Crafters, July 18 through July 24

Thank you Ginny and Phyl for the info on pressure cooker parts. I have an instant pot though so I'll probably never buy the parts for the two old fashioned on the stove pressure cookers.Maybe I'll have a garage sale sometime and sell them that way. They're so old they're probably antiues. Well realisitcally I'll probably never have a garage sale either.
Phyl, I'm glad your designer brace is working for you and that your table runner is nearly done.I think I'd do what Ginny suggested and use fabric you may already have but each of us needs to make things that we parsoonally love if we're making it for ourselves.

Please forgive the typos. I forgot my glasses downstairs and don't want to go back there right now and wake dh

Ginny, your quilt is truly magnificent! Any veteran or good AMerican citizen would love it. I think you made the best possible decision in those  cornerstones blocks. Stars go better with a patriotic theme than flying geese

It's stilll very hot here but also very windy. This is the windiest day we've had since being back home

Hello Everyone - Hope you are all doing well today and that your weather isn't too bad. It's in the low 90s here today and has been sunny most of the day, but we might get some storms this evening.

Ginny - Your panel quilt is beautiful. The star cornerstones really set it off

I worked on some quilting this morning. I remade two blocks for the Summer Camp quilt along. The blocks I'd made so far just didn't seem to go well together like I hoped they would. So I've decided to make two blocks of four different colors - blue, green, pink and orange - and one block of purple. The purple block will go in the center of the 9 blocks since it's same fabric I'll be using in the borders. Hopefully this will pull the quilt together.

I also cut the fabrics to make two Moda Blockheads blocks and I hope I can get them put together before Wednesday, then I'll be caught up.

I'm happy to hear many of you are working on some crafting projects and hope you are enjoying them. Take care

Ha ha ha…..I have to laugh about sleeping well last night, which I will explain shortly.

Ruth, congrats on getting DGD’s blanket done, all the ends woven in and a border attached. Bet it looks fantastic and DGD will LOVE it. I know you struggled with the pattern and I bet are relieved that its over with. Yes you deserve a break from “hooking”. And do not sweat it, frequently I post without my glasses and that is when I make less sense than normal or have a ton of typos. Yes, you have quite a list of projects to move onto when you are ready to crochet again. Regarding the panel quilt, the flying geese would have also made a star corner stone block but I just liked the look of the HST’s better.

CJ- does the summer camp quilt call for a larger block in the center ( and the one you are planning on making purple). I did sit through some of Pat Sloans videos when you posted them early on, and do not remember if she mentioned a center block like that. Of course I might have missed the video or she did not post it yet. Think its a great idea to try a purple block and then have the other colors radiate from it, I hope, as I am sure you do also, that that unites the quilt to make it look the way you want it to. Repeating the fabrics in the border , which you have planned to do should make it all work out!!! Its hot out there so I am sure you will get the blockhead blocks done today and be ready to see new blocks tomorrow.

Phyl- how is it going with your designer ankle bracelet feeling? Hope that it helps a lot.

I saw an adorable crochetted basket pattern in my magazine, will check out the link and include it in a separate post. If its not too large I might make one in color that works in my bedroom- to give me a place to rest my glasses and TV remote.

I did go on MSQ to price out having the panel long armed by them. Looks like its under $40 to do that, and while not cheap, also eliminates the possibility of me messing it up. Its an option. I do plan on shortly taking some fabric out and seeing what I think of the different possibilities to quilt this.Because there is so much motion going on in the center I have pretty much decided against any straight line quilting, unless I do that only on the border and stipple of sorts in the center. If I can master a cloud pattern I might try that on the center and straight line on the border.

Weeks ago a friend asked me if I would be willing to drive her to the airport this am to catch a flight to florida. It was to a close by smaller airport and the flight left at 8 am. I agreed to do that. Last night she called me to tell me that her flight was cancelled and she rebooked to fly out of one of the major airports- further distance, more major roads to get to and I would have to pick her up at 4 am. Ugh. I really had no options, and was a bit disgusted that she just rebooked like that - but she had to get to florida to help out a friend. So I got up at 3:15 am, after not being able to fall asleep until 11:30. Fortunately the trip to the airport went well and while I saw a bit more traffic on the way home, that went well also. I have taken 2 short naps since then to get my sleep total up to a normal nights sleep. I did originally tell her I would not be able to pick her up from the airport in 3 weeks- and I stand by that. Yes she did give me a reasonable amount of money for gas and tolls and I was able to fill up my gas tank on the way home in another state where gas prices are a bit cheaper.

Gonna go see if I can post the link for the cute crocheted basket .

Ginny, I'm glad that your friend at least paid for gas and tolls. I sure would NOT be happy that I had to get up at 3am to do something for someone else. I even hated when I had to get up at 4:30 am to fly to visit ds and his family 10 years ago. I even hated when ds made the appointment for us to have the internet  guy come over at 8:30 am which necessitated me getting up at 7:30 and when I had to get up at 6am to make the flight home last month...YOu know that I'm not an early riser. I hate mornings. I even have a t shirt that says "I think I'm allergic to mornings" then on top of that you had to drive through major traffic to a large airport in a major city. I'm glad you don't have to pick her up when she comes back to NY. if you see her name pop up on caller ID don't answer 

As I said when I started this chevron blanket I'm not at all fond of them. Now that it's done I do like it. It IS really pretty. Much of the prettiness comes from the ridges that are formed by making fpdc's in every other row.

That would be a cute basket for a little moses basket for a doll. And I have the yarn they call for but I agree with you in saying I'd never pay $5 for that pattern. There are many other patterns for a similar basket that are free. 

I started the "sleeping dino" pattern this morning. I was going to start with the snake but the site wouldn't open when I tried about six times so I'll do the dino and if necessary I'll just choose a different snake pattern.

Hello Everyone - Hope you are all doing well today and staying cool

Ruth - I'm happy for you that you finished the blanket, I'm sure it feels good to be done with that. I hope you enjoy making the other projects.

Ginny - I'm sorry you had to get up so early to take your friend to the airport, but it was nice of you to do that even after the location changed. I would have been upset about that since I like to plan things out well in advance.

I hope that you can quilt your panel quilt yourself, the variegated thread sounds like it would be pretty. All the blocks for the Summer Camp quilt along are the same size. I just planned to do the center block in purple fabric to match the border, and I'll still do that.

Phyl and Sue - Hope you are well.

I feel like the last few days I've just been remaking every quilt block I've already made I finished the two Moda blocks this morning and then when I looked at the white fabric I used in it there were black marks all over it. They weren't there at the beginning but showed up after pressing. I'm not sure what it was but I don't want to keep using this fabric for 12 more blocks and have problems. So I remade both of those blocks today with a different white fabric. I'm pretty happy with the fabric combination. The dark fabric is a purple that has stars in it and some of the stars are yellow, lime green and red - so I'm using those three colors as the other fabrics.

At least I'm caught up again - just in time for 3 more sets of blocks to come out tomorrow! I still might participate in another quilt along that starts next month, since it's just a monthly one and I have 4 fabrics picked out for it (see picture below). I'm still thinking about it, but I'll be finished with Summer Camp and the Laundry Basket quilt along by then so maybe I'll have time.

Here are some pictures:

This is the bonus table topper I made with leftover pieces from the large Moda Blockheads quilt. I'm hoping to get this one quilted myself:



The Laundry Basket star blocks from this past week:



The Moda Blockheads blocks:



The marks on the white fabric from the first set of blocks I made - this is a closeup, the marks were in all the white areas:



Possible fabrics for the Melodic Melody quilt along:



Take care everyone!

CJ- I really like the table topper, its got a lovely mix of the more muted colors and the bright white. I hope you quilt that, its very pretty. That sure stinks about the mark on the white fabric, which I am happy for you that you caught early enough before too much had to be ripped out.

Phyl, I think most people show symptoms after covid exposure at or around day 5- 6, but yes some folks do incubate for as many as 12 days. Think its wise of you to stay home for a few days, but honestly the day after exposure you would not have built up enough of a viral load in your own to infect another person. That takes a few days. Hope you can get your cleaning done and move on to some sewing if you like.

In defense of my friend…yes we had a previously arranged plan for a later pick up time but her airline cancelled her flight only a short while before. She really had no time to alert me, other than how it worked out. Yes I was slightly annoyed but realized that she had to get to get to her travel location and I did commit to taking her. She more than took care of gas and tolls. Had she called me last night before she changed her travel plans, I would have agreed to the amended time, again because I had already committed to it. Actually the airport I drove to this am I have driven to many times, the smaller airport I have only been to once.

I went to shorten some curtains and will finish them tomorrow. Just got too tired to switch my machine back from free motion work. WIll start fresh tomorrow morning.