Welcome to Area 51!

I am, as you may know, a self-crowned queen of UFOs and I have the piles of quilt tops, blocks, partially pieced tops, quilts that just need a binding, a sleeve or small thing that will back up my claim. So, of course when Joan at MooseStashQuilting.com announced a UFO blog hop…well, who could resist? Certainly not me…especially when I have such a stack of good options! The question of which UFO to finish was easy, though.

Last year, my niece was nominated for her first Emmy for casting the animated show, “Baby Shark.” We were, to say the least, super, super excited! And then, in a late-night phone chat helping a friend shop for fabric…there is was! Baby Shark fabric! It was meant to be! I mean, how many times is there going to be fabric tied to a super special life event for one of my favorite people?

So, I started a big-star quilt with the idea of a fishy-border. My plan was to have it ready for her birthday but, well, a combination of things kept me from finishing. What stops your progress on a quilt? I’ve noticed that I can stutter to a stop on a project for a lot of reasons: not being able to see the next thing, worrying that it won’t come out as well as I imagined it, and the biggest reason of all – another new project comes along (AKA “Oh look, a squirrel!”)

But, this hop came along and that was tops on my UFO’s to finish list. Funny story, I also finished it a week early because I thought the hop was last week!

So, here’s to Baby Shark and my wonderful, talented niece who cast it!

I was able to ship it to my niece and she loved it! And, there’s a UFO off my list…now if I could just convice Carla to do this once a month for the next oh, ten years, I could make a dent in my list…LOL! Big thanks to Joan for a much needed kick of excitement and encouragement!

Be sure to hop over and see the other bloggers and then come back in a couple of weeks….I’m going to see if I can get a UFO from a previous hop finished and off my list, too!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Monday July 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Lianne Makes Stuff

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Time4Stitchn

Scrapdash

Tuesday July 26

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Days Filled With Joy

Kathys Kwilts and More

Food For Thought

Wednesday July 27

Stitching Farm Girl

BeaQuilter

SelinaQuilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt Doodle Designs

Quilting Gail

Thursday July 28

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Lynns Blog

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Home Sewn by Us

Friday July 29

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew Quilter

MooseStashQuilting

Sew Much to Say…

I’ve got sew much to catch up on but, if I try, I’m afraid I’d be writing a novel in place of a blog post!

There’s been a lot going on…end of the school year, a trip to Sister’s (where I got sidelined by a migraine and missed the quilt show), lots of paperwork and not nearly as much sewing as I’d like but I did get a fun UFO done…and speaking of UFO’s….it’s a whole blog hop of UFO’s!

Be sure to hop back on Friday when I share my most recent finish!

Monday July 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Lianne Makes Stuff

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Time4Stitchn

Tuesday July 26

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Days Filled With Joy

Kathys Kwilts and More

Food For Thought

Wednesday July 27

Stitching Farm Girl

BeaQuilter

SelinaQuilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt Doodle Designs

Home Sewn by Us

Thursday July 28

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Lynns Blog

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Quilting Gail

Friday July 29

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew QuilterMooseStashQuilting

Foodie Blog Hop

Are you a foodie? I’m a super picky eater and my oldest says I have the palate of a 5 year-old! I disagree, of course, but I do have some very strong feelings about things like onions (the texture, not the flavor), apples (must be crisp, not mushy) and pears (taste like they have sand in them!) However, the beauty of food-themed fabric is that I like ALL of it! I had a fat quarter group from our Quarterly Quilter’s Tea that was perfect for this hop. Our theme had been “Fruits and Vegetables.” I used the Stacked Bricks free pattern from over at Christa Quilts and decided to go for a “mushy” look. I kept thinking about “mushy peas” which seriously sounds much worse than it is!

This top still needs to grow a little bit in length and then I may use the remaining pieces for a back.

I had such fun finally bringing these fabrics out to play! I think another Stacked Bricks could be in my future and I’d love to play with the different layouts that Christa provides.

Thanks so much to Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks for assembling this fun team! Please be sure to hop on over to the other bloggers and see what’s up!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Monday, May 23rd

Just Let Me Quilt

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Karrin’s Crazy World

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Scrapdash.com

Lianne Makes Stuff

lynns blog

Tuesday, May 24th

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Samelia’s Mum

Quilting Gail

Quilt Schmilt

Quilted Delights 

Words & Stitches

Wednesday, May 25th

Patchouli Moon Studio

Selina Quilts

Inflorescence

Karen’s Korner

Days Filled With Joy

Patchwork Breeze

VroomansQuilts

Thursday, May 26th

MooseStashQuilting

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel 

Ms P Designs USA

Pampered Pettit

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Beaquilter

The Cat Vomit Quilt – Explained

So, I promised an explaination about the Cat Vomit Quilt and so….to make a long story long…

Once upon a time, I told my husband that I had heard, on good authority, that you can’t be a crazy cat lady if you had a husband. That was when we started calling ourselves the crazy cat couple. And, with one thing and another, we wound up outnumbered in our sleeping arrangements with five cats sharing the bed with us. (Griff often declined to sleep with us but Jack, Zoe, Winnie, Milo and Gizmo loved to snuggle up with us. Sharing your room with multiple cats leads to some serious laundry issues. I don’t know if you have cats but mine seem to have a rare talent for hairballs and upset stomachs…usually right after laundry day!

So there was a need for a utility quilt. Something that could go in and out of the washing machine on a weekly (at least) basis. Enter the blog post for the Scrap Vortex Quilt over at Crazy Mom Quilts! I love, love, love playing with scraps and the idea of tossing all my wee bits of scraps into a fun utility quilt lit a fire in my heart. A word of advice, do take Amanda’s advice and cut your blocks into regular-sized units. I decided to keep just improving it and it did get me into a few sticky situations!

I kept thinking that the quilt was big enough and we had several auditions like this one..

Jack modeling the CVQ

I kept thinking I had it almost big enough like in this photo. My plan was to add a to the width after this round but I managed to put the next row on the wrong end. With one thing and another this quilt got pushed to the side and then, when I picked up it again, it still wasn’t big enough!!!

I added a few more blocks and, when it wasn’t big enough yet, I decided to add a navy border and piano keys made from the 2″ strip drawer. Then, I needed a backing. I cobbled together six different flannels to get enough width and still only had about four inches on each side to spare! Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that flannel on the back of all of those seams might make for a very heavy quilt. And, by the way, adding another 11 inches to all sides of an already big quilt makes a VERY BIG QUILT!

I think I realized I might be in a little bit of trouble when I got the quilt on the frame and it took over most of my 12-foot frame. It looked big spread out on my porch stairs but it looked REALLY big when I put it on my bed!

Suddenly, my queen-sized bed looked much smaller and, in order to accommodate the quilt, I had to fold the end like this…

Yes, you could totally go right up and over the pillows with this one! I had a very real concern that my “wash and wear” utility quilt was not going to fit in my washer and dryer but, courtesy of the cats, we’ve tested that theory already. It did take three cycles in the dryer but the Cat Vomit Quilt is freshly washed and dried and is ready to conitnue it’s sworn duty to protect other well-loved quilts on my bed and to serve as the first line of defense against kitties with a hairball agenda! And as an added bonus, there’s very little chance of me ever being cold at night again!

So, there it is…the Cat Vomit Quilt explained! I hope you’ll come back soon as I’m starting a new quilt with fabric from a new line and a new designer! I’m so excited!

Happy quilting (no matter what size your quilt ends up!)

Beth

Wonderful World of Color

Oh my goodness, this is a first…I was sure my day was Thursday and then I got sidelined by a migraine and like the White Rabbit… I’M LATE! My apologies, my friends ans especially to our fearless leader!

I love bright colors and have been playing with them a lot lately. Here are a few

But the quilt I’m sharing for our hop has all the colors…. here’s my scrap vortex quilt aka the cat vomit quilt (long story, more later.)

Proof once more that all the colors really do go with all the other colors!

Again, my apologies for the mix up!

Please visit the other bloggers and hop over to moosestashquilting.com and show some love for our fearless leader, Joan!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Happy Easter!

Spring had sprung in the Pacific Northwest and my oldest daughter and I made a trip to the tulip farm which was chilly but always so beautiful!

However, the very next day, we had a snow day! In April!

I was excited for the extra sew day, though and thoroughly enjoyed it. By 5, it had melted, the sky was blue and school went off without a hitch the next day.

This weekend was our quilter’s tea and we got to see some terrific finishes! The black and white quilt blocks were ones we made for our youngest member when she got engaged. The blue and yellow is a quilt that is headed to the Ukraine and is wonderfully quilted with words of hope in both English and Ukrainian. We opted to postpone our Easter brunch because one of my younger daughter’s housemates was ill so we will be celebrating next week instead.

Now that Project Quilting is done, I’m working on rehabbing the sewing room. In keeping with my “tiny tidy” approach, this week was the ironing station. Here’s a little before, during and after. I love, love, love my Oliso irons, by the way (and, no, I’m not affiliated, just a fan!)

So, the Wonderful World of Color Blog Hop starts today! My day is later in the week but get ready for lots of fun and inspiration!

Monday April 18

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Ms P Designs USA

Samelia’s Mum

Kathleen McMusing

That Fabric Feeling

Scrapdash

 Tuesday April 19

Just Let Me Quilt

BeaQuilter

Songbird Designs

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Purring Cottage 

Stitchin at Home

Time4Stitchn

Wednesday April 20

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilting Gail

Quilt Schmilt

Words & Stitches

Quilted Delights

Lynn’s Blog

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

 Thursday April 21

Just Sew Quilter

Days Filled With Joy

Selina Quilts

Karrin’s Crazy World

The Darling Dogwood

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel

 Friday April 22

Kathys Kwilts and More

Pieceful Thoughts

Karen’s Korner

Inflorescence

Crafts and Math

MooseStashQuilting

I’ll see you back soon but in the meantime, I hope you have some fun stitching time in your week!

Happy quilting,

Beth

PQ 13.6 – Flying Geese

The last prompt for Project Quilting Season 13 was Flying Geese and I can tell you that ideas flew around my heaId like crazy! There were literally flocks of ideas but they didn’t colalesce until Wednesday and the serious sewing started on Thursday. I was inspired by a quilt I saw on a Fons & Porter page while I was googling flying geese. I loved the idea of “super sizing” my geese…they are finished at 12×6″. While I was pulling fabric, I made a whole bunch of false starts until I remembered a stack of fat quarters that had been stocking stuffers from my youngest and my husband. I will admit that I’m a bit of a fabric snob and these “big box’ cottons were a tad on the thin and papery side so I had shelved them together and thought I would put them all together in a quilt. That way, the fabric should shrink at a similar rate and wear about the same. I’m delighted with how this came out and even managed to get a photo in the last dregs of daylight! This measures 64×64” and contains 50 flying geese units. Fun fact, if you are using fat quarters, you can get all the pieces for three geese (centers and sides) out of each fat quarter. I pressed and layered them up and then sewed pairs of geese. By reversing the placement, you can use two geese to make a chevron. I would love to try this again and play more with the color placement but I’d need more than a week!

Fresh off the long-arm machine and unbound but I wanted that daylight shot!

OK, maybe dusk is a more apt description but still….;

The leftover binding bin came into play again this week and I put three together to bind the quilt

Milo is tired from supervising! And, a pile of quilts is great for napping.

So, thank you so much to the whole Project Quilting Team! I feel like a winner every challenge because I have done something new and pushed my comfort zone out just a bit.

Happy ‘Quilting,

Beth

Time in a Bottle… it’s my day!

I had so many ideas for this blog hop! I love the look of hourglass blocks and they’re so fun to piece and so quick to stitch when I cut them with the accuquilt…bonus, no dog ears to trim! I had been making the 16-patches out of the leftovers from the string border on the Cat Vomit Quilt (still waiting to show you that when it’s quilted.) It occurred to me that if I sewed my piano key strips (2″ strips from the scrap bin) into sets of four, the leftover bits could be sub cut into a row of four squares. Four strips sewn together gave me sixteen patch blocks! And, to my amazement…the 2″ strip bin actually started to diminish! So, I decided to throw together some hourglass blocks and a quilt start was born! Now, I didn’t quilt this because I have decided that I’d like to make it quite a bit bigger. This section is 48×48 and, if I make four of these, I’ll have a nice queen-sized quilt. This is just the kind of scrappy quilt I love seeing on a bed. Bonus, if you can’t sleep, you can spend hours looking at all the different prints!

Of course, I noticed after I took the picture that I had managed to put one hourglass block in the wrong position but it will be an easy fix with the seam ripper. If you’re not ripping occasionally, you’re not actually sewing, right?

I’m excited to be sharing this day with these great bloggers…

March 17
Ms P Designs USA
Quilt Schmilt
That Fabric Feeling
Quilted Delights
Words & Stitches
Selina Quilts

Big thanks to Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt for pulling this together!

Now, I’m off to start my Project Quilting Challenge…wish me luck!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Time in a Bottle? Yes, please!

Wow, if I could really bottle time…what would I do…well, more quilting of course! (I mean, what answer did you expect?) Well, we didn’t really bottle any time but I’m having a grand time working on my hourglass project and Carol at Just Let Me Quilt has put together a great lineup of “time turners.”

Come back to see me Thursday but in the meantime, check out these wonderful blogs:

March 14
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Vroomans Quilts
Patchouli Moon Studio
Samelia’s Mum
Days Filled With Joy
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Stitchin At Home
 
March 15
MooseStashQuilting
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
The Darling Dogwood
Quilting Gail
Time 4 Stitchn
Beaquilter
 
March 16
 Inflorescence
Lynn’s Blog
Karen’s Korner
Stitching Farm Girl
Scrapdash
Familypatchworks
 
March 17
Ms P Designs USA
Quilt Schmilt
That Fabric Feeling
Quilted Delights
Words & Stitches
Selina Quilts
 
March 18
Just Let Me Quilt
Bumbleberry Stitches
Karrin’s Crazy World
Lianne Makes Stuff
Crazy’boutquilts
Songbird Designs

PQ 13.5

More late night photos…. update in the morning! Sunflowers, approx 58×58

But, we all know that daylight changes things!

Rhythem & Repetition was the prompt this week and with the Ukraine on my (and everyone else’s mind) this week, I decided to try my hand at a Sunflower Quilt. This block is a variation of a block I used for my Sunshine blog hop but I upsized it to a 16″ block and changed the corner. I’m not sure I’m quite happy with the corner yet but that is the beauty of a one-week challenge. I don’t have time to overthink it, it’s just a “grab an idea and go” situation! If I’d known when I started that this would end up with 1050 pieces, I might not have taken it on but it sort of took on a life of it’s own. The biggest trick I have up my sleeve is my Accuquilt. Between using it to cut all the squares and triangles and the strips for subcutting the rectangles, I saved a whole bunch of time! It was a gift from my daughter and I am so glad to have it! I have to admit that the power supply issue is ongoing (I’m on my third one but I’m hoping they’ll get that resolved soon.)

So, having spent the week in the sewing room, I need to spend today catching up on the rest of life’s mundanities…laundry, cleaning, cooking…well, making salads in a jar for this week and a pot of soup. And, of course, more quilting!

Happy quilting!

Beth