I just finished the last block needed for the r/w/b star quilt. This is exactly how I want to spend my holiday weekend. Relaxing in front of the sewing machine.

Happy sewing,

Julie

On The Wall

I haven't had much to show on a Monday for quite a while.  This morning, however, I have a little project I started last Thursday.  I'm making good progress and hope to have it done in a few days.  And by done I actually mean done.  This is going to go on top of a small cabinet I have in my office.  Anything to make the cabinet look better.

 These churn dash blocks will each measure 3" when done.  As you can see I have the sashing on each side but haven't decided yet if I want to put in different colored cornerstones or just go ahead and finish it with just the blue?  Decisions, decisions.

It was a very busy weekend.  Saturday I had the two little grand kids all day while mom, dad and big sister went to Worlds of Fun.  We had some fun too.

I don't know how Allison ended up with that little stroller on top of her but I just had to get a picture of it.  And before I could set the camera down she was out from under it and off to investigate the next thing Aiden had left out for her to "play with".


Yesterday I made cinnamon rolls. I had tried to make them once before and they did not turn out.  So they were turned out into the trash.  What a waste of time.  But the other day Judy Laquidara put a  recipe on her site for cinnamon rolls so I decided to give it another try.  And lo and behold they turned out just like I knew what I was doing all along.

That is a bowl full of beautiful dough.  I love to punch it down.  Not that I've had much opportunity to do that.  This is only my fourth or fifth attempt at making a yeast dough in umpteen years.  Lately I've been making pizza dough and now cinnamon rolls.  Is bread next?

To ice? Or not to ice? That is the question.  Okay, really no question at all.

Icing it is.  And they are good.  I took a few over to Mom's.  And this morning a few to work.  And now I've been told they taste like a really good cinnamon roll.  So I guess it's not impossible for me to make successful dough.

The most frustrating part of the weekend was once again my lawn mower.  My yard is the bane of my existence and I'm sure my neighbors too. I love grass, flower, greenery all that lovely stuff but I HATE to take care of it.  And this year I haven't.  Part of the reason my yard has gotten away from me is my mower.  Every time I go to start it - it won't.  So I borrow a battery charger wait a few hours and hope for the best.  Well for the last week "the best" hasn't happened.  So yesterday I ended up buying a new battery. And of course that was not good on my wallet.  

This is the picture I took so I could remember which side went where.  Guess what, the posts on the new battery were not on the same side so this picture didn't really help at all.  I'm glad I finally read the manual because it never would have occurred to me which one to hook up first.  But according to the manual red first black last.  Who knew?  I know, the guy who wrote the book.  Anyway, after getting over the fear of shocking the tarnation out of myself I got the battery installed and the mower started right up.  I guess replacing a battery that is probably 10 years old isn't such a bad idea.

So yes, I had a super busy weekend.  But it was fulfilling in so many ways.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Block Drive

I have been wanting to participate in the Q.O.V project.  But I never seem to get much DONE.  So I have a hard time committing to making and entire quilt for a donation when I am only finishing one or two a year as it is.  Then yesterday Judy Laquidara had a post about making blocks for Q.O.V.  Well a block is a whole lot more doable than a quilt.  Plus there are prizes.  And I seldom turn down a prize opportunity.

Here is a link to Judy's post for the block drive.  And here is a link to Alycia's original post.  Reading these gave me all the incentive I needed.  The blocks are super simple and Alycia's directions are easy to follow.  And she choose the color scheme.

So here are my first 10 blocks.

Close up view.

I already had out my blue 2" strips so all I needed to do was pull out the yellow ones and cut the 3 1/2" centers.  They went together super fast.  I think I'll make ten more of these maybe using blue in the center this time.  Then I'll hopefully get some of the string flag blocks made too.  Then I'll ship them off and let someone else worry about how to quilt them.  Done!



Happy sewing,

Julie

"Nines Aplenty"

Nines Aplenty

Here is my finished nine patch quilt.  I named it "Nines Aplenty".  After all there needed to be something on the label.  It looks pretty awesome right there on my bed so that is probably where it will stay for a while, or at least until the next one is done.

This quilt measures approximately  86" x 86".  It has 265 nine patch blocks that measure 3" each.  I started making the nine patches in August of 2012 as a Leader/Ender project.  You can see my first post about these blocks here.  This quilt probably has over 200 different fabrics in it. There is at least one fabric that there is only one 1" square included as that is all there was in the bag of fabric trash I was gifted.  I'll give a shout out to Quilting on the Square because one persons trash is another persons treasure. There are 52 six inch Ohio Star blocks that were used to make the border.  I got the idea to use Ohio Star blocks from a Bonnie Hunter quilt.  The blocks on the back of the quilt are from the 2011 - 2012 block of the month blocks from Quilting on the Square in Holton. 

View of the back

Close up of quilting (probably too close)

Anyway, there it is.  Finished!  Now to get the next one to this stage.

On Sunday the pressure foot lever on my machine decide to break.  I know it did that just because I was wanting to sit and sew all day.  On Monday it was at the repair shop, where it still is today. Of course the repair shop is also a fabric store so I came home with 6 half yard cuts of fabric.  I borrowed an OLD Singer of my mom's and just could not get it to sew a stitch.  So last night I borrowed an extra machine my sister Cathy has.  Wish I had an extra like this one.

This morning when I got up I plugged her in and proceeded to finish the couple of blocks I was in the  middle of on Sunday.  The little star is a current leader/ender block.  I'm not thrilled with them but haven't come up with an alternative yet.

And yet another red/white and blue block.  I still need around 7 or 8 of these to get this top done.  They are taking forever.  And I have spent entire days working on them.  Hope it turns out as awesome as I'm thinking.

Just above that block is the unopened package that holds my July b.o.m.  That is what I will be working on this evening.  No pressure.

And once again I've had nothing but problems trying to post to this blog.  It just wouldn't work at all going through internet explorer.  At least I'm finally getting some pictures to load and the words in the right areas through firefox.  Why the difference?  I'm sure that answer comes easier to some than to others.  And I'm an other.

Have a great weekend.

Happy sewing,

Julie