Color Challenge For May, Easy Potatoes O'Brien And A Month Distracted

 

First I have to show off May's Color Challenge block. Yes! I was last months block ambassador for Jen's Monthly Color Challenge and I'm doing it again this month!!! Her patterns are very beginner friendly and come together quickly, which for me is a plus since I'm such a slow sewer! This month block is brown and Potatoes is the produce that goes with it! I'm using batiks in brown and cream, just like a potato!

Did you ever look at a block and think that would be cool as a quilt? That's what I thought of this block. So I got on EQ8 and played around and here is the results!!!

I love it when one block can give you so many extra designs! I may have to make this quilt!!! To get the instructions for this block visit Jen's blog. The pattern is free for the month and you still can get previous months for $1 each block! Not bad!!! Just head to Jen's blog!

May Bloggers

Bea - Bea Quilter

Kathy - Kathy's Kwilts N More

Raylee - Sunflower Stitcheries and Quilting

Andi - True Blue Quilts

Crystal - DayBrook Designs

Ashli - Quilt 2 End Alz

Joanne - Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Sponsors

Jen has gathered together a bunch of wonderful sponsors. They are broken down into quarters and winners are chosen quarterly; April 1, July 1, Oct 1 and Jan 1, 2022. To enter you simply add your block to the Link Up at the end of each month. One entry per quilter and it needs to be the block from the current month. Finish each month and you will have 3 entries each quarter and at the end of the year you'll have a wonderful quilt!!!

Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio - Goodie Bag*

Bea Quilter - PDF Pattern

For the Love of Geese - PDF Pattern

True Blue Quilts - Book: Monochromatic Quilts Amazing Variety*

Make Modern Magazine - 6 month subscription

Island Batik - Fat Quarter Bundle*

Benartex - Fabric Bundle*

Quilters Dream Batting - 60 x 60 Dream Poly*

The Warm Company - 90 x 108 Warm and Plush 100% Cotton

Appliques Quilts and More - $10 gift certificate

Fat Quarter Shop - Gift Certificate

DayBrook Designs - 2 PDF Patterns

Patterns By Jen - Tucker Trimmer 1® ruler*

Those marked with * are for US residents only. Prize laws vary throughout different countries.

Potatoes O'Brien

I make these on a sheet pan and in the oven set at 500.

 Southern style O'Brien Hash browns (I use Walmarts Great Value brand)

1 Tbls melted butter

Olive Oil

2 Tbls Italian Seasoning

Paprika

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

 

1. Spread the Hash Browns in a single layer on a baking sheet and pre-heat oven to 500.

 

2. Melt the butter and add olive oil to make about 1/2 cup. Mix in Italian Seasoning.

 

3. Drizzle the melted butter mix on the hash browns to cover evenly. Mix the hash browns and butter and spread it back out. If there is dry areas you can you a little olive oil.

 

4. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes or until the desired crispness, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes.

If I'm in a hurry I will skip step 2 and put slices of butter on the layer of hash browns then sprinkle with seasonings. After about 5 minutes I stir up the potatoes and spread them back out.

 

 

Now for my distraction... Let's just say I had a very confusing month! I had no idea what day it was! I didn't get many blocks done, but I did sew! I joined with a group on Instagram (< follow me!) and they were having a month long sew a long of Tilda Dolls. I never heard of them, but I had a wonderful time making these little dolls!

 

My first one is this cow...so cute!

Here is my second one. I had to make it look like my Duke!!!

Duke doesn't like when I take pictures of him with my phone! Which made for funny pics of him!!!

I did make a pair of overalls for "Duke" too along with a bandana. Then I made Tilda's Beach Bella.

Here are all three, but there is more that are in different stages of completion. You can find the patterns for these three and many more at Tilda's World just go to the Free Pattern tab. She has quilts, pillows too. Each cuter than the other!!!

I hope your month was more organized than mine! But the next few months don't look much better for me! We plan on moving soon!

 

Sheila

Getting Back In The Groove

  And getting projects done! 

First my OMG for January... I'm so happy to say I finished it!!!! 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up

 

Here is a close ups of the quilting. I did a swirl with snowflakes/stars.

 

I used Aurifil 50 wt #4655 Storm at Sea, a variegated thread of blues and light grey. I can't tell you how happy I am to have this done and hanging on the wall! I've linked up with Free Motion Mavericks.

I was going to start on the Valentines heart everyone is working on, but it's a little larger than my quilt shelf and I don't want to put a lot of time in figuring out how to make it smaller.  

Did you get any UFO's done? Are you working on the Valentines heart? 

I am staying caught up with Pat Sloan's Home Is... QAL, but it's early and I usually do good until about the end. Mainly because I put off doing the setting blocks. Here are my blocks so far...

The first two are 14.5 x 14.5 and the third is 12.5 x 12.5 square.

And this past Wednesday has to be my most favorite! She has an applique template for a dog or cat and when I saw the dog template I thought immediately of Indy. 

He loved to sit on his hill, so I made my own template for the block.

This block measures in at 16.5 x 16.5 and went together very easily. I will add more detail to Indy either with fabric markers or thread, maybe both. I've been wanting to do thread painting and this may be the perfect project to get my feet wet. So we will see!

My next UFO I want to get done is the Jelly Snowflake. I believe I only have one round and the center, possibly 5 blocks. It would be nice to get that done while it's still cold out! I also would like to get my Out Of This World quilt quilted. It's for my son and it'll be the first one that I have made with minkie type material on the back. 

I have to post this pic...

It snowed! And Duke was enjoying himself. This picture makes me laugh and thought it would make you smile too.

I'll be posting in the next couple days, maybe tomorrow. I'll be linking up with The 350 Block Project, OMG, Free Motion Mavericks and PHD and I'll be posting more from my journal. I'll see you then! 

Sheila

January's OMG, Latest QAL and More Bullet Journal

 Can you, as a quilter think of anything more exhilarating than the possibilities that a new bundle of fabric holds. Even more thrilling is the start of a new project, the fabric uncut, the placements of the fabric in that first block and in the case of a QAL, a mystery of what the future blocks may hold...

That's what I was feeling Wednesday morning! Pat Sloan's new QAL started called Home Is... I'm not much for applique, but if I want to grow as a quilter I have to work on building my skills. Her first block has a small applique heart on it and if you really don't want to attempt it you don't have to put it in. I chose to challenge myself! Here's my block 

 

and a close up of the applique heart.

I used Aurifil #2425 Bright Pink to stitch around the heart and I'm using Edyta Sitar's Sweet Sixteen fabric for this QAL. Don't you just love those little birdies!

Now onto my OMG for January...

Since I didn't complete my OMG for last month I'm carrying it over. I'm happy to say that I finally finished the third block! Only one left, then quilt, bind and done!

 Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up

And that's my OMG this month it is the same as last month, complete the Merry Mini wall hanging... Get it quilted and binding on! I'm feeling pretty good about getting things accomplished this month. I hope it lasts all year! 

I had a few comments and interest on my bullet journal last post, so I thought I would talk more about how I use it with my quilting. I don't spend too much time drawing in it or making it too fancy. I need it to be a way of organizing my thoughts. I get overwhelmed if too much is swimming around my brain and have always found jotting down a To-Do list help settle me. But I would end up with post-it notes and scraps of papers getting lost which doesn't help keep my brain settled. I started to use a journal a few years ago and I'm still working on ways to make it work for me. Here is last years page of how I keep track of what needs to get done or what I decide not to work on or just save the patterns to.

Sometimes it helps remind me of upcoming QALs or let's me see I have way too much I want to do! I can also look at my list and figure out what I have to work on next. I use this along with the Project List that I shared last post. This breaks down the projects into how many blocks are in the quilt or when the next one comes out.

You don't need a fancy journal to keep track like this, just a notebook will do. I started out by using a binder with pages I printed out. It helped me figure out what I want to keep track of, what I don't and how I want to set things up. Last years journal was a little less artsy than the previous year, but I did use it to think up quilting ideas or blocks I'd like to try. I do like looking at some of the drawings I did in 2019 when I had a moment to play. Maybe I'll do more of those too!

If you have any questions I'd love to help! If you are interested in more of my pages let me know and I'll post them next time. I keep everything in my journals...dinner ideas, sew everyday tracker, yoga tracker, and my daily happenings along with quotes and whatever is interesting me at the moment. 

Until next time!

Sheila

For all the animal lovers...                     Me and Duke,

He has helped me heal with his gentle soul.

No OMG Finish

My OMG for this month was to finish the Merry Mini quilt, including quilting it. I would love to say I worked really hard to get it done, but I had a lot on my mind. I wasn't even able to get the third block done! So many days I just sat in front of the sewing machine and more times than not I would get the pieces mixed up and just plain frustrated. If you don't follow my blog, the reason is due to the loss of my mom this month. So much on my mind, so much still to do. I did complete my Cozy Things quilt flimsy this month. Maybe I should have put that down as my OMG!😁 It's all good. 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - December Finish Link-up

 

Onto other subjects...

We had a white Christmas! It wasn't suppose to snow much on Christmas eve and not at all on Christmas day, but it snowed and kept on snowing. I believe it was mom knowing how much we wanted a white Christmas and letting us know she was with us. The dogs were as happy as pups. They played and chased each other and ate the snow! silly puppies!

From our family to yours, I hope you all have a much happier, healthier and calmer New Year! Until next time...

Sheila

Changes

 One of the dogs I rescued and actually let go of was adopted by my new friend Lynn who lives in NY. She sends me pictures of Yeti and her dog and we chat (email style) and get to know each other. I've enjoyed our correspondence, but so much more lately. A week ago today my mother passed away. It's been difficult but I know she was in pain and was ready to see dad again. We had a good talk the Friday before and even though she was very coherent and alert I could tell she knew the end was near. But being so alert it came as such a shock when they told me to get to the hospital as soon as possible on Sunday. She wasn't awake when we walked in the room and wasn't going to wake up. I watch the monitor of her breathing and then I realized she wasn't breathing anymore. She had waited for us to come so we could say goodbye. 

As I was saying, I have a new friend in NY and she has been there for me. She sends me pictures of Yeti and Sabre playing in the snow and just checking in on me. As I responded to her last email and made the comment about how I love seeing how handsome Yeti's getting I realized that's what life is, it's all about the changes and how we handle them. 

When I was fostering, Yeti was the second rescue we helped. Gracie was our first and our first fail. My husband didn't want to do anymore, but I felt there was still more I needed to help. So I talked him into Yeti. Yeti was a pup, maybe 4 months old who had demodex mange from neglect. We had him a month and he was looking better before he left. But wow the pictures I get of him now! He is so handsome, a real showstopper!!! Here are some before and after...

on his way to us, poor baby. I knew he needed me!

I knew he was going to be big...look at those legs and paws!

His hair was spars and he looked so sad when he first got here.

But he did love all the toys and enjoyed playing with Gracie.

The ball was heavy, but he isn't one to give up!

Yeti and Gracie

He's a quick learner. Especially where treats are involved! 

I feel like she's telling him the secrets of being a Great Pyrenees.

Timmy and Yeti, doesn't Yeti look so much happier than he did a month ago! July 10th we went to meet up with the ladies who would be bringing him to his new life. He would be traveling with a bus full of other dogs and cats heading to new furever homes. I believe it took him 20 or 22 hours to get to his new mom Lynn! 

Yeti now, isn't he handsome!!!

 

As I look at how Yeti has changed I think of this year. The changes we have gone through and how they have changed us. Next year will be more changes. Timmy will be graduating and heading off to college. We are thinking of moving. This house is too big for the 2 of us, even with our 2 big pups. Who knows what else is in store for us, hopefully good things. Always hope for good.

Until next time,

Sheila

End Of Summer

Where did the summer go!

As for my OMG from August I'm still working on it. Yes I know it's almost the end of September! I had some issues, besides having my son always in my studio doing his school work I had issues with skipped stitches. Of course when you put things off there will be problems! I'm not sure if it was me, my machine, batting or the backing I was using. The batting is a less expensive muslin I bought online from Marshall Dry Goods, it's good for trying out patterns for clothes without using your expensive fabric. The batting I'm using is a thin batting and the thread is Aurifil, but in a 40 weight for the top thread. With all these things it's why I have a headache from the skipped stitches. But as far as the muslin, I'm happy with it. I used it to make the pillow, the back of the quilted top and the back of the pillowcase, all for the dog so I don't want to use expensive fabric. I'm also going to use it on the back of two wall hangings that I'll share later.

 

I'm not too crazy how I quilted this, but I had to stitch close since it's for Gracie our dog and I want to make sure it stays secure. It gave me ideas how I will quilt my bed quilt that has the same material from Tula Pink in it. It's huge and heavy and I'm having a hard time spray basting it since I hang them on the wall to do that. I may have to lay it on the floor and spray baste it like that, but my knees are already crying about the thought of that!

I have some happy news on Tuesday my new laptop will be here. My other laptop died on me in February and then March brought Covid-19 (son home daily and using my studio for school) so it's been hard for me to get on my computer that is in my studio to do much blogging. I tried doing as much as I could on my phone then get on the computer and polish it up, but that got old very quick! I thought about getting my laptop fixed and I still might, but I'm thinking it's the motherboard and I'm not sure they can fix or replace that in the laptop...I will have to ask my computer guy. Anyway, I have Gracie's Improve Quilt to post and give you instruction on that and I'll have an update on our newest foster dog. I have a couple other quilt designs I want to work on EQ8 to finish, so a new laptop will be a lifesaver for me!

 

Here is a sneak peek at our latest foster...though it looks like we may be keeping him!

I hope your Sunday and the rest of the week will be wonderful for you. Enjoy the cooler temperatures if you got 'em! Fall never seems to last long enough does it!?

Sheila

March's OMG

I'm so excited to finally get my OMG in on time!!! I love playing along because it helps me stay focused on what I need to work on. Otherwise I'm chasing squirrels!

This month I have two projects that need to get completed. The one I'll be focused on is my Cutting Corners Quilt by Missouri Star Quilt Company (Here is the video tutorial) I started about a week ago using River Valley by Island Batiks, aren't they scrumptious! The solid is Bella Solids in Prussian Blue. I'd like to have it completed and ready to give the vet when I get to bring Indy home, more on that at the end of this post. But mainly I want to have the top done. It's going pretty quickly and getting it actually quilted depends on my second project I need to complete this month, fixing up a wall in the garage to spray baste my quilts on instead of crawling around the floor. If you're one of the few that follow my blog you may remember I hurt my knee the beginning of the year and though it's feeling better I don't want to tempt fate and try to crawl on the concrete floor. Plus it's still a cold floor and the thought of being on it doesn't give me a whole lot of ambition to get my quilts basted! This project will go better if my hubby helps and since I can't guarantee he'll be able to help I won't use it as my OMG. 

Here is pictures of my Cutting Corners blocks I have done so far.

Now for the update on Indy. If you are interested in what has happen so far go here. He had to have a third surgery on his left leg because he started pulling out the inner stitches again. This time they put a rod to help hold his leg in line, because of this he will be staying at the vets for 6 weeks. It's going to be a looong time away from my fluffy baby! They got a cart for him to help him exercise his leg without putting too much weight on it. They also have a water treadmill to help in his rehab. But what is really amazing is the Doc has capped our bill from the second surgery so the third was done at no charge!

Here's a picture of Indy and me at our last visit.

I hope you're March is wonderful and you make a lot of progress on your projects!

Sheila

Me And My Dog

Today I'm thinking of my Indy. He's my Great Pyrenees and he's my buddy. He's on my mind a lot lately because he had to have knee surgery this past week, then back in because he blew all the work the vet did and have it redone along with the other knee. He weighs 135 pounds and his right knee had a partial tear so when he tried to put all his weight on the recently repaired leg it couldn't hold up. The vet said it would be better to do both knees and he would have to stay there at least 3 weeks. 

10/01/2017

Here's a picture of me and Indy, taken a few years ago. He's such a good dog, and smart! Scary smart!!!  

02/19/2020

This is him after his surgery. I love his smile! He was happy to be back home after spending two nights at the vet. I hope he's as happy with me after 3 weeks! They trimmed all he's hair, even his mane! He hasn't had that short of hair since he was a puppy!

Here are a few more pics taken 

5/7/2019

 Indy gets tired of waiting for me to go, so he picks up his leash and takes himself! hahaha

2016?

Our house is on a hill and because we are the second house we view several back yards. Indy thinks they are his to protect and he does it very well with his deep baritone bark.

Thank you for visiting and listening to me go on about my buddy. I have faith he'll be fine and home in no time. Sometimes you just need to daydream and look at old photos. 

Enjoy your day and next time I'll post the blocks I just finished up. 

Sheila