Progress

... and reality check!

Yesterday Jo posted the final pieced block - a log cabin - for the crumb along quilt.  I haven't made the log cabin block yet, but I thought I'd show you what I've done so far...

Not much!!  I could swear I'd done more blocks, where'd I hide them?

Looking at them all together I can see which blocks I like best, and which will need a bit of help to blend in with the rest.  For example, that second one in the second row gets lost in the border, that's definitely a re-do.  I have lots more crumb blocks from my bin that I can use but they'll have to be chosen carefully for the look I'm going for. 

At this point I'm thinking my favorite blocks are the flying geese, hearts and stars.

Well, that's it, I have to get cracking to get 42 blocks done - along with binding two quilts, quilting two more, cutting more fabric for the cruise...

Sew forth and sew on til later!

In one door and out the other

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and I took advantage of it to drop off  two bags of clothing - gotta clear some of that stuff out!

I'll have to say this is the first time I've seen it looking so neat at the drop off area!  A truck must have pulled out just before I got there.

They have a pretty decent thrift store, although I've never shopped there before...

the parking lot was really crowded yesterday... sale!

You had to have a VIP card (which I didn't have!) to take advantage of the sale, but I wanted to look at the shirts, see what all the "fuss" is about.

I picked out 6 shirts at $1.99 each.  My cashier was nice enough to borrow a VIP card from the next cashier over, which reduced my price nicely.  I don't know if that's a good price for shirts I'm going to cut up, but I paid just over $10.  I'll have to learn the secret!

I cut pieces from three of the shirts to make these crumb along blocks...

I like the color combination but they look like gosh-darned orphans!

I cut my middle block way larger than I should have for the star, but it'll ride.  The block on the right... cutting smaller base blocks would have resulted in a more desirable finished size.  It measures just shy of 6" - not large enough to stand alone as is, not small enough to add a border... but what the heck, I might just lop off part of it and add a border anyway.  Or just deal with it when I put the final quilt together.

I only had time to do those two, still getting my fabrics ready for the Quilters Cruise next month.  I saw on Bonnie's blog that there are 56 (!!) quilters going on this cruise, woot woot!!  I don't know what percentage of the total passenger count that is, but I'm sure it's significant, or as my Uncle Bird would say - "sincticant."  We're gonna take over the ship, scraps from one end to the other!!

hmmm.... I wonder how far it would go if we took all our strips and laid them end-to-end around the deck...

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Crumb along

Three things to be happy about:
(1) 20% off anything
(2) vegetable fried rice
(3) a mushroom and cheese quesadilla

I had to toss in that last one!  I stopped by the buffet bar at Whole Foods on my way home yesterday and the quesadillas looked interesting and I'd never had one from mushrooms, so I thought I'd try it.  It was rather tasty...  would someone please check on me tomorrow just in case the shrooms were toadie stools???


This week Jo introduced the triangles in our crumb along project! 

These were a snap to do and I like the way they'll look with the rest of the blocks.  I made a third one that I haven't bordered yet, I'll show that one a bit later. 

I also made another star...

...not jumping up and down about this one, but it should mesh with the other blocks when they're all put together.

Another flying geese block...

I think this one is right cute, I like the color combination. 

I also pieced together some plaids I trimmed from the other blocks and made this one...

I'll trim it to size when I need to insert it. 

I have Sharon to thank for the idea for these three!  I had some crumb blocks in my "whenever" bin that I brought out and bordered. 

They should work just fine...

Well, that's where I am on the crumb along... lots done but a lot more to do!

Sew forth and sew on...

A few more

Three things to be happy about:
(1) well-worn jean jackets
(2) faded flannel shirts
(3) banana bread baking

I don't usually go for banana bread but someone had a recipe on her blog for banana bread that looked good.  I don't remember who it was, but she put over-ripe bananas in the freezer to keep, then when she was ready to make the bread all she had to do was thaw them out.

I had to get right up when I woke up this morning - 8 o'clock appointment at the loctitian, eeeegg!  Anyway, I turned on Fons and Porter (6 am) and they were starting a new series using special rulers...

pretty table runner!

It seemed they were talking really fast on this show...  I saw an article on TV a few years ago that sometimes the program runs too long, so to fit it all in they run it in a compressed format, which results in a faster-than-usual show.  You can't hear it with your ears but sometimes my body reacts to the fast format... I feel really tense.

Thanks everybody for your encouragement on my crumb-along blocks!  I did three more - a star

a heart - I thought I'd see how it looked without a border...

and a nine-patch

For some crazy reason my photography hasn't been too clear lately, I don't know what setting I changed on my camera.  The star was photographed but I had to scan the heart and the 9-patch.

Well, sew forth and sew on til later... gotta grab some breffus so I can run!

Crumb along #4

Three things to be happy about:
(1) sweet barbecue aromas
(2) colorful stacks of veggies
(3) indulging a guilty pleasure

Is it a subconscious nudge that my three happy things are about food??  Of course, a guilty pleasure could be anything, but this one is about food  ;o)

I had to go to the AT&T phone store in Chevy Chase the other day (I got a new phone by mail and needed some hands-on help... that 197-page pdf file you have to download off the net just wasn't doing the job).  Anyway, it just so happens the AT&T is just down the block from the Cheesecake Factory... in fact I had  to go past the Cheesecake Factory to get to the subway station.  So, what could I do but indulge in a guilty pleasure - I bought a slice of cheesecake!  They have this low-carb cheesecake that's not bad at all... I asked the bakery guy how many carbs DID it have exactly - he checked with the kitchen and they said it was 6 per slice.  SO, I don't feel so guilty about my little pleasure!

This week's crumb along blocks are 9-patch and 4-patch blocks...

This one is sorta okay... I deliberately made the center smaller so I could border it with more than one round... the result?  The center is overpowered by the borders!  The jury is still out on whether or not I'll keep this one.

Now, this 4-patch is a toss-away for sure...

There's simply not enough contrast going on in there.  This is another one where I should have made the center larger... I used two rounds of border but it still looks a bit... mushy? 

I'll have to tackle both blocks again; after all, what's so difficult about making 4-patch and 9-patch blocks! 

Also, I'll make more star blocks and some fillers to use later.

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Crumb along progress

Three things to be happy about:
(1) remembering the coupons
(2) ignoring appearances
(3) empathy

I have this pair of yellow shorts, I think they're made of cotton flannel but you can't prove it by me because they're so old the label has washed out.  I think they're about 15-20 years old.  The only drawback is they're so floppy, baggy, saggy and decrepit looking, I can only wear them inside the house.  I really love those shorts because they feel so good on, who cares what they look like!  Some of you know what I mean...

I went to Hancock's on Thursday to get a yard of Kona and decided to pick up a new bottle of Best Prest since I had only about an inch left in my old bottle, I really like that spray!  I saw a large size refill, but it was $11.99 - sheesh!  Well, I didn't have my coupons - forgot em as usual.  The cashier knows me by now; she picked up a flyer from the counter and said "I'm not supposed to and you might make me lose my job, and if I do I'm coming after you, but let's see if we can use this coupon..."   The coupon was for 40% off notions, but the starch wasn't a notion.  Somehow she made it work, and it brought the price down to $7.19.  Bless her!

Now, what does all that have to do with my crumb along project?  Nuttin honey...

I made these three heart blocks that turned out really nice. 

I had to laugh because I kept sewing the little flying geese units at the top together the wrong way - atop each other rather than side by side.

These star blocks are right cute too!

I'm going to make some with a smaller center - I want to use more than one round of border strips.

When I lay all my blocks out in a group they're starting to play really nicely together!  I like the idea of combining plaids/homespuns with African fabrics, I'll explore that a bit more as I go along.

Well that's it for today, sew forth and sew on til later...

Crumb along

Well, I've finally started on my crumb-along blocks that Jo's doing!  Click on the Crumb Along graphic in the margin to see others.  The first ones are flying geese -

I think they turned out A-okay! 

I like the look of Jo's red with plaids, and I remembered I ordered one of those woven scrap bags from Keepsake Quilting that I'd never used.  So, I dug in and found a few pieces I could use for background.  I 'm also planning to use African fabrics in these blocks ... where will they go?  who knows!

When I made the geese I didn't clip off the little corner of the rectangle as she instructed; the first ones I did were too uneven and off kilter, so I made new ones and left the background corners attached.  Easier to square up that way.  Also, she suggested squaring up at 6" but I did mine 6-1/2" in case I misunderstood; I can always trim them down.



So that takes care of  last  week's blocks... now to tackle this week's assignment!

Sew forth and sew on ...