Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

I didn't get as much work done on my Heart & Home BOM as I thought I would. It took a lot longer to trace out all the applique pieces on the fusible stuff, then cut those out and "gut" them.  I got all the brown and black pieces attached to the fabrics and cut out again, ready to be applied.

 

 

 

(I do that both to maximize my fusible supply and to cut way down on the stiffness of the quilt. First, the fusing doesn't stiffen the center of the shape, and second, I can still cut away the background fabric in the middle of each shape.)  Lots and lots of leaves for this quilt! 

 

I got all the brown pieces fused onto the central blocks and the four applique border blocks. But they'll all sit pretty on my design wall until the next third Sunday!

 

 

 

 

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How has your BOM work gone lately? 

BOMs Away - Strolling the Block, & Tanya is So Cool!

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

Today I've spent my quilting time stitching details and buttons on three houses on Kelly's "Strolling the Block" quilt.

Lots of different thread colors came into play, and keeping them organized was nicer than prior times because of the wonderful giveaway package Tanya (of Tanya Quilts in CO) sent me!

 

 

Check out that nice, over-sized needle book. The gorgeous blue one in a pic below is what I've been using - bought it from a lady in Latvia via Etsy, and I adore it - but it's rather small, and as I do a lot of hand applique, I always have several different silk threads on needles. The blue book's pages are so little, the threads hang all out and get tangled.

 

 

 

 

Well, When Tanya made this book, she used a nice size that resolved that issue. Also - check it out: She sewed the pretty flowers on the fronts of the pages, and tacked a loose-lying line of ricrac on the backs. So I can just pass my threaded needle up through that rickrack line and bring it over the top and secure it on the bottom of the wool page. The threads stay untangled and don't slop all out of the book.

 

 

 

 

I also find the cover-pockets super handy for my little embroidery scissors, a few pins, my ziplock baggie of berry forms and scraps for those, etc. And the matching pin cushion is such a happy place to put more pins and let the berry forms rest while I'm actively using them.

 

She even sent a little box of cake-chocolates (delish!) and the scraps from these projects.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, TANYA!!!!

You guys'll have to go check out the Woodland Alphabet quilt top she just finished and the  Journey of a Quilter BOM that she's stitching on  these days.  :)
 

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So, the BOM work that I did today:

 

The September house is predictably a schoolhouse. When I was shopping for some apple and letter buttons, I found this super-fun nerd set instead. Kelly was, and her hubby and three sons are every one of them super-smart eggheads (a respectful term in our family). So this set is far more perfect on her quilt than normal elementary symbols.

 

 

 

I just love the little kid, and the molecule group was perfect for a little toy dog he'd built.

 

 

 

And seriously, if you know her son that I'll be sending this to, you'd know just why there was no way I could pass up a button pack that spells out BaZnGa in such a fun nerdy way with elemental chart components. :D

 

 

 

I also decorated the October block.

 

 

 

Kelly loved Halloween, so I decked this house all out for her. Ghosties, a spider on a web, dancing skeleton, bats, witch's hat. . . and I had a little fun embroidering stems on some of the squashes/pumpkins and putting straw coming out the arms and legs of the scarecrow. Oh, and let's give that crow some eyes and feet!

 

 

 

There! All ready for a party such as the one she went to with her hubby in 2008 (her next-to-last) - and check out that jello brain she'd made!  Kelly was super crafty that way!

 

 

 

 

I also did the November block. A few gourds and leaves and a cornucopia button wanted to go on. 

 

 

 

Hmmm. . .  I forgot to give the turkey some eyes and feet.  I'm tired of sitting right now, though, so that's going to wait until next month.

 

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Have you worked on any BOMs this past week or so?

BOMs Away - and What a Bombshell! :)

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

Oh, my goodness! Have I got some news - and this is about the only place I can share it yet.

Remember this favorite shot of mine from Hanmadang last month?  Well, these two are officially engaged now! 

 

 

They're quite young, but they're both keepers, so I'm thinking they've got as good a shot at it as many others who are five years older. I know that I, for one, am thrilled with the thought of this young man joining our family. They've got a good plan in place, and since they're not rushing for a wedding in two months, we've got time to put together a really nice deal for perfect timing to include his father, who's on long-term remote assignment in Korea (Air Force).  And time to make a wedding quilt!!! 

 

Speaking of quilting, this is for Kate, who's antsy to see my double wedding ring. It's not BOM work, but it's my never-ending 25th anniversary quilt for Scott and I.

 

 

 

 

I expect there's still about 65 more hours of detail quilting to be done. Somehow, I am *going* to have this finished for our bed in late August!

 

 

 

 

And here's the BOM work I did today. The buttons I ordered last week for the rest of Kelly's quilt haven't arrived yet, so I bumped "Ruffled Roses" up a week. 
Four baskets and three more swag units:

 

 

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What BOM work have you squared away lately?  :D
 

BOMs Away - Heart & Home, and Around the House

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

It was a great morning for sewing - Scott had to work a 9-hour shift, so I spent my heart's content of time with my machine. Got the piecework finished on the last of the main houses, and put together the four cornerstone houses. That leaves the applique additions on the main houses and the 4 appliqued border blocks.

 

 

 

I had those blocks arranged nice and straight, but Navarre had a different idea, so the aesthetic tilts are courtesy of this cheeky boy sticking his tongue out at us.  ;D

 

 

 

 

I also used the window to trace the patterns onto the backs of block 2 and block 3 for Fiesta Mexico. It'll be a very long time before these get pulled out, but at least they're ready to go when I get there.

 

 

 

I'm hoping the clouds that are starting to build hold off long enough for Scott to get home soon and grill some steaks. We've had more rain this spring/early summer than last year. For some reason the peonies don't seem to like that. There are a lot fewer out this year than last year, but those that are showing up are nice and full.

 

 

 The Columbine around the house sure does love the extra water,

 

 

 

 and I don't remember seeing any of these irises at all last year, which have popped out beautifully in some of our shaded areas.

 

 

 

And speaking of popping, the poppies are also thriving this year. I want to try harvesting the seeds for baking.  :)

 

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How about you? Have you finished any BOM work recently?

Finish Report! Baby Claridge 1.0 - Boomerangs for Olivia and her Boy

Can you believe it? A finish report coming out of me this year?  ;D  They will be very few between my thesis work and my MONSTER "25th, Baby!" king-size double wedding ring quilting that I'm trying hard to finish in time for our anniversary in August. But I do have two posts that need to be put up.

 

 

This is "Baby Claridge 1.0"

It's made for my cousin's daughter, who just had a precious little boy. On Mother's Day. How awesome is that?

 

 

 

I used mostly stash with a couple of fat quarters (Sesame Street! and a yellow), using Emily Herrick's Crazy Old Ladies pattern, "Boomerang".  I just made fewer boomerangs, and after I had them assembled I trimmed the top and bottom straight across. Here's the original on the pattern:

 

 

 

 

I quilted this entirely on the walking foot. Wanting to highlight the boomerangs, I simply outline-stitched each one about 1/16" outside in a thread that matched the background, then I used a wavy stitch to sew two lines on the insides with whatever thread matched best, and using a couple different guide points on my foot for that. 

 

 

 

Wanting to minimize the seams between the boomerangs, I found a fun decorative stitch on the machine and put that between the sides. I was thinking they looked kinda-sorta like lines of baseballs - perfect for a little boy! 

 

 

 

 

And, yep - I went for the start-and-stop  approach with each one rather than sew them through the boomerangs above and below. It wasn't that big a deal to sit down in front of a movie to tie and tuck all my ends from each 'rang and divider line.

 

 I have tons of yardage of this fun hot air balloon fabric, which was perfect for the backing on this.

 

 

 

And that led to a fun idea for the label.  (Which I had to redo - thank you! - due to misspelling the little guy's name despite frequent checking on that.)

 

 

 

 

It has a lightweight poly batting, which makes a nice puffiness without being stiff that will be highly washable. 

 

LOVED working with this pattern. The design is perky and the instructions are easy to follow. In fact, I have another one in a different colorway for myself that I'd started back in April or so. I'll probably get back to it in August after the MONSTER's quilting is finished.

 

 

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Linking up at

Fabric Tuesday

TGIFF is at Quokka Quilts this week

(main site here)
   

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!

Link-a-Finish Friday

BOMs Away - The one about Hanmadang

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

I have done no BOM work this week beyond washing fabric pieces for month 2 & 3 of Fiesta.

 

 

We've had the pleasure of hosting these three Korean youth Taekwondo experts who have been here for the U.S. Open Hanmadang.

 

Jong Hwa, Jung Gyo, and Eun Suk (family names omitted) *LOVE* the pool table in the few moments they get to relax at "home"!

 

 

 

A couple of days ago, we went down to Garden of Gods, where they could climb around on some of the rocks:

 

 

 

They are especially tickled this evening, enjoying ramen noodles on the roof of the garage, to which there is easy access from the room they're staying in. It totally cracked me up when I heard Scott call out to these 3rd-degree blackbelts: "Careful not to fall!"

 

 

 

I spent all day Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening working at the World Arena as scorekeeper at the Hanmadang. Here I am, tired but happy, and still in my work-out ponytails, leaving at 8pm last night:

 

 

 

My favorite moments were the single-person division for a multiple sclerosis young woman, to whom the judges awarded far higher marks than anyone else who entered the ring. I teared up so much from her courage (followed by that gesture from the judges) that I couldn't call out the scores for quite some seconds. The head ref just smiled and nodded at me, on the exact same page as I. The other favorite moment was working a division of 12 young adult men competing in the high kick, when the leaders of that group pushed the rack all the way to 103" before the winner finally couldn't break the board. Shortly after that, the next-older division in the ring next to me topped out at a break at 105", which broke the U.S. Open record.

 

I did my own humble best when I competed on Saturday morning in creative board breaking. I performed a routine of the maximum-allowed 10 boards, and the great deal of practice I've put in served me well. Muscle memory and determination kicked in so that I broke every board on time and worked through a spacing glitch without hesitating at all (placed my final-three holders too far from the previous set when I had to change a spinning roundhouse to a skipping roundhouse due to inner-ear dizziness). It was funny, because in a fraction of a second upon realizing the stride issue, my brain just went into "smash them all!" mode. I have zero memory of what I did for those last 3, but Devon was holding in that series and said it looked smooth and nobody could tell I changed it all up except those holders. Another holder said I got two kicks in and a hammer fist, so that's good. I broke every board on first strike, which thrilled me. It was a blast and I never even felt the rip on my finger that gave me my first official Taekwondo blooding. It was well-behaved and didn't hurt me for my later timing/scorekeeping duties once my own event was locked in to the permanent archives. :)

 

 

And all my work got me a silver placing even though I was the lowest belt level in the age/experience division!  

 

 

 

I'll be doing that fun event again next time I enter a competition.  ;D  

My favorite pic so far is this one of Devon with her boyfriend, Kyle:

Devon and Heather both competed also - they did the same event I did, and Devon added jumping high kick and traditional poomsae to her list, excelling in all three. We'll have to get a pic of us in our doboks with our medals and add it in here a couple of days from now.

 

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 Did you get any BOM work done recently, or have your days been as crazy as ours?  :D

BOMs Away - Heart & Home

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

It's Father's Day here in the States, so here's a shout-out to my Dad:

 

ca. 1961, around age 20

 

I can see why my mother fell for him.  :)

 

My Dad has done some pretty cool things. In 2008 he drove from a business trip in Ohio to go to my graduation in Maryland, he flew out to Florida in 2012 to help us load up the moving van and move all the cars across the country to Colorado, this past holiday season he took the entire extended family on a Christmas cruise in the Caribbean, and back in elementary school, when none of the moms wanted to do it, he took up the mantle of Girl Scout Leader. I'm pretty sure our Junior troop got to do more camping than the others. . Thanks, Dad!!

 

 

So - - - BOM business!  

 

 

 

I did my sewing for this Sunday's BOM work a couple days ago so I wouldn't be at the machine on my honey's Father's Day. Got block 3 pieced for Heart & Home. I can't believe how much faster these go when the pieces are already cut out! (I did that for all the blocks a few months ago.)  It still gets a 3-yo-yo flower tree appliqued onto it whenever I get to that stage for this quilt top.

 

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And how about you? Did you get any BOM work squared away recently?  :D