In the Mail!

I haven’t posted as I was waiting for Julie to receive her rock flower my Dad made and I was spending all my time on the Humble Quilts doll quilt swap quilt. First, here’s the quilt I made being mailed today, May 9th, (the deadline) in the oh-so-cute mailer Tish used to send the quilt she made me 😁.

Now for the flowers I sent to Julie, here they are when we arrived home. I sent this picture to Julie and now realize why the hummingbird was a surprise as she explains in her post. There’s no hummingbird in my picture 😂.

I have delivered all but two of the rock flowers we brought home….my dad is the best!!!

Cheers, Cherie

Winter UFO List Status

I am late in updating my progress on the UFO list from January 1st, you know, since it’s now spring despite the 45 degree weather 😂.  I completed 4 of the 12 items, so 33%. 🫤.

I will continue to focus on these UFO’s but first I have to finish the graduation quilt…..and there has been progress on it.

1) Finish the flannel donation quilt……NO PROGRESS 😟

2)  Quilt and bind the fall table runner…..NO PROGRESS 😏

3)  Finish the third quilt from broken dishes blocks made as part of the RSC many (many!) years ago.  NO PROGRESS on this one either!

4)  Quilt & bind Scrap Confetti - FINISHED! And gifted!

5)  Quilt & bind Starfire - NOPE 🙂‍↔️ 

6)  Quilt & Bind Quadrangle - NOPE 🙂‍↔️.

8)  Make the last “not quite to size” broken dishes blocks into a small baby quilt. NO, NO, NO 😳.

9)  Make progress on Celtic Solstice - YES, all Birthday Girl blocks are made & lots of 54-40 or Fight blocks are together as well. Spring goal is to continue assembling 54-40 blocks.

10)  Make a table topper from these waste triangles that have been kicking around for years 🙄. NOPE, and they are under a pile somewhere 🧐

11)  Sew the Mountain Majesty blocks into a top. YES!! The top is together and, bonus, the backing is made, the batting is cut and it’s loaded on Sophie. Spring goal is to quilt and bind it.

12) Finish Cheddar & Dill top to be sent for quilting. This I know will happen as I have a January time to get it quilted! FINISHED!!!!!!

Happy New Year! Cherie

Doll Quilt Swap Received!

I received an exciting package in the mail yesterday just as we were leaving to see the Cardinals vs Pirates day game. It was 48 degrees and just a bit breezy.  We had great seats. 

We are Cardinals fans, having lived outside St Louis for 28 years prior to moving to the Pittsburgh area, and they won 10-5 completing a sweep of the Pirates. We stayed the whole game because we came prepared with coats and quilts 😁.

As soon as we got home, I carefully opened the cute bubble mailer to find some lovely fabrics and funny card from Tish.

It was nice of Tish to send pretty fabrics that coordinate so well with the envelope 😉.  And here’s the sweet doll quilt Tish made for me as part of Lori’s 12th annual doll quilt swap. 

Isn’t it an adorable doll quilt made with purple & pink reproduction fabrics? You can just see a child wrapping her dolly in it to play, can’t you? Here’s the backing with a lovely flower repro print.

Such an adorable doll quilt….thank you, Tish!

Here’s a link to Lori’s swap quilt & reminder of the mailing deadline. Because I’m a high achiever procrastinator, who works best under pressure, I haven’t finished my swap quilt yet. It’s well underway so I will beat the May 9th deadline…..and I’ll reuse the lovely bubble mailer from Tish! Spreading the simple joy of receiving a lovely envelope in the mail 😁.

Cheers, Cherie 

Paducah on the Spur of the Moment

On the spur of the moment I decided to travel to my friend’s in St. Louis to go to the AQS quilt show in Paducah! I hadn’t been to Paducah since the Pandemic & the show did not disappoint. So many beautiful, exquisite quilts in the show and the Cherrywood Challenge quilts were amazing! Because we only went for one day, I didn’t make it to the bubble or the Finkle building but we did pack in pretty much everything else!

My friend Darlene & I used to go to the show together & we always picked one quilt we’d like to take home with us. This is the one I chose this year. 

36 Shirts by Donna Frederick from Kentucky. I love it and could easily enjoy seeing it everyday!!

It was great to return to Paducah for the quilt show and have a fun time with my friend.

Cheers! Cherie 

A Plan for a Panel

Here’s my rough sketch for a graduation quilt using a musical panel. I’m starting with the letters & numbers since they will be the guide for sizing.

Below is my first cut of fabrics. On the right side is the background fabric….it’s black with subtle colored dots, then next is a coordinated guitar print that goes with the panel. I may have to pull a few other fabrics to get enough variety for the row blocks…..we’ll have to see.

I’m using the red fabric & the book below for the letters & numbers. I’ll use the cheddar fabric to border the panel and then I’ll decide on blocks for the rows. 

Word Play Quilts is a great resource! It is out of print now but used copies are out there although they are a bit more expensive than the original retail price. I had my book spiral bound and, boy, is it nice to have it lay flat when open.

Here’s my progress so far. Notice the extra A’s and N’s in the middle there 😂 . The six is too small so I’ll have an extra 6 as well. Not sure yet if the 2’s will be okay once finished. The letters & numbers are fun to make but I’m a bit rusty as I haven’t made any in quite a while.

I better put the petal to the metal as graduation is in May!! 😬😬

Cheers, Cherie 

Friends

While traveling with the flowers, we stopped in St Louis to visit friends. Two of these friends gave me some shirts ☺️.  Between these and the shirts from my dad, I have quite a bit of shirt de-boning ahead of me. 

And another friend gave me me a ziplock bag of scraps!

If you didn’t know, I LOVE scraps! In fact, the quilt I finished and gifted to my sister was made 100% from scraps 😁😁

I sorted the scraps and got them put away in their color drawers. I also added the squares to their respective boxes, after pulling out a few for a little something I’m doing on the side 😂🤣.  

It feels good to be home! Cherie 

Cowboy Kids are Finished!

I finished binding the cowboy kids quilt on our way home yesterday. I’m so pleased with the way this one turned out. And, and, I finished this kit less than a year after winning it from the shop hop!!

A friend pointed out I’m using a lot of cheddar in my quilts lately and cheddar does not photograph well. The colors are more like the first picture. I am super happy about the bandana backing I got for it.

We arrived home yesterday and these are the traveling flowers.

If you haven’t been following the traveling flowers, hop over to MaryAnn’s blog here where she visited with my dad via zoom. She updates the traveling flower’s adventures at the end of her posts so start with the one I’ve linked to and continue forward. 

My dad is a retired metal arts teacher who can make just about anything and solve just about any problem, like not working wall heaters, gates, engines, hinges, ice makers, fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers………you get the drift. He makes flowers from the metal on the outside of old fridges, microwaves, dryers, water heaters, etc. There are rock flowers like the traveling flowers above, but also hoop flowers, quail flowers, garden flowers, etc. 

Below is my dad with the hoop flowers above he made for our cabin using scraps of the metal roof we had installed for better fire prevention.  

I didn’t intend such a long post, if you’ve made it this far, thank you 😊

Cherie

Binding the Cowboy Kids

I’ve rounded two corners on the cowboy kids quilt, yippee yi yo ki ay!

To catch up on our roadside attractions since it’s been a few days, here is our stop in Winslow, Arizona…..where we could “Take it Easy” 😀

Then in Santa Fe, New Mexico we saw the Zozobra (https://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/exhibition/details/6134/zozobra-a-fire-that-never-goes-out) which is a 100 plus year tradition of clearing the gloom. 

Then in Chickasha, Oklahoma we stopped to see the leg lamp.

We had to go out of our way to see it even though it meant not arriving at our hotel until almost 10pm!  

Fun times! Cherie 

Ovals & Spiders, Oh My!

Here are the ovals I’ve appliquéd on the road so far. They are kind of addicting and are keeping me from the kids cowboy quilt binding 🙃.

These are the last ones Darlene had prepped so I got this one ready to go for tomorrow’s drive.

Our roadside attraction yesterday was the Hole in the wall Spider Bug in Palm Springs. That is a shell of a VW bug to give perspective on how big it is. 

No sewing today since we aren’t driving. Our roadside attraction for today is a Grand Canyon view on a cloudy day.

There will be sewing tomorrow!

Happy trails, Cherie 

Beauty Shots for C&D

The weather didn’t cooperate to take Cheddar & Dill out for a photo. First it rained so everything was wet and then we had a full day of fog that kept everything from drying out. So here are a few shots I got as we were leaving our cabin.

And here’s a close up of Scrap Confetti.

Our roadside attraction for the day is really the main attraction….

This is Cap Rock in Joshua Tree National Park.

Happy Quilting, Cherie

Friday Finish and Gifted

My sister came for a quick overnight visit to see us. I worked on Scrap Confetti’s binding as we talked late into the night, when my sister (hi Colleen 👋🏼) commented she loved it. The next day we were going to drive an hour & 20 minutes to have lunch with friends, after which she was heading home.  I told my sister, I think this quilt wants to be yours if I can get the last 20” finished on the drive……..in a Jeep, on winding mountain roads. She warned me not to stab myself because I wasn’t allowed to bleed on HER quilt, 😂. 

She likes the Dear Stella Moonflower backing fabric with moths, owls, mushrooms and skulls, lol. Isn’t it the best when a quilt you’ve made finds its forever home with someone who loves it 💕??

I’m linking up with Alycia at The Quilty Girl for Finished (or not) Friday, when posted.

Happy Friday, Cherie