Moda Blockhead 1 Finish and a Few Other Things

Hello Everyone! After all of our travel over the past month, it was nice to get back into my routine this past week. I did some yard work, cleaned the house and enjoyed some beautiful days outside with my stitching. I also finished up Step 5 of the Sew Your Stash Along, worked on the upcoming Halloween collection, worked on my nephews graduation quilt and finished the Moda Blockhead 1 quilt.

Moda Blockheads 1

I am so happy to finally have finished this quilt. I started it in March of 2017 when the first weekly Blockhead blocks were posted. I mostly kept up with making one block a week for 48 weeks. For those who may not know, the first Moda Blockhead BOW was free and used 6 designers. If you are interested in making the blocks now, they are compiled into the Moda Blockheads Book.

There are 48 6″ blocks. My quilt is 68″ x 80″ and I used Quilter’s Dream Wool batting. I started with a small bundle of red, cream and black fabric and used fabrics from my stash and some new fabrics. It took a while to find just the right red and black for the borders, but I found the perfect fabric at Jenny Beyers Studio when I visited the shop in December of 2017. They are from Jenny’s Palette for RJR Fabrics.

I designed the layout using the two alternate colors of sashing and setting the squares on point. I finished the top in March of 2018, then it took me over a year to finish quilting it. I used Auriful 50 cotton wt thread for the piecing and most of the quilting. The brown thread in the sashing and border is Pacesetter 50 wt poly. You can definitely tell that it is shinier in person, but the color matched really well. I’m all about the texture and not seeing the thread.

I quilted each of the blocks individually on my Pfaff 4.0 QE (domestic machine). With such a large quilt, it was easier to keep the quilting confined to a small area and use smaller designs and background fills. I used all free motion quilting in these blocks. Because the areas were so small, I didn’t use my ruler foot and templates. I did use the point to point method on some of them where I marked the points I was quilting to and from.

For the setting triangles and setting square between the sashing, I did use my ruler foot and curved rulers to quilt the curved cross-hatch.

My color choice and setting gives this quilt a more traditional feel to it, so I kept the quilting more traditional, too. To me, that means lots of feathers! I quilted feathers in the sashing, then around the outside border. I haven’t quilted large feathers in a border in some time and these were lots of fun to quilt. I quilted a ribbon candy in the inside border.

The back really shows the quilting texture well. The fabric is by Betsy Chutchian for Moda. I just love this quilt and am so glad that I made it. I thought about making Moda Blockheads 2 last year, but after seeing the blocks, I’m glad I didn’t. It’s a lovely quilt, but there are several different block sizes and I do like a little more conformity in my quilts than that one is.

Just a few other things that I’ve been working on:

Step 5 of Sew Your Stash Along

Step 5 of Diane Knots Sew Your Stash Along was a small checkerboard. I went back and forth on the colors for this one, but finally decided on the red and dark blue.

I needed darker fabrics because the star blocks are on the lighter side. Next up is 88 flying geese, which I haven’t thought about yet.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my post on my x-stitch and what I was going to start next. I decided to go with With Thy Needle and Threads (Brenda Gervais), Where Liberty Dwells Ohio Star piece. It’s that red, white and blue time of year.

That star reminds me of a piece of fabric I have from The Good Life by Bonnie and Camille.

Here’s my start on the fabric. I don’t think I’m using any of the called for colors because I didn’t have any. The red in the star is Schoolhouse Red from Gentle Arts and the White is DMC 3865.

By the way, I did finish the first chart of Jack Frost’s Tree Farm by Little House Needleworks.

I hope you have a great week. It’s going to be hot here, mid 90’s by the end of the week. Too hot for May! Thanks for stopping by!

Graduation and Beach Trip

Hello Everyone and Happy Mother’s Day! We were in Pensacola, FL last week for my daughter’s college graduation and we turned it into a beach vacation.

We are so proud of her. She graduated in four years while also swimming on the University Swim Team for three years. She also has two part time jobs lined up in her field of Marine Biology. One will last through the summer, but the other is permanent.

A little blurry, but that was the best I could get inside the arena.

We had a small party for her after the ceremony. We were lucky with the weather. It thunder stormed during the ceremony, then we got back to our condo just before more storms, so all the pictures were taken inside.

We saw several wall clouds over the water, but they didn’t turn into anything. It rained most of the afternoon.

Just a few pictures from the party and a toast by my husband.

We ended the day all tired and happy with a beautiful sun set.

Graduation was on Saturday, but we arrived on Thursday with my parents. My brother-in-law came down on Friday and spent the weekend, then we left on Wednesday. The weather was perfect everyday except Saturday.

Pensacola Beach

There were some people on the beach over the weekend, but after that we practically had it by ourselves.

This guy showed up everyday. He hung out with the fisher men most of time, I guess looking for a free meal.

My daughter and I went bike riding and skating one day. She had to show me all her tricks. Then one day, we visited her boyfriends chickens.

He has a house on the island and he built a nice coop for the chickens. They have a shady yard to wander around in and the eggs are good, too.

What would a trip to Pensacola be without seeing the Blue Angels. On Sunday evening, we were treated to a fly by on their way home from an airshow.

On Tuesday we went to the Navy base and watched them practice.

The last picture shows one of the solo airplanes making an emergency landing using the hook to grab the chain to stop it. The airplane indicated a landing gear problem, but it did not collapse when the plane landed. After the practice, we toured the Navy Air Museum for a few hours.

My daughter and I spent a few minutes looking for shells later that afternoon and we came home with a nice collection.

We had a great time and I’m going to miss her greatly. We are so proud of both of our kids. We are lucky parents.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

Grandma’s Flowers, April Minis and More

Hello Everyone! I’m back today with my entry into Sherri’s and Michele’s Minis and More Parade.

The theme for April was flowers. What better than Grandmother’s Flower Garden English Paper Piecing flowers made from my Grandmother’s fabrics. I participated in the 2017 100 days of Hexies on Instagram and made a lot of hexies. I used some of the ones that I made and added a few more to make a pillow for my mother, two sisters and brother using Grandma’s fabrics for Christmas that year. You can see those pillows and a few of my grandma’s quilts here. I had also planned to make myself a pillow, but was short on time. April was the perfect month to make my pillow.

I like to make pillows for the minis and it’s nice that you can always use them as a little table topper or wall-hanging, too. The black gingham fabric was also Grandma’s. The background is Moda Grunge and the leaves, stems and binding is Shabby by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. I used a small zigzag stitch and almost matching thread to machine applique the stems and leaves.

The pillow back fabric is also one of Grandma’s fabrics. Perfect for the theme, too. I love the little butterfly.

I chose to quilt wavy free motion lines on the inside and little scallops on the outer border. I marked the scallops before quilting instead of using a ruler. On little projects like this, it’s faster than always moving the ruler.

It goes perfectly with my other springy, flowery pillows on my foyer bench.

I also have a cross-stitch finish.

I finished it on our camping trip last week. This is Home of a Needleworker, Squared by Little House Needleworks. I haven’t decided how I’m going to fully finish it yet.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed seeing my pillow made with Grandma’s fabrics.

Camping Trip to Vogel State Park, April 2019

Hello Everyone! We went camping last week to Vogel State Park near Blairsville, GA and had a great time. The weather was perfect, too. We went on the same exact dates last year for our first trip in the Rpod and it rained (really rained) every day. You can read about that trip here. Vogel is the second oldest park in the state and was built by the CCC. It sits at the base of Blood Mountain, the highest summit on the Appalachian Trail.

Lake Trahlyta with Blood Mountain in the background.

We were able to choose our site (64) here and chose an area with only a few other sites around.

After setting up and resting for a bit, we took a walk around the park and the lake. At the far end of the lake is Trahlyta Falls. The lake was full and so were the falls.

Trahlyta Falls

The first day was the clearest, as seen above, but they were all beautiful.

For our morning coffee, we used my new Wander North Georgia mugs I got for Christmas.

We’ve been to Vogel twice before, once for a day visit when the kids were really young, then a second time 12 years ago to camp in our pop-up. That time we hiked the Bear Hair Gap Trail, which in our opinion, is one of the hardest trails we’ve hiked. It was very rocky and rooty. Once you got to the top however, the view was spectacular. We felt we didn’t need to hike it again. Instead, we headed out for a waterfall tour.

Helton Creek Falls

Our first stop of the day was at Helton Creek Falls. It’s not far from the park, but you need to travel on a small paved road through a conclave of cabins, then on a forest service road. It was a short hike to the falls and like all of them this year, had a full flow from all the rain we’ve had this winter.

Half way up Helton Creek Falls

We were able to walk to the top of the falls here.

Our next stop was at Neels Gap and the Walasi-yi Inn on Blood Mountain, an AT trail stop.

Walasi-yi Inn

The Inn was originally for people visiting the park and also built by the CCC. Now, it’s the first main stop along the AT where hikers can resupply.

The AT going through the Inn.

Shoe Tree

This is the infamous shoe tree. Supposedly, hikers who quit here throw their shoes into the tree. I’ve read that the first part of the trail through Georgia is one of the toughest sections.

Brass Town Bald

I could never get a good picture, but this is Brass Town Bald through the trees. It’s the highest peak in Georgia.

After we left Neels Gap, we headed down the mountain a little bit to DeSoto Falls.

Lower Falls

DeSoto Falls is in the Chattahoochee National Forest. There is a nice day parking area with picnic tables and a campground. There are two falls located here, the Lower and Upper Falls. The Lower Falls has about a 40 foot drop while the Upper Falls is about a 100 foot drop with cascading falls.

Upper Falls

We had a nice hike to both falls, then had a picnic lunch. We made our way back to the campsite and had a chill rest of the afternoon.

On the third day, we hung out at the campsite in the morning, then headed off to Crane Creek Vineyard in Young Harris after lunch.

We did a wine tasting, then shared a bottle of wine. It was a gorgeous afternoon and perfect place to sip wine and hang out for a few hours. We decided we were looking at the North Carolina mountains here.

The grape vines were just starting to leaf out. This would be a perfect place for a special event.

For this trip, we spent three nights and two full days and were about two hours from home. Our next outing will be to Pensacola for my daughter’s college graduation. I think our next camping trip will be sometime in June. I can’t wait to get out again. It’s always so much fun. We haven’t had a bad trip yet.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Art of Home Timber and Christmastime Collection

Hello Everyone! Today I finally get to share the Timber and Christmastime Collection for The Art of Home Club by Jacquelynne Steves.

The planning for this collection started in October 2018 when Jacquelynne asked if I would like to design a couple of The Art of Home collections for this year. It was fun working with Jacquelynne on the main quilt design until we got it just right. Jacquelynne sent me the silhouetted appliques, but I designed the Quilt Center Applique and the embroidery blocks. (Okay, it’s the same design, just on different scales). This post will be heavy on pictures, but I hope you will enjoy them. Jacquelynne sent me a few of hers to use, too. Thanks, Jacquelynne!

The Timber Quilt

I love, love, love The Timber Quilt. I have always been partial to cabin style décor and at one time, my husband and I entertained owning a cabin in retirement. This quilt would be perfect for a mountain or lakeside home or cabin, or just because you like the outdoors. It would also be perfect for those male members of your family, whom it’s always hard to find patterns and fabric for.

This is a largish quilt, 66″ x 76 1/2″. It just fits on the top of my daughter’s queen size bed. The buffalo check plaid is easy to sew, but you need to make sure that your blocks are sewn correctly or you will loose the affect. The same thing with the bear paw blocks. Easy to sew, but turning them correctly matters. The pattern has clear step by step instructions for making both blocks, but you must be a Club member to have access to them. I have also provided the materials list for the fabric and floss for the collection if you are interested. You can find it on my tutorial page here.

This quilt would make a great Christmas quilt with the appliques shown or substituting some of the other appliques provided. The pattern includes a wide variety of the silhouette appliques that can be used in the quilt, wall hanging or pillow.

I really had fun designing the center applique. It went through many iterations before this one. I originally had mountains in the background, which I liked, but thought that would be a little too much. I decided to keep the design simple and basic, using mostly one piece appliques. I think I struck the right balance, I hope you do, too.

I took the design of the Quilt Center Applique and reduced it so it could be used for embroidery. The center is large and even though you could embroider it, I think it looks better on a smaller scale.

Here, I turned the Timber quilt into a Christmas Wall Hanging. There are just so many options with this collection. Instead of making my own buffalo plaid, I bought it. There are several collections now that have it. This one is from Hearthside Holiday by Deb Strain for Moda.

The applique was fused then sewn using a buttonhole stitch on my machine. In the quilt, I used a very small stitch with matching thread so it doesn’t show. As a design element in the wall hanging, I used a contrasting thread and made the stitch just a little larger. I also added the buttons as an extra detail, but only after I finished quilting.

You could also use a black (or red) work style of embroidery and use it as the center of the wall hanging or the pillow.

I haven’t used the moose embroidery in anything yet, but I think I will make another pillow and use it in our camper.

This is the pillow with a combination of appliques. Again, the pattern is very versatile. All of the Quilt Appliques will fit in the pillow or wall hanging center block.

You can also make a small table runner instead of the pillow.

I love the pillow and it looks great with the quilt. My husband has already said that the pillow will go to the camper. I was thinking maybe the quilt would too, but then I would only get to see it about once a month.

Well, I think I used all my pictures! I hope you like it as much as I do. There are so many “cheap” cabin style quilts that you can buy, but this pattern allows you to make just the right one for you.

All the quilting was done by me on my Pfaff QE 4.0 domestic machine using Aurifil thread. For the straight line quilting, I used my ruler foot and rulers with the machine set in free motion mode. For the quilt, I used Quilter’s Dream Wool batting which gives the quilt a beautiful loft and feel. The wall hanging and pillow have Quilter’s Dream Select batting in them.

If you would like to become a member of The Art of Home Club, sign up here so you can be notified when the club is opening for new members again. There are several payment plans, but for around $10 a month, you get at least three new patterns every month, plus bonus patterns throughout the year. It really is a good deal.

Just one more thing:

This image shows the red and black print the best. You can use any coordinating print for the plaid, just as Jacquelynne did with her Pink quilt. I hope you enjoyed the Timber and Christmastime Collection. I certainly had fun making it. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Easter!

Welcome Summer Cross-Stitch Finish

Hello Everyone! I have a fully finished cross-stitch project to share today. But first, have a look at my beautiful azaleas and pretty bluebells and Lenten Roses.

Most of the azaleas were about 3 to 4 feet tall when we moved into this house 20 years ago. They’ve been trimmed significantly twice and probably need another good trim. We’ve had so much rain this year that they are in full bloom and beautiful.

Welcome Summer by The Drawn Thread

I finished Welcome Summer by The Drawn Thread last week. It was a fun stitch with enough variety of stitches to keep it interesting.

I just love that bee skeep with the long stitches and the geraniums.

The linen is 32 count Star Sapphire by Wichelt that I purchased from my local Quilt Shop, Tiny Stitches. The shop carries a nice selection of cross-stitch products, too. The called for threads were all Dinky Dyes Silk. I substituted all my threads with The Gentle Art Simply Shaker, Classic Colorworks, Weeks Dye Works and DMC. If you are interested in the threads I used, you can email me and I will send you a copy of my conversions.

I used a combination of Vonna’s and Priscilla’s method for finishing. I used Vonna’s mounting technique for the cross-stitch and fabric covered mat board and Priscilla’s finishing technique of adding the finished piece onto another item. In my case, I used a plaque that I purchased from Michael’s. Check out both of their blog and Flosstube channels for inspiring finishing techniques.

Priscilla’s technique of mounting

I couldn’t find a specific tutorial for using the magnets and washers, but from watching Priscilla and other flosstubers on YouTube, I think this is the way she does it.

Welcome Summer is currently sitting on a tea table in my foyer. I can also hang it, but haven’t found a place yet, because most of my wall space is covered with quilts or pictures. I have four other Welcome charts by The Drawn Thread that I will exchange for the seasons. I will start working on the Autumn one soon.

Home of a Needleworker Squared by Little House Needleworks

Currently, I’m working on Home of a Needleworker Squared and I think I will finish it before moving on to Farmhouse Christmas again. It’s stitching up quickly.

I also finished Step 4 for the Sew Your Stash Along. I really like the stars made with Sweetwater’s Project Red fabric from a layer cake. I have started Step 5 and will hopefully finish that by the end of the month.

I’ll be back on Saturday to show you the Cabin Collection for The Art of Home Club. I’m so excited that I finally get to share it. Jacquelynne took some great pictures, too. Thanks for stopping by!

April WIPs and Plans

Hello Everyone! I have a very busy couple of months ahead of me with family events and sewing commitments (mostly self-imposed). To help keep me focused, I sat down and planned out through June, and actually wrote down dates I want to have certain tasks for each project finished. I don’t usually plan that much detail so we’ll see how it goes. Today, I thought I would share what I’ve been working on and what’s coming up that will keep me busy.

First, though, how about a pretty rainbow seen from my front porch a couple of weeks ago. This is probably one of the prettiest and long lasting rainbows I’ve seen at home. If you look carefully, you can just make out the second rainbow above the main one. Maybe next week, I’ll have some azalea’s to show you. They are just starting to bloom and with all the rain we’ve had, it looks like they are going to be beautiful.

Now for what I’m working on.

Sew Your Stash Along Alternate Star Blocks

I’ve been making star blocks for the Sew Your Stash Along guild project. You can find the instructions and Diane’s (Butterfly Threads Quilting) version here. She used rail fence blocks, but I wanted something different. I had a layer cake of Project Red by Sweetwater (in my stash) that I thought would work. You can see my quilt through Step 3 here. My only concern is that these are a little more muted colors than what I already have. I plan to balance these out with the fabrics I’ll use in Step 5.

2017 Moda Blockheads 1

I’ve also spent a lot of time quilting my 2017 Moda Blockheads 1 quilt. I’ve quilted feathers in the sashing and ribbon candy in the inner border. I plan to quilt feathers in the outer border and then will use my ruler foot to quilt some curved cross-hatching in the setting triangles.

I put this quilt aside last November after quilting all the blocks to finish up my Holly-Daze quilt and Winterville quilt during December and January. I’ve entered the quilt in our local quilt show, Georgia Celebrates Quilts, and I’ll find out at the beginning of May if it’s been accepted.

Halloween Collection Fabrics

I’ve also spent some time working on the design for The Art of Home August Collection, which will be Halloween themed and a wall-hanging as the main project. The design is finished and I’ve started working on the applique pieces. On April 20th, I’ll be able to share the Cabin Collection that I designed.

In the late afternoons and evenings, I’ve gotten in some stitching time almost everyday.

Little House Needlework’s Jack Frost’s Tree Farm

I finished the first half of Part 1 of Jack Frost’s Tree Farm. I made some thread changes to the white (DMC 3865) and to the sign. I used DMC 3866 for the sign and Classic Colorworks Cherry Cobbler (instead of Black Coffee) for the lettering. I decided Part 1 would have to be a two month stitch and I’ll start Part 2, Douglas Fir in May.

After working on Jack, I moved on to Drawn Thread’s Welcome Summer. I’ve changed all the threads because the called for are Dinky Dye Silks (and I don’t have any). I plan to finish the stitching this week. I will either start on the next block of Farmhouse Christmas by Little House Needleworks or start on this…

…Home of a Needleworker Squared, also by Little House Needleworks. The chart and floss came as a kit from Fat Quarter Shop, which has embraced the new cross-stitch movement. If you like to cross-stitch, check out some of their selections. They also have very quick shipping.

Now for plans.

My nephew will be graduating from high school in June, so he needs a quilt. He is number 6 out of 7. My sister said he likes blue, so blue it will be. I found this Waterfall jelly roll by Kona and will use a Jr. Jelly Roll of Moda Grunge White Paper for the accent. The pattern is Low Voltage by Kari Nichols of Mountainpeek Creations. I found the pattern at my local quilt shop.

I laid out and numbered the strips. I think it will be easy to cut and sew, but keeping the strips in the right place will be critical for the look of the quilt. I’ve never made a graduated color quilt before, but I think it’s going to turn out awesome. The pre-cut strips will make it go quickly, too.

It’s time for Jacquelynne Steve’s free BOM again. You can visit Jacquelynne’s site and sign up for her newsletter so you’ll know when to sign up for the BOM. The patterns will be emailed to you starting the first Monday in July if you want to join in. Jacquelynne will be opening the club again for new members soon, too. To find out more about the club, visit here.

I will again be a featured blogger for the BOM this year and I have something different planned. I will be using Sunnyside Up by Corey Yoder for Moda for my project. Also, notice the DMC thread pack. Corey curated it for Fat Quarter Shop and it will go well with Sherri and Chelsi, Bonnie and Camille and Fig Tree fabric lines, too.

My plan is for this month is get started on the embroidery for the Halloween Collection and the BOM. I may not be able to do as much cross-stitch as I’ve been doing in order to work on the embroidery. We do have two trips planned, too. My husband and I are going camping for a few days later this month, then in May, my daughter is graduating and we plan to spend a week at the beach while we are in Pensacola. We are really excited about the graduation and beach trip. It’s also yard work time of year. Last week I put down 45 bales of pine straw and over the next few weeks, I’ll replant my containers and get my perirenal beds in shape. So, busy, busy, but better than being bored.

Also, I have the Minis and More project to think about. This month’s theme is flowers if you would like to join in and make a mini. Once you make it, you can send a picture to Sherri or Michele to be included in the parade at the beginning of next month. I think I have something in mind, but not 100 percent yet. I’ll let you know next time what I’ll be working on.

I hope you have a great week and thanks for stopping by.