thursday's stars...

the latest batch of completed stars....top 2 are cadet blue, bottom left is a chocolate/blue combo and bottom right is my version of celestial using what looks like crescent moon fabric.  don't have the iron with me so they aren't yet pressed but they are done.   also finished is the "belle" block for the FWS with "coral" posted yesterday and waiting to be done.  the hexies are coming along nicely; last night once again prepped papers and fabrics for more hexie sewing fun.  *** enjoying a gorgeous autumn foliage fest here in new england.....bonnie and vic have posted beautiful pix and it is just exactly like that. it's the only time of year where the interstate is fun to drive.  temps are cooling after a few days of nice warmth.....predict more sewing in the cold days ahead!

then there were 2....

and pretty soon 3...wow, they DO work up pretty quickly.   my busy box needs more papers, so that is tonight's task. 

and i can see there is a tad of a learning curve, being that the papers MUST all be the exact same size, which is not the case for the 2nd rosette.  i left it, chalking it up to experience and giving it that authentic pioneer scrappy look.  it is hardly noticeable, tho....and did i say this was going to be a small version of this beauty?  like the hawaiian technique, could get carried away and keep  on going until whenever.  ***  next few days will be dedicated to block sewing...."belle" for FWS and whatever tomorrow's stars will be...fun quilting but having absolutely NO effect on my humongous UFO list, first being my hawaiian quilt that'll hopefully get done in time for winter.  in the meantime, will keep on keeping on and enjoy the new england fall beauty, which is spectacular! 

finally caved....

into the world of hexies...all it took was a project that wowed me and a way to conquer the short, chunky fingers handicap.  barbara brackman posted a photo of a beautiful antique quilt, the 1861 healy quilt, and right away went to inklingo, printed out hexie patterns, cut up a bunch of papers and pulled some fabrics.  my first attempt was hexies that were really too large for this small quilt project so back to the drawing board, tried smaller ones and they worked out perfect.  am only going to make it large enough to get the full pattern effect.  past hexie efforts were abandoned due to difficulties maneuvering the tiny pieces, but found that was probably cutting my fabric units too small, resulting in war with papers and enough fold over fabric.  now finding that fabric pieces cut a tad larger are working up easier and actually fun! ok, so now i get it!  sunday's project was to fill my busy box with papers and fabrics for the immediate future and maybe beyond.   here is my first "flower" if you will, and am pretty pleased with the process AND the outcome.

 

first of many that'll get done whenever.... so another UFO to add to the list for 2016, a list that is already groaning from sheer volume.  mega-fun ahead indeed!

let's celebrate!

to all my daughter sisters out there, it's a day of celebration and remembrance of our patriot ancestors who died securing freedom from tyranny!   my own revolutionary ancestor, one of several, capt. joel whitney of machias, maine, fought in several battles, most notable the battle of the margaretta, which is also known as the lexington of sea battle.  he was the husband of mary weston, who was the sister of hannah weston.  hannah remembered for ferrying much-needed ammunition to soldiers and for collecting lead items to melt down for ammunition.  these, plus vets from civil war, WWI, war of 1812 and WWII all make me proud to be recognized as the daughter and descendant of so many brave who sacrificed much.   and how to celebrate????

bounty from the sea, of course!  again our favorite lobsterman has provided us with a delicious repast at a fair price--culls but no matter, it's all good.  the tourists come and buy whole cooked lobsters by the ton but end up throwing away lots of good meat in the body; they don't know how or don't want to be bothered to work for it, but we extract every tender morsel.  ***  managed to spend the best of the day outside in the warm sun and breezy air, very good indeed! 

seeing red, er claret

thanks to a recent pile of CW nickels received in swap, was able to find lots of pretty claret reds for this week's star blocks.  this is a really pretty color, i think, and the blocks are some of my faves.  the nickel squares require using 2-3 to get all the necessary pieces for one star but i think ms brackman would approve, and i see that this makes them more interesting.  with limited stash at hand, am working a la pioneer quilter having to make do and improvise--the spirit of the swap's mantra perhaps.  ***  it's another weekend here in lobsterville, filled with busyness of late fairs and winter prep.  woodpiles are growing and pumpkins abound.  not quite peak foliage here near the coast but far western maine is.  and report of snow in VT are ominous, even tho early.  the pine trees are loaded with cones, which is one sign of a harsh winter ahead.  from here on in, any day without snow is a good day.  snowbound quilting days ahead i do believe....

next step....

took only a little bit of time, hour or so, to unsew the other hearts and get them pinned on to the new setting....next is to baste down and then applique....after might tea dye the whole thing to give it a primitive feel as the white is very stark....

hoping that whoever sent me the little hearts likes how they have been used....thanks again!  ***  rainy day today and cool of course.  otherwise it's been a gorgeous fall week that will resume again in a day or two.   hoping the boxes will be unpacked before mittens and full winter gear are needed....

sweet caro-liiinnnne...ba.ba.ba..

today was the day to make the caroline block and it's pictured here next to betty and see that yes, those fabrics DO go well together in the block AND will be good for the others too...the light background fabric in "caroline" is one of very few new FQs that have added to the pile....

also today pulled out this little heart project for a bit of revising....had several of the hearts appliqued and some squares trimmed down, but when put together found they were too small so decided to get more of the original squares and make a bit larger wallhanging.  here you see some of those that didn't get trimmed now put together with new blocks waiting for me to unsew the trimmed ones and re-applique. 

also found 12 plaid hearts from the same stash, so put together a 12-block background and these will get appliqued at some point.  lastly, found some claret reds that will use for this week's star blocks.  pretty good amount of sewing fun on this beautiful mid-fall day in the high 60s...we'll take all these we can get!

scraptastic tuesday

while waiting for the next "stars" fabric of the week to post, had some foursie fun and more little HSTs for the small quilt currently in the works.

the other rows of the little HSTs are someplace here in a bag and will dive in and resurrect to put them all together at some point....not yet decided on total number of rows.  and plans for the foursies?  none at present, but will file them away for something at some point.  and last but not least, another FWS block called "betty"....just tonight another was posted and that's a project for tomorrow or friday?

i'll add this to the FWS page....and over 4000 sew-along participants?   awesome!   not too late to join in....these blocks work up fast--i chose paper piecing method--and will be a nice finished quilt.  *** so nice to have some sewing time, which is not nearly enough in the current situation but at least it's some....praying that will change soon....

getting it done....

so here is midnight/peacock garden so far...needs a final press before borders are added....so difficult to have fun sewing with absolutely no room to iron/baste etc, a situation i hope is remedied soon.  it is starting to affect my enjoyment and mojo.  these are really lovely oriental fabrics.  tried to fussy cut some of the prints to get a bit of movement, which seems to have worked nicely.   after borders and baste, have to do the next FWS block (farmer's wife sewalong)....and have also started a NEW project, a small version of a lovely antique quilt. not much done as of this writing but expect it to be a long-term project. ***  very chilly this AM at 38 degrees about 5:30 am...frost definitely on the pumpkin and no doubt many gardens are now history.  hard to believe summer is really over once again....it happened seemingly overnight.  pretty tired so will sign off to avoid venturing into morose territory.....tomorrow is another whole day to spend!

decorum prevails...

otherwise i could show you a photo of miss phoebe's mended bottom, rather her case with the mended bottom.  afraid the ravages of time had gotten the best of phoebe featherweight's original case, so an immediate fix was in order.  first thing today scooted off to joann's with my coupon for some black duct tape to insure miss phoebe doesn't fall flat on her little feet.  all is well now and miss phoebe is once again safe in her traveling abode.  ***  and sewing plans?  ready to put together the applique and patchwork blocks for midnight garden, which may rename to "peacock garden" as the colors and patterns evoke same.  also have to tweak my "bonnie" block for the sew along and expect by this evening, another block will be posted.  other than that, it's a finestkind fall sunday here in lobsterville.  off to spend this delicious day!