a finish

Woohoo!  A finish this morning.  Pattern source:  Nancy Halvorsen "In Seasons".  This officially completes the series of 4 quilt-lets.

I was determined to get this done so it could hang at least a few days until I get the urge to do the Christmas decorating.  Normally I wait till we are about a week into December and then take then down after New Year's Day.

My plan for the day is to quilt the Merry Christmas "Charley Brown looking tree"  Button  Up next.  It's all marked and ready to roll.  Hanging loops, binding, label are all ready too.  Hopefully THAT hand finishing will be done when I decide to hang the Christmas pieces. But for now I will re-hang and enjoy the "I Love My Cat" that Pat made for my bday----too cute!

And speaking of cats,  I have one patiently sitting on the desk next to the keyboard and waiting for me to walk out with him to the kitchen for a taste of Fancy Feast.  Real turkey, he wouldn't touch but give him some foul smelling salmon stuff and he's in!  LOL.

Have a great day in whatever you chose to do.  You know where to find me--------

WIP Weds comes around again

I have temporarily put the bow tie project aside again but this is were I left off on Monday evening.  I asked "Quilt Holder" to do the honors but handed it to him with the short side up.  I had pulled the cut squares I want for the remaining 35 blocks and cut the muslin background for this and the cornerstones for the Pineapple Blossom while I was I had the mat, ruler and rotary cutter out.

This is what I truly intend to work on today.  I realize that it does not look like much but it is the background squares for the "Autumn" In Seasons wall hanging.  I have a few pieces pulled for the motifs as well.  I don't know  have that a clue what I have that could be used for the borders.  The book shows a dark brick red with a red plaid for binding---not something I have but I am not married to that plan anyway.  This decision may need a quilt shop run once the motifs are applied.    But for now, I will can proceed.

We had a little excitement this morning when there was a tornado spotted in the area.   The sirens and the NOA radio were both sounding so DJ turned on the TV to hear just where the storm was located.  Pell City, Lincoln were being called out----all towns I travel thru when I go to quilt guild.  My friend Teresa lives near there, right around the Talledega/Calhoun County line.  She called and said they were okay.  Then we hear Alabama Rt 144 and 204 into Jacksonville. Still a little bit north of our home by about 6- 8 miles. HERE is a shot  of a big, black, ugly and hanging really low to the ground taken just north of us.  If that won't work, then try THIS link to their flickr album instead.    We ARE in the secondary Dixie Alley tornado season.  You could tell that it was much too warm and terribly muggy in recent days and this might happen.  So far no real reports of damage being reported though a second storm was happening in southern Alabama about the same time.  There ARE reports of damage in Auburn, I just read.  

Off to sew a bit--------------

Sunday check in

Completing "Summer" was yesterday's project. Label, hanging sleeve sections, binding. the remaining embroidered elements and buttons----all done. Woohoo! The quilt show it is entered in is 3 weeks away. No last minute binding rush required, LOL.  (Before picture)

After lunch yesterday, I went out to help DJ with the area out in front of the house. Our little nandina bushes appear to be doing well since their planting.

We haven't really had any rain to speak of so DJ waters them daily and was even misting them. That might be a job that will fall on me soon with the no bending rule in effect when he has his eye surgeries. We put down the last of the black barrier stuff and used all the bags of rock that he bought a few days ago. We are up to 12 bags down now. I helped him with 6 of them just to keep the paper from billowing up. There are gaps and it is not on there very heavily. We are guessing we need 4 or 5 more depending whether or not we put some around the holly bush on the end. The edging stuff will be added but not till late next month. I'm guessing. He wants to mow one more time---whatever he has on the list gets done tomorrow or waits till Doctor gives him the okay.

This is the other nandina bush that we have albeit, one that has never been pruned, watered or fertilized and generally ignored, been here since we moved in 97. It doesn't get too tall and fills out horizontally.

We have the laundry all done, groceries are bought and the next thing I know it will be time to start supper. I should work on something but I think quilting can wait another day---Gordian knot will be next. I plan on working on binding while I wait for DJ at the hospital on Tuesday. Lord knows, they will have us there hours before the procedure is scheduled. SIGH. Oh, I am thinking about doing some embroidery on the leaves of the July Button Up as well as the binding.

Hand quilt on Bird Brain Santas or finish up Honey and Biscuits block? HMMMMMMM If I have a finish to show you soon you know which one I picked, LOL. It's good to have options, don't you think?

THX for stopping by---------

how I spent my afternoon

........I prepped the applique motifs for my Nancy Halvorsen "Summer" wallhanging from her book In Seasons. I had been living with the naked base for a week or two so it was time----last seen HERE.

Most of it is fusible applique type thing. The angel dress is easier to sew a strip "set" and turn over freezer paper. Those stylized flowers right below it I used three different techniques: fusible for the spiky flower part, yo-yo type things for the centers and bias strip stems that I smartly sewed into the outside border so I didn't have to worry about a raw edge. (I wish I had done the same thing with the rising sun area.)

I'll get to the button hole applique in a few days. There are a few buttons to be added as well as some embroidery embellishments----bee flight and button with the hive, eye for the fish and I think star buttons for the angel's dress. "Welcome" is marked on the horizontal borders but I may do embroidery that once the thing is quilted.

I am thinking about working on the July Button Up tomorrow. Scroll down to BU7---it will click bigger. Should that be my action plan, I would do the button hole stuff on both pieces at the same time.

Having fun playing in the sewing room--------

a start

It is a start! I pulled some possible fabrics for "Summer" from Nancy Halvorsen's In Season yesterday. Today I winnowed it down and cut.

I knew from digging around in the storage container over stuffed with neutrals and lights that there was no way on God's green earth I would get it back in there again. I separated things out by shades or types but picked up two smaller 20 qt. containers when I was out today. This should make it easier to see what I have for a scrappy background quilt in the future. I left the white on whites out since I know that I will be needing them for the flag Button Up and/or veterans quilts---they don't really belong where I had them anyway. Think I might get some sewing done if I ever got myself organized to my satisfaction??

The stuff you see piled on the table is the applique motif stuff. The left pile is possibles for the borders and binding.


To the right, is where I am heading. It should look something like this. (Scanned from the book cover.) I can't match the fabrics and in some cases, I would not want to as it looks too dark in spots. I am not sure about my"so far" selections for the angel's dress or the sunrise (sunset?) motif colors.

Still, I am closer than I was a few days ago.

officially finished

Spring--- officially finished. Pattern source: Nancy Halvorsen In Season

I even stitched in the word "welcome" this time though it is a little subtle. Thing was, I had stitched down the sleeve thinking I was NOT going to do that part. Oops! Un-sew and then re-sew that part. I am still not entirely sure how she means for you to transfer the lettering when you put the fabric on a light box? Dressmaker carbon?? I wrote it on a band of freezer paper and then tried to copy it directly above or below but I think I just got lucky that it lined up. Any ideas of what to try next time out?

Skyler, up on the plant stand. He gets a good peek at the birds outside thru the little window when the front door is closed. I should also state that there used to be a plant on there but some little furry fellow kept trying to chew on it and got himself in trouble a good bit. Goodbye, plant!

We finally have a nice sunny day after a week of clouds, rain, cold and damp. I was able to give the grill a test run for our noon meal---grilled pork tenderloin. YUM! DJ and I decided that we deserved to enjoy every bite after all the trouble we had with putting the thing together, LOL.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend----------think I will do a little more embroidery even though it is NOT on my "list".

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.

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.

Design Wall Monday

"Winter" officially finished when I sewed on the beads this morning. Glamour shot, LOL.

Now moving on to the design wall part----Twisted Sister blocks below. I decided on the "truly twisted" version for the blocks. Half twist clockwise and the other half, counterclockwise just by flipping the strip set over and cutting from the wrong side.






The other blocks are orphan blocks from my mom but the primrose star thing is one of mine. One of these days I will assemble all of them, plus more, into a donation top.

I have 13 of the required 24 for the top done. I'll get back to piecing in a few minutes though I doubt it will get the top assembled for a few days anyway.

Tomorrow I clean up in here since company is coming soon. I doubt that the pile of binding will still be sitting there for much longer. Of course, cleaning up gets me a few days of handwork as I don't want to make a big mess and track strings all over the place----again, LOL.

And so it goes-----------

almost finished

I set to work on finishing up my little Winter wall hanging today. Quilter's DO buttons when they are used as embellishments, LOL. This would be finished except for the fact that I need 10-4 mm glass beads to put on the area under the cardinal to dress up the twigs like berries. I had already decided I was NOT going to try to do the embroidered "welcome" on the top and bottom borders. I thought there would be no way to mark it where I could actually see it on that black print with those gray/white lines. SO I am going to count as the 3rd finish for the year anyway.

First I had to refresh my memory as to were I had put the beads in the first place. Then I had only 7 of the perfect color but a little too big. The others I had were too small and orange. It will wait till I can see if there are any available or give up and order some.

I think that the roads will be passable tomorrow. Already I hear more traffic on the main road and even a couple cars on the lane. The newspaper carrier delivered Monday and Tuesday's edition about 30 minutes ago but no mail person yet. The snow is melting off the ground enough to see the grass in places. But the sky really looks like we could have more precipitation---that dull gray sky but no clouds that I can see that makes you think rain. We did see some flurries for about 5 minutes this morning actually.

Yesterday afternoon I had gone out to knock the snow off my car's surfaces before it got anything more crusted to it. I measured an inch of snow and a layer of icy sleety stuff on top of that but it cleared off fairly easily. Then I used the snow shovel to clear off the mess I made on the drive so hopefully it will not be icy when I finally get to drive. The neighbor was out walking the dog, husband was inside and here I am wielding the shovel. I told Robbie that we had debated about bringing it with us when we moved and actually it was MY shovel. First time I think we have had to use it since we moved in 97.

Well, guess I better find something else to work on. Binding maybe or piece one of the donation projects from my pizza box or storage unit?? I don't feel like cutting out setting squares and triangles for what I thought would be next. HMMMM guess you will see when I do a WIP post.

Design Wall Monday

This past weekend turned out to an impromptu FAB "sew and check in" time. Some housework, cleaning and cooking, kept me from joining in until after lunch on Saturday but I made some progress.

I'll show you what I got done in the past 48 hrs, LOL. Some stashbusting and both wall hangings I am working on have been moved along

Borders applied to winter "In Seasons" and I dug around in the red bin to find an old Mary Ellen Hopkins geometric red on black that I will use for binding. A scrap of it is hanging there next to the quilt-let. Binding is cut and awaiting seaming but this whole thing is in a holding pattern till both hangings are prepped.

By quitting time last night I had the wagon area of "Pumpkins 4 Sale" all prepped. I had to seam the teal piece in order to use if but I love the way it looks----like faded paint. It is turned over freezer paper as that seemed to be the easiest way to deal with that long narrow piece. It is thread basted in place.

I got lucky and found that the wheel shape was just a hair bigger than the moon shape that I had just used in THIS "Happy Halloween" wall hanging. I turned the raw edge by treating it like a giant yo-yo over the piece of Templar, stitching it was a heavy carpet/buttonhole twist.

I tried to turn the edges on the big red stars on freezer paper but was not pleased with the points so gave up and windowed out some fusible web. I knew better than to try it with the smaller ones----fused those down along with the wording.

Then I had a little setback when it came to the lettering. Those were NOT reversed in the pattern. I don't see anywhere in the meager directions where it suggests you should reverse anything! Did they expect us to make templates and needle turn this project?? I am not fond of my efforts at needle turn-- no, thank you. I want this done, sooner than later. Of course, it did not even occur to me that the letters should have been backwards in the pattern till I had traced them all off on the last bits of pellon stuff I had. By the time I started to cut out the letter, it finally hit me. That will NOT work, there is no goo on the back of this. Tossed that attempt and re-grouped.

I ended up flipping the pattern over to the plain paper side, putting it over the light box, tracing it off on steam a seam, the regular stuff not version 2. (bought the wrong stuff in error a few months back) Warm Company tells you to trace on the web side which is NOT easy to do. By marking the reverse of the shape, I was able to trace on the paper side instead. I know that sounds a little confusing in its description but it worked! I called it a night once PUMPKINS were fastened down.

Today my task was to pull fabrics for the pumpkins and stems. Templar is pricey so I am not going to turn edges over pieces this big. See above, I don't needleturn. Those are on freezer paper but I still need to turn the edges back. I just wanted to see what this will look like. OOPS! At first I managed to put brown stems on the taller pumpkins but that was blending in too much with the border fabric. Easy enough to fix that--just trade places with the green ones. Would you have known if I hadn't have told you, LOL? The stems will be fused down once the pumpkins are in place.

Well, you know where to find me---with glue stick in hand turning pumpkin edges till it is time to think about fixing supper.

progress

Progress made. Still needs stitched down, embroidered elements done, buttons and beads applied. And come to think of it, an outer border put on. Having fun though---like playing with paper dolls of years gone by.

I may go ahead and prep that pumpkin one that I have been wanting to do and then machine applique them both down the line.

First, a job around the house needs done before I can play with the other FABS in our impromptu sewing day. Catch you later-----------

where I am headed..................

Winter "In Season" won out for my next applique project. I know this doesn't look like much at this point, LOL.

The tree was supposed to be appliqued as well but I took one look at it and thought "I can draw that up in EQ and foundation piece it instead". And I did......... pieced it this morning.

That thing in the lower left is an angel body. Rather than have small strip of fused on fabric that tends to ravel I drew up a square about the right size and foundation pieced the line in. Then I drew the shape on freezer paper


This is where I am headed with it............I'm off to cut some letters or at least finish up the headless body. Maybe both, LOL.

I figured if I were to leap ahead a season maybe it would be ready to hang by the time winter officially comes around. Then I will follow up with spring. summer and fall---quarterly quilting.