WIP Thursday

In a word----more binding, LOL. 3rd side, the top with the sleeve so some progress is being made.

Look who made himself right at home though I must admit, I almost expected him to be rooting around for a spot UNDER the quilt rather than on top.

Who knows? I might be sleeping under this tomorrow night!

two finishes

In Season "Spring"---binding done but I still need to apply the buttons and some embroidered elements that will also help in the quilting department. Technically NOT finished but I will still count it. That part won't take long and I hope to have this hung in the living room this weekend. I just pinned it up on the design wall for the time being while I.................











.....................moved on to this one. I just took the last stitches in the binding and asked DJ to hold it up. "French Blue" medallion from Connecting Threads which was surely named after the fabrics Debbie Beaves used not the pattern itself. ( Pieced by my mom but quilted by me.) I will hang it in the gallery space above my bed during the summer months.

I am setting up the forward table/sewing table similarly to what I do when I quilt but facing a different direction in the room. Time to take on the binding and sleeve on my Daisy Chain quilt. This is a big one and I need some space to pile up the excess. I think the last time it was pictured on the blog was HERE back in Jan 2010 when I finished the top. I did take pics back in late October when I picked it up from the long arm quilter but posted them on facebook instead.

The infamous pile on the armoire that is normally piled with pinned quilts or quilts waiting binding is down to one after Daisy Chain is done!! WOOHOO! Pinning will commence on a couple of tops at the next meeting and I will get back to April Button Up applique and that donation 4 patch diagonal chain top for piecing.


I couldn't resist taking this picture of my two boys. Since DJ got this "new to him" recliner, Skyler has taken to laying on the foot rest between DJ's legs. The old one had a space between the foot rest and the chair seat and he couldn't do this. It used to be that he would sit right next to DJ but only in the evening hours during TV viewing time. DJ would get up to get something to eat or drink and then Skyler would take over the chair. Well, I guess he still does that part, LOL.

Well, best get cracking. The next thing I know it will be time to think about fixing supper.

a detour

The instruction manual says 35-40 minutes to assemble. HA! What a joke there. Or maybe it is just the two of us attempting it---we skew the stats. I read and follow directions while DJ is a "git 'er done" kinda guy. Can you see that we have very different styles of approaching a project like this??

I was inventorying and identifying the parts when he started on the frame. So far so good, we thought--- until we stood it up. That thing was more crooked than a dog's hind legs. Turns out on the re-reading and review we found that he had parts reversed and the wheel side is different. And so it went---put it together and take it apart because we messed up. I was looking at the spanish version half the time just to help him ID the screws, washers and such while he read the book, LOL.

We started this assembly process on Sunday afternoon. Monday's snafu was that the knobs would not go on with the mark in the right direction. I told him repeatedly that I thought he just had the valve/hose thing upside down. No, he says, that can't be it. Fine, don't listen to me! I was not in the mood to argue about it any further. You couldn't really tell one way or the other from the manual photo either---he could have been right. Finally, 6 hrs later and after looking at two stores floor models, he must have figured "what do I have to lose?" and switched it, LOL. There was nothing wrong with the knobs. All together we have made 3 calls to customer service.

Fast forward to Tuesday. He needed some verification about a step with the venturi tube for the side burner first but that was resolved quickly. He finished up with attaching the lid just before lunch and we wheeled it outside. We all were thinking it was part of the landscape by then. Skyler was messing with the drip cup to see if there was anything in there for him.

So the grill is outside and he is trying to hook up the tank. Now he tells me that "it isn't working". I can see that there might be another call made to Customer Service. Just in the time I was typing this, he found the problem and it IS working. Praise be! It threads down differently than our last one and he must not have had it seated properly. It passed the leak test, even better.

Bear in mind that we only got a new grill since the old one needed both grates replaced, and a new ignitor and the cover replaced. By the time you start adding that stuff up in replacement parts you could have a new grill. Yeah if you have three days to put one together, LOL. Now I suppose we need to figure out how to disassemble the other one so we can dispose of it properly----but I won't bring THAT subject up for a while.


I have gotten the bday Button Up bound, which I cannot show you yet. I took the last stitches in my Welcome Button Up last evening. This one hangs when you don't have the monthly or seasonal ones done---I will do the February and March ones at the end. Two finishes for the counts----woohoo!

I made a crab pasta salad for supper already this morning so it is smooth sailing this afternoon to get busy on another quilted top. The spring piece or the "Mom" wall hanging is next up. I'm no dummy and am saving that quilt sized quilt for last since it is likely to take me about 3 days to finish it.

Oh, I dug around in my notebooks and found the pattern source. She had used one called "French Blue Medallion Quilt" from Connecting Threads in tropical colors. If I recall correctly her local quilt group or some local quilting friends did this as a mystery quilt?? Or they may have planned to do it as a mystery quilt at a retreat and needed someone to test the directions first. She'll tell me.

BUT she had also made re-sized version making it rectangular instead of square for her Merkitty challenge quilt shown HERE. Knowing this helps me to date the wall hanging and the challenge quilt to circa 2007. Long enough of a wait, in other words.

So I best get the fingers flying-------I hope you have had a good day.

spring has sprung

Every where you look these days, there is a flowering shrub or tree beginning to leaf out. Good bye shades of brown and tan! Hello, yellow pollen. Paper says juniper, maple and elm are the main culprits for the medium to high pollen counts.

I really enjoyed my trip to town this past Tuesday through the old established neighborhoods. Dogwood trees and their white canopy of blossoms are everywhere along with wisteria dripping down in other spots. I saw quite a few flowering cheery trees too with just the lightest hint of pink.


Some had irises in bloom but it might be a little early for most of the azaleas---including ours above. If you look closely you will spot a hint of red. Our lupines are up as well but I forgot to snap a shot of them.


The neighbor's dogwood tree is at right. I happen to know that this is a native dogwood that "came from Cheeha Mountain" He told DJ that when we were struggling to grow a succession of dogwoods of our own. I didn't think you were supposed to take things like plants from state parks but maybe it was okay then?? We lost two pink ones and a white and gave up. The last one was the hardiest but it was no match for three drought years..





The camellia, our state flower, is out though maybe not as loaded with blossoms as it sometimes is. I took these pics on Tuesday and we can only hope that the light frost we had yesterday did not do a lot of damage to the bush.








And the lilac bush---not native to Alabama so DJ has to take care to augment the soil and fertilize it. We were not sure it was going to make it for a while this past winter but it looks like it is doing better than we thought. One azalea bush really DOES need to be replaced.

DJ was just out planting some cosmos seeds that came in the mail. We will see what happens with those, LOL.

Today there is rain in the forecast and possibly bad weather---hail and such. We under a tornado watch currently and DJ said that was predicted till Tuesday. So far it is just cooler, overcast and some sprinkles.

Me personally? I quilted three wall hangings of various sizes (2-22 x 43's giftie and welcome, 1-18 x 22 Spring) on Thursday. Friday while I was still in the mood to quilt I did one more a 42 inch square medallion quilt that my mom had made and gifted to me. I will have to do a little research to remember the correct name but it was a pattern she had gotten from Connecting Threads a few years back.

Now the binding blitz begins---first the giftie since the recipient has an early April date coming up. My plans are to do the four pieces I just quilted and the Daisy Chain queen sized quilt that has been waiting atop the armoire. Mom's wall hanging was also one that WAS in the stack but I have dealt with it. That just leaves one full sized quilt left that just needs 7 or 8 more blocks quilted and something done with the borders. I am gaining on it. Woohoo!

Brenda's series of quilts

Recently at our quilt meeting, Brenda brought her series of quilts designed by the "Little Quilts" group over in Marietta, GA. She plans displaying them all on a wall in her sewing room.

I asked her to spread them out on the table so the group could see them and took some pictures standing on a chair behind them.

I told her it would be hard to pick a favorite from the bunch but I am really drawn to the basket quilt wall hanging---but then there is the blue and yellow one right next to it too, HMMMMM



Enjoy the little quilt show! And thanks, Brenda for sharing.

WIP Weds

Our quilt group met yesterday. Good turnout and a potluck lunch. I think we were only missing two people! I got my two wall hangings pinned and the pinning table with busy with 5 donation quilts after that. A couple of the girls were busy at the machines, two were binding. I was basting tulip stems.

At left is Leann and her grandmother Aline's "Romance" challenge quilt. This one is definitely a group effort. Leann had already used most of her yardage on another top and had the center part done when she sent it on to Aline with the request that she finish up. The Belles pinned it, I quilted it, Aline put on the binding and Jane hand finished it.

So here is what has/had my attention today---I was doing the button hole applique on the April Button Up when I took this picture. Monday I had gotten the Welcome Button Up applique components taken care of along with the "giftie" . When I got home from the quilt meeting, I did the honors on the Spring In Season piece. This was the last remaining applique for this round of quilts---done now.


Quilting Welcome and giftie next but I want to get borders on Spring first. I tend to get all the tasks done that I need to do on one machine and with the same foot. The walking foot on the Viking is a bit of a pain to take off and on. If you can see it--the green mottled piece is for the borders, the green check, the binding which I will cut on the bias. I had thought about using that light piece of backing but decided to go with the light green dogwood piece that you see being the letter "P" in spring instead.

I have already been on a "amethyst" thread and itty bitty black button run this morning so I've got some time to sew/quilt before I have to head out to the kitchen to prep a chicken stir fry dish for supper.

Tomorrow I will share a few more quilt pictures from the meeting plus I have some shots of the outside flowers/shrubs to share in another post----a teaser, LOL.

Design table Monday

So here is Sunday's project moving into today.

LOL, that bottom border was sewn up on this once but I opened it up so I can insert the tulip stems into the seam and not have to worry about finishing one end of the tube. I pinned it up with a fold just to fit it in the picture. These finish about 22 x 43 so those long stems WILL fit in that space.

I realize too that the borders are fairly light. I did not have any decent spring looking floral in the stash, or enough of it in one case. I liked this yellow piece with a hint of lavender/purple and will think of my friend Theramae when I look at this wall hanging as it was from her stash. I plan to bind it with the purple you see in the letters and one of the tulips. The pattern called for pinks and reds for the tulips an a couple of yellow ones. Because of the border fabric choice, I wanted to add some purple ones as well. That, and it is my fav color, LOL. The only fabric that was NOT from my stash was enough of the pine green Moda Marble. I picked up a few fats of that on the quilt shop run last weekend. There lots of quilts hiding in the stash! Aren't we supposed to shop our stash first?

I have decided to hand applique this piece, everything but the letters. I did the umbrella last night so I could get the giant piece of freezer paper out of there, LOL----after I took this picture. I want to baste down the stems today but will set the whole deal aside to do a bit of button hole applique on "Welcome" and the "giftie" with hopes of pinning them tomorrow at the quilt meeting. Truth be told, I should probably reverse that plan just to make sure I am ready----buttonhole and then baste in the time I have left.

I have been up for a little over an hour and whipped up some egg salad for lunch and just finished putting together some beef stew in the crockpot for supper. I am not quite done in the kitchen yet though as I still need to get the ingredients together for our potluck lunch tomorrow. I decided to make some quick cheese bread but not bake it till we are there so will need to gather the bowls, pans, etc and pre-measure of the ingredients. There are also a few errands to run and a few laps in the park while I am in town. Think I should get dressed before I head out???

Busy day so far and to come, it would appear. Hope you have a good one and thanks for stopping by------------

National Quilting Day

..............and here is how I spent National Quilting weekend.

After I got done prepping leaves, tulips and raindrops for the April Button Up I pulled out my previously stitched Spring base. I already had some of the fabrics pulled so that helped a bit.

I foundation pieced the angel's dress and the little flower pot on this piece and then turned the edges over freezer paper. The larger leaves and the dot on the "i" were turned over templar, Most of this is fused though. It will be machine button hole appliqued. There is a good bit of buttons and hand embroidered elements to be added---oh, and borders are needed too, LOL.

Tomorrow I hope to get back to the April base sewing elements and start basting down the aforementioned appliqued bits. Having a ball working on something just for ME.

Shown at right is sorta where I am headed---
Pattern Source: Joined at the Hip April Button Up.

WIP Thursday

Happy St. Pat's! Pattern source for base: Multi-seasonal calendar quilt from Katrinka Designs. The shamrock was my idea and is the holiday section of Sew Precise 1-2. I keep telling myself that I need to make a May basket block and I would probably have most decorating situations covered for this wall hanging anyway, LOL. I have a couple possible block ideas, also foundation pieced.

We will have a semi-traditional meal for us for St. Pat's with corned beef brisket cooking in the crockpot but I cannot do that steamed cabbage stuff. We do like the Colcannon Potatoes and I already have the green cake made---Watergate Cake with Cover Up Frosting. We'll skip the green beer, LOL. The meal should make for a happy husband tonight.

I had to laugh yesterday when DJ related a story of an acquaintance that works at our local bank branch office asking DJ if I was still quilting. He replied that "Oh yeah. She quilts and she cooks---and she is a good cook!" He may not tell ME that often enough but it is good to hear that he was bragging on me.

So the WIP is barely started, LOL. I decided to prep the April Button Up from Joined at the Hip today. Actually this one has very little sewing involved as it is mostly appliqued. I think the umbrella handle can be stitched down to the fabric base and then the other edge appliqued down though I have not quite worked on the math on how big to cut the strip to make that happen. Add half inch for seam allowances like usual???

This will be a mix of applique techniques again. I will use freezer paper the umbrella and maybe the tulips. The leaves and rain drops, I am going to try prepping over a templar base like you do yo-yo's. I'll break out the bias bars for the flower stems and fuse the letters. I pulled fabrics last week so I basically ready to roll with this. It is fun to play with different fabric combos to come up with the look you want.

I took care of one of the gifties since I last posted but can't show the flimsy yet. It has some applique elements to stitch down but I will do that part on all the projects I have prepped at the same time.

I also changed my mind about the binding I had picked out for my Welcome piece even though I already had it and the hanging tabs prepped. Because I had it left it pinned on the base, I see it in the hallway all the time (read: every time I come out of the bathroom, LOL). I could see that the red background I had chose blends into the base a bit too much. Black binding I thought would be too dark so I went with a brown that is pretty close to a color in the border. My pal Pat had sent me the yardage some time back with words to the effect that it was "too ugly to live" (or something like that, LOL) but it will work fine for adding a separation of color.

And so it goes around here. I'll see how far I get today.

Welcome

Joined at The Hip Button Up----welcome. Flimsy almost finished. I will still need to button hole applique the motifs.

I can't seem to get a good picture of it so click to see it bigger to see the fabric selections etc. I think I will just keep the flimsy pinned on the base till I am ready to quilt it---beats looking at the plain base on the wall!

I am moving on to the "top secret" giftie project and/or the applique motifs for "In Season" SPRING last seen HERE.
My plan is to get all the applique stuff prepped and do it that all at the same time. It is all cyclical----cut, sew and/or applique, quilt, bind.

I had hoped to post this last night but the power kept flicking on and off when the latest rain event blew in. I wasn't going to zap the computer more than once.

Onwards and upwards!

Monday check-in

Not much production going on around here the past few days---a little redwork on "Here Comes Santa" cornerstones at guild meeting on Saturday. We made run to the quilt shop In Trussville on Saturday so we were all over the country side in St. Clair/Jefferson county Alabama that day!. Yesterday, I had grocery errands but did a little sewing. Thursday, was just a plain "no motivation" day and I went with that though I felt a little guilty about it.

Friday I made up for the laziness and got some cutting done on my next project. I decided to do the "Welcome" Joined at the Hip Button Up project next. This one hangs between occasions or holidays. Even better it can stay up when you need to get caught up with the monthly quilts, LOL. January HAD to come down! I am set for doing the April block, fabricwise but will have to go back later to do February and March.
I scanned the photo from the pattern insert so you can see it. Mine will be sorta "country" but with fabric, color substitutions. My base is a mix of fabrics from their fabric kit so just about anything goes but 30's. I raided the "Christmas" fabric bin first looking for some reds and greens for another project and found my border fabric for this piece. You know it has been around for awhile when you see "1987" in the selvage edge! I remember purchasing it on a visit to Lincoln, NE to see my maternal grandmother. Grandma had taken me to her nearby Hobby Lobby. It might be an antique but I still like it, even without the cachet of how I came to find it.


Yesterday I DID manage to piece two quilt backs for my last two tops, Hot Mess and Gordian Knot #1. The only other piecing was this little name badge for Friendship Quilters. It measures 4.5 inches at this point but I am not sure what I want to do with it next. Binding would be a little tricky doing the join unless I use single fold. I could "birth it" but batting would make it a little thick for turning. My name has to go on it somewhere, somehow but I want to fix that upper left corner first. Think I will just let this simmer for a bit as the meeting is a month away and I can wear an old one in the meantime.

Off to piece my top. As you can see, there is a bit of applique to do once the piecing is done as do all of the JATH series. Should be fun!

I hope you find something to make your day fun too------

WIP Weds. late edition

It has been a busy day today but NOT from doing anything in the creative department. There were a lot of little odds and ends of the paperwork variety both personal and pertaining to the quilt group, a few errands to run, re-organizing the bag that I schelp around to the meetings, cleaning out my purse......and so on.

Shown at right, the scrappy fall log cabin blocks I made for the Friendship Quilters guild, my Monday project. The organizer asked us NOT to trim them down to size so they do not look square. I had hoped to get around to the name badge thing then but it didn't happen. Tomorrow, then.


The quilt group met yesterday so I have a couple photos to share. Jane had finished the binding on Leann's "Romance" challenge quilt so it was ready for its "glamour shot". I had quilted it for her a couple months ago and her grandmother Aline had put on the binding.

Next up is Beverly (hiding her head) with a top she came up with with a large fabric panel. We had discussed doing something she could do that would not decapitate the dogs too much. I love how she fussy cut the dogs for the squares.

It was a laid back day. Beverly and Jane pinned this little top. Linda C was working on a hand project but needed some help in dealing with a fusible project. Janet was machine quilting a lovely fall piece she had been working on at the last meeting. Brenda was hand finishing some binding.


............and Betsy an I were sewing. I pair up the triple rail blocks from the Belles scrappy challenge project. Mostly I stitched up a pile of pairs---till I forgot I was doing 9 blocks across, LOL. Janet had her ripper more handy than mine so I un-sewed some to put together two rows of it anyway before we left for the day.

This will be an ongoing project as I am putting this back up till next meeting. I have plans for getting back to a couple of appliqued and/or pieced personal projects this week. I'm thinking either the Welcome and/or March Joined at the Hip Button Up projects. I already have the spring "In Seasons" base already done so the applique motifs need to be prepped for that. Saturday is Friendship Quilter's meeting so I have a feeling it will be a handwork sort of day while I sit.

We had quite the rain event starting yesterday afternoon and not really letting up until just before lunch today. Some lightning and strong wind gusts too. We measured just shy of 4 inches of rain in our gauge! When I left on errands late morning, I was stunned to see the small creek/bridge that I cross frequently was out of its banks and flooding the nearby fields. There was no water standing on the roads near here or I would have turned around and went home. The ditches and culverts tend to get clogged up with vegetation and debris so the rain water run off had no place to go. No doubt some locations in the county and state were not as lucky. As you can imagine walking on the grass this afternoon was like stepping on a sponge, squishing. DJ was out working to cut down some overgrown bushes by afternoon.

That's about it for this note. I hope you had a great day and thanks for stopping by!

a finish

No thanks to Skyler, but I got the binding finished up on my Kitty "Leap Frog" quilt.

The fluorescent light is throwing the color off a bit---I used a combination of pink with black and black with pink Michael Miller Bling Kitty fabric since that is all the store had on hand. I was working on the hanging sleeve when this was taken.





And tada,! there it is, all done and all mine though Skyler may have something to say about that. THX Linda S for the fabric gift and insisting that I make something "just for me" with it. Took me while to get it done ---like almost 5 years but there it is.

Tomorrow, back to piecing!

PAR-TAY!

While this is not the actual birthday of our friend Pam, it is when she chose to celebrate it. So the FABS gathered in IM chat and she opened those boxes we have been sending her last week.

I can finally show you the top secret project I was working on last month! The pattern is Joined at The Hip's "Mother's Day" Button Up wall hanging done in her fav 30's prints. It should look better on HER base than mine.

I used a combination of applique techniques on this. The hearts were prepped on freezer paper. I used bias bars for the flower stems. The leaves and flower centers were prepped with templar and spray starch. That goofy looking flower shaped was fused (I so stink at needle turn) For continuity sake I button hole appliqued it all though I could have easily done all but those flowers by hand.


Next we moved on to the sewing portion of the party. I did mine far more conventionally that the Jelly Roll Race called for. I also had a head start this morning because 1) I was up at 6:15 and 2) I knew it would take me longer since I pin, press and trim as I go. Cher, Pam, Norma and Pat all followed the directions and had a top done in lickety split time. All indicated that NOT pressing as you go might have been a mistake as it was a bear to do afterwards.

Anyway, mine is all scrappy and the joins are going every which way and I changed how I was laying out the strips about 8 strips in. I was telling DJ at lunch that I didn't really care for this thing so when I asked him to hold it up he asked if this was the one I didn't like. He didn't think it was so bad and was "colorful" So maybe it is not the hot mess I thought it was after all?? It is not going to live at my house and I used all my Belles challenge 2 1/2 inch strips to make it.

I think I will work on the kitty quilt binding now that I am done. Skyler is napping in the window box so that might give me some time without his "assistance". I only got about a foot done last night since he snuggled right down in the folds and took over, LOL. The floor badly needs vacuuming but that can wait till he moves on to other parts of the house too. Husband snoring in the living room and cat, sleeping in the perch. Maybe I should take a hint and take a nap too??

ready to roll.....literally

I feel like I am going to commit a quilt atrocity tomorrow but my scrappy strips are seamed and ready to roll in conjunction with the FAB birthday party tomorrow. I didn't measure to see if had 1600 inches but surely there is enough on that fat roll?? The fabric roll is two inches deep around the toilet paper core. The website says it will finish 48 x 64 but I don't want mine that wide as that means extra backing and maybe piecing batting.




Anyway I met my objectives with this latest cutting project.

• I can get the lid closed on the 2 1/2 inch strips containers and it is neatened up.
• Some pretty stuff that I might be able to coordinate with something else I pulled out of there along with some Oriental fabric strips. I know I tucked a few more someplace---no, I don't know what I am going to do with them.
• I cut for the Faux Log Cabin filling up the pizza box shown on the right.
• I pulled some fall colored strips that I need to foundation piece a few fall colored log cabin blocks for the Friendship Quilter's guild

I also found a stack of these pickets and stuck some strips in the 2 1/2 inch strip container. I am not sure how that block went together exactly but I believe that the light strips formed a star where they met??? This will involve a little research on my part if I am going to share the vision with whomever these bits came from. I am pretty sure my mom has made one of these in the past so I can ask her. I figured the extra angular cut stuff from that roll can become pickets too, should I be so inclined.

ED note: I found the Picket Fence block----on Alex Anderson's Block Party site HERE

I am not planning on sewing today. After all the cutting, my back and shoulders would be happy for a day's break. I think maybe I will start binding my kitty quilt instead.......or redwork.

I'll see how far I get with the Jelly Roll deal tomorrow and can share a picture of Pam's birthday gift too.

Progress

The pictures look a little dark and even fuzzy but I am not retaking them. So there, LOL.

I made a dent in the nickel container yesterday sewing simultaneously on the diagonal 4 patch chain and Puss in the Corner. There is a pile of PIC components ready to seam for the second step. I made one completed block to remind myself if you could use a different square in the giant 4 patches and have it wind up as the outer small squares. LOL, you can. Shooting for 35 blocks and I already have three done.

Also, my primary objective top: there is a small stack of seamed nickels for random 4 patches. Those will probably turn into 16 patches at some point but I have a whole container full of just plain 2 1/2 inch squares to also draw from. 16 patches grow to be Chiclets, Sunny Lanes, Road to St. Louis for example.

I also seamed enough seamed two color nickels for the 4 patch diagonal chain. I need 92 but doing two at once, 46 will do the trick. I wanted to see what one block looks like. The size I am doing needs 23 of this configuration so I have a ways to go yet! I'll slow down and let Sheila catch up. She is making 6 inch blocks while I am doing 8 inch ones so she needs lots more.


The FABS are supposed to do a version of the Jelly Roll Race on Saturday so I want to do a little prep work today. I remember something like this from years back when you seamed strips end to end and rolled it up on a toilet paper tube. (Looks like 3 1/2 inch strips would roll the width of one) I'll seam and I'll roll to keep the long strip corralled.

Finn does something just like this and her tutorial can be found HERE . My version will be like hers with short strips and random coloration. The stacked strips concept is the popular lasagna quilt too, isn't it? It might not be my first choice of a quilt to make but it does use up some of scrappy stash plus the birthday FAB asked us to make one for her party. That randomly stack strips block that probably uses Jelly Roll strips would be a take on that too. Can't think of the name or pattern source to link to it. Moving on...............

The small stack next to the overflowing 2 1/2 inch strip bin is the pile I cut from the Belles Scrap Challenge so those will be included in the Jelly Roll project. BUT I want to save out the shorter bits I uncover for Faux Log Cabin. The Belles and I made a ton of these at one of our sew-in's in the pre-blogging days (Translation: prior to 2006, LOL) I whipped one up this morning but will need 24 for WTIL sized quilt. Printout will remind me of what sizes of strips I need.

One look at the overflowing 2 1/2 inch bin and you can see that there are a lot of quilts hiding in THAT container. I doubt that there are enough lights in there for many Faux log cabin strips but I may be delightfully surprised. I'll pull strips but not sew them for now concentrating on the toilet paper roll thing for today.

A haircut and a visitation to attend this afternoon will cut into my play time a bit but that's okay. DJ is taking advantage of a lovely day and took off to play 9 holes for the first time in what seems like forever. The only time he has played lately is when his pal from IL has come down. Herb's last trip, they didn't go as the weather was so cold. Skyler is sleeping in a sunny spot and I'm pecking at the computer keys enjoying the peace and quiet.


I'll conclude with this lovely sunset shot from last night. It was glorious in person but I didn't capture it near as well with my camera. You can also catch a glimpse of one of the neighborhood Bradford Pears in full glory.

THX for stopping by-------

WIP Weds, wk 10

Haven't sewn a lick yet but I AM getting ready to. I even vacuumed up my mess from the last few days........just to make another mess, LOL.

I may have cut up all my available yardage of this particular Moda Marble into nickel squares. Remarkably, I have just enough moda squares to do the project! Woohoo. 5 inch squares are find for piecing the 4 patch units but DUH! I also need 4 1/2 inch squares to complete the 8 inch finished blocks. My donation sized quilt needs 46-49 of them depending on how I treat the lower right corner. To my way of thinking the last block needs one 4 patch unit plus one square. The other block section could be cut as a rectangle to eliminate a seam, providing I have some yardage.


And this is where I am headed---the quilt at right. I may also be piecing some huge 4 patches for Puss in the Corner blocks while I am in the nickel grouping container. Those will have a muslin background so I think I can keep things straight.

Hope you have a fun day stitching at your house---------

tada!

Well, I did NOT get this top finished up yesterday as planned. I got the center part completed yesterday but finished up with the setting triangles and borders today. Triple borders with one to float the design. You may have to click the image better to see that the lighter color is blue with a purplish dot on it.

I like the way it looks but it finished a good bit bigger than I anticipated at 45 x 53. I had sorta hoped that it might fit above my bed in the "gallery" area without having to move the hangers----maybe, maybe not.

Any suggestions on how to quilt those setting triangles? If I am keeping it, something hand quilted in those spots would be pretty.




And just because he is so darned cute and I had the camera in my hand waiting for "'Quiltholder" I snapped Skyler's picture. He was doing his run and flop routine off the edge of the couch so I would play with him.

That's it for now----tomorrow I am off to nickel squares 4 patch units and see how far I get. Other than cutting binding for the Gordian Knot, I'm done for the night.