Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

It's been a good two weeks since my last Sunday Short-list.  We had two camping trips, I got a lot of organizing done, and we got to see some of my good friends.  I don't think I did as well with my list as I'd hoped, but it was definitely a good couple weeks! 1.  finish the top for my memory quilt-done  2. work on my Stitching Sunshine blog hop quilt-I did a very little but I think I'll do better this week 3. Post for Its cool to be square blog hop-done 4. Post about my block swap-done 5.  Clean the table off and baste the block of the month and quilt my wedding gift-not yet I was cleaning other rooms instead 6. Make my monochromatic baby quilt top-done 7. Write about our camping trip.-I didn't write about the trip, but I did write about the 9/11 quilt since we were able to take pictures. I guess I did better at my list than I thought.  But the only new projects are ones for gifts so I’ll share a couple camping pictures instead... ...

We often hear about teachers inspiring students, and I hope I've done so, but this is a post about me being inspired by one of my students. In 2017 for my observation I did a project on the Holocaust in which the kids designed a butterfly to honor someone who had been in the concentration camps.  I had some of the kids who need a little more help tie the quilt to learn a life skill.  After working on it a little while, one of them asked me if I'd consider making a 9/11 quilt.  I have to admit at first I wasn't sure I wanted to undertake this project, but I really respected him asking me.  The more I thought about it the more I really felt like it would mean a lot to him that I'd listened and I was pleased with my first class quilt so I decided to go for it. The week surrounding 9/11 I had the patches available in the cafeteria and we had a schedule disruption that was ideal for having my classes make blocks.  I was initially disappointed that we didn't have mor...

Throughout this time of stay at home I've been more aware of the animals that surround us.  During my first virtual faculty meeting I had a little bunny running through my basement work area(we're hoping it ran in while we had the garage door open for a camp fire and not that it lives in our basement) and this morning I saw a fox.  Those are the only real backyard friends we have out here, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the Backyard Friends block swap from FatCat patterns. I've said before I just love Sindy's patterns because they're cute and easy to follow.  I joined her Facebook group where she posts previews and free patterns and back in the winter she held a block swap.  Since it is appliqué you sent fused pieces but the recipient chose their background.  I just wanted a small wall hanging to go where I've had the snow people hanging inside our door, so I sent 6 pairs of blocks and kept 2 pairs myself.  Each pair was a house and a tree so I had ...

Back in March when Carol announced this blog hop I thought I’d be going back to school after just two weeks, but I’d started using some scrap squares I’d started to sew together as leaders and enders, so I knew I’d have at least one project.  I had seen two different blocks I’d saved to try,  it both called for 2.5 inch squares.  I prefer sewing bigger pieces so I modified them to match the squared square I wanted to sew.  Fast forward to the school being closed and starting online learning and I was so happy for those four patches, because I could get the stress relief of sewing, without having to put too much thought into what I was doing. My quilt group has a two community projects that were one of the big reasons I decided to join.  Back in 2017 when I was invited to a meeting I knew I wanted to have more quilting friends that I could learn from and be inspired by, but I was nervous that the members would be far more skilled than me, or that they’d be qui...

This was a very good week in comparison to recent weeks.  I was able to spend more time outside, we had a campfire mid week, I read a good bit, and we got to go explore a little.  I also did some crocheting.  Even better, the governor announced that our county is moving to the yellow phase next week, so we may start to be able to get out more.  However I really didn’t get anything  significant done on my list from last Sunday. 1.  finish the top for my mystery quilt-this should have said memory instead of mystery...I finished the 12 blocks and I got fabric for sashing. So I made progress but I’m still not sure I won’t make it larger.  2. work on my Stitching Sunshine blog hop project-it’s still in the project box.  3. photograph my block swap quilt-I did get this done, I’m hoping to get a post written soon 4. Organize my craft room a bit more to try to find the fabric for a baby quilt-I looked but decided if I was ordering some other fabric...

This past week I had some productive days and others where I didn't feel like I'd done anything crafty.  I was able to find thread I thought I'd be waiting for the end of quaratine for so regardless of how I did with my list I was considering the week a win.  So how did my list go? 1. Bind my block swap quilt -done it is hanging but does still need a label and the same goes for my Hospital Sketches quilt 2. make real progress on the next memory quilt-I have one block finished and all the parts ready for the remainder, unless I decide to make it a little bigger 3. start either my mystery quilt (which has never been a mystery for me, and the rest of my group has completed) or a baby quilt.-for some reason I'm struggling with the mystery but I did finish a baby quilt top 4. baste my other block of the month from last year-I didn't get to this 5.  start planning for the It's Cool to Be Square Blog hop later in the month and maybe work on my project for...

I feel like I've turned a corner in my new school routine.  The last packet to be mailed goes out tomorrow so I've got things prepared for the rest of the year, and I'm starting to feel like I'm in a routine.  I realized at one point that I was quilting a Civil War quilt, watching a WWII show and assigning readings about Vietnam.  I decided I shouldn't be so spread out across multiple time frame so I ordered Eleanor Burns' Victory Quilts to make a WWII quilt.  Of course by then I started a show about a different time period.  Once I decided to work on a WWII era quilt then I went on a search for fabric prints that would have been used at the time.  Many quilts then were done in solids which is always an option but I was kind of thinking of mirroring the prints seen in clothing during the war...which led me to Pinterest and other online searches for 1940s fashion.  I'm anxious to see what I ultimately come up with! Along with the book I ordere...