Switching gears

Since I need to wait for a small fabric shipment from my mom to proceed with the March button up, I am moving back to the QOV stuff. When I last worked on this (Friday 2-17) at the Friendship Quilters sew-in, this was as far as I got. Jane gave me the blue yardage for that last round or it would not gotten THAT far.

Currently it measures 36 x 56 and it needs to be bumped up to as near to 60 x 90 to meet the requested size for the veteran's home beds. Translation: 17 inches more to the top and bottom and 12 inches to the long sides. I have it worked out on paper in EQ---see THIS post for the sketch.

The Marcus Brother fabric site has the pattern designed to use their American Valor fabric line. They show a version of variable star scattered between pieces of triple rail using a partial seam method. I don't think that is going to work for me since mine is a bit asymmetrical. I thought maybe Friendship Stars instead?? Name of the quilt group, after all but only a quilter would recognize the block name and make the connection between the two.

Jackie had cut these stars away from that same panel piece to just use the eagle part in her top.  I  happened to be standing at the cutting table at the time and thought these might work on my panel quilt.  Only thing is, there is now way to cut the blocks out evenly.  I decided to fuse them down to a base fabric and it will eliminate having to piece any sort of star for the quilt and get more mileage from Jackie's panel at the same time.

J

One good thing from my treasure hunt yesterday was that I found some fabric I can use for the outer border and probably the star bases. It will still have to be pieced for the long edges but it is 44 wide x 64 inch long cream colored stuff that will also work for the radiant stars. Another dinosaur, it was with a half done Debbie Mumm cow project that I never got around to pitching or re-purposing. It might make a cute center for a kids quilt so I still didn't pitch it but I did run off with the remaining background fabric. When I could not get the ingrained how long folds to press out, I just threw it in the washer. I also located that navy with the tannish paisley that might work for the binding. I'll get to cutting as soon as I finish my blog post. 

------

Tomorrow is Bama Belles day with a potluck lunch. I took time this morning to make a double batch of Italian Wedding Soup for my contribution. I also did some prep work for our supper meal since we are having Turkey Cobb Salads. I will just have some plating to do when its time for supper and not have to drop whatever I am in the middle of come 4:30-5 p.m..

We are STILL waiting for the replacement dishwasher. It arrived at the store on Wednesday but so far no one has called to set up a time to install it. We do like the frigidaire model and seem to be getting used to it but do not like the scratch and banged up kick plate. Both of us have our fingers crossed that the washing machine won't be next to crash. We have had to have the dryer serviced but not the machine once we got passed the initial improperly installed hoses, that is.

The temps have been in the 50's and 60's so DJ is busy caulking and touch-up painting. That siding is constantly in need of attention, it seems. I am still not ready to concede DJ's point that we are having an early spring. March can be such a changeling, after all. Next he will be saying that we didn't have any spring and went straight to summer-----like that old saw that "Alabama has the following seasons: almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas"

Well, I can either talk about quilting or I can actually do it------till next time.

Treasure Hunt

Because I needed a little break today from cutting/sewing/thinking about QOV quilts, I elected to pull fabrics for the March Button Up from Joined at the Hip.   ( Look for BU 3 if you try the link.)  I didn't get it done last year so I would like to make it THIS year even if I may not get it hung for March.I can't replicate the fabrics that they use for it but I can make it to my tastes and stash fabrics.  I am not all that crazy about all that brown, for example.

Referring to the fabric picture below I have some fabrics pulled.  My rabbit will be white, not cream, thank you very much.   The background will be that soft yellow calico.  I had some pink plaid as they suggested for the ears, nose and tail.  More on that stuff in a minute.  5 oranges for the carrots?  No problem---I've got that covered.. 3 pastels for the eggs?  Got that in spades!  Green for the carrot tops and a possible brown for something though I didn't go check the homespun bin yet for brown plaids.

That striped fabric might be the backing if I have enough of it. I found it on the "treasure hunt".  What I really was looking for was a basket weave fabric.  Wouldn't that be perfect instead of that muddy brown they show?  What I had in mind was the print my mom had used it in my wedding basket quilt.  I had some of the same yardage.  That means I bought it in IL and before we moved down here in 97.   I looked high and low in here and the only thing I managed to do was raise a whole lot of dust and re-acquaint myself  with what I have.  I sure had not planned on cleaning today!

Then apparently not satisfied to just drive MYSELF crazy I called my mom and put her on the chase for any leftovers.  I don't know if I sent her my yardage or what?   She had planned to make a duplicate of my quilt so who knows?   LOL, she didn't recall that part.   An hour later she called and said she found 3 possibles candidates but not the basket weave in question.  It helps to have your mom share your interests.

Would you like to guess just how long I have had that soft yellow calico and the pink plaid??   Early in my quilting life I wanted to make this "Sweet Harmony" log cabin quilt designed by Christal Carter for Stitch and Sew way back in Feb. 89.  The whole quilt is comprised of 2 inch finished log cabin blocks and mind you, this was waayyyy before I had even heard of foundation piecing.  It just so happened that a quilt/fabric shop about 40 minutes from Bloomington (IL) was going out of business.  I went with my mom and some other quilting pals buying a good bit of the yardage I would need to make the quilt.
Now, over the years I have raided it for a bit here or there for a square or two but basically the yardage was still combined and in its own basket.  Today I yanked out the yellow calico and the pink plaid.  There is a nice yellow with a pink pin dot in there too that may not too safe down the line too.   I think if I have not used it  for the quilt plan since 1990, it is okay to "break up the set" when I need it for something else.  It has antiqued long enough.  They'll make more, though far more expensive than this was.

I don't think I am cutting anything out today.  I'll wait to see what Mom's basket weave ideas look like and adjust accordingly.  I'm still closer to March than I was this morning!

And sew it goes-------think I'll just do a little embroidery tonight and plan on sewing tomorrow, one of the two QOV's probably.

got yellow?

FAB pal Cher had asked the group for some yellow strips, any length and width. I had raided my 1 1/2, 2 and 2 1/2 inch strips but in the process of digging around should have waited to see what else might be hiding in that large tote on the right. I already mailed a packet to Cher this morning but she may be getting more when I mail out her giftie before long.

One of the errands I ran today was to get a couple more stackable snap totes. I have several of these separating out fabrics by color and/or theme. To this point, the yellows and golds were all lumped in with a portion of the orange, peach and rusts. Not anymore. I filled up a 20 qt like you see on the left with the orange groupings from the big 28 qt container on the right. I am starting to wonder if a 20 qt. is going to be big enough for ALL the yellows. The math does NOT add up..

The basket was just a temporary arrangement containing some recently used yellows that need to go BACK in a container. It is not as full as it looks once I get things re-folded and joined with some dupes in the large tote.

I see some yellow quilts in my future, don't you? Or yellow added projects anyway. It IS one of my favorite colors---so cheerful. Actually I think this is a good way to re-visit your stash and remind yourself just what you have. I already pulled one piece out that would go well with a bricks project I already have cut. No doubt there is more that could be set aside. Some solids are in there that don't really "belong", for example.

Best get crackin' as this stuff is not going to fold itself. Wish me luck!