June goes by so fast......

 Whew this month seems to be zooming by so fast I can't catch my breath. This weekend has been so crazy with 5 grandkids spending the weekend at my house and then out of town company showing up today.  But its been a enjoyable time with Taralyn, Toby, Tori and Titus and their big sister Tess who lives here anyway.  I am so blessed to have wonderful grandkids!

APIP#1 Meryton - Hand Quilting continues.Week 5 (06-23 thru 06-29) was 21 hours, 54 minuets for total time 5/23 thru 6/29 of 109 hours and 33 minutes

APIP#2 - Bloom and Sew - Finished up the block #6 for June and that is the last block. Now just to get all the blocks sewn to each other and add a border.  This BOM has gone by quickly:

Block 6 - May-June

All the blocks on the design wall - not yet sewn to each other yet

APIP #14 - Bright Hopes Crochet Lap Quilt - only worked on this one morning at the SewEndipitous Hand Sewing day - just got a block 1/2 crochet  - but hey, that is still progress

APIP #16 - Rotary Cutter Pouch for Goody bags - Darlene and I met and got all the bags, but one, completed with the exception of sewing on some buttons.  The "but one" is one I discovered I had sewn the pockets in upside down.  Hmmmmm wonder if that was because my good friend was here with me and we were laughing and chatting while sewing.  Anyway - gotta make that one over.

APIP#17 - another new project - Insanity Quilt.  Oh my goodness, this has over 10,300 1/2" hexies.  I think this one may be on the list for quite awhile.  Going to try to complete APIP#1 and #2 before getting too engrossed in making this one.  My husband and I have started cutting out the paper pieces for EPP and I have also started cutting out 1 5/8" squares of white on white fabric.  I am determined not  to buy any fabric for this quilt - just use what I have on hand.  That, in and of itself, is a challenge.

Picture off the internet.  There is one more outer border made up of lots and lots of random hexies.

Meryton and Bloom & Sew

 I had some exciting news this week.  I had entered two of my quilts in the Splash of Color Quilt Show sponsored by the Cabarras Quilt Guild in NC.  Both of my entries received ribbons:

Delaford - Design by Katrina Hadjimichael.  I took second place in my category.  First place was taken by my dear friend Martee who also got Best of Show.

Granny's Flower Garden - This one took first place in its category.  I designed the borders around the quilt and did not have a pattern for the piecing of the center top, but basically a traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.

APIP Report: Active Projects in Progress - I only worked on two of my projects this week:

APIP#1 - Meryton; Hand quilting is progressing.  This week I quilted for 27 hours and 39 minutes.  Total time since I started May 25, is 87 hours, 39 minutes.   I am now working on the outer border.

APIP#2 - Bloom and Sew;  I completed 4 of the 6 stitcheries for Block 6.  

Progress continues

 Good Monday morning.  I meant to write this yesterday for my Sunday post but we had a family gathering for Father's Day and I was so tired I fell asleep before doing my post.  So here goes - one day late.

APIP#1 - Meryton;  I have now named this quilt Meryton Songbirds.  My main fabric is called Songbird Serenade and I have birds all over my quilt in the fabrics.  I do love the music of the birds in my yard.

I have been quilting steadily and keeping tally of the time I hand quilt.  So many people always ask how long it took me, and this is the second quilt I have kept this record.

    Week 1  - 22 hours 26 minutes

    Week 2 - 19 hours 15 minutes

    Week 3 - 18 hours 19 minutes

For a total to date of 60 hours.  I try to do at least 2 hours every morning and then sometimes a little more in the evening.  This gives my hand a little break

APIP#2 - Bloom and Sew;   I started working on Block 6 by prepping all 6 stitcheries and beginning to stitch on one of them.

APIP#14 - Bright Hopes Crochet Quilt; Work continues a little each week.  I have the second row blocks completed and have started working on row 3 blocks.  I would like to get the 2nd row attached and maybe next week I will have something to show.

APIP#15; Hues Clues Challenge block - I have completed this one and turned it into SewEndipitious quilt shop.  I went with the Native American theme and look forward to using this has home decor during the Fall Season.

APIP#16 -  Rotary Cutter Pouch - NEW Project;  So of course, I finish a project and another gets added.   I am making these pouches with my good friend Darlene, for out goody bag treats in the 2026 retreat.  We all make or buy a little treat that goes into the goody bag and have so much fun opening all the little gifts  (Now Mary, if you are reading this, keep it a secret please).

I found this pattern on line and purchased ti Minki Kim.  I have modified her pattern to make it a little bigger and to put a pocket on the outside front and back.  The front pocket is big enough to put a pack of extra blades and the back for a small note pad and pencil.  All will be included in the gift with the exception of the rotary cutter.  I have made on trial case and that is when I decided to make them a little bigger.  We have to make 12 and I have my 6 six cut out and ready to sew together.  Darlene will cut hers out and we will assemble them together.    

Ooops - missed a week

 Its been two weeks since I last posted, so I missed my goal to post every week on Sunday.  What can I say?  No excuse, just forgot.  Well I did just turn 3/4 of a century old, so I guess I can forget things, haha.

Going down my list in APIP order:

APIP #1 - Meryton; I am having fun hand quilting on this quilt.  I chose to not worry so much about filling in backgrounds sand just to echo quilt around applique and use straight lines on borders.  This has freed up my mind from having to come up with patterns and how to mark the quilt. My appliques are so close together that I don't think it necessary to quilt the background behind them, although I would have done so before this quilt.   I have also decided to go ahead and add a final border of the same yellow and dark grey of the two inner borders.  I lucked up and found some more dark grey on the internet and now I have enough to do this, that is will have enough as soon as it gets here.

I am currently quilting the two inner borders and the petal border between them.  I have 8 threads going at all times, three on each yellow border and two on the petal border.  I can usually get one hoop worth quilted each day.

 

APIP #2 - Bloom and Sew; Finished block #5 this morning.  Gail has already sent us block #6, which is the final block and I am anxious to get started on it.  I will save the quilting on that one for September 20 when I am doing a hand quilting demonstration.  This quilt has lots of applique and embroidery and even a little English Paper Piecing - so it will be fun to do the quilting and also talk about the quilt itself. Thank you, Gail Pan, for such a cute design.

APIP #11 - Quilt Maker's Journey Quilt;  This is a joint project I am working on with another quilter, I cut out the pieces, wrote the pattern and she is making the blocks.  Once they are done, I will put the quilt top together and quilt it.  Its fun to work on a project with a friend, but nothing I can do now until I get the 36 blocks she is working on.

APIP #14- Bright Hopes Crochet Lap Quilt;  I completed enough blocks to make one complete row and just had to put that together as I was anxious to see how it would look. instructions. 

Front

Back

  

APIP #15 - Hues Clues; I have pretty much completed this block for the Hues Clues challenge at SewEndipitous Quilt shop in Rock Hill.  Its been fun and a challenge for me to use the colors on my color card, and also to make a Native American theme block that I chose based upon those colors.  I still have some Heishi beads to add that I have ordered.  These are small round beads that were made from shells, bones and stones by Native Americans and then used to make necklaces or to embellish clothing.  I did order some that are made from shells, bones and stones, but they are coming from Japan and will not get here in time for me to put them on my block.  So I ordered some off amazon that are made from natural materials and they should be here on Monday. The ones I found at Hobby Lobby were polymer and didnt want to use those.  Soooooo I will just wait until next week to show a picture of my completed block :)

 

     

Looking at my APIP (Active Projects in Process) I see that I have had 15 projects listed for 2025.  I have completed 10 and have 5 still in process.  I am so glad I started keeping this list and it does give me pleasure to see what I have completed and the steady progress being made on the current active ones.