At Play in My Pieceful World

A top finished, and a UFO complete!

2012-01-05T13:47:00.001-05:00

I am so excited to be able to post some progress so soon. I finished the top from the Planet Patchwork mystery of New Years day. ( Sorry the photo is so bad. This top is currently hanging over the crab apple quilt that has been on my design wall forever!) I am not really crazy about the outer border, but since I cut it during the prep-work for the mystery, I decided to use it and save the money a new choice would cost.

And to top that off, I also finished a UFO from the fall of 2010. And this was one that I was thinking would never be completed. It is a weekender bag from an Amy Butler pattern. I had some trouble working with the thickness of the layers on this one. It was quite painful to my hands trying to pin the layers before sewing. It was so bulky, I just could not get an accurate seam. Even after an extensive tear apart and re-sew, I am not really happy with how this turned out. But, I faced it, and I tackled it, and it is DONE! I even used it this weekend. But, I will not be making another. Period.

A New Year, a New Start.

2012-01-02T12:00:00.001-05:00

As you have noticed, I have been inactive for quite a while. Last year brought many changes to my life. We welcomed two new members into our family- our granddaughter, Grace, and our daughter-in-law Crystal.

Crystal on her wedding day, holding her niece Grace

And I began watching Grace part-time while her parents are working. This has taken away a great deal of my free time. So quilting has been ignored. That is why my design wall still looks like this.

Trees on design wall, some rows are sewn together

But yesterday I was able to participate in the planet patchwork mystery. And this is what I have up to this point. Not finished with the top yet, but almost!

I am embarrassed to have to photograph it on my sewing table. That tree quilt has been up on the design wall far too long! My goal is to have both tops completed this week. (It could happen, really.) I hope to be doing much more quilting and posting this year.

If you want to see more design wall inspiration, hop on over to Patchwork Times and check out the links.

So many distractions, so little sewing time

2011-07-25T06:00:00.002-04:00

This past month has had so many distractions that I have not really had any time to sew. For one, we had our annual family camping trip with my extended family. I wish I had some nice photos to share with you from that trip, but unfortunately my camera broke, so I have none. But, we did have fantastic weather all week and a good time was had by all.

After our week of vacation, I started watching my granddaughter 2-3 days a week. I really treasure the opportunity to bond with her. I love being a grandma! I am trying to squeeze in a little quilting when I can, but progress is slow.

This is what my design wall looks like today. I have a few days open, so with a bit of luck, this will all be stitched together to this point by the end of the week.

Still Uncertain About this One

2011-06-23T13:03:00.003-04:00

On my last post, I showed a picture of my current project up on my design wall. I asked for opinions on my setting triangles, because I wasn't sure about the navy. And several of you were nice enough to comment that you liked the navy. And the more I looked, so did I. But something was still bothering me about the quilt. It wasn't until someone pointed out that she thought the red was overpowering the blocks that it made sense. I was so determined to give this quilt a Christmas feel, that I totally missed the misplaced red. I have been playing around on EQ with some alternate options. This one is speaking to me at the moment. What do you think? Is this better, or is the center now too light?

DWM- June 20

2011-06-20T10:27:00.003-04:00

As you can see, I have my tree blocks on my wall again this week. All of the blocks are complete and I am playing with the setting elements. I know I want to stay with the red and gold, as this is intended to be a Christmas quilt. But I am just not certain about the navy. Any thoughts?

Something new for the design wall...wow, has it been a while!

2011-06-13T06:00:00.008-04:00

Last post I said I was finally going to be able to do some quilting again. So naturally, the very next day my machine started acting up. I was doing some machine quilting and somehow managed to throw the timing off. I was working on this at the time.

I am fortunate enough to have a back-up machine, but I like the stitch quality better of my main machine for quilting. So I put this quilt aside for when I get that machine back from repairs and started a new project.

Here is what I have so far. Some of these are only partially stitched together. And I still need to make some more blocks.

These blocks are from the Crab Apples quilt pattern in Bonnie Hunter's book 'Adventures with Leaders and Enders'. I am working with my scraps on this one and I can't really tell I have used any from the looks of my scrap bins. Sigh. I guess I will need to try a few more of the patterns in the book.

To see what other quilters are working on, check out Judy's blog .

Another Granddaughter has Graced my World

2011-05-28T10:23:00.004-04:00

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of my newest granddaughter earlier this month. Here is Grace on her quilt that was designed just for her. I have been too busy playing grandma to do much sewing this month. But I did manage to whip up a little companion piece for baby's room.

I found the instructions for this here. It looks pretty cute sitting on the chair in her room. And it was so easy to make! I have several new projects I want to get started on, so regular blog postings should resume soon. Until then, happy sewing!

I am still alive...

2011-04-18T08:55:00.004-04:00

...I just haven't been doing much quilting lately. Until the past few weeks, when I felt the need to get busy on a quilt for my next grandchild, due the end of this month. My daughter and I worked together to pick out the color scheme and come up with a pattern that we both like. This is the end result. I named the quilt Springtime Graces. I can't wait for that baby to grace us with her presence. :)

Oct 25 design wall

2010-10-25T09:18:00.004-04:00

I finished my block from last week. I must say, I find this pattern to be a challenge. But, OH! I love the end results. I am still trying to decide if I want to commit to an entire quilt of these blocks. I think this one is best dealt with one block at a time, between other projects. The block is called Mississippi Wheel of Fortune and it is a Karen Stone pattern.

FAIL!

2010-10-19T06:00:00.002-04:00

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that I have removed the UFO challenge info from my sidebar. I joined a challenge to finish 10 projects this year.

I posted my 10 intended finishes and waited each month for the hostess to post which project to complete for the month. This is the final month of the challenge. To date, I have finished only one of my 10 UFOs.

I have a second partially quilted. So I have to consider this a failed effort. Can there be an upside of this? Well, I haven't really created many new UFOs to speak of either, so I feel like I am ahead of the game. Will I ever finish all of my quilts? I doubt it.

I am even considering giving away a few UFOs. Could my tired old project possibly be someone else's fabulous new quilt? I'm pretty sure I will never finish the quilts shown.

DWM-I actually have something new to share

2010-10-18T08:18:00.004-04:00

On Friday my design wall still looked the same as in my last post. Those blocks had been hanging on my design wall since June. I finally decided to just put them away for now. When I have a need for a baby/child-size quilt, they will become a finished quilt. Until then, since they have not been speaking to me for months, they need to go away.
This is my new project. It is a Mississippi Wheel of Fortune block. I am using paper foundations to piece it following a pattern by Karen Stone. The block on the left is finished. It was intended to be a table topper to tie in with this at Christmas time. Hubby, however, thinks it should be a pillow. We'll see about that. (This is a 20 inch block!) The block on the right is in progress. I'm not sure how many I will make. I have a good stash of batiks and could easily make enough for a large quilt. But I am undecided on if I want to devote that much time to a foundation pieced project. I will say that I love the colors so far.

To see more quilters design walls for inspiration, check out Patchwork Times blog. Judy L. hosts this every Monday.

Design wall? August 2

2010-08-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

These blocks have been on my wall since June 1st. Some of the blocks have fallen to the floor, probably in protest to my neglect.

I haven't had time to do any sewing this summer, with one exception. I did manage to finish this quilt in time to give as a wedding gift.

Where's Jane?

2010-08-01T19:21:00.010-04:00

Here she is, camping with her family....

...lots of family!!!

And watching a sunset with her husband...on the shore of Lake Charlevoix

Beautiful!

...at a wine tasting in the Traverse City area during Cherry Festival

Coloring with markers during a visit from her Granddaughter

Here she is during a long weekend trip to Florida to welcome the newest member of her extended family...Adrianna Carmen. Such a little cutie!

And at a celebration lunch after the adoption finalization with the happy new parents!

Nope, she's not in her sewing room. Hasn't been here all summer. ( No wonder there hasn't been any new blog posts.)

Design wall 5/31

2010-05-31T17:08:00.004-04:00

Today I am hiding out in my sewing room. It is a quiet refuge in a house full of college kids. My son decided it would be fun to host the annual Memorial Day gathering of his friends. We have a large yard with a pool and a good grill and can easily accommodate a crowd. But the weather is not cooperating. Strong thunderstorms hit this morning, knocking out our power. Fortunately, the power company had it restored around noon. Not that it would have stopped this gang of kids. It has been raining on and off all afternoon, so the kids are all inside my house, broken down into small groups playing cards, board games and video games. I am debating border additions to my lantern quilt top. I would like to make it larger without purchasing extra fabric. This is what I am considering for now. I'm just not sure I like it.

The background fabric would continue behind the zigzag, so that it will keep it's straight edges. To see what others are working on check out Judy's blog.

...and the living is easy

2010-05-29T18:48:00.002-04:00

Kick back in a comfy chair on your deck and enjoy your holiday weekend. It is the unofficial start of summer here and the weather is gorgeous! My most recent project is inspired by an episode of Quilt in a Day, featuring projects from the Egg Basket Quilts book . It was soooooooo quick and easy.

Design wall May 24

2010-05-24T11:38:00.003-04:00

I am settling on a plain border for this one due to a lack of extra fabrics. This top is only half the size it was intended to be. There was some confusion in the cutting instructions and I cut half of my blocks incorrectly. So, I decided to salvage the project as best I could by making two smaller quilts. This one has the blocks cut the correct size. I plan to start making the rest of the blocks, slightly smaller, today.

Edited: Here are the completed blocks. They spin in the opposite direction, giving this quilt a totally different look. :)

Check out Patchwork Times for more design wall links.

The another update from the sew in

2010-05-22T16:12:00.002-04:00

This is what I got done from last night's sew-in. The lantern blocks are stitched into rows and the border blocks are done. I'm trying to decide if I want to add the tassels as the pattern suggests or just omit them. If I leave them off, then I will need to remove some of the background from the bottom to even things out. I am also considering adding some extra borders to make this bigger. I have a bit of extra fabric to work with, but I'm not sure there is enough. I think that will be a good project for tomorrow.

Progress Report

2010-05-21T22:00:00.004-04:00

Here's where I'm at with my quilt tonight. The lanterns are taking shape and I'm working on the flying geese units for the border. I still need to play with the arrangement of the lanterns a bit before I stitch them together. Back to the sewing room for me. :)

It's time for another Friday night sew-in

2010-05-21T15:37:00.003-04:00

I have been cutting all afternoon so that I can actually sew during tonight's sew-in. It has been a few months since I have been able to participate, and I can't wait to get stitching. I'm going to be making a version of this. It is a free pattern by Monica of Happy Zombie. The pattern features her new fabric line which doesn't hit stores until June or July. So I will be using a collection of Asian prints from my stash. I think these will look cute as lanterns.

DWM May 10

2010-05-10T10:58:00.005-04:00

Not much progress to report this week. I struggled with the side triangles on the hexagon quilt and finally settled on this. I don't think I got the sizing quite right, but I am afraid to rip them off again for fear of stretching the edges and making things worse. It is not as flat as I would like on the edges, but I think I can make it work. This is as far as the instructions go for this pattern, so I need to play around with some border ideas this week.

The baby robins in the nest outside my sewing room are getting bigger. I am enjoying watching their progress. And mama robin is keeping her eyes on us all from a nearby fence.

Check out Judy L.'s blog for more Design Wall Monday fun.

Design wall Monday- May 3,2010

2010-05-03T06:00:00.002-04:00

This is what is on my wall today. My hexagon blocks are stitched together and I am in the process of figuring out the sizing for the side and corner setting triangles. The pattern I am following is a bit confusing on this. I like how it's looking though.
For more design wall delights, check out the Patchwork Times blog.

In bloom...a bit early!

2010-05-02T18:49:00.003-04:00

Usually, my lilacs are just blooming for Mother's Day. I have a tradition of making a couple bouquets of lilacs each year- one for me, and one for my mom. I like to add in some snowball flowers for an accent. But this year, my lilacs are blooming early. Aren't they gorgeous?

I seem to have caught a butterfly in this first photo. It's upper right.

These are the snowballs next to my lilacs. They are already opening and turning white. Usually they are about an inch in diameter and bright green at Mother's day. These are close to three inches.

A few blooms next to the shed.

Not a great picture, but this is a baby robin in the nest. Didn't dare get too close. Momma robin might not appreciate that. I hope you are enjoying springtime as much as I am.

I'm sewing! Really, I am.

2010-04-26T09:50:00.003-04:00

Here is what is on my design wall today. A few test blocks for a pattern I am trying. The lowest block in the photo was my first. It didn't go together as well as I would have liked. So I changed the size of the longer pieces in the block and tried again. The other blocks are the result of that change. I am much happier with those blocks. They lie flat and have nice even edges and I have not trimmed anything.
This has made me rethink my two block nightmare quilt. Perhaps what I have with those blocks is not a stitching problem after all. Maybe that is also a cutting issue. I will have to give those another look soon. Maybe there is some hope for that quilt after all.

Here is a peek at what I have been looking at outside my sewing room window. I have a robin who has made her nest under my deck. I look forward to seeing some baby birds. I love springtime.

Sewing room re-do is done...pretty much

2010-04-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

...and I am thrilled! It is so much brighter in there now. There are still things that need to be done before the job is complete. For instance, I need some window treatments. But I am still deciding what I want to put on them.
This is a view of my design wall. While my design wall was down, I made a little adjustment to it. I added a layer of quilt batting between the foam insulation board and the flannel sheet. I like it much better this way, but I think a second layer of batting would have been even better. Just saying.

I moved my fabric stash from these shelves so that I could eliminate a bookcase. It gives me a little more space in the room. My books are organized by topic. For example, all my books of quilt-block patterns are together, all my quilting pattern books are together, etc. The fabric boxes hold completed quilt tops along with their backing and binding fabrics. Now my stash lives under my ironing station. (I love my extra-large ironing surface. It makes that task so much more pleasant.)

The project bins have been moved from under the ironing board to under my cutting table. That space was not being utilized before. During the room emptying process, I noticed that my ruler caddy was able to be hung up. It has always resided on top of my cutting table before. I will admit that it has been bothersome there. Now that it is on my wall, I am hoping my cutting table will be more functional. I was always having to move stuff around before I could do any cutting. (Maybe I'm just wishful thinking on this. It could be I am just too sloppy of a worker and my table will always be a hot mess.)

I have a nice u-shaped work area set-up. It is very workable. My sewing machine cabinet is in the center of the room. It seemed a little odd to me when I first thought to put it there, but it has really worked out great. Especially since the cabinet has a drop-leaf extension table on it.

On my wall...April 12

2010-04-12T08:01:00.005-04:00

This is what is on my wall today. I'm in no hurry to finish this one, but it is always nice to have a couple baby quilt tops at the ready. Check out Patchwork Times for more design wall fun.

New name, same old me

2010-04-08T11:17:00.004-04:00

Perhaps you noticed, (or maybe you didn't) but my blog has a new name. The focus of this blog remains the same . It's just that there were at least a couple other blogs with the name I was using for my blog . And one of those blogs is also a quilting blog. My personal sense of individuality wasn't comfortable with that, so I came up with a new blog name. And the timing just feels right, as my sewing room is getting an update too. My blog's web address has not changed, so if you read this over a feed, it should still come across fine. I hope this doesn't create any confusion. It is meant to stop some.

My sewing room now has a fresh coat of paint and the new flooring went in last night. We still need to hang window trim and baseboard before I can begin putting the room back together. Hopefully I will have things put back by next weekend.

Design Wall Moday- April 5

2010-04-05T04:41:00.004-04:00

I'm happy to have this top completed. Now I just have to decide if I will quilt this myself or send it to a long-arm quilter. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Actually, this WAS on my wall. As of Saturday, my design wall has been taken down so we can paint. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint and a new floor to perk a place up. :)

This is my sewing room right now. Clearing it out was a big job. But I know the end result will be worth the effort. :D

Where has the month gone?

2010-03-31T15:37:00.003-04:00

I just can't believe this month is over. I have accomplished nothing on the quilting front. My February ufo is still unfinished. My March ufo was not even touched. In truth, I did take it out to look at it. But my daughter wants to give it as a gift and we decided that I needed to make it longer. I got a bit bogged down with how I wanted to do that. :( I think I have a plan of action now.
I'm still working on the bow tie top. I am adding the borders. We have had some gorgeous weather and I have not wanted to sit in my basement and sew. So it is slow going. And about to get slower. My sewing room is going to get a new floor and a coat of paint over the next couple weeks. So I will be pulling everything out of the room this weekend. I guess I had better get those borders on now.

on my wall today...

2010-03-22T19:04:00.005-04:00

I have managed to do a little sewing this past week. I have my blocks stitched together on my bow tie quilt. I hope to add the borders this week. I wish I had a better picture , but somehow this is the only shot I took.

Today I went to a workshop with Bonnie Hunter. Our local quilt guild brought Bonnie in to speak tomorrow night. In the workshop, we worked on her Cathedral Stars quilt. I was a last minute add-in to the class and was happy to snag a spot. These are a couple of the blocks I made. This one will need to go into the ufo pile for a while so I can finish a few other projects.

Nothing new to report

2010-03-08T09:07:00.003-05:00

It's Monday, and I usually share what I have on my design wall. But I haven't done any sewing this past week. The sun has been shining, and I have been trying to soak as much sunshine in as I possibly can. It's been a grey winter here and I am thrilled to see the sun.

And I probably won't sew much this week either. My son and his family are in town for the week, so I plan to enjoy their visit. Especially my granddaughter. She brings joy wherever she goes.

Up on the wall

2010-03-01T09:36:00.003-05:00

Today on my wall are more of the blocks from last week. I am currently playing around with layout possibilities for this quilt. This is my current option.

To see more quilter's walls, check out Patchwork Times.

February UFO report

2010-02-28T16:26:00.004-05:00

Here it is, already the last day of February. This month went by quick, didn't it? I made a good effort to finish my February UFO, number 7 from the list on my sidebar. I'm doing this as part of a challenge hosted by Nancy at Patchwork Penguin . But for the second month in a row, I have failed to complete it by the month's end. I did manage to finish my January UFO this month. I feel good about that. Here is my quilt as it is right now.

It is partially quilted. I still have quite a bit more quilting to do and I will keep working at it and get it done. For now, I'm satisfied with my progress. It is a lot closer to finished than it was a month ago. :D

On the wall today- February 22

2010-02-22T07:26:00.004-05:00

On the wall today are some of the blocks for a new quilt. If you are following the winter Olympics, you might think the logo colors have been the source of inspiration for my quilt. But this quilt was the real inspiration.

My nephew's fiance has told me many times how much she likes it, as it her favorite colors. So I am making them a quilt in her favorite colors as a wedding gift.

To see what other quilters are working on, check out Patchwork Times.

Distractions = little progress

2010-02-20T12:43:00.002-05:00

I did not get nearly as much done last night as I had hoped during the Friday Night sew-in. I probably should have never turned on the TV. I'm enjoying the winter Olympics far more than usual. And last night they started the ice dancing competition. I love to watch ice dancing. I did manage to finish cutting all of the pieces for my new quilt project. But not much sewing is done. Here's what I have so far. Just a few parts.

Friday Night Sew-in ...

2010-02-19T19:55:00.003-05:00

...and I'm still cutting away. But, I should be stitching soon. Tonight I'm starting on a new quilt. It's for a gift and I should have started it several months ago, once I had purchased the fabrics.
But I put it off, and now I have decided I need to switch to a simpler pattern so that I can finish before my deadline. It is time to get back to work. I should have some pictures tomorrow.

It's Design Wall Monday Again

2010-02-15T08:40:00.003-05:00

This is what is on my wall today. It's a table runner in progress. I'm using the Quilt Smart foundations to make it. I've got to stitch the arcs down before I can proceed any further, but I think it should come together well. So far, it is a pretty easy process.
Want to see what other quilters are doing? Check out Patchwork Times, where Judy has a link box set up.

Quilt-a-thon Day 2

2010-02-13T10:05:00.003-05:00

It was a much slower process than I would have liked, but the results are in, and I'm pleasantly surprised. Above is a collage of yesterday's snow dyeing experiment. Top left shows the baskets with fabric wadded and covered in snow just after I squirted the dye solution on the snow. The photos to the right of that are my completed blue and red fabrics. On the bottom row, you can see the basket that was originally the red/blue/yellow combination above left. The first shot is after it had started to melt, center is after all the snow had melted but before it was rinsed and then finally the bottom right is the finished piece of fabric that resulted.

And, I finished the mini basket quilt this morning.

Still on my list for today is the class sample I need to finish, the backing for my February UFO needs to be pieced , and then I need layer and baste the UFO so it's ready to quilt.

Checking In

2010-02-12T18:57:00.003-05:00

I had the best intentions, as usual, of getting a lot of sewing done today. But then I felt the need to try snow dyeing some fabric, since we have plenty of snow. So, I spent the morning making the dye solutions and prepping my fabrics and setting up a few containers of fabric and snow.

Here's a peek at around noon,after I got everything set. I have been waiting somewhat impatiently for the snow to melt. These are sitting in my garage in an area that is heated, but it is still pretty cool and the melting process is going slowly. This is what it looked like about an hour ago. I am just starting to get peeks of the fabric showing through the snow. I'm thinking it will be tomorrow before I have pictures of the finished fabric.

I did eventually make it into the sewing room. And I have made a little progress. This my February UFO with two of the borders on and the third being previewed.

But, I decided I don't care for that border. So I try another one.

I like this much better, and I think that first try will make a nice binding instead.

I am heading back down to try to get the binding on my mini-basket ready for hand finishing tonight.

Quilt-a-thon weekend

2010-02-12T09:23:00.003-05:00

Judy L. at Patchwork Times is hosting another quilt-a-thon this weekend. It is intended to be Saturday and Sunday, but I am doing it today and tomorrow instead. Since Sunday is Valentine's day, and hubby has already stated he intended to spend it with me, I guess the least I can do is be available. ;-)
We're having leftovers for dinner tonight, and with a bit of luck, I won't need to make any meals tomorrow. So that should leave plenty of quilting time for me. As usual, I have plenty of things to work on. I hope to finish my mini-basket quilt first. And of course I still have those borders to add to my February UFO, so that will be the next item on my list. I fully intend to have that quilt basted and ready for quilting before the weekend is over. And lastly, I have a class sample to finish. This should be do-able over the next two days. We'll see how distracted I get. I'll try to do some progress updates when there is something to show. For now, I'm off to my sewing room.

January UFO -DONE!

2010-02-10T09:22:00.003-05:00

So, it took a few extra days. My January UFO focus is finished and that is what matters the most. I am thrilled. And, all of the things that gave me such trouble appear to have decided to behave in the finished quilt. How awesome is that!?

I have the first of three borders on my February UFO. I think today I will try to piece the second border together and finish the top. I'm feeling another finish for this month. How are you coming with your UFOs?

Design Wall 2-8-10

2010-02-07T19:49:00.008-05:00

On my wall today is UFO #8 from my side bar. It is not the UFO for this month. But I came across it as I was moving things to make room for hubby to install my new lighting yesterday. And since there were a bunch of rows pinned and ready to stitch, I finished stitching the rows together yesterday. Now I'm auditioning some border possibilities. On the left is a true red inner border, on the top is gold, and to the right is a berry color. Can't decide.

The mini basket is partially quilted at this point. And my two-block nightmare quilt is awaiting some action. My sister-in-law took a look at the blocks and noticed that I had not trimmed my alternate blocks down to size. That may make the size difference between the two blocks much more workable. DUH. I'm not brain dead. Really.

I figured out how to tame my misbehaving borders on my OP quilt that was last month's UFO. It wasn't lying flat and there seemed to be too much fabric, even though I'm pretty sure I measured properly before I added them. What I ended up doing is taking a gathering stitch all the way along that border. By pulling only the slightest bit on the gathering stitches, I was able to ease the excess so that there is no puckering. The border is quilted and looks great now. In fact, I am in the process of stitching the binding on now. I'll post a photo when it is finished.

Want to see what other quilters are working on? Check out Patchwork Times for links to more design wall Monday posts.

I see the light!

2010-02-07T19:37:00.002-05:00

Today my hubby installed new lighting fixtures in my sewing room. I am so thrilled. Now instead of one light fixture overhead, I have five. FIVE! All of my work stations are well lit now. The installation did make a bit of a mess, but the final result was worth the clean-up effort. :D

And hubby promises a new floor is on the list too. WOOHOO!!! I hate the carpet that is in there now. It traps pins that always seem to find my bare feet at some point. I don't know how soon that will happen.It will be a huge task just moving everything out of the room.

February already?! First design wall of the month.

2010-02-01T08:19:00.005-05:00

On the wall today is this month's UFO challenge, #7- Thyme to Water. There are three borders that still need to be added to this before it it ready to be quilted. Only one of them is pieced, but still, I have a little work ahead of me.

Also on my wall is my basket wall hanging top. I'm thinking about adding some type of embellishments to it. Maybe. Or maybe it already has enough going on.

To see what other quilters are working on, check out Judy's blog.

January UFO Challenge- Status Update

2010-01-31T08:21:00.006-05:00

It is officially the last day of January, and I am not done with my January UFO. But, I am making progress and I fully intend to finish it this week. I only need to do some quilting in the outer border and bind it. But I may need to play with that last border a bit, as it seems to be a bit wavy. :(

The pick for February is a good one. Quilt number seven from our list will be the focus. That is my Thyme to Water quilt. This quilt is not yet a completed top. I still need to add a few borders to it.

I have to say that letting someone else dictate my UFO project each month is more of an issue for me that I thought it would be. I guess my inner control freak is stronger than I imagined. I'm trying to go with it for now.

Design Wall 1-25

2010-01-25T11:21:00.005-05:00

This is my design wall today. As you can see, no progress has been made on my two-block nightmare. I'm still giving it some time to rest while I let something else stress me out for a while. Namely, this!

This is my OP quilt UFO I intended to finish this month. I wanted to experiment a bit and decided to use a decorative stitch in the sashing strips. I chose one that is wavy. I thought it would be nice and girly, sort of like rickrack. But it is making my quilt look puckered. And not in a good way. Even though it was nice and flat when I basted it. I'm not sure if this picture shows what I'm talking about. I can't seem to add pics so that they expand when you click them. :( Anyways, this one is resting a while too, while I ponder what steps will make this quilt look better. I don't intend to rip out the wavy stitching, but you never know.

Soooooooooo, in the meantime, I am back to playing with my scraps. That usually puts me in my happy place. This batch of scraps are the result of the Carolina Christmas quilt I'm working on. Here's what I have so far, along with my EQ drawing of the intended finished quilt.

This will be a wall hanging, or maybe a pillow. The individual basket blocks are going to finish at six inches, and the finished quilt will be around 18 inches.

To see what other quilters are working on, check out the linky box on Judy's blog.

2010-01-21T11:37:00.002-05:00

This has been a busy week in the sewing room. I am in the process of quilting my ufo for this month. I thought I would try something a little different with the quilting on that one. I'm not sure I am happy with how it is turning out. I used to think I was a fairly experienced quilter, but this month has taught me that I still have so much to learn. Between the mis-sized blocks and the experimental quilting I'm doing, I am seriously questioning my quilting skills right now. Sorry, but I'm not going to share any pics of my ufo's quilting just now. I want to work through this one on my own. Maybe I'm just having an off month. Here is a little something I will share, though. Remember those scrappy blocks from last post? This is what I did with them.

Not exactly what I was planning, but I did sew

2010-01-15T23:22:00.003-05:00

I had hoped to get a good start on quilting the OP quilt tonight. Unfortunately, I was having issues with thread breakage. I tried four different needles before I decided that I do not have the correct needle in the house to do the quilting tonight. So, that quilt was put to the side for now. Once I get some new machine needles, I will get back to it.

So I went back to playing with scraps. This is what I did tonight.

For the record, I do realize that there are a couple odd blocks in the mix. It is intentional. It just feels more like the old scrap quilts would have been to me with the odd balls tossed in.

It's Friday and Time for a Friday Night Sew-In!

2010-01-15T11:19:00.007-05:00

Heidi is hosting a Friday night sew-in on her blog today. And since I have so many projects in the works and my hubby will be ice fishing, I am joining in. Tonight I will start quilting this.

It is my UFO #4 from the sidebar list, also known as my OP quilt. The quilt was inspired by Pat Sloan's Orange Project challenge last winter. That's the backing fabric in the upper right corner. This one is going to be fun to quilt! :D

Playing with scraps

2010-01-15T01:27:00.004-05:00

I am taking a break from my current quilt project. No, it is not put aside to be a UFO yet. But I need a little break from it, as I am getting frustrated. So, today I played with some scraps.

To be more specific, just the triangles that get cut off in the speed technique of adding a corner triangle to a block. In this process, you place a square of fabric on the corner of the piece that needs a corner triangle and stitch diagonally across the square, trimming the excess off. This leaves a couple triangle pieces of fabric that most people throw away. But not me. I have been saving mine and using them as leader and ender pieces as I sew. And I have been accumulating lots of little half-square triangle blocks as a result.

So, as a bit of a revolt against the tedium of trying to precisely stitch those corner star blocks in my current quilt project, I made blocks with my scrap triangles. No pinning, no trimming, no precision- just kind of a free-form, go with the flow kind of thing. And it felt great! Sorry, I have no finished block pictures I can share at this time.

One note of progress I can make is this: I have my January UFO project layered and pin basted.It is ready to be quilted!!! :D I'm still deciding how I want to quilt it, but it is on my list to start this weekend.

Today's wall

2010-01-11T09:17:00.004-05:00

On the design wall today are my completed blocks from my two-block nightmare. I am going to try a different marking technique on the cornered star blocks and see if that helps me get a block that I am satisfied with. If not, I will be putting this one aside for a while. Can you say future ufo? ;)

To see what other quilters are working on, Check out Judy's blog.

This one is a struggle

2010-01-10T08:23:00.004-05:00

This is an EQ drawing of my current quilt project. I showed a few of the finished blocks on my last design wall post. I like the color combination and the pattern of this quilt. It was part of an experiment I was doing with combining two quilt blocks to make a quilt. But, I wish I had paid more attention to the actual blocks I chose to use as one of them is proving to be a challenge to make. I have all of the mosaic blocks finished. They finished to the correct size and look great. But the cornered star blocks are not going together as well. First they wouldn't lie flat, and now I can't get them to finish the correct size. I don't normally have an issue with seam allowance, but these blocks are finishing too small. UGH! I'm glad I went with a simple border for this one, because once I get these blocks right, I'm going to want to be finished with this one quick. Next time I'll remember to make a test block first, before I cut my fabrics.

I feel like I'm in high school again

2010-01-06T21:57:00.005-05:00

Recently, I had an opportunity to join an Internet quilt swap. It has been a while since I have done this form of swap but I usually enjoy it. And the particular swap I was signing up for is one that I had wanted to do for over a year. When I saw an announcement that sign-ups were being taken up to a limited number of swappers, I sent in my information and waited to see if I made the cut off.
I got an e-mail reply from the swap hostess questioning my qualifications for the swap. It wasn't my quilting ability that was in question. The swap required active participation in a certain Internet sharing network. I have an account on this network. I use it occasionally. The swap hostess was afraid that I did not post often enough on the network in question. She was concerned that my low chatter and activity on the site would spoil my swap partner's fun. She suggested that I watch from the sidelines this round and try to post more often. Then maybe next time I could join in the swap. Seriously? I feel a bit like the fat kid in gym class that gets picked last. Or like the girl in high school who is shunned by the "in" crowd for not having the right clothes. I don't need this.

It's Monday! Do you know what that means?

2010-01-04T14:59:00.004-05:00

That's right! It's time for a peek at my design wall. I have made a few more block parts for the Carolina Christmas quilt. There are still so many more to piece, but there is some progress, so I am counting that as a positive.

But that isn't the only thing on my design wall today. I have also made a few test blocks for a quilt that I designed last year. I have been wanting to make this quilt for several months, but I've been putting it off. I got a bit carried away and cut out all of the block pieces for this quilt on New Year's day.

But now I'm not sure if I like the fabrics together as much as I thought I would. They look a bit different in the blocks than they did sitting together as a pile of fabrics . Plus, what was I thinking with those set-in seams?! UGH! The first of that test block turned out a bit wonky and wouldn't lie flat. Of course, I failed to pin the pieces before I sewed them. Will I ever learn that lesson? Let's hope so.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I am trying to finish up old projects. You also have probably figured out that I lack a certain amount of discipline in that area. Please don't judge me. I really am trying. But, sometimes the urge to start something new simply overcomes me. And who doesn't like a new project?

What about my UFO #4 from last post? It is still waiting for a turn. And I will finish it this month. Just not today. :P

To see what other quilters are working on, go check out Judy's blog.

UFO focus for January

2010-01-02T14:57:00.003-05:00

I guess it is time for me to get serious about the UFO challenge I joined for this year. Nancy has declared that the UFO to complete for January will be number four on our list. For me, that means I will finish my OP quilt. This is a complete quilt top, and is one of the newer ufo's from the list, as it is less than a year old. It would not have been my first choice for a finish, but I think it will be a nice lift for me on the grey January winter days here. I need to piece the backing still, but then I'm ready to go.

Another year is done already

2009-12-31T16:44:00.002-05:00

Here we are at the end of 2009 already. Is it just me, or did this year seem to fly by? Time just really gets away from me these days. At least I managed to finish some things this year. Thanks to Kris and May Britt, and their One Project a Month Challenge, I completed 25 items this year. And that feels pretty good to me. Of course, I still have a list of unfinished projects that is much longer than I am comfortable with. And don't even ask me about the list of things I haven't even started on but have the supplies for already. Hopefully I will still like those when I finally get around to making them.

I am still committed to finishing up some of my UFO's. I have joined the UFO challenge at the Patchwork Penguin for 2010. I like how it is set up. And the target is 10 quilts finished in 2010. One for each of the first ten months. My only hesitation was selecting the ten ufo's I would commit to finishing. But I have made my choices and posted them on my side bar, with links to photos of each in their current state. The list represents about a third of my unfinished quilts. If I can finish all 10 on my list in 2010, I will be thrilled. If I somehow manage to finish even more from my big list, I will be overjoyed. Wish me luck.

Final design wall Monday of the year

2009-12-28T11:47:00.006-05:00

These blocks are part of Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas mystery quilt. I had more parts completed, but I am currently in the process of redoing them.

Broken dishes blocks that have been unstitched.

Mine turned out mis-sized. Even though Bonnie clearly stated in her instructions the importance of checking to be sure your units were coming out the correct size. I guess I thought she was directing that to those who are less experienced quilters. My mistake.

I've found that pinning actually helps get a more accurate finished block. Who knew?

I suppose doing piecework in the wee hours of the night when you can't sleep isn't such a great idea. But what else was I supposed to do for the 12 nights hubby was away at deer camp? I thought it was a great set-up. I moved a sewing cabinet into the living room where I could watch movies as I sewed. Seemed like a great idea at the time. In hind sight, maybe not.

These will need to be pinned too.

I will say, I like what the finished quilt looks like on Bonnie's site. But I think I will change out the final border when I get that far.

Oh, I did manage a couple more finishes this week. My little laundry wall hanging is done. I think it will actually end up as a doll quilt.

My other finish is another purse. I think it will be good for spring.

If you want to see what other quilters are working on, check out Judy's blog.

Another finish in time for Christmas giving

2009-12-21T18:58:00.004-05:00

Here it is another Monday and I still have nothing new on my design wall. We have kids home from college and have been busy with Christmas celebrations. That has left no free time for me to play. But, I do have a finish to share. This one had to get done, as it is a Christmas gift.

If you want some more inspiration, head on over to Judy's blog and check out some other quilter's design walls.

Not exactly my design wall...

2009-12-14T14:28:00.007-05:00

...but here are the things I've been working on. First up is a finish! This is my version of Judy L.'s Bears in the Farmhouse quilt. I am very happy to be done with this one. I am giving this one as a gift for Christmas.

I still have one more quilt to finish before Christmas. I know I'm cutting things close, but these gifts were actually afterthoughts. I'm not organized enough to think far enough ahead to have already finished gift quilts. It's just not how I roll. And I usually work well under pressure, so I am confident this will be done in time as well. It's all pin-basted and ready to quilt. I even have a quilting plan decided. :)

And finally, I am working on this wall hanging. It is a pattern from Darlene Zimmerman's Clothesline Club. I was having a hard time finishing it as the pattern suggested. (I imagine a few of my loyal readers are detecting a pattern here. It seems I just cannot make a quilt exactly like a pattern shows.) She scalloped the outside edge on her quilt and did not have prairie points. I left my outer edge straight and added the prairie points instead.

I don't anticipate having anything new on my design wall for the rest of this month, seeing as Christmas is almost upon us. But, you never know.

To see what other quilter's have up on their design walls, check this out!

So many unfinished quilts ...

2009-12-02T08:54:00.004-05:00

Lone star top made with fabrics I dyed. I'm guessing from 2005?

... and plenty of time to work on them. So why don't I have more finished? That is something I struggle with. In my sewing room there are more than a dozen quilt tops that need quilting. A lot more than a dozen. I won't count them, that would be too embarrassing to admit.

Swap Block quilt top. Blocks swapped in 2006, top made in 2008.

Most have backing fabric and bindings already. I probably even have a half-dozen quilt batts. So, if I could just get into the mindset to quilt some of them, that would be great. My main problem is, I don't really enjoy the quilting part of the process. And I don't have the money in my budget to pay someone else to quilt them for me. (At least not very many of them.)

Can't even tell you when this was pieced.

Most people probably wouldn't worry about how many unfinished quilts they have. But I also have at least a dozen projects still in the works. Some I am working on the piecework. Some are just fabrics and patterns waiting their turn.

Nine patch top. Blocks were swapped in 2006-07. I'm still stitching the top together.

And I feel guilty working on them, when there are so many unfinished quilts already. Still, I feel the need to change up what I am working on regularly. It helps me keep the creative juices flowing.

Made this top in 2007, I think.

So I am going to start working on another new project. I collected the fabrics for this quilt last year. And I would love to have it completed to have out next winter. So I will be trying to tackle this on a block-a-month basis. Well, the stitch will be a block each month anyways. I plan to add the pieced blocks in a couple a month as well. I'm starting this month. Will I get this one done as planned? Um, your guess is as good as mine. (My guess is probably not, but anything is possible!) And here's why...

Wrought in 2007...still not quilted in 2009. Oh well.

2009-11-30T08:30:00.006-05:00

It's Monday, and once again I have something on my design wall. For starters, I have a new wall. I used to have a sheet of flannel attached to my wall with Velcro fastening tape. It was only attached at the top of the wall. Blocks had a tendency to fall off when the flannel was disturbed by air movement. Now I have some insulation boards covered in flannel and screwed into my wall. I haven't had much chance to try it out yet, but I think I'm going to like this new version better.

Some of the blocks for my recent project.

My current piecing project is a crib quilt. I am using a pattern from the book Scrap Basket Surprises. My quilt will be a variation of the quilt 'A Little Tangy'. I'm still trying to decide which way to go with this one. Although the pattern calls for a completely scrappy fabric selection, I am using a constant fabric in each block. But I'm not sure if I want to alter the placement of the of the constant fabric. If I do, I'll get this quilt.

Or, I could put the constant fabric in the same position each block. That would give me a quilt that looks like this one.

Either way, I think I will be happy with the end result.

Need more inspiration? Head over to Judy's blog for more links to check out.

Design Wall Monday

2009-11-23T06:02:00.006-05:00

With my recent quilt finish, I am once again free to work on other projects. Thank goodness! I have so many things I want to finish, as well as some to start . Yesterday I worked on my project from last month's clothesline club. This is what the quilt was supposed to be.

It isn't very big; a small lap size at best. I had hoped it might be large enough to use as a table covering for my dining room table, as I currently keep it a smaller size. But this quilt was too small even for that. So I decided to rework it a bit to see if I could make it work for something. On my design wall today you can see my changed design.

I think it is going to make a cute Christmas tree skirt. The inner corners of the outer border are not yet stitched. They are only pinned for now. I wanted to make sure it would lie flat before I stitched them.

To see what is on some other quilter's design walls this week, check out Judy's blog.

Edit: I finished the tree skirt! You can see it here.

It's Done

2009-11-22T09:09:00.003-05:00

Finally finished with this one. I hope Matt is happy with it. I am thrilled to be able to move on to other projects. I have a few more tops I'd like to get quilted soon. For now, I'm off to sew. :)

2009-11-11T07:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I taught a dozen women how to make a purse.

We had a five hour span of time in which to work.

Only two ladies actually finished with-in the allotted classtime.

Everyone worked hard.

But we all had fun.

And a couple of my students from my jacket class wore their finished jackets to class. I am very proud of them.

A new favorite quilting tool

2009-11-09T06:53:00.004-05:00

I have been mentioning Matt's quilt a lot lately. That is because I need to get it done. By Thanksgiving. That is my self-imposed final deadline. And it is November. Already. So I am down to the wire here.
Unfortunately, I was struggling with the large open areas that needed to be quilted. I had no idea what to put in them and even less of an idea how to mark it successfully. But I am happy to announce that I have turned a corner on this, thanks to my new favorite quilt marking tool, Golden Threads paper. It has made machine quilting on my regular home sewing machine a much more pleasant experience. I love, love, love this paper!

This is Matt's quilt with a couple of the quilted motifs stitched through the paper.

I have known about this product for quite a while, but had never given it a try. Why, oh why, have I never used this before? I have been a long-time fan of printing quilting lines on paper and pinning them onto my quilts as quilting guides. But it has always been difficult to pull all the little bits of paper from the stitching. That is not an issue with the Golden Threads paper. It tears away cleanly. And now, back to the sewing room. I have a quilt to finish.

Here is one corner showing quilted motifs with the paper removed.

Back in the groove

2009-10-31T21:48:00.005-04:00

I'm starting to get back into my quilting groove. That makes me feel happy. Maybe it is the terrible weather that is helping, I'm not sure. But finally things are happening again in my sewing room. Hooray!

I spent last evening and all day today sewing. I finished a small quilt top that is intended to be a baby quilt one day. It isn't very babyish, in the traditional sense, but it works for me.

Plus I made nice progress on a Christmas quilt. (Sorry, no pic of that one yet.) And I have decided that I will use my favorite Borders on a Roll to help me finally finish Matt's quilt. No more excuses there, once I actually purchase the border papers. Here's a peek at Matt's quilt in it's present state.

Oh, and here is the purse I made last week. I really love it! I wish I had managed a better shot, but I think you get the idea. The pattern is Mini Bow Tucks. I'm excited about teaching this one. I think I have around 10 people signed up to take the class so far. Cool!

2009-10-29T16:41:00.003-04:00

In my last post, I mentioned the sweatshirt jacket class I taught at The Wooden Spool quilt shop. I made myself a jacket along with the class, and I finished mine last night.

This is the front view of my jacket.

And this is the back.

I like how it turned out, and as a bonus, this one fits. :) The last one I made finished too big. I may try reworking that one to make it fit.

I also managed to finish a pillow this month. It is made of orphan blocks left from the quilt I made for my bed.

And this sadly, is just about the full extent of my sewing/quilting for this month. The only other thing I made was the purse for my class next month. But I forgot to snap a picture of it before I dropped it off at the shop. I will try to get a pic this weekend and post it.

I'm ok, I've just been busy lately

2009-10-27T20:19:00.002-04:00

I didn't realize it has been so long since my last post. Life has thrown some interesting changes my way. The last of my kids has left the nest, as he has gone away to college. I would have thought that meant I'd have lots of free time to quilt. Somehow, that hasn't been the case. In fact, I have done very little quilting for the past two months. :(
Matt's quilt is still unfinished. I haven't even made any new progress on it. And he has been hinting that it is cold out and he needs it now. I will confess that it got pushed aside to work on a different project.
This month I taught my very first class at a local quilt shop, and I dropped all of my other projects to work on my class project, a quilted sweatshirt jacket. Today was our last class. It was a real learning experience for all of us. Most of my class are nearly finished with their jackets, and I am really impressed with how well they are turning out. We faced a few unexpected problems, but worked our way through them together. And in the end, we all had fun. I'm going to be teaching a purse class next month. :D
I do have a couple things nearly complete that I hope to have pictures of in the next couple days. No pictures for today, though.

I got two baby quilts finished :D

2009-09-02T16:22:00.004-04:00

Oh, yeah! You read that right. I have two quilts finished already this month. :) I wasn't working quite fast enough to finish them in August. But, both babies these are intended for have already been born, so I really needed to make finishing them a priority. It feels good to start the month on a positive note.

Where has my mojo gone?

2009-08-27T16:50:00.003-04:00

For the past week, I have been sidetracked away from the quilting that I want to be working on. This quilt needs to be finished, as the baby it is intended for has arrived. And so I am

hastily quilting away on it using my little featherweight sewing machine.

Poor Matt may get his quilt before the cold weather arrives, or he may not. It is partially quilted and waiting at my machine in my sewing room. Much more quilting is needed before it will be done. I just can't seem to force myself to sit down and quilt for long stretches of time right now. I think I've misplaced my quilting mojo.

However, I did manage another finish this month. Here is a little table runner that I made at clothesline club this month. This one is going to be gifted.

Tomorrow is strip club, where I will continue with the quilt I showed last post. That one is for a baby due to arrive on Sept 2.

Matt leaves for college Sept 6. I sure would like for him to be able to take along a finished quilt.

I guess I need to get busy.

Design Wall Monday

2009-08-17T16:47:00.003-04:00

It's Monday, and that means it's time for a peek at my design wall. Actually, this peek is at my portable design wall (aka a flannel backed tablecloth). These are blocks I will be making at the next strip club at my LQS. I want to be able to get this quilt done quickly, as it is a baby gift and the baby is due early September. So I am playing with color placement now, so I will be all ready to go.

Now What?

2009-08-16T18:16:00.004-04:00

This past week, I have been spending a great deal of my time out by the pool. It finally feels like summer here, and I want to take full advantage of it. So, I have not been in my sewing room. But I have been working on some handwork. I finished this top today.

You got a peak of it last month. I combined two different sources for this one. The background is based on the Bee Charmer from Oh Sew Charming! The flowers were taken from a couple of the blocks in the Aunt Millie's Garden pattern from Piece O'Cake Designs.

I can't tell just exactly what this wants to be. The Bee Charmer pattern was intended to be a wall hanging. It is also a good size for a table topper. But, I had so much fun working on this, I am wondering if I should use this as a center and expand around it to make something more substantially sized. Except that I used scraps for this so far. So it may take some doing finding the right fabrics to make any additions look like they belong. What should I do?

Too much socializing, not enough quilting

2009-08-11T11:31:00.003-04:00

There is not very much to report on the quilting front. I am currently trying to finish machine quilting my son's quilt. I am making progress, but I still have a long ways to go. I don't have a picture of that quilt to show just yet. But my son moves off to college in less than a month, so I will plug away at that quilt until it is finished.

I haven't done much other quilting lately. However, I did finally finish the jacket I was working on. I'm thrilled to be done with it. Here it is.

The two bright fuscia strips on the lower front bother me. But, it will stay as is and I will get over it. Probably. Otherwise, I think it looks pretty good.

July finishes

2009-07-27T16:16:00.004-04:00

This has been a slow sewing month for me. I just wasn't in the groove, I guess. But I did manage to complete two things. They are projects from the Clothesline Club at the local quilt shop.

This little topper actually looks much better in real life. It is shown on an ottoman and is not lying flat in the photo.

The only other thing I have accomplished this month is I have this quilt layered, pinned and ready for quilting. The plan is to have it finished before someone leaves for college. We'll see how it goes.

A va-cay, a b-day, but no new progress to display because I've been away

2009-07-17T06:13:00.004-04:00

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Last week was our annual family camping trip for my side of the family. My siblings, their kids, our parents and sometimes a few additional tag-a-longs camp together and we always have a good time. We stay at one of our beautiful state park campgrounds, which varies from year to year. This year we camped at Muskegon State Park on Lake Michigan.

Of course, camping doesn't mean I can't do any quilting. This year I brought along supplies to do some hand applique work. This particular project still had a long way to go before it is done. You will get to see more when the applique is complete. For now, you will have to settle for this peek.

As luck would have it, my birthday, which I share with my nephew's fiance, happened to be during our camping trip. So we made the family announcement board that was proudly displayed for all to see. (Thanks to my niece, Mallory, who was in charge of keeping us all informed of the news.) And because I had a birthday, I got to grace my picnic table with these...

Kind of gave the campsite an upscale look. I think everyone should have roses on their picnic table. :D

Hiding away in my cool basement sewing room...

2009-06-25T15:54:00.003-04:00

...because it is really hot and humid here. And we don't have air conditioning. :( So my choices to beat the heat include sitting in the pool or in my sewing room. Consequently, I'm getting a few things accomplished quilt-wise.

Remember the scrappy zigzag top from last post? Well, here's what it looks like now that it is done. (The three dark straight lines going across the top half of it are shadows from the clothesline.)

I am calling it my Ode to Charlie Brown, because the zigzags remind me of his shirts. I used a couple different pieces of fabric on the back. Here's a peek at that, too.

Plus, I'm happy thrilled to report that I am in the process of putting the binding on the quilted sweatshirt jacket. Too bad it is going to be too big for me when it's done. No new pic of that one just yet.

And now, out to the pool.

Ketchup weekend, Design Wall Monday and other fun

2009-06-22T08:31:00.007-04:00

This past weekend was a Ketchup weekend organized by Pat Sloan. I do not have any block of the months started that I needed to get caught up with, but I did have something I wanted to make. So I got to work on a quilted sweatshirt jacket. I made some good progress, but still have a ways to go.

Here is what I have so far.

I'm not sure I like it, but I will wait until I'm finished to form my final opinion.

Judy L. has been doing a feature called Design Wall Monday, where she shows what is on her wall and shares links to other quilter's blogs and design walls. I think it is fun to see what other quilters are working on, so I decided to share the state of my design wall today.

Here's a peek at what I'm playing with this week.

These are nine-patch blocks from some swaps I did a couple years ago. I made one quilt with my swap blocks last year. And I had all but about about a dozen of the black/white setting blocks needed for this one already made. So I whipped those up and am now ready to make up the quilt top. I will probably shuffle the nine-patches around a bit, until I like the balance before I start stitching them together.

And speaking of playing with swap blocks, this is what came off my wall before I put up the nine-patches. I swapped these blocks last year with some internet friends. The swap did not result in a lot of blocks, and I was going to make more so I could get a decent sized quilt. But, I am really trying to finish things, so I put my blocks up on the wall just to see what I could do with them. The result is a small quilt top, probably a good baby quilt size. It works for me, so I'm going with it.

The block pattern for this one came from Bonnie over at Quiltville. I chose this setting for the blocks, but there are so many great ways to play with them for different looks.

Two finishes this week :D

2009-06-12T07:34:00.003-04:00

Yes, you read that right, I got two quilts finished this week. I feel pretty good about that. Maybe I will get the UFO list down to a reasonable size before the end of the year.

Tisket a Tasket Quilt- pattern from the book 'More Strip Clubbing'

It has been a real struggle for me not to buy fabric for new projects. In fact, there is a shop hop going on in my area this week, but I have decided not to participate. I just don't need any more distractions than I have already.

Four Patches and Friends quilt- pattern from the book 'Open a Can of Worms'

And speaking of distractions, I made a couple new bags this week from the stash. I wanted a new beach bag to take camping this summer. And I had so much fun making it, that I made two. I'm not sure what I will do with the other one yet. I got the pattern here.

So Sew easy Schlep Bags-pattern from Sentimental Stitches.com

A day of sewing brings progress

2009-06-04T07:48:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was open sewing day at my local quilt shop and I was lucky enough to be able to go. I don't know why, but I always seem to be able to get more done when I go compared to what I can do if I am at home in my sewing room. And I definitely made good use of my time yesterday. I took several things along to work on, including two quilts that I got back from the long-arm quilter last week. I am thrilled to say that I got both quilts trimmed and they have the binding machine stitched down and are ready for the hand stitching to finish them up. That will be my busy work during TV time for a while.

I also finally got the outer border on my woolly flower quilt top. I have been putting it off for over a year, as I wanted the border to be more than just a plain border. Here is what I finally decided on. I am happy to have it finished.

Now I just need to figure out how to quilt this thing. Any suggestions?

Last day of May already?

2009-05-31T20:38:00.004-04:00

This month has just flown by. I wish I had lots of quity goodness completed to show for my time. I have been doing just a little sewing. And making tiny bits of progress on some projects. But, I have only one finish for the month.

A question or two for you

2009-05-19T07:45:00.003-04:00

I have been sewing for most of my life. I started out sewing clothing. At first just for myself, then for my kids.Eventually my quilting took over, and now I do almost no clothing construction. It's pretty much all about quilting for me.

The owner of my local quilt shop mentioned that many of her quilting customers have only experience with quilting, but have no idea how to construct a piece of clothing following a pattern. So now I am wondering how common that is. Do you do any sewing other than quilting? And if you wanted to learn to make a non quilt item, what would it be? What sewing skill would you like to learn?

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T09:47:00.005-04:00

Today I want to wish all the moms reading this a Happy Mother's Day! I hope you get a chance to spend some time with your loved ones, as I will. I will share with you the beautiful flowers I got from my son who had to leave Friday for his summer classes at the university. Thanks, Kyle.

Kyle

I come from a large family, and am happy to say that my parents are still here with us. As is typical of all kids, I never fully appreciated all that my parents did for me until I had kids of my own. So let me just say "Thanks, Mom!" I know how lucky I am to be your daughter. I always knew I was loved and you were always there when I needed you. What a great role model I have!

My mom with my daughter, Annie, on her wedding day last year. Two beautiful ladies.

And I would like to add another "Thanks, Mom!"to the other mom in my life, my husband's mom. I love your son more than I ever knew was possible. And I know that much of what he is, he is because of how he was raised. He, too, was blessed with good role models as parents.

My other mom

I love being a mom. I cannot imagine my life without my kids. My youngest is making plans to go away for college in the fall. The last to leave the nest. I hope that I did my job as mother well enough. I know I sure tried.

My youngest, Matt

In a quilting funk

2009-04-26T09:10:00.004-04:00

Note: I came back and edited this post to add a picture of the apron and made a couple other changes/additions as well.

I'm not sure why exactly, but I don't seem to have accomplished much lately. I have done a bit of sewing. My bear claw quilt top is finished. Judy called hers "Bears in the Farmhouse", but I think mine needs to be called "I Bear the Long Michigan Winters by Dreaming of Hawaii". The floral border fabric kind of reminds me of leis.

And I have made some progress on my Time to Water quilt as well. This one has taken a bit of thinking for me, as the fabric was purchased with a specific outcome in mind, but I had not marked it or cut it. And since two years (yikes!) have passed since I bought it, I could not remember which fabrics went where in the quilt. Here is a picture showing a bit of progress. I'm working on a flowerpot border for it now.

Since it took a few days to add the apron photo, I have a bit more done on this top. Here is how it looks today as it hangs on my design wall.

I did finish one thing so far this month. It is an apron from the Clothesline Club at our local quilt shop. It's not really my style, so it will probably be gifted to someone eventually. Here is a peek.

My happy scrappy house quilt is still not done. But it is partially quilted, and shouldn't take too long to finish up. There has been a lot going on here, so it won't likely happen this week. This is what I have so far. And yes, it really is still sitting in that position just waiting for me to come back and finish. Someday. Soon. I hope.

Update

2009-03-28T18:07:00.004-04:00

I started out on a high note today and have been progressing downwards at an alarming rate. Why is it that whenever I proclaim it to be a quilting day, interruptions come from all directions? I have gotten a little accomplished, but not nearly as much as had hoped. And I'm at a standstill for now, as there are a bunch of kids hanging with my son down near my sewing space. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. I did get the strip quilt top done. I really like how this one turned out. It has a happy feeling, I think.

Plus, I got all my half-square triangles made and trimmed for the next border on the bear paw top. Now I am changing gears and will work on a little hand applique. It wasn't a priority for today, but it needs to be done and I can do that away from the noise of the kids.

Spring is in the air

2009-03-28T11:36:00.004-04:00

...and I am feeling a surge in creative juices. This has been a good week for me and my quilting. There was a shop hop to our south that introduced me to several wonderful quilt shops I had never been to. And although I bought very little during the hop, I know I will be making return visits to several of them when I am ready to begin something new. But for now, I am still trying to focus my efforts on completing those that have already been started.

And those efforts were helped along this week because I only had my granddaughter here for one day. So I have been busy stitching away. I even managed to finish something! This was a kit I bought several years ago. I had joined a table runner program with a quilt shop and they sent me five table runner kits spread out over a year. Can you guess how many still remain unmade? As of this week, four! And even this one isn't really as it was intended to be. But, it is done! And I am moving on- no regrets.

I think this one is very well timed to decorate my table for the Easter season. It really isn't "me", but I have decided to embrace it anyways.

This is another project I have been working on this week. I swapped house blocks with some ladies from an internet group I used to manage. They were a rather odd combination of colors and styles and I was having a terrible time imagining how I could ever make them work together. This is what I ended up with. I think it works. I hope to get this quilted today so I can add another item to my finishes for the month.

And speaking of quilting today, this is another quilt-a-thon weekend with Judy L. My goals for this weekend include quilting and binding the Happy Houses quilt, completing the final three borders to my bear paw quilt, and finishing my current strip club quilt top. I will post progress as I make it. Until then, I'm back to my sewing room. :D

A flimsy excuse for not blogging

2009-03-23T16:25:00.005-04:00

I know I have been neglecting my readers again. But for once it is not because I have no progress to report. I have actually been quite busy lately. Even with my new commitment to care for my granddaughter three days a week, I have managed to make some progress on my quilts. I wish I could report some finishes of complete quilts. But, I have managed to complete a few tops and make progress on another. So here is my show and tell for today. The pictures aren't the best, as the lighting was bad, but hopefully they will suffice.

First up is my OP top. All the boarders are on, the binding is cut and backing fabric is purchased, so this one is all ready to go, once I get a couple other quilts quilted. Yippee!

Next up we have one of my strip night projects. I think I started this one in November or December. I'm not putting any borders on this one, so it is a completed top. But I don't have a backing fabric for this one, so it will just get added to the someday pile.

This was my project for last month's strip night. I feel pretty good about getting this top done before our next strip night meeting. I think this is the only one I have been able to say that about so far. Most of mine have taken me more than one month to complete. I will even admit that I still have one unfinished strip night project from last year. But I am on the fence with that top. I may be passing that one on to somebody else, as it just isn't speaking to me.

And finally, I got the next step completed for my quilt along with Judy project. All the blocks are together and a couple of borders are attached. Next up will be a half-square triangle border and then a couple more plain borders and it will be done too. Phew! It feels good to be making some progress. And I still have another week to finish something before the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Tops, blocks, and some other distractions

2009-03-07T10:11:00.003-05:00

This week has been a bit slow for me quilting-wise. I have made some progress on my orange pile (OP) top. It is assembled all except the final border. I really appreciated all the suggestions on which colors to use to set the blocks. I finally decided to choose according to what I think the intended future owner would like. This is what it looks like as of now.

I plan to add an orange outer border to finish it off.

I also got some blocks completed this week for Judy's sew-along. We are making a bear paw quilt. She sends us instructions in steps and gives us a deadline to have that step complete. We then have to complete the step and send her a photo of the progress by the deadline to get the next step. Some of you who know me may think that I am taking a chance making a top this way. After all, I do tend to flit from project to project rather unexpectedly. But, I knew what quilt we were making before we started and I am confident I can finish this one even if I miss a deadline. Plus, she will make the pattern available for purchase after the sew-along so I have a back-up plan in place. No worries, see? Want to see what I have so far? I knew you would!

I'm trying to work out of my normal comfort zone here. These colors are so not me. I pulled everything for this quilt from my stash. I have a lot of blue in my stash. I have decided that is because I buy it but I never use it. I think I foresee another bluish quilt in my near future(OK, maybe not too near, but I need to use more of those blue fabrics).

As for the other distractions listed in the title of my post...

I have had my granddaughter here for a couple days this weeks. I think she is absolute joy.

Who can concentrate on sewing when you have this happy face looking at you?

A finish for February

2009-02-25T20:59:00.003-05:00

But it's not one you might think. As is typical for me, I jumped to another project before completing the one I was working on. That quilt, blogged about in my last post, is on my wall as a partially completed top. I intend to finish that top tomorrow, if all goes well.

Today's finish was inspired by Elizabeth. She made the cutest little quilts for her dogs. Those of you who aren't pet owners probably think that is a complete waste. But I thought it might be the answer to a problem we are having with our dog, Sadie.

Since we took the carpeting out of our room last week, she is having a hard time sleeping on the cold, hard laminate flooring. And she won't sleep in the new doggie bed we bought for her. So I followed Elizabeth's lead and made her a quilt. I changed mine up a bit and used some blocks that were left over from the quilt I made for our bed. Here's what we ended up with.

I think she likes it.

Easily Distracted

2009-02-22T14:47:00.004-05:00

I had the best intentions of having a pile of half-square triangles made by now. I got as far as printing my template papers out. But, while I was waiting for them to print, I opened my EQ software to play with setting ideas for the OP quilt. Twenty-something quilt variations later, I think I have it narrowed down to one of three possibilities.

I'm not sure I have enough fabric on hand for any of them, so actual sewing will likely have to wait until I can make it to the fabric store. These are the options I am considering, in no particular order. What do you think? Does any one in particular speak to you?

Time for an update

2009-02-22T10:09:00.003-05:00

This is what I managed to accomplish yesterday. My blocks are all completed and up on the design wall. I am still working out what I want to use for my sashing fabric, setting triangles and borders. I think I will let this hang for a day or two until it tells me what it wants. I am going with the on point setting, as I like the hugs and kisses look to it.

As I pieced my blocks I also used Bonnie's leaders and enders technique to make these fun little blocks. They will get put to use in a crumb quilt some day. So naturally, I saved the trimmings from my OP blocks too. They are going to make some tasty crumbs! The plan for today is to make

a load of half-square triangle blocks. Happy stitching friends!

Quilting at Jane speed

2009-02-21T11:21:00.003-05:00

For those who know me well, you may have guessed from the title of this post that I am behind in my sewing. Pretty typical of me. I am fairly easily distracted. I had just got my fabrics cut when it was time to leave for dinner out with hubby and some friends last night. I thought
I might have time to sew the blocks when we got home. Instead, we had our friends over for some friendly card games.

I headed straight for the sewing room when I got up this morning. I made some pretty good progress before hubby declared we should go out for breakfast. This is what I have so far.

To be fair, that isn't the whole truth. I do have one completed bock. Here it is.

The good new is that I am back home and ready to get in at least a couple good hours of sewing. After all, it's perfect stay home and sew all day weather here.

Double Whammy Weekend!!

2009-02-20T17:16:00.003-05:00

This weekend is chock full of opportunity for quilters. Over at Pat Sloan's blog, she is hostessing

an OP (orange pile) challenge in the form of a virtual retreat. It is a chance for quilters to pull out their orange fabrics, pair it with another color or two and make some fun blocks.

Also this weekend is another of Judy's Quilt-a-thon's, where you will get yet another chance to do some quilting and see what fellow quilters are doing around the world. I plan to play with my fabric as much as possible. Won't you join in?

A room redo leaves little time for quilting

2009-02-15T19:59:00.003-05:00

I wish I could say that I have been accomplishing great things on the quilting front. But my spare time has been pretty minimal this week. Hubby and I are working on a bedroom redo and things here are a bit in turmoil. We have cleared our things from our room and are temporarily relocated into what used to be our son's room. Unfortunately, there was already quite a bit of stuff in the room, so we are cramped for space. Hopefully the room will be finished soon. This is my reality for now. :(

We spent today installing a new floor. We had carpet in the room. We are replacing it with laminate flooring. I think it will be much more practical for us. Next up will be a fresh coat of paint and some new trimwork. Doesn't my hubby look like he's working hard?

A Fish Tale and A couple questions

2009-02-08T18:38:00.006-05:00

Hubby and I took a little vacation out of state for a week. I stayed with my sister-in-law near Minneapolis while hubby and his brother went ice fishing in northern Minnesota. They stayed in a shanty out on the ice for three nights- sorta in the fashion of the "Grumpy Old Men" movie. The women were too smart for that. This was the temperature on one of the nicer sunny days near Minneapolis.

Hubby reported nighttime temps got to 35 degrees F below zero. But they had fun. As did we women.We hit the Mall of America, where we got to touch a shark and a ray. And we made it to several antique stores. And of course I had to stop at a few quilt shops.Didn't buy much, but I enjoyed the company.

Anyways, while I was at my sister-in-laws, I used their computer to show her my blog. But my background did not show up on her computer. I can see it as plain as day on mine. So my first question is "Can you see the quilt background on my blog?" It is tiles of the same quilt block on my blog title. I'm curious, since I wouldn't want to go to the bother of stylizing my blog if nobody but me can see it.

Onto something quilty. I didn't think to bring my camera along while I visited the quilt shops in Minnesota. That thought occurred to me after I got back home. Oh well. Yesterday was open sew at a local quilt shop here at home and I took some blocks to work on. I did manage to complete them all. That makes me happy. :) Here they are on my design wall.

Well, most of them anyways. My flannel isn't large enough to fit the final row. But, you can see enough to answer my other question. Right now they are layed out somewhat according to color of the lighter fabrics. But I am not sure I like it this way. So here is my other question. "Should I leave it like this, or do you think I should just have the block placement be completely random? Oh, and yes I know that one of the blocks is turned the wrong way.

I guess I lied...

2009-01-26T16:04:00.004-05:00

...sort of. I had intended the star quilt for Matt to be my next finished quilt. And I have been making progress on it. I have most of the quilting designs for it figured out. But it isn't layered and ready to go yet.

I did finish a different quilt though. This is one I thought up back in 2005. It is one I plan on keeping in my Jeep Liberty for when we road trip. For some strange reason, my dear hubby is always cold when we take long trips. So he blasts the heater until he's warm; or until I roll my window down because I am sweating profusely and can no longer stand my stench. Of course in the summer I blast the air conditioning because I'm hot, but dear hubby will be too cold. How could we be so miss-matched body temperature wise?

Anyways, now there will be a nice little lap-quilt for my honey to use if he gets too cold. Nothing fancy, but it matches the inside of my car very nicely.

My first finishes of 2009!

2009-01-17T22:17:00.005-05:00

Yes, I said finishes!! Despite the best efforts of my husband to keep me busy and distracted all day, I finally managed to sneak down into my sewing room this evening. And in the process, I completed two items I was working on last weekend. The first is the mystery table runner kit that I purchased over a year ago. Here it is, done and sitting where it will be residing in my sewing room. It is topping one of my cubby shelf units.

My second finish is my drunkards path table topper. I made the top last year from a charm packet, but I was struggling with finishing it. I just wasn't happy with the borders on it. But after a little brainstorming, I found a solution I like. Here's a peek.

Next in line for a finish is the quilt I'm making for Matt, my youngest son. Still trying to decide how to quilt it.

I've accepted the challenge

2009-01-14T15:06:00.002-05:00

...to finish a quilting project a month this year. This may not seem like such a big deal to some of you. But I have a very large supply of unfinished quilting projects. And I also have a fairly good sized supply of projects that I have all the materials for, but have not yet started. And I really feel like it is time to finish some of them up and get them out of my space. So, I am joining May Britt and Kris, as well as an ever growing number of stitchers, in my effort to complete at least one project each month this year. If you want to join in, you can click the button on my sidebar for more information.

Our Family's Dollar Gift Exchange

2009-01-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

Every year, my mom's side of the family gathers to celebrate Christmas. Some years, it is the only time we see many of the extended family members. It is usually a pretty informal gathering where everyone brings a dish to share and a gift to exchange. When we were kids, all of us got gifts. Then we switched to a name drawing for the gift exchange. When my generation started getting married and having kids however, we changed the way we did things. Now everyone brings a gift that cost a dollar.

As you might imagine, most of these gifts are pretty lame. Some are even downright stupid. A few are amazingly great bargains. Fewer are truly a thrill to receive, but that isn't really the point. Everyone can afford to participate, and everyone gets a gift to open. Besides, with our family, how you package the gift you bring is much more important than what is inside.

We play a game to determine who gets which gift. And during the course of the game, gifts tend to get passed to different people. But none are opened until the game is done. It's a lot of fun watching as people try to get possession of a gift whose wrapping speaks to them. And even more fun to watch as they open that gift to see what treasure lies within.

As you can see from the photos, creativity flows through the entire family. This is a pretty good representation of what you would expect to find for gifts at our dollar gift exchange.

Would you like to know what is inside some of these lovelies?

This blinking noes was on the deer.

This package of matches was inside the nifty campfire!

Or how about this cute make-up purse in what was likely the most masculinely wrapped package?

Don't you wish you could have played along with us?

Maybe then you could have been the lucky recipient of this magic wand!

Sewing room organization

2009-01-12T06:10:00.004-05:00

I am lucky enough to have a room dedicated to my sewing/quilting. It's about 12'x13' in size, and I am thrilled to have it. But I wish it were larger. I have so much stuff that I am constantly battling to keep the room workable. Part of my problem was the result of having to put a large storage cabinet on one of my two walls that have power outlets and no windows. The other

windowless wall holds my design wall. The remaining two walls in the room have windows and no power outlets. And they are foundation walls, so the lower four feet of them bump into the room about four inches more than the upper part of the walls do. Because of this set-up, I have had a constant struggle trying to arrange my sewing furniture so that I am able to get power where I need it. Until now.

This year I got some new shelving units for Christmas. And they are low enough to be placed along a window wall, so I was finally able to move the bulky cabinet out of the room. What a difference that has made!

Quilt-a-thon day two

2009-01-11T22:25:00.004-05:00

I did not make too much progress today with my quilting. It seems that the moment I mention that I am participating in a quilt-a-thon, my attention is suddenly being demanded by family members. Oh well.

I got the runner from yesterday quilted. The binding is cut and ready to go, but will have to wait until later this week. I had hoped to finish that one up today. I also intended to finish this one up.

But, I only managed to get it layered and ready to quilt. So it will also have to wait for another day.

Quilt-a-thon in progress

2009-01-11T09:51:00.003-05:00

Well, it is that time again. Judy L. is hostessing the first quilt-a-thon of the year over at Patchwork Times. And while I am perfectly capable of getting a bit of quilting done on my own, I find it much more fun when I feel like I have someone else quilting with me.

This weekend I am focusing on two things. One is finishing up with the reorganization of my quilting space. But I will save all that for a later post. My other focus is working on some kits I purchased on-line over the past year or so. These kits were sold as mystery quilts, so I had no idea what I was getting, other than a table topper kit, or a lap quilt kit. And the kits were originally intended as gifts. But when I saw them, I decided against that. One of the kits was actually short some pieces. But I only caught that while I was working on it, so I am really glad I did not give it as a gift. I had to add the green fabric to the top below to make up for the missing fabric. As you can see, it was a pretty substantial omission on the part of the quilt shop. That shop no longer exists, by the way. I'm not at all surprised by that, are you?

What I have learned this weekend is this- I do not enjoy working on quilts where someone else has planned the fabrics and colors and all. In fact, I find it excruciatingly difficult. I know it is my inner control freak combined with my left-hander's right brain demanding creative control. And I think from now on, I surrender. My quilts need to be all my own choices.

Will I need to relearn this lesson again one day? Probably. That's just me. Will I finish these quilts? Umm, the first one shown, yes; the other two probably not. I will use the runner in my sewing room. The two smallish lap-quilt tops will not likely ever be finished by me. I just don't like them. In fact, I think I will give them away. That way they won't clutter my sewing space.