No wonder I'm tired!

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