Breaking my own rules

Can you spot the mistake here?  This morning I paper pieced Ring 4 and Ring 5. Then I laid them out and realized - Ring 5 is going the wrong direction.  ARGGGG!!!  

I broke my own rule, which was to lay out each new ring behind the finished sections to make sure I have them all in the right order.  With this last ring today, I just followed the colors - thinking I knew what I was doing.  So now I get to pick teeny tiny little stitches out to separate those 9 sections. How aggravating!

May is in the rear view mirror

Well - here is what I have accomplished this month in terms of the goals I set:

• 3 green RSC14 blocks - DONE
• 2 Saturday Sampler blocks - DONE
• 1 patriotic block to go with the 1st one - DONE
• South Dakota mug rug for the raffle - DONE
• finish the scrappy pillow - NO
• UFO - bind a quilt (Wishin' For Spring or red Fat Quarter Stars) - NO

And I did complete a NEW project too:

• South Dakota 10-minute table runner

Spicy Spiral is BOO-tiful

This was fun - and after cutting the wedges last night I realized that I had more time to do some sewing too. Next thing I knew the whole top was finished.  I think I'll put muslin on the back of this.

It is supposed to rain this weekend so maybe I will finish this project, and then work on my paper pieced project again.  If it doesn't rain . . . then I'll play some golf instead.  Or maybe I'll get to do both.

Favorite new sewing notion

Numbered pins have become my new favorite notion, especially when trying to keep strip sets in the right order.  These are just terrific!

The strip sets are for a Spicy Spiral table runner with a Halloween theme.  I made a patriotic version of the Spicy Spiral a couple of years ago and just knew I wanted to make another one. Too much time on Pinterest (in the middle of the night when I had insomnia) - and I've found several color schemes I liked. But my decision was easy and I just had to pull 8 fun Halloween fat quarters.  Can't wait to start cutting the wedges from these strip sets.

Shazam - Ring 3

Ring 3 is laid out with the existing sections and ready to be stitched on, which will be done by hand with 9 thread color changes.  Here is the back . . .

And here is a rough look at how it will look from the front.

It's finally summer!

After a long cold winter, and long chilly spring, we finally got summer this weekend. Just in time for some fun in the sun. On Saturday we spent the day celebrating this little guy's 3rd birthday with a picnic in a huge park and a visit to a butterfly house and aquarium. 

On Sunday we met some friends for lunch and golf at their local course. I had my best score ever and actually broke 100.  It may never happen again, but I can say I did it once. And on Monday my husband and I played golf again.  So . . . not much sewing happened over the holiday weekend. But I did start row 3 on my Shazam project.

Shazam Ring 2

Hand stitching these rings is another challenge for my skills. They are hard to hold onto.  And changing thread colors every couple of inches makes for slow going. But ring #2 is being added. Then 3 more rings to go.

Design Wall Monday

The center and ring 1 are basted together on my Shazam project, lining up the colors.  One third of ring 2 is done as well.  This paper piecing project is pushing me which was half the purpose of choosing this project. Of course the other half of the purpose was that I absolutely love the look of this round quilt. 

I'm going to link up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  

Paper piecing challenge

I am rewarding myself with a new project to work on, but I wanted to challenge myself to do something outside of my comfort zone.  I've chosen a challenging paper pieced project.

I've done plenty of paper piecing, but only in small projects and never in a project that will end up round - I hope.  This round quilt is called Shazam, and I'm using bright batiks with a black background.  The center and the 1st ring of 5 are pieced and ready to join together.

Saturday Sampler month 4

Month 4 blocks are done, and they are in shades of purple.  The previous months have used reds, greens, blues, orange and all have the same cream background.  With 2 months to go, I'm wondering what other colors we'll incorporate.  I know that I like these blocks a lot and am excited to decide on layout design and fabrics to finish it.

Raggedy Ann doll

While cleaning out a couple of boxes in my basement this week I found this Raggedy Ann doll. I think my sister-in-law made this doll for my oldest daughter when she was little.  That girl never did like Barbie- only soft "baby" sized dolls. The face on this doll is all hand embroidered.  I think she will live at our house now for the grand-kids to play with.

However, I have not found the clothes yet for this poor naked doll, but am hoping they turn up in another box because I really don't enjoy making doll clothes.  Not that toddlers leave the clothes on dolls most of the time anyway.

Baby blocks for the guild

Heartland Quilt Guild is working on 2 baby quilts this year to be given to New Years babies. One is a repeat of the alphabet quilt we made last year and the other has animal silhouettes.  I am a little slow, but I finished my blocks last night. I even did the blanket stitch around the bison by hand while watching TV last night. 

Sharing ideas with other quilters

On Saturday I went to our monthly Sew Vintage Club at The Pin Cushion and the topic of the month was buttons.  Several gals brought old button jars that had belonged to their mother or grandmother.  Such wonderful old, interesting buttons in those jars.  One of our group brought this darling little table topper that she had made years ago using old buttons.

The buttons are each sewn onto a folded square made of 2 fabrics. Then she just tacked the corners of the squares together so it made me think of beads strung together when you moved it.  Now, what did I do with my mother's old button jar?

In the hands of the quilter

I bought backing for both of these quilters and left them in the capable hands of a long arm quilter. Both quilts are getting the same marbled pink batik backing. Ironic that the same fabric looked good with both quilt tops.  The Loralei top is a UFO from a couple of years ago, but the other is only a UFO from fall, but it will feel good to have them done.  I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Finish It Up Friday

I have a finish for this week. Yay!!! It is small, but it is finished . . . unless I decide it needs a little more hand quilting in the geese area. This mug rug is for our raffle at the quilt show in June, so I want to look for a South Dakota themed coffee cup to go with it. I'm linking up to Finish It Up Friday at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

TBT and Mother's Day

I've never done a Throwback Thursday post, but decided the timing was right with Mother's Day coming up this weekend.  My mother has been gone almost 25 years already. She would have been so proud of her granddaughters and thrilled with the great-grandchildren. And she is the person who really gave me a love of sewing and reading. Thanks Mom!!

This was my baptism photo taken in 1954 in Renville, Minnesota. Guess I wasn't too happy with the occasion, but my mother looks delighted.  Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms I know!

Red Geese for a Quilt Show

I'm working on a raffle item for the Heartland Quilt Show in June.  A little hand quilting and hand stitching the binding . . . and it will be all done.  If you are in the Mitchell, South Dakota area on June 13 or 14, stop in at Pieces of the Heartland Quilt Show at the Masonic Temple.

Design Wall Monday - RSC14 is green

I have a very boring collection of greens in my stash, leaning toward lime green or batiks or Christmas fabrics and none of those were what I was looking for exactly. However, I did find enough of 3 greens to make my Pigtail blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC14).  Check out lots of other Monday morning Design Walls at Patchwork Times.

Prepping background pieces

One of the things I was worried about as I began making the Pigtail blocks for RSC14 was having enough background fabric. Since I got this white out of my stash in the first place I was estimating the amount needed. So I've cut and organized all of the background pieces I'll need to finish up the rest of the year's Pigtail blocks. And I have about 2/3 of a yard left. 

May goals

My goal setting for the month of May has required some thought and several changes of mind. But I'm setting some small goals to tackle.

• 3 green RSC14 blocks
• 2 Saturday Sampler blocks
• 1 patriotic block to go with the 1st one
• finish the scrappy pillow
• South Dakota mug rug
• UFO - bind a quilt (Wishin' For Spring or red Fat Quarter Stars)

1st finish for May

My South Dakota fabric purchase on Tuesday became my first finish of May.  This 10 minute table runner actually took about 20 minutes because I made yo-yos to anchor each end.  I just love this fabric and still have a little over half a yard to play with.  Mug rug, traveling star block, another table runner?  I'm not sure yet.  I'm linking up to Finish It Up Friday at:  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/  

 

South Dakota proud

Just a little preview of something fun coming . . .