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

Pretties

Here are some pretty table runners that I found at a yard sale on Friday. I just could not pass up the one with sunflowers. I have just the place for it.  It was risky but they were run through the washer on the hand wash cycle and for the most part they did just fine. The dishtowel with veggies on it ended up with a few small holes in it but it will still look nice folded up.  They were a steal just $2.75 for all of them.  It still leaves me a little sad that someone put so much work into such pretty things and they end up in a yard sale for a few dollars. However, they are now out of a box and will be enjoyed once again.

And this great piece of material is over six yards and only cost $1.00.  Be sure to click on the picture to super size it. This small picture distorts the view.  There is no selvage information on the fabric and it doesn't feel like new material it just feels quite old so I'm sure it will end up the back of something simple.  It would be great for the back of a tree skirt or table runner.  With as much as there is it can go on the back of both.  I ran it through the washer on hot and it did just fine.  As great as it is it just doesn't have the feel of something I would want to back a big quilt I put dozens of hours into.

Just wanted to share my pretty things.  Now I'm off to work on the last few blocks of my  Smith Mountain Morning.

Julie

Design Wall Monday

My version of Bonnie Hunter's Smith Mountain Morning has made it from the wall to the bed. However, what can't be seen from this picture is that it barely reaches the edges of the bed.  That didn't come as a surprise.  I knew that was going to be the case when I saw the finished quilt size given in the pattern book.  I just needed to decide if it was going to be a bed quilt or one to be hung from the wall.  And the bed wins.  So now it's back to cutting and piecing more blocks. Which is really what I like to do anyway.  Maybe that is why it's so hard for me to do a lap quilt. I'd rather be piecing.

Check out all of the great design walls at
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/10/10/design-wall-monday-october-10-2011/
I have to figure out how you all do that link thing.

Have a great day.

Julie

New Block Design?

I chastise myself on a regular basis for not reading directions.  It happens more and more all the time.

These are the two blocks for the Overbrook and Baldwin City block of the month.  I've never been one to sit down and do these right when I bring them home.  That said, this morning when I was making the block on the left I erred.  Yep, it is very noticeable in the picture that something is just not right.  Those corner four patches should all be facing the corners. And the flying geese should all be flying the same direction.  Personally, I am just going to consider it a new block design. I've never liked having my blocks look like all the others. And in this case it is probably safe to say this block does not.   Someone familiar with the actual block design might also notice that the center is not as it should be.  In my defense the LQS did not give me the light piece of material so I had to substitute my own.  But the nice hour glass design, that is NOT there, well that would be my fault for not reading the directions before cutting.  I'm pretty certain that if I scrunch the block up enough that they won't notice all of the errors changes and Overbrook QS will hand me my next block.  Which I will probably not make until the first Saturday of next month.

In my defense the block on the right for Baldwin City is just lovely.

Now on to prettier things.  This is the way my Smith Mountain Morning looked on Tuesday.

I have since finished the other four blocks and am starting to get them sewed into rows.  This quilt is going to be one of my favorites.

Have a great Saturday.  I get the pleasure of spending the morning with Mom going to our two block of the month shops.  And this afternoon Grace and I get to play the afternoon away.  If anyone wants to join us at the Auburn parade we'll be there by two.

Julie

Followers

I absolutely cannot get my Followers tab to work.  One time it is there and the next time it's not. It is so frustrating. I have asked google for help. A lot of help that was.  NONE ! I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling and that did not help.  So I am truly sorry that if you should want to follow my blog the only way to do it is from the tab at the very top of the page. It means that your profile picture won't be seen on my page at this time. I'm just sure that at some time blogger will get this glitch worked out.

If you have been experiencing the same problem and have figured it out, please let me know.  I would love to get it taken care of.

Julie

Days later same problem. BUT. But I did figure out that when I log in through Explorer the followers are there. It is when I use Firefox that they are missing.  I really dislike Firefox but have to use it on one of my other computers in order to print.  Nope, don't ask me that is. I don't know why.

On the Wall Today

This week I am still working on my Smith Mountain Morning quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter.  The wall doesn't look much different. But I am actually about done with all of the blocks.  There are still six green stars to be made and I need to finish up the border units. I've moved on to using the border pieces as my leader/enders while making the green star blocks. Pretty soon I will need to pull back out my bonus triangles from other projects to use as leader/enders as I can see that this top is about together.

Visit Judy Laquidara and all of the great design walls at 
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/09/26/design-wall-monday-september-26-2011/

Julie

A Good Day

Today I feel so blessed. Tired but blessed.  This morning I was at granddaughter Grace's soccer game in Topeka by 8:15. At three she is still unsure of what soccer is let alone whether or not she really wants to chase that ball around or just play with her friend Lucy.  Either way, she is just adorable and a pleasure to be with.

After hitting the grocery store to stock up on everything. I took a much needed and deserved nap.  Followed by an afternoon of my favorite pastime, sewing. 
This is what I have up on the wall so far.  It is starting to coming together. I feel like I'm making a lot of progress on it. I have been trying to decide if I want it to be predominately red or green. And after looking at this picture I'm leaning toward red.  We'll see.

This evening mom and I headed to the lake to spend the evening with son Jesse, Victoria and Grace.  Sister Joyce and Bill were there to share in the fun too.  What a great time.  We roasted hot dogs followed by marshmallows.  We all ate way more than we needed too and just generally had a great time.

Victoria and Mom

Grace and I taking apart and blowing Cattail fluff.

Well, now the decision, what will end the day?  TV, Sewing, Bed?  I won't figure that out til I'm off of here. Night all.

Julie

On the Wall Today

I had the opportunity to take a class from Bonnie Hunter last week in Holton, Kansas.  She taught her techniques for her quilt Smith Mountain Morning.  It was a great class. Bonnie is a super person with high energy and lots of great ideas. 

So this week I am working on my version of Smith Mountain Morning.  I wanted to do mine as a Christmas quilt therefore all the greens and reds.  I already had a great selection left over from last year when I did Judy Laquidara's  Walk In The Forest quilt from her book Weekend Quilts. So I just added a few more greens and reds and this is how it is turning out.

These blocks are the three blocks that I got done in the class and we were busy the entire time.  It was a lot of instruction using the rulers Bonnie suggests you use to make the block easier in the long run.  She uses the Easy Angle, Tri Tool, Rec Tool and the Companion Angle rulers.  And they do work.  It is worth the effort to figure it out.

And these are the 30 blocks I have been working on since the class.  They just need red on the lower side and then a green on the other two sides.  The pattern does not call for this many Cornerstone blocks but I will be making my quilt larger so it will be big enough for my bed.  I have been using the pieces to make the stars center pinwheels as my leaders and enders. So I end up working on both the star and the cornerstone blocks at the same time.

After Bonnie's trunk show she asked if anyone had brought quilts made from her patterns and three of us had.  Here is Bonnie and I showing my Roll Roll Cotton Bowl.  It was so much fun to be a part of her trunk show.  I also showed my version of Bonnie's Blue Ridge Beauty.  You can see a picture of that on a previous post.

Be sure to check out all the design walls at http://www.patchworktimes.com/  Have a great week.

Julie

What a day !

Bonnie Hunter was in town.  Okay, she was in a town about an hour from Burlingame but close enough.  I sure wasn't going to miss this opportunity and I'm thrilled to say I didn't.

Bonnie showed some of her spectacular quilts.  Her blog and books do not do them justice. The colors are just amazing.  And all the small pieces will just knock your socks off.

What was especially fun for me was that she asked anyone who had brought quilts made from her patterns to show them too.  So here are Bonnie and I showing off my Roll Roll Cotton Bowl. I asked her to sign the label and of course she graciously did.

And then my version of Blue Ridge Beauty.  I ended up naming my version Berry Bliss.  It just didn't seem right to call it Blue.  Here she is pointing out the variety of pinks.

It was just terrific to see a sampling of her quilts in person.  She gave a great talk that encouraged creativity and self expression.  I have no doubt that if she ever gets this close again I will be in attendance.  And I'm sure there will be more quilts I've made of her patterns.

On day two of Bonnie's trip to Holton she gave a class for Smith Mountain Morning.  This was not a quilt I was particularly interested in but since we have been doing pointy stars for our block of the month at Holton's Quilting on the Square it was the one chosen.  Unless you see the quilt in person you don't know how vibrant brown and blue can be.

Here are Mom, Bonnie and I standing in front of her Smith Mountain Morning.

Our class was a lot of fun.  But that is not as Bonnie would say an easy peasy quilt to make.  Before I left home I was just sure I would have half of my blocks made and be ready to sew the top together in just a few days.  NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!  I was lucky to get two of the star blocks made and one of the cornerstone blocks.

Here is a picture of my first star block.  I see now that it was taken before it was finished and no I did not take a picture of my own block after it was done.  Insert heel of hand to forehead here.

Here is a picture of Mom's.  Isn't that going to be great in red/white and blue.  My favorite quilt colors.  Hint, Hint.

It was a great workshop and I for one can't wait to finish my quilt. Especially since Bonnie used my pieces a couple of times for some demonstrations. (My stuff was just closest.)

Thank you Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ . And a big thank you to Mark and Connie of Quilting on the Square in Holton for hosting Bonnie.
http://quiltingonthesquare.com/ 

I had a great time. And now I'm off to work on my quilt.

Julie

Pressing and Cutting, Pressing and Cutting

Can you tell what color my next quilt will be? 

These are some of the materials I will be using at the workshop with Bonnie Hunter that is in Holton on Thursday. I was reading through the pattern this morning and just starting thinking that I was going to spend all my time pressing and cutting instead of sewing blocks.  I know that it is a workshop to learn a method and I intend to listen and learn but I also plan to be ready.  So after work today I am going to be pre-cutting some of the strips for the quilt.  I won't cut it all out.  After all I need to have something left so I can follow the directions.

So if you need to find me I will be in my sewing room pressing and cutting for what looks like hours and hours.  No doubt enjoying every minute of it.

Julie

What I'm Working On

My plans for yesterday fell through at the last minute.  But that was A-Okay with me.  I ended up spending a quilty morning finishing up the quilting on my table runner and sewing the binding on the table runner and my pink quilt.  All that is left to do on them is hand stitching down that binding.  Which is still the way I prefer to do it.  As I am typing this though, I realize neither of them have a label which is something I usually do before sewing on the binding.  So I will need to get off of here and get at making a couple of labels.

The binding I used for the runner is one of my favorite fabrics.  I love those black flowers on that brown fabric.  I am sorry to say that other than this one small scrap it is all used up.  I have no idea where I bought it or what manufacturer it came from.  There was nothing on the selvage edge to tell me.  Or if there was I used it up in a previous project.  Being a scrap quilter I have my go to favorites.  They could end up in every quilt I do, color permitting of course, and this brown was one of them.   Guess I'll have to stumble on to my next favorite.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day.  I will be heading to the pond to go fishing with family and then to dinner with all of them.  What will make it so good is of course family time.  And it doesn't hurt that I will get to sew all morning.  I love three day weekends.

                     Son Jesse and granddaughter Grace, fishing Memorial Day 2010. 

Design Wall Monday August 29, 2011

Here is my current project.  These are blocks from Thimbleberries Block by Block book.  The book shows using six blocks and making a wall hanging with a wide border.  I will be making just one more block and then I plan to do some type of scrappy sashing and border.  This will be for a table runner to go in my living room. 

I also finished the quilting on my version of Bonnie Hunters Blue Ridge Beauty.  This pattern is from her book Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  It was an easy pattern to follow and a lot of fun to make.  The two pieces I used for the back would not look good right next to each other but ended up looking just great when I put a scrappy strip of blocks between them.  My plan is to get the binding on this one this week. 

Have a great Monday and be sure to check out all of the other design walls at patchworktimes.com.

Procrastination

Okay, this morning I am just full of other things I want to be doing besides what really needs done.  I have spent an hour sewing. Cleaned the kitchen and done two loads of laundry.  Oh, and wasted time writing this post.  So now I should to get to the real needs of my day.

Thursday night an awesome wind blew through and did some horrific damage to my yard.  I call it an awesome wind because I could hear it rolling in.  Looking back on it I should have headed to the basement. It was that apparent that it was going to be a big blow.  And what I thought was patio furniture taking a tumble must have actually been my huge old trees taking a break from their lofty heights.

This is a red bud tree that is broke in half and of course it is way over our heads.  But as can be seen it is just laying up there side ways and will need to come down.  And it seems we will just take the one next to it too.

Luckily this big branch broke off nicely at the top and just needs to be pulled down, cut up and cleaned up.  The tree should live.

This big old Walnut tree was kind enough to lay itself down across my chain link fence. And to say it has caused us problems is an understatement. 

This is how far we got.  Four hours and still can't get that largest branch to break loose and to top it all off there is another broken branch way up on the left and not much left to the tree once it all comes off.                 

So after some consideration and frustration it has been decided that the entire tree must come down.  Okay, it made me mad and I'm ready to make kindling out of it.  We had an offer we couldn't refuse.  BIL Bill is willing to come help with the removal in a few days.  His help in this will be terrific.  As you can see there is a metal building behind the tree and I am standing in between my house and the tree to take a picture.  So there is some risk involved.  But as long as I close my eyes when they make the final cut everything should turn out okay.  And if not - that is what homeowners insurance is all about.  Right?

Hope everyone has a lovely day.  I know I am going to.  I plan to spend the rest of it outside with my family.  Yes, we will be working like crazy but it can be great fun to have a common goal. 



Design Wall/Table

   This is what I have going on today.  This was originally going to be part of the back to my pink quilt but it didn't make the "cut".  So I decided to just make a table runner out of it to give as a bridal shower gift.  I will give it and the pillow cases together.  If it gets finished by this Saturday.  No problem.

                          

I see from this picture that nothing would make my kitchen table look good. 

   Enjoy what is left of your Monday.  And be sure to check out all of the other design walls at Judy Laquidara's site. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/08/15/design-wall-monday-august-15-2011/   I see she has made it to Brownwood.   Sounds like quite the move. 

B.O.M. Saturday

In my opinion it is too early on a Saturday morning to be up and thinking about quilting or blogging for that matter.  I woke up 10 minutes ago (6:55) jumped out of bed, took a few bad pictures and here I am.  Okay, I'm always up this early and usually at my sewing machine by now.  But in less than an hour I'll be headed out to Holton to pick up this months B.O.M.  These are not my colors but they are great blocks to be learning something new.  And so far so good.  My points are pretty good.  Just don't look too close at the center of the orange one.  And as seen in a previous post the one on the right had to be remade when I cut it wrong and then remade again when I was told they would ALL have the same blue background.  But that just means I'll have yet another orphan block for my pile.

The colors are meant to be the same as what are in the Kansas flag. And since Kansas is celebrating 150 of statehood this year that seems very appropriate. 

And now with absolutely no more time to waste I'm off to have a great day.  Good thing I took time to run a spell check first though.
  

Read The Directions

These are the pillowcases that will go with the pink quilt when it is done.   Be sure to click on the picture so you can see the paisley fabric that was used. They would have been finished in no time at all but I am not one to read directions.  Therefore, I spent time ripping out a seam that should never have been sewn.  In this case the seam was the side and width of a pillowcase.  Just reading the one line "fold in half - wrong sides together" would have saved a lot of ripping.  Oh, well they are done and I like how they turned out. The pattern that I used was from http://www.canadianquiltshop.com/.  I will let you go to their store and find the free pattern yourself.  As I did not ask permission to post the actual pattern link.  The pattern is called Hot Dog Pillow Case.

The Pink Top is Done

Here it is.  The pink top is finally done.  And I love it.  I like the variation in color depth.  This picture isn't great.  But I'll post another picture once it is quilted.  I only noticed one time where I actually got two pieces of the same fabric together and it was too late in my opinion to do anything about it.  Move one block in a quilt like this and you have to move ten.  At least it was an off white small piece so unless I tell someone it will never be seen.  And I'm not going to tell a soul.  In the picture it looks like there are two of the same darks together but they are different fabrics and up close it is easy to see the difference.

You would think I like pink with all the pink on this blog.  But it is not a color that is found in my house with the exception being the stash in my sewing room.  I might actually have to FINISH a quilt for myself that is done in pinks.  The quilt in my header picture has not been quilted yet.  Some day it might will be.

I must have been needing to add some color to my life.  I ordered new dishes and are they ever bright.  They are great.  But now I need to paint my kitchen because they clash.

You can just barely see my kitchen wall and even though it is yellowish orange, it is neither orange or yellow and does not look good with these bright colors.  There is also to be a blue set but two of the saucers had flaws and alas they had to go back for exchange.

Have a great day and happy sewing.

Julie

Spiky Star

We started a new block of the month in June at Quilting on the Square in Holton.  Needless to say we are due to show our proof it's done to get Julys block tomorrow.  So today is the day to get my block done.  At least I didn't wait until tomorrow morning this time.

First to be noticed is the dark blue at the bottom of the picture.  That is the original blue that was to be cut 4 1/2" wof.  Nope I cut it 4 1/4" and that was not going to make anything come out square.  So luckily I had a sort of blue kind of purple fabric in my stash which worked just fine. 
Second is that if you don't line up the pieces correctly it won't form a square when done.  So it is just a good thing that I did not assembly line sew these pieces or I would have had to rip out more than one.

Even though the picture didn't turn out very well the block turned out just fine.  However, I felt like a beginner with this one.  This block was a great learning experience.  And has led me to believe that I probably won't be doing a quilt using this pattern any time soon. 

There are only a few more hours until I see what next month's block will bring.

On the Wall Today

Here are a few more blocks from my pink quilt.  I have about 100 of the 8" blocks done.  So I still have many, many more to go.  But I love the way the colors look. 
I also have several more rows of my red/white/blue done.  So I am about half way through getting that top sewn together.  I am using the pinks in between the r/w/b to keep both of the tops in progress.

And I got EQ7.  I have been wanting it for months.  Mom will tell you I look at it all the time.  Well now I actually get to look at it on my computer.  In order to get free shipping I needed to spend a few more dollars so I bought five yards of material and they threw in a fat quarter as a "free" gift.

The program is loaded on my computer but I have not spent the time to figure anything out yet.  I am reading through the book and will start watching the videos when I can drag myself away from the sewing machine.  The two bottom fabrics have already found their way into the pink quilt.  Those little pictures on the site aren't really large enough for me to tell the colors so I got what I ordered whether it was really what I was anticipating or not.

Have a wonderful day.

On The Wall Today

Here is what I am working on this week.  This pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  Her quilt is done in blues and is named Blue Ridge Beauty. I think this one will require a name revision.  I currently have about 100 four patches and 100 half sq triangles sewn.   As can be seen I will need to spend some time laying this out to mix up those lights and darks.  For some reason I think I have to cut out the whole quilt at one time.  So I have hundreds and hundreds of pieces cut out for this using over 30 different whites and off whites and over thirty different pinks.  As soon as I pinned these up on my wall I knew it is going to be hard to give this one away.  Guess I need to get it done before worrying about that.

This is a design book I made using my shirt scraps.  I wanted something to carry around in my purse to jot down any ideas that my come my way.  It also needed to have graph paper. So I printed a page off the internet, ran it through the copy machine, cut it in half and wa la.  Two different sizes of graph paper and all cut to fit in my purse.   I sewed button holes inside to fit the notebook prongs though.  It is also made so a regular store bought notebook can slide into it.