I can tell it's going to be a weekend of sewing.  And to make it even better - it's a long weekend, I'll have leftovers to eat, Bonnie Hunter's new mystery starts, and Temecula Quilt Company just posted the final letters for the Alphabet sew a-long. 

Here is what I have thus far with the Alphabet blocks.

I still need to remake the "G" block for the red quilt.  Then I'll get at making the rest of the letters and the rest of the extra little blocks.  If I have enough of the checked fabric I may remake the extra blocks with the checked instead of the solids. 

It seems my quilting blog world is all excited about the new Bonnie Hunter mystery. I know I'm looking forward to starting it.  Maybe I'm just looking forward to cutting into some of my new fabric. 

This is the older fabric I had set out to use and since then I've been able to pick up a few more pieces.

Not all of the fabric in the picture above is for the mystery.  The gray piece is the one I bought for my constant.  However, for the last couple of days I've been thinking about using brown instead of gray.  If I did that I would have to use something else besides the black too.  I'm pretty sure before I cut into anything I'll be laying out my fabrics again.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for especially my family.  My two kids, their spouses and my two grandgirls. They mean the world to me.  I'm also lucky enough to have my mother and two sisters live in the same town.  That allows us to spend some great times together.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Julie

It's Monday!

Today it's Monday and that's a good thing.  It's a good thing because this is a short work week.  And as much as I like and appreciate my job, I also like days away from it too.

This was a weekend of ups and downs.  I finished the Quiltmaker quilt so it needed to be washed to get the marking pen out of it.  As I have said on here more than once - I ALWAYS PRE-WASH.  Yes, it doesn't matter what color it is I always pre-wash my fabrics.  It's a habit to set it on the washer as it comes in the house and not move it to the sewing room until it has been washed.  Years ago I worked at a sewing factory making garments and all of the fabric that came through there had been sprayed or soaked in formaldehyde to keep bugs out of it.  They may be using something different 25 years later but I bet they still put something on it to keep the bugs off.  Anyway, I digress.  I put my lovely quilt made of pre-washed fabric into a washer with not one but two color catchers, set it on cold and proceeded to make a mess.  One of the red fabrics in one of the blocks bled in two places.  I believe I literally stomped my feet as I was cussing bad words.  Then I cried.  Then I threw the wet quilt into a plastic garbage bag and headed to Great Plains Quilt Company in Burlingame where I proceeded to cry some more and ask for help.  Kathy Smith is always willing to give suggestions.  She and two other ladies gave me a couple of ideas which I tried.  By the time the quilt went in the mail this morning to Quiltmaker is still had red where it wasn't supposed to be but it was much lighter than before.  I had emailed Carolyn Beam at Quiltmaker and told her of the issue.  She said not to worry that was what photoshop was for.  Well, I feel minutely better now.  But I'm still devastated over it.  Life goes on.

And since life goes on I decided I needed to sew.  Sunday morning I got up and started cutting out some turkeys from the pattern that was given on Bee In My Bonnet  .          

Here is the table topper I made from Lori Holt's pattern.

Run Turkey Run

This makes me smile.  I made mine in fall colors and it turned out just the way I wanted it to.  Instead of drawing the legs on free hand I set one of the points of my ruler on the turkey and drew the legs down each of the sides. Otherwise, these turkey legs would never have come out any where near the same.  I very happy with it.  This will give me something new to put on my table at Thanksgiving dinner.  I will say that putting those red pieces in there for the wattles was not really something I wanted to do.  However, I know that the red that bled isn't in there because it is in the trash.  Yes, I went through all of my stash and cleaned out the red that was the culprit. 

Unfortunately the selvedge edge had been removed from what is left so I don't know who the manufacturer of the fabric is. I think it was bought in Baldwin City a couple of years ago.  I do know that red is one of my favorite quilt colors and that this particular red is in several of my quilts.  I'll be looking for a different way to wash any of those quilts in the future.  The letter "G" from my Alphabet quilt a-long is made from this so it will need to be remade.  I also have at least two tops that are done but not quilted that have this fabric.  I will probably be taking out the blocks and remaking them so that I don't have to worry about it in those tops.  What a mess this one little yard of fabric has caused.

Drats anyway,

Julie

Oh, happy day!

Yes.  Oh, happy day! The quilt for Quiltmaker is done!  I put the last stitch in the binding last night.  It has a label.  What more could it need.  Washed - that's what.  Tonight I plan to put it in the washer with at least two color catchers.  I'm hoping that all of the blue washable marker comes out of it.  I tried taking it out with a wet cloth but that seemed like a hopeless endeavor.  So now I'm hoping that after all of this hard work that I can put it in the washer and have it come out a-okay.  It needs to go in the mail.  Quiltmaker is taking the pictures now for the March/April issue and they want to advertise the quilt a-long in that issue.  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  At least now I can get back to sewing. :)

I do have a couple of Christmas gifts I would like to get to.  I've vowed this year to only give away what is actually done.  Last year I gave Jesse the orange quilt as a top.  It's still a top.

And a very pretty top it is.  (Wonder where the pictures of the finished top are at?) It will make an even prettier quilt when I get it finished.  I know I won't be quilting it with the Baptist Fan pattern.  That pattern will be saved for smaller projects in the future.

Nothing new to show today.  I haven't even done my alphabet blocks.  But I intend to get some sewing done this weekend. 

T.G.I.F.

Julie

I keep messing with my blog.  Trying to make things easier to read.  A few weeks ago I changed the font and a few colors.  Yesterday I attempted to adjust some of the widths of the columns.  That didn't work.  When I got on my phone and looked at the blog it didn't fit as well.  So today I've hopefully put it back where it was.  I also tried to install the "Pin it" thingy.  I followed the directions to the letter.  No, it didn't work.  So when I tried again it wouldn't let me because I had already installed it.  This making a blog do what you want is not as easy as one might think.

On a different note.  Bonnie Hunter's mystery "Grand Illusion" is getting ready to start at the end of the month.  I had already decided that I don't want to use all of the same colors as she is using.  For one thing I don't have those shades of color in my stash.  Anyway,  I NEED some more fabric.  But at $12.00 and 13.00 per yard it's hard for me to get enough fabric to make much difference when I'm trying to make a scrappy quilt.  So I decided to buy some online this time.  I am now, and have always been a clearance shopper.  A few years ago I had bought some fabric from Connecting Threads.  At the time I was unsure of the fabric that I got.  It had a heavier feel to it.  Well I have used every single bit of that fabric.  I've not had one problem while pre-washing, cutting or sewing with it.  I've also washed some of the quilts I've made with it and those quilts have washed just fine.  Anyway, I headed back there again.  Look at all I got!

There is over 13 yards of fabric here.  They were having a sale of their fall fabrics and they had a great selection of clearance fabric.  One thing I really appreciated is that I was able to buy 1/2 yard cuts of the sale fabrics.  Most of this is going in the new mystery quilt.  But some of it (oranges) I just couldn't resist for the price.  I paid less than $60.00 for all of this.  The only fabric I have some question about is the black piece that can barely be seen.  It's a batik and it wasn't printed very well.  But as small as the pieces will be cut that won't matter.  This has all been washed and it washed well.  It also has a good feel to it. 

Where a quilter buys their fabric is a personal choice.  To me it's more important to have some fabric I like then it is to do without because of the price.  I'm the kind of quilter who is willing to risk that 20 or 30 years from now my quilts might be a little more faded than someone else's quilt.  Okay, I've been on this soapbox before and I'll most likely get on it again.  But enough for now.

As far as what I'm working on goes - I'm still quilting.  But I'm farther than I was a few days ago.  I plan to get a lot of sewing in tomorrow while all that snow falls outside.

Have a great day!

Julie

I'm So Busy My Head Is Spinning

Yes, just like the song "Dizzy" only insert a different word.  I'm so busy my head is spinning, like a whirlpool it never ends.  Actually, what never ends is the quilt I'm working on.  And luckily for me it's my Quiltmaker quilt.

Yes, Quiltmaker got back with me regarding the quilt I submitted.  I'm told they "love it".  Well, I love it too.  But it's not finished.  When I submitted it I told Quiltmaker that I wasn't done quilting it and I wasn't.  But I had a good start on it.  I now have a better start on it.  I can, in fact, see the end in sight.  I got the green light on the quilt eleven days ago.  Since then I have put in hours and hours of quilting and I still have hours to go.  It is taking me approximately one half hour to mark and sew two units of Baptist Fans.  Just to put it in perspective a little.  There are twelve Baptist Fan units per row. And there are lots of rows.  I'm not complaining, mind you.  (maybe just a little)  I'm concerned that I'm taking too long.  I even took a day off work.  And may plan another day off next week.  Yes, that would help, I think I will.

Quiltmaker intends to use my design as a block of the month on their Quilty Pleasures blog starting in March of 2015.  I should have written that in all caps because that's the way it sounds in my head every time I think about it.  QUILTMAKER IS GOING TO MAKE MY DESIGN A BLOCK OF THE MONTH.  Really?  My quilt?  Can you tell this will be my first (not my only or my last) published design.

My daughter says I procrastinated about the quilting because of my insecurities about Quiltmaker liking the quilt.  Isn't she sweet.  Goodness knows, I just procrastinate when it comes to the quilting part.  Anyway, I'm working my fingers to the bone to get them this quilt. They need it for the pattern and the pictures.  Imagine that.  Sorry stress makes me sarcastic.  I'm actually enjoying some of the quilting because I am so excited about sharing this quilt.  I don't know though, how soon I'll be using this quilting pattern again.  Maybe never!  When and if I do, I'll certainly make the fans larger or farther apart.

Sunday afternoon I had had it with quilting and was four blocks x two behind on my alphabet quilt so I took a little time and got caught up again.

Aren't they cute.  I've seen where some people have figured out a few more of the blocks and started on the sashing.  Right now, I'm just happy to be caught up again. 

There you have it.  My week of sewing in a nut shell.

Happy quilting!

Julie

I am behind on making my alphabet blocks.  I printed the "Q" pattern this morning and I've only made it as far as the "O".  So there are two that I need to get made.  But before I do that I'm in the process of finishing up some quilting I need to get done on another project.

In the mean time here are pictures of the letters I have done.

I had a terrible time with the letter "N". The center of it was giving me fits. And apparently I don't know how to add.  I don't know why that sounds like it comes as a surprise to me.  I've never been any good at math.

It's a good thing that I always make the red blocks first since I had to keep starting over.  First I trimmed the center of the "N" too narrow.  Of course I didn't know that until the block was sewn together.  So I tried to make the center again and I cut the rectangle the wrong direction.  No matter how I turned it I couldn't get it sewn on right.  But I did get it sewn on wrong one time.  Anyway, the "N" is done.  And I made notes on the pattern about how it was made so when we get to the letter "Z" I won't go through all of that again.  But as I've said before, I love these blocks.  This has been a great quilt along with Temecula Quilt Company..

Since Halloween was only a few days ago I'll share a picture of my two favorite trick or treaters of the night.

Granddaughters - Peacock Grace and Monkey Allison

They both had a great time on Halloween in spite of how cold it was.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Some more of my older quilts.

There just hasn't been much time to do any sewing this week so I thought I would post a couple of my old quilts today.

These two quilts I made for my granddaughter Grace.  She is now six and in the first grade.

Angels For Grace

This quilt I call Angels for Grace.  The pattern came from the book Comfort and Joy by Mary Hickey. The book is full of Christmas patterns but I changed all that to make it a baby quilt.  The original patterns has boy angels too, and is done in blues and reds.  The border on mine is one that I added and is not original to the pattern.  This is one of my first applique projects and actually one of my last too.  I had a lot of fun making it but not enough fun to make applique a priority for me.

Bugs in a Snowball

The second baby quilt I made for Grace was all about the fabric.  I found this bug fabric and just had to have it.  The snowball block worked out great for trying to fussy cut the bugs.  I didn't use a pattern for this.  It's just 4 or 4 1/2" snowball blocks and a couple of borders. It just occured to me that both quilts are purple.  (My favorite color.)  It didn't help influence Grace though.  Her favorite color is pink.

Grace Kaye Ann

It wouldn't be a blog post about Grace's quilts without a picture of Grace.

Happy Thursday!

Julie

Alphabet Update

As of this morning I think I'm caught up on the alphabet blocks. As I'm writing this though I think maybe I should have looked at the Temecula Quilt Company site before I made that statement. 

Before I make too many more blocks I'm going to have to do yet more rearranging on my design wall.  I want to keep all of the blocks up so that I can see the placement of fabrics.  So far I haven't duplicated any of the reds and I'm not planning to.  The checkered fabrics will have to have duplicates.  I did however, find the red checkered fabric when I was pulling fabrics out of my stash the other day.  It is a very small piece and might make one more block.

Here's a huge GOOD LUCK to the Kansas City Royals.  I'm not much of a baseball fan but I have enjoyed watching the playoff games.  I'll miss most of the game tonight but that's what high light reels are for.

Happy Tuesday.  

Julie

Cat Quilt

I've got one for the finish column.  The cat quilt is finally done.  This pattern is from Quiltmaker Magazine.  It was published in one of their regular editions in 2012 and then republished in a magazine that has all of the animal quilt designs in it. 

This quilt was started in November of 2012.  It was originally started as a baby quilt for my great-niece Laurel. She was finally given the quilt on Saturday for her second birthday.   I had just finished the binding Saturday morning. That was what I took to work on for our Sit and Sew day.  It was a little strange not lugging my sewing machine with me but as it turned out the binding on this was all I actually finished.  I did get the majority of the binding finished on another quilt too. It just has one or two more feet of binding to be officially done also.  And no - I'm not that fast at binding.  Both quilts had already had the binding started before Saturday. The quilt in the background I can't take credit for. (Wish I could.)  That is a quilt my sister Cathy is working on. What she has done so far is gorgeous. I can't wait to see it finished.

Here is a close up of the meander flowers I put in the border.  Quiltmaker had put in meander cat tracks. Pretty much the same thing with only four "toes" on one side of the center.  Since this was my first try at making that pattern I thought it would be safer to go ahead and make mine flowers instead. I didn't want to have to explain that it was supposed to be cat tracks.  Anyway, the quilting turned out great.  I'm ready to try that flower pattern again on a larger quilt.  I used a variegated orange thread for the body of the cat and a light green for the rest of the quilt.  The thread on the back is white.

Have a great Monday!

Julie

Playing with fabric.

This morning I took a little time to start trying to figure out what colors I want to use on the new Bonnie Hunter mystery.  She is using practically the same colors I used on the last mystery.  So I don't want to use those again.  I never did take a picture of the whole top but here is a link to the last picture I took of my quilt.  It is green, pink, purple and yellow.  The only difference is that she is using blue instead of purple.

So these are what I have laid out so far.

These are a much more traditional grouping of fabric.  And if you biggie size the picture you'll see why I say they are more traditional.  Most of the blues and the pink fabrics are some that I got in my $5.00 bag.  At this point I am planning to use the gray where she is saying that the yellow will be the only constant.  I did finally figure out that when she said it was a constant that she is only using one piece of yellow and not scrappy.  So I'll need to find a large enough piece of gray that I like to use in my top.  She doesn't plan to post the first step until late November so I have a lot of time to pick up the rest of what I want.

It seems that since I am not currently working on anything that really floats my boat I'm spending a lot of time wasting time.  If that makes any sense.

I do have a baby quilt I started two years ago almost finished.  Two more sides of tacking down the binding and it will be in the done pile.  It will be a gift for a two year old now.  So I'll post some pictures after it is officially given away. 

Have a great weekend.

Julie

This and That

Another busy weekend, but I was able to fit in some sewing.

Saturday morning I worked on my alphabet quilts. And then Sunday they posted the letter "K".  I'll save it for next weekend.  I made the broken dishes block for each of them.  But I'm not really sure that I like the ones I made for either.  The purple may be a little too dark. And the blue may not be what I end up with on the red/white quilt.  We'll see.

I needed to "clean up" my sewing wall so I could fit all of the alphabet blocks on there.  And in order to do that I ended up finishing up these blocks I had started a few months ago.  These were for a leader/ender quilt that Bonnie Hunter got me started on but after I made a few of them I realized they weren't what I wanted so I stopped working on them while they were in different stages of blocks.  I finished up nine of the blocks and I have another 15 or so done.  They are now in my orphan block tote and may make it in to a quilt some day.  Just not a quilt of their own as I don't plan to make any more.  I must really want to get a red/white quilt done.  I seem to be making a lot of blocks using those colors.

Another project I had started were the blocks for the Marcus Friends and Companions Sew-A-Long quilt. This block didn't make the cut.  I tried using navy with the other fabrics and it just didn't work.  So I changed that to red.

This is what I have so far.  It still needs a narrow yellow inner border and then a red outer border.  I love, love, love the yellow setting blocks.  I really stewed over that one.  They were using black and I had only started with a fat quarter of that so I ended up with the yellow and I'm glad I did. The yellow, blueish, and gray fabrics came from my $5.00 bag of fabrics I got a couple of weeks ago.  I will have to do some heavy quilting on this.  For some reason (quilter error) it won't lay flat and right now I'm not going to take it apart and make any changes.

Have a quilty day.  It's raining here in Topeka.  A perfect day to be sewing if it weren't for that pesky thing called work.

Julie

Letters "F" and "G"

Yep, that's what I've got to show for a weeks worth of sewing - four letters. 

Love, love, love the checkered fabrics.

Well, I have been making some blocks for a Marcus Fabrics sew-a-long but I haven't taken any pictures.  I have three blocks done and they are revealing the finished quilt tomorrow.  I don't think I'm going to be ready for the setting directions quite yet.

I think what inspired me to start the Marcus sew-a-long was my $5.00 bag of fabric.  That piece of yellow that can be seen in the picture is one of the fabrics I'm using.  There is also a blue just under that yellow piece that I'm using.  It's just too much fun to have new fabric and not play with it.  

My goal this weekend is to find my old sewing machine that is packed away in the garage somewhere.  The last time I saw it the cord wasn't with it.  Who in their right mind would pack a  sewing machine and not put the cord in the same tote????  ME !!!!  I may never find that cord but I do plan to find the machine.  Cords can be replaced.  And maybe, just maybe, my garage will get another hour or two of cleaning while I'm at it. 

Have a great day!

Julie

A Good Friend Indeed

One of my friends emailed me Thursday and told me about a fabric sale she had heard about.  They were going to be selling fabric scraps for $5.00 a bag.  I figured if it was any good a zip lock bag of fabric for $5.00 would be worth it so I headed to the church sale this morning.

This is not a zip lock bag. This is a large grocery bag.  Who would have thought it.

So me being the scrappy quilter that I am - I dug into their piles of fabric.  And no, I wasn't the only one filling my bag.  It was all very controlled chaos.  I even recognized one woman from Quilting On the Square in Holton. 

I ended up with lots of fabric scraps.  There are also several pieces in there that are one or more yards of fabric. I can't wait to get it home, get it sorted and then washed.  I anticipate lots of stringy pieces of fabric in my future.

Along with the bag of fabric I picked up eight of these basket quilt blocks.  They were $1.50 for all eight.  They are not hand stitched down but they were machine sewn very well.  Probably a whole lot better than I would have done.  I'll add them to my tote of orphan blocks and someday they may find their way into a quilt.

My total at the cash box was $6.50 so I handed over a ten and felt guilty that it wasn't more.  Those ladies said they would have given it away to get it out of there.  I imagine now almost two hours later that anything that is left is quite picked over but if you want to check it out they are at the St. Joseph Church on 3rd and Van Buren in Topeka.

Have a great day.

Julie

Featuring the letter "E"

There hasn't been a whole lot of sewing done at my house or anything else done for that matter (cleaning).  I've been happily busy every Saturday and worked every Sunday for the last couple of weeks so that doesn't leave much home time.

I do have my letter "E" done for the sew a long.  Both sets just make me smile.

I have been making a few of the churn dash blocks.  This morning I decided that I needed some 9" blocks.  These are what I have made this week.

3", 6", 9" Churn Dash blocks

Still no plan in place.  I'm just happy making blocks.  I think I'll branch out into 12" blocks next.

Last Saturday I spent the morning with Grace and Allison.  We made a trip to the zoo.  This picture was the only one I got where they were at least both looking in my direction.  Allison was not interested in getting her picture taken.

Grace started asking about the bear chair from the time we walked through the gates. I didn't remember it but she sure did.  It was a great day.

Today if you head over to Heartspun Quilts you can see the little quilts I made for Pam Buda's sew a long.  This is the third day she has shown the quilts that were made.  She had quite a few people participate.  I keep telling myself that the next one I do I'll come up with my own fabric way and not follow the same colors as the sew a long.  I really like the quilts that were done in pink.

Have a great day!

Julie

Letters C & D Are Done

Last night when I was making the C and D letters in the red I just couldn't help myself but to start them in another colorway too. Actually, I've had it planned all along.  Sometime yesterday while working diligently I remembered this silly checkered fabric I have in my stash. So that fabric along with some Kona snow and I'll have another alphabet quilt.  Again, this pattern comes from The Temecula Quilt Company. 

Scrappy Red

Checkered Version

The checkered fabric came from the Kansas Capital Quilters Guild quilt show a few years ago.  My name was drawn and I got to pick from the prizes on the table.  This fabric was a sample package attached to cardboard.  I've long since thrown that piece of cardboard away so I have no idea what line it might be from.  I think there are eight different fabrics and some of the pieces are quite small so there will be repeats but who cares?  It will make a fun and bright little quilt.

By the way the Kansas Capital Quilters Guild quilt show is this weekend.  If you click on this link or the one above it will take you to a page that gives the details.  I'm sorry to say I won't be able to make it this year.  It's always a good show. 

Tomorrow I'll be spending time with the girls.  Their mom and dad are doing some volunteer work with their church so Grandma get the girls.  Grace has volleyball practice at 9:30 so Allison and I can spend some time playing while Grace is busy.  After that who knows.  I was thinking the zoo but they keep saying rain for Topeka so that may not work.  I know I need to download some pictures on this computer of the girls.  How else am I to post pictures of them. 

My quilt came back from Quiltmaker yesterday.  So I guess it's officially mine now.  It was fun while it lasted.

Happy quilting,

Julie

Submitted

Well, for better or for worse, I have just mailed the information to submit my quilt to Quiltmaker magazine.

This is my copy of the information. I'm sure it is a lot more than what was needed.  But better safe than sorry.  I ended up submitting four actual quilt blocks with my chicken scratch directions for them.  Also a page that includes drawings of some small blocks, my cover letter, and a flash drive that has pictures of the actual quilt on it.  And I may or may not have kissed the envelope for good luck.

I'm sure they will let me know if I sent too much or not enough.  Anyway, it's on the way now and I'm down to the waiting game of seeing if they end up publishing it or not.  If nothing else, I'm just glad I was asked to submit it.

Yesterday Quiltmaker put my Back to School quilt in the mail to me.  I'll be glad to have it back.  I'm a little sorry that that has come to an end. But I'm grateful that it may have opened the door to getting my quilt published.  BTW, I just checked the tracking on UPS.  My package went from Colorado to Salina, KS then they shipped it to Lenexa, KS.  Hmmm - I'm pretty sure that they went right through or over Topeka to get there.  Perhaps not the most direct route possible.

Julie

A little Tuesday morning sewing.

Saturday ended up being a rather productive day for me - sewing anyway.  I was able to get the binding stitched on my quilt First Take. This picture doesn't show that but I don't want anyone to have to go back to older posts to try to figure out which quilt I'm talking about.  And that includes me.  The next time I show this one it will be done!  All I need to do is hand stitch the binding.

First Take

I also started making the newest Temecula Quilt Co. quilt Little Letters.  The only one I got done on Saturday was the "A".  I didn't even know that the "B" pattern was available.  And as of yesterday the "C" is also available.  This morning I had a few extra minutes so I made the "B". Yikes, I figured out on the way to work that the majority of the problems I had were operator error.

I was prepared to post the corrections I would suggest.  But now that I've had some time to think about it I think the problems may have been all mine.
Temecula Quilt Co. doesn't give directions on how to sew the block together.  They just give you the cutting sizes.  The two almost squares that are shown on the bottom are cut 1 1/2 x 1 1/3 and make the lower half of the upper part of the "B".  When I sewed them together they were too short.  So I recut them to be 1 1/2" square and sewed it again.  Well that was much better but the block ended up being a little too big.  So I trimmed a little from the top and the bottom.  Duh, the original pieces were right.  I just sewed them together on the wrong sides.  I sewed the 1 1/2 sides and should have sewed the 1 1/3 sides.  Hope that makes sense.  Anyway the block will work.  No harm, no foul.

Blocks measure 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

For this quilt I'm thinking I'll use all the same background and use a different red for each letter.  However, my plan is to make a second quilt that is a little more colorful than that.  Tonight my goal is to get the "C" done and to start figuring out how I want the second quilt to look.

You might notice that I added a couple of blogs to my blog list. These are blogs that I go to everyday to see if they've added anything new.  It just makes sense to share them on here instead of going to my list of favorites to pull them up.  I'll probably be adding a few more at some point.  When I bounce around looking at other peoples blogs I will often check out their blog list and then open a few of them.  It's a good way to find some great blogs.

Happy Tuesday!

Julie

Busy Week

It has been a busy week at work.  That means I've not done any sewing to speak of.  I have been cleaning out some of the flotsam in my quilting room trying to find all of the scraps of paper I may or may not have drawn and or written on for the quilt I'm submitting to Quiltmaker.  Since I am usually a fly by the seat of my pants quilter sometimes I don't write much down.  Luckily for me the focus block of this quilt took a little figuring out.  So I have found some notes.  I have decided to take some time this weekend and make another of the blocks to see if the notes actually were what I ended up with.  I'm sure other people do this too but I wish I'd get better at keeping a history of my progress.

Tomorrow is one of our sew days.  I'll be taking the Churn Dash blocks to work on.

6" and 3" Churn Dash blocks

There has been a little progress made with these since I started using them as my leader/enders.  I probably have around 25 of the 3" blocks made.  Yep, that's too many for my original thinking on this project for pillow covers.  No, I haven't decided if I'm going bigger with it or not.  We shall see.

I'm also going to take my version of Hip-Hopscotch which I called First Take.   It still needs the binding put on. That shouldn't take me very long to sew on and then I'll have some handwork to do. 

First Take

My plan is to take a couple of pans of cinnamon rolls with me.  I'll need to get busy on those tonight if I'm going to take them.

Other than sew day on Saturday and work on Sunday my weekend looks to be pretty uneventful. 

Happy sewing,

Julie