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!

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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

A quilt airing

Three things to be happy about:
(1) fresh breezes
(2) a song in the air
(3) free stuff

There's a new  phenomenon in my neighborhood, just 6 houses down the street from my house - Freedge!

When I first saw this "freedge" last month I thought it was something nice the home owner had done, but it's actually a free sharing space sponsored by Freedge.org.

I've seen items such as water, bread, cookies, yogurt and fresh fruit in there.  They're trying to go nationwide with this program, and the very first one in the DC area is on my street.

Go check it out!

I took two of my quilts for a stroll yesterday; I figured since I was going to be in Wheaton Plaza anyway, I'd see if I could get some "atmosphere" pictures.

Jasmine, a manager at DSW Shoes (my FAVORITE shoe store) very generously allowed me to pose my quilts in their store.  You can't see them in the picture but they had some really nice hats and bags for sale!

Same quilt, "X and Plus," in the pattern section at Joann Fabrics.

I like the way the colors in the books echo the colors in my quilt!

"Red and Black Passion" at Joann Fabrics!

I need to learn more clever ways to pose my quilts, but there you go!

I'm pleased to say I didn't buy one piece of fabric, tempting as some of them were!  On sale at 40% off, even!

That's it for now, I have a workshop today with Sandra, also known as Sistah Stitch a Lot - gonna learn how to make that portrait if it's the last thing I do!

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Little by slowly

Three things to be happy about:
(1) popcorn
(2) trail mix
(3) a child's enjoyment of simple things

They're doing some work on my street, digging and pounding and jack-hammering.  My neighbors' 3 year old son is just fascinated with it all - he's a truck man!  Me... I look forward to them finishing so I can park in front of my house again!

My latest progress photo on the Scrap Crystals UFO - three rows done, two more go go!

Still sewing away at it; I want to finish this before I pick up something else.

Besides, I have to show more progress on it at the guild meeting this Saturday!

Among the sewing I still need to do - I'm combining the blue and green sashing strips that I pieced on phone book pages into longer strips, then cutting them down into usable 12-1/2" pieces.

Little by slowly, but it's progress!

When I cut a strip I have to move the ruler left or right to get a piece that's long enough to have a decent seam allowance after cutting.

So, that means unsewing tiny bits and recombining pieces to get what I need.  Some of the strings I used were a bit narrow, but the good news is I included a lot of 2" pieces so I have plenty of wiggle room!

I was looking at some of the strings I used in these sashing strips; at one point I wasn't too sure about the other colors I let creep in amongst the blue and green ...

But looking at it now, I think I made a good decision.

All those reds and yellows and golds add a lot of texture to the sashing, without overpowing the quilt.

The SNS cornerstones give it light, and help pull the sashing together.

That's it for now, have a great Wednesday.  Don't tell anyone but I have to get started on my taxes!  Sew forth and sew on...

Top done!

Three things to be happy about
(1) being in the know
(2) TV show marathons
(3) chunky jewelry

I did it and I'm glad!

It's always great to finish up a UFO, this one has been hanging around for awhile.  I looked back over my posts to when I started this quilt - 4 years!  You can read the initial post here.

It occurred to me Saturday that this project qualifies for the American Patchwork & Quilting’s "It all Adds Up" Quilt-Along.

I wasn't too sure about my choice for that inner border - still not 100% sure, maybe I should have gone with gold - but it's a done deal now!

The peacocks just nestled right into the outer border.  They weren't fussy cut but hey, that's fine with me!

I would have lost too much fabric otherwise; my goal was to use up the fabric, not create scraps by fussy cutting!

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Today will be a no-sew day for me, I have to take my sewing machine to Hancock Fabrics so the repairman can look at it.  I have a very disobedient foot pedal that sometimes wants to keep sewing when I take my foot off.  I mean I'm stomping and banging on it to make it stop - annoying as heck when I'm trying to adjust my seam!  Anyway, I'm hoping he can replace the pedal while I wait, that Hancock's is over 20 miles away.

Have a great Monday, I hope your team won the Superbowl, sew forth and sew on til later...

x plus x = panels

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Youtube Missouri Star tutorials
(2) minty toothpaste
(3) hot coffee

Still happy about that first cuppa in the morning!  In a Rugrats cartoon a few years ago Tommy and Chuckie were pretending to be grownups eating breakfast before going to work.  Chuckie: "Mr. Tommy, this coffee tastes like mud!"  Tommy:  "It is mud, Mr. Chuckie!"

Ahh, that first cuppa - tastes like hazelnut!

I'm piecing my x and plus blocks by groups of nine to make it easy on myself.

Three rows of panels, plus one odd row...

I saw this after I sewed on the right panel - ouch!  What are the odds of having two identical fabrics side by side?  More to the point, what are the odds of me unsewing this seam???

I think I may have used just 3 of those squares in the whole thing.

So here's progress (can't see those two identical squares, right?)

One panel done, two more to go!

It shrinks horizontally by two inches after sewing.


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

x and plus progress

Three things to be happy about:
(1) temperatures rising
(2) new movies
(3) red nail polish

I didn't really "get" how close I was to piecing all my x and plus blocks til I gave them my full attention!  Before I knew it I had completed the 90 blocks I was aiming for.

I laid these out on my design floor, just tossing them down as I unpinned the 10-block groups.  If I saw two that matched too closely I moved one, but you know what?  I'm not going to start moving these around because it would take me half a day to get a perfect balance!

Just looking at the photo now I can see some dark spots but I won't worry about that.

I'm using these two fabrics for the borders, I thought a light inner border would give the eye a rest.

Or, maybe not...

This bluish-purplish border print fabric is a Jennifer Sampou that I've had for years!

I like it; it was tucked away in a cabinet, and that's probably why I hadn't used it by now.

Notice the peacocks in the border strip?  My first thought was to cut it away and "save" it for later.

One little curious thing though - when I unfolded it all the way I discovered that at some point I had cut out big hunks, and part of the border was missing.

I started to put it back but then I thought to myself "why not use it?  If not now, when??"

So, final decision - I'll use this fabric, some of the strips will have the peacocks and some won't.

I'll think of it as a design element!

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

Onward and sew forth!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) flannel pj's
(2) waking up refreshed
(3) hot coffee

My sister Ruby used to say it like this: "hot caw-fee".

There's just something about coming to the end of a mystery or project, when all the fabrics you gathered have either been used or repurposed, and you can use that bin for something else!

Ahhhhhh, Allietare!  Thanks everyone for your comments and encouragement.

Pieced and ready for the LA.

Since I have an abundance of left over 2" strips that will just overflow my bin, I've decided to continue on with the x and plus project that I put aside last October.

I'm over halfway done, so that's a good thought!

I had kitted up a few blocks that I saved between the pages of an old Quilter's Newsletter magazine.

Handy to just pick up the pieces and start sewing!

A bit over 65 done, working towards 90 for a full sized quilt.

I'll try to keep this as my main project til it's finished - that is, if I can resist the gorgeous easy-to-do blocks that Lynne is working on!


Happy Groundhog Day!  By now (just before daylight??) Puxatawny Phil is either still asleep or they pulled him out into the bright TV lights so he can blink and kick his feet.  Poor critter.

Sew forth and sew on til later - keep the sunny side up!

Textured Pinwheels - A Tutorial

This tutorial came about when I found a bag of half square triangles I got in a swap that I hadn’t done much with. One day when I wasn’t wearing my glasses I glanced at one of the blocks pinned to my design wall, and I couldn’t really see the muslin background squares individually - bingo!  Rather than cutting dozens of 2-1/2” squares, why not use rectangles?

That thought led to the idea of using a variety of neutrals for the background because - let’s face it - using that muslin throughout block after block after block would be a bit blah!





Here are instructions to make an 8-1/2” textured pinwheel block (8” finished).

Gather a variety of neutral* and colorful fabrics

*If you need guidance on choosing neutrals, Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has tips on how she chooses her neutrals - it’s a very good guideline that I use all the time. See her instructions here


For each block you will need:
-- eight 2-1/2 x 4-1/2” rectangles from neutral fabrics and
-- eight 2-1/2” squares from medium, dark and bright fabrics. Avoid very light colors, you want a good contrast with the neutral backgrounds.


Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on each 2-1/2” square, we’ll use the sew-and-flip method to make two different sets of rectangles!

To make the “inner” set, place a colored square on a neutral rectangle as shown. Sew in the direction indicated, just to the outside of the line, toward the corner that will be cut off after sewing.

Trim off the corner, flip and press - your rectangle should measure 2-1/2” x 4-1/2”.

Make 4!

To make the rectangles for the “outer” edge of the block, place the square as shown and sew in the direction indicated.

Notice that the drawn line goes down from the top left corner this time!


Again, trim off the corner, flip and press.

 Make 4!




And now we'll lay out the block...

I found it so much easier to start with the center and work outwards!

Working in a clockwise direction, start by laying one of the “inner” rectangles horizontally, then place the second one vertically as shown, noses touching…

Add the third, horizontally - keep those noses together ...

And the fourth, vertically!

This forms the center - see that pinwheel?

Now add the “outer” rectangles so that the color corners face outward

Sew together into 4 pairs...


... then sew the 4 pairs together!

There you have it, a textured pinwheel block!





The corners will form a diamond when the blocks are put together. I chose to create totally scrappy corners but as an option you could use one constant fabric, or one color family for that position.

I hope you like the tutorial; if you make the pinwheel I’d love to see what you’ve done with it!

Sew forth and sew on...

Webbing the top

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Monday mornings
(2) a new Costco sales flyer
(3) Listening to Old School music

Do you ever listen to music on your TV?  I don't mean Pandora... most carriers probably carry the music stations, on Direct TV they're at channels 800 and higher.  I like channel 844 - Old School Funk - it takes me back, back, even waaaay back!

I'm at the sewing stage for my Passion quilt!

I've been webbing the top and it has gotten a bit unweildy? unwieldy? - awkward! after sewing a few vertical rows...

But before I got to that point I played with a couple layouts.

I sorta liked the boxy effect of the blacks in this layout but I couldn't figure out how to make consistent boxes and also allow the reds to stand out.

My whole point was to let them step across in order, and shine!

On the other hand I didn't want a plain slanted stripe as this would have done...

so I twisted it a bit!

To the right...

... then back to the left.

I think this will do the trick!

Half the rows are done at this point.

Because I didn't stack the blocks at my sewing machine (afraid of getting them out of order) I've been gathering one column at a time - up and down the stairs!

Great exercise, but sheesh!

At this point it's getting awkward to handle as I mentioned above, so I'll put aside the left half, web the right half, then combine the two.

Looks like a plan!

Time for breffus, sew forth and sew on til later...