To Do Tuesday

Greetings Greetings Greetings! I am so happy to be where I am now! First of all the 1 mile only (at a 20 minute pace), losing weight, and quilting most of the day! Hearing Aids are great and I got an exception on my GERD medication which saves a lot of $$$! What else could I want after the years of life not going well! It was like the old superstition of breaking a mirror and having 7 years of bad luck. I can at last say I am HAPPY and glad to be back with a bundle of energy (mostly attributed to sitting in the sun each day for good Vitamin D) Now I just need to get excited about firing up that long arm quilter and get some quilts quilted (maybe in June). Tammy (my long arm lady) and I have decided that August will be the month to get together and now I have 10 quilts ready for her. Stars Around the Garden will probably be custom quilted. I would love to enter it in a Quilt Show in 2023.

This last week I have been a busy bee and loving it. I have completed the 16 blocks for my new quilt and only have 7 blocks that will be 4 1/2” easy blocks to do. I have finished 2 and the remaining 7 will fill in the blanks on the Design Wall. Then doing the setting blocks and borders. Here is where I finished this evening. I plan on having this quilt top completed by next Tuesday!

I will be adding the smaller blocks, a blue 2 inch sashing to frame the blocks, and then a surprise final border. I am very pleased with my first EQ8 quilt! The blocks are 8” finished and the block really doesn’t look that difficult, but looks can be deceiving. Getting them correctly was tricky!

With all of my UFOs completed, I have decided to work on the following applique projects again. I miss having some applique to work on. There are 3 projects that I am going to start at the same time. Lilly Rosenberry Quilt will be the most difficult one and hopefully I can finish it within a year (providing I remain dedicated to doing so). Tazzie has been working on this quilt for the last year and has finished 10 blocks. I fell in love with the pattern and now I want to see if I love it enough to make 16 blocks with tons of circles! I have to really think on which colors to use. This quilt really speaks to Red and Greens – scrappy will not cut it. I am going to lean toward Batiks. No hurry in this decision though. I am going to work along with Tazzie. The blocks measure 18” so I will probably start off with just one block to start with.

The next applique project will be a Lori Smith quilt. I will be doing a mini-applique along with Jaydee Price from Sequim WA. Jaydee is a prolific quilter whom I met through The Applique Society over 12 years ago. We are working with Fit to Frame Quilts numbers 1713 and 1716. Jaydee and I are combining both patterns to make a quilt of 24 – 6” blocks. I have selected the fabrics for this one. It is a Reproduction fat quarter bundle called Rose. Jaydee and I have decided to do 3 blocks at a time. This project will start within the next 2 weeks.

Next in the list of new applique projects is In the Garden. I am going to start by preparing the 4 bunny blocks.

I am really leaning toward using one of my Le Beau Papillon fat quarter bundles for In the Garden. I THINK the orange for the carrots can blend in. Fabric selection is so much fun when starting a new project.

On the Cross Stitch project. I made the Bats and Boos Quilt, (notice I had the name reversed) but will be changing the border to one like Laura’s. At the time I did the border I did not have anymore background fabric, but was very lucky to find 3 more yards. So I will be removing the current border and may add either 1 or 2 more borders. I think it will look so much better!

I am now starting on Bats and Boos Cross Stitch project that will match my quilt. I ran into problems with starting the project (I am a beginner). When I first started with the counted Cross Stitch I purchased Aida cloth that had thread running through the cloth every 10 stitches, but for this project I purchased a Wichelt-Permin Aida Icelandic Grey Cloth. I quickly realized it was great when working on Aida Cloth that had the thread already in place every 10 stitches. I asked Jaydee about this and she said to just take regular thread, find the middle of the cloth and just do a running stitch every 10 stitches! I started with the light blue but will now try some yellow to see if it is better.

Of course I want to start a new pieced quilt for daytime quilting. I made a Double Wedding Ring years ago and gave it away to a dear friend. This time it will remain with me. I have not selected fabrics for this quilt, but I have plenty of fabric selections in my stash. It may be a 2 color quilt, or a scrappy reproduction quilt. Batiks are my favorite go to, but it depends on what hits my fancy when I start audition the fabrics. Sharlene Jorgenson’s pattern and her templates are great to make this quilt. I may have Marti Michell’s templates also, will have to check my ruler stash from Marti. This one probably won’t be started until the first of June.

Yesterday morning I found this little darling baby deer by our back fence line. Clay found it this morning in the same place. We are worried about where the mother is. When I started my walk, I noticed 2 Doe’s and hopefully one of them is the baby’s Mother! Of course the baby ran back toward the high grass area and then I saw one of the Doe’s running over there. Fingers crossed!

Thank you for visiting and looking at goals for new projects. I am praying that I can enjoy the next 6 months working on them without any Unforeseen Requirements.

Have a great week and we in South Texas need to start praying and doing some rain dances!!

Hugs, Nanette

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away;  Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays