It has been one crazy week with lots going on.  First off before things got way crazy, I worked on my Gadget Girl's Tool Kit.  It is all finished except for the binding.  I had bought white bias tape for it, but I didn't like the look so the binding is on hold until I can get to a shop that sells bias tape to see if I can find a color that will match a color in the fabric.  I do have plenty of the green polka dot material that I could make bias binding except I've never done and not real anxious to try it.  Since we are now in California where we used to live I plan on going to the Bear Paw quilt shop to see if I can find the perfect bias tape there.  Here is what it looks like so far.  It was also my first time sewing with vinyl which wasn't too hard except that it seemed to stretch so I'll keep that in mind next time and maybe try loosening the pressure foot pressure. 

a

Wednesday we went down to Las Vegas to visit with Michael and Jennifer before leaving on our trip and while there I was able to attend the May meeting of the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild.  I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy that group.  I love it and am going to miss it while we are gone.  Thursday morning we had to rush back to Pahrump so I could attend a class on the care and feeding of your Featherweight at my local quilt guild.  It was an invaluable class.  The rest of Thursday was spent running around like a chicken with its head cut off getting everything accomplished for our trip to include moving items from the big 5th wheel to the little 5th wheel that we travel in.

Friday morning we left on time (can you say miracle?) and stayed at the Orange Grove RV Park east of Bakersfield, CA.  It is one of our favorite parks to stay at.  If you are there during navel orange season you get to pick a bag full of oranges to take with you.  They are the very best you will ever taste.  Here is a picture of a baby navel.

Baby navel orange

 

Here is a glimpse of the RV park which as the name implies is part of an orange grove with lots of flowering bushes mixed in with the orange trees.

 



 

Saturday we traveled to the Escapees Co-Op in Coarsegold, CA which was our home base for 5 years.  It has been so good to see and visit a lot of old friends.  Tuesday I'll be in the craft room for quilt group most of the day.  We leave Wednesday morning for an RV park outside of Yosemite where we will spend a week.

 

Yesterday afternoon I actually got to work on my latest project, a quilt that I've designed.  The bad part is I had bought material for it at Sew Yeah Quilting in Las Vegas and somehow it did not make it into the little 5th wheel.  GRRR!!!  I pulled out some other solids I did have and started to work on it. I completed  the first itty bitty 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" block which is sitting on top of the blue material to the far left in the picture below.  The white will be my negative space fabric.

 

 

This afternoon will be more itty bitty blocks, some redwork embroidery, and lots of visiting down at the club house.

 

I'm linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts. 

 

Happy Stitching!



 

 



A Finish and a Start

My Night Flight wall hanging is finished and I'm very happy with it.  I did learn a couple things while making it.  Since I designed it, I didn't account for the seam allowance when making the yellow moon, so I had to use smaller blocks for the top and far right side.  Of course, I discovered the error after I had sewn the blocks on the far right side and those had to be unsewn.  The other lesson learned was not to use the Fons & Porter's yellow chalk pencil to mark the area on the bird for quilting as it doesn't fully wash out.  GRRR!

I finished a couple more of The Splendid Sampler blocks and I can officially say I'm caught up.  The next block will come out Thursday, but it will have to wait until we get to one of our destinations in California before I start back up sewing.  Here are the three that I completed the last couple of days.

 Block 26, Dreaming of Dresdens

 

 Block 29, Scrappy Happy Heart

 

Bonus Block instead of Block 28, Inside Out

 

My start yesterday was "Gadget Girl's Tool Kit" by The Sweet Tea Girls Patterns.  I got everything cut out and it is my hope to get it finished this afternoon/evening.  Here is the picture of it from their website.

 

 

Here are the fabrics I chose for it.  The floral is the outside print and the dots are for the inside.  I've not worked with vinyl before so that will be a new experience.  I plan to use this as my hexie tool kit.

 

 

Today I'm linking up with Linky Tuesday over at Freemotion by the River.  Be sure to check out all the fun projects over there today.

 

Tomorrow is a busy day as I have a medical appointment in the morning in Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild meeting in the evening.  We'll be spending the night with family and then zoom back home early Thursday morning so I can attend the Shadow Mountain Quilters for a class on caring for my Singer Featherweight.  Can't wait for that.  Friday morning we'll be on the road.  WooHoo!

 

Happy Stitching!







Playing Catch Up

This week has been all about playing catch up with The Splendid Sampler blocks.  I was able to finish several during the week.  It doesn't sound like much, but a few of those were applique with a lot of blanket stitch and backstitch.  My goal is to be caught up before we hit the road which, if all goes as planned, will be Friday, May 27th.  You can still get in on the fun and find all the blocks here.

Block 20 Nature's Walk

 

Block 21, Sweet Candy

 

Block 22, Goose on the Loose

 

Block 22, Hand in Hand

 

 Block 24, Inspector Side Kick

 

Block 25, Sunday Best

 

Block 27, Sewing Machine

 

I need to work on Block 26 which has Dresdens on it and I've never done them, so it will be a learning experience for me.  Today, Block 29 comes out so that is three I need to get done over the next two days.  Thursday another one will come out and I I'm sure I won't get that one done before we leave  It will be very interesting to see if I'm able to get many done over the next 3 1/2 months of travel. 

 

This week I also did some more free motion practicing in prep for quilting Night Flight.  I started the actual quilting on it last night and got about 3/4 of the way done.  I still have the left half of the black to finish up.  Here is what it looks like.

 

 

More about our travels.  Before we leave there is a lot of moving things from our 5th wheel that we live in to the smaller one that we travel in.  This includes the majority of my sewing things.  The plan is to leave Friday morning with an overnight stop at the Orange Grove RV Park outside of Bakersfield and then on to the Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA.  This is where our home base was for four years so it will be nice to meet up with old friends there.  Then we'll be spending a week outside of Yosemite National Park and most of that time will be inside the park.  After that it is two more weeks in CA and then on to Oregon where we'll be spending four weeks at five different RV parks.  We'll be headed to Washington state and staying there a couple weeks before heading to Idaho to visit friends.  We hope to stop at an RV park in Thayne, WY to see if it is a place we would like to spend our summers.  We'll end up in Lakewood (suburb of Denver) for a couple weeks to attend my grandson's wedding and visit family.  I'll be posting throughout our travels so be sure to stay tuned.

 

Today I'm linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. 



A trip, some quilting, and a class

For those of you who have visited my blog before, you'll notice things have changed.  I'm a participant in the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Hop and have been inspired to make some changes to my blog.  I hope you like it.

This past week has had a lot of different things going on.  First, I did manage to finish two of the Splendid Sampler blocks, 17 and 19, and got started on Block 20.  I still have a ways to go to catch up, but I'm not worried about it .
 

Blocks 17 and 19

Block 20 in the works

Earlier in the week I practiced a lot of free motion quilting trying to get used to my new sewing machine.  First a spent time on some wild quilting and then I  drew out some ideas on a practice sandwich for my Night Flight wall hanging.  Below is a glimpse of that practice session.  I need to do a lot more practicing before I actually put the wall hanging under the needle.  Night Flight needs to be completed no later than May 24th.

We went down to Las Vegas Friday and my husband dropped me off at Sew Yeah Quilting, a new quilt shop, so I could take a class on Designing Modern Quilts taught by Melissa Miller Curly and the class was fantastic.  I learned so much and I'm now in the process of designing a quilt and what possibly may turn out to be a wall hanging if I can find the material I need for it.  I can't wait to put everything into practice.  Melissa and the other student, Joyce, helped me pick out some fabric for the quilt I'm designing.  Here are the fabric choices.  Of course there is also some white fabric for the negative space.

 

 

On Saturday I was back at Sew Yeah Quilting for a trunk show by Christa Watson.  Oh my gosh, she had all her quilts form both of her books and it was great to see them up close and personal.   I have had her first book on my Kindle for awhile, and now I have her second book, which was co-authored with Angela Walters, in hardback and signed by both authors.  Christa is an amazing quilter, author, and speaker.  One day I hope to have the opportunity take one of her classes.  She will be at Quilt Con 2017 and I'm hoping to be there too.

 

 Christa Watson

 

I missed out on posting Sunday as I didn't take my computer down to Las Vegas.  Today, I'm linking up with Linky Tuesday over at Freemotion by the River.

Happy Stitching!

Main Crush Monday

Yesterday I finished up four blocks for the block lottery taking place this month at the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild.  The blocks are from Allison over at Cluck Cluck Sew and the pattern is Grayscale Quilt.  Allison provides an excellent tutorial HERE for the block.  Maybe I'll be the lucky one that wins all the blocks that were made by our guild members.

This is the picture of the Grayscale Quilt from Allison's blog.

 

My four squares that will give me four raffle tickets for the block lottery. 

Hopefully, I'll do better than we did in the power ball last week. 

 

I have been putting off organizing my stash and it had to be done before we start our summer travels in a few weeks.  So, yesterday was the day.  I had to go to the dollar store and get three more of the small, clear tubs and then I went to work.  First I sorted by color, Christmas/EPP, and novelty fabrics.  I had to get it done as I used our bed for the sorting.

 



 

And the outcome turned out pretty good, if I must say so myself.  These tubs will go under our bed in the little 5th wheel we travel in.  Those who aren't familiar with 5th wheel recreational vehicles, the bed raises up and provides a good size storage space.  After seeing all the tubs in the picture, my husband made the comment that he guessed I was taking up the whole space under the bed.  My reply was, "YEP".

 

 

I usually link up with Slow Sunday Stitching on Sundays but there are issues with the linky tool.  today.  Take a few minutes and see if they have it fixed and, if so, check out some of the beautiful work being done.  Kathy has been working on "Life is Beautiful" and her work is amazing.  Today I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday with Beth over at Cooking Up Quilts.  Thank you Beth!

 

Happy stitching!





I'm doing the happy dance today as I have a finish to share.  I belong to the Shadow Mountain Quilters of Pahrump, Nevada and each quarter they are doing a quarter runner challenge.  I didn't participate in the first one as I didn't think we'd still be here, but on the road.  When the second one was announced I decided to join in whether we were going to be here for the entire quarter or not.  Those that joined in paid $5 and received a half yard of black Kona fabric and instructions on making the nine patch with black sashing and binding.  Here are pictures of my quarter runner which is actually a table topper or wall hanging.  You must take your finished project in and show it to the group.  At the end of the quarter they draw three names of those that showed their project and they each win a third of the money collected after the fabric purchase.  Last quarter each winner received $60.  I'm sure the winners would use the money for more fabric. 

Front beside a sad little cactus that I rescued

from beside the dumpster at our park

 

 

The back which is beside a sucker coming up from a huge tree

stump the park removed from our front yard. 

It's kinda cute and we're going to see what it ends up doing.

 

Up close and personal with my,

not so great, spiral quilting.

Today I'm going to be practicing quilting for my "Night Flight" wall hanging.
 

One of the things I'll be practicing is some wild quilting for the black areas on it.  I took a Craftsy class, Wild Quilting by Christina Cameli and loved every second of it.  If you have not seen the class ad, or taken it, you should definitely check it out if you do any free motion quilting.   The below pictures are from the Craftsy website.  The first one is Integrated Wild Quilting and the second is Grouped Designs.   

 

Today, I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

 

Happy Stitching!

Good morning friends and fellow quilters from sunny southern Nevada.  Today I'm linking up to Let's Bee Social with Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts. 

My exciting news today is that I was chosen to participate in the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Hop.  I had found out about this last year, the 2015 group was already in progress and I hoped, beyond all hope, it would happen again this year, and it is and I'm one of the participants.  I can't even begin to express how excited I am.  Three bloggers/teachers are hosting this.  They are:  Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs, and Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter. 

I have a finish, at least for me, to report.  Here is a picture of the quilt that I'm donating to our local Quilts of Valor group.  I say, at least for me, as it will be turned over to our leader for batting and backing and then to a longarmer to quilt it.  I quilted the last one I donated, but we are hoping to get back on the road soon so no time for that now.

I've also been working on a design for the Drunkard's Path block of the month challenge from the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild and here is what I have designed.  I'm calling it Night Flight and hope to add the title to it in some way.  Not sure if I'll be appliqueing it  or using some other method.  I've also been playing with how I'll quilt it so you'll need to come back and see the finished mini-quilt.

I'm still struggling with how to quilt the quarter runner challenge mini-quilt that I've pieced.  I've thought of several ways, but nothing has really jumped out at me.  So another one to get under my needle.

I have been practicing my free motion quilting on my new machine, but haven't perfected it yet so need to keep on practicing, a lot. 

How about a 4th of July pillow.  You can download the free pattern here.  I really enjoy seeing all the fun projects from All People Quilt's newsletter.  I think you might enjoy them too so check it out here. 

 

On my list for this week is to practice, practice, practice my FMQ, work on my redwork, get a couple of the Splendid Sampler squares made as I need to get caught up on them, and maybe get some prep work done on my next EEP rosette.

May your stitching be happy and your ripping nonexistent.

Linking up today with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts. 

Well, I have been obsessed with getting my Quilts of Valor quilt finished up and haven't worked on anything else this past week.  No EPP; no cross-stitch; no redwork; no Splendid Sampler blocks, just a lot of piecing and joining on the QoV quilt.  It has approximately 1050 pieces.  Here is where I'm at now.

Lola helping me get the rows laid out on the floor

All laid out

I just need to stitch the rows together and then add a very small border of the white with blue stars material and a larger border of blue.  Once the borders are sewed on it will be ready to hand over to Denise who heads up our group.  They will choose a backing for it and send it to the longarmer.  If we are still here, I'll add the binding.  I'm very pleased with how it has turned out and I'm hoping whoever it is gifted to loves it.

Last Thursday I attended my first ever meeting with the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild and it was fantastic.  There were about 60 or so women in attendance and lots of show and tell.  They have a BOM challenge each month and last month's challenge was Dresden Plate.  Below is a picture of my favorite one.  This month the challenge is a Drunkard's Path and I've been researching and doing a lot of thinking of what I can do for it.  I've not ever tried to sew curves so that will be a new experience for me.  I did find a tutorial on making a Drunkard's Path block without using pins HERE.  Not sure if I'll use it or not.

They are also having a block lottery this month and I hope to participate in that. Have any of you participated in one?  If not, here is how it works:  you make however many blocks of a certain pattern that you would like.  For each block you make, you get a raffle ticket.  The winning ticket gets all the blocks to make into a quilt.  For our lottery we are using a solid white as the main color and the other color for the block can be any shade of gray or black.  Not sure when I'll find the time for all these fun activities, but I'm going to give it my best shot. 

I've really had red, white, and blue on the brain lately while thinking of Memorial Day and the 4th of July.  This free pattern really caught my eye on the McCall's Quilting site.  Click HERE to download the pattern.

 

You ask, where are you at with your travel plans?  Well, it is still up in the air as to when we will leave for the summer and my grandson's wedding in August.  DH has two medical appointments on 5/3 and I have one on 5/10.  Not sure if there will be any follow-up appointments so we are still in a wait-and-see mode.  Maybe by the 4th of July.

Happy stitching!