quilt plans and making lists

A blogging friend who I have recently met and began following at  A Left Handed Quilter posed an interesting question today.  (Her alter ego Quilter BOB has separate blog and has some even more takes on quilting!!  Some that I agree with---a lot!  But I digress.......)

Anyway she asked

If you KNEW that you had only one more day before you died and in that day you could make one more quilt, what quilt would you make?

She named several styles of quilts and oh, there were some good ones to chose from!  I don't think I am what you would consider a MODERN quilter but the reasons/rants about that will wait for another day.  Scrappy, Traditional, more my speed really.

She also wondered if you would take that day to finish up a UFO or start something new.  I thought about it for a bit.  Actually I think about it a lot---no, not the only having one more day to live part but what I want to work on next.  I especially ponder this when I am working something like binding.  (The Row QOV is done but does not look appreciably different than it did  the last time I posted it on the blog but you might check the 2012 finishes for a better picture of it)

 So, even though I stated that I had three bed quilts that I have started and would like to see completed,  vaguely, "sometime this year"  (Popsicle Sticks, My Sunshine and Cheap Trick/Two of a Kind) I selected TWO different projects.  I guess I would have to beg for another day, LOL.

My choice would be to complete my Christmas JOY quilt begun with the Collinsville Rowers as a pass-around quilt. I fell in love with this quilt featured as a series quilt in the Fons and Porter "Love of Quilting" magazine the first time I saw it.  I guess it was quite a popular pattern and they sold out of the magazines it was in as they now sell the pattern as a booklet. Poinsettia row back in Sept. 2007 and then sent it on its merry way.  We had a retreat the following August and the rows were revealed then.  I take it out every now and again but so far it has not been completed.  Basically I need to find a nice Christmas red and a cream or white to make the checkerboard bits between the row elements.

And my other choice would be to make my version of Farmer's Wife Sampler.  I have been living with this quilt in my head for about 6 weeks or more.  I blogged about it in THIS post.

I have been studying the materials from Marti Michell that would allow me to convert the templates from the book into her perfect patchwork sets.  I have been editing out superfluous lines in case I want to foundation piece some of the blocks.  I have been drawing up more blocks in EQ from other sources to use them in my quilt.  I have tinkered with the layout incessantly and will most likely tinker some more.  I have spent a lot of time in BlockBase picking out blocks that I feel look better on point than in the original.  I have dumped the blocks that I would have no interest in making at 12 inches let alone 6 inches as the sampler calls for----too many pieces for me!   I have looking at what other bloggers have done and viewing all kinds of blocks on The Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long on Flickr.  I have joined a yahoo group to get other's input as to how THEY are proceeding with this quilt.  I have considered what fabrics I might use, over and over again.  I have my notebook set up with printouts and sheet protectors ready to go.    I am ready, mentally anyway.

Now I am NOT saying that it will look exactly like this----it is a sketch and what I will follow for the layout PROBABLY.   The quilt requires 111 blocks and I have 176 blocks in my EQ sketchbooks----some are already substitutes for the ones I didn't bother drawing up.  Some others, I like a lot better.   I see a few more that will NOT make the cut or be moved at the very least.   I love baskets and want to include some basket fabrics that my mom, Maggie and Sheila sent me so a few more of them will show up.  I DO like the distribution of color more of less, so may stick to that when actually making the blocks or closely anyway.

As much as I love 30's prints I keep coming back to scrappy.  I could go with Civil War or earlier 1800's repros but I don't think it will work for this.  I have dreams of some day doing a Dear Jane too---start at 6 inch and work down to 4.5 inch??   I do not care for the quilt on the cover----not my palette at all.  I can use my stash for the most part but will probably need some more background lights and blenders but not so dark that I can figure out what to use for sashing.  The sketch is also making it look like I don't have any sashing between the blocks until you blow it up bigger. In the drawing I had three tones of that taupey, golden brown going on.  That part is odd as well since I don't normally care for browns  I tried switching out to shades of green but there is a good bit of green in the blocks so that probably won't work either.  Blue would be out for the same reason.

So back to what my blogging friend asked----if I consider it that important to me, what is stopping me from getting started on this???  Uh, maybe that pile of pro bono quilts in my bedroom and the fact that I need to straighten up the sewing room before I can cut or press or make more of a mess by pulling out fabric bins.    For now, top of the list for me!   There are 12 quilts in there and 10 are mine, 2 are group members.  I make a promise now that once I get say 3 of thm quilted, I will at least cut out the 1st 10 blocks and get started on it anyway.  That would be a terrific reward project.   It will be on-going---many people aim for making two a week and figure on a year long journey.

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Followup notes:
My New Balance 606's seem to be working out okay.  Even though I am not diabetic or circulatory impaired (thank heavens!) I got two pair of the socks to try out because they felt a bit thicker than the others.  A large bandaid to my heels is padding the still tender area so that helped too.   Still at 4 laps every other day but I think by Monday I am going to go 5 days out of 7.  It is just 1.1 miles and I don't feel taxed by the activity.  See how 3 days in a row goes first.

The binding on the Row QOV is done as yesterday afternoon.  It does not look appreciably different than it did the last time I posted it on the blog but you might check the 2012 finishes tab for a better picture of it.  I laundered it to get rid of the cat hair and it crinkled up beautifully.  I need to find out what kind of batting the quilt is using as I really like it.  It got a little fluffy around the edges of the quilt after I was done man handling it quilting it---maybe some sort of bonded cotton??

Supposedly there is some rain on the way in this evening.  We got a little over a half inch night before last but remain about 5 inches behind on our rain fall totals for the year.   We are in the 70's today with all that cloud cover and that kept it pleasant for walking.  Trust me, I am not complaining about that after the recent spell of 90's and blazing sun days.  So far the box fans and over head fans are keeping things comfortable in here.  Or at least it is until I decide to do something "stupid" like clean or dust!

I feel like a bit of a jinx today anyway----cleaning might be injurious to my health, at the rate I was going.  Mr. Fix-it told me I was just full of good news when I reported almost simultaneously that 1)  my right turn signal was going off like a hazard light does again and not working on the exterior of the car  2)  the blind I had just raised shirred off completely at the header on two of the three strings.    Fortunately it was just a bulb on the car and Cobb's didn't charge him for it.  The blind?  He bought the wrong size first and then we had to discuss whether the one other the adjacent window was alabaster or white. At my insistence, he got white and it IS a bit lighter in tone.  Why would I have approved alabaster when white was really cream and alabaster was overly tan colored??  Who names these things such weird colors anyway and why do we let them get away with it?  It is up and not going back.  I accept full responsibility for the color variance.  Now remind me what I said when the other one falls down, LOL.

Well, somehow I don't think my sewing room is going to get tidied up or bathroom any cleaner with me pecking on the keyboard.   Thanks for stopping by-------

catch up post

Well, it has been a few days since I posted. The first holiday of "summer" has passed. I tell you, it may not be summer by the calendar but here in Alabama it feels more like July 4th! A glance at the weather map shows a good part of the US is having a hot time of it as well. There are no effects for us this far inland from the first two named hurricanes but I sure hope that Florida got some rain and drought relief.

DJ and I basically stayed home though we did make a run down to Kohl's to find a pair of walking shoes. You may recall that I was trying to get started back with a walking program a few posts back. On Day 2 my shoes started chafing so badly that I barely made it back on the last half lap. (Huge blister on my left heel and irritation on the right.) That pair of shoes had never fit right! I had tried to pad the heel counter plus two pair of socks with some success. (If someone wants a pair of 9 Nike walking shoes these have barely been worn and I don't want to just toss them) Anyway, when DJ asked how walking went, my response was "how would you like to make an investment in me or give me my birthday money early? I need new walking shoes." We had to wait a few days till I could get a pair of shoes on first but found a pair of  New Balance 606  that felt comfortable as soon as I put them on---a little lower profile on the foot and should breathe better.   I wore them around the house over the weekend and gave them a spin this morning.  Should be okay on that gravel track I walk on.   My heel is still a bit tender so I am going to go look for new socks, NuSkin and/or large bandaids to pad it for a bit but no further breakdown.

I did manage to get the row quilt quilting completed after I marked some "piano-key like" lines on the borders.  After talking with Norma, I used 45 degree angled parallel lines 2 inch apart but they change direction and slant the other way once you reach the middle of the 4 sides.  I doubt you can see them on the picture.  Yesterday I got the binding applied but I still need to hand finish it----that is today's task.

LOL, you can see Skyler's rump over on his perch.  When I threw the quilt on the bed to take the pictures, I half expected him to jump on it.  It already was graced on the back side with some black kitty fur but I am going to wash it before I turn it in anyway.  I wrote May 31 for completion on the label so I best get to it.

And sew it goes--------

900th post/missing quilt picture

I have reached a bit of a milestone today as this is my 900th post. No give-aways, sorry to disappoint you. Others may do that, but I haven't anywhere along the way so why start now? I figure I give enough away with all the donation quilts over the years. If you quilt, then you have no doubt have other resources for getting fabric packs, quilt books and patterns and such.  Boosting my readership has never been what this is about anyway.

I started back in February 2006 egged on my some of FAB pals. I lost the first 6 wks of my blog in a move of sheer stupidity on my part but nonetheless, that is when I started.   Here it is six years later and I am still at it. At the time one of my sister-in-laws asked me "why?"  Admittedly, it is a limited audience that I am speaking to but I have always looked at this as my journal. Read it if you want--some do, some don't.   Some, like me,  have too many people in their blog lists to conceivably follow and still get any sewing or quilting done. Hey, some people in my little quilt group don't read it either. They are seldom on the computer and don't even see the email newsletter/announcements that take me a few hours to write up, LOL.  Whatever---I do it for me. If I DON'T post occasionally, then I get calls and emails asking where I am. I still don't know if my SIL thought I didn't have anything to share or what? My life is that boring?  Well maybe it is but I still keep blogging.  I preferred not to take offense or look for hidden meanings, then or now.

Yesterday I recently put the label tags on the blog shell and spent a chunk of a rotten afternoon editing those. (I won't get into why it was rotten---I will start ranting and whining again. FB already heard about it) I guess that is how I will celebrate the milestone, fixing those little typos and organizing the titles so the list won't be quite as long.  It may make it a little easier for me to find certain things anyway.  Well, it worked yesterday when someone called needing a link to Disappearing 4 patch.  Yeah, you can google it but where is the fun in that?  I was looking at the list when she called.

Coincidentally as I was editing,  I found at least the pinned version of the missing quilt picture from the last meeting wrap up. (See below). This is Lois's Leftovers quilt that I think came from a Fons and Porter magazine. She could not recall the pattern name when I asked so that is what I am calling it on my document----which still needs updated, come to think of it, LOL.  I am proud to show you the quilts that my little quilt group has been making over the years and hope we can inspire you as well.

Thanks for hanging out with me, commenting, laughing and/or commiserating with me and inspiring me in ways one could never have imagined six years ago.    The best part of all? Making new friends who share my love of quilting.  May we all never run out of fascination with our craft and help it continue on to future generations----------

and sew it goes-------

quilt show aka quilt meeting (edited)

Actually it was Bama Belles meeting day and Lois and Bev had quilts to turn in plus Brenda had some tops to show us too.  After seeing them posted and comparing to what is on hand I figured out which one I am missed.  It is currently not at my house so I cannot nab quilt holder to do the honors.  Anyway, enjoy!  I am sure that the children that receive them will----------

ED. NOTE:  My pal Norma reminded me that she has a quilt made from this pattern which appeared  in Fons and Porter's For the Love of Quilting magazine from September/October 2000.  You can see her notes on her blog archive.  F & P called it "Simple Cross"  Good choice for all those 2 1/2 inch scrappy strips PLUS I could use them on the sections I have leftover from Faux Log Cabin!  Still no word on what to call the one in the next post above. 

Bev's Pineapple Blossom

Lois Sashed and Cornerstoned Strings

Lois Frames and 4 patches

Brenda's Sew-in started top and new pattern for her to play with---Scrappy Trip Around the World

Brenda's Quilt Shop Sampler BOM   she will make two quilts instead of one large one

                                                                   Lois Chiclets

Lois and Belles Pineapple Blossom

Lois Scrappy Trips

                      Lois Unknown pattern on my part so it is Sock Monkey on my document 

Lois Jigsaw---pattern from quilting about dot com

Lois Disappearing Nine Patch

how goals become goals

My pal Norma is on holiday today---I think it is Victoria Day up there in BC---and we have been chatting on IM a bit.

I finished up the July embroidery block yesterday and started the next one which is an egg basket. Stitching has continued this morning.  Norma left to get her day started, that two hour time difference between here and there, after all.  I kept stitching and at some point I said this----

Linda J says

I am going to set up to quilt in a bit (meaning as soon as I ran out of thread in my needle)  

Norma says

tired of stitching?

Linda J says

no never! or seldom anyway

Norma says

lol

mix things up a bit? or you have a list of things to tackle too!

Linda J says

no, I just need to move that qov forward so I can turn it in next meeting

I have a list at least in my head I do

there are three bed quilts that I want to finish----cheap trick, pop stix and the Fab challenge

and of course that monstrous pile in the bedroom to quilt

Norma says

that never goes down!

Linda J says

and I want to start the farmers  wife sampler

those are the primary things

oh and the paint chip challenge August button up before that for sure

Norma says

your list is growing!

Linda J says

and while we are at it, more album blocks for that donation quilt

I really should ACTUALLY write it down

Norma says

it is easier to adjust if it is in your head!  lol

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And there you have it---stated goals though note that I did not leave a time frame for all this to get done with the exception of the one quilt I should be working on.

My mom called this morning with news that she had found some basket fabric, probably the very yardage I was looking for about two months back.  Quite the treasure trove apparently, LOL but she said my name was on it and I see a basket block sampler quilt for sure on my horizon.  Pals Maggie and Sheila had also helped me out when I needed some for May basket and Easter basket and there is fabric left for such a purpose.  Another one for the mental or written list.  OR some might go in the Farmers Wife Sampler since there are several basket blocks in it.

Also on another front, I am starting my walking program again after about a year and half of  laying off.  I have been trying to make myself get started for a month now.  This morning was it. I had tried his recumbent bike a few days ago but it hurt my knees and I would rather walk.  I am going to start slow and go everything day till I get back in shape a bit more and gradually increase my laps.  I went 1.1/4 laps this morning fairly easily so doubt I will remain at that level long.  Saying it out loud strengthens my resolve.  

I do not quite understand my husband's reaction when I came home though.  I have quilt group tomorrow so I had taken a couple things out of my car trunk so I can replace them with what I am dragging to the meeting before I came in the house.   He says "oh I thought you went walking"  I tell him I had.  He says "you don't look like you did"  not that he thought I was lying.   I guess since I didn't have my old walking outfit on and he didn't see the mp3 player around my neck past the things I was carrying.  Or I didn't look overheated and sweating enough???  I was not running nor am I ever apt to. The correct response should have been something along the lines of "Good to see that you moved beyond the thinking about it stage.  Proud of you, keep it  up"  In previous years he would be telling me that I was pushing it too much, I didn't have to go every day and get on me for being too gung-ho.  Do you want me to go or don't you?

Guess that's it---a row quilt is waiting and that flying geese row has my name on it.

some progress

Friday I pieced a bit. Two Album blocks made using the Blue Elephant granny square tutorial.   11 blocks towards a pro bono quilt.  I have a bunch more strips paired up so who knows how big it will be.  Maybe eventually two quilts even.

Saturday, I quilted on the Row QOV--last posted HERE but before I had completed the side borders--late February of this year anyway.  I got the top 4 rows done before I quit.  There are a total of 10 rows but it is far too warm in the house to want a quilt on my lap.  Mind you, not quite warm enough for my husband to okay turning on the a/c but close.  (Has to hit 80 because the thing is set at 79.  I repeat, I did not move South for the summers).  One of the Belles wants to see how I approach machine quilting so I am probably going to work on this at the meeting on Tuesday if not before.

So what am I doing today?  What I wanted to do yesterday actually.  I have barely touched my embroidery lately.  Now that I have to take minutes at guild meeting, there went some of my stitching time and I was dismantling quilt blocks at  my last doctor's appointment.  Seems like I am always doing something else and don't pull it out to work on it.  I have forgotten just how many of these that I have completed but they are up in my facebook album and on here too.  This one is about done, mostly a gob of french knots that accent the star shaped cookies.  Patterns are free from Bee Tree Designs on her flickr pages.

Hope you have found something to trip YOUR creative trigger today-------

Fight Like a Quilter "Many Hearts" blocks

Yesterday's output----Block 1

I don't know if you can see it or not but the little nine patch at the bottom was my first attempt.  The yellow with the whitish splotch on it must have been mis-cut a hair because the seam finished a bit too small in both spots that I used it.  I wrote a big old NO on it and then didn't bother to un-sew it.  Parts of it could have probably been re-used.

They asked that yellows, teals and blue be in the block but we could add stuff from our stash.  The blocks I saw on the shops facebook page look a good deal more yellow, LOL BUT I didn't get a fabric kit.  They get what they get, right?

Wouldn't this be pretty done up in 30 reproductions as well?

Here was my 2nd attempt so maybe it is a bit lighter.

The pieced part of the block finishes at 10 inches but the sashing bits bumped it up to 14 inches which looks huge to me!  If I were to make this again using my own stash or cut squares I would be tempted to go with 2 inch cut instead of 2.5.  My Bama Belles pals might well recognize some of these scraps from the Spring Sew-In since we were sharing from our strip/cut squares containers.

My friend Maggie told me this morning that the quilt shop (Fabricate in Bar Harbor, ME) had met recently to assemble some of the donation blocks into the first top.   They will be selling raffle tickets throughout the summer and fall with the drawing in early November of this year.  By making a block I get 5 automatic chances at it.   They had received 70 blocks to this point and it looks like they used 24 or 25 in the first one.

So what do I want to do this afternoon?   My low back is squawking at me a bit so I don't know that I feel like wrestling a quilt around and quilting.  I enjoyed sewing yesterday so maybe do a few more album blocks, last seen HERE.    I started those at the sew-in last month and set it aside for the FAB challenge log cabin which also was set aside.   I have two bed sized quilts essentially half done that I really should allow myself to finish.   I can also think of a couple of things I would like to do as a reward once the tops are done.  Think that is why I got stalled out??  Well, today I'll just sew some blocks and not think past that, other than just how many do I need for a pro bono top???