BOMs Away - More Wedding Prep & Marissa's Prom Night

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! I wouldn't change this family event for anything, but it will be nice when the wedding is squared away to get back to normal quilting rhythms and blogging! You are right, I am super busy with wedding preparations and the quilting I'm doing isn't sharable at this time. 

Scott's also working like crazy for the wedding around his work hours, too. His biggest task right now is the repair work on the deck. At $14,800 for the rebuild (the joists and several decking boards have rot in them), we can't get it done right now, but the deck engineer taught him how to fix things to bring us through the wedding and give us at least 2 more years of safe time until we can have it redone. [P.S. Never, ever paint your deck as the prior owners had done. You will automatically start the rot process, because the wood must be able to breathe and evaporate the moisture that always gets into the cracks underneath. ONLY use true strain - not stuff that really is a paint, but called a stain.]

And here's some super fun eye candy.  :D    Our youngest daughter went to her Junior prom!! I cannot believe that! And I can't get over how beautiful Marissa was.

A favorite spot with all of our daughters:

Poor Frank came straight off a swim meet for Prom!

And this just cracked me up to no end.  Tell a couple of young men that your back lawn needs aerating . . . 

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But how about you guys? Did you get some work done on your BOMs?

BOMs Away - Groomsmen!

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.

Hi! I completely forgot about posting last night. We had Kyle's groomsmen over for a lasagna bake (you know - the kind that literally takes you all day) and a game of "Quelf." You really ought to check that one out for some silly family or group fun!

When else can you get 20-something fellas to willingly play "Pattycake"??

Or the Best Man to sit around for half an hour with his thumbs in his mouth?  ;D

It's been a busy week, but I made some progress on the Marine Corps border. Hopefully this time next week it'll all be finished and on the quilt!

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So, how about you guys? Did you get some work done on your BOMs?

BOMs Away - Marine Corps Detour

 

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.

Hi! Did you guys have a good Easter last week? We enjoyed the fantastic weather and some nice family time. I'm sorry I didn't even post for BOMs Away because of that. I'm betting you understand, though.  :)

So, this week I'm back on track for posting, although for the foreseeable future, these days will be detoured into work on the Marine Corps quilt and top secret project in prep for the kids' wedding.

So today I put together a tall stack of these ribbon border pieces.

They're ready now for the Y-seam work putting the other green cross piece between these.

They'll get added to the center after a red floater border. (I've got it pinned to the quilt that's hanging in this room right now.)

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So, how about you guys? Did you get some work done on your BOMs?

Finish Along - Quarter 2 Goal Post

It's that time - if you're participating, don't forget to make a Second Quarter "goal" sheet. The 2015 quarterly Finish-Along is hosted by Adrianne over at "On the Windy Side."  

This quarter revolves around Devon and Kyle's Wedding. And this is still my favorite picture of them.  :)  He's at Marine's Basic Training right now, which is 13 grueling weeks long - the longest and hardest by far of all the services. We send him letters every day to help bolster him! Sometimes they're a bit whacky - like yesterday's from me was a transcription of that Facebook test to see what your job in the Harry Potter World would be. (I'm an Auror, btw!)

So here's my Second Quarter planning log for finishes:

Finish These:

1. Top Secret - Have phase 1 & 2 finished. That's all you get. 

????

2. "Forged: Sempre Fi!" Designed the pattern, half-way cut out right now

3-7. Sea Breeze minis - These flimsies need finishing  **UFOs**

"Twinkletoes"

and "The Nerdles"

Maybe even "Tootsie and Rumples" or  "The Doodles"

or even "The Clampetts"

8. "Evening Stroll" - have the fabrics washed, need to down-size the pattern and make it 

9. The Cinderella House quilt - in blocks right now

10. Lori & Aliyah - at the flimsy stage

11. Mermaid Fantasy for Heather, also at flimsy state   **UFO

Forward Lineup for Later Attention:

Whooo's Your Mama

Quiet Rebellion on the Pond   **UFO

Modernology

BBQ with the Squadron   **UFO

Rainbow Jane

March Wrap-Up & Apr "Goal" Post

March Accomplishments:

Complete Finishes:  "Fireflies in the Meadow" (blogged in the last post)

Flimsy Finishes:

If it weren't for the Cabin Fever 2 retreat during the first weekend, I would not have any new flimsies. March has been hijacked almost completely by wedding preparations!

So, from the retreat I have: 

"Boomerang" - a Crazy Old Ladies pattern

and 

"Leaded Glass" - a Tracey Jay Quilts pattern, slightly tweaked

UFO work:

Just the tiniest bit. I did the initial trapunto quilting/applique stitching on "Twinkle-Toes." - -  God bless "Sewer's Aid,"which seriously helps with this work!!  Didn't even get the extra batting trimmed off yet. . .

NETY pull-out:
(This is how I begin to incorporate Never Even Touched Yet items on my monster list of long-ago purchases into my work cycles)

I did get one of these old kits washed, dried, and cut out in the first couple of weeks. (Before Kyle reported to Marines basic training, I still had that 5-7am slot of time where I couldn't access my sewing area, but needed something quiet to do upstairs):

"Dove in the Window"  Lots and lots of cutting for this one. I did replace one of the kit's batiks with a better one from my stash because it had zero value change from the background fabric.

Speaking of that Marine Corps basic training, I happened across some cool Marines fabric and designed a quilt to make for Kyle. If he doesn't get delayed for sprained ankle or such, I have 10 weeks remaining of his training time to get this top finished in. Except for the Marines fabric, I was able to find everything I need in my stash! Well, I will need to buy some binding, because my black will just cover the piecing needs. And there's not enough of the greens to do those fast-and-easy stitch-and-flip techniques with that border work, so it's being done by template. I'm about halfway finished cutting this out. 

Insane Depression Acquisitions:

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who reacts to bouts of the Blues by giving in to quilt purchases! (This one was brought on by Kyle moving away for Basic and Marissa simultaneously leaving for her spring break trip - I'm such a family-based Mama!) 
So now I have these fabric sets, all washed, waiting for time to be ironed:

"Parasol" - a straight-up kit I got on Craftsy

"Evening Stroll" - I'm going to scale it slightly smaller than the pattern. Scott's in love with this, and it's for our main-floor woodsy powder room: (pattern free at RJR Fabrics)

"Gray Square Scramble" - which has hollered at me to make it every since Corey Yoder first showed it:

"Five in a Row" - a modern-approach way to use these terrific charms in a sofa throw, probably something along these lines:

That blue is really a super-vibrant turquoise. Absolutely drool-worthy!

"Spanish Tiles" - Another quilt that's called to me for a while from my "Living Large 2" book by Heather Peterson, and the Petal and Plum collection seemed terrific for it.

 

Yes, I have completely lost it. When the heck can I make these?? Not until after the wedding in June!


Community Sewing:

Went stash shopping and worked up a design to use these 16 blocks. It's all cut out, and some of the blocks have their navy frames. Then they'll be sashed in the gray I used on the elephant quilt, and finally get pink and navy borders. 

April Directions:

(Please note: I work best with open-ended guiding matrices that direct my work in a variety of projects as I move things forward, with something marked as the priority work. Lists with items meant to be checked off as finished in a finite period of time stifle me. So don't look at this as something intended to have everything absolutely completed in a month. That would be amazingly stressful!)

I have to be real about this month. Not really expecting much from this list to happen in reality since my time will be filled with wedding prep and Top Secret work, but I can sit here and dream. :)  

Quilting for the finish: "Twinkle-Toes"  This is my chosen project for ALYF.

This is a realistic goal for the month, as I only need to trim the trapunto layer away from the stitching and then do the mini's final quilting, and finish the edges.


UFO work: After the above, next in line is "The Nerdles." 

"Lori & Aliyah" - Carry-over, same notations: Still have to dive into the intensity of this one. Waiting on some confirmations from the customer.

Community Service:

Finish framing the Cinderella House blocks. And still find a real name for it.


Piecing: Top Secret and "Forged: Semper Fi"

Evening Handwork Station: Continue pushing along block 1 of "Fiesta Mexico." Also, I STILL need to make labels for "25th, Baby!," "Kelly's Joseph Smith 2," "A Laurel Burch Christmas," "Patriots in Petticoats," and guide label making for Heather's dragon quilt and Marissa's community service quilt. And now "Jovial" and "Fancy Me a Rainbow" as well! Now add "Fireflies in the Meadow."

BOMs:
Hopefully put in the once-weekly attention to the projects on the list. Continue the FMQ on Kelly's; do another set or two for "Star Crazy"; finish button-hole stitching on the interior blocks for "Garden Friends"; and finish the mini quilt for block 1 of "Wind in the Whiskers" and trace out block 2's pieces.

NETY Pull-Out:
Eyeing that red-based number from that Georgia shop back in 2011ish.

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Sew BitterSweet Designs Year of Lovely Finishes