Wish Circle Blocks

This month's block for do.Good Stitches is Converging Corners.  We had to make 2 blocks using all scraps with a white background.  Can I just say how much I love these blocks?  You put them together in a log cabin formation, and they're a lot of fun.  I was thrilled to be able to use tiny scraps that I had been holding on to wondering if there would ever be a use for them.  I think I may have to make a quilt of these, because my scrap bin is seriously overflowing. 

Paisley Problems

Well, it wasn't exactly the design that gave me issues - it was thread tension problems on my machine which led to some ugly paisley echoing.  After re-threading my machine it was back to normal and I finished up a small sashing section.

It's not the prettiest thing I've ever done, but I liked the new challenge of this design and could see it growing on me as I got better at it.  Here's a view from the back:

 Here's the thin sashing section:

Grooving Along

My goal as part of One Thing, One Week Challenge was to start the Grooves quilt.  I've been putting it off, because the pattern looked complex to me.  I rarely use patterns, so that didn't help much either.  Then I saw I tutorial at Crafty Fox showing how to put it together log cabin style and it completely made sense to me, so I pieced it together that way and the quilt top came together in no time.   It's the baby quilt size in the pattern (it's actually quite large for a baby quilt), because I am using it for a lap-sized quilt for someone who uses a wheel chair.  I also wanted it to be usable for a guy, so I went with different shades of Kona blues. 

I'm pretty happy to have finally sewn it together.  Now my wheels are turning about what I should do for the quilting.  Any suggestions is terms of thread color?  Would you use one thread color or change it by the curve you're working on?  Match or make it stick out?  I really don't know, so any suggestions would be helpful. :)

Left For Dead

Source

I started reading this month's book and realized I forgot to post about last month's book club.  We read Left for Dead by Peter Nelson.  Here's a brief summary:

"Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in 14 minutes. More than 1,000 men were thrown into shark-infested waters. Those who survived the fiery sinking—some injured, many without life jackets—struggled to stay afloat in shark-infested waters as they waited for rescue. But the United States Navy did not even know they were missing. The Navy needed a scapegoat for this disaster. So it court-martialed the captain for “hazarding” his ship. The survivors of the Indianapolis knew that their captain was not to blame. For 50 years they worked to clear his name, even after his untimely death. But the navy would not budge—until an 11-year-old boy named Hunter Scott entered the picture. His history fair project on the Indianapolis soon became a crusade to restore the captain’s good name and the honor of the men who served under him. "

In my opinion, this book exemplifies all that is wrong in the world while still showing us the amazing perseverance and hope that still lies within the human race.  I found the accounts of the sailors to be thoroughly horrifying.  I can't even imagine being stranded in the ocean for almost 5 days while watching fellow shipmates being eaten by sharks, hallucinating from exhaustion, and drowning from drinking salt water.  Sadly though, the part of this book that upset me the most was the cover up of the Navy and the captain they broke down as part of their own personal agendas.  I never fail to be amazed at how out of touch people become once they gain a little power, and the amount of damage they do when they wield their sword of vengeance without using common sense and when they fail to be honest with themselves and others.

If this was the whole story I wouldn't have liked it, but what made this story meaningful to me was the triumph of a 5th grader and a crew who rallied to finally have history reversed and a captain's honor restored.  I was inspired by each of these men and particularly by the father of this boy who gave him the encouragement and support to follow through with such an enormous undertaking.  I think only a child could have accomplished what Hunter did, and it gives me hope for the future and restores my faith that once in a while there really is someone who is not afraid to stand up for what is right and true.

Mixing designs

I loved the Free Motion Quilt Along this past week.  For some reason adding hearts to each of the 5 designs felt like a natural progression.  I practiced adding hearts to Stippling, Sharp Stippling, Zippling, and Circuit Board.  I also added some stars into the Zippling, because the straight lines in the star worked really well with the zippling lines.

 The last design was perfect for a doll quilt I needed to finish up.  I added hearts to Loopy Lines.

I really loved how easily the hearts fit in with the loopy lines.  Adding the hearts definitely makes the quilting more interesting.















A view of the back:

I typically hand bind, but with small projects like doll quilts and table runners I like to play with different machine stitches and practice my machine binding (since it tends to not be very exact when I do it).  This time I cut the binding out at 2 1/8"  and I think it worked a little better for me. 


I've been out of town, so nothing else was accomplished this week on my list.









Other projects
Quiet Book - pages need to be put together
Cupcake & Roar Quilt Tops - need to be layered
Christmas blocks - no progress
Halloween Wall Hanging- no progress

Do.Good Stitches - need to do September blocks
Bloggers BOM - up to date

Coming up:
I really need to get going on the Groovy Quilt Along.

Stats for the Week:
New projects - 1
Completed projects - 1
WIP- 7  

Baby Steps

I finished up a quilt this week which made me very happy, but I'm a little slow getting anything else done around here of late.

full post here

I did manage to get August's Blogger BOM done, but it took me WAY longer than it should have.  Have you ever had those times where no matter how hard you're concentrating you keep making mistakes?  I had to pick out just about everything at each step of the way.  It's not even that difficult of a block.  When I finally got down to the final row to sew I thought, "Phew.  So glad I'm finally done."  Then I realized I sewed the row up side down - really?!  Sigh. 

It's done, but I don't have anything else to show for my week.  I have all of my fabric ready to start the Grooves Quilt Along, but it still remains untouched.

Other projects
Quiet Book - It still hasn't been long enough since I cut out all of those felt socks to want to put this together yet.
Cupcake & Roar Quilt Tops - need to be layered and quilted
Christmas blocks - no progress
Halloween Wall Hanging- no progress

Do.Good Stitches - Up to date, but the September block has already been posted

Stats for the Week:
New projects - 0
Completed projects - 1
WIP- 7  

Basket Weave Finish

I'm so happy to finish this quilt so quickly.  It's for my friend's niece and she's scheduled to make her arrival into this world in the next week or two. 

 Everything on this quilt is fuzzy flannel with the exception of the Kona pink, so it is perfect for a little baby.  I wanted to keep it cuddly, so I used Loopy Lines for the quilting.  Loopy Lines are really easy to play with in terms of the density of the quilting, so it's my go-to when wanting a bit more space with the top stitching.  Here's the back:

The finished size is 48"x 48," so it's a really good sized quilt for the baby to grow into and enjoy over time.  I got nervous about the quilt since it was the first time I was making a quilt by request, but I was silly to worry, because she's a good friend.  Even if she wasn't super excited about it I knew she would never be rude, so I don't know why I got all nervous.  I was worried for no reason at all, because she was thrilled with it.  At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

Should of Burned That Photo While You Had the Chance

My dad has been systematically scanning all of our family photos.  A lot of them have mold damage from accidentally getting put in a damp basement, but gratefully they're at least salvageable.

  This is me at my Grammy & Grandpa Stuetz's home in Los Angeles, CA.  My dad was saying this is a hoochie mama outfit, but I reminded him that I wasn't the one purchasing the clothing back then.

My dad sent out an email to everyone in my family with this photo of my brother Adam.  The email was entitled: We Should Have Seen Trouble Comin' with the email stating, "The face only a mother could love."  Indeed.

The funny part is that I know the location of this photo because of the nasty, velvety, yellow wallpaper in the background.  It's from the house we rented on Emaus St. in Middletown, PA.  

Good times.  

Do you have any old photos you wish had been confiscated?!