WORKING ON MY FINAL BLOCKS BEFORE PACKING MY MACHINE!

My guild Block of the Month program for this season has blocks that are all made from 2 1/2 inch strips, and will form a whole quilt by the spring.  I love scrap quilts, so I have cut 2 1/2 inch strips from all the colour groups, so I'll have them when we go south for the winter.

I didn't want to be behind, so I've made the September blocks.  There are two 12 inch finished blocks, and 16 of the 6 inch blocks.  

There were 2 blocks to make for October, which are 12 x 20 inches finished.  I'm having fun revisiting some of the hidden fabrics in my stash!

 
If you want to stitch along, the pattern can be found here, along with a picture of the finished quilt.  

Our project designer made a table runner using the September blocks. 

Now my packing begins!!!!!

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

This is the time I wish I had a large design wall!  I finished all 80 scrappy split 9-patch blocks, so I decided to play with layouts.

First I placed the blocks in a symmetrical layout.  It looks good, but is a bit boring!

 Then I rearranged them into a more asymmetrical design, but it still doesn't feel right to me.
I tried playing with different layouts in Electric Quilt, but it wasn't as satisfying as playing with the actual blocks!

I guess I'll have to continue to twist and turn.  I had to stand on a step-stool to take a picture that would show most of the design!

Maybe this one will be the winner.
Let me know which one you would choose.


Check out all the creativity at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times
 

JUDY'S QUILTATHON WEEKEND DAY 1

I had planned to start sewing right after breakfast, but DH had other plans!  We started by checking on the availibility of an item that DS2 wants us to bring north in the spring.  Then a stop at the local fruit and vegetable stand, then off to the grocery store to pick up the other items on our list.  By the time we returned home and put everything away, it was lunch time!

I had fun this afternoon, sewing the block units together for my Godson's quilt.   Then I laid them on the living-room rug to play with the arrangement.  DH helped hunt for blocks that needed to be turned so I wouldn't have two of the same coloured accent strip touching.  

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the block layout, but here is one of the stack of blocks ready to sew together!

I  plan to get an earlier start tomorrow, before my quilting room gets too hot to concentrate.  I have to cut the coloured strips for the first border, then see how I want the final border to look!  DH thought the quilt will be too large, but I want this quilt to grow with him, and since all his family is extremely tall, I figured that the quilt should be large enough to last until he moves away from home!

Check out what others have accomplished today at Judy's blog.
 

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY.....

I haven't been posting very often.  It always takes me a while to get settled after our semi-annual relocation.
This week has been filled with dental check-ups, annual physicals, shopping to re-stock the pantry/refrigerator/freezer, and of course working on the wedding dress.

We are headed to Kitchener on Sunday for a final fitting.  I still want to make her a small purse with the leftover satin and lace.  I have to discuss the design with her on Sunday.

 In the meantime, I've been sewing half log cabin blocks.  I decided to use a 6x8 block layout, and I just finished all 48 blocks!  I even chose a layout design using EQ7, so when I get the dress done, I can get busy with this quilt top!  EQ7 also told me that I've used 3.5 yards of fabric from my scrap bins.  Another incentive to get this quilt completed - so I can count the fabric as "used" in a future stash report!

Weekends are the best time to bake and do laundry, thanks to the Ontario "time of use" billing for electricity.  Saturday I'll be catching up on laundry, as well as baking some more bread - cinnamon-raisin- fruit  I think!

I hope everyone is finding some time to quilt - I try to squeeze in a bit every day. 

TOO MANY CHORES, NOT ENOUGH ENERGY

I've been trying to do a thorough house cleaning, vacuuming, floors, dusting, lemon oil on furniture, as well as making the garden more tidy as plants begin to prepare for winter.   Of course, I have a sore throat, which I'm hoping doesn't develop into anything serious.

We're also having a house guest on Thursday night, then a trip to Kitchener on Friday and Saturday to attend the quilt show there.

I do not have time to get sick!

I did  manage to get the flock of sheep machine appliqued and the blocks stitched together.  (The sheep are made of fleece, for a nice soft feel for baby.)  Now I just have to add borders, then I can get the quilting completed!

PRESIDENT'S SCHOOLHOUSE CHALLENGE

The latest tradition with the outgoing President of the Limestone Quilters' Guild is to have a quilt challenge for the final meeting of the year.  This year's challenge consisted of using an 8 inch finished schoolhouse block and making a wall hanging, no larger than 20x30 inches.
Of course, I left mine until almost the last minute.  I used a schoolhouse block from EQ7, and pulled some fabrics from my stash.  Since I had lovely "sky" fabric, I didn't want to cut it into small pieces to finish the block, so I made a base layer of sky and grass, then I turned the seam allowances under and machine appliqued the schoolhouse to the background! 
I decided to add some thread painting, so first I stitched a tree

 Then I added the little flowered area......

I added some small buttons to the front of the schoolhouse, for a door knob and the heart because it mimics my guild's logo.....

I decorated the tree and the schoolhouse with tiny quilt blocks, cut from fabric bought many years ago.....

And finally the finished product!

I was amazed at how many sewing related fabrics I found in my stash!  I can't wait to see what others have done.  They will be on display on June 1 at our spring dinner meeting, and they hope to have them on display at the quilt show in June 2012 as well.

STILL STITCHING......

I didn't think I'd ever finish cutting parts for my current project.  I dug into my 2 1/2 inch strip bin and cut 48 strips, 96 triangles and 144 squares of a variety of fabric.  Then I cut 12 large squares,  48 strips, 96 triangles and 144 squares of background fabric.  After two days of sewing, I have these.....

 Now I have a stack of pieces, ready to be stitched into blocks.  Then comes the fun part - choosing fabrics for the appliques that fill each centre!  The pattern I'm using is called "Pushin up Spring" which was a block of the month in 2009 from Apple Blossom Quilts.
As soon as I get these stitched together, I have to get to work on my guild's President's Challenge mini quilt.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

My life seems to get busier every day!   I'm cutting the pieces for a dozen appliqued blocks - they have a scrappy pieced frame with applique in the centre.  I found some white on white fabric that I have tons of, for the light, and have been cutting up my 2 1/2 inch strips into parts for the scrappy piecing.

I still have many more squares and triangles to cut before I begin to cut the background fabric!


DS2 will be moving to Kitchener-Waterloo in July, and he is beginning to pack.  During his almost 3 years with us, his belongings have migrated to spots all over the house, so it is interesting trying to remember them all..  When he arrived, all of his boxes were unpacked, then repacked for storage in the garage, since we had limited space.  Now they all have to be opened and re-packed, ready for the moving truck!  He is planning to make an inventory of all his things as well, so lots of extra hands are needed.

He inherited a coffee table from his older brother, but it had seen better days.  DH and I have come up with a plan to make it better, and more useful.  It has a glass insert, so DH is making a box underneath, lit with a rope light, so it can be used as a display space.  He is also making a base for the table, and we purchased 6 baskets to fit underneath for extra storage.  We found a "hammered metal finish" spray paint in a brownish colour, so once the table is re-built, it will be painted.  All of this took many trips to different stores, and lots of discussions about sizes, colours etc.


A neighbour has been cleaning out his Mother's home (she is in a nursing home and not doing well).  DH rescued a small desk from the discard pile, and it has been sanded, primed, and is getting a coat or two of hunter green paint as well.  It has 6 drawers as well as a shallow drawer in the center, and could be used in the bedroom or as a work desk.  Since DS2 and his girlfriend haven't found an apartment yet, we'll see what they need and where it might fit.

We have been trying to make a trip to visit DH's sister, as we have birthday gifts to deliver for 2 of her grandsons, one of which is already a month late!  Since it is supposed to rain on Friday, DH won't be heading out to do some roofing, so we are hoping to make the trip then.  

Our friends' niece has bought a new home, but it needs a new roof.  Her Dad has offered to pay for the materials, and he, her uncle, DH and another friend are providing the volunteer labour.  The shingles and roofing paper etc., are being delivered this afternoon, so they are heading out to load them onto the roof.

More Tossed Fruit Salad

In my plan to use up fabric, I used the last 4 repeats of fruit fabric, that I had already used in a wall hanging, placemats and a runner, shown here, to make some simple kaleidoscope blocks.

 I used the remaining background fabrics to set the blocks on point, and sashed with the lovely purple fabric.

   Half used the light green, and half the darker green.

 The twelve blocks were large enough to make a nice lap-size quilt, and the only fabric remaining is some of the darker green, which I wanted for my applique stash.

Kaleidoscope Pinwheels

Here is the fabric.......

 And here are the rest of the blocks.......

 Now I guess I have to get on with the next steps - sashing and cornerstones.

Design Wall Monday

Thanks to the cool Florida weather, I've managed to get two more blocks finished for my applique quilt.  I'm using the "Baltimore Bliss" pattern from Fat Cat Patterns.  It was a free BOM last year.  I'm also getting some regular sewing done, as my room is warmed by the sun, so by about 10am, it is warm enough to sew on even the coldest day in Florida.  Before long, I'll have the windows wide open and the ceiling fan running......
Check out what everyone else is working on at Patchwork Times.  Thanks Judy!

Design Wall Monday

I've been on the road for the past 10 days, and haven't set up my southern sewing room yet.  I did stitch the redwork on the 4th Raggedy and Friends block while travelling.  

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 Thanks, Kaaren, at the Painted Quilt!
I packed 14 or 15 projects to work on over the winter, so the next few months should be interesting.  I'll also be leading the quilt group every Wednesday - 12 to 20 quilters get together to sew.  They are of all skill levels from beginner to experienced, so it is challenging to find projects to interest everyone.  This year, I plan to take everyone back to the basics - from checking their "scant 1/4 inch seam" to how to cut accurately, and making the basic building blocks of quilting - 4 patches, 9 patches, half and quarter square triangle, flying geese, etc.  I have to design a few projects using these basic building blocks.
Check out everyone's design wall at Judy's blog

Miniature quilt centre complete!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together!  I used a different brown and rust fabric in the 1/2 inch border.  The brown that I chose for the blocks was only a 10 inch square, and the rust fabric in the points and setting square/triangles was a fat quarter.  I need the rest of that fabric for the points in the border piecing....  It is astonishing how much fabric this tiny quilt has used, but there is lots of trimming, no matter how careful I am.

 I'm proud of my mitered corners.  The borders were sewn together first, then treated a one.  I have tried many methods to miter the corners, but finally decided to use Sharon Schamber's method.  You use "Elmer's School Glue" with a tiny applicator tip and a hot, dry iron to glue-pin the miter.  Then you open up the seam and stitch on the pressed line, pull the glue apart, trim the seam allowance and press the corner seam open.  I have had great success with this method.

Baltimore Bliss Block 5

Pattern is found here.  I seem to be getting lots of hand work done now that the new TV season is upon us.  Last night I prepared the pieces for Block 6.
I'm also plugging away at the paper pieced border for my miniature quilt as well.
We discovered that the DVD burner on my laptop is not working.  I can read DVDs and CD's but not burn new ones!  Fortunately, my laptop has a 3 year warranty, so I guess I'll have to part with it for a while.  I think we'll wait until we get to Florida for the repair, as we are quickly approaching our departure date, and I don't want to complicate things by sending it for repairs in Canada and then having it returned to the US.....  I spent last night backing everything up onto a memory stick, then today I'll transfer things to our desktop and burn some CD's and DVD's there.  That way I won't lose any files - tech support said that the first thing they do is restore the hard drive to original.  I don't look forward to reloading all the rest of the software......

Another applique block complete

Here is block four from the Baltimore Bliss pattern found here.
Before I began the blocks, I made a sample page of the fabrics, and assigned a letter to each.  Then I spent some time planning where to use each fabric, so that there would be a variation, but not too much of any one fabric. 

I decided to use the same green fabric for the large arcs found in each block.  I like the way they alternate position, being set square to the block or in a diagonal placement, like this block.  Block five is well underway.  Now that the new TV season is upon us, (and I like to check out most of the new shows), I need lots of hand work to do!

Design Wall Monday

I

I finished hand stitching the last applique shape on the third block last night.  I use silk thread and a size 11 needle, stitching about 1/8th of an inch apart.  I also use extra stitches at the points and the inward points, to make sure that they will be secure when washed.  The pattern is from Fat Cat Patterns.
Check out the other design walls at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

I'm having the worst time getting the colours to show correctly when I take a digital picture.  I think it is a combination of my old digital camera and the fluorescent lighting in my sewing room.  The dark squares in the checkerboard area are a warm brown, and there is a darker red and a great purple fabric in these as well.  I guess I'll have to start taking pictures in natural light!
These lovely Raggedy Ann and Andy blocks are from a BOM from The Painted Quilt Blog.  Kaaren adds new blocks on the 20th of the month.  Can't wait for the next one!  I have made a kit of the fabrics I'm using in the quilt, so that I can take it with me to Florida this winter, and continue making the blocks each month.
Head over to Judy's blog to see what is on everyone else's design wall today.

Design Wall Monday

I

I seem to be jumping from project to project lately.  I began stitching these appliqued blocks so I would have some hand work to do in the evenings.  Block one is completed, doing needleturn applique, and block two has the centre stitched.
The pattern is a free BOM that has been offered for the past two years at Fat Cat Patterns, called Baltimore Bliss.  Her sample is shown in pink and green, but I am pulling colours from a lovely oriental border print for mine.
Check out what others have on their design wall at Judy's blog.

Slow Progress

I don't seem to be making my usual progress lately.  I have been preparing some pieces for hand applique.  I picked up some wonderful fabric two winters ago in Arizona, and finally began the quilt.  More about that later.....
I have the blocks of the snowman quilt stitched together.

Last two Snowman blocks

I think that my only problem with these blocks is that the white thread doesn't show up well enough on the light beige background.  The pattern suggested using pink paint on the cheeks, so I think I might add some white to the snow areas.  I'll probably use stencil paint, as it is permanent and washable once it has dried, and gives a soft finished feel.  Just hope my stencil paint hasn't dried up - can't remember the last time I used it - probably a few years ago.  Who has time for crafts when quilting takes over your life?