Last Saturday of the Month

For Christians, today is not just the last Saturday of March, it is  Holy Saturday.  The most important feast of the year takes place tomorrow, Easter Sunday.  I promised myself I would finish a lot of UFOs this month, but I only finished one of the items on my list.  Instead, I have been making small cloths to be used on a shelf in front of the tabernacle in my church.

It is hard to see the details of the embroidery because most of it is white rayon thread on white linen.

The machine embroidery patterns are from Embroidery Library.  The fabric is 2 layers of  Irish linen sewn pillow case style with braiding around the edges.  After seeing how wrinkled they were in the photos I starched and ironed them again.  We were so busy preparing the church for Easter that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the cloth on the  altar.

I completed a few orange blocks for March's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and will be adding my photos to the link up at Sew Scrappy.  I have enough strips and triangles cut for a few more  blocks, but that will have to wait until April.

 I found more pink strips so I added another pink block to my Rainbow Challenge from January.

I did manage to complete one small UFO. It's now put away to be used on a small table under my poinsettia plan next Christmas.

I have been trying to make one Scrappy Sawtooth block for each day of Lent.  Traditionally, Lent is considered to be 40 days, but this year the time from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday stretched to 46 days.  I only managed to make 37, but I have more crumb blocks and triangles ready to go.  These are the latest Sawtooth blocks added to the pile.  Although they look like a rose color in the photo, the star points are actually an odd brick color.

Sorry to place so many photos in one post, but I am just catching up with my completed projects.  I  needed to replace my camera.  After 7 years, the battery refused to charge and they no longer sell the battery it needs.. Our local Walmart is closing their camera department and I was able to purchase a Canon at a great price with more mega pixels.  Hopefully, that will improve my photo taking.      Happy Easter to all who celebrate

Hands 2 Help Challenge

One of the things I like best about the quilting community is how generous quilters are with their time and resources.  Quilts cost more to make than the average person would be willing to pay, but quilters continue to donate their handmade creations to people  they will never meet.  Sometimes the quilts are sent to places they will never visit or countries they can barely find on the map.

Sarah, of Confessions of a Fabriholic, runs a thriving quilt ministry at her church.  For the past few years, she has also sponsored an annual charity quilt challenge called Hands to Help.  This year, 2 charities will be the recipients of the quilts made during the challenge. Sarah always manages to find quest blogger's who offer tutorials and lots of prizes.  To read all of the information about the challenge and how you can participate, visit Sarah's blog.  If you sign up by tomorrow, March 30th, you could win a prize.

The Traveling Stash Box Moves On

We are expecting a snow storm starting later today with sustained wind at 50 mph.  Ugh!  Hopefully, the Traveling Stash box will make the winner's day a little brighter.

My macho assistant, Retired Guy, has consented to draw a name.

Congratulations Sherry.  I will email Sherry for her address and the box will be winging it's way to a new home.

Traveling Stash Box Arrives

Yesterday was a rainy, windy day, but receiving the Two Sister's Traveling Stash Box from Sharon V at Vroomans Quilts made the day fun in spite of the weather.  The box is filled to the top with mostly fabrics, but there are a few books and patterns and some very useful notions including zippers.

I removed one 2 yard piece of yardage and well as 2 Tapestry charm packs.

I put in one quilt pattern.

1 Moda panel.

A one yard piece of Mermaid fabric, 4 half yard cuts of Moda fabric, one 3/4 yard piece of black and white fabric, and 3 fat quarters.

Due to the high cost of postage, only US residents are eligible to receive the box.  You can check all of the rules and guidelines governing the Traveling Stash Box at . Sewingly Along.  If you would like to receive the box, please leave a comment stating your favorite pre-cut.  I will draw a name on Tuesday, March 5th and notify the winner by email.

In spite of great intentions, I did not finish even one UFO this month.  I did however start 2 New FOs that I am linking to Cat Patches Newfo Linky party.  I really love the crumb  Sawtooth blocks I started in February.  I will be using them for donation quilts later in the year.

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I also started work on the blocks for the 2013 Wiggly Whimsy Quilt Along at Terry's Treasures.  I really liked this quilt when I saw it at the Moda Bake Shop, but I probably would not have started it if it wasn't for Terry and her quiltalong.

Stop over at Cat Patches blog and see all of the new projects that were started in February.

Making Up For Lost Time

I was really excited about my daughter coming home for President's Weekend, but the time went very fast and we didn't get to spend much of it together.  Plans were changed on that Saturday morning when my future daughter in law called and asked if I would go to David's Bridal Shop and give my opinion on the gown she chose.  No one from her family was able to go with her so I tagged along.  I'm sure the day was difficult for her.  Most women would prefer to have their mother or a close female relative, but she made the best of it and it turned out to be a lovely experience.

 The dress is a size 6 and fits perfectly so the only alterations she will need will be to add a loop to pull up the train.

 This shows the back detail without the halter tie hanging down.

After the bride chooses her dress, she rings a bell so everyone can see her.  Some of the women were very excited about it.  Our bride was not.  The frothy thing on the mannequin to the left is one of the gowns Kim Kardashian wore during her wedding festivities.  It looks like a float made of toilet paper that high school kids would make for home coming.  The bridal consultant told us that almost every bride that comes in tries it on.  We passed on the opportunity.

I pulled out my purple scraps and continued to make blocks for the  Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 and linked up over at So Scrappy.  Unfortunately, the colors look a bit off and are showing up as blue.  They really are a dark purple.  I'm using leftover strips of white on white (at least 3 different kinds) and strips and charm squares of purple.

I continued to use my crumb squares to make more Saw Tooth Star blocks.  I have been using pieces of tone on tone and solid fabrics from my stash to make the star points.  This will be an ongoing project for me.  I don't plan on sewing them into tops until later in the year.

I finished sewing all of the blocks for the Wiggly Whimsy Sew Along over at Terry's Treasures.  Now that my blocks are sewn, I can slow down and sew the rows together a bit at a time.  I did not use Rebecca Silbaugh's method from her recipe over at the Moda Bake Shop.  She uses a white jelly roll for the background and a charm pack cut into 2.5 inch charms.  I cut yardage into 5 inch squares and matched each with a charm and after sewing on 2 sides I cut them in quarters which gave me 4 blocks with 1 charm square and 1 background square. I sewed some of the 2 piece combos on one side and cut it in quarters resulting in 2 two patch blocks., 2 unsewn background squares and 2 unsewn charm squares that I could attach to the sewn 2 patch blocks to make a 3 patch block.  The original quilt finishes at 56.5 square.  I like rectangles so I added one and a half extra blocks. You might notice that the bottom row has one block in the wrong position.  When I sew them, it will be corrected.

I am determined to finish my chosen UFO this month.  Time is running out, but hopefully I will get it done by midnight Thursday.

Snow Bound Stitching

Last weekend we were snowbound.  The storm that blanketed the northeast turned out to be less of a disaster than originally predicted for our area.  The original forecast was for 12 to 18 inches and as the storm approached, the numbers ratcheted up to 20 to 22 inches.  Luckily, the storm moved closer to the coast and we only saw 12 inches.  My daughter is in graduate school outside of Boston where they received 27 inches.

In the background of this photo, you can see some of the trees that were knocked down during Super Storm Sandy back in October.

By late Saturday, our driveway was plowed, but the surrounding roads were treacherous and so we hunkered down near the wood burning stove and didn't venture out until Monday.

 Last week I was the lucky winner of some scraps from the cutting table of Stephanie at Spontaneous Threads.  I apologize for not taking a picture before I dived into the pile, but they arrived just as the snow started to fall and they inspired me to play. There were lots of strings and strips in Stephanie's box that I wanted to use right away.   I had a large pile of crumb blocks in various sizes that I immediately pulled out to play with.

The scraps are lovely (the fussy cut typewriter is super), but it really made me question my own sanity.  I have LOTS of beautiful uncut yardage, precuts of all kinds, a pile of UFOs that rivals Mt. McKinley,  and TONS of scraps, so why am I excited about using Stephanie's scraps.  I know I am not the only one who falls into this category.  I have curbed my participation in blogs hops and limited commenting on every giveaway post I find, but there is something magical about receiving a package in the mail from someone you have never met.

I pushed aside the UFO list I planned to work from and instead made some scrappy Saw Tooth Star blocks with a white on cream background that was buried in my stash.

I have a dozen more ready to sew today and they are starting to take over the family room floor.

One of the quilt alongs I am taking part in this year is the 2013 Wiggly Whimsy Sew-Along at Terry's Treasures.   I'm already behind, but yesterday I bought my background fabric at Joann's and this morning I chose the charm squares I will use from Lovely by Sandy Gervais.

The quilt only requires 37 charm squares, but I eliminated everything with a white background, plaids, and stripes so I needed 2 charm packs.

It's a very easy quilt, so I should be able to catch up over the weekend.  Terry has a wonderful blog with lots of beautiful projects to look at.  It really is worth stopping by and taking a look.
Have a wonderful President's Day weekend.  I'm all excited because my sweet baby girl (even though she is 24 she is still the baby of the family) will be home for the weekend.  She will also be bringing a ton of wash and empty plastic containers that she will expect us to fill with all of her favorite foods.  I can't wait.

Close But No Cigar

Even the best of intentions can fall by the wayside.  I was determined to finish at least one UFO in January.  Unfortunately, that never happened.  I did manage to work on 2 of my projects and start a new one.
I will be linking up to Cat Patches January New FO Party with the block I made for So Scrappy's  Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I cut apart and resewed the blocks for my Twister Wreath table topper.  It went from this.

To this.

Although I was less than successful in January, I hope to complete a few more of  UFOs.  This wreath table topper will be at the top of the list.  It will be my UFO for February for A Lovely Year of Finishes at Bitter Sweet Designs.