Design Wall Monday

Only 1 more month for Saturday Sampler and that is always exciting. These are the November blocks - one full size (12.5") and one half size (6.5"). And I will admit that the small one this month gave me some trouble.

Check out Design Wall Monday at http://www.patchworktimes.com  and see what lots of other quilters are working on today.

Week 48 status of the stash

Just  little finish for this past week - a 60 degree runner and an octagon made from the trimmings of the other.  This cute santa and pine tree border print was hiding in my stash. The binding fabrics are also from my stash. And actually, so is the batting. These will be gifted or donated.

I did buy 2 yards of a rich green to substitute for the grey in my Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. I decided that I just didn't like the grey in with the other warm colors.

• In this week:  2 yds
• In this year:  220 yds
• Out this week:  3 yds
• Out this year 193 yds

Status of the Stash:  Stash is winning by 27 yards.

Saturday fun didn't include sewing

No sewing on today at all but I did play Candyland, put together a few puzzles and enjoy a day spent with these 3 imps.

My daughter and I did a little shopping this morning and had a nice lunch together.  Then she and her husband went to a movie and out for supper, while grandpa and I babysat.  Mason is 4 1/2, and the twins Olivia and Jonah are 2 1/2.  I must report that Mason cheats at Candyland, Olivia likes her purple tutu, and Jonah loves to race his match box cars on daddy's freshly painted wall.  

Giving thanks

This morning - as I was making 50+ deviled egges - I was thinking how blessed I am and how much I'm looking forward to spending the day with extended family.

My children are celebrating with their in-laws this year but we're going to join a large group of my husband's siblings, nieces, nephews and their children. There will be over 50 people there. It will involve some wonderful food, people we don't see oftern enough, some loud competitive card games, and more food. Wishing my own children and grandchildren could be there to enjoy the day but I know they will be among people they love too.  

We are very blessed. 

Status of the stash

My accomplishments for the week were 6 pillowcases for donation and adding some Christmas-y fabric trim to 2 dishtowels. I decided my infected eye wasn't allowing for accurate cutting or accurate stitching. The eye isn't getting much better so I'm guessing another visit to the doctor is going to happen this week.

• In this week:  0 yds
• In this year:  218 yds
• Out this week:  6 yds
• Out this year 190 yds

Status of the Stash:  Stash is winning by 28 yards.

First snow

We are getting our first snow of the season this morning and can expect about 4 inches here.  Yesterday my lawn was just as green as it was in August and today that green is hidden. It looks so quiet and pretty out there.

I have to admit that I actually like snow. Shoveling that snow isn't my favorite thing, and I'm also glad I don't have to be on the road today in this snow. The school I would have been in today is cancelled which is good - because I have a nasty case of pink eye and look absolutely dreadful.

My left eye is swollen nearly shut and as my eye got worse over the past few days it has cut into my reading and my stitching as my eyesight is a little blurry. This makes me appreciate having good eyesight in normal circumstances.

I went to the clinic yesterday and have some eye drops to use 4 times a day for a week. Hope it clears up a lot over the weekend because I have to be in schools Monday-Wednesday next week and no one wants to look at this face.

More pillowcases started

Six more pillowcases have been started. Last night I got the top cuff sewn onto all 6 of these. Hope to finish at least some of these after work tonight. I used the same rust colored fabric for the cuff of 4 of these and had enough left for the narrow strip on #5.  

I use the "sausage roll" method and French seams. The French seams keep the seams from splitting from use or fraying in the wash. There are absolutely NO exposed raw seams.  This is such an easy process and there are lots of tutorials online. Just google "roll up" or "tube" or "sausage roll" and pillowcases.  

More hand quilting

I'm doing some minimal hand quilting on this new 60 degree table runner. Sometimes I question whether or not to bother with the hand quilting. In this case I'm mostly just quilting along the lines of the print, so it isn't going to take a long time or show up a lot, but it will give it some texture. And of course it will hold it all together.

This border fabric was a purchase from a few years ago with the 60 degree runner in mind. But I just never seemed to get around to it.  One evening last week I spent a couple of hours in my sewing room pulling fabrics from the drawers that I knew had been sitting for awhile and did a bit of planning.

I made 2 of these 60 degree runners plus one small octagon one from the trimmings (the other fabric), and set aside enough fabric for 4 more pillowcases.  This runner will be hand quilted, but the other one will be machine quilted.  The octagon one is already done - quilted and bound.

I just HAVE to use up some of this beautiful fabric lying in my stash. Last night after work I cut and pinned the pillowcases and pulled enough fabric for at least 2 additional ones. They will all be donated.  

Thinking ahead . . .

I saw this on Facebook this weekend and it really made me laugh. Someone else had left a comment asking if anyone had gotten to her stash before the family put it all in the trash.

Way too much truth in this for a lot of us. I don't think I could live long enough to use up my fabric stash. But I am sure enjoying it now and I guess that is OK. It's my only real vice, and it's pretty harmless.

Although my daughters are worried about the task of cleaning out my sewing room when that day comes. Hopefully that is 30 years down the road.

Sunday status of the stash

I purchased some neutrals, reds and golds this week for the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and I added some neutral backing for some table runners I'm working on. So it was a big week for adding to the stash. But I finished a couple of small projects too.  And I finished the flimsy for my RSC15 project so I'm counting 5 yards for that flimsy.

• In this week:  17 yds
• In this year:  218 yds
• Out this week:  9.5 yds
• Out this year 184 yds

Status of the Stash:  Stash is winning by 34 yards and there is little hope of catching up before the end of the year. Oh well . . . I'm still pleased with the 184 yards used this year.

More traveling stars

I have fallen way behind making these star blocks from the "traveling squares" shared by guild members.  It's a fun tradition in our guild to share fabric when we travel.  I've been making these star blocks for about 4 years now and have 63 of them counting these 3 new ones .  They are about 11" blocks made with a 6" center square (5.5" finished).

Hawaiian applique

My Hawaiian applique table topper is finally finished and gracing my dining room table. And I love the way it turned out in spite of how long it took me to finish.

This UFO is old, old, old - with the needle-turn applique started about 10 years ago. But unfortunately I got bored with the hand applique work (I am so slow) and set it aside.  

Then about a year ago I pulled it out and finished up the needle-turn applique center. But then what?  

At Sew Vintage one month Cindy taught us how to do a scalloped binding and that was the incentive I needed to add the border so I could do the scallops.  Now months later, the hand quilting is done, the scalloped binding is done and I'm thrilled. 

Pinwheels

It was my turn for some sewing on the group charity project that my friends Kelly, Marilyn, Pam, and Sylvia (and me) are working on.  We all got together and cut the fabric for this one evening, then Pam, Marilyn, and Kelly sewed the pinwheel blocks and then sewed the blocks into sections.  I made the binding last week and this weekend I sewed the blue border sections onto the center, then added the pink pinwheel borders, and finally the green with blue pinwheel borders. 

It's ready to go to the quilter and then Sylvia plans to do the binding. When finished it will go to a local gymnastics group to raffle for a fund raiser.

RSC15 rows are done

Sunday morning sewing gave me a chance to finish the last RSC15 block and then sew the blocks into rows.  I'm hoping these rows will become a finished flimsy in the next few days.  Here is the final block - with the unusual name of Swamp Angel Star. I'm not sure where that name originated but the block is great.

I'm connecting to http://www.patchworktimes.com for Design Wall Monday. Check out what other quilters are working on this week.

Sunday stash report

No new finishes to count this week and I made some purchases that added to the stash. 

I'm considering doing the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt this winter, and I picked up some yardage for it yesterday. I stopped in our local Ben Franklin Crafts to look for some embroidery floss and ended up with 5 yards of fabric purchased on sale.  3 yards of dark red batik (even though the photo looks purple) for $8.99/yard and 2 yards of a nice rich gold (not washed out like the photo) for $5.99/yard. Score!!  Plus I found a Christmas gift for my youngest grandson in their great children's toy selections. Double score!!

And if I don't end up doing the mystery quilt I've added some lovely pieces to my stash for a future project. No guilt. 

In this week:  5 ydsIn this year:  201 ydsOut this week:  0 ydsOut this year 174.5 yds
Status of the Stash:  one step forward and two steps back! I'm falling further behind.

OK - I got distracted

I've spent the past couple of hours in my sewing room and yes - I got distracted. On the bottom shelf of my bookcase are more than  a dozen years worth of these books, beginning with 1987.  They were published each year by Oxmoor House and contain some wonderful patterns, quilt designs, and photos.  I was actually looking for a block pattern for a house or cabin, but found so many other fun things to look at. This one has a great applique cabin block but it's too big so I'm debating about sketching up a smaller version.

I did get some sewing done too, including adding one set of borders onto a group project. My task is to finish the top this weekend and I have 2 more sets of borders to add. Pictures coming tomorrow or Monday. 

Another UFO complete

This wall hanging is approximately 48 x 36, with the background made up of 12 Saturday Sampler blocks from 10-12 years ago. The blocks are really beautiful cream/white/off-white pieced blocks that I had just never put together into a quilt top. Inspiration just hadn't hit me until this year. 

So after all of these years, I decided to put them together and applique something on them. The floral pieces are Silhouettes - bought with the fusible webbing already on them and they are laser cut. I machine appliqued them onto the background. The fireflies that I added as a last minute idea are simply jewelry pieces.

The bigger firefly is a large pin and the 2 smaller ones are actually earrings.  I have noticed in the photos that the subtle shades of cream and white don't really show up, but on the actual quilt the block piecing looks great as a background with lots of depth of color.

I plan to hang this above the bed in my guest bedroom.

RSC15 progress - Ohio Star

Only 1 more RSC15 Sampler block to go now that I've finished #24. This is the Ohio Star.

The last color is lime green and there are 2 star blocks and 3 alternate blocks in that row, plus 2 yellow blocks on the ends.

The yellow blocks are done, and I finished up 1 of the 3 alternate blocks along with the Ohio Star. The other 2 alternate blocks are partially done and just waiting for the green sections.

I have a goal to have this quilt top complete by the end of the month.

Goals, goals, goals

I did better than expected on my October goals but my November goals are not going to be very ambitious. Since my work load has increased by about 50% I'm guessing it will cut into my sewing time. 

November goals are going to be simple: keep up with Saturday Sampler blocks, 1930s Farmer's Wife blocks, and Sew Vintage blocks. Finish the top for RSC15 with the lime green blocks. And finish the last of the hand quilting on the red Hawaiian applique project.  And maybe . . . just maybe . . . I'll have a chance to start my round snowman table topper.


October in review . . .

• Rainbow Scrap Challenge - 2 brown blocks + 3 alternate blocks  - DONE
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge - sew together the brown row blocks - DONE
• Saturday Sampler - pieced blocks for October - DONE
• Saturday Sampler - applique block from September - almost done
• bind the Halloween quilt - DONE
• Farm Girl Vintage blocks for October (1 big, 1 small) - DONE
• 1930s Farmer's Wife blocks (catch up - only 1 made so far) - only 6 made
• hand quilting finish on red Hawaiian applique - almost done
• Santa's Delivery - stretch onto canvas, and embellish with crystals - can't find the staple gun, so this is on hold

Design Wall Monday: Quilting for a cause

These pinwheel blocks form the main focus of the charity quilt that my friends and I are working on currently. We met for coffee Sunday afternoon and brought all of the pieces each person worked on. My part was easy - I only made the binding. Now this week the other ladies will work on various sections of the top and then we'll get together again and put the sections together to finish the top. 

Stay tuned for updates. And check out what other quilters are doing at Judy's Design Wall Monday at http://www.patchworktimes.com .

Sunday status of the stash

Two weeks worth of status to report since I forgot to do it last week.  It has actually been a more productive couple of weeks than I thought it would be.

When my husband is gone for work I tend to get more sewing done, and he has been gone for 2 weeks straight on a job site. He came home Thursday night late and will leave again early this afternoon for another 2 weeks. 

So in these 2 weeks I finished 2 UFOs: my Halloween block swap and a wall hanging. That will be 8.5 yards total for the quilt backing/binding and for the wall hanging. I'll post about that later this week. I also used up 3 yards on new pillowcases, 1 yard to make scissor cases, and a 1/2 yard on binding for a charity quilt. Total of 13 yards in 2 weeks. Yay!!!!

In this week:  2 yds

In this year:  196 yds

Out this week:  13 yds

Out this year 174.5 yds

Status of the Stash:  still way behind the stash but making progress! Down by 21.5 yards.