Where has July gone?

Hello Everyone    I didn't mean to stay away this long.  Things are fine; I've just been busy.  

I didn't take one photo of our July 4th get together or the food or the cupcakes I baked and our grandsons decorated, so I'll show you some of the decorations I still have out.  

I made this wreath a couple of years ago from one of the Stitching with the Housewives videos.  

 

I made up the pattern for this afghan.  I can crochet granny squares without a pattern.  I just pick up a hook and some yarn and do it without thinking.  

I had leftover yarn so I made this square.  

The quilt and pillow are more of my designs.  

This little flag is from the Little Quilts book from years ago.  

I have more cross stitch to finish into pillows.  These are from last year.  

 

This pillow is a diagonal crochet pillow cover I kind of made up.  It's not perfect in the back, but the front is OK.   The quilt is Turkey Tracks a pattern by Bonnie Hunter.

This is one of my patterns for sale in my Etsy shop.  

Patriotic cross stitch.  

My daughter made the Stars and Stripes diamond painting for me.  

This pillow cover is just 2" squares hand quilted with big stitch quilting.  

I've worked a little bit on the Tea and Cake quilt by Judy Newman.  I don't now what it is about that blue round, but I had to lay it out on the table and fit the pieces in like a jigsaw puzzle.  I don't know if it's the shape or what.,  I think it might be that there is really no  rhyme or reason as to how it goes together (or at least that's how it seemed to me).  I've got this much sewn together so I picked it up and have wandered off and am working on something else.  

We didn't see too much smoke here from the Canadian fires, but it was pretty hazy for a couple of days,  I don't know if that's what accounts for the beautiful sunsets we've been having or not.   Here is just one of them.  

 

I'll try not to stay so long next time.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.

 

Did somebody say squirrel??? More projects

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you're keeping cool during this heat wave that is covering much of the country.  

Awhile back, I just went on a trip to Back Door quilts, my local LQS,  to pick up something for a project I was working on.  Now I can't remember what it was because someone said squirrel, and off I went after it.

This is Star Drift, one of the little quilts in the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots Club.  

This all started off quite innocently.    That day when I went into Back Door Quilts to get whatever it was that I went after, Rose was working there that day.  She heads up the group Knotty Girls that meets on the second Tuesday afternoon of the month.  The group is for hand stitching only so you can cross stitch, embroider or stitch hexagons which is what I did.  

Stars for the Star Drift quilt

I'd been a member before, and Rose reminded me that there was a meeting coming up soon.  When I got to the Knotty Girls group that month, Rose was away for a family emergency, and my friend, Nancy was leading the group.  I've known Nancy for over 20 years, so I pulled up a chair to stitch and visit.  It turns out that Nancy is leading the Simple Whatnots Club every month that meets right before Knotty Girls.  So I signed up for both Simple Whatnots and Knotty Girls, and that's just how easy it is to follow a squirrel.  Or as my Mom used to say,, "What happened?   Did you follow a wagon off?"

Alternate blocks for the Star Drift quilt

I did some machine quilting on the quilt (first photo).   I'm not great at it, but as the Dear Jane motto says, "Finished is better than perfect."

This is an optional stitch along.  I guess it's kind of a mystery quilt.  This is Installment 1.  I haven't done the second part yet.  That might not happen until later on in the month.  

 

True Love Stitch Along Installment 1

This is the National Parks panel that I bought while on vacation a couple of years ago.  I bought it in the mountains in Tennessee just outside of Gatlinburg.  I finally put the border on and took it to Back Door to be long arm quilted.

This is the flange binding that I put on the quilt.  I can't believe I don't have a tutorial for that on my blog.  I gifted this quilt to my brother-in-law (my husband's younger brother) who has hiked all of these 63 National Parks at least once.  He was thrilled and plans to hang the quilt in a place he sees it every day.  

I've got more to share, but I'll save it for another post.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.  

Strawberry Mini Quilt Tutorial

In my post here, I showed you my strawberry decorations.   I have red quilts as you can see on the back of my couch in the photo below, but I didn't have even a small quilt with strawberries until now.  

I like to have these little quilts just to add a pop of color here and there.  I also like to use them for holiday entertaining to put under a warm dish or plate.  

Here's my tutorial:  

My mini quilt finishes at approximately 14 1/2".  For the size shown above, cut 12 squares measuring 5 inches.  You can use either charm squares or cut your own.  I wanted to use my strawberry fabric so I cut a mix of light and dark fabrics mostly from my stash.

Using a pencil or Friction pen, draw lines on half of the squares as shown:  horizontal and vertical and diagonally in both directions.  I draw my lines on the lighter fabrics when I can because it's easier to see the lines.

Now sew 1/4" ONLY on both sides of the diagonal lines.  

After sewing, cut on ALL lines.  Each pair of squares yields 8 half square triangles.   If you've done the math, to make the size little quilt in this tutorial you will need to make 1 more half square triangle out of scraps.    

Press toward the darker fabric.  These half square triangles will measure 2" and finish at 1 1/2".  

I sort mine into piles so I can put the rows together so that I don't end up with 2 of the same block at the end.  

Sew the half square triangles into rows.  Then sew the rows together.  

My border is cut at 2".  And here's the finished quilt.  I sewed the binding down by hand because I like to sit out on the porch when the weather is nice and do some handwork.  

                                     

I have at least one of these little quilts for each holiday.  Here's Christmas.  

                                        


St. Patrick's and Valentines.  

                                        

I use this one for winter and into spring. 

                                                 

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial.  If you decide to make one of these mini quilts, I'd love to see a photo.  

As always,

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.