Gather Round the Seasons - August Block

 Finished the block for August today, just in time to display tomorrow.  I love the little birdie (Robin?) sittin on the bird bath.

I have made some progress on my Sunbonnet Sue quilt, completing the top and now adding the borders.  I am using the blue/green "checkered" sashing look for the border as well.  One side completed and three to go.  It takes a while to sew all these little squares together and then sew the border to the quilt, but it fun to have a machine project too.

I also completed a hexagon table topper that I donated to my guild.  The EPP blocks were gifted to the guild and I was asked to do something with them.  I made a table topper, and used beading to embellish the binding.

Also still working on my Insanity quilt.  Working on the flower border on the right side.  Pictures to follow another time.

Gather Round the Seasons

 This is the BOM by Kathy Schmidt and this is the July block I just finished this morning.  I also antiqued my frame as it was a chalky white which was just too bright.  I have included the May and June blocks so you can see the difference.

July

May

June

Alice's Country Diary Quilt

This quilt is so exciting to me - but I keep setting it aside until I finish Oh Susanna.   I did complete one of the 25 blocks just to see how my fabrics will look - and so tempting to go ahead and do another with the cone shape epp pieces rather than the kite shape in this picture.  My friend, Martee, is going to head-up a 2027 Sew-Along for our guild and I will "serve" as her assistant.  We already have 10 people who are ordering the book and planning on participating in the Sew-Along, but will not have the kickoff until January 2027.  Right now, we are finishing up our 2026 BOM, which has58 participants (a few counted twice as they signed up for both BOM's).

Here is the book we will be using.  Of course we are requiring all participant to purchase the book.  It combines the art of EPP and Embroidery, both of which are favorites of mine.  

This is the block I recently finished:  The blocks are set on the diagonal which is why there is a little of my design board showing. The designer recommends a rainbow color setting with the EPP pieces arranged as Red-Pink-Orange-Yellow-Green-Teal-Blue-Purple.  When you applique the wreath to the background fabric, you just rotate it a little to balance the colors in the quilt.  Such fun!

I would love to show you some of the pages in the book, which are just beautiful, but concerned about copyright issues.  It also has heat transfers for the embroidery, which I prefer to use Sulky Stick & Stitch. Some ladies are choosing to do some type of machine embroidery in the center of their wreaths, while other are choosing to do a smaller EPP block to go in the center.  Some may just leave the center blank and do some custom quilting there.  So many choices, and hopefully many will enjoy this Sew-Along.

 

Sunbonnet Sue - Oh Susanna

 I have been working on my Sunbonnet Sue quilt this past month and decided to call it "Oh Susanna!".  My grand daughter asked me who I was making this quilt for, and I told her the first grandchild that gives he a great-grand-daughter named Susanna gets this quilt.

I now have 17 blocks made - and 7 to go.  I am having so much fun "dressing" all my little Susannas and have decided on the layout shown below using a Sweet Daisy english paper pieced block.

I am including some more pictures a little closer up - 4 blocks at a time.  The sashing is actually a blue/green patchwork with little postage stamps used in the corner stones.  Right now I am thinking of adding three rows of the blue/green patches (without cornerstones) around all four sides to make a border which I might cut into scallops.  Still thinking about that.

I do not have all the embellishments (like buttons, cording, lace, etc) yet as I want to get it basted by a long-armer for hand quilting.  I am keeping little jewelry size zip bags with the embellishments for each block to add after the quilting is finished.

Gather Round Seasons - June

Completed my June block this morning and got it in the frame.....maybe a little bit cockeyed, but it will stay that way until it starts driving me crazy.

 

Insanity Quilt Progress

 Last night I completed the left flower border on the insanity quilt.  This actually did not take as long as I thought it would - started on May 3 and worked on several other projects in the mean time.  I usually work a little in the early morning before hubs gets up and then at night while we watch tv.

I am considering adding the right and bottom borders the same and then re-design the top border to include some applique birds based on a paper garland my daughter Jennie made for me to hang on my mantel.  I decorate my mantel for the spring and summer with bird houses and birds, and this little garland is the perfect touch.

She used scrapbook paper for the bird, but I am hoping she has the pattern and I can make them with fabric to applique across the top of my insanity quilt.  I sit and look at these birds across the room from where I quilt, and I guess that is my inspiration.

My insanity quilt center measures 43" x 50 1/2" and the flower border is 8 1/2" wide.  So once the borders are added to all sides the quilt will measure 60" x 67 1/2" which I think is big enough,  Rhonda Pearce's design for the Insanity quilt has one more border but I am thinking of leaving that border off. This is a picture I pulled off the internet.  If I leave that border off, I can hang the quilt up in my living room in the Spring with my other bird decor, lol.  Not to mention, this will save me from having to add another 3,815 hexies to compete that outer border.  I do love her design, but I love even more the idea of adding some applique birds and using it as a wall hanging.

Gather Round Seasons

I have started a BOM by Kathy Schmidt - embroidering on a preprinted pattern.  I completed my first block for May:

The frame recommended by the designer is shown below.  Using a square frame appealed to me more that the round one, seemed to have a more traditional look.  The round frame is cute though,