Variety

I have been playing with the bonus red and white 1/2 square blocks.  They will finish at 2" each.  These have been my leaders/enders for my last two projects. And every once in a while I just sew through a stack of them so there are more of them to play with.
Here are a few of the different layouts I've tried.  And goodness knows there are a lot more block possibilities than this.

Aren't they great. I just love how red those reds are.  This just may lead me to start a red/white sampler quilt. But first I have to get done with what is roaming around in my head.

Happy sewing.

Julie

Bonus Triangles

While I was making my Orca Bay top I was using these red and white and the blue and white bonus triangles as my leader/enders.  They measure 2 1/2" after being trimmed down.  There are 102 of the red and about as many of the blue.

The entire time I was sewing them I just kept thinking about doing more flying geese.  Then I laid a few out in the pinwheel design and now I think that is the way I am going to have to go.  There aren't enough to make much of anything. But the lucky thing is I still have over 3 yards of the background fabric.

These bonus triangles are from this quilt.

I made this top several years ago.  I had to flip through several of my notebooks to find the pattern I used.  What surprised me is that it is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Fourth of July .  You can find the pattern for free on her blog.  This was made long before I was a daily follower of Bonnie's blog.  I remember searching for scrap quilts using red/white/blue and this is what I came up with.  I never would have guessed that a few years later I would have made so many of her patterns.  Someday when I learn to do something besides straight line and meandering this will get quilted.   It needs something a little more special in the white areas. So in the mean time it has stayed folded up on my quilt rack.  I had to move 4 other tops before I got down to this one.  Guess I better learn how to quilt.

Happy Sewing

Julie

Here are my five inch blocks with what was to be their sashing.  Yes, WAS is the word I used.  After getting off of here I am going to tear this all out and hope that the blocks survive the process.  I absolutely love the look of it.  It couldn't be scrappier.  But it couldn't be more of a disaster.

When seen up close it is apparent that I needed to spend more time making sure that I was getting an accurate seam allowance.  Can you see the puckers?  I can.  And hopefully, I will learn a very valuable and time consuming lesson to take more time and pay attention.

 I thought I could stretch, tug or pull this into submission.  Nope it's not going to work.  This can't be pressed out.  Trust me, I tried.  So this evening when I should be working on the border I will be ripping ALL of this out.

Does anyone need a few hundred 1/2 square blocks that are ALMOST 1" each?

Julie 

Orca Bay Happy Dance

Click on the picture to see a larger picture.

It's done.  The top that is.  This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt Orca Bay.  Another great mystery from Bonnie. It was a fun pattern from start to finish. Of course she included more string blocks.  But this time I was ready to make them. After all this wasn't my first Bonnie mystery quilt. Here is my version of Roll Roll Cotton Bole which was my first effort at string blocks.

Anyway, this is it.  A back has been chosen for it.  So now it's down to the quilting.

Happy sewing.

Julie

Block of the Month

Here is what I have been working on this afternoon.  It is the December block of the month for the spiky/peaky Kansas colors blocks from Quilting on the Square in Holton.

And here are all that are done to date.  These are actually going to end up looking quite nice. Could not have proved that by me when we first started making them.  That might be because the yellow one on the lower left was the first and it is very plain.  These blocks are on a dark blue and not black background.  I am still not imagining any settings for them.  But there are still five to go so plenty of time.

 Well off to work on my Orca Bay borders. One done. Three to go.

Happy Sewing

Julie

On The Wall

Well, I'm still working on Orca Bay and it looks done from this angle but it still needs the border put on. There will be time for that this week.  I love the way the yellow/orange turned out with the blue.  Not too much of any one color to overwhelm the other.  However, I must say that I love the red versions too. This may be one time that I might be a little disappointed that I veered from the original version that used red.

                                    Here is a close up of a couple of the blocks. 

I plan to have the top done by this coming Saturday. I hope to take it to show and tell at the LQS in Holton. This is another one of Bonnie's quilts with a big "Wow Factor" so I do expect a few ohhh's and ahhh's.

There was no sewing for me on Sunday.  We had a birthday party for my mother. She turns 81 today. Not everyone was able to make it but we turned it into a great day of food and card games anyway.  Happy Birthday Mom!

In the midst of her presents I was given one of my own.  I had asked for a mailbox for Christmas and was given a terrific white one.  I know, it's a weird present to ask for. But it beats a toaster every time.  Unless, of course you need a toaster. Anyway, back to the mailbox.  My white box turned into a work of art.  DS Jesse and DIL Victoria decided to take pictures of quilts and put them on the box.  Then it occurred to them to use pictures of quilts I have given to them and put them on the box.  So here are pictures of each side of my new mailbox.

This is the side that will show the most. 
Starting from the top left:
Bugs in a Snowball - 2008
Pinwheel Daisies - 2008?
Angels for Grace - 2008
Pinwheel Daisies alternate block.
Bottom row:
Churn Dash - maker unknown
Christmas Trees 2011
Pinwheel - maker unknown
Blue Sampler - 2007?

This side will be next to another mailbox so it won't be very visible.    Top row: 
First three blocks - maker unknown
Blue Sampler - 2007
Angels for Grace - 2008
Christmas Trees alternate block - 2011
Blue Sampler - 2007
Random block - maker unknown.

Thanks to whoever made all of those random blocks. They helped turn my new mailbox in to one of the most unique mailboxes in town.  And a huge thank you to Jesse and Victoria for making such a fun project.

Be sure to visit all of the great design walls at Patchwork Times and to see the Orca Bay updates at Quiltville .

Have a great day.

Julie

On The Wall

Like many other people this morning, I have my Orca Bay quilt laid out and ready to be sewn into rows. 

It took several hours and much searching of those tiny pictures to get this one laid into rows.  It is such a busy quilt with all of those string blocks.  But I don't think I would change a thing.  This is one quilt where I did not worry too much about fabric placement.  The main thing I worked with was the yellow centers.  There are two of each fabric.  One in the dark block and one in the light. So I did attempt to keep the two apart.

Here is a close up of the two rows I have together as of this morning.  This is the first quilt where those dancing cats appear. That is a fabric I filched from my mother.  She contributed several of the blacks that appear in this quilt. 

Well, as soon as this is posted I can get back at it.  So I'm off.

Be sure to check out all of the design walls at Patchwork Times  and of course the home of Orca Bay Quiltville .

Have a great day.

Julie

A New Year 2012

Happy New Year.

Hopefully, everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve. I choose to spend it at home sewing.  So yes, it was a good night for me.  I finished up all of the components of the Orca Bay mystery.  This morning when I woke up I had planned to work on my 5" blocks which can be seen here .  That was while I was still under the impression I had one more day until the final Orca Bay part was revealed.  I was wrong.  Today is the day.  Therefore, I will spend the morning laying out all of these blocks.

So off I go.  And yes, this is what I call fun. 

Julie

Kindle Cover

My daughter Jennifer gave me a Kindle for Christmas and of course it needs a cover. So I did some looking around the internet for a pattern and was able to find one that I could tweak a little and make it mine.  Here is the Kindle sleeve pattern I used to make mine.  It came from Elizabeth's Whimsie's.  A site I hadn't visited before so I'll have to go back and take a look when I have more time.  It was a fairly simple pattern to follow.

Here are a few pictures of mine in progress.

Since I already have all of these yellow and orange strips cut for my Orca Bay project I decided to use them for a back.

I don't sew each of my strips to the backing paper.  Just on the first two strips.  The rest of them I leave loose. That way I only have one row of stitching to pull the paper off of. 

This Friendship Star finished at 3". Can you see the bee that I fussy cut for the center?  I found the pattern for the star here at The World Wide Quilting Page .  There were several blocks that gave different size options in their directions. That background fabric is actually brown. Even though it looks somewhat red in this picture.

Here are the front and back before quilting. The fabrics on the left were given to me by daughter Jennifer last year for Christmas. I have been looking for a way to use them.  So this couldn't have been a better solution.  And there is still a lot of fabric to use for something else.

Ta Da.  Here it is.  A Kindle and cover.  Now I'm ready to take it anywhere.

Happy reading.

Julie

On The Wall Today

   Since this post is for design wall Monday I'll start it with my current project.  Which as can be seen by the blocks in the picture above is Orca Bay.  When Bonnie first posted this step I was so disappointed that I did not go with her choice of red.  The blocks with the red center are just amazing.  What I was thrilled to discover though, is that the blocks made with the sunny yellow and orange make me smile just as much.  I still have 9 more of the dark blocks to do and then can get started on the light blocks.  Shouldn't be a problem as I have some extra time off this week.

  I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I sure did. There was a lot of time spent with family. Which around here usually ends up with a good card game. And we certainly worked a few of those in.
  I'll end this post with some of my favorite gifts. The homemade kind. Be sure to click on the pictures so you can see a larger view.

This is a quilt my mother made for me. I have been eyeing this top for years and I am just thrilled that she quilted it.  And better yet - gave it to me.  Thank you Mom it's great.

Here is a vase that my daughter Jennifer made. Isn't it stunning. Every view of it is a little different with the swirls of color streaking through it. She is lucky to have found a place that she can continue to blow glass and make such beautiful pieces.

And these are some of the ornaments that my 3 year old granddaughter Grace made.  She had a little help from her mom making them but I believe those paint jobs to be all her own. I'm a little concerned over that Jayhawk painted gingerbread man.  So we will have to get her to watch more Kansas Wildcat games. These, of course, will be yearly additions to my Christmas tree. I am already looking forward to "finding" them in one of the boxes next year. Do you forget some of the decorations, only to find them the next year and it's just like getting them all over again.

Be sure to check out all of the great posts at Patchwork Times and Quiltville's Quips & Snips.

Have a happy and safe week to come.

Julie

Orca Bay Progress

This weekend I spent more time getting ready for Christmas then I did at my sewing machine.  Priorities.  There are 80 blocks done for Orca Bay and 60 to be pressed then they can be added to the done pile. That leaves  a whole lot more to be made.  I can see from my picture that the stacks still in the plastic bag exceed the stacks of cut corners.  Guess that means I'll spend a little more time at the cutting mat before these are finished.
It is raining like crazy right now. And the weather men have promised that the rain will turn into snow before morning.  I just hope they are wrong about the sleet and possible freezing rain.  I'd rather have a foot of snow then a skiff of freezing rain.

                               Click on the picture to make it bigger.

I'm sure I will be the only one who can tell from this picture, but that is my 3 year old granddaughter kneeling on the right behind baby Jesus.  She was Mary in the church Christmas skit. She did not have a speaking part but when it came time to sing she knew the words and sang along with the older kids.

I found out later that her mom told her to sit very still. She had been asked to wear her boots and she told her mom that Mary didn't wear boots.  Grace thought Mary would have worn white tennis shoes that flash if you tap your foot.  I never saw a flash coming from under the manger so she never moved her feet. That child is such a good kid.

Have a wonderful week.  Merry Christmas!

Julie

Having Fun

Last night I finished up the 128 triangle string blocks I needed for the Orca Bay mystery quilt.  These were a lot of fun to make. I enjoyed working with the yellows and oranges.  And they were just the right size.  Not as large as the string blocks we made last year for Roll Roll Cotton Boll and 2" larger than the itty bitty 3 /12" string blocks needed for Part 2 of Orca Bay.  Now I'm ready for Part 5.  Bring on Friday.

Since part 4 is ready to go that left me to work on another project. So when I got home from work today I made three more of these blocks that will finish at 5".  These three give me a total of 15 blocks.

The top of the blanket chest that these are being made for measures
25" x 37". So as of right now I am figuring to set these in a three by five setting with something for sashing and a narrow scrappy border.  Tomorrow I'll start messing with some scraps to figure out the sashing.  Right now I'm thinking a four patch where the sashings meet.  Be sure to click on the picture so you can get a larger view of the blocks.  I'm not sure how that black one is going to fit in with all the rest.  But since the whole thing is scrappy it will probably just blend in.  I used the brown with it to tone down that deep purple and the black.  I'm not really sure that helped.

Have fun sewing,

Julie 

On The Wall Today

What a great weekend.  Most of it was spent at my sewing machine.  And when not in the sewing room, I was with family.  It just couldn't have been better.

I was able to finish my cardinal runner/hanging in time to take it to Quilting on the Square in Holton for show and tell. 

The finished size is 38" x 18 1/2". I put a hanging sleeve on the back so it can go on the wall or table top.

Here are a couple of close up pictures.  Which may not be such a good idea.  But here they are anyway.

I was also able to almost finish part 4 of Orca Bay .  I had a lot of fun with this part.  I pulled out most of my yellows and oranges.  There were only a few that just were not going to work for these blocks.  And the next time I need strings of this color there will already be some cut.  Unlike this time when there were almost none pre-cut.

There are just eight blocks left to finish.  So that will be done in no time. Then I will be able to move on to something else until the next part comes out this Friday.

Well since it is Monday it's off to work I go.  Have a great day and a wonderful week.

Julie

Good Morning !!!

It's Friday and I am home and soon to be at my sewing machine.  I realized it's the middle of December and I still have a few vacation days left.  So I decided to treat myself with a "me" day.  And there is no where I would rather be than right here in my sewing room.  And of course I had to take a Friday off instead of let's say a Monday because the next Orca Bay part came out today.  So on to part 4 of Orca Bay.

The boxes are what I have pre-cut and ready for the latest string blocks we are doing. From left to right misc., 1 1/2" and 2".  Yes, nothing is cut.  And with that said...I am off of here and can be found with a rotary cutter in my hand for the next several hours.  Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  No work today.

Have a great day. 

Julie

On The Wall

Here is part three of my Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay mystery quilt.  This is 350 half square blocks that will finish at 1 1/2".  This part was a breeze.  I can't wait for Friday! 

This is my cardinal quilt pinned and ready for its quilting.  I am looking forward to seeing this one done.  I love the way the border turned out. Those flying geese finished at 1" x 2".  They are bonus triangles from my Christmas Tree Quilt that I made last year.  The Tree quilt is a Judy Laquidara pattern.  The cardinal quilt is a couple of Thimbleberry blocks I combined with my flying geese to end up with this.

Have a great Monday and week to come.

Julie

On The Wall Today

Well, I have been able to make progress on Orca Bay.  I have all of the hour glass blocks made.  These are the units needed.  Plus a few others.

They turned out better than expected. I usually have trouble with this pattern.  Only two went in the trash. The rest will work just fine.

Here are 50 of the 72 string blocks needed.  The hardest part of this step was committing to a color.  I know my primary color is going to be yellows/oranges and I had thought I would use greens with that.  But my daughter and mother both said they liked blue.  So blue it is.  Not to lead either of them to believe this might end up on their bed.  Deciding that might end up being the hardest part.

Be sure to visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times to see all of the great projects there today.

And for directions to Orca Bay visit Bonnie Hunter here.

Have a great day.

Julie

Scrappy Mess

String blocks in progress.  See there on the left - two are done!  That leaves just 70 more to be made.  Yesterday was spent cutting strips.  The box on the left is full of actual scrap strips but that wasn't going to be enough variety.  Which led to the two boxes on the right.  They are 1 1/2" and 2" strips. Most of the 2" strips won't be used except for the corners. I'm finding that 2" may be just a little too wide to fit a minimum of 5 strips per 3 1/5" paper piece.  I actually read the directions more than one time to convince myself that they were really supposed to be only 3 1/5".  They are. 

Here are my 1/4 square triangle blocks.  We need 224 but I'm sure there are a few extra here.  At last count 235.  It is always nice to have a few extra available. That way when you get to the end of where they are being used there is still a variety to choose from  But what does one do with the left overs. I'm still trying to figure that out from the border pieces of my Roll, Roll, Cotton Bole quilt.  I have quite a few of these Here purple and green sections left over.  They are too nice to be thrown away and too few to make anything.  So into the scrap, not really a block, storage tote.  Guess the left overs from these triangle blocks will join them.  Maybe Bonnie Hunter will come up with a design to use the leftover almost block pieces:)

And that is my progress to this time on my Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay quilt. You can find the directions for it here.

Well, enough messing around it is back to the sewing machine for me.

Have a great day.

Julie

Orca Bay Week One

Bonnie is doing a link up of our Orca Bay progress.  So I am doing a second post this morning specifically for posting my progress. 
Here are my 1/4 square triangles all ready to be pressed open.  This was this morning (way to early). And if blogger wasn't giving me fits I would show you the picture from two hours later with all but 60 of these pressed and ready to be paired up.  Oh, well blogger wins.  No second picture.

 

Making Progress

Here are the 5" blocks that I made this last week. I haven't decided what else I am going to do to them. I am sure there will be some sashing and maybe another small block to border them.  They are for a table topper for a blanket chest my son made when he was in high school. 

Here are the 1/4 square triangles that are for Orca Bay  (see it here). This is Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.  This picture was at 5:00 this morning.  Right now there are only three more stacks of 20 to be pressed open. So I am hoping to get these sewn together in the next day or two.

Don't forget to visit Judy L's Design Wall Monday here. 

Have a great day!

Julie

Orca Bay Is Here

                                                    

Yes, right here in Kansas. Or where ever you might be.  Just go Here to find Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt. 

I can't wait to get started. But I suppose I should go to work first. They might not understand another day off for quilting.  Hmmm, wonder what we will be doing with 448 quarter square triangles.  Something good, I suppose. 

Of course there is still one little problem for me.  I can't decide for sure what colors I want to use.  I keep pulling colors and laying them next to each other then putting them back.  MY SEWING ROOM IS A DISASTER.  I was hoping that the first clue was going to make me decide.  Nope, not going to happen.  The first clue uses the neutrals and the blacks and I already know what they look like.  So I guess there is yet another week of indecision.  One thing for sure - my quilt won't be red, blue and black.  Mainly, because I have just about exhausted my supply of red.

So off to work for a day of hurry up and wait. Then home to sew, sew, sew.

Have a great day.

Julie

On The Wall Today

Yes, this really is still what I'm working on. And as of this week it has leaves on either side.  They are sewn on so they are probably staying.  I have an enormous amount of bonus half square triangles left over from my Christmas tree quilt.  You can see it here http://juliekayequilts.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-presents.html  I don't have time this morning to figure out the link thing right now.
Anyway, I think those bonus triangles are going on as a border to the cardinals.  We'll see.

I am also working on this block.  It looks pretty large in that picture.  But it will finish at 5".  I don't have figured out yet how I'm going to use these. But I am ready to get at making more.  I started with some 1 1/2" scraps and started making 1/2 sq triangles.  Then figured out the rest as I went along.  I tried using EQ7 but I just couldn't make the measurements work for me. I wanted to work with strips and squares I already have cut and EQ wasn't doing that.  So it all worked out in the end.  But even though I wanted EQ so much that I finally bought it.  It has still not helped me at all.  Someday I will stay away from the sewing machine long enough to figure out how EQ works.  Maybe.

Have a good day and a great week.

Julie

Nothing Much Done

I just have not done much in the way of sewing for the last two weeks.  I started on the cardinal runner at least two weeks ago.  And this is all the farther it is.

I made three other blocks trying to get something to go on either side of the cardinals. None of them worked for me though. I think the tree will work but still need something else for the other side.

And as can be seen, I did get my b.o.m. done for Holton. And I don't even need it for another week or two. I am usually working on blocks the night before or even the morning of needing them. So I have accomplished something.

This is where I was trying to stretch my red and green fabrics to make a back for my Smith Mountain Morning.  That did not work.  I was trying to use the blocks that were made for the cardinal runner. (Those three blocks can be seen blending in with the SMM top.)  I just could not get that piece of green to be large enough. So that is now all folded up and put away. And no I still don't like those blocks for the cardinal runner. They don't have enough color and it just makes it too long.  I do have another piece of material (11 yards) that will obviously be large enough to cover the back. It was just something that I did not want to use.
If I sound whiny, I am. After all, it is Monday.

Julie

In Progress

My Smith Mountain Morning quilt top is finally done.  My motivation got lost somewhere in the middle of all those border pieces. Actually I think it was the strip that fits between the top and the border. After sewing on the 2" inner border that was called for I just could not get my pieced sections to fit. So after cutting off 1/2" all the way around it finally worked out. Borders are not really my thing. So after a week or so of putting it off I finally put it (border) on. Now on to the quilting.

This is what I started on this morning.  Guess I just can't get enough of Christmas.  So I've started this project which in my mind is just a table runner but in the book it's a quilt so it is yet to be seen what size the actual project will be.  These cardinals are from a pattern in the Thimbleberries book Block by Block to Beautiful Quilts.

Five minutes til it's time to leave for work. So on to Monday and the beginning of a great week.

Julie