I can't believe that it was 10 days ago that I saved these picture so that I could write a bit later.

Things got really busy at work and by the time I get home and finish dinner I don't want to do anything but vegetate.

I will catch up on my blog reading sometime soon and I might even get a stitch or two done but it is hot here now and we do not have air conditioning. We usually don't need it but this summer is an exception. It is just to hot to sew upstairs.

I did manage to finish Block 10 of my Country Cousins quilt. I have the last two prepped and I have been slowly working on them.



I also got four pillowcases made for my friend Lu for her birthday.


Mostly I just sit. It seems like a waste of time but there it is.

Kaaren at The Painted Quilt is offering a delightful BOM beginning in July. I put the link on my side bar. Just click on the button to the right.

She is sharing a wonderful quilt that she made with those who want to make one too.

I have no idea where last week disappeared......... I was overwhelmed at the office and never even got a chance at my usual break time. This coming week does not appear to be much better.


I did manage to finish my doll quilt. The first one from Schoolgirl Quilts by Kathleen Tracy. The second pattern should arrive any day now and I will have another one to make.


Friday I got a package from Peg........




Peg signed us up for My Garden by Lynette Anderson. You get a pattern each month with a special button. Then the whole thing goes together at the end for a small quilt.


Part embroidery, part applique and part quilt and as always with Lynette Anderson the instructions are excellent.





My friend Lu has a birthday this month. She loves pillowcases. I bought this fabric three years ago to make some for her. She will actually get them this year. I was glad to find the fabric. Having this on hand helps with a tight budget.

Maybe I will actually get a few stitches done this week.

This weekend I needed to help Lem with a few things so I did not get all three blocks prepped as I had hoped. I did get them all traced onto interfacing.
Since I had the pattern enlarged I had to tape all the pieces together.


Some of them required being traced on the wrong side so that I could turn it over.

Then put the interfacing on the design and trace it.

Pin the interfacing to the fabric.



Baste it in place along the top.

Color selection is the next step.

Then using post it notes mark each stack and put it to one side till I am ready to cut it.

Using bias bars I made my stems.

Then traced each piece of the design onto freezer paper.

For the circles I selected the template from my Perfect Circles. Then you can run a basting thread around the outside, draw it up around the Perfect Circle and press.
Iron the freezer paper onto the correct fabric.


Mark around each piece with an Ultra Fine Sharpie.

Here it is........One block ready to stitch.

I even managed to get the May Thangles blocks done.
Maybe during the week I can find an hour or two to get upstairs to finish the June blocks and prep the other two Country Cousin blocks.

A week has passed since I prepped things for the basket. I finally finished block nine of Country Cousins.


I finished the two pear tree wallhangings.


And finally sewed together the last pillowcase. The embroidery design is from Kaaren at the Painted Quilt. I decided to make the pillowcases and use the scallop rulers that I purchased from Katie Lane. They turned out well and I will be making more.





I did not get the doll quilt quilted or the embroidery done on the other tea towel. Today I want to finish the Thangles BOM for May and June and get the last three blocks prepped for Country Cousins. We shall see.

Today I have a few finished to share. I had finished the embroidery last week but I did not consider it complete till I added the Rick Rack trim. It is a piece left over from my basket set. I think it adds just the right touch.






Peg introduced me to a dishcloth Knit a Long.................. This is my first one.


I hope to have something else finished by tomorrow or Saturday.

Some progress is being made. I did get my doll quilt basted and back into the basket.


And a few more elements are attached to block 9 of Country Cousins. This block had many small pieces to attach. I am so glad I did not try to do this any smaller. I am not sure I could have made those leaves any smaller. Nine more elements to stitch and the embroidery to be done. I will be glad to get on to the next block.

The basket that sits beside my chair with my hand work was getting empty. Only one project left. I can't always get upstairs to prep a piece of applique or trace an embroidery design during the week. No one was looking at the house today so it was the perfect time to get a few things ready to stitch.


First I got the binding sewn on one of the wallhangings.


And the binding sewn onto the second one. Now both are ready to have them stitched in place.


I got my mini quilt all ready to baste and then hand quilt.


It is now in the basket with the tools needed to mark it.


I need 11 circles to applique on the current Country Cousin block. The fabric is cut and I can now baste it around my Perfect Circles to get them ready to stitch.


Looks like I have enough for the upcoming week. It will be interesting to see just how much gets done.

I finally finished my basket set using the embroidery design from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt or you can use the First Friday Freebie button on the right side. I got a little behind with my embroidery but I am beginning to catch up.



And here it is in the basket. I can put my sewing projects in there and with the cover in place it looks so nice on the stool beside my chair.



Kaaren also introduced me to a Small Quilt Group. This was the recent challenge quilt. I think it looks lovely on the table.



While our guest were here we went to Fort Hill. This is the view over Orleans Cove and on out to the ocean. There is a brown spot about the center of the picture. If you enlarge the picture you can just see the deer that was running across the meadow.

We stopped to see what was left of Nauset Beach. It sure has gotten smaller the last few years. Several storms have washed away quite a bit of the beach. Someone was kind enough to take a picture of all of us together.

Well, our guest have arrived. It was wonderful to see some family again. Left to right is Lem (spouse), his sister Teresa, his brother Becton, and Becton's wife, Jane. They drove all the way up here from North Carolina just to visit us.

It has been delightful.............


I took the girls upstairs to show them the studio and some of my quilt tops. I pulled out one bag and after they were viewed I just dropped them where they were. The girls wanted to help fold them but I am going to make a list of what is in that bag for future reference first. I can so that after they are gone. Right now I just want to enjoy every minute I can with them.

It was not the best of weeks here. Wednesday I woke up covered in some weird rash and itching like mad. The Dr gave me something for the itching but that along with the back medication put me to sleep. I will say that I am well rested...........

I worked on my small Irish chain quilt but it is not yet done.

I finished quilting the bottom piece for my basket. I did the machine quilting on the top piece and sketched in a bit for the hand quilting on the embroidery. I cannot draw anything but I did try a bit of freehand design using Kaaren drawing as a guide. Thank you Kaaren for giving us a lovely design every month to stitch. You can visit her at The Painted Quilt and join in on the fun.

I want to stop at Murray's tomorrow for some rickrack and bias tape to finish the edges. There is one small scrap of the fabric left so I must improvise the binding.



I even got the applique done on the second wallhanging. It is layered and basted and ready to quilt.
In between when I did not have time to go upstairs and sew I picked up the Jan Pakek July block to applique. It is all finished.......... Perhaps today I will get the August blocked prepped and ready for my basket.


Judy at Patchwork Times has many more friends sharing what is on their design wall today. Check it out for inspiration.