Progress

Finally a little progress on the red/white/blue 4 patch quilt.  Here is what was laid out as of 4:00 today.  This WAS my dining room.  I tried laying this out in the living room and it was a no go.  With the blocks laid side by side it measures right at 106" and that was not going to leave me any room to get around.  Therefore, the move to the the dining room.  However, most of the chairs are in the living room, so at least I get more choices of where to sit and rest between bending over to lay out blocks.

Here it is as of 6:30.  Half of the blocks are laid out and I have started sewing two of the rows together.  I decided to sew them in blocks of four to make it more manageable.  If you click on the picture you can get a better idea of my plan.  You can also see how I made use of the table feet to  gain some more room.  There is absolutely no way I can lay this whole thing out with the area I have.  So with a lot of hope and some prayer this will go together the way it's supposed to.

I am excited to be getting something done on this instead of just making four patches.  I love the way it looks laid out even with only half of it down.  The yellow room dulls the colors, but trust me, it is bright.

Design Wall Monday May 23, 2011

                          

   New Monday same old quilt.  But as of last night the blocks are all done.  Yippee!  I finally took the time to draw out my plan on a piece of graph paper which then let me know how many of each color I was actually going to need.  I was not even close.  Last week I had 364 blocks made.  After drawing it out I knew I needed 529.  Yes, really, that odd number of 529.  That will make it a 92" x92" top.  You can see the drawing above the blocks.  I am planning to use the upper of the two drawing plans. 
   On the back left are the few pieces I have cut out for the border blocks on Road to Brownville.  The center of the top is sewn together.  But doesn't look any different than it did last week so no new picture.

Please remember those people that were killed and injured in this weekends tornados.  The pictures above and below are what we saw when we tried to do a drive by of the damage in Reading, Kansas.  A road block turning people away while they tried to assess the damage and restore power.

The tornado all but destroyed the town of 250 people.  Here is a link to one of the local Topeka news items about the town. www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Reading_Target_Of_Serious_Storm_122400579.html Reading is about 20 miles south of where I live.  I work with several people that live there and several years ago had worked with the man that died as a result of the storm.  So you never know. 

There were numerous tornadoes on Sunday.  Especially hard hit was Joplin, Missouri where many people were killed.  Just keep all of the victims in your prayers.

Design Wall May 16, 2011

Here is what I have done on my Road to Brownwood. You can probably tell that not all of my rows are sewn together.  And no, I have not even started on my border blocks.  There is still a lot of work to do.

                                Click on the picture to enlarge.  It removes some of the camera distortion.

This is what the livingroom floor looked like Saturday morning. Still needed to set the corners.  However, it is not there this morning.  Invited over the family for dinner and I didn't think a few hundred 4" squares and a three year old would mix well.  So now I have to start laying it out all over again.  Since the corners weren't laid out I couldn't pick it up in rows.  Oh, well it is good excercise.

Have a great Monday!

I'm sure that I am not the only one who does not know how to respond to viewers comments.  There must be some directions out there that I can read. 

What keeps turning up is that I can select Google e-mail to be my first/primary source and then I can respond to comments.  I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE where and how I view my e-mail.  And I am not sure that if I select Google that I can unselect it to change it back.  ( Can you imagine, I had to add the word "unselect" to my dictionary. I'm just sure it's a word. OK, maybe not.)

Anyway, trust me.  I want to respond.  I really do.  So far I just don't know how.  But I'll learn.  EVENTUALLY.  Where is someone under the age of 30 when you need one.  Guess I'll have to get one of my kids to show me yet something else on the computer.

By the way the picture is of Granddaughter Grace she was a little over a year old at the time.  She picked up a little booklet/trash at a ball game and was reading me a story. 

Design Wall May 9, 2011

Here is what I have done for Road to Brownwood.  I have enjoyed putting together these blocks.  It seems to be going very fast.  Thanks to Judy at patchworktimes.com for a great pattern. Just need to get busy on that sashing.

The red/white/blue hasn't made it any farther than this on the wall.  However I have made more of the 4" blocks.  Almost ready to take it to the floor to decide on the final layout.

Also I found as I checked my e-mail this morning that I was a lucky winner of one of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazines.  Mine will be coming courtesy of  Robin Gallagher at robingallagher.blogspot.com.  Thanks so much to Robin for the magazine.  She did a terrific block.

Impatiently Waiting

                                                                                
Days like today just drive me crazy.  I just can't wait to be home sitting at my sewing machine.  When I walked out the door this morning I said "OK, eight hours".  And now looking at the clock it seems that time is at a stand still and there are still over six hours to go.

Not only that, but Judy at Patchwork Times http://www.patchworktimes.com/ has not yet posted the second part of her Road to Brownwood quilt. I AM READY and impatiently waiting.  It's not often that I am caught up and ready for the next stage of construction.  But this time I am. Wish I had a picture of the fabrics I'm using but since I'm at work and not home at my sewing machine, I don't.  So I will just keep looking forward to the end of my work day which will get me home to my sewing machine. 

                                                                                    

What is really note worthy about this post is that I was able to make a link to Patchwork Times.  My wonderful daughter Jennifer showed me how to do that.  Some things so simple completely stump me for so long.  Now I just wish I could remember the rest of what she showed me.

Monday April 25, 2011

My design wall actually has much more on it this morning than this.  But due to a very busy Easter weekend my camera battery is dead and I cannot take pictures right now to show the progress.

I "think" I've decided that I like it having the blue center. Right now that is the layout.  I have also removed most of the lighter colors in the blue and red.  They muddy up the breaks between the lights and darks. 

Since my scraps have been getting out of control I thought 2 1/2" squares would be a good way to make this quilt and use up some of those piles.  However, I am sure it is not going to make much of a dent.

This is part of my scrap disaster.  I can say that as of right now the scraps are out of the brown paper bags (there were five bags) but the large tote hasn't changed much.  I just have not added to it.  It's just a good thing that I have a sewing room because I could see my whole house being consumed by scraps.  Hard to believe that I love scrap quilts so much but have so little control over the mess.
Enjoy your Monday.  Hope you are able to get to your sewing projects often this week.  And don't forget to check out the design walls at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday April 4, 2011

WaaLaa - Drum roll please........  I finally got my Double Churn Dash top done.  This was made using recycled plaid shirts.  I'll take this opportunity to thank my sister Cathy for sending me some shirts from Wisconsin.  It was a Bonnie Hunter idea to use 100 % cotton shirts bought from local thrift stores.  And now I can't wait for yard sales to start so I can get some more shirts/material.  My camera doesn't like plaids. It tends to distort them. So sorry my picture is blurry.

Thanks to Patchwork Times for a place to share our design walls on Mondays.

I also want to share how to make the block.  This was a block that I did not have a pattern for but wanted to make.  I don't have a computer to program to help with the math so that is why it is a odd size.  If I knew then what I know now......anyway here are the measurements I used for the blocks.

The small/inner block finishes at 4 1/2"

Cut from the fabrics

Light Fabric   (small block)                                               Dark Fabric   (small block)
1  @    2" x 2" sq                                                             4  @    2" x 1 1/4"
4  @    2" x 1 1/4"                                                            2  @    2 3/8" x 2 3/8"
2  @    2 3/8" x 2 3/8"

Using the 2 3/8" light squares mark a diagonal  line from corner to corner. 

Lay a light piece on the top of the dark piece right sides together.  Sew a scant 1/4" on each side of the diagonal line.  You will then cut it apart on the line. Press the seam line open toward the darker of the two fabrics.  Trim off the dog ears.  These will be your corner units.  This will make four units.
Using the light and dark pieces that are 2" x 1 1/4"  lay a light on top of the dark and sew down the 2" side press open toward the dark side.  This will make 4 units.

Lay the pieces out as shown in the picture above using the 2" x 2" light square in the center. Sew together in rows as shown below. 

 I have shown you the back so you can see how I pressed the seams in opposite directions.  Then sew the rows together and tada a 5" block.  (Which I did not take a picture of.)

For the large block cut from the fabrics:

Light Fabric  (large block)                                                            Dark Fabric  (large block)

4  @    5" x 1 3/4"                                                                        4  @    5" x 1 3/4"
2  @    3 3/8" x 3 3/8"                                                                  2  @    3 3/8" x 3 3/8"

Alternate center cut:

Light Fabric

1  @    5" x 5"

Follow the directions given above for the smaller block.  However, this time your center block will be the small churn dash you already made.  You could also use the alternate 5" center to make a single large churn dash block.

I suggest sewing the block with the center facing up.  You will be able to see the points on the center block which will help make sure that the points don't get cut off in the seam line.

  

  Block size is now 10" and will finish at 9 1/2".

Monday March 21, 2011

I finally have made some progress on getting the blocks all sewn together.  Will probably have all the rows together by next week.  So at least one more week on the design wall or surface.  Seems like laying out a scrap quilt always gets the best of me.  No matter how hard I try to spread out the colors I always get like colors too close to each other.  But I guess that is one of the good things too.  It just really doesn't matter.
I am planning to write out the measurements I used for my blocks.  Hopefully, I will get that done by next Monday.

The bag below is a "schlep" bag I made for my mother's birthday.  Not new. I just forgot to post a picture when I was making it.  It also is from my scraps. 

Enjoy the rest of your Monday. And be sure to check out all of the great design walls at Patchwork Times.

Peaceful Thoughts

I just needed a minute where I could have one or two peaceful thoughts today.  Yep, been one of those days. So I started going through old pictures on my computer and got what I was looking for. Nice, serene pictures and good memories.

The pictures above and just below were taken at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. They are both of Chihuly glass sculptures that we saw when we went to St. Louis on vacation a few years ago.  Daughter Jennifer studied glass blowing in college (yes, there is a degree for that).  So when we heard there was to be a Chihuly show we loaded up and headed East.  It was not disappointing.  The best part was the trip with the family.  So this qualifies as a peaceful thought.

And the little fellow below, Jennifer and I saw on a trip out West. He entertained us at Bryce Canyon in Utah.  These were all around while I was growing up in Arizona. But we don't have them in Kansas. At least not in our part of Kansas.  Chipmunks always bring a smile to my face. Unless the are singing in a cartoon voice.

Time to go back to work. 

Monday March 7, 2011

Well, I have some more blocks done.  And have been working on a sashing.  And I think that has been my hold up.  Wanted something different for the sashing - just don't know if this works or not.  Maybe should just go with the standard dark/light/dark strips and leave it at that. 

These blocks have not been laid out in any order. This will probably be 5 x 6 blocks. 

Birthday Postcard

Here is this years postcard for Grace.  No I still don't do applique very well, and no I have not read any posts about how to make these.  But for some reason for her 1st birthday I made her a fabric postcard and here she is already three.  And so far I have made three.  Guess I'll have to see when she is 15 if she is still getting postcards from her grandma.  And what to do when there are more grandkids? 

 

These postcards are like the Christmas stockings - everytime there is a new addition to the family I have to make a new stocking.  The first stockings were made by Jesse and Jennifer's great granny.  And for some silly reason I thought everyone should get one.  Maybe it is time for the tradition to pass to the next generation.  Jennifer or Victoria are you ready to learn about making granny's stockings?  Hopefully it won't have to pass a generation like it did with me.  If so, I figure there is only 7 or 8 years until Grace is ready to pick up the needle and thread and stitch one up.

A year from now I will be trying to figure out what picture to sew on Grace's postcard. Trying to come up with something clever to say on the back.  And thinking about the first three postcards and the ones yet to come.

 

                                                            HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE.

February 14, 2011

Not much new since last week.  Just a few more of the plaid shirt blocks and lots of time to think about setting ideas.  But I believe I have a good excuse for not getting much done.  During our last snow storm on Tuesday I took a terrible tumble off a slick step.   After a few x-rays it was decided that nothing was actually broke.  Thank Goodness!  But, my right hand is still in a splint and the bruises just keep getting darker and darker.  Trust me - I would much rather be sewing.  Hopefully next week I will be able to get back at it.

Have a great week. And be sure to visit Patchwork Times to see all the Design Wall posts.

Monday February 7, 2011

These are the blocks I have been working on with my shirt plaids.  I have quite a few of the dark plaids but have figured out that I need quite a few more of the lights.  So another trip to the Salvation Army is in my future.  You can go to my last post to see more information about the shirts that are in these blocks.  I haven't decided yet how they are going to go together or how big this project will be.  We'll see.

I am also quilting on my RRCB.  It would be going so much faster if I could just see where I have already been quilting.  My thread blends in so well on all those strip blocks.  Makes for slow going.  I decided to just go with meandering on it.  So far it looks good.  It's just not very far along.  Patience, Patience.

Visit Patchwork Times to see all the great projects that are posted.

Plaids

I started with this.  These are shirts I have been buying at Salvation Army.  All plaid and all 100% cotton.   Jennifer and I have been having fun going to look for them.  So far there are 15 different shirts/materials.

This is what I have ended up with.  Lots and lots of usable material.  At this point I am not planning to mix this with my quilt shop cottons.  I'm just hoping to get something made with these plaids.  The shirts were a Bonnie Hunter idea from her blog Quiltville quips and snips.  The plaids may be too busy to use on their own.  I'll just have to see what it looks like.  Whatever "it" may be.

                                      

And this is what I have been playing around with.  No it's not an original idea. But I don't have a pattern for this so I sat down and figured it out.  The small one is only 4" and not quite as big as I wanted.  So on to the 5" block.  Much better.  The large one is 10" and has the 5" block for a center. 
I have wanted a quilt with a Churn Dash block in block for years.  Between the Churn Dash and a Star pattern I wouldn't be able to say which was my favorite.  I carry around a bag that I made from a Georgia Bonesteel churn dash pattern that was done in red/white and blue.   It was a difficult pattern to follow and I knew I could do better, so I did.  Yipee!  Hopefully, I will have lots to share in the near future. 

Monday January 31, 2011

This is a post I have been waiting impaitently to write for several months.  I am thrilled to be finished with my Roll Roll Cotton Bowl top.  Yep, top.  It does still need to be quilted.  But with this quilt that is the easy part.  And I'm quite sure I have never said that before. What a great project this turned out to be.  It was so much fun to work so hard each week trying to be ready for the next weeks mystery post. I have always enjoyed string quilts and have bought several pattern books using string quilts.  After the making the sixty blocks in this quilt I may be broke of the desire to ever make another one with strings.   But there was certainly a great sense of accomplishment when they were done.    I did decide to make my quilt square.  Therefore, I have blocks left over for pillow shams or a small quilt.  But they will certainly NOT go on the back of a quilt.  At least not the back of this one.  Thanks so much to Bonnie Hunter for such a great pattern.  It was a lucky day indeed when I found Quiltvilles Quips and Snips.  She has plenty of inspiration to share with a little bit of humor thrown in to boot. 

Be sure to go to Patchwork times for a great place to see  projects on Judy's Design Wall Monday.  And check out her great patterns while your there. 

And the next time someone says mystery quilt, I'm sure you will see me and my posts tagging along for the ride.

Design Wall Monday January 3, 2011

Here is my version of Bonnie Hunter's "Roll Roll Cotton Boll".  However, I will need to name mine "One of These is Different" as one of my purple blocks was put together wrong and should be taken apart and redone but......  hopefully it will be the only one.  I still have 16 of the purple blocks to do and the 1/2 blocks that go around the outside.  I also decided to do mine in purple and yellow instead of pink and red.  I think it is looking great.  I am glad I decided to do it in this color scheme.

Here is a close up.

A huge thank you to Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville for the terrific pattern and fun mystery.  And to Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times for a great place to post the updates and pictures. 

I love the yellow quilt Judy has planned to do.  May have to follow her lead on that one.  Check it out at Patchwork Times.

Christmas Presents

Finally done!   It seemed like I was never going to finish this one.  It is a Judy Laquidara pattern from her book Weekend Quilts.  It ended up being 84" square.  Absolutely nothing against Judy's pattern but I obviously do not sew as fast as her.  My quilt is larger than the pattern in the book and I changed the border and made the background scrappy.  That may be some of the reasons it took me several weeks to get this done.  But done it is.  Yippee!  I used a large meander to quilt it which worked out well for the quilt and me.  This was a gift and needed to be done by the 24th and it just barely made it under the tree. I love the finished quilt and kept it at my house so I can take it to quilt guild in Burlingame and Holton in January.  I wonder if my son and his wife will notice if I don't give it back to them?

I also got this tree skirt done for my daughter Jennifer and her husband Zach. You may notice that the center of the skirt hasn't been cut yet and the binding is not on here.  Silly me, I do not YET have a picture of the finished tree skirt.  I forgot to take one.  I did the binding in strips of the different reds that are in the skirt.  These block patterns were from a block of the month we did at Quilting on the Square in Holton last year.  I thought the log cabin worked well in the reds and greens and stands out nicely under the tree.  And hopefully someday I will put together the blocks that I did last year.  They are in browns.

And these lovely fabrics are a gift from my daughter Jennifer.  A girl that takes after her mother.  Wow, I just couldn't believe it when I opened my Christmas present and these fabrics were in there.  She bought all of these on one of our Kansas shop hops this last summer.  I drooled over all of it then and can't wait to get something done with them now.  Might have to work with those moths and bumble bees first?  I know she is secretly hoping to end up with the results of my labor and who knows she just might.  Only time will tell.

This  pillow is a gift from Mother to me.  My sisters also got one. (Hope I didn't spoil Cathy's surprise.)  Each a different pattern.  Behind mom is a lap quilt she gave me last year.  So as you can see I get my quilting genes directly from her.  Thanks mom the pillows turned out great!

To top off this wonderful list of gifts son Jesse and family gave me a 19" monitor for my computer.  It is wonderful to be able to clearly see all the posts at Patchwork Times.

What a great Christmas.  Jesus is the reason for the season.  God Bless.

Design Wall Monday November 29, 2010

It was a great weekend to wrap up the piecing on a couple of projects.  The tree quilt is my version of a Judy Laquidara pattern from her book Weekend Quilts.  I changed it up by making my backgrounds scrappy which changed the way it had to be pieced together.  Much more work to lay it out.  I also added two more rows of blocks and a different border.  I wanted to end up with a queen size quilt.  Needless to say, this did not get done in a weekend.  But now it is ready to be quilted.  My least favorite part.  I just can't decide how.  Any ideas?  I do all of my own quilting on my sewing machine so I don't do anything fancy.

Last week I also started Bonnie Hunters Roll Roll Cotton Bowl mystery quilt.  I chose to use purples instead of pinks to go with my greens and browns.  I'm not sure the purples and browns will work out quite as well but I have one unfinished pink and brown project so didn't want to start another one.  I haven't decided on the other fabric yet.  When she gives us the directions for it I will go to my stash and pick something out.  Maybe a burgandy paisley that I have.  You can find Bonnie's mystery quilt on her blog at Quiltville's Quips & Snips.

Wow, that was a great holiday weekend.  I am so sad that it is over.  It was so nice not to have to go to work I was able to get a lot of sewing done.  Which was exactly how I wanted to spend the Thankgiving holiday.  Dinner was great with all the family here.  But no one ate enough.  There were too many leftovers. 

Check out everyone else's holiday sewing at Patchwork Times.