WOW! How is it the middle of August already?

 I have no idea where this month has gone.  But, I did get some projects moved along.

First, I had a kit from a quilt store in NJ for a pop up container using a portion of a quilt lady panel.  There were limited directions….I’m guessing because of copyright issues….for the size that was in the kit.  However the kit included the pattern for the Fat Quarter Pop Up and the directions said to follow that pattern.

Here’s what I made:

Here is the pattern that I was working from:

It was a fun project and was the August project of the month.  I am following along with The Quilted Forest on YouTube with projects. I’m doing pretty well with completing things.  Unfortunately, the projects that are coming up are more intense….namely kits that I haven’t started yet. And the projects are bigger. Guess I will be busy as the year progresses.

I am also doing, as previously mentioned, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge through the Sew Scrappy blog. The color for August was yellow.

Here is my Traffic Jam block (this is a free pattern from Pat Sloan) with a twist:

If you enlarge you can see it better….but instead of a four patch in the center I have a single square of a bird. I thought it looked pretty and since the background was yellow I went for it.

The other yellow block that I did was the Twirling at the Disco block, but it’s not sewn together yet.

Since these blocks are large I’m not sure how many more I will be making.

I have a scrappy courthouse steps quilt in progress for the full size guest bed and I have an idea for a quilt for the twin sized guest bed so these Twirling blocks may go into a charity quilt.

The other thing that I did this month was to start posting videos to my YouTube channel.  It’s been fun, and it is a good way for me to show my friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania what I have been working on.  It would be fun if I get others interested in what I have to say and show.

If you are interested my channel name is Stitching with Sherry V, just like the name of my blog.

I hope you are having a wonderful day and are staying quilty!

Sherry V

 

 

Still here and plugging away

 The month of June seems to have passed by in such a blur that I didn’t have time for a blog post!

We had house guests and things just got busy…..but I did get some stitching done.  I started working on a scrappy Courthouse Steps quilt for the full sized guest bed. I need 72 blocks.

Here you can see a couple of them with my blocks for the July Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The July color is teal/aqua.  I thought I had more in my stash but I could only find a few pieces so I won’t be making a Traffic Jam block or a Twirling at the Disco block because I don’t have enough variety. 

The color for the RSC for June was pastel….and since I incorporated pastels in with my colors I didn’t do blocks last month either.

The June project of the month for me was an apron made from a tea towel.  I had a kit in my stash.  It didn’t get touched in June but I did get it done this month.

The pattern is from Prairie Moon Quilts, circa 2012.  I had a question about the pattern instructions and wrote her….she got back immediately with further details.  Great customer service for a 14 year old pattern!  I did adjust the pattern by leaving off the pocket and my ties are longer.

For July the project of the month is my crumb block project.  I haven’t looked at that project yet.  I believe that I have quite a number of blocks but not sure what I want to do with them.  I’m actually a bit bored with them so I don’t think I want to make more. I am following along with The Quilted Forest for the projects of the month.  She posts a YouTube video every month showing her project. 

So far this year I have finished 5 projects…..one project was finished before it’s number was picked so I have put the Courthouse Steps project in its place…..but I’m having so much fun with the blocks it might be another project finished early.

I hope you have a great rest of the month….and get lots of stitching done!

Sherry

Where has the month of May gone?

I don’t know where the time has gone…..except to say that it wasn’t in getting a lot of sewing done!

It’s just been in the past couple of days that I have been able to get my May monthly color blocks for RSC completed.

There are my orange blocks, Traffic Jam, Twirling at the Disco, 16 patch and four patch. Looking at the picture you would never know that they were pressed!

I did do a couple of composition notebook covers, but I don’t have pictures of them.  I also did a pen holder for a notebook…but again, no picture.

My May project of the month is this kit for two storage pods….I’m hoping that I can get those done between today and tomorrow.

This was a kit I purchased from a now defunct quilt shop in New Jersey. The one fabric has safety pins on it.

The exciting thing that happened the other day is that we had a bear run through our backyard….by the time I realized what it was it was already in our neighbors yard.  That is the first time I’ve seen a bear since we moved here.  Guess the neighbors were right when they said not to put out bird feeders…..but I do miss seeing all the birds.

That’s all I have for now….going to try to get these storage pods going.

Happy stitching,

Sherry

April progress in the Sewing Studio

 Well it took me a little time to get going due to being a little under the weather but my goals have been completed!

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge pink was the color for April.  Here are my four patches, 16 patches, Traffic Jam block and Twirling at the Disco block.

I am also following The Quilted Forest in a project of the month.  The project for April was a kit from a former quilt shop in Mt. Holly, NJ.  The pattern is a Villa Rosa Designs pattern called Augustina.  The fabrics in the kit are Halloween based.

I haven’t gotten the batting or backing prepped yet….but the binding has been sewn together but not yet pressed.  But, I am still calling it a win since the top is done and the kit is not just sitting in my stash.

I still have to get my great nephew’s dinosaur quilt done…but I did cut the backing fabric.

I’m not sure how I am going to quilt this….but since he is only turning 3 I’m thinking I will just go with a stipple pattern.  That is my “go to” pattern and I haven’t had time to practice anything else.

I hope you have been able to get some stitching done.

In peace and pieces,

Sherry

 

March project progress

Well I have been pretty successful with my projects.  Here are my Twirling at the Disco, Traffic Jam, 16 patch and four patch blocks.

Then I worked on this shawl.  I was able to finish it according to the pattern.  If I make this shawl again I will make it longer since it does not come down far enough on my arms.

I have also started another project…..a courthouse steps scrap quilt for our guest bed. It will probably take a little while to finish it but I will be using it as a “bonus” quilt between my main projects.

There is still a bit of March left so I have time to finish more things.

Happy quilting,

Sherry

 

Finally got some sewing time!

 It has been so cold here lately that I haven’t been able to spend much time in my basement studio to sew.  I have a couple of space heaters that I use….but then I forget and plug in the iron or an extra light and I trip the circuit breakers. LOL

But, I have gotten my February projects done!

First, here is my completed potato chip quilt on our bed.

There are 1,294 pieces measuring 2” x 4” in the quilt (that is the finished size; they were cut 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”).

It is a bedspread size and I believe it is the largest quilt I have ever made.

This was my January project of the month…..a program from The Quilted Forest that I am following on YouTube.

Now, for February I have my February project of the month as well as my green fabric blocks for the RSC (Random Scrap Challenge) from the SoScrappy blog.

What I have here is a tray made from a mini charm pack that I found in my stash.  The pattern came from the Moda Candy book shown.

The large quilt block is my green Twirling at the Disco block.

 The blocks in this second picture are my 16 patch, my 4 patch and the green block for Pat Sloan’s Traffic Jam quilt.

There is one more 16 patch that is not yet finished….hopefully the weather will be warmer and I can get back to sewing.

But, lest you think I have been doing nothing, I have been working on a knitted shawl.  I am one the third skein of yarn and think that may be big enough.  At this point it is over 200 stitches wide and the pattern I am following indicates they stopped at about 313 stitches.  I would show a picture but it doesn’t look like much more than a puddle of shades of blue since I cannot fully spread it out at the moment without taking it off the needles.  But as soon as it is done I will show it.

Happy stitching!

Sherry

Can’t wait for the snow and ice to leave

This past weekend was the second one where we got bad weather.  It started with flurries after 6pm on Friday and just kept snowing through to Sunday morning.  We ended up with almost 14” of snow and ice.

Since my sewing studio is in the basement I have been unable to do any sewing…..even with our heaters it is just too cold. So there has not been any sewing since Friday.

 But I have been doing some knitting on a shawl that I am making for myself.

SoScrappy has picked dark green for the February color…..and hopefully I will be able to get my blocks for February done. I have my potato chip quilt about halfway quilted so that should be completed in February as well.

Stay warm and safe! 

 

Stitching during winter weather

 Here in East Tennessee we have been having a bit of crazy weather….cold temperatures, icy rain, regular rain, freezing temperatures and now black ice!

So, when you have bad weather you sew! I’ve been working on several things:

This is my potato chip block quilt. It is huge! I think it is like 102” x 114”.  So far I have quilted 1 1/2 rows out of the 9 rows plus border.  It would be fun if I could get it finished before our next guild meeting so I can show it.

These 16 patch blocks are part of my RSC projects.  I am working through my 2 1/2” strips to work them up.  When I can’t get two blocks I am trying to get at least one 4 patch from the leftovers.

This block is for a free pattern by Pat Sloan called “Traffic Jam”.  It is another RSC project. The pattern has 9 blocks but I may make it bigger.

This block is from a quilt pattern called “Twirling at the Disco” and is large…..16”. Since each of my blocks will be the same background with different colors I may not join the blocks the same as the pattern, but I’ll make that decision later on.

Today is a day off since the library and county offices are all closed.  So I’m hoping to get more quilting and knitting done to move my projects along.

Enjoy your day,

Sherry

T shirt completed and sent

This is the latest quilt that I have completed.  It was made from t shirts and polo shirts from the late stepfather of a friend.

One of the shirts had a pocket so I left it…..told her it could be a remote holder.

I don’t think I will be doing any more T-shirt quilts……they are a lot of work (at least for me) and I don’t enjoy doing them.

I have another quilt on the machine and will show that soon.

As for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks I have two different blocks cut but haven’t been able to stitch them yet.

But, since they are predicting bad weather this weekend (ice and snow….in TENNESSEE!) I’m thinking that as long as the electric stays on I can get some stitching done.

If you are in the path of this crazy storm coming through stay safe!

 

 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2026

 I am going to do my best to work through my scraps by taking part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Scrap Happy at superscrappy.blogspot.com.

The color for January is blue.

My first task is to pick a block or two that I want to make each month using her color prompts to use my scraps.

If you’d like to join in you can check out her blog…..she has been doing this for several years.

Happy New Year,

Sherry

Time just keeps flying by….

 My last post was done on May 1st…..and I can’t believe that it is now the end of June.

I’ve done more reading:

The first two are the latest books by Laura Childs.  They are cozy murder mysteries and I love her writing style.

Games for Dead Girls was on the “ new books” shelf at my library and it sounded interesting.  It is a thriller and while the beginning of the book was a little slow for me once I got to the middle of the book I couldn’t put it down.  The ending was not something that I was expecting.

I would definitely recommend this book.  And, of course, Laura Childs is always a recommendation.

This book by Barbara Bretton is part of a series that I have enjoyed. It is a supernatural romance and while I’m not usually into that I started reading it because it has knitting patterns at the end and the main character owns a yarn shop.  I’ve enjoyed the series.

This book, by Corrie ten Boom, was something that I read after our pastor talked about her during one of his sermons. 

I have not read a lot of history regarding the holocaust but am aware of the atrocities that took place.  Reading this book gave me more of an understanding of just how courageous the dissidents were.

I am glad I read the book and would recommend it.

This was an audio book that I read because it was on the reading list for a book group that I found.

It was an enjoyable read, but I’m not sure if I will be reading any other books by Kate Khavari immediately.  Not that her writing is bad, but it just wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put

Since the beginning of the year I have read 24 books and have several more in the works.

But, I did get some sewing in.

I belong to Stash Bee this year and June was my month to pick a block.  I chose the block called Antique Tile from quilter’s cache website.

This was my sample:

It is a 12” block. The members of my “hive” all make the same pattern.  I asked that they use a light and dark version of their favorite color and any shade of yellow.

I have almost all my blocks and there were blues, purples and oranges.  I have cut more fabrics from my own stash to make a larger sized quilt but I haven’t sewn them yet.

They are still having card making classes at the library and here are the latest ones that I have made:

When I lived in New Jersey I had a pretty large African violet.  There wasn’t room to carry my plants with us when we came down so I got this one at our food store.  It took a while for it to bloom and this is much more full of blooms than any other plant I’ve had. I’m thinking it likes the window I have near.

This is a quilt top that I made for a charity quilt.  It used fabrics that were in a kit from my quilt guild.

Hopefully my next post won’t be as delayed as they have been, but it all depends on what goes on with my life.

In peace and pieces,

Sherry