60 Degree Stars!

January 21, 2022 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 1 Comment

About 5 milestones took place this week. The major milestone was completing the 60 degree stars top! I chose to make this quilt Octagon shaped for fun. This UFO is now into the ready for longarm pile.

Lets discuss some other milestones. Its been about 5 years since I sorted through my scraps. And since then the scrap system got wild! This needed a zoo tamer team! I have a 4 over 4 chest of drawers for my main system. Two small drawers are for my neutrals and neutral scraps. One small drawer is for fat quarters. One last small drawer is for Kaffe. And the 4 large drawers at the bottom held fabric a lot less organized. I had one for sheets, one drawer for unfoldable odd shaped fabrics, one for feed sack, and one for ”the everything else” category. To make room for some fabric purchases, I removed the sheets from the drawer and placed those with the tote of vintage sheets. The feedsack drawer got folded nicely and only took up 1/2 a large drawer. The other two drawers were dumped on my table. Large cuts, 108s, 5yard , and 3 yd cuts move to the other 1/2 of drawer. Two drawers were left for yard or larger cuts and were folded nicely and placed on edge to easily see pattern and color. This allowed me to condense and fit my new fabrics.

And there are fabrics I have been hanging onto, I purged some that were ugly or ones I knew I would never use. Also purged were the 1980s prints that I have used to the point of never wanting this to take up valuable real estate anymore. (1980s mauve print was used in the making of the silverware placemat as the trim fabric below).

What’s left? I still have a table full of odds and ends that either need to run through the accuquilt or donated to someone else. Enough is enough. Scraps will over take you if you let them. Tackling Mount Scrapmore is quite a job!

Last week I had a run of good luck! My sew yeah mystery bundle had $20 in it. And, Becky Goldsmith has her giveaways every Wed. I left a comment and won a paper pieces package for EPP to make a nosegay quilt. I never am this lucky! Thank you @BeckyGoldsmith! @PieceOQuilts blog.

Additionally my Basics Subscription box from Sew Yeah Quilting arrived. Am I going to rush into this project? Nope….not really fond of the pattern this month. The thread and fabric is pretty!

I got some placemats made! Felt good to sew this fabric up! For a great cause, hospice placemats for the meal when they call the family in to help to transition from earth to heaven. Hopefully things will be regarded by recipients as a nice compliment to that time.

Because my design wall is empty I want to get out another UFO and work that for a bit. Or perhaps I will start something new. Undecided….

Goals for the week:

Tackle Mount Scrapmore on the table.
Make progress on one of my UFOs
Determine next scrappy project (new or old)
Trace quilting designs onto clean newsprint of 6 inch squares

Some time has lapsed and after asking the quilt masters of the mystery quilt, I cannot show any of the mystery quilt yet. I could have shown my fabric pieces cut out, but failed to take the stinkin’ picture. Doh! Next month I will be able to share some sewn snippets of that completed project. Until then it will remain a mystery!!!

And speaking of sew a longs there are some free ones going on now

These all appeal to me, but there are not enough hours in the day!

Hmmmm…off to decide what I should do. I will let my heart take me where it wants quilty style. Leaving logical mind behind for now. I will let you know how this goes LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Scrap Happy January 2022

January 14, 2022January 12, 2022 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 4 Comments

I would like to share some ideas with you for January 2022 scrap happy post. Those of you have scraps and just aren’t sure what to do with them, there are sew many great freebies out there just waiting to help you trim down that fat bin of scraps.

Martha Stewart gives a simple idea of two scrap squares with pinked edges sewn as a scented sache.

ILoveFabric gives a great idea to cover your switch plate cover.

Whatsmummyupto suggests making a fabric swatch memory match game. My mother made this for the grandchildren and they love it!

Recently Kimberly Jolly from Fat Quarter Shop announced a scrap house free pattern. She had other annoucements in her video. Check it out! I have my eye on this cute idea.

Now onto more scrappiness….

For those of you who do not know in this past month I finished piecing the 365 Quilt Block Challenge quilt, its now a top! Horah!

I am waiting for warmer weather to quilt it. This was a massive amount of fabric, and a huge chunk of time. I have developed a quilting motif. This will allow me to travel from block to block with minimal retracing of stitches. My intention besides friendly travel is a folk art look. If you are interested in a crude rough draft of a pattern click here for my pdf.

I also finished the postage stamp quilt.

My goal this week is to get some more sewn on the stars (UFO) quilt I am working.

And I am working a community service project for hospice. I am making placemats to donate to those who are transitioning from earth to heaven. This may or may not make a difference, but it will be a keepsake for the family after the passing. A set of two placemats takes about a yard of fabric. I am using three fabrics in each mat. I am using the pattern called Inside Out Mats. They are on sale at sewthankful.com for $6.99.

What is everyone else working on? I would like to thank Kate and Gun for hosting! Click on the names to reach more scrap happy posts!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Esther

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Week One of 2022

January 9, 2022 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 3 Comments

This week was hard! Back to work after a week off is HARD! It kicked my butt! Not much stitching took place.

I have chosen to work on one of my UFOs and just get it done. Turns out, this will probably not be fast.

I started this sometime in the past year. This was actually two jelly rolls and some white grunge in a kit I got for Christmas in 2020. It also came with the pattern which I opted not to make. I chose the 60 degree Stars pattern by M*QC. I am laying mine out differently with more negative space so I can have a bit more fun quilting it. I have the top portion of the quit sewn, and its overall shape will end up being a hexagon.

The next two rows that needs to be sewn, I noticed my edge half star I do not have the right pieces to make this right to match how I have done the rest of the row. I was going to go with left overs on this row on the ends (right not shown-out of design wall lol). So I will have to make some time to cut and sew some more strip sets to get this right. I am almost out of strips for this jelly roll set. There are some that I have deemed to light. I may have to incorporate these in anyway.

This pattern is a relatively easy pattern, but keep in mind most of your edges are bias. Bias has stretch, which could lead to problems if you have not prepared your fabric correctly. I recommend heavy starch for all pieces before sewing or cutting. The crispness of the bias will help you piece this together. This also requires a 60 degree triangle ruler. This would be fun to make with strings! Perhaps I will need to revisit this.

I have started off this first week of the year with some fabric purchases. My stock of neutrals is probably at a all time low. I have purchased a place mat pattern which has not arrived yet. I will be working on those for a service project for hospice. I have some silverware fabric that I am looking forward to using for the placemats, as well as using up some of my yardage.

In the meantime I will just have to adjust to working again, on top of all the chores that call my name, and I talk a little pirate talk because there is just not enough time or me to go around.

I have made a final decision on the 365 quilt challenge quilting. After shopping around for pantos and finding nothing I had I liked or what is out there, I decided to make my own. It is less of a panto and more of a small medallion that I will put in each 6 inch section. I will have to come up with something different for the very center of the quilt I think. I got out my compass and drew some circles and crosshatches and came up with a very folk-art style quilting motif. I recently watched a video by Susan Lawson and a technique that is new to me.

This is the technique I will use for each 6 inch section. I have made my drawing and will need to make a master copy and will be tracing it on to fine clean newsprint. This will be a tedious process but I think it will mash well with the quilt pattern. If it warms up I will be able to demonstrate. Eventually for anyone interested I will get my small medallion loaded into pdf format for download. (This reminds me I have some ripping work do to on the quilt top before I can quilt…ugh).

Ta Ta for Now! And thanks for reading my blog!

Expansion…

December 30, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 3 Comments

We nearly have 2021 licked! If you are reading this post, you lived through it. The past couple of years have been tough. We are seeing things we never thought we would see. I hope everyone gets their act together and practices the slogan, kill ’em with kindness. The world seems to be very divided. I ask everyone to put all that aside and remember we all put our pants on one leg at a time. There is enough negativity in the world. So, STOP THE SPREAD of negativity, it is snowballing. We are all trying our best. Our best may not be your best. We all walk in different shoes. Embrace the world and love one another. This will go a long ways.

I think because of the hardships many of us have faced have caused us to grow. Perhaps we are awakened. Perhaps we see things differently than 3 years ago with the same eyes. Our minds have been altered.

“Life Shrinks or Expands in proportion to one’s courage.”—Anais Inn Because of the turmoil on planet earth I can say we have expanded exponentially for the better of the human race. 2021 was harder than 2020. I hope that things ease in 2022 for all of us.

Today I am reflecting on the year. These are my finishes. And in comparison to other years, I think I was lacking! But there were many big project finishes.

This year seemed to be the year of starts. I think I became a serial starter!!!

So as a quilter I have expanded my abilities. This is good and bad, depending on how you look at it.

This is the time of year I like to look through all my photos and memories well up. Once I add the things I did not get done to the mix of getting things done, I accomplished quite a bit. I have added one more project this past week and have two more finishes.

I decided to make a new tote bag. The bag I have carried for two years, hand made by mom, it starting to show wear on the cloth handles. So I purchased the pattern and made another bag just a smidge larger. I love how this turned out!

I have put this fabric into many quilts. I still had a sizeable piece and wanted to incorporate this into a bag. So these are the pockets trimmed in faux leather.

Here is the bag unzipped.

And here is it zipped. I just love the foundation of the bag and the shape of the bag.

And here is the inside of the bag. I am loving my neutral colors. We will see how well this one holds up. This was a couple days effort.

And my second share I cannot share, but I have made another quilt top. The mystery quilt. The quilt top only took two days to make. As far as mysteries go, it is ok. The pattern call outs for fabrics is very vague, so it is a crap shoot LOL. I will keep it a mystery for a bit longer. 🙂

It is weird to know the outcome of a mystery quilt. I will share sometime in march when everyone else has had time to do their clues.

I wish I could tell of what the future holds. I can vaguely say, it will contain quilting in my life, but content and volume is to be determined. Words of Wisdom by Bobby McFerrin

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog! Merry New Year!!!!

A couple of days off….

December 25, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 5 Comments

You give me a couple of days off, and I will get a couple of things done! Having time off is a marvelous thing!

First, the patriotic postage stamp quilt, is now quilted! And when you are close up at the machine, you don’t see the whole picture. During the photo shoot I discovered something!

The stars created a lovely argyle pattern that I could not see close up, I love this! Here is a picture of the fabrics I chose for the backing.

I will be binding this in the coming days.

And I worked hard again this past week to get more blocks done on the 365. I failed to snap all the photos. I have rather tired of taking pictures of all these blocks individually. I did have one block that was worthy. This 6 inch block has 121 pieces! Photo worthy indeed! I think this ended up being my favorite block. This took me about 4 hours straight.

And guess what? I now have a 365 Quilt Block Challenge QUILT TOP! Yippeeeeeee!

It is so big, that I could not really display it with my arm span.

Disappointingly, the woman that I was going to have custom quilt this, no longer does that. She only bastes or edge to edge quilts. 😦

So, change of plans, I loaded it today, and tried out a new ruler I purchased. I realized, I wasted my money on this ruler. My hopping foot is quarter inch 270 degrees around the foot. The back side is more like 3/8ths. So the hexigon template that is an inside template does not work right. It works great provided you never stitch behind the hexi. So those of you who have a Nolting quilting machine, do not buy this template, it will be foul and will not work!

So, I quilted a bit with it, and now all of this will have to be ripped out. 😦

So I started a different approach. I decided to quilt in the ditch for now and figure out what I really want in the future. *sigh*

These blocks deserve to be quilted pretty, but I am at a loss for what exactly. It will come to me in the coming days. I am in no hurry, it took me 2 years to get to this point, it can sit on the machine for a bit.

I see a few days of marathon sewing/quilting as ringing in the new year, there are several youtubers having 12 hour streams. The plan is to get a bunch done!

I have decided to join in a sew along that I will be keeping secret for the most part so I don’t spoil it for others. I know what the end result is before anyone else. I have carefully chosen my colors accordingly and will be working on cutting this out in the coming week. Not sure If I will show this on the blog though just in case any of those people accidentally happen upon it.

I have purchased a bag pattern with stays. I love my current tote bag. But it is starting to get soiled. My new tote will have leather handles, and it is a bit more muted or neutral in color. I will be working towards this as well.

And then there is the UFO piles I have. I probably need to get one of these going again. Perhaps this will be during the marathon days of sewing…dunno yet. After finishing the 365 to the point I have, it has lifted my spirits and really makes me want to grab one of the UFOs We will see what sorts out in the coming week.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Technical Problem 2021

December 18, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 4 Comments

I discovered a problem this morning when I went to retrieve photos from the cameras memory card. The camera would not let me take photos, *pout*, it gave me a memory card error. The memory card itself still works, I suspect my camera mechanism that determines if the card is locked or unlocked broke???? So until I remedy that, I will have to figure a work around for photos.

Since I cannot upload new content and it is so close to the end of the year I thought I could recap the quilt finishes in my life as well as other counts and milestones.

But first a statistic. All of you have been following along (thank you!) with my 365 Quilt Challenge journey of now two years. This is a long term project that did not intend to be that long, LOL. In looking back during this journey, these are the quilts that I have finished during its making.

Six large quilts (one of those being quilted now). Frolic was the monster of this group, but many squirrels happened. It kept me sewing without losing my mojo. You do what you have to do. The rest of these were smalls of lap size down to just a small wall hanging, but no matter the size, it is still deemed a quilt!

During frolic as well as spring brook blossoms, I did both the 365 as well as that monthly or weekly project.

This quilt was also included in the “during 365” gallery. I made this in about two weeks. I came down with Corona Virus and could not work. And, I am happy to report I was one of those that was asymptomatic with only a couple of days of aches and low fever. I recall one of my posts late in 2020 pondering what I would tell my grandchildren about this pandemic. I really had no idea. Boy, how this year has made a difference in knowing exactly what I would say. The quilt above cost me two weeks of vacation.

So, the fact that my camera has a malfunction combined with the crazed new attitudes (new normal) I have named this post what I did. My only side affect from this pandemic is pandemic FATIGUE!!!! I know all of you can relate.

And then there are the projects that I started….(I became a serial starter, YIKES)!

And I have all of those UFOs mostly from years past.

I am not going to make blog promises for 2022. After the past two crazy years, my logic cannot rule anything out. So for that reason I am going to set goals for myself and may or may not note that in the blog. Just know when you visit my blog in the coming year I will bring content approximately once a week, if not more. It will be sewing. It could have tatting. You will see quilting. As far as defining the specifics…..here are some quotes that may make sense of life.

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”—-Allen Saunders.

“Reality continues to ruin my life.”—Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes .

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

And on that last quote, thank you for reading my blog!

Scrap Happy 720

December 14, 2021December 13, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 5 Comments

My goodness this past month has flow by! It is the scraphappy post for the month where all of us get together and link up showing off our scrappy project progress. Please click the links below and see all the other Scrap Happy participants and their beautiful projects.

As you followers know, I have been working on the Kathyrn Kerr 365 Quilt block Challenge. I have challenged myself with this free pattern. I used red. I have trouble with reds and do not see the full spectrum of reds. The red cones in my eyes do not work as good as they used to. So the color alone was a challenge because I shy away from Reds. And I started this sew a long in Dec of 2019. Let me tell you, it was good through the pandemic to have this project in the works! But, at the same time, it got old and when you work on any project for too long, it becomes more and more difficult to finish.

I am happy to say that my Red Scrappy Version of this quilt is almost there. This weekend I made progress by leaps and bounds! It has excited me to the point of want to sew these last few blocks as fast as I can, because I am so close!!!!

I decided to lay this out on the couch to see if I could use it for my design wall. Because some of these pieces are so tiny, the seam allowance really makes this too heavy for the design wall. I used the couch instead.

This gave me a nice block count for each side. I need 11 light six inch blocks per side. And since I laid the dark red border out, the pattern said I had enough to sew, so sew I did. I have 4 dark red borders waiting for their lighter counterpart.

Laying this out this way makes me wish I could have fun with more fabric and make this an american flag. But obviously I do not have enough strips. It is an idea though!

After I sewed the dark red strips, I casually laid out the lighter blocks for the border to see just how many I have to go (by the way I have four 3 1/2 inch blocks left over and one dark 6 inch that was not that great so it did not make the cut. Everyone, this color combination sparkles and I am in awe looking at all this work come together. This will be the “Mona Lisa” quilt in my collection, one worth getting appraised.

Here are the light blocks I made over the weekend. Finding variety is getting hard. But I do like that these blocks are more white. It adds flair and sparkle to the ecru and gray ones.

I managed one more block before this post. I presume I will have a few more done when the weekend comes. As you can see I lack 8 blocks!!!! The corners are done, just waiting for the big day of everything coming together. I think this pattern used more than 20 yards of fabric. And I am sick of red LOL!

When I started this journey, I got some very good advice of someone else who had made a red one. Their advice? Keep contrast in the darks, meaning for some of these blocks it would call for Dark Dark, Dark, Dark Medium, and Medium. By contrasting this, there is very good definition! So it was good advice! Are all of them a success story? No, there are points chopped off all over the place, lost in an extremely thick 1/4 seam allowance. Some were not expertly trimmed. I am ok with that, because when you look at this as a whole, you do not notice those things!

I am debating sending this to be custom quilted, it is a once in a lifetime quilt and I could drop some $$$$ dollars on the quilting and not feel guilty about it. I want someone to do justice to this, and maybe that would be the reward to me as well so I don’t have to labor over the quilting of it???? I am undecided, but have not ruled anything out!

This has been my scrap happy project now for 720 days, I started this in Mid December of 2019. I never dreamed it would take me two years because I stayed caught up until March of 2020 even when sewing along with Frolic a Bonnie Hunter Mystery and that was a JOB! Then I started working nights which really cramped my piecing and I just kept falling further and further behind.

I have also posted a video on how to do continuous line stars on the domestic or longarm machines if anyone is interested please watch below for my very amateur attempt.

I also filmed some blocks being taken out of the shoe box for the 365 Quilt Block Challenge and you can see the relative size to my hand.

But wait there is more! I did finish up the patriotic postage stamp quilt and it is the one being quilted with stars in the first video share.

It really appears I have accomplished much, but really it was small baby steps that all came together at once. Quilting is ebb and flow as the posts go, some months appear very productive, while others are productive behind the scenes without much content to share.

I am elated to be scrap happy with finishes oh so close! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!

Busy Busy!

December 10, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 7 Comments

We can all agree, this is a busy time of year! I have been hard at it! I am really purging trying to get the 365 quilt block challenge blocks done. Much has been accomplished.

Here are my 6 inch blocks. The 6 inch blocks are so much easier for me to make.

And some more…

And I think these are the last of the dark blocks! Yay!

Here is a video I made of showing the shoebox of just SOME of the blocks….

And the weather has been lovely, so quilting at the big machine happened too!

I have decided to quilt this quilt full of stars. Stars are quite easy to do as a continuous line pattern. I will be uploading a video of how to ruler work some stars. This quilt even though it will have ruler work which tends to slow this quilters pace, is going remarkably fast. But not fast enough because a cool front looms, which will defer quilting to a warmer day.

This week has been a fun quilty week. I need to get out my 365 top that I have sewn so far and using my design wall see how many more blocks I really need. I don’t want to make too many!!!! Because those will not make the quilt and become poor orphans! So much work to not make the cut!

We shall see how much I get done in the coming week. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Sadness, but Less

December 3, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 4 Comments

This morning was a normal morning. The last thing I do before I walk out the door besides lock it, is feed our cats. As I walked out to my car, I saw one of our cats motionless in the road. Yeah, kitty was ran over. And in the dark, it looks as if it was our prized cat Mama Kitty.

This wore on my mind all day as this is the favorite cat in our hearts. I am such a bad fur baby parent, and should love all the cats. But as we all know, cats have personalities that resemble people. We coexist with people we do not like, and I can attest to coexisting with cats I do not like.

My daughter called me at work to tell me she did not think it was momma kitty. She has a distinct split ear.

So my worry all day in my heart for the hearts that would be hurting over this at the house (as well as my own) was for naught. I came home expecting to dig a grave. Turns out the ground is too hard, and that cat was not mama kitty. She is missing and I will be visiting the pound in the coming days expecting to bail her out of cat jail.

So I thought the week was ending with a heavy heart, turns out, it ended Less Sad. We think it was one of our cats, but it was not one that the girls oogle over. So a bit of a relief.

The rest of the week worked out well for sewing 365 blocks. I have about 4 boards with cut pieces ready to sew together, and fabrics paired with block instructions for 3 more. And this weeks count of blocks is…….8. Some of these take so long with all these small pieces that you cut, sew, and then trim and sew again.

I am very pleased with the contrast with these fabric groupings. This is getting hard to do, or my brain is getting tired of doing it, not sure which! The middle purplish block is WRONG. I got turned around while I was tired and seemed to get lost with my block pattern a.k.a. sewing roadmap. And this would require very small seam ripping of less than 6 inches, but I am to the point once I sew this into the quilt top, I will probably never even be able to find the 3 inch block. So a new design element it is! Going Amish style LOL!

I am working a bit this weekend, and not sure how much creative juices will flow in the coming week. And Texas has seen several 70 degree days, but I did not get time to get to the longarm. There were a couple of days that my body was fighting off some bug. I had body aches one day, and was tired the next and kept thinking I was going to end up with a sore throat. I beefed up on my vitamins those two days, and I am fine. However, there are coworkers that have bronchitis and colds right now. I presume my immune system worked it’s miracle. All is good in the household.

Let more sewing commence! Thanks for stopping in and reading my blog!

Waiting for 70 Degrees

November 28, 2021 ~ myquiltprojects ~ 5 Comments

I am loving the colder temps in Texas! A few frosts in November, and wearing the jacket, breathing in the fresh colder air with holiday spirit in the air has become my favorite time of year. My favorite month used to be October. A month when the airconditioner gets turned off, the fans are switch off, and the house becomes more quiet. A month for baking because it is practically between 50-70 degrees all day. Much gets accomplished because your energy that was drained during the summer heat some how gets restored.

I never knew October was my favorite month, until twenty years ago. The chain of events, my Grandfather died in August. He lived several states up, so I was off from work for about a week. He had been sick for a long time and I never spent any of my vacation time, so I had oodles to spend. When I got back home things were not going so well for the telecom sector for which I worked (Sept 11th caused it to tank). So I job hunted and put in my resume to my employer now. We went back to his estate for all the contents to be auctioned off in late Sept of that same year. When I returned home and back on the job, the happiness and joy the job once gave me, was still there, but because of the telecom bubble burst, many of my coworkers were laid off. It made me glad I still had my job, and so very thankful, but at the same time I was the only one who provided for the family and knew the writing was on the wall. I had to get out and get into something else.

I submitted my resume to my current employer, and heard back from them, I got the job. I took a $2 paycut, but my job would be secure. I knew how much vacation time I had left, so I told them I could start on Nov 12th.

I gave my two weeks notice, and then burned the rest of my vacation. I got to spend 2 weeks in October off with no work and paid. My son was two at the time. It was so energizing this time of year for me. I started my new job on Nov 12, 2001. I have now been at my job officially for 20 years. Perhaps the month of October resembled freedom from any job and the gentle sigh that came that year when I was not working.

This patriotic quilt is all about my 20 year anniversary on the job. My current employer is a gov’t contractor, so it is all about patriotism.

And with 20 years comes change. I still like the month of October for the renewed energy. But with all the time off from work for the holidays makes me able to relax in the month of Nov and Dec.

So I am waiting for a 70 degree day to start quilting on the patriotic postage stamp quilt. I thumbed through my larger pieces of fabrics and selected a couple, and then thumbed through them some more and resettled on a couple of pieces for the backing. Here is one. I purchased this at an antique store. It said this was old. I don’t think it is necessarily old, but I do think it is made with an old technique. This is some kind of dying or printing on muslin. It is very folk-art themed with crows, the letter A in various directions, many lines but mostly each square has a motif inside which does repeat. It was a perfect backing, but was not large enough. So this got paired with the patriotic flag material, which also suits the theme.

If anyone can tell me the process of how this fabric was made it would gladly be appreciated. Educate me please. 🙂

This brings me in the meantime to get cracking on another UFO I have. A while back I polled my readers and the results were 365 quilt block challenge, la passacaglia, and jacks chain. I lack so few blocks on the 365, I will probably tackle this next. I have my tables cleared off, but my time is not in alignment. I have just a few more dark blocks and then the lighter blocks start up again. I am so very close.

But working this project now for almost two years has become hard for me. Harder than I ever thought. Mind over matter, but many of you know what I speak of. I have grown very tired of it. I have asked myself why am I tired of it. The simple answer, the color. I am not a fan of red. I decided to go out of my comfort zone when the decision was made to do this quilt. I had no reds in my stash so I changed that. Perhaps if this were started in a turquoise or a green, I would have already been done. I believe also that my combinations have ran OUT of the current reds I have. I will perhaps make this more appealing by adding fabric to this now to inspire me.

So while waiting for 70 degrees to quilt in the garage, I will be hemming and hawing over the 365, hopefully sewing!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!