June Quilt Update

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I have moved the previous posts to the end of the entry.  I hope that you make it that far.

Goals:

Round Robin (RR) blocks (14)  for pink/purple made and put into row, attach, and mail - yes
MY Round Robin - both rows attached - yes
BOM blocks (3) complete -  yes

Easy Street (ES) Clue 8 - no
Orange Crush (OC) ripped out, re-sandwiched, quilted and bound - no
Bow-Dacious (BD)  area ripped out, quilted, labeled, binding on - no
Old Tobacco Road (OTR)  - Clues 4, 5 - no

Quiet Book for Ophelia Made - yes
Jennifer's 9 patches unstitched - yes
Christmas blocks - appliques ready and all small blocks finished
Additional quilt made - Disappearing 4 patch for Ophelia
Started a Block a Day project - yes, I'm insane

1st -  It's June --- OMG!  We are almost half way through this year already.  Goodness.  It is also one crazy month for us so I may not accomplish much.  I intend to give it the good old college try but am also a realist.  Cross your fingers everyone.  Since school is out, that means that summer camp at my house for grands begins.  Today is day one of session one and I pick up Jared down in West for a week of fun together.  Once we get back home, he builds a man cave under my hand quilt frame and it becomes his new favorite spot.  He wants some quiet time to read and play games so I work on my quiet book pages.  While in Hillsboro, I was able to find some appliques and buttons to give the pages a little added zest.  Now to figure out where to put all of them.

2nd -  Good morning.  I have my blog post from last month up and now am going to work on this quiet book some more.  Jared wants another quiet day and so I am here to oblige.  It's rare  for him to get to just hang out and do nothing.  I am able to totally complete four pages of the quiet book and have many more almost finished.  It's coming together finally.  For the afternoon, Jared and I decide that we need chocolate, chocolate chip cookies.



3rd -  After a morning at the aquarium and lagoon, we are back home and relaxing.  It's time for a movie and since he hasn't seen Back to the Future, we curl up together to watch.  After it is over, it's time to sew and bit and Jared is off to his man cave.  I get all the remaining binding cut for the quiet book, pin all the pages together and start binding.  Yay - more pages are complete.

4th -  I ask Jared if he would like to make a pillowcase to go with his quilt and he smiles and says yes.  Off we go to the studio to hunt down scraps from his quilt and find quite a few.  He then starts cutting them into squares to make the cuff for the case.  Once that is accomplished, it is time to lay out the rows and see how they look.  Design walls laying on their sides --- perfect for floor sitting.

I have all of my binding sewn on so am doing the hand work to finish the remaining pages while Jared starts sewing his rows together.  While he works, I finish up and am able to lay the book together to attempt to figure out how to close it.  I find a side release buckle and pin it into place.  Now to solve the other side.   When Mister gets home from work, we run some errands and pick up rings, grommets, and a tool.  I think I have an idea.

We also make a stop after dinner down on the Continental bridge to take a few pictures.  Must share at least one of them as my sweetie is such a good photographer.  If you want to see more, please check out this POST.  It will open in another window and you can enjoy the beauty of Mister's photos.  The black is the tree tops coming up out of the water.  Pretty incredible huh?

5th -  Jared and I head out to the studio first thing today to finish his pillowcase and I want to do the grommets on the Quiet Book so that I can put the rings on and call it finished.   Jared works on finishing his stips for the cuffs while I start adding the grommets.  Oh -- I am so scared.  This means I have to cut holes in my beautiful pages.  What if something goes wrong?  I will have totally ruined the book.

I choose a practice page that would be easy to redo if necessary and start in.  It works and I am thrilled.  Now to cut holes in all the pages.  Here are my "bits" that were cut out. I get all the pages finished and a temporary closure by the time Jared is ready to quilt.

 It doesn't take us too long to complete his pillow case and he loves it.  I think the smile tells it all.  It is so fun to sew with grandchildren --- to be able to share something that I love so very much and perhaps give them some insight into why I feel the way I do.  Check out this proud smile.  He loves it.

6th -  We spend the morning at the zoo with Mister and have a great time before returning home so that I can pack and head for the airport.  I have changed my plans a bit and am flying out to Salt Lake City this evening.  Once I am on the plane, I settle in and spend my time unstitching the 9 patches for Jennifer M.  I still cannot believe that they are all too small.  Ugh.  I get quite a few of them finished while on the flight and sort the squares at the same time.  I am practicing using my seam ripper correctly while doing this.  When I get to my daughter's house, I make a video to share on how I am doing it.  Here ya go:

7th - Today is Sunday so we are off to church and then family time.  Very relaxing.  I do spend some time in the backyard with Ophelia.  It is such fun to get to see and play with her.


8th -  It's a zoo day and I am enjoying myself thoroughly.  Once we return home, I head downstairs to finish the dress and strawberries for the quiet book.  I still want to add a few things, of course.

9th - Tomorrow is the birthday so I really need to get everything finished for the book.  After our fun day at the aquarium, I sit down and stay put until the sand castles for the beach page are finished.  Yay!  Here are what the pages look like now that I have added a few items.

10th -  Woohoo!  It is O's birthday and we are spending most of the day preparing for her party.  We have oodles to do.  I finally get to give my gift and I think it is safe to say that she loves it.  If you would like to see the entire process of the quiet book, I have an entire post all about it.  Please click on this Quiet Book LINK.

11th -  I am traveling home today.  So sad but necessary.  Cass drops me off in the wee hours and I am able to catch the first flight out.  I get a little more unstitching done on the flight but once I get home --- off to bed I go.

12th -  I'm off to a slow start today but do manage to clean up the house a bit and put the hand quilt frame back up before heading to Abilene for Bekah's birthday.  I accomplish more unstitching during the drive over.


13th -  Spending the day with Mister.  No sewing taking place.

14th -  Mister and I are off to an estate sale this morning where I find a box stuffed with goodies for a reasonable price.  Once I get home, I go through all the goodies.  Oh my.  Fabric, felt, plaques for the wall, and orphan blocks.  What a fun box.  After going through everything, I press the cut out appliques onto my Christmas blocks and make all the 9 patch and HST Christmas blocks as well.  I am truly excited for this quilt to come together.

15th -  Today's goal it to complete the blocks for the current RR.  I meet that goal along with getting 2 BOM's, a BAD, and a blocking out the baby quilt being done in Roberta's new group.  That's a pretty good day.



For the BAD, I pull out my trusty box of 1 1/2" squares along with some 2 1/2" squares that were leftover from the 9 patches we are doing for Jennifer M.  I may need to cut more squares for this blox, but am determined to use as many of these as possible before doing so.

16th -  I AM going to get these rows made and attached for the RR's today.  I AM going to get these rows made and attached for the RR's today.  Do I need to say it again?  No, but I definitely need to stay focused.  I want to get this in the mail.  Yay -- the first one is on.

Now for my own.  I start out by having to repair a block from the last row, then attach it.  This makes it so that I can attach the new row.  I am finally totally caught up on the RR.  What a wonderful feeling.  It is going in the mail 2 weeks early as well.  Yep, that's just how good I am today.

I still have day left.  Yep --- incredible as it seems, I am finished before noon with the RR's so I get to work on the challenge quilt for awhile.  If you want more information on this quilt, I am showing all steps on this POST LINK.  I get the blocks made today and even try cutting and resewing one into the disappearing 4 patch block.  A first for me.

Oh dang, I still don't have my BAD finished.  Back to the machine I go.  Today is red, black, and white.  Love this color combo so very much.

Now I've got the bug for sure.  I spend the evening finishing all of the disappearing 4 patch blocks.  Do I have other things I should be doing?  Oh my heck yes.  But this is FUN!


17th -  I audition several fabrics for some sashing and settle on a grey chicken wire one.  It is what is left from my Easy Street top.  Off to the cutting table I go and soon have a nice little stack of sashings.  I spot the box of BAD 1 1/2" squares on the table and see a stack of solids in there.  Those will play nice in this little top.  It doesn't take very long and I have both the top and the sashings webbed and ready to assemble.

I now have a quilt top and am ready to figure out binding fabric.  There won't be any borders as I have a piece of fabric for the back that is just the right size now.  It will "use it up" and that is the goal.

I'll let it sit for  day and see if Mister can help.

18th -  Roberta comes over today to drop off machines and I give her a quick leader/ender lesson before showing her how I sandwich a quilt.  Fortunately, I just happen to have on ready to do this on.  I am going to have to quilt this VERY quick as we are leaving town this afternoon to go and pick up my granddaughter and then are flying tomorrow.  As a result, I am spray basting AND pinning.  I don't want to deal with any movement at all and will still be using my 301a to quilt it as Mister has not gotten to my new machine and frame yet.  It all takes time.  Within half an hour, I have a sandwich.  It this looks slightly different than the original layout, it is because at some point Mister switched some blocks around.

As leader/enders during the webbing yesterday, I did manage to complete three more BADs.  I am trying to get slightly ahead as I know with travel and upcoming grands, I will be behind for awhile.  I'll take a day during my break to get caught up on them.

Off to the machine I go to get this quilted and it goes oh so well.  I LOVE it.

Now for binding.  Blue it is.  Rapid cutting and preparing takes place and I am soon ready to attach it.  I really need to move it now.  I haven't finished packing or anything and Mister will be here to pick me up in less than an hour.  Oh my.

Oh no -- a label.  I also need a label.  I gather all my leftovers and quickly put one together and get it and the binding attached.  Run Deb, run.

A quick picture and I'm off to pick up Bekah.  Hopefully we will get back a little earlier than we planned.  It's gonna be a short sleep night I think.

19th -  After about 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I am on my way to the airport.  All three of us are flying to Denver, renting a car, and driving to Billings, Montana for my daughter's wedding.  The rehearsal dinner is tonight at 6 and we are determined to make it for that.

As we are driving, I handstitch the binding down on my cute little quilt and take the last stitches just as we are entering Montana.  We stop for an "outside" shot for my album and are soon back on the road.

20th -  It's wedding day and completely crazy here.  I could not even begin to go into the details of the day but just know that I am being literal -- CRAZY.  My crafty contributions take place after decorating the venue.  I am tasked with making ribbon wands for the kids to play with at the reception and with some help from Mister and my son-in-law, that task is soon complete.  We have a lovely little pile of "ribbon wands"?  I can think of other words for what they remind me of.

We finish up out at the venue and head to my daughter's house where TWO HOURS before the wedding, we are now making flower crowns for all the attendants and my daughter.  That means about 12 of them.  You saw where I wrote two hours, right?  Do you remember me saying CRAZY?

I get about three of them made and it is 15 minutes after the stated start of the wedding when I finish.  Yep -- you already see what I'm talking about.  My granddaughter has selected the flowers for her every step of the way and now wants to model it for you.

The flower girls in the dresses I made and flower crown by Amanda and I.  (Whatever happened to wearing slips????   I am old.)

A row of lovely ladies all bedecked in flower crowns.  The other two that I made were for Jennifer and Rebecca who were back at the house preparing all the food.

Yes, the wedding does actually take place -- 1 1/2 hours late.  Crazy, I tell you.  AND it is beautiful.

21st - Today is spent with my family.  We are at my son's house and I am loving every  minute of it.

22nd - On our way home today.  This short and very busy trip has left us both tired, but we have Hyrum and Zyra with us and are so looking forward to our week with them.  It's a wonderful trip home but we don't get there until very late.  Along the way -- I FINISH unstitching the last of my 46 9 patches.  Whew.  I am so glad that task is over.

23rd - Fun with H&Z today.  We are off to the aquarium/butterfly house/lagoon for fun and giggles.  When we are finished, we take the train to the theater and watch Inside Out.  What an incredible movie.

24th - Today we are staying at home playing.  I am enjoying my time with these two tremendously.  It's a much needed, relaxing day.  We even snuggle in and watch Charlotte's Web as their dad has just finished reading the book to them.

25th - We are off to the Children's Garden today.  LOVE the gardens and the kids have such a good time.

26th - Go, go, go.  That's the way the days are flying by.  DMA/Klyde Warren Day and then my daughter and her husband and baby O arrive in town so we are off to dinner with them.

27th - It's our last day with H&Z so a trip to the zoo is required.  Cassie and O come along for a fun, although hot, day.  Our evening is spent at Great Grandma's swimming and then out to a late dinner with Grandma.  We travel EARLY tomorrow morning.  They will be tired units.

28th -  Back in the air today.  I fly the kids to Denver and deliver them to their parents then play the standby game trying to get back to Dallas before my paid for flight later in the day.  I have some success and make it back about the time my original flight is taking off.

29th -  I'm pretty tired today so not much gets accomplished.  I start watching SOA season 7 and the new RR arrives in the mail.  This one is all wonky so I'm not at all sure what to do.  You all know I have been doing strictly Bonnie Hunter blocks on these.  Well she doesn't have too many wonky ones and yet I want to finish this last one so that my own top has followed through all the way.  What to do, what to do.

I also pull out my Orange Crush and take another look at it.  Does it really all have to be ripped out?  Yes, yes it does.  Grrrrr.

30th -  It's another pretty quiet day.  I am working on my personal blog while finishing SOA season 7.  In between, I get the laundry done and straighten up the house a bit.  I think I am ready for July.  I didn't even come close on my goals again this month, BUT some things were added and that changed it up a bit.  I'm still pleased that I moved forward with everything that was going on.  Looking forward to a week all to myself now.  I hope I can mark a few things off the "to do" list.

Thanks for checking up on me this month.  Check back in now and then and please click on the link to OUR QUILT BLOGS at the top of the page for many of the quilt groups are starting to restrict the posting of blogs into the groups.  If you want to still have a long monthly read and time for your tea, join the group.  Thanks for sticking around this long -- I appreciate all of you who read each month.

Links to Previous 2015 Monthly Update Posts

January Quilt Update

February Quilt Update

March Quilt Update
April Quilt Update
May Quilt Update