Thoughts of a Grasshopper

  Our State Fair was virtual this year. I've always wanted to enter a quilt in a show but I'll be honest, I'm too lazy to sew the sleeve on the back of the quilt for it to hang. The fact that it was virtual and you sent in one picture and it was the people's choice worked for me.  The quilts entered were amazing. There is a lot of talent and skill out there. Needless to say, my quilt was not the winner. While they did post the name of the winner, we have no way of knowing which quilt was hers. I'm sure it was lovely and perhaps one of the quilts I would have voted for. 

About 15 months ago a friend gave me his wife's fabric. She had passed away from cancer about 6 years ago. He requested that I make a quilt for him using her butterfly material. I cut the pieces a year ago in June. I sewed a few blocks together in August. Life got busier than usual and it sat on the shelf above my desk, a constant reminder that I needed to finish making this quilt. This is the second project that I completed because life slowed down due to COVID. I still have a quilt to make for his son, but he told me I can take my time. As did Ralph, but I wanted him to have his quilt as soon as I could make it. I share the above picture, not to show how horrible I am at taking pictures with my phone but because it captures the colors of the quilt better than the above picture where they seem much darker.  

The first positive thing from the closure due to the COVID pandemic is that I finally cut the fabric I bought last fall when Bonnie of Quiltville shared the color palette for the mystery quilt. Nifty wave look going on. The amazing part is that the top is made up of the block above and sashing.  This is the second mystery quilt from the past 7 years that I've managed to sew. I bought the fabric for the 2018-2019 quilt and never cut the fabric. I didn't want that to happen again, and this closure has provided the perfect opportunity to get busy with it. I just need to quilt and bind it now. Love how it turned out.

Stockings are one of my favorite things at Christmas.  I personally have not had a stocking in 30 years but how I loved them as a kid.  When you were waiting to open presents there was your stocking to look through with an orange in the toe of the stocking, nuts, candy, chapstick, little toys and games like a yo-yo, top, or those plastic squares that have the numbers 1-15 that you try to put in order.  A few years ago I put together a stocking for my mother as her Christmas gift.  It was fun to come up with things to include and to do the shopping for it.  I know she enjoyed it as much as I did.

This block is 99.5% done.  There is a ribbon bow to tie and attach to the top of the ornament but it needs to be quilted before I can add the bow.  Quick block to do that makes you feel like you are making progress at a rapid rate.

 I usually decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  With Thanksgiving being early this year, I've decided to wait a few extra days.  I'm hoping to finish a Christmas wall hanging by then.  I'm planning to have the 9 blocks appliqued by Thanksgiving and that weekend I will add the borders and quilt it.  My Christmas cards may end up going out a little later since I'm only half done making them.  Yikes! The wall hanging has a lot of nice blocks.  I started with my favorite of all the blocks.  I love this candy cane.  It makes me want to break out my Christmas books and read one we've enjoyed for years, "The Legend of the Candy Cane" by Laurie Walburg.  The book is beautifully illustrated and tells the symbolism of the candy cane and Jesus Christ.

I started this quilt April 5th and finished it July 31st.  I started with cutting the fabric and on April 7th I had the circle done, minus the very center that just needed two circles cut for it.  It sat for 11 weeks before I had time to work on it more.  I spent most of the day into the wee hours of the morning cutting the fabric for the backing and sewing the strips together.  It was crazy to think that these simple strips took 12+ hours of pressing, cutting, sewing pressing, sewing, pressing . . . It sat a few more weeks before braved attaching the circle to the background.  That part seemed a little intimidating to me.  One part of me wishes I attached it so the lines pointed to the corners and another part of me is glad it is the way it is and slightly offset. A little more sitting and waiting before I got it layered, quilted and bound.  I stitched in the ditch so that I would detract from the circle.  This is 48" x 48".  I l...

The YW had an auction to raise money for girls camp.  They did quite well raising more than they needed.  We were very surprised when a cake the girls did sold for $150.  It was the last thing auctioned off and several times during the auction my daughter commented she wanted it to be auctioned because she was curious what it would go for.  She decided it was saved for last because they expected it to go for good money. I made a small throw for the auction.  The pattern rated it as a throw, I consider it a quilt best for a toddler or preschooler.  It measured 41x49.  I was very grateful that it was small because I cut the fabric on Monday and was turning it in for the auction 4 days later. I used leftover strips from the front on the back to add some color. The girls also made a batch of homemade brownies to auction off.  The other cake that was made stuck to the bundt pan on top and it wasn't pretty but we sure enjoyed eating it.

Last week I took a break from working on the 2017 - 2018 programs for our DAR meetings and started working on this "bench pillow" by Kimberbell Designs.  I was motivated by July coming soon and I wanted this displayed before the holiday.  I waffled on keeping it as a pillow cover but still hanging it on the wall but for some reason I just can't bring myself to think of using it as a bench pillow.  I think it will take up the seat and people won't sit there or my family will use it and it will end up dirty and perhaps oily if they sleep on it.  I know, I know, it is washable but it is hard to get out oil stains from skin/hair on lighter fabrics. I called my husband at work Monday afternoon and suggested he may want to come home.  Probably should have started that differently as his mind probably thought something was wrong with his mother.  I quickly told him the wall hanging was done, I just needed to buy the curtain rod and I knew he would be anxious ...

Several months ago I started working on the top quilt.  Things were pretty busy around here and it took me about 2 months to complete.  Both quilts are a Missouri Star quilt.  I can't think of the name of the second quilt right now.  The top one has a video tutorial HERE .  It is called Pinwheels on Point with Fence Rail. The center block on this "orange" quilt is from the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt.  The block is 36" finished.  I had started the top one before I was told that the quilts should incorporate the color assigned to the trek family.  The top family had beige so I used a beige inner border to use their color.  For the orange family I was able to use it as a focus on the main block and throughout 90% of the blocks on the quilt. Both quilts measure 105.5" x 105.5".  Trying to keep costs down on these quilts I used scrap fabric and I bought over-sized flat king sheets for $15 each for the backing.   I'm not...

I took an applique class at the end of January at the local quilt shop.  I want to make wall hangings for an area of the living room that has a lot of wall space.  I decided to make a Valentine wall hanging.  Things have been busy because I've been preparing a presentation but I decided to take a break and work on this.  I spent a week on this and it moved along swiftly in the beginning.  I thought I would have it done quickly.  Then came the applique part.  Preparing the pieces and stitching.  (I did the stitching after this picture.)  I seriously entertained not bothering with the heart border.  In the end, I'm glad I did it.  The funny part is, I didn't finish it until tonight.  I sewed on the sleeve on the back and had it hanging before I made dinner.  It is done.  I appliqued!  That class was worth it!

The 36" block on top, that is the one that I had so much trouble with the cutting.  I was so frustrated with myself.  This is two months of blocks.  My goal is to do the month we are supposed to and one month that I'm catching up on.  I should be caught up in March.

 At the end of December when the rush the holidays bring was settling down I finally looked to see what stamp stores are near me.  I looked at the website of the one that is closest to me and saw that they have a Saturday Sampler.  There was 20 minutes before they closed so I rushed over and inquired about it.  It turns out that this started back in October but someone had dropped so they had room for me.  I signed up then and there and went back Dec. 30th to pick up 3 months of fabric. Let me tell you a couple of things about this.  I had agreed to sign up before I even knew what they were doing.  Part of this was I want to meet more people in the area.  I want to know the workers at the quilt shop that will hopefully be the one I frequent most.  I asked to see what we were making after I signed up and I wasn't excited. This is a modern quilt, I tend to lean toward traditional.  It is all solid fabrics.  I like prints.  I ...

We moved 3/4 of the way across the country this summer.  The girls had a short summer with school ending at the end of June.  They were at camp the last week of June/first week of July.  Their grandmother that was visiting us in June ended up in the hospital 2 days after her arrival and was there for 25 days.  When she was released we had her for a few days and she flew back home.  Two days after she left they started packing our belongings and the truck was loaded few days later. This is my first quilt project in our new home. The top is 90" x 110" Blocks 1-4  Blocks 5-8  Blocks 9-12 I'm glad I finally got around to making it.  I bought the fabric over 2 years ago.

There is a quilt sampler sew along going on right now called the Splendid Sampler .  I believe it  It started in February and will continue on into next year.  There are 100 blocks and some bonus blocks.  This bonus block was released May 31st.  I altered the sizes a bit to make it a little smaller for a mug rug.  Fun little block to put together.  I don't think I've ever worked with such small pieces.

I posted about the youth auction last year.  How fast the time goes by. One of our girls made caramel brownies.  She made 2 batches so she could cut a piece and people could see the caramel layer.  This recipe is divine! I made a Dr. Suess quilt for it. I bought enough material so I can make another one for one of my grandkids (probably another 7 years before I have one but you can never be too prepared. haha) Another one of our girls made Mississippi Mud Cake!  Takes me back to my childhood and my grandmother.   Our oldest daughter, while not going to camp and needing funds, contributed a tin of cards.  Since the cards were in the tin, this paper was out to show bidders what they were getting.  Several Paper Pumpkin cards in this tin.

I am in LOVE with this quilt!!  This is the 2015 Quiltville Mystery Quilt.  My second time doing a mystery quilt.  This is just the top.  It still needs to be quilted and have the binding sewn on.  This took me about 6 weeks to make, albeit 2 of the weeks I didn't touch it because I had other things needing my attention or I was procrastinating.  I knew Part 4 was going to take a long time.  I skipped it and went on to Part 5.  Then I had to suck it up.  It didn't disappoint with the amount of time it took to do it. I haven't uploaded pictures to my computer of the different steps but they are on Instagram. This took me about 100 hours and it has somewhere around 2,328 pieces.  So worth the effort.

At the end of July I started on this quilt.  I worked for about a week sewing most of the days to get the 12 main blocks done.  I guess I felt I had accomplished enough and I put aside and my focus went to genealogy for a month or so with some success taking one line back a couple of generations.  I decided this week that I needed to finish the top.  I want to start working on Christmas cards and I don't want to risk getting something on the fabric while it sits waiting for me to get back to it.   I still need to quilt and bind it but the top is done and I'm happy about that.  Now to start those Christmas cards. 

We got our son off on his mission earlier this month.  It has been pretty quiet around here.  I've had some cleaning/organizing projects and I've spent a lot of time on genealogy.  I pulled out this Revolution quilt that I had started in Florida.  I had already sewn all of the panels together I just needed the sashing and the border and it would be done.  Now I have a completed top and I've started another quilt that is queen size.  I've finished 12 blocks, just need to finish off the quilt.  What am I waiting for?  I bought the batting for the above quilt and will prepare for quilting after the girls are in school.  I would like to finish off the other quilt I started so I can prepare them both for quilting at the same time but I may regret that idea if I do it. This is our little garden.  We have 12 tomato plants, some zucchini, cucumber and pepper.  I did plant green beans but either the rabbit or the woodchuck got to them. ...

Last spring I somehow came across Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  I saw that the instructions would soon come down and I downloaded them.  I ended up buying one of her books for the previous mystery quilt, which I also liked.  I made a mental note to do the mystery quilt this year. In October she posted the paint chips to use a guide for the colors of the material.  I was at Lowe's that day getting the colors.  I started buying material that weekend.  It was really hard to find the blue/aqua color and I didn't buy all that I needed.  It wasn't until I was doing the first clue that I realized I still needed 1/2 a yd.  I wrote on the paint chips how much material I bought of each color at what store.  I took pictures with the fabric and the receipt (or something that tied it to that store) so I could easily know where to go to if I wanted more of a material. Here's the thing, the first clue is posted the day after T...