Now What?

This past week, I have been spending a great deal of my time out by the pool. It finally feels like summer here, and I want to take full advantage of it. So, I have not been in my sewing room. But I have been working on some handwork. I finished this top today.

You got a peak of it last month. I combined two different sources for this one. The background is based on the Bee Charmer from Oh Sew Charming! The flowers were taken from a couple of the blocks in the Aunt Millie's Garden pattern from Piece O'Cake Designs.

I can't tell just exactly what this wants to be. The Bee Charmer pattern was intended to be a wall hanging. It is also a good size for a table topper. But, I had so much fun working on this, I am wondering if I should use this as a center and expand around it to make something more substantially sized. Except that I used scraps for this so far. So it may take some doing finding the right fabrics to make any additions look like they belong. What should I do?

Too much socializing, not enough quilting

There is not very much to report on the quilting front. I am currently trying to finish machine quilting my son's quilt. I am making progress, but I still have a long ways to go. I don't have a picture of that quilt to show just yet. But my son moves off to college in less than a month, so I will plug away at that quilt until it is finished.

I haven't done much other quilting lately. However, I did finally finish the jacket I was working on. I'm thrilled to be done with it. Here it is.

The two bright fuscia strips on the lower front bother me. But, it will stay as is and I will get over it. Probably. Otherwise, I think it looks pretty good.

July finishes

This has been a slow sewing month for me. I just wasn't in the groove, I guess. But I did manage to complete two things. They are projects from the Clothesline Club at the local quilt shop.

This little topper actually looks much better in real life. It is shown on an ottoman and is not lying flat in the photo.

The only other thing I have accomplished this month is I have this quilt layered, pinned and ready for quilting. The plan is to have it finished before someone leaves for college. We'll see how it goes.

A va-cay, a b-day, but no new progress to display because I've been away

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Last week was our annual family camping trip for my side of the family. My siblings, their kids, our parents and sometimes a few additional tag-a-longs camp together and we always have a good time. We stay at one of our beautiful state park campgrounds, which varies from year to year. This year we camped at Muskegon State Park on Lake Michigan.

Of course, camping doesn't mean I can't do any quilting. This year I brought along supplies to do some hand applique work. This particular project still had a long way to go before it is done. You will get to see more when the applique is complete. For now, you will have to settle for this peek.

As luck would have it, my birthday, which I share with my nephew's fiance, happened to be during our camping trip. So we made the family announcement board that was proudly displayed for all to see. (Thanks to my niece, Mallory, who was in charge of keeping us all informed of the news.) And because I had a birthday, I got to grace my picnic table with these...

Kind of gave the campsite an upscale look. I think everyone should have roses on their picnic table. :D

Hiding away in my cool basement sewing room...

...because it is really hot and humid here. And we don't have air conditioning. :( So my choices to beat the heat include sitting in the pool or in my sewing room. Consequently, I'm getting a few things accomplished quilt-wise.

Remember the scrappy zigzag top from last post? Well, here's what it looks like now that it is done. (The three dark straight lines going across the top half of it are shadows from the clothesline.)

I am calling it my Ode to Charlie Brown, because the zigzags remind me of his shirts. I used a couple different pieces of fabric on the back. Here's a peek at that, too.

Plus, I'm happy thrilled to report that I am in the process of putting the binding on the quilted sweatshirt jacket. Too bad it is going to be too big for me when it's done. No new pic of that one just yet.

And now, out to the pool.

Ketchup weekend, Design Wall Monday and other fun

This past weekend was a Ketchup weekend organized by Pat Sloan. I do not have any block of the months started that I needed to get caught up with, but I did have something I wanted to make. So I got to work on a quilted sweatshirt jacket. I made some good progress, but still have a ways to go.

Here is what I have so far.

I'm not sure I like it, but I will wait until I'm finished to form my final opinion.

Judy L. has been doing a feature called Design Wall Monday, where she shows what is on her wall and shares links to other quilter's blogs and design walls. I think it is fun to see what other quilters are working on, so I decided to share the state of my design wall today.

Here's a peek at what I'm playing with this week.

These are nine-patch blocks from some swaps I did a couple years ago. I made one quilt with my swap blocks last year. And I had all but about about a dozen of the black/white setting blocks needed for this one already made. So I whipped those up and am now ready to make up the quilt top. I will probably shuffle the nine-patches around a bit, until I like the balance before I start stitching them together.

And speaking of playing with swap blocks, this is what came off my wall before I put up the nine-patches. I swapped these blocks last year with some internet friends. The swap did not result in a lot of blocks, and I was going to make more so I could get a decent sized quilt. But, I am really trying to finish things, so I put my blocks up on the wall just to see what I could do with them. The result is a small quilt top, probably a good baby quilt size. It works for me, so I'm going with it.

The block pattern for this one came from Bonnie over at Quiltville. I chose this setting for the blocks, but there are so many great ways to play with them for different looks.