My Progress-es

"Slow and steady wins the race".....that was my mantra when I was into cycling in a serious way...back in my youth. 
I'd be pedaling up Terwilliger Curves*...in my highest gear.....just repeating this over-and-over:
"Slow and steady wins the race"...."slow and steady wins the race"...."slow and steady wins the race".

Bike MS* - 2010 - Portland, OR - 55 miles - with a lot of hills!

Slowly and steadily I'm winning the race with quilting projects.

Summer Soiree:  Blocks # 1, # 2  & # 3 DONE.

 This is a pretty simple Quilt-A-Long.  Still not too late to join.  Click HERE to read all about it.
(Just this minute noticed one of my blocks are turned the wrong way.....hummmmm....to fix or not to fix, that is the question ??  Well, truth be told, I'm not that happy with this block, I will probably have a session with Jack*.)

Long Time Gone  Court House Steps DONE.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt Air Lattice and Carolina Chain:  I purchased the fabric for borders and backing for both these tops. 
I hope to get them both to the LAQ by the end of the week.

 

Salt Air Lattice, Inner Border and Outer Border & Backing

Backing for Carolina Chain

 

 

Happy Camper Wall Hanging:  I decided it was time to quilt this wall hanging and mark it DONE  After all, it's a wall hanging...how long could it take?   Well, longer than you would imagine.  

I have a new guide for my walking foot and I cannot figure out how it works! There is a curve in the bar.  Can you see it?  WHY ?

Trying to follow the bar was so frustrating.  Did NOT matter what I tried, I could not sew a straight line !!  GRRRRrrrrr!  Jack and I spent a fair amount of quality time together.....  

I finally ditched the guide and just drew the lines with a Frixion pen. It took longer, but I'm happier with the results.

 

Slowly and steadily winning the race.

*Bike MS - a fund-raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
*Terwilliger Blvd - A popular, curvy, hilly, bike route in Portland, OR
*Jack the Ripper
*Sisters on the Fly - Read about them HERE.

National Ice Cream Day!

 I Scream....You Scream---We All Scream...For ICE CREAM!

The yummy, creamy treat that most of us could eat any time!  Summer or Winter, breakfast or dessert, no matter.

To this very day my dad eats ice cream every, single night.

About 1975-ish

Even when he fell off a roof and broke both his arms, he still had his nightly ice cream!

There is a pattern in my collection: Perfect Treats

This is not my quilt....I haven't actually made this one, although I'd like to...someday. 
It was a QAL* hosted by Quilting Mod in 2019.  Click HERE.

AND, it looks like you can still get the FREE pattern!

Scoop up a big helpin and check out Quilting Mod's website for a delicious treat!.

 

*Quilt A-Long

The Secret Life of Quilters

 

 

Did you read The Secret Life of Bees (written by Sue Monk Kidd, published in 2001)?   

Well, we quilters also have a secret life.....

When we already have one or two (or three?) projects in the works and along comes a QAL (Quilt-A-Long) and you secretly join in.  

 

 

You don't want to make a big deal of it because all your quilting buddies will say ...  

 

...but you just can't help yourself, so you join secretly.

 

Pat Sloan has started the Summer Soiree QAL*. (For Facebook, Click HERE) (For the Website, Click HERE.)

My rational is this:  first, my Quilting Niece, Desiree, gave me a bundle of fat quarters during my last visit. **
Second, it's free and
third, it is one-block-per-week.  Anyone can do one-block-per-week, right? 

And IF I need one more good reason: It would be a sin to just add this beautiful fabric to my STASH, (which I am trying to sew up.)  I must DO something with it!

Cotton & Steel Basics.

 

Block # 1

 

 

It just started a week ago, so it is not too late to join! Come Along With Me.

And, now that we are in the Dog Days of Summer, you might need to put your feet up, grab a frosty drink and read a good book.  As I recall, The Secret Life of Bees was a good book.

*Quilt-A-Long

**WHY did Desiree give me this beautiful bundle of fabric (inquiring minds want to know)?  Because she loved it so much she bought two bundles.  Fast forward a few years and she's ready for something different (and I was in the right place at the right time.)

Let Freedom Ring!

One of those Freedoms is the Freedom to wander.... The long holiday weekend found me wandering up to Las Vegas to visit my nieces and nephew....one of them my quilting niece, Desiree.

Part of the wandering plan was to visit a few quilt shops along the way. 
There are very few, as it is all hot, dry desert between So. Calif and Vegas with mostly Joshua Trees and a few small towns. 

But, there are a few shops listed on the internet which made me rather excited! 
Haven't visited an actual quilt shop in nearly two years.

The Mariposa Quiltworks in Yermo, the Quilt 'n Home in Ridgefield and Gram's Treasures in Barstow....I had the presence of mind to call first.  ALL CLOSED!  Maybe there were not enough desert dwellers who quilt or maybe it was the pandemic....whatever the reason, it was disappointing and a bit sad: Another brick-and-mortar shop bites the dust.

 

 

But, No Worries....This is the perfect way to spend the Quilting Auntie Nyla's birthday weekend-- quilting with the Quilting Niece.  Auntie was there with us in Spirit.

After all our hugs and hellos, we spent the first evening gathering up and unpacking all her quilting stuff which was scattered all over; cleaning and oiling machines; getting ready to put the pedal to the medal for a few days of catching up and creating beauty.

The Quilting Niece, Dez: Nyla and Miss Ellie all set up and ready to roll.

 

BTW, Judy Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts has a great video on how to resurrect long-neglected projects. HERE

 

Next Day: After a Starbucks stop for a fancy coffee drink we made a trip to Sew Yeah Quilting for a few supplies.  A couple hundred dollars later (and not much in the pile we actually went for...) we headed home.

This shop has really grown up since my last visit about 4 years ago.  Very, very nice.  If you are in Vegas, go visit and tell them "Charlotte said 'Hi'."

While I actually did take a bin full of scraps to sort, press and cut into 2 inch squares in preparation for my next Leaders and Enders quilt, I purchased not-one-but-TWO Layer Cakes at Sew Yeah.  I just could NOT help myself.

Violet Hill

Feeline Good

 

And just like that TWO new projects are born!

  

 

 

 

What can you do with a Layer Cake? 

I found Salt Air Lattice on the Internet.
 

This is not really a free pattern, but HERE is a blog tutorial.
Apparently I missed the quilt a-long by only 9 years.

None-the-less, I've made a good start.

 

 

We sewed, we ate, we solved all the world's problems...throw in a lot of visiting with nieces, nephew, sisters, fireworks and even a water fight! So, sew, much fun!

The progress for the weekend:

Charlotte's new layer cake project.
Of course, now I must buy some
yardage to finish this lap quilt.

Desiree's resurrected UFO

 

 

 

The Quilting Niece made good progress on her UFO; only three more blocks. 
It's hard to see the sashing and corner stones, but they are there if you look close.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye and head back across the desert to home (where thankfully it is about 30 degrees cooler!). 

It was good medicine to see my family, laugh, celebrate and quilt.  Auntie Nyla would be so happy that the next generation is embracing her favorite sport.

 

Meet "Nyla"

 

        

     A little side note, Dez's Janome once belonged to the Quilting Auntie* . 
    Now she has a name.

* The "Quilting Auntie" mantle has been passed down from Auntie Nyla to me by the Vegas peeps.