Flower Patch SAL Blocks 6 & 7

Today's the day to link up blocks 6 & 7 in the For the Love of Geese Flower Patch SAL. I had gotten a bit behind on these, but I'm totally up to date now! Well, I still need to work on block 8, but that released today. :)

I chose the embroidery option on block 7. I stitched a chain stitch for each stem. It's a bit wobbly, but I think the overall look is okay. If you stand back, you can't see how uneven my stitching is. It is soooo much easier to embroider on Aida fabric!

Here are all my blocks together. They're a bit cropped; couldn't fit everything in the picture.

I've also managed to get up to date on the Macaron Mystery.

And I've been squeezing out bits of time over the past few weeks to make some gifts for a quilting friend. I made this little pincushion using the pattern in this month's American Patchwork & Quilting.

I made a covered button and my husband glued it onto this giant paperclip blank for me.

I made several design boards in two sizes and my husband made the coasters.

I was going to quilt one of my oldest WIPs, circa 1999. I needed to make the backing. Back when I started this project, hand quilting was still the thing. I do not enjoy hand quilting, which is partly why this never got done. Luckily there was still enough backing fabric to load the quilt on the frame. You can see the quilt top in the background.

I attempted the pattern matching using glue method as outlined at Suzy Quilts. I didn't have a washable school glue stick, so I used the Sew Line glue pen. It mostly held, but it wasn't great.

I had everything loaded and was starting the pattern my husband had selected for this (for his mom, who used to have wallpaper that matched the fabric, though in a more attractive yellow, back then). My long arm was in a crabby mood and things didn't go well. The quilt is now off the frame for unquilting. 😐

So I did a deep clean and some testing on the long arm and of course everything now works. 🙄

I moved along to the next project, which is a bunny pillow. My daughter selected all the fabrics from my stash (yes! using the stash! awesome!). The paper piecing block for this can be found in EQ8, but I used directions from Threadbare Quilting (Bonita Bunny).

We went with Squatty Squared for the quilting. Fun tidbit: the backing fabric was originally supposed to be a bunny skirt for my daughter many moons ago. I recently used it in a donation quilt and used most of the remaining yardage for the pillow back.

My other accomplishment for the week is getting the test quilt ready for piecing. Everything is cut and laid out and I now need to make time to sew, which will be challenging over the next week. No photos until the pattern releases though.

The only things remaining on my December list that I haven't gotten to yet are assembling the Grassy Creek top, keeping up with the Rhododendron Trail mystery, and making myself a shirt.

I mentioned before that we ordered furniture for the basement, but won't receive it until sometime next year. In the meantime, we have an FTC robot field set up. They use the giant tv (my husband's gift to himself) to display their programming while they work. I guess it's been successful--they had their first league play tournament Monday and the boys placed first! I think they were all surprised.