Little side trips

Three things to be happy about:
(1) raking leaves
(2) passing thru the bakery section at Costco
(3) finding something you lost

Is change good?  We've been switching between Eastern Daylight Time and Eastern Standard Time for more than 40 years (dare I say more than 50??) and this year it took me longer to readjust to EST.  Instead of waking up at 6:30 am, I was waking at 5:30 for awhile - big yahoo.

I had to curtail some of the little side trips I found myself on so I could knuckle down and finish that small challenge quilt that's due at guild meeting next month.  The Quiltville mystery will start next Friday, I don't want anything pulling at the edge of my mind when I'm piecing the first few clues!

The top has been finished and just lying around for a month, I just needed to go ahead and quilt it, put it out of it's misery. 

But not without a bit of drama...

I broke two needles because I allowed some of the seam intersections to bunch up, too lumpy in a couple spots. The second time I was literally one inch of being finished!

The top thread broke three times: once before I remembered to check the tension and twice because I had sort of a jerky motion when I changed directions - doh! 

You're probably wondering "now why doesn't she use a walking foot?"  I dunno.

Drama comes in threes! 

When I trimmed it - straight - I saw that part of one side shrank more than it should have. 

I went back and trimmed off a bit more, and to be honest, it's not noticeable at all!

So here's the top!

I simply outlined the silhouette and the moon, then quilted gently swooping lines across the blue background.

I meandered the black and white hourglass border, that's all it needed.  The binding has been sewn onto the front, I'll hand sew it down on the back in the next couple days.

That's it for now, enjoy your Friday, we've passed the mid-point of the month.  Sew forth and sew on...

Last Rounds

Three things to be  happy about:
(1) silent auctions
(2) caramel corn
(3) something passed down from your grandmother

A few months ago someone told me about the great prices at Marshall Dry Goods, so  I ordered 4 pieces of fabric that were on sale.  They arrived on a VERY rainy day in a white cardboard Fed Ex envelope with one corner so wet it had almost disintegrated.  Sure enough, that edge of all the fabrics had gotten soaked because they weren't protected in plastic. 

I emailed Marshall and described myself as "a new but very dissatisfied customer."  I never got a reply, so after washing the fabrics (they weren't ruined, only wet) I just moved right along. 

Less than a week later I got another package in the mail, same white Fed Ex envelope, containing these two pieces - still with no plastic bag or liner - with a message to call them regarding back order of the other two pieces.

Say what??

Long story short they wanted to replace the damaged fabric, the other two back ordered pieces would be sent in about two weeks.  I told him there was no need to replace the other two pieces, but placing fabrics in a plastic bag would have prevented water damage.

That's probably more info than you wanted but hey, it's free! (The info, not the fabric).  Would I buy more fabric from them?  Yep!

I needed to cut more hourglass units for the border of Dancing in the Moonlight and I wanted to infuse some different fabric. 

That Happy New Year's piece I bought?  It plays well with the other neutrals!

Sewing twosies into foursies, foursies become part of the border design!

The only thing about introducing new fabrics near the end of piecing is that they can all end up in practically the same place. 

No biggie.

I'm remembering my leaders and enders! 

I started some split nine patch blocks when I was asked by my guild to demonstrate making two quilts at once - leader/ender style. 

This was a great opportunity to get more of those pieced and build up my collection.


Well that's it for now, have a great Thursday.  If you're someplace wet, stay dry; if you're someplace dry, stay hydrated.  Sew forth and sew on...

Bigger and better

Three things to be happy about:
(1) coconut juice
(2) learning another way to fix hamburger
(3) shredding old papers

My mail carrier is still wearing her uniform shorts, my neighbors on both sides are still running their AC.  It IS October, right??  Just saying...

I hung a larger moon behind my couple, what a difference two inches makes!

Pulling out one of the Accuquilt circle dies (which I've never used) seemed like a good idea, but to get the perfect size I had to go "old school" - the bottom of a popcorn tin!

Just goes to show ya.

Taking advantage of some of Jennifer's scraps! 

I wanted to add grass to the bottom of the piece ...

But it doesn't add anything to the overall effect does it?  Especially since the fabrics I used make them look like they're standing atop a ruffled skirt.  Out it goes!

On the other hand removing the shadow beneath their feet didn't take anything away from the overall effect, thank goodness!

Looking good.  See, they don't have to dance on the grass, they can dance in the air, right up to the moon!

I've started adding the hourglass borders, I want to have two rounds on each side.  After I got this on the design wall I sorta wished I'd made the hourglass units smaller, 3" rather than 4". 

I pieced way too many already, it's a bit late to let my mind go there!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on...

Changing direction

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a moving target
(2) fall foliage
(3) pigs in blankets

I like the two yellow scrappy blocks I started making for the December guild meeting but they're very piecing-intensive!  They'll take more time than I want to devote right now because I also need to make a challenge quilt for December.  I can either make two pillow covers with what I've pieced, or make two more blocks for a small hanging.

Some years ago I made this house wall hanging from gifted scraps that I never quilted.

The point of making a scrap project was to show other guild members what can be done with small pieces .... this will do what we wanted.  I need to decide on an outer border and quilt it, plenty time to finish it for the meeting.

Now for my challenge quilt (music theme) I can use this silhouette couple that I've had for a very long time, it even has fusible on the back.

My idea was to name the quilt "Dancing in the Street," but buildings drawn in perspective had me stopped in my tracks!

Then yesterday I took a different direction - how about "Dancing in the Moonlight"??  Anybody remember that song remade by Van Morrison?

I'll hang the moon behind them so their heads aren't lost on that blue background, but it needs to be larger I think ...

I like the idea of their partial shadow cast by the moon, might have to cut it off when I do the ground, though.

The border will be made from neutral and black quarter-square triangle - or hourglass - units.

I made a lot of these sometime last summer when I was just doodling around, so I have a pretty good head start!

.

Twirling my seams, pressing in a counter clockwise direction...



Gotta love that dry iron from the Vermont Country Store!

Have a great Saturday, sew forth and sew on

Perspective

Three things to be happy about (compliments of my friend Pat):
(1) filet mignon
(2) poinsettias that last
(3) waking up to sunshine

Did you ever want to know how to do something, but didn't want to take the time to learn it?

I want to do a perspective drawing for a quilt - I found tutorials on the internet, but I'm too impatient to sit down and do the exercises!

One thing I learned off the bat is you start with a horizontal line and place a dot somewhere on that line representing the farthest, or vanishing, point.

So I learned that much, anyway!

This is a silhouette that I found among my bits and pieces a few weeks ago. I want to use it - it already has fusible on the back and besides, it's a really kewl silhouette!

I've pieced a few more of the hourglass blocks that will surround the central block, I think it will look nice.

My idea is to have the couple dancing in the street, with buildings on one side of them.  The challenge is, in order to be realistic the buildings closest to the couple need to be larger than their 11" height.  So, rather than drawing buildings and inserting figures that fit, I need to draw the buildings to fit the figures.  BUT I want a wall hanging, not a full sized quilt!

More on that later, I'll keep practicing and see what I come up with.

I needed something to give me a break from my EP which is about half done.  I say "about" because I made a second quadrant but when I went to sew the two pieces together - I discovered I'd left off the top sashing for that quadrant!

Now how'd that happen??  Back to the sewing board; I'll keep plugging away at it, but doing other things in between, just for variety.

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on...

Trimming up

Three things to be happy about:
(1) clear sinuses
(2) playing bingo on Facebook
(3) finding sweet potatoes on sale

Yesterday at Shoppers Food Warehouse I found sweet potatoes on sale - they were calling them red-fleshed yams, but to me they just looked like regular ole sweet potatoes!

Whatever the name, at 2 lbs for $1.00 I got a few pounds to add to my frozen tater collection.  I've usually had good experience with potatoes from Shoppers, they have such a good taste!

I also got a package of this spice since it was on the "come-on" shelf above the potato bin; never noticed it before.

Here's my progress on the En Provence mystery, step 6:

I sewed and sewed before something else grabbed my attention...

Twenty units already pieced and trimmed, 44 more to trim and stack neatly away before moving on to step 7!

And as for the pile of leftover strips on my cutting table...

shall I straighten it out now, or wait til later?

I agree, I'll leave it for later!  

Sew forth and sew on ...