Po tah to - Po tot o - Potato Chips or the Whole Potato?????

There has been a trend that I have been seeing  - on blogs and socials... about the Potato Chip Block!!

I've seen it before, but this time - I paid attention - and I love them and I have scraps, and I have made a goal to clean up the piles around my sewing machine before adding to them.

So the Potato Chip block seemed like a way to go with my 2 1/2 inch scraps sitting on a paper plate.... 

until....  I realized I didn't want to cut the pieces into the little ones - I wanted to use the WHOLE potato!!

So I did - sort of!! Some of my scraps were squares, and some were strips - so I started with the smallest pieces to make the center.  Then worked the lights in - I had so many scraps I Didn't even need to CUT any!!!   Crazy....

I did trim tho - at each round - just in case!!!

The blocks were growing....

The men took over the Turkey cooking, and the pie making, and so I could keep stitching.....

and I Finished all the blocks!!! Whoo hoo... But wait? Is there still fabric left on that plate? There is!! *sigh*  However NONE of it is Red or Blue any more!!! 

I am going to call that a win!  But I also have figured out why those piles don't shrink!!! Scraps make scraps , and Alycia has a Piling problem......

off to tackle another pile..... ( there is plaid in that pile tho... so its good!)

Don't forget to mark your calendars this year for Finished (or not) Fridays on this blog!! Come brag about your week - show us what you are up to!!

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Motorcycles, Eagles and!!! Finished ( or not) Friday!!!

 Happy Last Finished (or not) Friday in 2024... Weird!!! I think I actually just got used to using the 2024 date - and now... oh my poor brain haha!

This is my latest Finish - It was a fun one actually!! the panel - well, I purchased it a few years ago ( okay I bought 10 - so I have more to make!)   The blocks - the quilters that attend the Sew Downtown Saturday club made - and I put the top together.

I might have carried the Motorcycle theme a Little too far - I blame all the Christmas Cookies that came my way.... But!! I quilted Motorcycles into it!!!  - After all - It is going to a Veteran who rides Motorcycles...... we shall see if I took it too far haha!

I did not do a good job at my personal Statistics this year. But I will be honest - It was a year of starting over. Taking care of my parents while they were sick surprisingly deflated me. I guess I didn't realize how much. And the things that come with it, and the family things, and my kids moving all over... 

I think Quilting was a sanity - and since I am bad at statistics anyway - that fell to the wayside. Who knows I may go read my own blog and see what I come up with. 

Here is what I do know - I quilted 25 Quilts of Valor this year - Yay!! my goal is always 20 - but I get pretty excited when I pass it.  I am not sure I made a dent in my stash fabrics - I think it grew - even though I did not buy much this year. I think 1 FQ pack, and 2 Layer cakes. 

The layers cakes were dinosaur fabric tho - I am forgiven ( I have a son that is an Archeologist and he loves my quilts - so this one will be created in 2025 )

Just thought I would share my view - we have not had snow since the beginning of November - I am starting to get a bit concerned - although - I do love that we can still hike all over.  

Check out my dogs!! I am walking them both - all by myself, and!!! They are being so nice to each other. As of Christmas day - They do not have to be muzzled to be together ( yay!!)

I am so happy - it has taken a LOT of work to get to this point, but it is only going to get better!! I can feel it!

And from my morning hikes - Just love watching the sun come up. And now - I am actually ready for some snow. Boy - didn't I ramble on - that sugar from Christmas must still be working!! haha!

It has come to the point in the show for!!!

FINISHED ( OR NOT) Friday!!!!!!  Share away!! and share the linky!! I would love to have a full lid of links to check out each week - Blogging is still my favorite way to see things!!

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A Quilt Presentation

Nothing makes my heart happier than starting my Saturday Morning with these amazing veterans !

There were 178 vets present , and I have to say - hearing and watching them all say the pledge , followed by an amazing woman singing the national anthem - just set the tone for the day .

11 veterans honored today with a Quilt of Valor - one is 100 years old , one served in USS Midway and the USS Ticonderoga . And all of them are amazing, and have incredible stories .

its always fun to see them turned both directions - but its even funnier when I ask them to turn around - they all get a little nervous. maybe they were hazed a bit as newbies in the Branch of Military they served in??

This is ( I am pretty positive) My last presentation for 2024 - our group awarded 215 Quilts of Valor this year, we shared 49 with the QOV backlog, and we shared 20 with one of our other QOV groups in Colorado. I am proud of us!!

Its different not being the State Coordinator - I don't have as many Quilts to keep track of, but this still seems like a good number!! We had fun, we enjoyed stitching together - and - they keep me even though I goof off!!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

I will see you on the 27th for Finished ( or not) Friday!!!!

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The last of the Jelly Roll Rails... and !! Finished ( or not) Friday

 

This is the last of the Jelly Roll Quilts that I have quilted to date!!!!  I think One or two more tops got turned in at our sew day - so I will get to those - but!!! My goal was to get every top that was turned in to me quilted before our last sew day!! ( I won!!)

This one was made by the amazing Connie!!

Then at our sew day - As many of them that showed up got in a group pic!!!

We made 25 I think - so this is a pretty good turn out!!!

I did not quilt all of them - we have some amazing Quilters in our group and they quilted theirs and a few other - TEAM work!!!

Isn't that fun tho!!!!

And that leads us into !!!

YOU!!!

Link up your amazing finishes and let us see what you have been up to!!!

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A Nautical Jelly Roll Rail QOV

 This one was made by Deb - Deb had this Jelly Roll in her stash - so she stitched it up!!

I loved the fabrics and it seemed so Nautical to me that I quilted Anchors on it!!! It turned out super cute.  I know a LOT of Navy Veterans - so I know this will find a great Veteran to wrap!!

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Another Jelly Roll Rail

 This beauty was made by Liz!!!!

It is really fun to see how each of these Jelly roll Quilts turn out - every one had a different roll!!!

I had fun quilting this one - it added such texture to it!  Be ware - there are more to come!!!

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Blocks, a Motorcycle top, and ... the dreaded .... Piles

 We are doing a little block drive with the Diamond chain blocks - Jan gave these to me at our last guild meeting:

Aren't they cool? My personal goal was to make 80 of them out of my plaids... I am sure that I can - but!! So far I am only up to 40... I see some stitching in my future! ( not really a sad thing right?)

I have  QOV presentation coming up for some Motorcycle Veterans - and so I put together another Motorcycle Top... I need to QUILT it now!!! Get moving on that! 

The cool thing is - it is about time for my projects. I have just finished the last *MUST GET DONE* client quilt for the Christmas rush - and YAY!! Its all about me now!

and check out these piles.... they must be tackled - I bet there is a Quilt or Two in there ( sigh)

Okay - its really all about me, but I pretend every so often that its about someone else 😊😂

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Another Jelly Roll Rail Fence and!!! Finished ( or not) Friday

Happy Friday!!!!

We have a sew day coming up and my goal was to get all the Tops turned into me quilted - really so I could give them back to the piecer to bind, but!! also - I wanted to get a group pic when we are all together!!!

So this top was pieced by Deb T 

I like the way she sorted the colors in the Jelly Roll - to me it almost looks Plaid like... and you ALL know how I feel about plaids.

here is the link to the FREE pattern  Jelly Roll Rail Fence

Don't you think it has a plaid Vibe going on?  Or maybe I just see Plaid in everything.. my eyes could be broken!!

Also - I read a book:

I got it on Amazon Prime on the Kindle thing - it was free... don't know if it still is - but its a pretty good one  Here's the book review on good reads - I concur!!

A wronged wife goes toe to toe with her cheating husband at the polls in this hilarious and heart-lifting novel by the bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write.

It’s a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What’s a DC suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be ex, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the louse at his own game, that’s what.

Alright!!! Show me what you have been up to!!! 

*Please Provide the Direct Link

* also share away on your blog - the more the merrier to the party!!

*Visit lots - increase your bucket list and enjoy!!

PS - do you have a favorite FREE QOV pattern that you have used? I need to cut some quilt kits so am searching ;-)

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Jelly Roll Rail fence QOV

 Remember way back in September when I did a prototype for a Jelly Roll Rail Fence QUilt - for our Sew day?  and it turned out?

Well!! I got Jelly Rolls for all the quilters in my group, and we had a day of it!!!

It was so fun to see how all the Jelly rolls looked different - and now - I am quilting some of them!!

This one was Pieced by Cindy S - and funny enough - she doesn't live all that far from me!!!

The free pattern can be found here: Jelly Roll Rail Fence - its pretty easy - 1 jelly roll and 2 yards ( I think) of the background fabric!! and Voila!!!

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The Botanical Gardens

 For Thanksgiving we headed back east, and one of the days we had free we visited the Botanical Gardens. Highly Recommend!!!

They had it set up for Christmas - and there were poinsettias all over - so very pretty.

I already forgot for sure where this one was - But I think it is outside of the International Spy Museum - don't hold me to that - I just thought the reflections were so cool!!!

There was hardly anyone outside - later we learned they all thought it was too cold. But DC gets super cold - so I am guessing that they were just working... 

Inside the Botanical Gardens - this is the Library of Congress. It is made out of all plant material. Super cool. They had replicas of almost every momument.

The Lincoln Memorial

Check out this detail - Lincoln is Actually in it!!!!

Of course I focused on the eagle - he is all plant!!!

One of the displays was all about gardening and making a sustainable system. I was intrigued

And The Capitol - that one was huge!!!

We also went to the Modern Art Museum. For some reason that one WAS crowded, so no photos, and I didn't trip anyone or run out screaming - we call that a win!!

On our flight out - I wore that Turkey sweatshirt - I got stopped SO MANY TIMES!!! Even the pilot on the first leg of the flight came out to tell me he needed one. It was quite funny. I am not a very *Peopley*person, so I think it helped that I made people smile......

My other one is the Kindness shirt - Do you know how many people on the street and in the Museum saw it, smiled and a lot of them said thank you for the reminder. Made me remember to be nice too ;-)

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