Friday, November 29, 2019

Urban Log Cabin top !!

Welcome to finish or not finished Friday!! The after Thanksgiving edition!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.... we ate to much !! ha ha!!

but Prior to cooking for the big day!
I got this top put together!
I am so happy!!


It is the Urban Log Cabin pattern from Atkinson Designs
In Kaffe Fasset prints and
and Crazy Kaffe Border!!




and!! We are in the Lions Club, our Kersey Lions is providing S'more Kits for our Holiday Parade - and we were going to make them at our last meeting - but a Blizzard sent us scurrying for home.

Little and Middle Bit put the kits together and we are ready for the Parade!!

Alright!! your turn!! what is Finished ( or not) for you this Friday??

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Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
TGIF Friday at Kathleen Mcmusings

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Winter QUILT A LONG HOUR 3

Happy Almost Thanksgiving!!
Hope all is good - we went from sunshiny and dry to a Blizzard in a day and all the roads were closed, and it! Was! Awesome!!!

We got over 12 inches of snow at our place and we loved it!!!! 
Of course - everyone was home and safe, and the roads were closed by the state..... so we couldn't leave!!!

On to our next step!!

WQAL Hour 3
So all your pieces are now cut and stitched… It’s time to start….. Rowing!!!
I use my design wall most of the time, but sometimes I find it easy to just stack the pieces according to the photo and start stitching the rows together…. Your choice –

You will be using 2 of your Red/Light squares, 6 of your light squares and 32 of your Navy/Light squares for this step….


Here is how it lays out!
So this hours assignment it to lay out these 4 rows and stitch them together –
Then set this piece aside…. And go eat some Turkey….



I do not know if this video will work - but these are my kitties - and I was working in the hay shed, cleaning up the spilled hay and they were terrorizing my rake!! It cracked me up!

Friday, November 22, 2019

Finished ( or not!!) Friday


Puppy says


WHAT have you Finished???


( he knows that all I have Finished is Client quilts this week!! ha ha)


So link up - show me the finishes and Inspire me!!
You all know my Bucket list grows each week right??

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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Winter Quilt A long HOUR TWO

Welcome to Hour TWO of the WINTER QUILT A LONG


Now... just a preface - this is an hour of My stitching... you may be ( and most likely are) faster, or you may only have 10 minutes at a time... but it will get done and you will relax.... and feel the stress of the day go away.... ( okay that works for me!)  


and ps - Please read this a few times before trying to tell me there is a mistake... Yes - I know we all make them, but I do try to read and re-read and so far.... ( knock on wood) no mistakes ... but you all did make my heart rate go up... that counts as my exercise right?


Winter Quilt a Long Hour 2


*You have a Light - 7 inch square pile and a Navy -  7 In Square pile left – there should be 32 squares in each pile…( we cut them in hour one)
*You will continue stitching Half squares –

*Pair a 7 inch light with a 7 Inch Navy

*Draw a line diagonally in the center of one of the pieces –

*Stitch ¼ inch on either side of the line

*Slice on the line










*Press – & Voila – you should have 64 more 6 ½ inch Half Square Blocks ( in addition to Hour1)




And that took me an hour…. 

Ps – someone asked the size of the quilt – 60 x 72 ish

Here is a link to the PDF file  Winter QAL hour 2 PDF

Monday, November 18, 2019

Raptors... and quilts

My Design wall is actually empty at this moment!! I am kinda of excited - its a blank slate, a new start... or .. time to get close to a finish.... I love it!!

And it's also that gifting time... so I do have to keep a few things quiet... which we all know how good ( not) I am at that! ha ha

I follow a Blog by Snowcatcher - and her Photography is AMAZING!!! I mean drool worthy!! She posted the other day about a Calendar that she had created and showed some of the photographs in it... and I was blown away

So the first thing I ordered for ME!!!  Was a calendar!!  It arrived this weekend and it s GORGEOUS!!


The first gift to go under the tree!! I am so excited - and you have to go check her blog post out ..the photos - oh man!! you will LOVE them!!

https://www.snowcatcher.net

Oh and I saw this on FB the other day... Can you relate?

Happy Monday!!


Linking to:
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Design Wall Monday at Small quilts and doll Quilts

Friday, November 15, 2019

Decorating for Christmas... and Finished ( or not) Friday

Does the title scare you a little?  

Sorry - My family thinks you should not decorate or start listening to Christmas music until Thanksgiving is over... but this year... I am already starting ---- sort of!!

My friend found the cutest cactus Christmas tree.. and we all got to talking .... 
I started thinking about maybe a Blue and Silver(white) themed Christmas...

And I don't really decorate much ( mostly because I hate putting it away)

Then I thought - what if I got all of my Blue quilts out, and started throwing them on the couches? I mean it would be like the decorations are sneaking up on us right?

Would you believe..... I have exactly ONE Blue and White quilt.... THAT IS IT!! Who knew this?

So there you go! I decorated for Christmas!!!  Ha Ha!
( and now I am pulling Blues to make more Blue quilts!)


Here is what I actually got done!  Do you remember Flags for Sue? This is one of the tops I made from those blocks - and NOW!! it is Quilted!!  Ready to be bound - which is perfect - we have awarded almost all of our Quilts of Valor, and now we need to get busy finishing more!



I believe at last count we have awarded 22 of these quilts now - so cool to Honor Sue this way - and so neat to spread it out,.... makes me think of her each time I work on one!

Its your turn!!
BRAG about your Finishes or your Not Finishes....
Please make sure you use a direct link - that way... I can go directly to the post you want to brag about!

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Linking to:
Can I get a whoop whoop
TGIF Friday

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Winter Quilt A Long - Hour ONE!

Welcome to Hour ONE of the WINTER QUILT A LONG
Whoot Whoot

Now... just a preface - this is an hour of My stitching... you may be ( and most likely are) faster, or you may only have 10 minutes at a time... but it will get done and you will relax.... and feel the stress of the day go away.... ( okay that works for me!)


We have a Navy Blue, A Red – and the Light Blue is my Light.
I am going to do everything based on the yardage, but will give you the number you need if you are going scrappy. Scrappy will take you longer to cut, but don’t laugh – I am doing a regular and a scrappy version….

Step 1:
With your Light :
Cut 2 strips width of Fabric (wof)  6 ½ inches long.       Sub Cut those to 12  -   6 ½ inch squares

Next you need   54  -   7 inch squares of Light
*If you have 40 inch fabric you will need to cut 11 strips of 7 inch wide fabric
 – and sub-cut that to 54 – 7 inch squares.

*If you have 42 inch fabric you need to cute 9 – 7 inch strips of fabric
 - and sub cut into 54 – 7 inch squares



Step 2:
RED:
You need 12 – 7 inch squares
*if you have 40 inch fabric – you need to cut 3  - 7 inch strips wof, and sub cut into 12 – 7 inch squares

*if you have 42 inch fabric – you need to cut 2 – 7 inch strips wof and subcut into 12 – 7 in squares

Step 3:

On the back side of the red – draw a diagonal line.

Pair them with  12 of the Light Squares and stitch ¼ inch on either side of the line.
Cut along the line, and press
-          You will now have 24 light/red half squares

-           


Step 4:

Navy Blue:    You will need 42 – 7 inch squares of Navy blue

*if you have 40 inch fabric you will need to cut 9 wof strips and subcut into 42 -  7 inch squares
*if you have 42 inch fabric you will need to cut 7 wof strips and subcut into 42 – 7 inch squares


Take 10 of these Navy Squares, Pair them with a Light.
Draw a line on the diagonal, stitch ¼ inch on either side of the line.
Cut along the line and press them







You know have 20 Navy/Light Half squares

And it is time to go have your dinner….



Your Final Count for This step:

Light:               12 - -6 ½ inch squares
Light/Red       24 - - 6 ½ inch half squares
Light /Navy    20 - - 6 ½ inch half squares

Ohya!! Need a PDF - here you go!!
Winter QAL Hour One PDF

See you Friday for Finished ( or Not) Friday!

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Stitch it and Gift it!!

I love this idea for a blog hop - it kinda gets you in the spirit... and pushes you a long to finish the ideas you have.... That being said!!

If you are reading my post - you are now SWORN to SECRECY/..... Got it???

and!! Even more important - if you know any of my family.... you may not speak of this to them....

and EVEN more important.... if you know my Brother in law... do not tell him that I like him... we operate on the - who can pick on each other the worst........



Did you swear? are you able to keep a secret?
Alright - then you may read on....

A few years ago I decided that it would be cool to make him a quilt with pictures of his family and some old photos.  His family is one that has been in Wyoming for a million years ( that's how old he is - bwahh haa haa)   And they have quite the history... so I worked with his Sister and Brother and we found some really great old photos.

His Dad was a WWII pilot and we found some of those photos - and we found some goofy ones -

Then I worked with Erin and Fabric on Demand  and I made fabric of those photos,... that is one awesome company - they are SO helpful and SO great to work with.

And then! I had to find fabrics - oh the torture.. oh the shopping - Ok .. not really -


Whoops - that is not it... that is just a photo of a few of my horses... that was a test - just to see if you were ready to keep a secret...

TA DA
There is the top!! I framed each photo with Dark Brown cowboy fabric ... in ... of course a Churn Dash!! I thought it looked like a frame for each photo.




I thought that would be the end of my post - I didn't know if I could get it completely finished by today... but you know what?? You beg your husband to make dinner and you work in the dark... and




you get it DONE!!
Whoop Whoop

( and by Done - I even mean... are you ready???? BOUND!!!)




it turned out King Size - which was sorta my plan - but not really... I was going for Queen - but you know ... Math.... It changes a lot!! Works out pretty good tho! They have a king size bed.

I am so glad that Creatin in the Sticks gave us this push to get something done in time for the holidays - and in my case - something pretty big... It took me 2 years to really make this.... We have been collecting photos that long...

Go check out all these other blogs too - they are also participating:

Tuesday, November 12th



And here is a link to the complete list of blogs participating this week:
Stitch and Gift Blog Hop


are you working on anything for Christmas?

Monday, November 11, 2019

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Monday too!!

So one of the things I love the best about being a part of Quilts of Valor is that we get to show the LOVE to our Veterans any day of the week, any week of the year - but!  When it happens on Veterans Day Weekend  - its just a little extra special... and every time I see the tears of a Veteran - it makes me want to go sew some more and quilt faster!!!



The Darling on the Left - she is so sweet and such a giver - she always wants to make sure her *people* are taken care of first ( the sign of a great leader)... so we were so excited to surprise her with her QOV this time. And she is a fan of Eagles - so you know that we had to get some Eagles in this quilt!!

This one got me, we wrapped him in his quilt, and he whispered something to me, so I reached over to him, mostly to re-hear... and he reached out with tears in his eyes and gave me the hugest hug.

you ALL - I am passing that along to you - he was so emotional about finally receiving a Thank you for his service and that this was made for him - man.... he almost made me tear up ( that's all I will admit to !! ha ha)



and although my son has not had the experiences of these Veterans
 and is just starting on his journey
I have to brag on him here


Because I am his mom
and I love him
and I want him to come home now
( PS - I want the other two to come home too!! ... now!)


Happy Veterans Day
And thank you all
for helping us Love on our Veterans


linking to :
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making

Friday, November 08, 2019

QUILTED!! and! It's Finished (Or Not) Friday

Happy Friday!!!


I kinda feel like the cat and life is the cow... its just pushing me along.... and hoping I keep up - haha!!


Isn't that funny? - we have two baby barn cats and they are not afraid of anything!

I learned that my horse can now be considered broke.

I was doctoring his back foot while the kitty was swinging from his tail.... and I lived to tell about it..... I needed one more hand to take a picture - but it was funny....




Here is my Finish for this week.... Note the snow... It melted - but I hurried to find a pretty spot before hand...





I think it made all the bright colors even brighter!!

Alright - so has Life moved you along this week? Show off your *stuff*  Lets see it!!!!


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Linking to
TGIF Friday at Faith and Fabric
Confessions of a Fabriholic

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Winter Quilt a Long - one Hour per week

at the Korean War Memorial in DC
This is a fun easy quilt - with a cool visual to it when it is done!  



This Wednesday ( the 6th) I will give you the Fabric Requirements - and that is your job - shop your stash - you can also go scrappy and I will give you hints for that

Each Wednesday I will give you 1 HOUR of a step - It will be based on my timer - I will stitch one week ahead of you - and when the timer buzzes 1 hour... I am stopping ... and that will be your step.

This pattern has already been tested , I am varying the version just a little bit ( because I can - and its fun 😋  )

And when we get to the part to put it together - I will show you the whole design so you can choose to put it up on the design wall right then,
or just plain ol' finish it!

and then!! we will have one more Quilt for a Veteran!!


If you want Chit Chat about it - head over to https://groups.io/g/MysteryQuilts4Military  and sign up - its super easy and hopefullly we will have photos to share.

So today!!  
It is FABRIC REQUIREMENT Day!!

A PDF of the Fabric Requirements can be found here:
Winter Quilt a Long Fabric Requirements PDF

or here you go:


Winter Quilt a Long
2019
Fabric Requirements
Red: 5/8 Yard
White: 2 ¾ yard
Blue: 1 ¾ yard

Basically you are looking for TWO contrasting Darks (ie: Red and Blue) and ONE Background that will let those darks shine.
In mine I will be using Red Blue and a Light Blue – because I cannot find a white that doesn’t have prominent patterns.
If you are going scrappy – same color rules apply – you will need larger scraps – like 7 inches or more in size… the little ones need to go to the bottom of the pile to shine another day ;-)

Have Fun – Alycia

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com


Sunday, November 03, 2019

Elephant Seals

I have nothing that I can show you on my design wall... because!!! I am working on a project for the Stitch it and Gift it Blog hop hosted by https://createinthesticks.blogspot.com/  that starts on November 11th!!!! 

Instead - I will show you pictures of the Elephant Seals that we saw along the coast. We headed to Cali a few weeks ago - they were having rolling black outs - and we went to the coast... it was fun!!

Can you see them swimming in the water? There were so many of them!  and even tho they look small they are huge - Males can weigh like 3200lbs!!  No dieting for them!


The walkway that you stay on - so that you don't interrupt or get in their way - gets you pretty close to them!


Aren't they cute? If they weren't so loud I might want one....

There are three peak times of the year that have large populations of seals – January, April, and October. - we were there in October


Starting in November, adult male elephant seals start to arrive on the shore. Adult males will stake claim to female pupping areas on the beach. When another adult male challenges a pupping location, a fight for dominance ensues. Adult males will fight for mating rights from December through January. Elephant seal bulls can reach 16 feet in length and weigh up to 5,000 pounds.



Sooo cute - right?

But when then do this (below)
They are scary - 
and noisy



you can learn more about them here:
http://www.elephantseal.org/

Happy Stitching!!!

Friday, November 01, 2019

SSSSQ a Finish!! for Finished Friday!!

Happy Friday!!!

What a difference a week makes - right?  Last week we were complaining about Wind... this week - I am loving on the SNOW!!  Whoop Whoop!!

Here is my Finish for this week!!



It is the SSSSQ mystery hosted by Kevin the Quilter over this last summer!!!





and my gate.... It has snow everywhere!! can you believe it!

I Quilted Baptist Fans all over it - AND I used Quilters Dream Puff for the batting - its going to be so fluffly and warm and I can't wait to use it!!


PS - No Quilts got too snowy in this photo session... but! me trying to do this without boot prints... ahhh not so much!!  

Lets link up your awesome finishes for this week!!  ( there were 24 last week - that is so awesome! )

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Also linking to:
TGIF Friday at Slice of Pi
Can I get A whoop Whoop