Side Tracked-I'm not shocked

I'm officially side tracked, but it's okay.  I can work on new stuff and still get old stuff finished too, right?  I've been so far behind in blogland and reading lately, it's not funny.  I'm slowly but surely catching up.  One of the catching up was reading Bernie at Needle and Foot's call for making doll quilts for what she was calling Spread the Love, Quilting For Kids.  I was moved as I read Bernie's words about Amy and her venture called A Doll Like Me.  Bernie was asking quilters during the month of February to make doll quilts to send to Amy.  The out pour from the quilting community did not surprise me one bit.  I love how the quilting community came together to make quilts to send to this wonderful cause.  

I figure it's never too late, right?  My goal is to go into doll quilt making mode, but for three reasons.  One, I want to make quilts to send to Amy.  I also intend on telling my quilt guild about the project, incase some of them might want to join in.  Two, make doll quilts for our guild's upcoming boutique.  We are trying to focus on smaller quilted items to have for sell.  There has been much talk about fabric post cards, but doll quilts seem like a logical item too.  Plus they can pass as wall hangings and table toppers.  Three, quilting practice.  What a great way to practice free motion quilting!  I have a few designs I would like to play around with, so some of my doll quilts might be whole cloth style.

So the past few days, I have been chasing these squirrels.  I've gathered some fabrics and pieced up two quilts.

I will probably make a few more of this one.  The pattern is called Scrap Squares and it is in the 101 Fabulous Small Quilts book.  All you need are some charms and little yardage and you are good to go.

I found this doll quilt pattern while surfing around on Pinterest.  It is a free pattern by Lindsay at PA Country Crafts called Star Doll Quilt.  Both of these quilts cut and pieced very quickly.

I even have fabric pulled for the next three quilts.  I'm not 100% sure what patterns I will use, but simple is good.  I will wait till I have several pieced before I quilt them.  Some quilts will no doubt receive custom quilting jobs and the others simple all over designs.

I also wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to sign up for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  If you are new to quilt blogging and haven't signed up go read this post now!  If you are a well seasoned blogger mark your calendars for the first two weekends in April and May and join us in fun giveaways and hopping around getting to know new quilt bloggers.  I know I can't wait for the party to begin.

Today I'm linking up with Midweek Makers.

2nd Christmas UFO and a Squirrel

I promise I'm not talking about alien rodents, though that would be pretty cool too.  I'm actually talking about two quilty finishes I pulled off this week, just in time for Christmas.  The first is a UFO from 2015.  December two years ago, I wrote a tutorial for Americana Flags.  A perfect quick gift for your patriotic loved ones.

I ended up piecing a total of six different flags.  Three were finished and gifted that year, the other three managed to hide in my backroom, until two weekends ago.  All of them had been basted and stitched in the ditch.  How had I completely forgot about them??  I decided to pull one out and quilt it up.  It will be a perfect gift for my neighbor and I'm super excited to deliver it to her tomorrow.

I chose simple straight lines in the cream/white stripes of the flag, but had a bit of fun stitching some slightly wonky/whimsical stars in the red stripes.  These stars are super simple to stitch and would look great in sashing or borders.

My second finish, even surprised me.  I had purchased a pretty set of casserole dishes for a family member and was scratching my head what I could add to it.  The answer didn't come as quickly as you would think it should have...

hot pads!  As soon as the idea hit, I had to drop what I was doing and stitch them up.  I ended up using a tutorial for large hot pats at Auntie Em's Crafts. (Beth at Cooking Up Quilts also has a great tutorial too) I went with fun bright colors that could go with these Pioneer Woman dishes.  Hopefully, the recipient will love them as much as I do.  Don't you hate when you put something together and you really want to keep it?


Now back to the flag.

As my Christmas gift to you, let's talk about stitching those stars and how simple it is.  This motif could be stitched with a walking foot, free motion with rulers or free motion without rulers.  You start off by stitching little mountains or V's across the space (for me left to right) then finish making your star points on your return back to where you started.  You can follow in the diagram below.

Here's a quick video from Instagram of me stitching them out.

Quilting the stars. Sorry for the bit of squeakiness. ✨#hqsweetsixteen #rulerwork #freemotionquilting #aurifilthread

A post shared by Laticia Stemple (@tishnwonderland) on Dec 13, 2017 at 2:52pm PST

I hope you will give them a try.  I promise they are much easier than they look.

I guess this is me signing off till after the Christmas holiday.  I still have a few presents to wrap, food to cook and a quilt to baste.  I plan to be one buys elf.  I wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas and hope your days are filled with laughter and family.

Caroline hopes you will come back next week, ready to talk about a UFO you want to bust, so that we can start the New Year off right!

Today I'm linking up with TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

BOM, QAL--Squirrel Addition

Oh my goodness!  I'm beginning to think that I'm Annie Carnes from the musical Oklahoma...I'm just a girl who can't say no!

That is if boys equals fabric and kissing equals quilt alongs...but really, what's a girl to do??

So, I've been pretty proud of myself this month for staying on top of the projects at hand.  I've tried really hard to not look for distractions.  I haven't purchased any quilting magazines this year and have made no huge fabric purchases.  I have committed to participating in a few QAL's but decided that I have met my limit for now.

But there is one QAL I have been happily ignoring, Pat Sloan's 182 Solstice Challenge.  Okay, maybe that came out wrong.  I'm loving watching everyone who is making blocks, but I'm doing her Aurifil Designer BOM and her The Children's Library BOM, and decided I'm satisfied and probably shouldn't play along.  With four other non-Pat QAL projects going on, I'm good.

WRONG!!  This week, I caught a Facebook Live stream of Pat Sloan showing us her new line of fabric that just came to stores in the past few days.  In the background looking all sexy on her design wall was her Solstice blocks, all nine of them.  But I noticed something for the first time.  They are not all neat little 12" blocks.  This will be a quilt with an asymmetrical setting.  I LOVE asymmetrical settings.

You know what this is a picture of?  A squirrel.  It's bouncing around the room so quickly you can't even see it.  Instead of working on Stitchin At Home's QAL like a good girl, I started pulling from my stash to make the first Solstice Block, Churn Dash.

Followed soon by Day Into Night Block.

And I left off with Tide Pool.

So after an evening of staying over at work and coming home exhausted, three out of nine blocks isn't bad.  

Oh, look, the squirrel finally slowed down enough you can see it!  Sorry, my bad.  That's just Caroline Kitty Cat peaking at me from behind my design wall.  I'm pretty sure that's a look of disgust she's giving me for being a sad weak human.  We shall see who's laughing when she's peacefully sleeping on this finished quilt in June.

Did you have a squirrel that distracted you from everything you should be doing this month?  If so join me over at mmm!quilts for Sandra's DrEAMi linking party tomorrow.  It's a place to let those critters run free.

Today I'm linking up with Finished or not Friday and Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop!

Squirrel Confession--Variable Star Quilt

Welcome to another episode of quilting confessions: Squirrel Addition.  We all have them no matter what you call them, those little distractions that get in your head and eat at you until you make them and set them free.  I think my friend Sandra at mmmquilts says it best when she calls them DrEAMi Moments...Drop Everything And Make it.  You have to.  You cannot move on with your quilting and creative life until you set that beast free.

For me, sometimes a squirrel will live inside my head happily frolicking around, slowly eating away at my attention for weeks before I acknowledge it.  This particular squirrel was born on December 7th when the first episode of Craftsy and Angela Walter's The Midnight Quilt Show was released.  The Variable Star Quilt.


I could not get enough of those beautiful stars and the over the top Angela quilting!!  I wanted one.  Wanted to play around quilting one. But NO!  Too many unquilted UFO's.  Focus on quilting goals.  No new projects.  Period.
I knew I wanted to make use of patterns and pre-cuts I already own and decided to pull out three projects to ring in the new year with.

  The Cotton + Steel FQ's were pulled to make Quilts Actually's Forging Steel, the bandanna FQ's were pulled to become Quilting Jetgirl's Bundle Buster and the random fabrics to the right to become Sew Fresh Quilt's Dog Gone Cute.
So what happened?  Well....those bandanna FQ's where happily busted to become a quilt top New Years Eve.

I will show you more of this one after it's quilted.  However, those C+S fabrics were still calling my name.  I could hear them in my sleep.  
A day or two later, Helen at Midget Gem Quilts invited me through Instagram to join her and @susangodfrey600 in their C+S quilt along.  All of us had the same Craftsy FQ bundle boxes and the idea was to make something, anything and share as we go.  OH HELL YEAH!!!  COUNT ME IN!
I only paused for a second when I grabbed the Dog Gone Cute background fabric and downloaded the free Variable Star Quilt Pattern from Craftsy...the squirrel was scratching harder.  I was officially out of control.
I carefully petted those fabrics, wanting to make sure I chose the correct ones.  I paired them up, repaired them up and finally decided on the ones I wanted to use. 
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:  When unfolding FQ's be prepared for anything.  I knew some of the fabrics where Halloween themed, but didn't think much about it.  I picked a nice tan-ish FQ with the prettiest lacy looking flowers on it.  I was talking to David as I was unfolding and ironing my fabrics.  As I unfolded this particular one, I gasped mid-sentence and jumped backward, fear in my eyes.  David, concerned, asked what was the matter??  I started laughing like a mad woman...well played Craftsy...well played.

Once it was completely unfolded there are little black spiders printed all over it; just so happens none showed up when it was folded in the box.  Guess those aren't flowers but webs.  Be careful...unfold with caution.   

With fabric sliced, stars formed in our living room.  I even dug out the portable design wall so I could view them as they came together.

And so I gave birth to my squirrel.  I can breath a bit.  It's all ready for me to quilt it but it knows it has to wait just a bit longer.  I feel like I can focus on other things now...like my list (which it has been added to).

Do you find yourself influenced by the power of squirrels from time to time (all the time)?  Do you find it hard to concentrate on projects because newer, prettier projects flirt for your attention?  Do you just WANT a distraction? 
 There is a party just for you.  Sandra will be hosting a monthly linky party at the end of every month dedicated to those DrEAMi moments that captivate us.  So if you have found yourself completely engrossed by something that you shouldn't have been working on, or distracted from other things, write a post and link up on January 28th.  It could be fabric, a pattern, or a technique that has you ignoring that list of "should be doing" stuff.  I guarantee you will be in good company.  Heck, you just might find your new squirrel.  Now where did I put that bag of peanuts?

Come join the party!  Today I'm linking up with DrEAMi Linky, Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.