Saturday, June 30, 2018

UFO Busting #26


This will probably be one of the very few not upbeat posts you will find on my blog ever, so let me apologize first.  Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you have to re-evaluate things, whether you want to or not.  That's me right now today.  Absolutely nothing quilting related happened this week, unless you count straightening up the sewing space and filing away fabrics.

I did, however, start to work on a very important UFO, one that will remain a UFO until the day I die and that is me.  I am probably my most neglected UFO.  We will always be our most important UFO and we can't forget that.  I had forgotten that.  We don't realize how we feel about ourselves can actually bleed off onto other people and they may not perceive/interpret things as you do.  There are no magic crystal balls into other people.  So this week, I shook off the cobwebs, picked up my boot straps and started doing just that.

It's hard to admit that you are unhappy with your body.  It's easy to have confidence sitting here at this computer...you can't see me.  There's nothing wrong with me per se, I look just fine.  Maybe I could say I could be healthier.  So this week, I have focused solely on what I've put into my body and started cleaning the spaces around me to remove the clutter.  I have to say, I feel slightly better.  It will be a process and a challenging one at that, but in the end it will be worth it.

After a week of cutting the carbs to pretty much zero and focusing on good fats and protein, I can start to feel and see a difference.  Don't get me wrong, I'd probably wrestle you to the ground right now for a Reese Cup, but I'm choosing not to.  I will however give you sad eyes while you eat it and don't be alarmed if I try to sniff it or possibly lick it.  I'm told the sugar withdrawal will pass.

I hope to return to my upbeat self soon, but for now, this is where I'm at, and that is okay.  We can't be Suzie Sunshine 24/7.  However, there are things to look forward to.  Tomorrow I will release the next set of piecing instructions for the Fireburst Mystery QAL.  I can't wait to see the progress you guys are making!

So let's take a look at what you guys were up to last week.  Last week Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilty Life had a project finish.


She calls this one Sunshine and Shadows.  With all rain around where I live seeing this lovely burst of yellow sun shine was a wonderful welcome.

I want to give a huge pat on the back to Janice at Color, Creating and Quilting.  She is determined to hone in on her free motion quilting skills.

Last week she shared a new quilting motif she has been practicing and the progress she is making on quilting Ashley's quilt.  Make sure you hope over to her page and give her some encouragement.  She is doing great!

So what have you been up to this week.  I hope there was more quilting in your life than mine.  Link up below and tell us all about it.



Saturday, June 23, 2018

UFO Busting #25


Only one more week and we will be officially half way through this year...how is that even possible?  How are you holding up?  Hopefully, we are making some progress on something, new or old.  This week I'm still chugging right along, floating from project to project like a good worker bee collecting pollen.  I've got things in all stages growing over here.


Let's start with a finish.  This week I posted about finishing the Mini Wayward Transparency Quilt, which I am happy to report was mailed and should have been delivered yesterday.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Mini Wayward Transparency


I do believe this little mini quilt qualifies as a squirrel, if ever one did.  About a month ago, I seriously decided to drop everything and make this quilt...DrEAMi?  While standing in line for a steak hoagie (glamourous right?), I ran into a girl I graduated high school with.  She and her daughter had been to the quilt show and she was telling me that her daughter fell in love with the blue quilt I had entered.  They were walking around picking which quilts they were going to vote for in the people's choice category and her daughter stopped when she spied my version of Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl's Wayward Transparency Quilt and said that that was her quilt.  When she read the tag she realized it was my quilt.  I thanked her for sharing that story with me it truly made me smile.

Friday, June 15, 2018

UFO Busting #24


This week, I busted a not my UFO.


I quilted and put the finishing touches on David's birthstone challenge project, Alexandrite and Pearls.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Alexandrite and Pearls


I'm not sure where to start because I'm so in love with this little 16" mini quilt.  Let's start with technically, it is not my quilt...legally only half mine.  Sorry, bad joke.  This little quilt is the brain child of my husband, Dave the Quilt Engineer and will be his entry in our guild's Birthstone Challenge.

When the challenge was issued, he decided to go with one of the designs from his sketch book.  The birthstone(s) for the month of June is Pearls and the more modern Alexandrite in beautiful purples and turquoise.  When he showed me the fabrics he had picked out, I knew no matter what he created it was going to be beautiful!  Plus there was a bit of jealousy because all I had to work with was reddish brown on mine.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

S.S. Playtime Plus-Quilt Top


It's finally pieced, my Super Sexy/Sophisticated Adult Playtime Plus quilt top!  I'm so in love with her.  She is everything I imagined and more.  Once I started piecing I just couldn't stop, but I made myself wait to share it with you.

Monday, June 11, 2018

Stashing and Crushing


I realized this weekend it has been quite some time since I've had a stash report or have been crushing on a project.  Honestly, the good ol' fabric stash hasn't been growing much.  Extra fabric is extra distractions.  But on Mother's Day, my husband decided to get me some mums.  My favorite it kind...the ones I don't have to water or care for, Dear Mum by Robin Pickens for Moda Fabric.

I must admit, I had never ran across this fabric line until I opened the bag.  Lots of fun bright prints and I fell hard for that black with gray and white speckles on it.  I have an idea in mind using a Moda Bake Shop pattern, but alas, it will have to wait a while.  Thank goodness these mums won't die!

Saturday, June 9, 2018

UFO Busting #23


It's a crazy weekend this week as my daughter just returned from camp yesterday.  Today we are washing clothes and getting ready to send her off to another week of camp tomorrow.  My head is spinning and UFO's are buzzing around almost ready to be busted.

I am so close to a few finishes it's not funny.  One is a current me project, a helping David project and another has turned into a UFO.


The mini Wayward Transparency Quilt is quilted!  Who would have thought I could jam so much thread in such a tiny little space?  I'll give it it's own post once it is bound and delivered.  I can't wait to surprise the recipient with it.

Friday, June 8, 2018

2018 Aurifil Artisan-What It Means To Me


If you have been following me for any amount of time, it is probably no surprise to you that I love Aurifil thread.  I have been using Aurifil's thread for around four years now.  At the time I was searching for a thread that worked well in my machines and after trying several different brands, I was hooked on Aurifil.  What can I say, I like my thread like I like my bedsheets...Egyptian Cotton.
I think it's safe to say I own a few spools and I'm pretty sure this isn't all of it.  Actually, this picture cracks me up, because I remember when I first started my quilting journey.  I can be quoted as saying, "I'm a quilt piecer.  I will never quilt my quilts because I am in love with the piecing process."  Let me translate what that really means, knowing what I know now.  It means-I am sacred.  Quilting looks hard and I have no idea how to do it so I'm just going to make quilt tops.  Sound familiar to anyone? 

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

2018 Strawberry Festival Quilt Show


I posted this picture on Mother's Day of my quilts hanging out on the line.  I was preparing my and David's quilt entries for our local quilt show the following week.  I spritzed them with water and let them flap in the breeze, giving them a nice fresh laundered smell.  Plus it helped ease any creases in the quilts.

I always have mixed feelings about entering quilts in a show that is judged.  For each quilt I make and finish a small part of me lives in it forever and opening up yourself for judgement is a vulnerable thing.  Especially when you are competing against a group of quilters that you are close to and respect dearly.  But quilt shows must have quilts, so I put those feelings of inadequacy and fear behind me and prepared my entries.

Friday, June 1, 2018

UFO Busting #22


Welcome back for week 22 of UFO Busting.  It just occurred to me, if you are a super human quilter, you could potentially have finished 22 UFO's this year if you finished one a week...yeah, that's not me either.  But if you have, I want to be your new best friend and learn your secrets.

This week I'm not working on anything super old, more the work in progress category.  I've pieced the mini Wayward Transparency Quilt and quilting has began.  When I contacted the mom of the girl this will be for, she told me her favorite colors are teal, turquoise and pink.  I went with teal fabrics for the quilt and decided to sneak the other colors in when I quilted it.


I happen to have four spools of Aurifil thread that would work perfectly.  Luckily for me, I didn't toss my original quilting plan when I quilted the larger version.


I'm finding I have to alter my original plan slightly as I go, but I'm staying as true as I can to the first one.

Other news on the quilting front, I'm trading quilting services with my husband.  We made a deal, he would piece the wedding blocks into a quilt top for me, if I would quilt a commissioned quilt for him.

My top is nice and finished and...
I have super high hopes of getting this all quilted up for him this weekend.  I didn't grab a picture but I have a 1/4 of it finished already.  It will have to be a surprise which thread made the cut.

If you are participating in the Fireburst Mystery Quilt, the first set of piecing instructions were released yesterday.  If you'd like to join us, you can find everything you want to know about it here on my landing page.

So what were you guys up to last week?  Well, Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life was celebrating a finish and I'm in love!


Those fabrics!  I LOVE the Dixie by Cluck Cluck Sew and used it on my Star Blossoms Quilt.  I was drooling all over my key board as I read her post and then she scared me by saying, "let's cut it, shall we??"  What???  I thought, Wendy, put the scissors down!  Man, I'm glad she didn't because she created the BEST mat for her outdoor umbrella table.  Now I want one!  Well, I'll have to get a table first, but maybe if I make one, the table will come.  Make sure you pop over there and read more about it and how she turned a simple mini quilt into the perfect table cover.

So what have you been up to this week?  Link up below and tell us all about it.








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