Family Post

This is Finals Week so I am busy making out and grading exams. I did get to do a little sewing yesterday, but I will show you that on Friday since it was all UFO progress.

Last night was the Cub Scout graduation ceremony for our local Pack. Here is Dad with our new Weeblo Scout.

Dad surprised him with a Weeblo slide and hat. He was trying to look serious, like a good Scout.

He was really very excited and wanted to put all his new patches and pins on his shirt right away. My response that I didn't bring my sewing machine with me seemed to placate him for the moment. I'm sure I'll be jazzing up that uniform this week though.

Since this is a family post I'll also show you a picture taken recently of Goldie.

We have several ornamental grasses growing in our front yard. Two weekends ago I cut them back and just piled the clippings along the side of the house. The plan was to baggie them up and take them to the yard trash dump. However, Goldie snuggled into them and made herself a little nest. For now the pile is still along the side of the house. Goldie isn't done playing and sleeping in it yet.

Cub Scout Quilt Finished!

I finished sewing on the binding on the Cub Scout Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt last night! Here is a photo of the back.

The large camping print on the back is the original planned size of the quilt! As you can see, it grew quite a bit once I got started making it.

Here are detail images of the quilting both from the back and front.

I used my variation of the Cucumber Vine pattern from Leah Day for the center. I think my tendrils are not as curvy as Leah's. I just did a row of circles in the small green border. For the half-square triangle border I quilted stars down the zig-zag and echoed the triangle shape created along the outside of the zig-zag.

Here it is on the bed.

Working Hard and Hardly Working

I have not dropped off the face of the Earth. Lately, every time I think about sitting down at the computer I realize that I could be sewing. So I sew instead. I am almost finished with the Cub Scout quilt - all that is left is sewing the binding down on the back - WHEW! I've got about half of my "modern rectangles" quilt quilted. This one

I've decided to quilt each rectangle using a different motif with the matching threads I bought.

It will add nice texture but the quilting lines will not be too distracting and interfere with the modern look I'm going for.

Tomorrow I am spending the day at my LQS sewing a quilt for my guild which will be used as our next raffle quilt. It's a bit of long story but the quilt top we were planning to use for next year's raffle can not be finished in time to sell tickets on it at an upcoming show. Someone, who shall remain nameless since I can't remember exactly who anyway, said that it would not be possible to create another quilt and have it ready in time so we would just have to miss the opportunity. One of my friends took that as a personal challenge and we are meeting to hopefully get the top pieced tomorrow. Her goal is to have the quilt completely finished by the next guild meeting in August (Aug. 21st to be precise). If we can get the top pieced or mostly pieced tomorrow then I don't see any reason it won't be ready by the August meeting. We met on Tuesday to finalize a pattern and pick/purchase fabrics. It's going to be really pretty!!

Waves of Blue and Green Finished

Today was the first day in almost two weeks that I was able to spend any time in my sewing room. I finished this some time ago, but couldn't get a picture until this morning. The vertical orientation was the winner of the poll. Thank you to all who responded!

I wasn't sure I would like the mix of hand stitching and machine stitching, but it turned out well - if I do say so myself.

I spent time this morning quilting the Cub Scout quilt. I am now officially half finished quilting the center portion and I have decided how I want to quilt the borders. I'm almost out of the thread I am using but just got a call from my LQS that they got more of the thread in stock and are holding what I need for me behind the counter. I'll go get it tomorrow and hopefully get to quilt on it some more too.

A Small Town Fourth of July

The parade starts with the color guard. The parade judges, the mayor, a county commissioner and the head of the hospital, sit on the grandstand with the parade MC in front of JC Penney.

The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts are next. Parker is dress as Flash and Tony is walking next to Parker.

And then the local brewery giving out samples? I didn't get one but a friend did and she said it was root beer.

What parade would be complete without square dancers?

Then kids on bicycles (remember this is a small town). But notice the quilts hanging in the store front in the background.

An old truck with campaign signs. If you are running for any kind of political office in the Valley it must be a requirement that you march in the parade because they all do.

Got to have the beauty queens.

There were several old vehicles. This is my friend Charlotte in her cute little car.

More horses.

A farming float.

The end of the parade. The fire trucks always bring up the rear. And they are loud!!

Hope you have a great July 4th where ever you live!

New Sewing Table for Quilting

I purchased this sewing table at my local thrift store. It needed a leg reattached which my husband fixed for me. This is the first time I have had a large flat surface to quilt on and it is as wonderful as I have heard it would be. I put this table perpendicular to my regular table (which is just a cheap-o dining room table left over from college) and my old ironing board behind the table. It is a bit of a tight squeeze to get in and out of my chair, but should be a great set-up if we can get the bats out of the attic so I can move my sewing room upstairs.

I'm currently quilting Parker's Cub Scout quilt.

Originally I was going to quilt in the ditch around all the blocks in the center then do some free motion quilting. I didn't baste it together well enough and I was getting puckers on the front and back. So I stopped, ripped out the little bit of stitching I had done and rebasted it. I decided not to quilt in the ditch and just get right to the free motion but couldn't decide what pattern to use. So I checked out Leah Day's site and picked her cucumber vine pattern to try out. It has the effect of stippling, but with a different look.

You can see the pattern better from the back.

I have not decided yet how to quilt the borders. I plan to get the center quilted then check out Leah's patterns again for border quilting ideas.

Bunny and Bear Charity Quilt

I like using panels for charity quilts. There are lots of really cute ones out there. Just put a border on the panel (or not depending on the size), find a backing, baste your three layers together and quilt it. I like to use charity quilts as practice for my machine quilting. I get some good practice on something I don't have a lot of time or money invested in and it is useful too. Many people I know have trouble just "wasting" fabric practicing machine quilting or some other skill. I am slowly getting to the point where I don't see this practice as wasteful, but rather an investment in myself to improve my craft. However, I still get more enjoyment out of making something I know will be truly used.

The quilting I did was fairly simple. I did straight lines with my walking foot on either side of the squares sashing and on either side of the yellow inner border. I outlined each bear and bunny. Then I used a variation of one of Leah Day's designs for the border. The border is more densely quilted than the center of the quilt so I may go back an add a little more quilting to the inside, but maybe not.

I still need to put the binding on my king size mystery quilt, which I got back from my long arm quilter, Peg, last week. I also need to quilt Parker's Cub Scout quilt. After these, I think I'll be done with big quilts for a little while.

Half-Square Triangles

I feel like I've been making half-square triangles for days and days! I got the last ones finished up this afternoon and the fourth border for the Cub Scout quilt is almost complete.

I've used many different methods to make half-square triangles in the past. When I started quilting I just used the formula of add 7/8" to your finished size square. Cut a square that size and then cut it in half on the diagonal and sew two triangles together and press open. My squares never came out square with this method though. I don't know if I was just not accurate enough with my sewing or pressing, but I quickly realized this method wasn't going to work well for me.

Then I discovered Thangles - the triangle papers. I used these for a queen size quilt that had a lot of half-square triangles in it. They worked well but then I had to pull off the paper and that was a lot of work. Plus it left little bits of paper all over the place, which didn't make me very happy.

My next method was to cut a square 1" larger than the finished size half-square triangle needed. Draw a line along the diagonal of one of the fabrics, sew 1/4" away from the line on each side. Cut on the line, press the half-square triangles open and then square them up to the needed unfinished size. This worked great, but drawing lines on 100 squares gets old fast.

Then I discovered the Angler 2. I love my Angler.

It can be a bit of chore to get it lined up right with the needle. It's a lot faster than drawing the bunch of diagonal lines though! Once it is set up properly and taped down, I can make a lot of half-square triangles pretty quickly. I still cut my square 1" larger than the needed finished size. I line up the tip of one corner with the appropriate line on my angler and sew. Then I just flip the square over and sew the other side. Cut on the diagonal, press open and square up.

I had to make 192 half-square triangles for the border of the Cub Scout quilt. Whew!

Cub Scout Quilt progress and a surprise

More progress on the Cub Scout quilt. I have two of the four borders made (a short side and a long side) and the long side is already attached to the quilt. I wanted to make sure that my measurements were correct and that the borders would fit before making any more half-square triangles. Looks like everything is working out as it should so now I get to make the rest of the half-square triangles.

And look what came in the mail for me today. A belated Mother's Day gift.

The Amazon Wish List is a wonderful thing! As I see stuff I want I just put it in my list. When there is a gift occasion my husband just picks something from my list. I love getting exactly what I want and he loves not having to do much shopping!

This is a beautiful book. It is small, just 8" square, but 1.5" thick. The kind of book you can look at over and over and see something new every time. If you are looking for some nice quilty eye candy, this book would be perfect.

Cub Scout Quilt progress

Here is the center of the Cub Scout quilt I'm working on for Parker. The pattern is the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern. I am using the yellow and blue Scout fabric to make a pieced border. A photo of my progress on that is below.

This is just a sample of how the border will look. I've got more half-square triangles sewn than this photo shows, but not all of them yet. I plan to put a narrow strip of green between the center and this border then use the same green for binding. It is not the same green as either of the two greens that are in the center. I do not have enough of either of these fabrics to do a border or binding. I decided not to buy more of the green Scout fabric and the other green is an older print that I couldn't find in the 30 minutes I looked for it online. My LQS had a very nice green that goes well with the other fabrics and will be just fine.

Yet Another Charity Quilt

I finished another charity quilt, the Scrappy Disappearing Nine Patch quilt. I made eleven of the large (14" square) nine patch blocks. This quilt used ten and a half of the eleven blocks and is baby size (39" by 45.5"). For the quilting I just stippled. This is a "get 'er done" project.

I've also been working on my Cub Scout Disappearing Nine Patch quilt that I am making for Parker. It is going to be twin size. The current quilt on his bed is about 5 years old. I thought he might like a new one. He has a birthday coming up at the end of May. I'm hoping to have it finished by then. The center is already put together. I am just trying to decide what kind of border(s) I will do. Here is a photo of a section of the quilt, before the blocks were sewn together.

Cub Scout Disappearing 9 Patch

Here are some in progress photos of the quilt I am making for Parker using the Cub Scout and Boy Scout fabric I bought recently. I'm still trying out block placement patterns, but so far this (above photo) is my favorite. Below is a photo of the two nine patch blocks I started with, then quartered to make the blocks above.

p.s. i quilt did a really nice tutorial for making the disappearing nine patch block. I've also heard it called tossed nine patch. Here I found a nice one page downloadable pdf instruction page for the block. Tomorrow I'll show you the scrappy version that I am making for charity and a sample for my upcoming guild block swap.

Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby for Parker's Pack was this afternoon. Parker won first place in his Den and third place Overall. He is very proud!

Cub Scout Christmas Party

Parker's Cub Scout Pack had their Christmas Party this evening. Badges and awards earned were handed out. Parker got some things for his belt for archery and BB gun shooting done at camp this past summer. He also got his popcorn prizes - a telescope; an adventure pack which contains a flashlight, compass, multi-tool and binoculars; and a second marshmallow shooter. In addition, he got a $100 gift card to Wal-mart for being the high seller, selling $1115.00 worth of popcorn! That is a lot of money for a 7 year old! Tony and I were so surprised. We had not been told that he was the high seller. I hope I can convince him to wait until after Christmas before spending his gift card. It will be interesting to see what he buys.

Scouts

Some photos of my scouts taken October 1st before their weekly den meeting. Parker is a Wolf this year, his second year in scouts. They are in the midst of the yearly popcorn sales event. Last year Parker did well, but didn't sell very much. It was his first year in scouts. By the time he got the forms the sale had been going on for about two weeks. Most folks we knew had already purchased from another scout. This year they started selling the very first day of the sale. So far he has filled up two order sheets (25 sales) and started on a third. As with most fund raisers like this, there are prizes given for sales and each level has nicer prizes. Parker set his sites on a telescope at the $1100 level. I didn't think he would even get close to that amount in sales, but he is currently at $965 with a week left to sell. He has worked very hard, selling almost every afternoon after school. I hope he makes it.