This weekend was a unicorn weekend. There was a family party, a black tie wedding and a visit with a friend/former coworker visiting from the UK for the first time since the fungilitis. Everything I'm talking about in this post was done Friday because absolutely nothing else happened this weekend except pure fun. As I write this Sunday night, I'm exhausted! I haven't talked this much in 2 days in a long time. Not to mention the first time in a dress in 6 years....seriously. I hate wearing dresses but I'm grateful to my friend, Marcy, for lending me a perfect dress for the wedding. 

​I quilted 2 veterans quilts on Friday and that's about it. This one was made by Mom.

It's kind of hard to tell from the whole quilt but this is the basic block. This 8" x 10" block is perfect for our 48 x 60 veterans quilts.

This is the second one that I quilted and I like it too!

Same ole' stars and ribbons pantograph worked perfectly for these. It doesn't show on the front but it make the back pretty.

I also got all of the HST 4-patch blocks together! Now I can get this top put together.

This is how many baby hats you can get out of one 377 yard ball of Yarn Bee Sweet Delight yarn. That little ball in the middle is all that's left. I had that ball left over from the baby blanket I shared last week.

​I'm going to re-share the details so that I have the pattern references all in one place.

These are preemie hats from a pattern called Teeniebeenie by Hooked on Sunshine. This is a fun pattern to make and I hope that these tiny hats are genuinely useful. I'm not confident.

This one was the most fun one to make. The pattern is Vintage Pearl Baby Hat by Hopeful Honey.

Honestly, I'm happy to be done with the hats but I'm glad I was able to make use of that last bit of yarn.

There isn't going to be a ton of productivity this weekend. We have a surprisingly social weekend with a party Saturday afternoon, wedding Saturday night and meeting up with a friend from England Sunday. Fortunately the next week is our usual quiet, hermit-like existence.

It's a simple quilt made from leftovers but I really like the end result. The blues are cut from the scraps of dyed quilt backs for other veterans quilts. The prints are leftovers from the previous 12 veterans quilts that I've made over the last 2 years. I do love using leftovers.

I had so many leftovers that I made 2 quilts!

I decided that these quilts could use some bold red thread for the quilting and I used the stars and ribbons pantograph that I use all of the time on the veterans quilts.

I have 8 more veterans quilts to quilt (2 at a time) and here's the next pair that will be loaded today or tomorrow. I picked these because I will use the same pantograph.

This week and (upcoming weekend) has been busy with appointments and activities but next week is looking pretty free. I think I can get all 8 quilts quilted by July 2.

Here's a photo of the 33 quilts that we delivered to our VA hospital contact last week. We love making these quilts!

I don't know how the weather was where you are but here in Virginia is was pretty much perfect. It's very rare that we can tolerate the windows open in the summer but we had them open all weekend. I even took my yoga mat to the back porch Sunday morning and did my yoga listening to the river. 
Absolutely perfect.

It was also a good weekend for my hobbies too. First, I finished my sun printing and as I write this I realize that I forgot to take photos of the new fabrics. I'll do that for Wednesday's post.

I also made a few more crochet hats and I'll share after I finish off the rest of the skein before I share those.

I did all kinds of different things this weekend starting with restocking my lotion (liquid) and lotion bars. I use the lotion bars for my feet at night. Lotion bars are also great for dry elbows and knees. Making your own lotion is a great way to save a few dollars. It's so inexpensive to make your own and it takes no time at all. I'm all set for at least 6 months.

I whittled away on my stack of HST blocks. I'm chain piecing pairs now and then will start making them into 4 patch blocks.

I got my 2 veterans quilts quilted so they are ready to bind this week and then I'll get two more loaded and quilted. I think I have 6 more ready to be quilted and I got the backing dyed and ironed for all of them.

Then I finished off the weekend with this little project. I bought two of these diamond painting kits in Paducah. I've seen lots of people doing this and wanted to see if I might like it. These are stickers that I thought I'd make for Ella, Eli and their cousins. I'm going to see them this coming weekend so it was time to get them done.

I think they are really cute. I think the kids will like them. I will not do this hobby again. It just doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather work a puzzle or crochet.

This week I want to get two more veterans quilts quilted, make a lot more progress on the the HST quilt and bind the veterans quilts. I also plan to dye fabric for my new Judy Niemeyer quilt and the sashing for Groovy 3. 

Speaking of Groovy 3, I picked 4 possibilities for sashing for Groovy 3. I've narrowed it down to the light blue or light green. My friend, Anne, prefers the blue but I might go green. I'll decide by Wednesday.

I don't know how yesterday got away from my but I totally forgot to post. Don't worry, no one missed anything. There's never much actual excitement happening around here and that's just as I like it.

I got some quilt back dyed so I can start quilting more veterans quilts this weekend and I'm still piecing away at the HST veterans quilt a few minutes each day. But my attention was mostly drawn to the skein of yarn remaining from the baby blanket I showed Wednesday. I decided to try out some hat patterns.

I've used a little more than a third of the yarn and so far have 2 preemie hats and one baby hat. The styrofoam ball is 5" and I've been told that I can size baby hats by making them to fit the ball. My baby hat will fit a styrofoam baby perfectly. 
I had to search for some new patterns because this is a 3 weight yarn and most of my patterns are for 4 weight yarn. Yes, I could make adjustments but this was a good excuse to waste some more time on the internet. 
I really wish this yarn photographed accurately. It's so much prettier in real life but the camera really wants it to be gray.

This is called the Teenybeanie and it's a free pattern on Ravelry. I made one with F and G hooks and one with G and H hooks to get 2 different sizes. It's a really well written pattern and I'm just assuming that these will fit a preemie baby. These were really quick to make!

This hat is the one that fits the 5" ball and is supposedly for 0 - 3 months. The motif is based on the Call The Midwife blanket. It's called Vintage Vibes Baby Beanie and it's by The Crochet Fix. She also has coordinating Vintage Vibes Adult Hat and Vintage Vibes Baby Blanket patterns. Both of the hat patterns are free. This is also a well written pattern and it has several versions, including preemie versions. I'll just keep making the hats in this pattern until the yarn is used up.

I keep a hat crochet project going that I can take to meetings or office visits and I finished another one this week at the quilt club meeting. Mostly what I'm making now are chemo hats and I use Lion Brand Feels Like Butta yarn so that the hats are super soft. This is the Amazing Grace pattern that I keep using over and over. I love it and it makes a really flattering beanie. I use a J hook for the body of the hat and finish off with 3 rows of SC using an H hook because I'm too lazy to do the required pattern decreases.

On the topic of yarn, I have a theory that most of the Hobby Lobby Yarn Bee yarn is the same as Lion Brand yarn. I like Lion Brand yarn a lot so I've become familiar with it. At the clearance sale last week I picked up some of the Yarn Bee anti-pilling yarn and it seems identical to the Lion Brand version. Even the yardage is the same. I also picked up some of the Yarn Bee Breathe Deep (on clearance) and it's totally the same as Feels Like Butta. The colors I got aren't Lion Brand colors but the yarn is identical. I've not got plenty to keep hat making all year!

The weather this weekend is really nice. Chris and I went for a walk this morning and I'll be weeding later today. Aside from that I'm going to be working on ironing quilt backs and getting some veterans quilts in the frame for quilting. I also need to finish off my sunprinting and get all of that stuff put away. I can also make more hats and sew more on the HST quilt. So many options!

This yarn is impossible to photograph to get the color right. I assure you that it's a very pretty pale purple. This is one super soft little blanket!

It finished to about 32" x 35" and that red marker is where I was at the last update. From this photo it looks like the last skein was a different dye lot. Fortunately this isn't visible in real life.

I know it takes longer but I do love putting borders on blankets. I don't do it often but it was the border that drew me to the pattern.

Here are all the details:
Yarn: Yarn Bee Sweet Delight, 3 weight, about 1200 yards
​Pattern: Vintage Inspired Fan Stitch blanket by Blossom Crochet
​Hook Size H, 5.0mm

This photo is the closest to the real color of this yarn but it's still not quite right.

​I bought this yarn at the Hobby Lobby clearance last year and I have one skein left. I'm going to try some baby hats to use it up but it's possible that I will make one and then just donate the rest to a local group. This whole blanket cost less than $4!

Speaking of the Hobby Lobby annual clearance, it happened at my HL this week. I happened to go there the day she was marking everything down. I have a rule that I don't buy more than I can carry in my arms. No carts allowed! Although the nice lady working there offered me her cart. This year I picked up yarn for 3 - 4 charity projects and one of them was another color of this yarn. The other 2 yarns will be for shawls or wheelchair blankets. I got 2 bags of yarn for $18! I'm really glad that I didn't take her up on the cart offer. I could have gone a little crazy.

I still have my other 2 crochet projects in process and am making good progress. I like working on a different project each night so I'll start a new baby blanket soon and I think it will be with more of last year's HL clearance yarn.

There was a lot going on this weekend. We had guests in the guest house for the first time since last June. These are some of our original Airbnb guests that we have come to think of as family. We hadn't seen them since 2019 so it was great to catch up. There are 6 kids (5 boys, 1 girl) in this family and I was proud of myself for getting all the names right! They come each year for a homeschool convention and the kids are all delightful. I'm so happy that they were back!
It was also sewing days with Country School and I got these tops pieced. This was the last of the kits that I cut out a couple of years ago. This is all the leftovers. The light blue fabrics are cut from the hand dyed quilt backs that I do for the veterans quilts. They aren't spectacular quilts but I'll do some bold quilting on them and they will be very good comfort quilts.

I also got to revisit this old quilt before it heads off to a new home. I made this in 1999. It was my first foundation pieced quilt and it was made with charm squares that I collected through and exchange on AOL. Yes, it was that long ago! This quilt hung in our bedroom for years and years but it faded from the light exposure and I replaced it. A friend contacted me saying that he wanted something to use as a concert blanket and I thought this would be a great new life for this old quilt. It's going off to it's new home today.

About today....
It's supposed to be near 90 and it's a perfect day for sun printing. Two of my friends are coming over and we are going to do some sunprinting. I haven't done this in a couple of years but I'm excited to get back to it. 

​We have dinner out tonight with friends so there may or may not be a newsletter this week.

This is sewing weekend with my quilt club, Country School quilters. I generally work on veterans quilts so I thought I'd give a quick update on my current veterans projects.

Yesterday I shared my new sewing machine hack for piecing on my Brother machine and since then I got a lot of the HSTs done. This is all I have left to do before I start piecing blocks.

Here are the last of the kits that I have cut out. The one on the bottom will make 2 quilts. As I write this Thursday might I'm not sure which I'm going to work on this weekend but I should have at least one top ready by Monday.

This is the fabric that I bought in Paducah. It's been soaked and is ready to cut into more kits. I'll get started on that in the next week or so. There's got to be at least 8 quilts in there, especially when I combine it with some of my hand dyed stash.

​For the time being I'll try to get a few more tops done in June.

We had a great weekend here in Virginia. I hope you also did where you are. Before I share some photos of our outdoor activities I'll share these two veterans quilts that I finished. 
I'm not a huge fan of working with panels but I admit that I see the appeal. They make quilting making really fast if you aren't too distressed about them not being perfectly square. In the end, I love how they turned out.

This one was harder to work with because of the landscape orientation. I was also running out of my stash of patriotic fabrics so my options for the top and bottom borders were limited. It turned out much better than I expected and I'm not al all hesitant to donate this one. 

I quilted it with my current favorite and super-fast Woven Wind pantograph.  I think this makes 6 veterans quilts for the year so far. Now I need to start cutting kits from the patriotic stash that I bought in Paducah. I only have 2 kits left from the previous stash to sew together and I'll get started on those this weekend.

We took advantage of the great weather on our little neighborhood lake. It's not a very big lake but it's close by and there's rarely anyone on it except for lots of birds, turtles and fish.  Whenever we have to move we will both miss this quiet little lake. We have no plans to move anytime soon.

While I did my 2 laps around the lake Chris had some great success ad fishing Friday night. We went back last night for another peaceful hour.

One of my favorite things on the lake is this tree branch sticking out at one end. There is always a Cormorant perched on it. I never see any other Cormorants around, just the one.

This was sunset Friday night. The lake was perfectly flat and calm. There's nothing more relaxing than a paddle around the lake, unless it's late July 95 degrees and 95% humidity. Then you can't pay me to go out there just to be a buffet for the mosquitos. But, this week, it's perfect.

I also had a few sewing sessions to work on my scrappy HST project.

I have about 120 little triangles left to sew together before I start making them into 4-pathch blocks. For the small amount of time I spend sewing on this, it's progressing well.

This week I'll work on planning Groovy 3. I've got the new sun prints done and am trying to decide which ones I want to use. I'll take some option photos and share those Wednesday.

If you haven't entered all of the vacation giveaways be sure to go do that right now. Enter all 6!

I have to tell you, it's really hard to leave this view. But we can't afford two weeks so now we're home!

It was a wonderful week on Hatteras Island. The weather was kind of unpredictable but ultimately turned out really nice for us. We had 4 great beach days out of 6. Just 60 miles north of us in Nags Head the weather was much wetter. We were lucky. 
Even with rain it still would have been a great week just to have the family together. 

Oh, I almost forgot. My nephew loved the Soundwave wall hanging. He promises to send a photo when it's been hung.

I didn't spend much time on my projects. When I wasn't on the beach I was reading or losing at card games. I only took some crochet and my fly tying kit. There are my first 2 flies! I'm using Youtube videos to teach me and the materials are from a kit to make Wooly Bugger flies. Apparently there are about 100 different types of Wooly Bugger flies. I suppose it's like a quilt block. There are unlimited ways to color and compose them. My fly tying coach said I did pretty good with my first tries. I have loads more supplies to make 23 more.

When I return from a trip I'm totally focused on getting everything unpacked, stored and the laundry done. When I finished all of that Saturday evening I really wanted to sew. It's actually time to start a new project since Soundwave and the wedding quilt are done. But I wasn't up for starting something new yesterday. Instead I had some fun with my scrappy HST project. I got 2 rows together to make sure I'd like it and then I just started sewing and counting blocks for 16 total rows.

I will have enough of the scrappy HST blocks to make other quilts later. 

I'm emptying a lot of bobbins too! On scrappy quilts I use scrappy thread. If the tension is good, the thread color doesn't matter too much as long as the color is a medium value. I was running low on empty bobbins but that problem is being solved pretty quickly.

I calculated hw many blocks I need and how many more gray triangles I need to cut out and I have just enough of the gray fabric. I'll start cutting these out this week and get back to sewing.
​I have a scrap of a shade darker gray that I'll use for the binding. I think this will make a happy veterans quilt.