What I did this week.

 

Yup, I put this whole thing together.  Last Saturday at my sewing marathon, I put together one block because I wanted to try out Bonnie Hunter's cool technique.  It was Eeeeeeeeee Zeeeeeeeeee!  When I got home,  I couldn't resist  dumping out my basket of 2 1/2 inch strips and putting together strip sets for more blocks.  Flickr is so handy for getting ideas.  I went to the Scrappy Trip Along group to see how the blocks went together.  I really liked the look of the quilts when the center diagonal of the block had a stand out color.  I had lots of reds.  Yesterday I got 24 blocks all sewn together into this top.  I can't believe how quick it went.  Sadly, it did not put enough of a dent in my basket of strips.  I think I will need to make another one or two.  A great way to stash some gift quilts in the closet don't you think?  I think I have the Wild Threads talked into making one for the church that lets us have our marathons there. 

Have a lovely week and stay warm in you live in my neck of the woods!

Sewing Marathons are 'Da Bomb'

We all know this.  Sewing with friends is better than therapy.  The Wild Threads get together every couple of months for a day of play.  Right before one of our marathon sewing days, emails usually start circulating asking, "what are you bringing, what are you gonna work on?".   Lately I like to take a project that needs to be finished.  Last time I finished quilting a quilt that I had been working on for years.  This weekend I got TWO projects finished.....sort of.  I quilted my yellow HST wallhanging with close straight lines.  After I finished, I remembered that I had thought about parallel lines in the yellow from the center out like a spiral.  Oh well, maybe I'll make another.  I do like the way this kind of quilting looks. 

 

I decided against a border or a visible binding.  I have never done this kind of binding before.  I pulled it all the way to the back before sewing it down.  This picture doesn't show the trouble I had with the corners.  I like this nice clean look and I am sure I'll try it again and hopefully get better at the corners.  I looked around the web for a tutorial but couldn't find one.  If anyone knows of one, lemme know.  Thanks.

Wah lah!



 

 I got the binding all ready for hand sewing before the Ravens/Patriots game on Sunday.  I got all comfy with my feet up and everything within reach........and look who came along.  Rosie! 

 

She kept my lap warm.  And the best part?

THE RAVENS WON!!!

Here comes Festivus Maximus people.  Not only are we going to the Super Bowl, but this year it's Harbowl.  How cool is it that the Harbaugh brothers are both going to the Super Bowl?



 

Okay, back to some quilting.  The other finish this weekend was the borders on this quilt.  Finally.  It's huge too, 100 by 114 inches.  I am going to let my friend, Shirley, quilt this one for me on her longarm. 

 

 I raided my stash for light colored scrappy fabrics to make the borders.  I chose to put them together on a diagonal for just a teensy bit of interest.

 

This is going to be a great quilt for everyday use on my bed.

 

 

I know I've shown some of these blocks up close before but I just can't help more little peeks.

 

'

 Made fabric' for the center.

 

 

And a tiny little pinwheel block snuck in there.

 

 

Fabrics with words, yippee.

 

 

When I put the border fabrics together, I ended up with a bunch of large HST's so I put them together for the back. 

 

 

More stash busting for the back.  Yeesh it's big.  So so glad I'm not going to quilt this one.

 

 

Here they are, top and back, all folded and ready for Shirley to get home from vacation. 

  Hmm, what is that to the right in the picture?

 

 

 Ugh, I gotta keep it real here.  My work table is messy again.   I did say trying to keep it clean was a fail before it even started.  Let's just delete that resolution shall we?

 

 

But this is why it's messy.  I spent last evening playing with my 2 1/2 inch strips.  See this little pile of strips?  All ready to whip up 19 blocks.   For a while now I have seen the Scrappy Trip Along  blocks on the web.  I wasn't too interested at first because of all the 2 inch squares.  I'm still in recovery after the Great Granny Quiltalong.  Then I saw this tutorial. 

 

 

Pretty sneaky little technique.  I had to try it so I whipped this block up on Saturday.  Nineteen more are coming and I'll have another scrappy stash quilt made.  It will be interesting to see how it looks because I am working mostly with strips that I have had for years.  They aren't very bright which is what I like now.   

And I'll leave you with this shot of my friend, Pat.    She has a crazy headband  on with flickering purple lights.  This was Saturday, the day before we won the championship.   In Baltimore we love our Ravens' purple.  

3rd Resolve

Do you remember this quilt?  I made it when I participated in a Scrappy Quilt-along.  I loved making these blocks using my scraps one color at a time.  Just before I finished this, a nurse friend of mine who I have known for at least thirty years became ill.  Lucky timing for me, I finished it up real quick and gave it to her in November.  Terry was feeling so badly the day that I took it to her that I just popped it out of the bag and put it on her bed then left.   

 

 

Since then my Terry has  apparently barely let the quilt leave her sight.  All of my friends and co-workers who have been to see her have told me how much she loves it.  It's been only 2 months since her diagnosis and Terry is now in a hospice care center.  I spent a few hours visiting her last week.  She is not able to talk but she did smile at me.  Her family raved about the quilt (which was right there on her bed) and how happy it made her.  I'm so glad I was able to brighten some of her days.

As I left the hospice center, I saw this down some stairs in the lobby and had to get a picture. 

 

 

So Resolution #3:

I have lots of scraps, more every week it seems.  I am going to make more scrap quilts this year.  I loved working one color at a time so I will certainly do another like that.  I have this book by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  I can't wait to try some of the challenges she has in it and use my scraps.  And while I'm at it, I will be able to stash away some gift quilts.

I spent the day yesterday with two friends.  We went to Pennsylvania.  First we went to the Hinkletown Sewing Machine Shop where I dropped off my machine for servicing.  We got a little lunch to fortify us then headed to my favorite fabric shop EVER.  Burkholder's Fabrics is beyond description .  Thousands of bolts of fabric, lots and lots and current design lines, and great prices.  It's a good thing I had a VISA gift card from Christmas, and an even better thing that I had additional funds since I went over budget.  I promise to show you pictures of my loot very soon. 
 This Saturday the Wild Threads are  spending all day sewing.  I need to figure out what to work on.  I will be helping some of my pals with Row 3 of our Evolutionary Row quilt (formerly the Mystery Row quilt).   I promise to take my camera.

FIXED!!!

Sorry for the photo problem with the last post.   I think it was a blogger problem.  I fixed it so go peek and check it out.  Thanks!

Resolution (or suggestion?) #2

I'm wondering if it's even worth it to try to make this a resolution. " Keep my workspace uncluttered."

I'm pretty sure that's a Fail before it starts.  This is what it looks like today.  The fabrics to the left are from what I was working on last night.  Wanna know some of what is between the fabric and the computer? 

-2 date books, 2 things of lotion, a clip for my cell phone, full pencil holder, bag of pretzels, JoAnn's flyers, camera, netflix dvd, rotary cutters, scissors, $100 VISA gift card (woot woot!), TicTacs, 2 glasses cases, bar-b-q lighter, xmas card from a family whose son I used to take care of and a pack of cards so I can write them a note, an Emmylou Harris CD,2 lip glosses,2 hand sanitizers, 3 little notebooks, 2 remotes for the TV and cable box, pins, wallet, and last of all the container that is supposed to hold all the junk that accumulates.  It's mostly full and obviously isn't up to the task. Maybe I should just make a point to clear it up once a week.  Designate Friday nites or Saturday mornings.  Maybe.

  By the way, do you see the 3 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of slippers, and 1 pair of socks under the table?  I coulda cropped that out but I'm keeping it real here.  And there is another pair of shoes by the door.  I always sit Indian style in my chair so the shoes come off the minute I sit.  When I run out of shoes, I take them all back to my closet.

I've been working on the next row for the Wild Thread Mystery Row Quiltalong.  I'm no good at the mystery part though.  I think I'll change it to the WT Evolutionary Row QA, because the whole quilt is evolving as we go.  I thought I had all the rows decided but I keep changing them. 
There are a couple choices for the next row. Paper pieced or pieced.
 

  

Two styles of paper pieced.  An outline house and a solid house.  It is such a simple design that I was able to sketch it into a foundation pattern.  My first time!

 

Disclaimer alert!!  In no way am I representing any of these blocks as my own design.  I see things all over blogland and Pinterest and in books.  The only thing I have done is drawn out my version of an idea I have gotten somewhere.  If I were to look at someone else's design and try to copy it, I would be sure to give credit and a link.  I know I saw an outline house like this somewhere and I really liked the idea.  When I wanted to do a row of houses, I decided to sketch up the idea. I'm sorry but I have no idea where I first saw it or if it was just like this.  I think that's ok but feel free to share (nicely) if you have another viewpoint on this. 

I tried a pieced version first in the other colorway and wasn't sure I liked it.  You can see both versions here.  The first colorway I made five 9 inch blocks.  The second is back to six 8 inch blocks.

  The roofs actually have a little 'overhang' that I didn't intend. Quilter's math can be really challenging for me when it comes to angles. And I really liked geometry in high school. Go figure

Although the overhangs are kinda cute, getting the intersections to line up correctly etc was a real pain.
Here are the first three rows.

 

Has anybody been wondering how my lil pinkie is doing?  It's been 2 and a half weeks and there is just a little bit of a raw and tender spot left.  It was a third degree burn so it's just taking a while to get closed up.  I can bend it now so I'm happy.   

I do have a couple more resolutions for 2013 that I will share  this month.  And February should be fun.  It's my birthday month so I think I will have a few 'Get to know me' posts.  And a giveaway at the end of the month.  Yippee!

Bye Bye Christmas and Hello 2013 !

I had a nice little work break over Christmas.  It was crazy busy and relaxing, if you can make sense of that.  I went with my two kids to New York City for the day on the 21st.  We walked and shopped, and shopped and walked.  I love that city!.  We got home late and the very next day almost 60 family members came to our house for the annual 'Cuzzin Christmas'.  Hosting that party every year gets me to decorate.  We kept it simple this year, at least I thought so.  It looked like plenty, though, when I piled everything on the dining room table before packing it away. 

 

When I was a teenager, my mom started giving me a Wallace silver bell each year.  I have 38 of them now.  Some years I just pile them all in a basket and some times they go on the tree.  This year I hung a bunch of them from the banister that you see when you come through our front door. 

 

 

 I added a simple glass garland and several bows. The rest of the bells went on our tree. The tree was covered with white lights and had a smattering of the bells. That's it. Very serene and relaxing to look at.

 

We have an antique hutch in the kitchen and for the last two years, it has been the setting for a funny collection of plastic vintage nativities.  You can read about why and how I got them here.

 

I haven't gotten any more since that wild ebay escapade but there will certainly be more.  They REALLY make me happy, and I have no idea why.  And I'm starting to believe that plastic doesn't  get the respect that it deserves. 

 

Here's my big Christmas wallhanging.  It's a Mackenna Ryan pattern.  You can see some closeups here.  I know there's another post with more pics but darned if I could find it.  I have a little confession to tell.  I put this quilt up last Christmas and never took it down.  Hey!  No judging.  Who says holiday art can't hang all year.  It is coming down this year though.  I think I'm going to finish my yellow spiral half square triangle piece into a wallhanging and put it there.

 

 

And now for 2013.

A resolution is a 'formal expression of intention.'

I would hereby like to put into writing a resolution or two.

As always, I will start with UFO's.  Yeah yeah and blah blah.  I have too many UFO's sitting around.  Seriously, who cares?  It's a rare quilter who doesn't have some.  However, I have a few that I would like to see finished.  Let's start with the 'Orb'.  Boy was I stoked when I started this quilt.  It was going to be one of my Masterpieces.  Then I took a wrong turn or two.  First, the black doesn't do it for me.  Not much I can do about that now.  Second, the center circles are appliqued.......with satin stitch.  Ack!  What was I thinking?  I don't even like satin stitch.  Anyway,  I stalled when I tried to figure out a border.  I want to use lots of the colored fabrics but many are almost gone.  I just know for sure that I want to tone down the black.

 

Next, this is a fun wonky churndash that started with the 15 Minutes of Play blog.  The centers of the blocks are 4 inch blocks of 'made' fabric and some small orphan pieces.  The top is actually twice this size as it is folded in half.  I was undecided on whether or not to add a border so it languished.   I like it the way it is and may just get going with the finishing.

 '

And the last of the UFO's is my 'Citrus' quilt..  Get it?  Huh?  Yellow, orange, and green are citrus colors.  And these blocks kinda look like orange slices don't they?   Anyway, I started this at the end of 2009 when I joined the Don't Look Now Quiltalong.  The wedges are all hand appliqued, there are twelve per block, and I have 36 blocks done.  That's 432 wedges.  For a while, I couldn't stop working on this and I had some mighty sore fingers.  I have a lot more wedges in a box which is good because I'll need them when I put these circles together.  The BIG question is............whether to join them by hand or machine?  Sigh, I know it should be hand done, and I know that if I do it by machine, it will bug me.  Bigger sigh. 

 

So resolution number 1 is to finish those three UFO's by the end of 2013.

I have more resolutions to come. 

So stay tuned.  I feel the urge to be productive.

Cheers!



Now where was I?

 

Oh yeah, I remember.  My camera was on the fritz.

  Well, I did a lot of fiddling around but couldn't fix it.  Then I spent lots of time internet browsing and finally ordered up a new camera on Amazon.  After it came, I had a brief moment where I thought the old camera was working but that passed. 

So, I have played around a VERY little bit with the new camera.  Here's a pic of the half square triangle top that has been on my design wall for what feels like forever.  I got it sewn together and then got caught up with the holidays.  So it waits.  I am planning lots more half square action in 2013.  My mom got me 3 different Accuquilt dies for Christmas.  The 4 inch, six and a half inch, and 8 inch half square triangle dies!  Woo hoo!  

I did some holiday clean up today and then I had a brief spurt of sewing motivation.  I want to start playing with my 'toys' so I planned out a project.  I made a list of how many units I need and then turned to the fabric stash.   And..................................................I stalled out.  I just couldn't decide on what to work with.  Solids or prints?  Scrappy or planned?  So nothing happened today.  I work the rest of this week but I promised myself I would get lots of sewing time this coming weekend.

 

 

I can't believe the year is almost over.  This past month has been a blur.  I am so glad that I did some holiday sewing last summer.  Remember these?  And these?  It was so nice to have them in the vault before the frenzy started.  I did sew several wine bottle totes for gifts at the last minute.  Sorry no pictures but I think I will be making more.  They are great to have on hand as hostess gifts. 

My extended family has one big holiday party every year, usually the fourth saturday in advent.  It's at my house which I love because it motivates me to clean up, organize, and do a little decorating.  This year I suffered a decorating injury.  We all know that hot glue guns get hot.  Yes, I know that and I know better than to touch the heated spout.  But, holy smokes, my new glue gun overheated the glue!  It was MOLTEN and got away from me and dribbled on my pinkie.  Ouch!



 

This is how my finger looks after a week of healing. It's still pretty deep and raw.   I suppose that when I get to work tomorrow I could ask our burn surgeon for suggestions but I probably won't.   I would really like to speed the healing up a little since there are so many germs at work but common sense says keep it covered and use the antibiotic ointment liberally. 

The house looked pretty good though and lots of fun was had by all. 

This week I am going to get busy fine tuning my Quilty New Year's resolutions.  My themes are going to be Stockpiling, Fun, and of course the usual Finishing.  And Scrapbusting.  Oh! also Stash Control.  Do you see why I need to do some fine tuning?  I promise I'll have a list in writing and ready to post on the first.

Happy holidays friends!  

Bad awful problems over here.

I had the day off today.  I spent most of it fighting with my camera.  I do NOT know what happened but it's gone nuts.  To get it to take a picture I have to take out the battery and the memory card and then put them back in.  Then it will work for about two minutes before going on the fritz again.  Some people would think the timing is good, she can ask for a new camera for xmas.  Not me, I'm too annoyed because the camera is young.  Maybe it will straighten up if I give it a little time.

Meanwhile, I got one lousy shot of my latest finish.  Here is 'Mai Tai', Bonnie Hunter's design from our quilt cruise.  My quilting wasn't half bad.  Too bad I'm having camera problems and can't show you.  grrrrrr

 

So I've been thinking that maybe I was a little deceptive in my last post.  I didn't tell any fibs but, well, I acted like I was some kind of quilter superstar bragging about my HUNDREDS of half square triangles.  My guilty conscience got to me and I just want to tell you I had a little help.  I used my Accuquilt Go to cut the triangles.  It's like magic.  I loaded the fabrics on the die with the right sides together and after you run it through the machine, they are ready for sewing.  It's an unbelievable time saver and I surely wouldn't be making this quilt without it.  

Before you know it, you have stacks of triangles all ready for sewing.

 



I spread out the triangle pairs on the sewing table and then just slid them into place as I chain pieced them together.

 

 

They just slide right under the needle and I felt like a high volume factory. 

 

 

In no time at all this morning I had yards and yards of this. 



 

 

I pulled out this little tool that was a gift from my friend, Diane.  It's called a Shark's tooth and it just hangs around my neck.  I just went 'swipe, slash, and chop' and the HST's piled up.

 

 

Shazam! 

 Then the most tedious part of the whole process started.....the ironing.  Bleh.

 



 

Actually, putting all of these little suckers up on the design wall was kind of tedious too.  But look at them!  Right now you are looking at 484 half square triangles.  They will finish at 2 inches.  I have enough yellow to make about 56 more.  The finished product will be 23 by 23 units, about 46 inches square before borders. 

So.......should I use this setting?  or maybe move the middle a little off center?  I can tell you that I don't really feel like moving 484 of these here and there trying out different settings.  I'll let this 'cure' for a while then maybe try something else and take a picture.  It's nice to be able to flip back and forth between pictures to decide what's the best setting. 



 

 

Wish me luck with the dopey camera.  Adios!

Starting something New!!

I had a little finish last week.  I finally finished the quilt from the cruise with Pat Sloan and Bonnie Hunter that I went on a year ago.  And shame on me, you're going to have to wait for a picture.  I promise to get one tomorrow and post it ASAP.  Meanwhile, check this out!  I started playing.

 

 

I have been absolutely itching to make something with HST's and this seemed like a good time to do it.  Do I have xmas gifts to make?  yes  Do I have laundry to do?  yes   Should I be out getting some exercise?  yes

But seriously people, when the urge strikes, a quilter just has to go with it.  A few weeks ago I bought some lovely Kona yardage.  I am pretty sure it is called Citrus.  I pulled it out and then starting piling up some fabrics to go with it.

 

 

I know this doesn't look like a whole lot but, guess what, it's TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO half square triangles!!!

 

 

Yesiree!  I cranked these babies out and, according to my mathematical calculations, I have enough yellow yardage left to end up with a total of 535 HST's.  They are 2 inches finished so even that many won't be a huge quilt.

 

 

It's always fun to get out the old graph paper notebook isn't it?  I felt so smart jotting things down on my graph paper and using my calculator to get the square root of 535.

 

 

I kept stacking my little babies up hoping they would look like a million units.  No luck.

 

 

But isn't this fun?!  I swear it's so much brighter in real life.

 

 

Then the design wall playing got silly.  What if it looked like the yellow just dribbled off the bottom?  Uh, not so good.

 

 

Notice a little difference here?  Now it's a spiral.

 

 

How about now?  That hot pink in the center was distracting to me so I got rid of it.  Much better in my opinion. 

 

 

Apparently I didn't get the dribbling yellow out of my system because I was still messing around with it.  Truth be told, it now has two silly dribbles off the bottom but I didn't get a photo of that.  Tomorrow I'm going to buckle down and churn out a few hundred more with a bigger variety of fabrics.  Right now it's getting late so I'm going to make a to-do list for tomorrow and then hit the sack.  The first thing on the list will be to take pictures of my newest finished quilt.  Come back soon.  Nighty night!