Flock of Many Colors

Finished up my bird pillows designed by Alison Lang.

Red Cardinals

Gila Woodpecker

Gambel's Quail

Also finished the Chickadees, but I want to frame it instead of making a pillow.

Fall is here! 

A lovely thunderstorm issued in cooler temps last night.

Time for jeans!!! Sweaters is pushing it though. 

Not that cool yet.

Travelling Day

My bags are packed, 

but instead of leaving on a jet plane,

I have a 9 hour car trip ahead of me today.

This last week in the mountains I managed to fit in one more project...

Sue Spargo Roadrunner Needle Roll.

Lots of fun stitches on this!

After returning to blogging,

I have noticed a marked increase in spam emails, 

some of it fairly inappropriate.

Therefore, like others such as Temecula Quilt Co.,

I am turning off the comment section.

Hopefully, I will continue to share my projects,

 but will miss the comradarie of exchanging comments.

Happy Fall!

The End of Summer!

As our summer in the mountains draws to a close, 

I am satisfied with the progress I have made on the projects I brought up to finish. 

First is the inner portion of my Solstice Dreams quilt, 

designed by Kerry Green.

I am excited to finish this one because she is releasing a new design soon!

Then there is my Crimson Tweed wall hanging,

designed by Sue Spargo.

They both need their borders,

so I guess I cannot really call them finishes just yet;

but getting them to this point was my summer goal.

Now this one is a real finish,

 A Sign of Christmas, designed by Cricket Street Wool.

That plaited wool border was a real challenge!

I am also current on my Vases of Flowers quilt by Yoko Saito.

Even September's block is already appliqued down. 

Just need to do the embroidery work.

This coming weekend we will be packing up and heading back home to AZ...

AND THE HEAT!

Not looking forward to that part,

but I cannot wait to hug my babies.

A new baby is due Oct. 2nd! 

I used to lament my lack of grandchildren 

and now I will have 5.

Since I am celebrating my Medicare birthday this year, 

 I hope I will have the energy for them all.

Home, Sweet Home

I love to travel, 

but sometimes the best part is returning home.

The best part of the trip was spending time with my sister.

The scenery was not half bad either.

Now the hiking....

I was not prepared. 

As for stitching...not much got done.

I read 2 books though.

Highly recommend Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Since returning home,

jet lag has made for some productive hours in the middle of the night though.

This is Gila Woodpecker by Alison Lang.

Just needs some buttons and embroidery on the cactus pad. 

I love this one and it will be made into a pillow for my home in Arizona.

While doing laundry today,

I prepped this table runner from Kim Diehl's last book.

It is all ready for some machine applique when I get back to AZ. 

My sewing table at the cabin is not conducive to either machine quilting or machine applique.

My girls have returned to Arizona and school,

but here they are enjoying their last days of cool weather in the mountains.

I miss them.

OMG...my apologies

I just came across all the comments in my awaiting moderation file!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments! 

Hopefully, I have cured the problem and will get notification of comments in the future!

My apologies for not responding to each and everyone of them until now.

This is Garden Whimsy by Timeless Traditions Quilts.

Fabrics and wool prepped by me.

Stitched by my partner in crime,

Deb.

Progress

The third block of Yoko Saito's Floral Bouquet wall hanging is all prepped. 

I am on schedule since this is my August goal!

Mostly finished with these two blocks...

just missing a few design elements that hopefully are on their way.

These are 2 of a series of 5 patterns by a new artist/designer, Alison Lang.

 Alison is a fibre artist and you can view her work here....www.alisonlangartist.com.

 Her series of bird designs, done in wool applique, will be an exclusive series at TOWQS.

 Look for her patterns to be released in the fall of 2018. She makes art quilts, dolls, art sculpture birds, tableaus that resemble New Mexican tin work, collages, and art books. In recent years, her work has been on display at the Nuveen Galley in Whitehall, MI, and won best of show for a wool applique.

We are headed to Switzerland soon for another outdoor adventure with my sister and brother-in-law.

 I have been training some, but not enough. Wish me luck!

I'll take handwork for the long flights, 

so I should have more to show when I return.

Spooky!

It is spooky how motivating blogging can be.

Less than a week ago I declared I would finish this one and 

ta-dah, albeit I only had one more block to fuse and stitch.

But  now a UFO is a flimsy!

Needs some buttons added when I get home and then off to the quilter.

Merrie Halloween by Buttermilk Basin. 

Finished 2 out of 3 panels of my Halloween Campers, 

also by Buttermilk Basin.

Changed the design of this one a tad...

it will hang vertically instead of being a long runner.

Unfortunately, it will not get finished while I am at the cabin.

I did not bring enough of the lime green wool with me.

We are headed to the Rocky Mountains for a week so I prepped some handwork to take along.

Once I stitch it down with wool thread, lots of fun embellishing will be added.

This will be bordered with fall fabrics and become a runner, 

again, designed by Buttermilk Basin.

Enough work on UFOs!

On to a new project...City Bucket and this is my first block.

Ran out of Plum Marmalade thread, so I will have to finish the bullion knots when more arrives.

I bought the pattern for this 2 years ago while at market from

Amy McClellan of American Quilting in Orem, Utah.

She calls it her 'Market Bucket.'

Then I saw this photo on Pinterest.

Apparently, Kerry Green was the original designer

 and I love the bright fabrics and contemporary designs she used, 

so that is how I will make mine. 

She graciously shared her original drawings of the 'little blocks' used in her City Bucket.

 I will use a combination of both her designs and Amy's for my bucket.

Summer is Stitching Time

We are back in the mountains for the summer, 

so I am not working at the shoppe and have more time to work on my projects. 

 It is my goal to not only blog a couple of times, 

but to actually get some of my UFO's finished. 

Of course, I started the summer with a few new projects.

 I have actually completed one...

'When I Am With You, I am Home'

by 1894 Cottonwood House.

I am not a prim girl,

 but there is something about this designer's stuff that appeals to me.

And I love the title of this one, that just happens to be in my favorite fall colors!

But let me digress.

The first project I worked on was to complete the blocks for my Solstice Dreams quilt designed by Kerry Green. These are some of my favorite ones:

I think I like making the insects the best!

And yes, as my granddaughter points out, the birds need their eyes still.

We will be doing this as a BOM at TOWQS this coming fall.

I have dyed all the wool for it and

I have certainly learned tons of embroidery stitches!

Which, by the way, I swore I was not going to get into.

And yes, this is another 'lifetime' quilt in it's infancy...

from Yoko Saito's book, Bouquet of Flowers,

these are the January and April blocks of 

'Vases of Flowers Wall Quilt.'

A few gals at the shoppe are joining me for this adventure, 

so I might get it done in a year! 

I am converting the cm measurements into inches for everyone, 

so I am motivated to keep current.

Unlike the original, we are combining both cotton and wool for the applique. 

I think I could make every project in this book.

If only there were stitching elves!

One of the first UFOs I plan to finish is Buttermilk Basin's Merrie Halloween. 

It is another one that has just one more block to make before it is done.

You know I will start some new things along the way,

 but I hope to have a picture of this finished project the next time I post.

I don't believe anyone can comment on this post anymore with the new blogger setup,

but I appreciate you stopping by to read it.

If you feel compelled to comment or have a question,

you can email me at fatesdesigns@gmail.com.