Just Pieces today

Thought I would share with you just some pieces of things I"m working on! First of all I got 2 blocks from Jenny in Belgium for a block swap I'm doing! The top one is the block I made for the 1st month - signature block. I got in the mail today the bottom 2 blocks from Jenny today, the left one is April's block - 4-patch variation and then her signature block! Aren't they wonderful! And she hand pieces everything! And I can't believe how well all the colors go without us planning it! I have 2 more blocks coming yet for March, so I"ll show you those when I get them too.

I also have to share something fun with you. I"ve been working on my gifts for the group I go to Paducah with. So last night I was quilting panels of fabric to cut up (I can't tell you what I"m making - they will see!!! Anyway, above is the front of one panel. But look at the surprise I got when I looked at the back - isn't that red on the brown awesome! That was a fun surprise!

And I thought I would also show you my progress on the BOM I"m teach at the LQS. Isn't this turning out cool? My original version hanging up in the shop is in darker colors and repro fabrics and I love it, but I really am liking how this one is turning out as well! Isn't it just fun to play!

My oldest UFO

I told several people on blogland I would dig out my oldest UFO and take some pictures. So finally here it is. And I"m almost embarrassed to admit that when I clipped it to the bushes it was just a tad dusty!

And why I"m sure you ask is this a UFO - especially since I still think it is my favorite quilt ever that I've made. I just LOVE it. Well I got all the little 4-patches quilted around and about 1/2 of the 9-patches and decided I just HATED what I was doing to the 9-patches! So it got folded up and put under my table in my sewing area. I just haven't had the heart to rip all that quilting out and start again (well I'm keeping the quilting I did around the 4-patches. I decided it needed something much simpler, more straight lines - but not in the ditch. So one of these days I"ll get to it.
But getting it out reminded me how beautiful it is and how much I LOVE the fabrics. I still to this day LOVE that background fabric I used. I wish I could still buy more of it! I also took a picture of one corner. All 4 corners are different. A flower one to represent the North (and I can't remember what it stood for). A Log Cabin for Lincoln, Clay's Choice for the South and then the Carolina Lily for the South flower.

Nice visit from Holly

Holly our oldest who goes to Purdue came up to visit us on Saturday. Her best friend from HS who goes to Bradely in Peoria turned 21 - and her mom gave a brunch for her. So Holly came up for that. She got here early enough for her and I to run a few errands and then she went to the brunch. Later in the afternoon Holly, Katie (her friend) and I went to the mall to buy clothes - what else! Then on the way home we stopped at our favorite pizza place. I had a wonderful visit with the girls.

My two youngest girls have been gone all weekend, they started their spring break on Friday. They headed to the Mall of America with "the Aunts" (Mark's 2 sisters). That was their bday present for this year along with goods from the mall I"m sure. So that also has been kind of nice to have some quiet time. We are expecting them any time now.

In between "things" I worked on some more blocks for the Michael's Victory small quilt I started in Feb. I"ve got 13 more blocks I believe left to go. And I just finished some blocks for the BOM I"m teaching at the LQS, but I'll save those pics for after the class Tues night. So for now I"m done on the machine for the night. Time for some bindings I think!

Rip-It, Rip-It....

Yup, it was a night for rip-it, rip-it..... BUT - it was so worth the time and work! And here it is! The block is finally finished! It will be the center of a medallion quilt! I have no idea what the next round will be. This round was "your favorite". Whether it is your favorite fabric, favorite block or favorite technique. Mine was this block. I"ve wanted to do it for ages, but as you can see it take a bit of work! It will finish about 24" square. I left some extra room for when I go to trim it - but I'll wait until next round to see what it will be.

A few of you had a hard time finding the mistake (well there were some others too), but the one I caught the other night on the post was the strip of missing blue triangles to make the flying geese where the blocks meet. I circled it in HOT PINK for those of you who still don't see it.

I also ripped out all the setting triangles and squares and made new ones that were bigger so my star points would come out. It looks much better now! Well worth the fabric and time. Plus now I have some room for squaring it up! The funniest mistake I found tonight was one triangle strip that was suppose to be 10 HST's, and when I went to sew 2 blocks together I had 11 in it. And here I wondered why that block layed so funny! So I ripped the extra HST out also!

Jane wondered how I made all those HST's. Well I can make them several ways, but my favorite seems to be using the Triangulations CD, and velum or tracing paper. The velum/tracing paper seems to rip so much easier and nicer than triangles on a roll or Thangles. And I like the rectangleness (my word) of making them instead of strips. If I don't need so many, I just cut out a section for how many I need. It just seems to work for me. Plus - with Triangulations you can make any size HST from something like 1/2" finished to 7" finished size - in 1/8" increments! So when I need a really weird size I can get them! My HST in the medallion block finish to 7/8". Couldn't do that with Triangles on a roll or Thangles. Oh and the velum/tracing paper. Buy the cheaper stuff, not the expensive stuff for using in cards and announcements. I buy the cheap stuff in a pad, and have office max cut off the glued-taped end; so then I have loose sheets that go through the printer. Simple as that!

OK, so I stayed up late to get this block done. So I"m beat. Time to go to bed! Night everyone!

Arghhhh

Well I kind of am making progress on the mystery block. And this will for sure give it away! But I was short 8 brown HST's tonight, and my corner squares and setting triangles are too small! (Remember I was winging the sizes - so I"m not surprised!). But there is also one bigger mistake. I know, looking at it quick you might not notice it, but it is going to bug me so I will be ripping it out. And as I rip out I"ll rip out the setting squares and triangle and make those bigger.

Here are few pics from my Monday night sewing group. Isn't this small quilt cute! It is made with scraps from a big quilt Julie is making called chocolate covered cherries. So the one made from the scraps she is calling Cherry Pits!

And this is Julie's challenge top so far! She just has to get the borders on.

Last but not least is Barb's mini-mini she made from her scraps of the mini challenge quilt! Isn't it fun to see what she did, compared to my mini-mini 9-patch!

On the well front, it had been working all week until this morning after Emily took her shower, but before Jenna got hers done! Oh and the well guy never called since Monday so Mark called another person. He came out and replaced the pump and we still have problems! So Mark has dug up the lawn - it looks like we have a short in the electricity from the pump to the house. So never dull around here! I'm still catching up from being gone for work, so this is short.

It's been a long day...

It's been a long day.... our well broke last night so we don't have any water. And of course it will probably be a fortune to get fixed, so DH is not real happy. Needless to say I'm tired and not very chatty. But I thought if nothing else I could share some progress with you on the mystery block!

Here's to warm/hot showers in the days to come!!! Heck at this point any kind of shower would be welcome!

Small Progress

Well here is a small bit of progress so far this weekend - although I wasn't feeling so hot today, I think Nancy jinxed me! She warned me that Emily's germs would hop on over to me.... Thank you Nancy for putting that idea in their head!

As you can see I finished my mini-mini quilt. The 9-patch finished at 4-3/4" x 5-3/4"!

And here is a sneak peak at my newest picture. No details just yet - I have to see if I can get this together yet! I had it in EQ5, but it wouldn't do rotary cutting sizes because it is really odd sizes, and I refused to do templates, so I"m winging it!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've done zilch, nada, ZERO, NO quilting/sewing this week. Ughhh. I'm starting to get cranky again!!!

Not only have I been busy, but my kids are busy with "things" too - it is just one of those weeks! Above is Holly my oldest enjoying her first big road trip during spring break from college. She went with her friend out east and stayed with Grandma and my sister, but took day trips to see the sights. Her friend had never seen the ocean, so even though the water was a bit chilly, they enjoyed their day at the beach!

They also enjoyed a day down at DC and Holly FINALLY got to go to the air and space museum, she was in heaven. We've been to DC several times when I had gone with all 4, but with 4 small kids, we just never made it to the air and space. So finally she made it. Her dream job is to work at NASA. She doesn't want to go into space, she wants to work mission control.

And as I mentioned in my earlier post, Jenna turned 18 this week and I took her and some friends to a Japanese steakhouse. They had a blast. But being girly girls they weren't too sure about catching broccolli in their mouths when the chef tossed it to them - Jenna's went on the floor!


And then poor Emily the baby (who is a freshman in HS so not a baby anymore!) has that nasty 2 week flu. Her fever spiked to 103 the other day so we finally took her to the Dr and yes, no strep, no sinus infection, just that nasty flu. He said she could be sick another week!

So no sewing for this girl this week. Oh and unless you think I forgot child #2 - Adam - he came home for spring break Wednesday. He wasn't about to spend a whole week at home with us. He is at that stage where he hates us all (except for Holly). So I just try to lay as low as I can go with him! He's been in and out of the house, but has not been too sociable!

So that is life in my house this week! Next week - I travel for work, so probably not much then either. I'm hoping I get some good sewing done this weekend!

I haven't fallen off....

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but I sure am busy! I can't tell if I"m flying above the earth or dragging deep down in it! Things are just keeping me hopping. Above is my wool pincushion I finished. Got the sand in it and sewn shut! When I posted a picture of just the top someone mentioned they stuff theirs with fluff. Well I love the pincusions filled with sand. But this isn't normal sand. I use the really small fine decorator sand or sand for sand art. You can find it at Michaels and probably Hobby Lobby or JoAnns.

I also got my binding ripped off my quilt Darci quilted and got new binding on it! I decided to go with one of my favorite orangy red plaids and put it on. I like it much better.

And I FINALLY got one! I got a post card from Darcie! I can't belive these really go through the mail! It even has the postmark on it! Now is that cool or what! Course this one has her gorgeous quilting on it.

Last but not least my friend who owns a long-arm let me play on it yesterday. So I quilted 2 quilts for charity. The first I followed a pantogram of swirls. Don't look too close! But it sure was fun! And then the second was just a little quilt, maybe 40" x 40" so I did free hand all over it. Yes not show quality, but once again really fun to to play. I don't know how Bonnie or Darcie do it!

Wheh, can you tell I'm just a bit busy! And Tuesday child #3 turns 18. I"ve got a surprise dinner planned for her and 6 friends at a Japanese restaurant where they cook at your table - it is right down her line! So I'll be busy again for a bit this week.

Darlynn

Darlynn email me.... you don't have an email with your blogger ID and I was so happy to hear from you again.......

I lied to Darcie...

I lied to Darcie last week. I didn't meant to. Well actually it wasn't a lie when I said it....

I told Darcie I would post a beautiful picture of my Sunshine on my Shoulders quilt she quilted once I got the sleeve and binding on this past weekend. And it could have happened. But I struggled with the binding. First I thought I would do a green binding, but when I looked at choices next to the quilt it didnt' seem right. So I tried red/orange, black and tans and none of those seemed right. I didn't want it red/orange because I didn't want to take away from the color in the quilt. I kind of thought of the touch of blue I had in the quilt might be cool, but I didn't have enough blue in my stash for binding (yes I don't buy blue very much - I'm trying to change that!). Black was ok, but darker than I was thinking. So then I found this really dark gold color with black stripes - I thought maybe that would work. I cut it out and sewed it on. Well the more I looked at it this weekend the more I didnt' like it. And it is sewn on! So needless to say I took the above picture, but it isn't the beautiful picture I promised Darcie! I've finally decided to rip off the binding at start back at square one! I think I"ve decided on a orangey red. Exactly what I didn't think I wanted, but I think my gut is telling me I like this orangy red plaid I have with it. So - the next few night's I'll be ripping off the binding and then making new binding! Sorry Darcie - you'll have to wait for that gorgeous picture!

On the playing front I worked on my wool pin cushion top this weekend! It is all ready to sew to the inside bag and backing and fill with sand!!!!

The red has it

Well since so many of you liked the red and I liked the red (among others) AND I LOVED the red fabric itself I put on the red border. No I didnt' get it quilted this weekend - but I did sew the borders on! Wooo Hooo - like that took a long time!

And from my scraps of my miniature I made a little 9-patch quilt! I have a fork next to it for size! It is so darn cute I may just make another one like this!

And here is a version of this challenge from my friend Nann. She decided to use homespuns and made the blocks full size - isn't it wonderful! The blocks finish to 13" I think she said - a whole lot bigger than my 3-3/4"!

Opinions Please

Here is the center of my miniature! Wooo Hooo! I only lost "some" points, but for that small not bad. Now my dilemma. It gets a small 1-1/2" border around it. I started out thinking maybe a brown or blue or the really pretty goldish/brown - but those seemed pretty flat when I tried them.....
So then for fun I plopped down the fun cheddar fabric I have.... nope.....

Then thought maybe the really pretty dark red I had in it - yes, I think much better - what do you think?

But then I laid down the poison green and that looks pretty good too.

So what do you think? Any of these or something else?

Wild Turkey's

Info on the below quilt for those of you who asked (but don't have an email I can reply to)....

Wild Turkey Wall Quilt by Country Threads

Another Finish - Is it late or is it early?

Another finish this week! I"m sooo happy! I've loved this pattern for ages and never took the time to make it - and Thanksgiving I think is my favorite holiday! So finally last summer I made the top, and had it done in plenty of time to finish it up for last Thanksgiving.

And then it sat, and sat, and sat some more. It collected dust, got burried under new fabric, got moved around, got burried under other projects - you get the idea!

So the last few weeks my mission was to finish it. And now it is done! Quilted, sleeve on, binding and even washed!

I guess the question now is - Is it late or Is it early?