WHAT I WORKED ON THIS WEEK

After quilting about 2/3 of my quilt last week, I needed a break from quilting and needed to do some mindless piecing.  I think a lot of us enjoy piecing because it is easy and we can get something accomplished.  Quilting is harder and for me it isn't as much fun.  I also was trying to fight off a sinus infection, so I wanted to take it easier.

This  is a kit I won a few months ago and blogged about here.  The top is now finished.

This is my leader/ender project - Ohio star blocks made from a couple mens' shirts!  This will be a donation quilt when finished.

A couple years ago I received some FQs from Leanne in Tasmania in exchange for some fabric I sent to her.  I have been wanting to make a lap quilt with it for a long time.  Finally, I got a top made out of the fabric.  I love the variety of fabric from florals and birds to depictions of artifacts.

Now, I am back to quilting my Kaleidoscope quilt.  I want to finish it by sometime next week.

I hope you enjoy the weekend and will remember the heroes of our country.

FMQ CHALLENGE FOR MAY, ETC.

Here is my FMQ challenge for May.  The tutorial was by  Leah Day  who has been putting FMQ tutorials on her blog for over a year.  Her tutorial was very good with lots of information on how to do it.  The patterns were quite easy for me and fun to do.  The one with straight lines didn't come out as good as the one with curved lines.

Leah Day also sells things on her web site and I have purchased some items from her.  Her prices are very reasonable and I was happy with my purchases.

I was able to get most of the superhero capes made - I just need to put velcro on them.  I have been trying to figure out a way to make Jonah's cape special and I think I will put some lightning bolts going down the sides of it.  The capes are reversible, so the boys' will have batman on one side and superman on the other side.  The girls' cape will have a princess crown on one side and batgirl on the other side.

After getting most of the capes almost finished, I needed to work on something else for a while, so I decided to start quilting my Kaleidoscope quilt.  I didn't know what to do, but after thinking about it and looking in some quilting books, I decided to quilt the circles with large "flower" petal shapes and then quilt some feathers in the corners.

I'm happy with the way it is turning out.  I'm not sure how I will quilt the border - maybe echo quilting around the flowers.

If you have any suggestions, let me know.

We're very thankful that DS has safely returned from the middle east yesterday.  We'll see him when we go to Jonah's birthday party!!

A QUIET MOTHER'S DAY

Both DH and I are sick, so our Mother's Day was very quiet.  Since all of our kids do not live nearby, we didn't see them, but I did speak to all of them on the phone.

Below is a picture of our sons on the day our youngest was born 39 1/2 years ago.  Now, our youngest is a Major in the US Air Force and will be returning from the middle east soon.  Our middle son (on the left in the picture, is the one who just graduated from nursing school, and our oldest (on the right) is a pilot for Federal Express.  They are all wonderful and I'm very proud of each one of them.

My Three Sons on 12/1/1972

DS#1 sent me this gorgeous bouquet for Mother's Day!

I have laryngitis and can't really talk at all right now, but I don't feel too bad, so I have an assembly line going on here to make superhero capes for Jonah's birthday party.  The capes will be reversible with Superman on one side and Batman on the other.  For girls there will  be a pink "princess" cape on one side and a Batgirl cape on the reverse.

Batgirl cape

Superman

Princess cape

Stack of completed appliqued capes

Stacks of Superman capes in various stages of applique.

Once I get all the applique finished I can put the two sides together.  I need more black fabric before I can finish, so I guess a trip to JoAnn's will be in order.  I have some coupons in my purse already.

AN EARLY MOTHER'S DAY

Yesterday was our last day with our DS, DIL & Abby!  Boo Hoo!  I was surprised with an early Mother's Day gift.  I received this darling flower pot (like a large tea cup) and some plants for it.  It is so pretty!  We are camping tonight and will be home tomorrow, so I brought it into the camper from the truck so we could enjoy it tonight.

We also went to the beach for a while yesterday so we could at least get our feet wet and walk in the sand a little.  It started raining, so we didn't stay long.

Abby having a snack.

DS & Abby getting feet wet.

Our son graduated with an Associates degree in Science in the nursing program.  He actually still has 6 weeks of classes to finish up because the nursing program is on a slightly different schedule than the regular college semester.  Then he will have to take the state board test to become a Registered Nurse and he has a job lined up where he has been working as a nurse intern.  We are very proud of him!

Last October, my quilting guild had a "Trash to Treasure" program.  You could bring a UFO that you didn't think you would ever finish and trade it for someone else's UFO.  It is lots of fun!  I don't remember what I took in, but I got a BOM that someone had almost finished.  There were only 3 more blocks to make and the other 9 were in the bag.  So, I decided to bring the last three on this trip in case I had a little time to finish them.  It didn't take long and here they are.  I think I'll probably make it up as a donation quilt, or maybe I will recycle it in this October's "Trash to Treasure" program.  We can turn a UFO in that we received if we do something to make a little progress on the project.  I guess it will depend on how busy I am with other things.

While it's hard to leave our family, it will be good to get home again.  We'll be seeing them again in August.

ABIGAIL LOVES CAMPER!

Abigail loves the camper too!  She wants to visit every day and every time she comes over she wants to make the Noah's Ark puzzle.  I got this puzzle at a garage sale years ago for my older 2 GC and now it is perfect for her and Jonah.  It has an animal for each letter of the alphabet.

She has a fascination with washing her hands in the camper for some reason!  Every 10-15 min. or so, she wants to wash her hands.  I guess that's not a bad thing.  We can nickname her "Miss Monk."

Some more piecing going on.  This time I'm piecing blocks for my Scrappity-Do-Dah quilt that I started when I first retired over 2 years ago.  It has pretty much been a strictly travel project and now I have all 460 blocks ready to put together!

Below are piles of sets of 2 blocks sewn together.  I have also sewn all of these into 4-patch blocks and will probably work on these at the house at some future time.

I bought this piece of fabric at a thrift shop in Arkansas - about 2 yards for $4.  I will probably use it in a donation quilt or something for the boys.

This morning my DIL and I are going to a couple thrift shops after we drop Abby off at Mother's Day Out.

Have a great day!

SEWING IN THE CAMPER

Just a short post with a couple pictures.  I have been doing some sewing in the camper this week as I get up at about 5:00 each morning (don't ask me why because I don't know).  I brought a box with some log cabin block fabric cut and I made 20 of them.  I will have to get more logs cut in order to make more.  I'm not sure how big I am going to make it, or how many I have made already, but at this point it is a travel project.  I like to bring easy sewing projects that I can work on in the mornings.

Today is DS's graduation - a associate degree in nursing!  He is very excited about it and has a job lined up.