Happy! Happy! Happy!

It feels so good to be sewing again. My shoulder isn't 100% yet, I still have 5 more weeks of physio, but I can at least move it enough to do things. I wasn't able to do dishes for 3 weeks, hubby picked up the slack. Thankfully. If I'm being honest I really didn't miss not having to do them either. 

Now to get all caught up on Melissa's Irish Chain Twist quilt along. Cutting out the petals for the appliqued chain blocks took a little perseverance, but I did it.  I decided to do fusible applique, a little easier right now. Not that I'm into hand sewing, except bindings. This weeks assignment was to stitch the appliques to the blocks. I used my favorite method, machine applique using invisible thread. My thread of choice is Superior's monopoly thread.

My flash quit working on my camera, so until I get a new one I used my phone to take this one. Not the best picture quality though. 

I'm Here!

I didn't fall off the face of the earth... Although it sure seems like I might have. I haven't posted in three weeks, but I have a good reason as to why I haven't. I had surgery on my right shoulder and you guessed it I'm right handed. Next week I start physio so hopefully I'll be sewing in no time. Right?
I walk into my sewing room look at my in work projects and get a little depressed. I so want to be sewing and making quilts.

I did do some shopping as I won a $25 gift certificate from In The Boon Docks sponsored by Gotcha Covered Quilting. This is the first time I have ever shopped at Gotcha Covered. Carrie was a pleasure to deal with, there was a little glitch with her store, however everything was sorted out quickly and shipped immediately. Thank you Carrie and also Lisa from In The Boon Docks.
I may have spent more than $25. My stash is in desperate need of solids and I picked these lovelies to give it a little boost. My DD loves them so they may be destined for her house. Having a little problem taking good photos. They are really nice soft colours.

Before surgery I was working on piecing some blocks for charity quilts. My guild was asked to make charity quilts for a local women's shelter. They need all sizes from crib to adult single. All the fabrics we use for our charity quilts have been donated. Some from members and some from people who don't know where to go with fabric from family members.

A few of the blocks I have so far. Sorry for the quality of the picture. No plan as to how I'm putting these together. I think I need a couple bigger blocks as the biggest one is 9 inches, the smallest 3 inches.  

We have donated quilts to various places and to a few members who were battling cancer, unfortunately they lost their battles. We lost four members within a one year period to cancer. As a cancer survivor I have a big soft spot for anyone who is fighting or has fought cancer. 

I hope everyone has a great day!!

Linking up to 

Irish Chain Twist QAL

The next part of the QAL is to make the improv blocks. Simple enough right, BUT I had to keep reminding myself not to line my ruler up just go for it. With only a little bit of hand slapping I had all my blocks trimmed to 5 1/2 inches. I love my rotating mat sure made things a lot easier. 

The blocks go together quickly. With trimming time included it only took 2 1/2 hours. Now I'm all caught up and can work on other projects. I am enjoying this QAL the directions are well written.

Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long

I've decided to do the Irish Chain QAL. Melissa over at Happy Quilting is running the QAL.  I've never made an Irish chain before, but I love the look of this quilt.  You can find out all about it here.

I going to be making it in greens, my favorite colour, and purple with a white on white background. I'm going to be making the lap size.  

This week we were to cut all the pieces. Done! I did cut the background 6x6 squares in half on the diagonal after I took the picture.

More Catch up

If you are here from Vicki at 2 Bags Full Grow Your Blog party. Thank you for stopping by. My post for the party is here.

The guild I belong to had a jelly roll race after January's meeting. I don't own any jelly rolls, shocking I know. I just never had the desire to want one. I wanted to participate. So I decided to go my own way, I cut up some batiks into strips and pieced them together. I am going to use them as the background for a landscape, wall hanging quilt... we'll see how it goes. This is what I have so far.

The white pieces are freezer paper. I drew out some branches on freezer paper and roughly cut them out for placement first. I'll use them to cut out the fabric pieces, by pressing the freezer paper to the fabric and then cutting it out. I already have a couple smaller branches cut out of fabric. They don't show up very well yet. I plan on doing some thread painting on them so hopefully that will bring them to life. 

This is a close up of the fairy I drew. I am going to add some daisies. I still have a long way to go with this. Hopefully it turns out like the vision I have in mind. Time will tell.

Catch up

If you are here from Vicki at 2 Bags Full Grow Your Blog party. Thank you for stopping by. My post for the party is here.

I hate to admit it but I am not a very good blogger. Maybe I'll get better with more practice.  

I've been busy finishing up my Grand Illusion Mystery by Bonnie Hunter. This will probably be my first and last mystery quilt I do. I am glad I didn't make all 25 blocks as I really don't like it very much, too many things going on with it and no place for the eyes to rest. Maybe I shouldn't admit that as I do like scrappy quilts. Just not this one. 

I made 16 blocks added the 2 inch border all around then the pieced border on the top and bottom.

I made blocks from the border pieces I didn't use for the back. I pieced the rest of the back from my stash I have one shelf of stuff I've had it seems like forever. So I am trying to use as much as of it possible. This back eliminated 3 pieces, but lots more to go. 

My daughter likes the back better than the front. A friend suggested I use her long arm to quilt it, and I may take her up on it. I just want it done.

Turning off CAPTCHA!

I dislike the CAPTCHA word verification that most of the blogs I've posted on lately are using. It is downright annoying!! I didn't even realize it was turned on for comments on my blog. Thanks to Kathy from Kwilty Pleasures it is now turned off. You can find out how to turn it off by following her simple instructions. Just follow this link to get to her blog and say goodbye to Captcha.