Sew, sew, ... sigh

Good morning from a non-snowy Washington DC!

... as viewed from a television screen shot of Channel 4 news.

They were warning (threatening) of a 1-2" snowfall starting in the wee hours this morning; they were promising to keep us updated starting at 4 am this morning.  I don't know if they did or not, I was still sleeping!  So this is what 1-2" looks like:

well heck, I'll take it!

My latest adventures in the En Provence mystery quilt ... Sometimes I think it's a mystery why it's taking so long to finish, but then again - it isn't!

See that peek-a-boo hole in the middle there?

That's part of a sashing strip - I turned a lot of my purple 4-patches the wrong way!  I started off doing it right in the first two blocks, but somewhere along the line I did one wrong.  THEN, rather than looking at Bonnie's sample, I looked at my own layout and kept repeating and repeating that wrong layout.

So my sewing time (such as it is) the last couple days has been releasing those errant 4-patches, turning them a quarter turn, and sewing them back in - without unsewing the entire row!  *Sigh*  

Still cutting pieces for the QST's, sewing them as leader enders as I go.

Okay I admit it - I'm getting just a bit tired of this one, looking forward to finishing it up and moving on!

This is my last En Provence post til I get it finished, what more can I show and tell about it??  I don't want to bore you, you might not want to come back!


That's it for today, keep warm, stay out of the snow, sew forth and sew on

More EP progress

Three things to be happy about:
(1) digital cameras
(2) fresh fruit
(3) Deer Park water

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

Three quadrants are done on my EP quilt - moving right along!

I need to cut some more green and yellow strips because by now I'm starting to repeat the same fabrics a little too often.

I didn't want to start in sewing right away today, I've been wanting (not really) to tackle my kitchen cabinets and clean them out.

Powdered sugar, beans, bread crumbs, muffin cups - a lot of stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for a very long time and should be used or tossed!

Honey, old spices ... poultry seasoning, orange peel, red pepper flakes, green food coloring.

Two containers of baking powder, I hardly ever bake!

How long has that been hanging around?

Several people have blogged how they spend 15 minutes on a drawer or an hour on something else to bring it into submission.

Should I spend an hour ... 15 minutes?   2 hours??


This is what I decided:

I think I'll go and cut some more 2" strips!

Sew forth and sew on

One quadrant done

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a new recipe
(2) playing Bingo on Facebook
(3) Ritz crackers with cheddar cheese

I know cheese isn't that great for your body, especially when that body is in it's mid-sixties, but I think I come by my love of cheese honestly.

I remember when we were kids and would go visit my grandparents, we'd all go running to Pa Brown because we knew he'd have vanilla wafers and cheese in his pocket.  He'd give us some and say "don't tell you mama now!" because he knew mama didn't want us to have all that hard cheese.  So you see, I come by my love of cheese honestly!

I worked a bit on my En Provence quilt yesterday, managed to get a quadrant done before I stopped for the day.

At least two other people that I saw in the Mystery Monday linky are doing their quilt in quadrants to make it easier to handle.  I think it's a great idea!

So quadrants, it is.

Looking at my purple four-patches, I was thinking I may have to redo some because the light/dark contrast isn't that great.  See what I mean at the left?

Then I thought I'd just leave them alone - for one thing I don't have a large variety of light purples and I'd have a lot of repeats.  I do NOT want to buy more fabric, it won't be the end of the world to leave those low-contrast blocks in.  Maybe.

Sew forth and sew on

Ganging together

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Monday mornings
(2) cell phones
(3) polka dots

The gang's all here [honk honk]

Honker and Dinger are excited about their colors all together in a quilt - with a French name, no less:  En Provence, ooh la la!

Can you tell they're happy?

Me too, it's a gorgeous quilt, full of happy scrappy fabrics and the smell of sunshine!

When step 7 was posted and the finished quilt was revealed, I wanted to jump right in and start sewing my blocks together!

After finishing step 6, it was easy enough to cut the 3-1/2" yellow squares in step 7 using my GO die - piece 'o cake!

I tossed in all the yellows that wanted to come along.

So, now I'm piecing the main blocks, but also piecing the green/yellow/neutral units as leader/enders.

Ooops, what's wrong with this picture?

I did this twice - slow down!

The blocks sew up easily and I'm loving the way they look all sewn together!

I made two so far, I haven't sewn any of the sashing units yet.

Looking good!

Thanks for stopping by, now go on over to the En Provence linky at Quiltville and see what everybody else has done for steps 6 and 7!

Enjoy your Monday, sew forth and sew on til later

Just a little bit

Three things to be happy about:
(1) kids with candy canes
(2) pear preserves
(3) sunshine in winter

Hi everybody, just time for a quickie post today - showing my progress on the Quiltville Mystery, step 2!

I put step 1 aside for a minute...

This is what I've done so far - 18 triangle in a square blocks...

Words, I like words!

More kitted up to be sewn later ...

Need to cut the magenta wings for these.

All in all this wasn't a difficult step at all...




Except when my thread wanted to gang up on me!

Don't you just hate these little surprises???

Another challenge I had was, when I go to attach the left hand side the wing wants to skwoonch down a bit.  Pinning helps but the pins also like to get in the way!

Now hop on over to Bonnie's and see what everybody else is doing!




That's it for now, this will be a no-sew day for me!  Misplaced my SS card so have to go down and apply for another one, need to make a run to the Value Village to drop off stuff, need to bag more stuff for the Purple Heart, sew forth and sew on...