Back again!

My sewing machine...dies

I have been hand sewing for the past few months as I did not bring a machine down to our winter home in AZ. Last week I decided to work on some projects...hand bags from a pattern and material from the Sunflower quilters. The needle kept breaking on my Singer Quantrum.  I decided to clean the bobbin and that actually made matters worse. The. The needle broke again and I think blew the circuit board of the machine. Nothing worked. So my husband did some searching on the best quilting sewing machine and came up with the Brother 6000i. I was in the middle of a project for a cousins bridal shower so I wanted a machine quick, but not expensive. So ordered this with gift cards and daughters discount. Overall it has been performing well. I do miss my automatic thread cutter as it prevented thread waste. Also you have to leave large tail of tread or it slips out of the needle. Thank goodness for the threader. I have done some piecing,used decorate stitches and I am getting used to it.

At some point I will try out the quilting stitches.

Amanda's shower gift 

Scraps from Sunflower 2013 quilt, hand sewn on way home.

Will attempt machine quilting.

Works in process...

365 Challenge quilt blocks ( hand sewn)

Started the western wagon wheel BOM

Using up some scraps for a boys charity quilt...fish. I am going to do  this in pieces. 25 blocks.

We currently have the house on the market. We had an offer last week, but with all the countering offers it did not go thru. We will loose our offer on a condo in Hartford, as that property has a secondary cash offer accepted. We will not take out another loan to retain, so back searching for log cabin or other condo.

Daughter Cherith has just returned from Zambia as part of her nursing class. Daughter Hannah will be moving to De Pere and begin her teaching career early July. Will talk more about this in future.

Will try to get back to blogging a bit more regularly. 

At lease that is the plan.

Fabric Organization Tips

Fabric Organization Tips

365 Day Challenge Quilt progress

So excited to sew these many small 3 1/2 inch blocks to the the center. They really look cute together sewn. Tomorrow will show to Sunflower quilters, who describe me as the hand sewing and small block quilter.

I have picked out some new fabrics from these quilters from their stash and plan to make a charity quilt to bring down next winter. Using the guilds accu- cutter to cut 5 inch squares. Should speed up the quilting. I have a pattern picked out from quilting book based on nickel squares. Will miss this group. We head home in 8 days.

Let's catch up....

It is hard keeping up with a vacation blog and all the goings on and keeping up my normal quilting blog. But I have been hard at work. I have kept up with the 365 challenge blocks. They are fun to do and learning new techniques. I am glad I am hand sewing them. It will be interesting when we get to six inch blocks. I have done two splendid sampler blocks. I will do them I I like the pattern, but keeping them all. I have finished hand quilting a small top I brought down. Took my time with this one. What I have not done with great regularity is my Dutch treat blocks. Maybe a bit tired with the reverse appliqué.

I did attend the Tucson quilt festival with some Sunflower quilters. It was AWSOME. I also joined this group as I believe in their cause of creating quilts for children in foster care. Look forward to doing one on my own. They also have had two classes I attended. One with potholder psych and other with crayon coloring on fabrics. Both very cool and would make great gifts.

Challenge blocks...catching up

The past few weeks have been busy due to travel to our new winter home and getting settled.
Here are some recent pictures of this challenge.

365 Challenge blocks...week 3

This week we expanded to triangles. Nice change. I moved to greens and some Browns. Tomorrow and for the next 4-5 days will work on them if easy to cut out and do in car as we are on our way to Tucson and our new "winter" home.

Val Laird Designs - Journey of a Stitcher: Free Block of the Month Wall Quilt - Pattern 1

Val Laird Designs - Journey of a Stitcher: Free Block of the Month Wall Quilt - Pattern 1: Once again I have a free Block of the Month Wall Quilt design to share with you this year. I have called it You are Blessed The new...

365 Challenge blocks week 2

Changed colors to brown this week. Hand sewn and so cute.

A Quilting Life - a quilt blog: Quilt Your Stash Week Two

A Quilting Life - a quilt blog: Quilt Your Stash Week Two

Allietarecherith backing complete

 Spent the past few days working on the backing. Was a bit more challenging than I thought it would be, but happy with the result. I am also liking the flannel material. Took some pictures as I am. It sure if it will travel to AZ in a few days. I have lots of hand sewing projects to work on. I have been playing around with quilting patterns for the two pillows that I am constructing. I do want an overall quilting pattern like long arm quilters. I thinking have found one that might work. Will try it on one of the pillows.

Final backing all sewn.

Possible quilting pattern.

Cherith and cousin Bethany...apartment hunting.