Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart

 

 

 

It is time to stop and Give Thanks.

 

 

I'm pondering this past year, that has flown by so quickly, and I am reminded how blessed I am.  
All-in-all, it has been a good year. I'm healthy and I have all I need for life and happiness.  

 

 

Considering I didn't sew even ONE stitch on either of last month's projects....I'm not even kidding.... I seriously considered just giving up on the UFO lists for this year and regroup in 2026.   But, I decided to plug on ahead.  I still have two months and now that the weather is turning cold, thus staying indoors more, I think I can make some progress.

The APQ  UFO Number is 3  and the
River's Edge UFO Letter is "J" 

APQ's:  November's number is 3.  Stirling's Applique Car quilt, Road Trip.  This was originally on the list for April...
click HERE.   I had to go back and see why it didn't get finished then...oh, that's right...a Tornado and a case of hives....that'll put a crimp in anyone's plans.

 It actually looks like fun and I like applique.  Imagine Sterling's face when he sees it!

 

 

 

I'm going to get all the fabric together TODAY! 
Picking fabric is the hardest part for me. 

 

River's Edge:  November's Letter is "J" .  Summer Soiree, a Quilt-Along by Pat Sloan.  As UFOs go, this one is not too old...started in 2021. (It has come up on a UFO list only 4 times....hardly even worth calling a UFO.)

This could be an easy finish...I just need two blocks, then assemble.  AND, it would be a good project to try QAYG*.   Remember Pauline Rogers from Australia?  Remember I paid good money to buy her whole QAYG kit?  

NOW is the time and THIS is the project!! 

  

 

 

All my fabrics are ready to go.  There are four projects on this table....Let's dive in!!!

 

 

*QAYG = Quilt As You Go 

Gearing Up and Setting Goals

 

 

 

 

Here we are, the end of August and
dare I even think it

 

 

I must admit, however,
I don't have any big quilting plans
that must be finished by Christmas this year.

 

 

That's not to say things are not gearing up for a busy time in the next month or so:

*Labor Day weekend I'm traveling to Little Rock, AR to visit a long-time friend, Annette.
        Annette and I go way back to Portland days when our children were very young.

      *I'm hoping this trip will include a few Quilt Shop stops.  According to the internet,
        there are a few shops in the Little Rock area.

*The daughter is coming for a visit with her main squeeze the week after I return.

*An annual software conference happens later in September in Lincoln, NE.
        *This will include a visit with my college roomie, Cori and her D.H.

*Then it is off to Calif to visit The Babes for two whole weeks!!
         While I do NOT miss Calif in any way, I desperately miss the people left behind.
          I cannot wait to see them.

 

I've already called Faith, my Calif LAQ to see if I can get on her list.  The plan is to take one top and the Quilting Auntie memorial wall hanging to Calif with me and have Faith quilt them while I'm there.  There are LAQs here in the area, most certainly, I just have not searched them out yet.

UPDATE:  From the time I started this post to today my plan was to have created more blocks for Pat Sloan Summer Soiree QAL that I started in June, 2021, assemble it and get it ready for Faith to quilt while I'm in Calif.

I got all the fabric out and started to cut fabric to make three more blocks.

 

But, life happened...my dad fell and broke his shoulder....my days and nights have been spent at the hospital. 
Now I do not know what will actually get done, or when....we will see.

Designing Women

 

If you are not old enough to remember Designing Women, a weekly TV show from the early 1980's or if you ARE old enough but never watched the show....there are some episodes out there on the net. Funny, funny, funny.  If you need a good laugh....and they're clean.

The previous post about Remembering fired me up to take inventory of all the Row-by-Row row kits, patterns and license plates in my UFO stack.  The good news, not as many as I thought.  I don't feel so bad.  It was kind of fun going through all the patterns and license plates and Remembering all the shops. (A moment of silence for the 10 shops (out of 25) that are permanently closed.)

Next step....decide what to do with the kits and the plates. I found a nice design on Pinterest that uses the plates.

The Quilting Auntie and I zooming off on another quilt adventure.

So, now fire up EQ8* to make a quick design to determine how big to make the center and how much sashing fabric I'll need.  (Center 25" x 25".  Finished quilt 45" x 45"...unless I make changes along the way, as we Designing Women tend to do.) 
So far, still no trip to any Quilt Shop.

Finally, start arranging the pieces on the design wall....except both my design walls are already spoken for. 

As long as it is on the design wall I can pretend I'm actually making progress.

Long Time Gone
by Jen Kingwell
MUST get back to this.

Summer Soiree
Pat Sloan's Summer Sew Along 2021

Another design wall goes up in the hall outside the studio.

 

I'm liking it already.

Now there are three projects on three design walls....It's time for this Designing Woman to commence sewing!

 

*Electric Quilt 8

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.

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.)