CROSS STITCHED QUILT TOP

 I recently spent a week with my sister and as we usually do, there was more of my Mom's things to go through.  One was this quilt top that my Mom cross stitched.  She loved to embroider and made several of these type of quilts.  In fact, the first one that she made was our wedding quilt.

This one only lacks a small section of cross stitching.  I think she must have run out of thread, so I'll see if I have some that I can use to finish the stitching on it.  Then I'll have to decide what to do.  It is marked with quilting lines.  I really don't want to quilt it by hand and I don't especially like following lines when I quilt by machine.  Oh, the dilemma!

When I returned home, there was a package waiting for me!  I will be exchanging blocks with ShelbyStitcher and she already sent mine.  These blocks are from Bonnie Hunter's quilt, Virginia Bound in her book Scraps and Shirttails.  Next Saturday I will be participating in Bonnie's workshop in Dallas and this will give me more variety in the fabrics used.  I can't wait!

In addition, ShelbyStitcher sent me this little stretched star block for me to use as I please.  I love how the plaids look with the muslin and have always liked this pattern, but never made one.

My trip was fun, but now I'm ready to stay home for a while.  Have a wonderful weekend!

BASKET PROGRESS AND ANOTHER TRIP

I received August's baskets (12) last week and still hadn't worked on July's, so my goal was to get the 24 basket blocks prepped in order to take on a short trip this week to visit my sister.  While getting the prepping done, I also got 8 of them sewn down, so I only have 16 to take on the trip.

This is my packet of prepped blocks.  I'll put them in the baggie.  I finally remembered that I had appliqué glue on hand, so I glued these on the block and don't have to fiddle with the pins - in case I need some, I put a few pins in the little altoids tin.  But not using the pins is really nice - especially if I am working on this in the airport or airplane.  

 In the mean time, I decided to start sewing these blocks together.  This project was started when I retired in 2009 and was my "travel" project even before we got the camper.  The blocks have been finished for a while and they are going together rather fast.

Yesterday AT&T upgraded us to fiber optic internet and the technician had to put the wire through the wall into my sewing closet.  I had no idea he would have to do that, so I wasn't prepared.  I took out a bunch of stuff and the benefit is that now I can see the floor in there!  I even vacuumed it and organized some things for better access.  I still need to rearrange my shelves which are on the left side and you can't really see them.  I plan to put my CW fabric on a higher shelf and put all my plastic bins on a lower shelf so it will be easier for me to see what I have in there.

While I was in there I found some backing fabric that I had forgotten about and I didn't find some fabric that I bought to make a long CW type dress.  I have searched in this closet and in my "overflow" closet to no avail.  Well, it will have to wait until I return.

This is my first time that I will be flying standby using the discount that we get from my DS's company that he flies with.  I hope I don't have to wait too long.  But, I will have my baskets and a couple books along to keep me occupied.

WHAT DID I DO THIS WEEK?

I really did a lot of sewing this week, but I can't show it to you because it was on a secret project.  If you want to see it you will have to go here.   

Last year, when we were in New Hampshire, I went to Keepsake Quilting and bought a charm pack of purple squares.  Then, I didn't know what I was going to do with them.  A couple months ago Pat Sloan issued a challenge for using HSTs.  The lightbulb went on and while we were on our trip to Oregon, I made HSTs with the purple. I'm going to make a table runner out of these.

Monday night was my quilters' guild meeting and I won a door prize!  I won 2 yards of this cute flannel fabric.  I wonder what I'll do with it?

Besides working on my secret project, I got started on my little basket BOM blocks.  I am a month behind, so I have 24 little baskets to appliqué!  I also made more strip blocks for a donation quilt.  But, the secret project was my main concern and I feel better now.  If you need permission to visit my secret project blog, let me know and I will send you an invitation.

Thanks for visiting!

NEW PILLOWCASES

When in Oregon, my GD and I went to a quilt shop going out of business and as we were looking through the fat quarters, my GD saw this Old Glory panel, so I bought it.  I decided to make it into a pillow case along with two other pillowcases that I made for our king size bed.  The Old Glory pillow goes between the other two.

The other two pillowcases have five sawtooth stars and a piano key border.

I got the idea for the pillowcases somewhere and don't remember where, but I loved them, especially since the sawtooth stars in CW reproduction are my favorite blocks!

The quilt on our bed is big enough to tuck the pillows in, which we had been doing because my old pillowcases didn't match and were in pretty sad shape.  I realized that I needed new pillowcases, so just decided to take the time and make them.  Besides, I already had the stars made!  Now, we can just put the pillows on top if we want to.  

VIRGINIA BOUND WITH BONNIE HUNTER!

Next month I will be in a workshop with Bonnie Hunter!!!  So, I ordered the book and today I decided to get a head start on some blocks.

Upon reading the instructions, Bonnie said to print out the foundation piecing template on tracing paper. It just so happens that I had a couple partially used tablets of tracing paper that I had bought at garage sales.

Here's my first block!  I used about 12 different strips from mens' shirts for one block (actually it's 1/4 of a block).

Here's a complete block set out on the floor.  I think I better cut up some more shirts because with using about 12 different strips per block, and not wanting the same fabric ending up next to itself, you need to use lots of different shirts.  I have a lot more, but I was anxious to get started and didn't cut strips from all the shirts that I have.

I am going to trade some blocks with this blogger so we'll both have more variety of fabrics.

This week I reached a milestone in my life.  It was my birthday on Wednesday.  My 70th birthday!  I can't believe I'm that old!!  I got a call from my DGD Abby who is 4 years old wishing me a Happy Birthday.  She said that she was sending me a bracelet for my birthday that she made herself!  Here's the bracelet!  Isn't it pretty?  I also received calls from my other sons, cards, and pictures from Jonah and Eli.  All the love sent my way was wonderful!

HOME AT LAST

There are several things that I like about returning to Texas and the picture below is one of them.  Lower gas prices!!!  The price is higher near where we live, but still lower than most of the states we traveled in.  The picture was taken in Amarillo, TX.

Of course, I like it that we are getting closer to home and really like it when I see green grass instead of the usual brown grass this time of year.  Apparently, there was rain during our absence!  But, the big negative is the heat!  It will be 100° or more for the next week.  We will be staying inside as much as possible for sure.

Here are a few other things that I worked on while in Oregon.  I made about 30 of these 4" sawtooth stars which I am going to put on some pillowcases for our bed.

Then I used some of the leftover blue from my little baskets to make these 9-patches - about 23 of them.  I think I'll make a double 9-patch table runner or something with them.

One of my latest projects is knitting dish cloths.  They are so easy to make and I can work on them in the truck.

Here is my stack of little basket blocks, which I have shown you every month, but here they are all stacked up.  I had another months' fabric in the mail when I got home, so I need to get them prepped.

I'm trying to get all my stuff organized from the trip and have several important projects to get busy on, but need to clean house too.  Oh!  for more hours in the day!  What are you doing to stay cool and busy this summer?

Thanks for all the sweet comments.  I try to reply to them, but don't always get to them before I start getting more comments!