Going through quilting withdrawal

Since Tuesday afternoon I've been in Pierre - our state capital for some training. Pierre sits on the beautiful Missouri River, and it has stopped raining finally to allow for some lovely spring weather. This training has been excellent - stretching the mind and working with terrific colleagues from across the state.

HOWEVER - I'm going through quilting withdrawal. Except for bring the baby quilt along and finishing the handwork on the binding, I've not been able to do any sewing. And I had no opportunity to even visit the little quilt shop here in Pierre.

I've set this post to pop up as I drive home - to my husband, my cat, my house, and my quilting room. Looking forward to the weekend.

Dresden plate pillow

These little dresden plate pieces are part of another "small project" that I worked on over the weekend. The finished pieces are going to end up appliqued on a pillow - with a very interesting background behind it.

Each plate piece starts out as the wedge in the upper left. Fold over the wide end and sew across, then open it up, and press it out to form the point. Very quick and easy, especially when you have the right ruler.

More on this later, as the project progresses.

Supersash #4

Here is the 4th supersashed block from my Wildflower friendship exchange project. I had a goal to finish this quilt top in April, but I don't have confidence that I'll manage to do that in the next week due to my crazy work schedule.

But I'm one step closer. One more supersash to go and this one is going to be a Rail Fence. Since this quilt has a lot of yellow and a lot of aqua in the blocks, I'm trying to bring out the other colors in the supersashing. I love this lime green. And I always love pinwheels.

More on small projects

Another of my small project work on Saturday was to add the blanket stitching (by machine) on the May mini wall hanging from the Count On It book. The only thing left to do on this one is the hand work. I plan to add just a touch of hand quilting to give it some stability and some texture.

And since I started with April, I'm also working backwards and got the March one blanket stitched as well. It still needs to be sewn together with its backing, and then do the hand work. But first it needs to have all of the threads pulled to the back, tied off, and clipped.

Lots of little projects today

I have been working on a number of small projects today. Each item was something that was laying on my cutting table or on the back corner of my sewing table. My goal for the weekend was to clear up those items and have some things ready for hand work later in the week.

This pile of half square triangles - 48 of them - needs to be trimmed and then will become the pinwheel shown below. OK - I only have 44 left to trim! 12 pinwheels will become the 4th supersashing for my Wildflower quilt. Only 1 more to go after that and I can begin laying out the quilt top. Tomorrow I'll post some of my other "little projects" that I've been working on today.

distracted from sewing

I have accomplished NOTHING even remotely related to quilting this week so far. But I've scanned a bunch of old photos belonging to my mother-in-law. That has been fun but is very time consuming.

I have some set aside to have her identify on my next visit.

Another supersashing & more rain

Home for lunch on this cold rainy day. Not sure how many in a row this is, but I'm SICK of wet cold weather! Folks north of us are getting snow again, so it could be worse.

So I decided to post a photo of the 3rd supersashing I finished up Sunday evening. I now have 3 blocks framed - each with a different large "supersash".

If I frame 5 of the original 12 blocks like this, then I need only 3 extra blocks (15 total) to make a medium sized quilt. If I frame 7 blocks like this then I'll need to make 9 extras (21 total) and it will make a full sized quilt.

HMMM? Which option will I choose? It will ultimately depend on how much fabric I have left.

Just One Star - times 6

These are in the mail today and headed to Moda for the Just One Star project. Two of them were made by Kelly, one was made by Yvonned, and the other three were made by me. The requirements were light background and either red or blue for the star. We have white, cream, and tan represented here for backgrounds. That tan just warms up the other two colors.

This Moda project is planning to make at least 100 quilts of valor for soldiers. I love knowing that my blocks will help keep a hero warm.

Pinwheel UFO top is done

Another UFO has joined the ranks of "ready to quilt". I made excellent use of my snow day yesterday. Along with a few other smaller projects, I put together this UFO top - a lap sized pinwheel quilt top.

The pinwheel blocks are made from some fat quarters that I bought some years ago on a shop hop bus trip. Naturally I had no idea what I was going to do with them at the time, but just liked the colors. The reds, blues, and golds just caught my eye.

The ladies at The Pin Cushion helped me select a border fabric a few weeks ago. Those gals have such excellent taste, and of course also know what they have in the store that might work. I like this one and it's simple enough that I may try machine quilting it myself. We'll see. I haven't found a back for it yet. But the tops is DONE.

Credit card disaster

I have fallen victim to credit card fraud and I'm mad as H*** about it. Yesterday I went into Sioux Falls for a late afternoon meeting. Before the meeting I stopped at 2 stores and used my credit card to make purchases: Dress Barn and Victoria's Secret. Both reputable stores! However, just a couple of hours later - after my meeting - I stopped at a quilt shop. Luckily I made a VERY SMALL purchase, because when the clerk ran my credit card it was declined. No problem - I used cash and left the store with my one yard of fabric, but on my drive home I kept thinking about that credit card. So I called the customer service number when I got home last night. Imagine my shock to find out someone was already using my credit card info to make other purchases - all in the Empire Mall in Sioux Falls!!!! Can't prove it, but Victoria's Secret is my suspicion since it is also in the mall - and because the young lady made me swipe the card twice because it supposedly didn't "read it" the first time. Of course the card is now cancelled and they've opened up a fraud investigation! ARGGGG!!! And today - to top off the week - we have a late spring snow storm turning everything white again. But I've decided that I'm making the best use of this snow day and QUILTING!!

Super-sashing start

Due to the luck of finding some additional yardage of the Wildflower fabrics - I've made a decision on the layout of the friendship exchange blocks. I stopped into the Fabric City shop in Rapid City last week while there for a conference. And they have this little "discount" room with all kinds of items on sale. And there were several bolts of Wildflower in that discount room, so I bought enough of several pieces to use the Super-Sashing layout for this quilt.

A couple of years ago our Saturday Sampler program featured a fun asymmetrical layout. We did our 12 blocks, but also included some extra blocks. Then several of the blocks are framed with this super-sized sashing - each one a unique pattern.

I've made one extra block so far, and also framed 2 of the exchange blocks in super-sashing. So I need to make the rest of the extra blocks, and put together the rest of the super-sashing sets.

It's a great start, and my goal is to have the top finished by the end of April.

Some much needed quilting therapy

After a couple of weeks without a chance to spend any time in my sewing room, today I was able to enjoy most of the afternoon at my sewing machine. The morning was spent at Saturday Sampler and then coffee with friends.

Here is block 3 of our Saturday Sampler - done in the traditional colorway I selected. And then done again in the black & white & bright I'm also doing. I still need to make a pink and white one for the bonus block to enter the drawing next month.

Then I worked on a couple of other things that I'll post tomorrow!

UFOs lost & found

It is kind of scary when Ifind things I had completely forgotten about. These red, black, and white blocks were tucked away in my sewing room and I stumbled on them while doing a little cleaning over the weekend. I have block of various sizes and shapes with a narrow black strip dividing them. I love the red popping out of these blocks.

This is a UFO with a birth date going back at least 6 years. I've added blocks over time, but then put it away altogether for some reason. I know the plan had been to keep adding some smaller blocks to keep building on the asymetrical look.

It is now hanging up closer to the front so that it becomes a WIP again soon. And that single block with no red in it may need a face lift. Maybe the littlest triangle needs to become red.

April UFO project

I didn't have any time to sew this weekend, but I did have some time to clean up my sewing room a little bit. Doing that always makes me see the UFO's hanging in the closet or folded into the drawers. So I've selected one to work on in April as one of my goals - my friendship exchange blocks made from the Wildflowers fabric line.

And here are my other April goals:

• bind the baby quilt in time for the baby shower


• bind the Frolic quilt


• UFO - put together my spring friendship exchange blocks into a top


• mail the "Just One Star" blocks to Moda


• continue hand quilting on wedding quilt (slow and steady)


• make more Heart Strings blocks from stash

March accomplishments

Well - March was not very productive as I reflect on it.

• bind Hearts & Stars quilt (DONE)


• bind Frolic quilt (pushed into the future again)


• finish top of baby quilt (DONE & delivered to be quilted)


• finish hand quilting the wedding quilt (still slowly working on this)


• find backing fabric for 2 quilts (found backing for only 1 of them)

I also did a couple of other items not on my list of course, but they were all small:

• cut out pieces for 2 quilted curling iron cases


• made a bag for my iPad


• made 2 tiny quilts to hang in a metal frame


• made my Saturday Sampler blocks


• made 10 pinwheel blocks for a charity quilt

April will hopefully be more fruitful in terms of quilting. And if spring would ever arrive and stay, maybe the golf course will be open. One can hope!

Missing in action

I have not posted since March 27 and haven't done any sewing for several days before that. I think I may be going through withdrawal!

Some very long work days, plus 5 days away for a conference, and now a few very long work days again. Whew!! The conference in San Francisco was terrific but going to sessions from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm is exhausting! We slipped away the final evening and went out to Fisherman's Wharf for supper and a little shopping. It had quit raining and we really enjoyed the sunshine and good food.

Back to real life and hopefully I'll find some time to do a little quilting "therapy" this week.