Quilts of Valor

Quilts of Valor from Tellico Village Quilt Show

 For the last few years, I've been wanting to make a Quilt of Valor for my dad. My parents served in the Air National Guards and are currently retired. I've given quilts to my mom but haven't done a quilt of valor yet. 

About 5 or 6 years ago I got a jelly roll with a red, white, and blue theme with stars and stripes. I just couldn't decide what to do with it. I recently purchased a postcard pattern from the Fiberology Lab named Mazed by Running Doe Quilts and it uses a jelly roll and an l/2 yard for binding. 

I decided to do that with my jelly roll. When I opened the fabric roll and started looking at the fabric I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. Despite my misgivings, I sorted everything and paired the strips into 20 sets. From there the cutting instructions are simple and the blocks came together super fast. In the end, I'm happy with the way it came out. 

I feel it needs a border and plan on purchasing some fabric for that later. I usually piece my backings with scraps but I surprisingly have very little scraps from this. I think I have enough strip ends to make a stripe as part of the border or in the backing. I can't wait to finish this one. I was very happy with how it turned out.

Tea Time!

This one Ia a tea mom gave me. It was a lovely summer tea from Plum Deluxe called Watermelon Mint. I'm not a huge fan of watermelon-flavored drinks. I don't know why because I love watermelon itself. Nor am I a huge fan of mint in my drinks. Occasionally I'll grab one but that is rare. This one was good the combination was perfect. I had gotten the tea in July. The day I took this photo my power was out due to a huge storm and I had been using the candle to make a pot of tea. At this point, I was just letting the tea steep without the extra heat.

Halloween Bats and Boos Quilt along

Quilt Along!

 I love Halloween and any time I see Halloween fabric or a Halloween pattern I want it. I don't always finish it or use the fabric, but I always want it. I saw a series of videos by the Fat Quarter Shop that is their Bats and Boos Quilt along. They also had a cross stitch pattern made for the design. Both were free to download and very easy to follow patterns. 

I made the wall hanging with a few additions. I added sashing between the blocks and an extra corner block on the middle block. I plan to add a border of the same fabric I used for my bat wings. I just need to make the backing and I can prep it to quilt. It's small enough I think I can get that done quickly.  I have a photo of the current progress but I plan on taking a better one later.

Bad lighting but the background is not helping.

Future Plans...

Next weekend I have another craft show in Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, TN. I haven't made new things for the show because I still have enough stuff from where I prepped before. I have finally sold my Harry Potter quilt so I will have to bring another showcase quilt to hang up. I did go today and buy myself a new tent.

I had been borrowing a tent from my cousin and hers is hard to set up and half broken. I got a good deal on one from Academy Sports. I got a purple tent because I love the color purple. I was trying to decide to go with green or purple since the business name is Green Tea quilts. Purple won out in the end. I may remake my sign later, depending on how this goes. I do sometimes feel like I'm doing a lot of work for no extra return but I also have enjoyed being at the shows. No one said having a side hustle was going to be easy. 

Tea Time!

The bear logo is cute!

I stopped at Hey Bear Cafe on my way home from getting my tent. It's been over a year since I've been there due to covid and not going to that area as much. It's close to where I work but not my house. I've been working from home for a year and a half now so I don't have an excuse to go that way. The cafe is a boba tea shop that sells snacks. 

They have a lovely park on their property that they have food trucks and bands set up regularly. I didn't hang around today for the band because I didn't have my hand stitching project with me. I did get a lovely Jasmine Milk Tea with boba and custard. I love that you can adjust the ice amount and tea sweetness to your taste also. Jasmine Tea is also my favorite tea,

Finished Project photoshoot

 

Fish Bowl Quilt

I went out to the park recently to take a photoshoot of my finished Project Linus quilt. I'm naming the quilt "Fish Bowls" since almost all the blocks contained fish. Tula's book originally names the pattern "Trellis" but I'm going with a water theme here. 

I know I mentioned this before but it is from Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Blocks. If you are interested in the book I found mine on Amazon. There have been a few quilt-alongs that use this book for a pattern. Gnome Angel's 100 Blocks 100 Days challenge and Mountain Creek's National Park Sew Alongare a couple I know of off the top of my head.

I was trying to get a good photo of the complete photo of the front but most of them were not coming out how I liked. I did get an interesting photo of the back. I had a bit of a picnic with me because I stopped for drinks and snacks on my way to the park. 

I think the bench photos are my favorite but they do cover up part of the blocks. A lot of times quilts need to be seen up close for a good idea of the quilting involved, but I didn't get a real close picture of it.

The sky was very overcast this day because it was right before the remnants of Ida hit us. I got home an hour later and it started pouring rain within minutes of me getting inside.

Tea Time!

My tea for the day was a Matcha Iced Latte from Starbucks. It had been a while since I had one and I thought it would be a great treat.

Stash Buster Mini Series SAL updates

I've missed a few months of updating. I've not stopped working. I finished the #miniseriessal by #guicyguice and #alisonglass. This was a learning experience but I don't think I will do that again. I made a small table topper with all the blocks.

I finished the stash diving mystery and participated in a few more. I did not get a final photo of two of the tops but I will have them up at a later date. I did also finish Jaybird Quilts Gravity quilt pattern. I've been calling it the Galaxy quilt. That one has been sent off to the quilter to be quilted. It's roughly queen plus and I do not have the ability to quilt it myself. I don't mind paying someone with a long arm machine to do it for me. I can't wait to have the finished quilt back.

When the shop that sold the Elmwood teas opened back up I went back to get some teas. I picked up this Bourbon black tea. It's an interesting rich tea. It's good to drink straight up or in cocktails.

Quarantine Blues

At the beginning of the week, the county I work in issued a shelter in place order. Because of that, I can't go to work. My boss has been working on a way for us to work from home but for now, I'm off work. I have been filling this time with getting things done and planning out new projects. I think everyone has been doing this.

First I got around to making a wall hanging/baby quilt with the panel I got from the last fiber review at my local quilt shop. I was not happy with the first photo I posted on my Instagram but I did manage to get outside and take a better photo. There are a few issues with it, but I think it came out cute. The pattern I found a quilt on Pinterest and figured out the math for the pieced blocks I needed. I was proud of myself that I got it right the first time.

The second thing I finished was the temperature quilt. To be fair I had only a few rows left to sew together. I'm very happy with the way it came together. It is 14 squares across and 26 squares vertically. I added the brown squares to show where it changed months. I need to get batting before I can go further with this project so I've put it aside for now.

The next project I've started and completed was Moda Love wall hanging. I got this idea from Jordan Quilts. I've watched this video several times now. I had watched it last week, and since it was an easy use of a charm pack I thought, why not!. I used a charm pack I got from Quiltfest. It was Zelie Ann by Eleanor Burns from Benartex. The pattern used 34 charm squares and was super easy. I did substitute background squares for some of the lighter charm squares. I just noticed an error in my layout but I'm not going back to change it. If you want to download the free pattern you can get it from Jordan Fabrics.

Benartix also has a free pattern of a pretty log cabin style table runner using this collection.

Tea today is an unusual thing we found cleaning out a cabinet. From an old tea tin, we found some instant tea by Sweet N Low. I don't know how old this is or any history about it, I've not been brave enough to try it yet. It's an older logo and I can't even remember when they made this. I'm going to get brave one day and try it.

Work in progress

I like many are staying at home as much as possible. I am lucky that right now work has not sent us home. I'm still working my regular hours, but my normal social schedule is on hold. You would think this means I can be twice as productive. I don't feel I am but I've got a bit of a progress report.

I finished the International Mystery Quilt top and made a backing for my snowball pattern. I pieced the borders out of scrap I was provided and that took forever. A lot of time was added because of being exhausted from stress. The backing I used a cute snail fabric I had gotten from a short bolt sale and some scraps. The backings always go together so fast. I started to pin it up but realized I didn't have enough pins left. I need to quilt something else before I can start on this. That pile is a bit tall.

The next was did some work on dad's temperature quilt. I'm trimming the squares as I sew them into strips so this is time-consuming. I also feel I have the attention span of a magpie and keep getting distracted by lots of other things going on around me.

I've been on Instagram constantly lately. I decided to join the Alison Glass and Guicy Giuce  Mini-Series Sew-along. #MiniSeriesSAL. I have picked some recent Tula Pink fabrics I've picked up and I'm adding a few fat quarters I got from my row by row win last year. I need to buy the patterns but I'm waiting until payday. The sew-along is for 10 weeks and starts this week. If you go to their Instagrams or Alison Glass' page you'll find all the info and sign up for it.

The other thing I saw on Instagram was Jay Bird quilts did a heart block tutorial. Under #jaybirdcares, you'll find a free step by step tutorial using her sidekick and hex and more rulers. I did a couple. They're so easy I'm thinking of doing more.

Tea is a blend of bags. I make a pitcher of ice tea usually once a week. I usually use 6 small tea bags and since they're flavored teas I play mix and match, I have 1 bag of Sugar Cookie, 2 bags of Honey Green Tea and a large bag of Jasmine. The other two overwhelm the subtle jasmine flavor and make it taste like a sugar cookie more than anything. I won't try this mix again.

Antique Quilts

I wanted to share a few antique quilts I found. As I said in my previous post I had visited a vintage shop with a friend of mine in Chattanooga. I had to take photos of a few of the finds from the shop. I thought about adding this to my previous post but it was already a long post. So first is a beautiful collage quilt I found that is clearly not antique but probably only a few years old. It's still a fun quilt for a great price.

Next was a great scrap use idea. The pumpkin was either made of repurposed damaged quilts or made new and as aged several years now. While near this one I found some beautiful vintage cross stitch pieces and notions I didn't photograph.

The last one was a vintage quilt found in a different store. I almost bought this but didn't have it in my budget at the time. Its a fabulous star pattern with small yo-yo's at the edge. You can't see the yo-yo's in the photo but they used it to make scalloped edges.

It's not unusual to find hand made quilts in shops around here. They were usually handmade and passed to family members. If someone didn't have a family to give them to and no one wanted them after the artist passed then they end up in second-hand stores. If you find one under $100 it's a steal no matter how damaged it is.

2020 Projects!

It's already March and I've not posted anything on what I've been working on. I've been distracted and then at the end of January and the first of February I had a friend visit from out of town. I didn't get anything done while he was here.  So I've had several small projects I finished for February and January.

January I did the first Saturday fiber Review for Fiberology Labs. I didn't have much extra to show for it. I did have the Christmas Tree Table Runner I showed in my last post. I also finished my Winter 2019 cross stitch along with Stitchonomy. It came out so pretty. I'm going to leave it in the wooden frame to hang it. I have started another cross stitch along with her group. It's called Homely Houseplants. She ended that one recently I just have to finish the last few plants on mine. She has a free sign up for her next stitch along Colorful Critters. You have until April 15th to sign up for the free patterns.

February for the Fiber review we got a pattern for a heart coster. I've finished the coster but haven't taken a photo of it yet. It was a small fast project. I'm going to make more for presents later with different fabrics. It's pretty easy all you need is a few charm squares. I will have a photo of the finished one with March's fiber review meeting.

I started a temperature quilt for my father. One of the lady's that meet at our local quilt shop/yarn shop has been doing a temperature scarf as part of The National Park Tempestry Project. This got me researching different types of temperature blankets etc. I don't knit or crochet. I have attempted it in the past and it is just not one of my talents. I do, however, quilt a lot. So I thought I could do one as a present.

January and February temperature quilt for 1954 WIP

My father's birth year was chosen because I haven't done anything specifically for him yet. I thought he would like this type of quilt the most. I did research on the daily highs and lows for the entire year. I had taken the range and assigned fabric colors to equal the temperatures in 5-degree increments. The lower two ranges are in 10-degree increments because of not having data reflecting certain ranges. I cut brown squares to mark where the months change and made 365 half-square triangle blocks. I have been a bit slower on this project then I hoped I would be and only have 5 rows together giving us a snapshot of the first two months of the year.

January Block

February block

Another project I am working on has been a Murder Mystery Quilt along. They are dropping a block a month with a bit of a story. When you post a picture of your block you get a clue to help you figure out the mystery. I've enjoyed this one so far. Seeing everyone else's blocks posted on Instagram has been fun.

This month for tea I'm going to spotlight a tea room I went to in Chattanooga recently. One of the places my friend wanted to go to was Two Ten Jacks in Chattanooga for Ramen. Since it's almost a two-hour drive for us, we decided to do a day trip and hit a few places. We stopped at Chattanooga Mercantile and spent several hours wandering through the store. It was lots of fun. In the building, there is a tea room called Mammie Carlotta's tucked in the back. We stopped for a snack and some tea for a bit before wandering around the shop more.

Berry Box Table Runner finished

Table Runner front

After I finished my row by row I did take a few days off but got back to work. I have a few projects pinned together ready to quilt. I have so many that I don't have any more basting pins. I pulled out the smaller safety pins I had, to put together my Berry Box table runner.

Quilting it was easy for me. The design was a four patch in a four patch so I played on that theme and did a four patch on point in the boxes. It took a day for me to work on it but I feel I was being thorough. Plus I was working on laundry and getting a lot of distractions from family and friends.

Table Runner back

In the end, it's a pretty spring/summer table runner that I have yet to decide what to do with. I may put it on display later or give it away as a Christmas present. It does have a lot of fabrics I really love it so that's a hard choice.

I did not get a tea shot for Sunday while I was quilting but I do have a photo from a previous visit to a tea room I use to go to a lot. It was called Tea at the Gallery and unfortunately, it is closed but it was a fun place to visit. They had all their teas in silver canisters on one wall so you can pick your flavor. I remember this was one of the first places I saw some exotic teas. The first time I saw monkey picked oolong tea I swore the label said 'monkey pickled oolong' which sounded bizarre and gross. This mistake still makes me laugh to this day.

Row by Row Experience 2019

So this year's row by row theme was Taste the Experience. I wasn't certain about this year because I didn't end up making last year's. I did get into traveling for the rows this year and found time to go to some new shops because of it. I had a few of the rows put together before I started my hustle for Dragoncon but I didn't start the bulk of working on Row by Row until I got home. Even then it took two weeks for me to get my attention back to sewing. I had a touch of the con crud the first week and then spent another week obsessing over if anyone got the tags I hid.

When it was all said and done I made 8-row patterns and found a new way to connect them all. The shapes lend themselves to a different looking quilt then what I've done in the previous years. I think I like this one a lot. I finished it on Sept. 29th but wrote the 30th on the label because I worked myself to death and forgot what day it was. I was tired of looking at the thing.

Not as many shops were participating in my area so quite a few are from out of town. I had gone through Georgia for half the rows. I was able to turn the quilt into my local shop. The shop owner has seen all my previous row by row quilts and said she thinks this one is my best yet. I feel the work put into this one.

Small errors that caused a few headaches

I do have to say, every time I've participated in the challenge, I do learn something new. This time it was the pineapple row that taught me something new. I have been told next year is going to be completely different so I'm excited to see what happens next.

Shop Hop Project update and gadget find

Photo by Atomic Fibers

I have been very busy. I can always be accused of having too many things going at once. I started putting the blocks from the shop hop together almost immediately when I started picking them up because I was more worried about buying the kits and never putting them together. I took about two weeks to get the blocks completed. I roughly spent 20 hours total but the summer has been crazy busy for me. Several nights I haven't been able to work on them.

The photo I have is before I put the final border around it. I cut each block to 12 inches and put a small 1 1/2 inch border around each block in colored fabrics. I tried to use scraps for some and complementary fabrics for the rest. I also tried to pull the fabric I got from the shop hop for these borders. I think I used stash fabric for two but overall I am happy with the results. I did go to my local shop to show them what I've done. Since I haven't taken a photo of the finished top yet I'm using the photo Atomic Fibers posted on their Facebook page for now.

I did go back to the shop to get the demo ruler they had for the shop hop. It's the creative grids Straight Out of Line ruler. I also found a 25% off coupon in my pattern kit from them so I used it on the ruler and picked up some of the Mr. Domestic fabrics I love that they had on the clearance section. Overall I'm happy with what I picked up and can't wait to use my new ruler. They have a free pattern that comes with the ruler and also lots of videos on their site to use. One of the best things about their company is that they give us nice demos.




One of the saddest things I've found out since the shop hop is that Atomic Fibers is going to close. While I was hunting down the photo of the top they posted I noticed the closing announcement. The owner is going to retire to spend more time with her family. I am happy for her and hope her the best but will miss the shop.

The other thing I got recently was a gadget to use when I'm ironing. I had seen this at CVS several years ago and didn't pick it up because I didn't think I could use it until recently. My cousin bought two for cup holders on her lawn chairs. I hadn't found it since and I know a good google search would have yielded results but I wasn't in that much of a hurry to find it.

I have a problem with my fabric spray falling off my ironing board as I iron. It gets in the way and my ironing board is unstable because one of the legs is shorter than the rest. My dad bought the ironing board online for me and didn't realize the flaw until I opened it up. It still does its work. I just have to be careful not to jiggle off things. That means leaving stuff on the board is dangerous.

I found my clip-on cup holder at Bed Bath and Beyond. It was on sale at the time so I got it for about $3. When you clip the full part up it becomes a wine glass holder and turning it the other way it becomes a regular cup holder. So far it has passed the wobbly ironing board test.

Today's tea is the Ito En Koicha Tea. Ito En is a Japanese brand that is commonly imported to the US. I know if I ever get my dream trip to Japan I will not lack in things to eat or drink. I love this brand. The tea is unsweetened, which is something I need, but it is smooth. This flavor is a robust brew and has more flavor but still no bitterness. I know a lot of times unsweetened tea is bitter but they do not have that problem with this brand. They have a few different flavors but this is actually the first time I got this one.

Terracotta Greenhouse and the Berry Patch

Front

Back

I was able to finish my Terracotta Greenhouse about mid-May. I took my final photos of the finished quilt several days later because I was waiting for nice weather. They still look a little over exposed in the photo with the light making it practically glow, but I am happy with how this quilt came out. 

I immediately started piecing the strawberry top. I used a bit of Fossil Fern in green from Benartex and the other fabrics I highlighted in my planning post. I had the top finished by memorial day. Then I had a majorly busy week with the rest of my life and planning a few social events. I had to put this top down for now because I have been commissioned for a wall hanging for a friends wedding. I am happy with the progress I've made on completing works this year though.

Today's tea is a fruity herbal the Strawberry Blush Rose. This is the last of my Tevania stash of this tea. I'm truly out after this. I will have to make some more of the blood orange iced tea from Harney and Sons next.