Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) - Christmas In July

Peggy of Quilts and Adventures and Jeanna of Slammin' The Screen Door, regularly tempt me with their cross stitch projects, and I noticed Jeanna participates in the Friday Night Sew In (F.N.S.I.), hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Designs blog. There is also a Facebook group, and I thought this might be good motivation for me to work on a Christmas project. 

Joy of Days Filled With Joy has a Christmas In July Stitchalong that began a few weeks ago. Tonight is catch-up night for this cute little design!

I hope to blog about this pumpkin stocking on the next FNSI. Again, Jeanna to blame!

I am linking to Wendy's FNSI

Dog Days Doings

Rosie in the supervisory kitty hammock

I keep looking out my window hoping to see clouds, better yet, thunderstorms marching our way, but we have a dismal forecast of hot, hot, hot. So to take my mind off the weather, I am sorting out the piles on my cutting table today. What follows is a little peek into my world these past few weeks.

This has been the summer of the slump for me (in fact several months of slump), but Karen's plan of doing "a little each day" struck a chord, so I did some actual sewing yesterday and finished the next block in Joy's Say It With Flowers BOM. This sweetly simple block of the month has required the least amount of thought for me along with a great deal of enjoyment stitching in front of the TV at night, so it is one of the few things I have "kept up" with this summer. Joy has been nursing a broken wrist, so I appreciate her providing these pretty embroideries.

I did a little rearranging, with the assistance of my chief quilt holder, and switched the design wall with the fabric shelves. The fabric shelves were the first thing on the right as you walk into my room, so now you can see that the space seems more open. I'm not sure I ever shared that I changed rooms with the guest bedroom a few months ago. This room is a bit smaller, but now we have a guest bedroom that is connected to the bathroom, and it is more privately located in the back of the house.

I did finally finish a little flag quilt, compliments of Melisa's generously offered pattern right here. I really had fun with these. It is 34"x34" and will hang above our still-standing Fourth of July decorations on our entry table. I'll try to update with a photo - once we stop eating pie and cookies and get it hung on the wall!

Messy shelves

I pretty much shoved all the fabric back into the cabinet after we moved it. And yes that is a referee shirt. My son-in-law referees high school games, and he asked if I would do a little sewing for him.

Quilts for Baby (Everett's ragged, stuffed dinosaur) and Bunny (Delaney's dilapidated bunny)

The Littles have been here a couple times this summer, and we have never enjoyed them so much. They are 8 and 5 years old, nicely past diapers, bottles, and tantrums, and they are little goofballs. And they love to sew! It is the first thing they ask to do - I am so blessed - and so we made small quilts for Baby and Bunny, their stuffies. Everett can't reach the foot pedal so Grandma bends over to do it for him (and Grandma's back pays for it), but Delaney can do it all. They also love to go into the garden - they easily spot the tomatoes for me but I pick them because . . . "there may be spiders Grandma".

Hubs surprised me with these Guggenheim scissors. I had not asked for them, so I really am blown away that he chose them. They are made right here in Texas! They are surprisingly hefty, and they cut like buttah. I love using them!

Sour cherry pie

Made this Sour Cherry Pie a few days ago, and it's already gone. Don't let the name fool you - it has plenty of sugar to overcome the tart cherries. In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day today, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, so those will be in the oven soon!

I am linking this post to:

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs 

Sew and Tell at Melva Loves Scraps

FON Friday at Alycia Quilts

Stitching Stuff at Life In Pieces

How is your summer going?

Feeling Pensive

Written by Melania Trump

In the face of yesterday's events, it is difficult to put my feelings into words. We were watching President Trump's rally in Butler PA and saw the attempt on his life in real time. I am so grateful to God that President Trump is still alive. I am grateful for the men and women of the Secret Service who selflessly protected him with their lives. I am sad for the family of Donald Trump and for Melania Trump, who wrote those eloquent words above about the situation in which she finds herself, because their stress has just been magnified. No matter what your feelings are about Donald Trump, he is still a man who has a family that loves him.

Facebook post by the daughter of Corey Comperatore 

And I am sad for the family of the former firefighter, Corey Comperatore, who lost his life protecting his family. He was simply a man whose life ended tragically while enjoying a day with his family.

President Trump moments after the shooting

I pray for the families of all affected - President Trump and his family, the family and friends of Corey Comperatore, and for the family of the alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks. I cannot imagine the shock, disbelief, and grief that his family must be feeling.

President Biden speaking about the shooting

I am thankful that President Biden put aside his politics to make a personal phone call to "Donald" and to publicly condemn the shooting. It is notable that both President Biden and President Trump agree on a call for unity! My hope is that we may all put aside our partisan politics and simply be grateful for life, to feel love for our fellow man, and to pray for unity in our nation.

Weather, Gypsy Quilts, and Other Quilty Things

Here in far north Texas we have been dodging EF3 tornadoes, hail, lightning, and floods. Somehow our area has remained unscathed with a little bit of hail and wind, but mostly good spring rain. Some of the communities to the west were not so lucky! The radars above were from four days of Radarscope screenshots as weather approached, and the radar capture on the right shows velocity radar just about the time an EF3 was hitting the town of Celina, 30 miles southwest of us.

In between checking the radar, life in the sewing room continues with fits and starts, and here are two flimsies made from the Gypsy pattern from Villa Rosa Designs. This was one of the patterns available for the Villa Rosa Fast and Fun Blog Hop. If you like fast stash busters, I highly recommend this pattern. The pattern has been renamed as "Onstage", and you can find it right here.

For the first Gypsy, I centered my choices around a dark blue floral from the Riley Blake Indigo Garden collection, some Decostitch by Art Gallery, and the rare and wonderful PB&J collection by Basic Grey. (Side note: I recently saw a PB&J jelly roll on Etsy for $140.00! - gasp!) I made the flimsy bigger with borders. You can see the batting and binding ready to go in the photo above.

For the second flimsy,I was inspired by Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing, who made a blues-y version of Gypsy. I decided on blue-ish purples with a bit of green thrown in. I left it at the original size, and I am hand quilting it. Slowly. And with huge stitches that are intended to be small and even. But this is a good quilt to experiment with hand stitching, because it is going to a sweet, wheel-chair bound lady who will simply be thrilled to receive it.

Since I finished my Villa Rosa Blog Hop quilt, I discovered an HST that decided to go another way (see above photo inside red heart), and so I have affectionately chosen the name Rogue Star for this quilt! I refuse to say it is a mistake. It reminds me of me, as I have so often decided to go another way rather than do the "expected" thing - lol!

I continue to lag behind on two of my sew-alongs. In the photos above:

1) Pieces Of My Life by Melva at Melva Loves Scraps - a post is coming soon!

2) I only have two blocks for the Mercantile Sampler SAL I am doing with Karen, but there is no hurry!

3) A BOM (Block of the Month) by Joy of Days Filled With Joy called Say It With Flowers, and I am caught up with it!

I am thinking about starting another SAL - I've had total fail on my vow to stay away from sew-alongs in 2024, so I might as well add another - right? This one is called Ticker Tape Heart. It is a 3-day challenge starting May 31, and it just looks different and fun. The block reminds me of Diann's pretty Crumb Hearts quilt!

Family News and Sewing Stuff!

Grandson Brandon and Raegan are engaged!

Brandon said she started crying as soon as he got down on one knee

Proud parents! That's our son and daughter-in-law on the right.

THE ENGAGEMENT

Our grandson Brandon surprised his sweetheart Raegan with a  proposal in the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Golden, Colorado on March 17! Both sets of parents were in on the surprise.

Raegan recently graduated from Oklahoma University law school and is studying for the Bar. In August she will begin a job in Dallas, where Brandon already lives and works. She is such a sweet girl! They are planning an April 2025 wedding!

THE GRADUATION

Our beautiful Granddaughter #1 - Sydney - graduated from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX last week. We drove down to our old stomping grounds, attended the ceremony with our son and family.

Our oldest grands - Samantha (Sammy) - soon to be 21, Sydney - 23, and Brandon -25

All of us ate at Olive Garden, then we spent the night with our son and daughter-in-law in The Woodlands.

Not sure why poor Papaw was shoved over to the curb to awkwardly straddle it - lol!

A FINISH!

While we were there I was able to give #1 Grandson Brandon his Texas A&M quilt before he headed back to Dallas. He graduated Summa Cum Laude back in 2021, so this is overdue! He was very pleased and even texted me late that night to tell me how much he loved it - words a grandma loves to hear!

#1 Quilt Holder on duty

The back was (obviously) a Texas A&M print

I used this disappearing nine-patch pattern. I struggled with the layout for this and did not want to add more blocks, so the quilt only finished at about 55" x 70" after laundering. It is not quite long enough for Brandon's tall frame, but I have a feeling it will be used as decor rather than warmth! The binding (didn't get a close-up) is the same as the block background pictured above, and I used Spirit #805, a red and black variegated thread by Superior Threads, for quilting. I used the Drift panto  from Urban Elementz for a quilting pattern, although I widened the area between the rows.

 

Birthday Cake block and Angel Star block

SEW-ALONGS

In spite of my resolve to not engage in any sewalongs this year, I have succumbed to three! These are my blocks for the Fat Quarter Shop SewAlong Mercantile. I am joining in with Karen at  Quilts Etc. Karen is a great resource for me (thank you Karen!) as I try something new-to-me. Lori Holt is hosting the sew-along and has tutorials available on her blog.

These is one completed block and the start of the next one for Joy's block of the month and my second sew-along, Say It With Flowers. The little centers are easy to embroider. I hope to have a quilt from this, but I have a concern. Have any of you had any color-bleeding with floss when it is laundered? I have color catchers and wonder if that would keep that from happening.

My third sew-along is Pieces Of My Life with Melva at Melva Loves Scraps (see below)

Left - Flimsy sneak peek and Right - Pieces of My Life blocks

COMING UP

One of my Villa Rosa Quilt Hop flimsies will be a quilt soon. And I plan to catch up with Pieces of My Life memory blocks this week. You can find details of my first memory block post right here.

Hope you are enjoying your week!

Quiltmania: My Thoughts

The quilting world was recently stunned by the closure of Quiltmania, Inc., publisher of Quiltmania, the wildly popular quilting magazine. The editor, Carol Veillon, wrote more of a lament than an apology on their Instagram post (pictured above), simply thanking those who had a part in the success of the magazine and not addressing the thousands of loyal readers who were left with unfulfilled subscriptions. Along with the announcement came the website shutdown and no direction for customer service. Many of the comments on the post are painful to read. One woman had received a subscription as a gift from her teenager, and she was heartbroken. Several others received theirs as gifts, and many had just recently subscribed and had not even received their first issue. What is even more upsetting is the non-response of Carol or anyone from the magazine in addressing these subscriber concerns. In the well-spoken words of Shania Twain, "That don't impress me much".

I purchased one issue of Quiltmania years ago (not the one pictured), and I thought it was pricey even then. After reading through it, my overwhelming feeling was that I wasted my $13.99. It just isn't my kind of magazine, but apparently I am in the minority. I have no idea what the individual cost is now, but I did see one mention of $160 for a subscription. While reading through the comments on the Instagram post, I was struck by the one common thread. All of them, whether unhappy about their subscriptions or simply eulogizing, were remorseful about the magazine closure, and I am sad for all of them and the loss of their "happy mail".

Here is the link to the PDF of the final issue: QM Issue 160 and the mystery patterns may be found at this link: Free Quiltmania.

In other news: Hopefully before the weekend, I will have another post up, with a big family announcement and a finish or two. Here is a sneak peek!

Villa Rosa Blog Hop - My Day - Rogue Star

Welcome to my day for the Villa Rosa Blog Hop - Fast and More Fun! If you have missed any of the posts, you can check below, where I have a clickable list of all participants. A big pat on the back to our hostess, Tricia at Villa Rosa Designs! I am so appreciative of her putting together this blog hop with such amazing prizes and a list of 28 participants! Thank you Tricia! And thank you Jeanna and Wendy for the reminder that today is National (aka Worldwide or International) Quilting Day!

NOTE: If you were unable to find the post for CT Publishing yesterday, they were experiencing technical difficulties with their Comment section. I have added their link to today's list. Be sure to note the link in their post to enter their giveaway!

You can win prizes!

OK first let's talk about prizes! Each participating blogger gets to select a total of 7 winners, including three Individual Prize winners, one winner for a set of the Blog Hop patterns, and three names for entries into the Grand Prize drawings!! That means that seven of you who comment on my blog will have a chance to be entered into the giveaways! I will do a random drawing at the end of the blog hop and send a list to Tricia. If you win, you will be notified by email. Please note that if your comment posts as "Anonymous", please put your name and email address in your comment so you can be contacted! You may find a list of sponsors toward the end of this post.

This is a quilt I made in 2017 with Tricia's Akito pattern. You may read the details in this post.

Tricia's patterns are on pretty cards or you can purchase the digital edition. For this blog hop, Tricia generously offered us these five Villa Rosa patterns from which to choose for our creations, or we could make all of them. I had trouble making up my mind, but ultimately I chose Twinkle (on the right), with Gypsy running a close second. The set of five patterns is only $8.95, and you may purchase the set right here, or you can find information on the individual patterns below:

• 31
• Clover
• Ebb Tide
• Gypsy
• Twinkle

For this pattern I chose fabrics from a kit I bought in 2014 - Elementary by Basic Grey - and for the sashing a I used a fabric I purchased from That's So Janice on Etsy - a floral from 2013, "Serenity" from Riley Blake Designs.

My favorite quilt holder skillfully tamed the quilt in the breeze

The kit I bought contained a layer cake and a jelly roll, along with yardage. I used the yardage for part of the pieced backing and jelly roll pieces for the scrappy binding.

Pieced backing (Same favorite quilt holder, different shoes)

Quilting was with a free panto from Urban Elementz - Lisa's Raindrops. I absolutely love how it turned out.

Backing

The "rogue" HST

UPDATE: Since publishing this post, I discovered an HST that decided to go another way (see above photo inside red heart), and so I have affectionately chosen the name Rogue Star for this quilt! I refuse to say it is a mistake. It reminds me of me, as I have so often decided to go another way rather than do the "correct" thing - lol!

Toby had to step in for quality control before I sewed on the binding

Jack likes the colors with his ginger handsomeness

Gypsy

This flimsy was made using Gypsy - I love the name and the pattern! This one may end up larger with borders like Cheree's version, and I have started a second one with colors inspired by Kathleen's beautiful version! It is an easy pattern to put together, and I really enjoyed choosing a variety of fabrics, and I see more of these in the future.

PRIZE INFO:

• There will be prizes from sponsors: Hoffman, Moda, Timeless Treasures, Jaftex, Electric Quilt, Banyan Batiks/Northcott, Benartex, Hancock’s of Paducah, Fox Chapel/Landauer, and C&T Publishing.
• Plus a complete set of the patterns used in this blog hop from Villa Rosa Designs.
• And the grand prizes: Kaffe Fassett Precuts Collection, $100 digital gift certificate for Hancock’s of Paducah, A Big Mystery Box of Quilting Goodies, and Download of Electric Quilt 8

Prize registration closes Sunday, March 23 2024

Here is a list of participating blogs (with clickable links) for the week and today's links in BOLD:

Thursday, March 14:

Tricia at https://villarosaquilts.com/

Friday, March 15

Kathleen at https://kathleenmcmusing.com/

Cheree at http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/

Roseanne at https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

Wendy at https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/ 

Saturday March 16

Valerie at https://www.ctpub.com/blog/ (The link to enter their giveaway i

Bernie at https://needleandfoot.com/

Sandra at https://www.mmmquilts.com/

Linda at https://www.texasquiltgal.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

Debbie at http://time4stitchn.blogspot.com/

Branyn/Jennifer at https://blog.siysewityourself.com/

Sunday, March 17

Carolyn at https://quarterinchcapers.blogspot.com/

Emily at https://www.nortonhousequilting.com/blogs/news

Gail at https://quiltinggail.com/

Susan at http://wazoonewsbits.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 18

Nann at https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/

Jennifer at https://scottfortunoff.com/

Jan at https://www.cocoaquilts.com/

Tricia at http://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 19

Joy at https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com/

Emily at http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/

Vicki at www.knitbug2.blogspot.com

Rose at https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/

Lexie at https://www.qovf.org/

Wednesday, March 20

Nancy at https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/

Jocelyn at https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/

Tracie at https://joyfullytracie.com/

Daryl at https://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com/

Diane at https://doyoueq.com/blog/

Thursday, March 21

Tricia at https://villarosaquilts.com

Be sure to leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win a prize!