W.I.P.

I have this week off from work - Hooray!  I won't call it vacation because I am not going anywhere, my husband is working, and I have tasks to accomplish.  I will also take some time to sew, garden, and clean my house. So, here are some works in various stages of progress this week.  

One sewing project I've started is a set of 12 free motion filler place mats.  I blogged about it earlier this week.

I've also made (a little) progress on piecing a braided baby quilt....

My first time working with minky

...and gotten this baby quilt quilted, and backed with minky....

...and started quilting this baby quilt....

Having fun with the chevron stripes

...the sweater/dishcloth quandary from  last week was solved by it being a bit too small to fit my grand.  So I finished it into a dishcloth....

Cotton sweater turned dishcloth

 ... and started again on the sweater.  I found a big skein of cotton yarn for $6.00 in her favorite color - orange.

While watching me work on it, she commented, "maybe that's a little too orange don't you think, Grandma. How about adding some blue?"  

So I added two stripes of blue.  Here is the front so far. 

I call this her Charlie Brown Sweater

...oh, and lets not forget the garden.  My son and I planted summer squash, green beans, wax beans, tomatos, zucchini, spaghetti squash, and carrots this week.  We also built some short brick garden walls, trimmed bushes, watered, and weeded....

We got a hard soaking rain last night so everything is a bit muddy

...and finally, I've gotten caught up on some business bookkeeping, not exciting, but needful.

(Just kidding about the abacus) This bookkeeping aid is available at Go Go Berlinette

So, what have you been working on?

I've linked up with Fabric Tuesday, and Sew Much Ado

Free Motion Placemat Samplers

I've enjoyed Leah Day's Free Motion designs, and recently took her Craftsy class - Free Motion Fillers Volume I.  The class suggests that you make a quilt with different fillers in 50 blocks.  Since I prefer to work on smaller sized projects, I decided to make a set of placemats instead.  

My "plan" is to make 12 placemats, with 4 designs apiece, and then a table runner using the last of the 50 designs.  No promises here, just a plan.  

Anyway, here is the first of the place mats.  I tried Sharp Stippling, Zippling, Alien Fingers, and Circuit Board. 

Upper left - Alien Fingers, upper right - Zippling, lower left - Sharp Stippling (fail), lower right - Circuit Board

The hardest by far for me was the sharp stippling. In fact, I basically failed at it.  I am so used to regular stippling that my hands would just not stop making rounded shapes. Since my family is not going to know what the block should have looked like, I am going to leave it as is.  No one but me, (and now you) is going to know that I did it wrong.

My next class might have to be Leah's newest - Volume II of Free Motion Fillers . 

Happy Quilting ♥

Thankful Sunday

My nineteen year old granddaughter began an internship at Thatcher Park this week.  She is studying Environmental Science at college, so this job at the park is right up her alley.

I had the pleasure of driving her to work on her first day.  It was a gorgeous morning.  The air was crisp and clean, there was a gentle breeze, and the sun was shining.

I hope that she has a wonderful summer.

 Meanwhile, my youngest grand went to a friend's birthday party where they had a petting zoo, and got to ride the pony 4 times!

Here she is all dressed up in her Buzz Light Year costume

What are you thankful for today?

My First Race

Twenty members of our church participated in the 2013 CDPHP Workforce Challenge held May 16th. Some on our team ran, my daughter and I walked at a fast pace most of the race, and jogged a little.

 We finished the 3.5 mile course at 14:47, not too shabby for a first race.

These are the front runners.  My daughter and I started near the back of the crowd

Over 9000 people participated in the event.  The idea behind the race is for work places and other groups to join as a team.

I love the way all the colored T-shirts look going up the hill - almost like a quilt!

Here is our group.

That's me, fifth from the left

My daughter about to cross the finish line

We had fun, and got a free T-shirt to boot!

W.I.P.

A peek at two of the projects I've been working on this week.

This will either be a sweater for my youngest grand, or, if it is too small, a dish cloth for my kitchen.  It is my first sweater attempt.  I am planning on measuring it on her this week, and then making a decision.  She likes the color orange better anyway, so no big deal if this one doesn't work.

I am really enjoying working with this cotton yarn from Sugar 'n Cream during these warmer months.  It is inexpensive and soft with a nice body to it.

The second project is a braided baby quilt using the accuquilt chisel die and cute Woodlands fabric from Hoffman. I am putting a one inch strip of kona between each braid to give the eye a place to rest.

I like the way it looks like a broken rail fence, or chevron pattern.

Two other baby quilts are pieced and waiting to be sandwiched for quilting.  

What are you working on this week?  I would love to see.

I've linked up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Much Ado, and Fabric Tuesday