Patchwork Folder from Patchouli Moon Studio

Daryl of Patchouli Moon Studio asked me if I would test her pattern for a patchwork folder.  The timing couldn’t have been more convenient because 1) I’m always willing to help a friend, and 2) I actually need a folder.

My husband and I are co-hosting an Airstream rally in November.  This folder will hold all of my checklists and planning documents.

 The pattern provides different options for making the outer fabric.  Rather than incorporating a quilt block, I made mine to coordinate with the tote I made for last year’s rally. 

This was a quick and fun project.  Visit Daryl’s blog here to learn more about her pattern and see different variations the other testers created.

The folder is one of a few secret sewing projects I have been working on.  I will share my temperature quilt progress soon, once we get some sunshine and I can take a decent photo.

Have a great week!

FNSI - An Update

All of the blocks for my Lanterns of Hope quilt are complete.

The setting triangles are folded squares in this photo.  I just couldn’t wait to see the layout on my dining room table.  The pattern comes with three different sizes and I chose the throw size.

  

I’m working on getting the top together but we’ve had some social commitments this weekend that prevented me from finishing.

Please do not forget to visit Wendy at SugarlaneDesigns to see how everyone spent their Friday Night Sew In.

Have a fabulous week 😊

FNSI and Lanterns of Hope

Happy Friday everyone!

I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to the weekend.  This evening will start off with Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Designs.  

This virtual event is held on the third Thursday of each month.  It’s a fun linky party with prizes and I’ve met a few new inspiring blog friends.  Visit Wendy on her blog to learn more.

Speaking of new friends, I recently found HollyAnne Knight of String and Story.  She is a young wife and mom of two toddlers who has a passion for all things quilting.  Her energy and enthusiasm are very contagious.  She writes a blog and newsletter, String and Story has a facebook page and her Facebook group is Quilting Rockstars.  You can find her live on the FB page Thursday mornings where she shares some tidbit or helpful hint.  And during the summer, on Friday or sometimes Saturday nights, she hosts a Summer Social Hour in the FB group.

HollyAnne’s focus right now is stash busting and she is hosting a sew-along using one of her patterns towards that effort.  I know…I hear you…Really, Jeanna?  Another sew along?  But wait!  I haven’t purchased any new fabric, I really am using my stash.

The pattern is Lanterns of Hope... (photo borrowed from String and Story)

This is my fabric pull.  Quite a bit subdued compared to HollyAnne's.

I’ve stayed on task with the schedule and will finish the last four blocks during tonight's social hour.  These are log cabin type blocks and work up super fast.

So, this is how I will spend my FNSI.  Are you sewing along?

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Blogger Comments Fixed? Can it be?

My new friend Sheryl who blogs at I Am – Blog published instructions on how to receive comment notifications via email agian.  I’ll admit that I tried this in the past – many months ago - and it didn’t work but I also saw new words in the settings this morning which tells me Google / Blogger has made some changes.  So, even though she learned about this from someone else,  THANK YOU, SHERYL for sharing it with me and all your readers!

Here are the instructions…

Go to your Settings, select Email.

Delete the email(s) listed under “Comment Notification Email” and, this is important, click SAVE SETTINGS

I went a step further and closed my browser, waited a few minutes then opened it again. (because I am crazy like that!

I went back into Settings, selected Email again and added the email address where I want to receive notifications.

Again, click SAVE SETTINGS

I received a Comment Subscription email.  It gave me the option to Subscribe or Decline the invitation to receive comment notifications.  I selected Subscribe and immediately received a confirmation. 

I went to my most recent blog post and added a ‘test’ comment.

Guess what?  It worked!

Please help spread the word.  I heard this didn’t work for some folks but it may be that they didn’t save their settings after each step?  I would be interested in knowing if this does or doesn’t work for you if you are a Blogger client and decide to give this a try.

In other news...I have held on to my sewing mojo and look forward to sharing with you this weekend.

Enjoy the remainder of your week!

FNSI and Another Weekend Gone

Weekends always seem to pass quickly but it feels like camping weekends go even faster.

We set up camp in the rain on Friday and since there was lightening, my sewing was delayed a bit.

I did, however, complete my Friday Night Sew In goals.  Visit Wendy at Sugarlane Designs to see how others spent their Friday night.

Farm Girl Vintage Spring Star Block

Farm Girl Vintage Winter Star Block

Mini Star Quilt (flimsy) from From My Carolina Home

I guess the picnic tablecloth didn’t make such a great backdrop for the photos but it was what I had.

We were visited by this little Florida Scrub Jay.  

My husband was so excited because they are considered to be in ‘vulnerable’ conservation status.

I made a light dinner Saturday night.  Fresh shrimp with zucchini and yellow squash, tossed in salt, pepper, Old Bay Seasoning and olive oil.  Everything is put together and baked (on the grill) in the aluminum foil.  Delicious meal and easy clean up.

It will be back to the grind tomorrow.  I hope you had a nice weekend and got to stitch some too.

Friday Night Sew In - FNSI - Making Preparations

Last Friday’s enjoyment from participating in Cheryll’s Friday Night with Friends inspired me to sign up for Wendy’s Friday Night Sew In this week.

Cheryll’s FNwF typically occurs the first Friday of each month (this month was an exception) and Wendy hosts FNSI on the third Friday. If I’m going to sew on Fridays then I may as well link up with others for encouragement and fun, right?

The last couple of days I’ve prepped some blocks to sew…

June’s Farm Girl Vintage assignment from Dawn

A little red, white and blue

A free tutorial by Carole From My Carolina Home

  

And the glaze is setting on some lemon ricotta cookies.  These should get me through the evening...

The cookie recipe is from Sally’s Baking Addiction (I skipped the almond extract) but I prefer Giada’s lemon glaze better.  It’s thicker and I love the texture the lemon zest adds.

My FNSI will be enjoyed in Arya the Airstream as we are going to spend the weekend at a local state park.  Hubby is doing what he can to bring down my cabin fever 😊

So, what are your plans for the weekend?  If you are sewing, why not join us for FNSI?

Progress, A Swap and Friends

Happy Saturday Everyone 😊

We actually have blue skies with white puffy clouds this morning.  However, I expect that will change shortly.  South Florida is in its typical summer weather pattern of heat and afternoon thunderstorms.  That is a good reason to stay inside and create.

But first, let me give you a recap of the last few weeks...

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I had participated in Sherry’s A Quilting Life Block of the Month last year.  The fabric I used was a fat eighth bundle and part of a layer cake of Autumn Woods by Kate & Birdie for Moda.  This fabric is no longer offered (anywhere I’ve found) so this is as far as I’ve gotten. 

 

Sashing and an inner border

I’ll just look for something that will coordinate and hope it works.

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Val who blogs at Val’s Quilting Studio is hosting a fun Eye-Spy Swap.  I watched from the sidelines last summer but decided to join this year.  You can read all about the swap, including instructions here.  She has a few spots left open so why don’t you consider joining us?

The fabrics I selected were from my stash…yay!

They are stacked, packaged and ready to go in the mail today.  Val has opened a Flikr group for those playing along.  There are so many cute fabrics that I’m sure we are all going to have some fun eye-spy quilts soon.

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My friend Kelly and I spent last Saturday sewing our May and June blocks for Pat Sloan’s Let’sGo Camping Block of the Month.

My blocks are on top and hers on the bottom.

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Speaking of friends…I joined Cheryll, from Gone Stitchin’, for her Friday Night with Friends virtual get together.  It’s a night of crafting - whatever you enjoy doing.  You link up over the weekend and then visit others to see how they spent their Friday night.

So, what did I do?

Flossi the featherweight and I caught up on the temperature quilt

As you can see from all the orange and red, it is HOT already

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The knee surgery went well.  The doctors and the physical therapists are pleased with my progress but I AM NOT!!!!  I still can’t drive and honestly, I know I’m not ready to yet.  My amazing husband has been an excellent nurse and driver 😊  Cabin fever and all…

We are off to run a few errands and then as long as there isn’t any lightening this afternoon I’ll be sewing.  What will you be doing?  Hope is it enjoyable whatever it is!

Back On the Farm and Other Progress

Happy Friday Everyone!

No, I haven’t moved to a farm (not that I wouldn’t mind) but I am back on track for completing the blocks from Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage book.  Last year Dawn from sewyouquilt2 tried to revive this effort in me, and others, who had started the project but for various reasons didn’t finish.  And once again we found other projects that excited us more or life just changed directions. 

Well, Dawn is trying again 😊

We will complete at least two blocks per month until we finish…and we mean it this time! Right, Dawn?

These are May’s selections…

Scrappy Maple Leaf Block

Sunny Sunflower Block

This will only leave me with seven blocks to go.

In the beginning I wanted to do this project so that I would use up some bits of scraps.  I’ve decided one reason I lost motivation was because I became overwhelmed when selecting my bits. (I was trying too hard to match my scraps to the fabrics Lori used.)  So when the next block was announced, I would dread going to the scrap supply to pull fabrics.  Does that make sense?

It is an adorable project and I really want to finish these blocks, whether they go into a quilt, runners or something else.  This close to the end I think I should just pull all of the fabrics for the remaining blocks, when the mood hits me, then I’ll be ready when it is time to sew them.

Can you offer any other suggestions?

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I shared here that my friend Kelly and I are sewing along with Pat Sloan’s Let’s Go Camping block of the month.  

These are April’s blocks…

My block 4

Kelly’s block 4

It is taking us a little longer to get to number 5 because Kelly was traveling (ha, not me this time) and I had knee surgery yesterday.  Seems that exciting banana boat incident in Key West awhile ago completely tore my ACL. 

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I have made progress on two other quilts and will be back soon to share those with you.

This is Flossi working away on our recent camping trip

In the meantime, have a magnificent weekend!

Still Here

I am still here 😊

Thought I would pop in and show you what I've been up to since my last post in...uh, January!

First, our team won the Super Bowl...we are one very happy family.

I've been out of town quite a bit and try to make the most of my time in the sewing room when I am home.

Mary of NeedledMom and her sister are hosting a Temperature Quilt QAL.  You track your local temperature and create a block that represents the high and low for each day.  You can read more about it here.  

This year's block is a Square in a Square.  Mary provided a very nice tutorial on how to create this block but I decided to use this opportunity to learn paper piecing.  

I found the correct size template online and set up a sewing machine dedicated to this project.

My husband's great-grandmother's Singer 99

This is my quilt so far.

I found a couple of days where our highs and lows were pretty close together.  

My friend Kelly and I are participating in Pat Sloan's block of the month Let's Go Camping. It's a mystery quilt.  We have completed three blocks and I am wondering how this will all come together.  I purchased the main fabrics Pat suggested and the colors are all over the place...at least for me.

Here are our blocks.

My Block 1

Kelly's Block 1

My Block 2

Kelly's Block 2

My Block 3

Kelly's Block 3

Kelly and I went to a quilt show in February and found a cute pattern for a wall hanging so that is another project we are working on.  We are both happy to say that we are using our stash for this project.  

I'll share again once it is finished.  I'd like to say that will be soon but I have more traveling coming up (2 two-week trips back-to-back) so...it will likely be end of April or beginning of May.

If you made it to the end of this post...Thank You!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Making Progress

On a roll may be a bit too optimistic but I have been able to stitch a little each evening this week.  I would love to either sew or knit every day this year but we all know that isn’t going to happen J

This week I completed two more blocks for Sherri’s A Quilting Life BOM. 

I have three more blocks to go along with the sashing, corner stones and border. 

It would be nice to have this ready to go to the long arm quilter on the 13^th when I take my 2009 Saturday Sampler.  If you missed it, you can see it here.

Carole at From My Carolina Home is collecting blocks for quilts she is making and sending to the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild.  The guild is donating quilts to victims of the Thomas Fires.  You can read more about the effort and get the block pattern here.

My blocks…

Thanks Val for introducing me to this effort.

This weekend will have me taking down all of my Christmas decorations and cleaning.  Fingers crossed that I can sneak in a little more sewing.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Have a lovely weekend J