june gauntlet

sarah at confessions of a scrap addict has issued a june challenge about what might be accomplished this month.....

a bit late with this due to weekend visitor and catching up on sleep, but here's my "proposed" list...

1.  name badge for guild
2.  finish my kaffe wallhanging
3.  baste "milky way masquerade"
4.  catch up on "365"
5.  stay current on "farmer's wife sew along"
6.  at least 2 lap quilts for guild charity project
7.  finish pink virginia reel
8.  finish midnight garden
9.  cut out 2 schnibbles using on-hand layer cakes
10. sew up pair pajama shorts

i think i'll stop there....if i'm successful, that'll knock off 3 more UFOs, not big ones, but done nevertheless.....now it's wheaties and caffeine....have a quilty monday!

light of day

unearthed from the maine boxes were these 2 small UFOs, now happily up on the design wall....hoping to coerce me into finishes.   the itty bitty virginia reel (3" finished blocks) needs 7 more blocks and the midnight garden piece needs a pieced border...that's it.  

finally got a bulletin board up, waiting on return of the clock and delivery of another bookcase for (what else?) fabric storage.  one shelf, though, will have to be taken over for books now in hiding until then.  so very wonderful to be settled.  a desk, chair and bed will complete the apartment but it's still home sweet home until they arrive.  i realize the hottest months are ahead, but can get thru and can't be much worse than snow and ice from november until april that force hibernation as well.

so my goal for the first full week of june is to make more 365 blocks, finish quilting the kaffe wallhanging and attack these 2 projects.  wednesday is a wash as it's DD's birthday and for the first time in many years, I get to revisit the day of my greatest joy and shower her with affection.....otherwise i'll be in the studio...catch you there!

saturday chore

got boxes unpacked....some magazines, precut scraps, a few UFOs, 2-3 books and (naturally) fabric.  my saturday task is to get all of this into the already-here stuff in some organized fashion.  looks like the bookcase will get a twin very soon....LOL!

somewhere in this pile is fabric for a pillowcase i want to make and border fabric for an already basted christmasy quilt.  came across some ideal pieces for the 365 blocks, which are also on the weekend list.  so glad i have been no-buy since january.  a lot of this stash was gifted to me last year, so thank you one and all enablers! my guild is doing lap quilts for elderly next month for which some of this will get used.....and i predict more UFOs in my future, which means Unlimited Fun Of course!  ***   can't believe i've only been in maryland a bit over 2 months and already my monthly calendar is filling up with guild meetings, other quilty events, church activities and other social gatherings with plenty of sewing time too.....in other words, sew blessed!

monday design wall on friday

due to sporadic internet, this post got delayed....first, finished the "westering women" block for may, so this sew-along is current...then spent 2 days playing catch up on "365" and made good progress but alas, no sewing past 2 days means another weekend marathon. bottom photo shows the 8 days now finished.  now on may7th, so not quite a month behind, which IS progress!!  am adhering to the color value directions, but wasn't sure how other colors would work, but from the photo appears they play nicely with the blues in the original photo.  am going scrappy for obvious reasons.   happy to say that nearly at 6-month mark, aside from 3 FQs specifically needed, have not purchased any fabric.  not that i haven't seen oodles that i would like to have purchased, but alas, time is finite and prefer instead to have fun sewing up from what's on hand.  

dear sister has arrived for a couple of days en route to elsewhere, so 5 boxes of fabric left behind are now in maryland....and, ta da, cable has been installed at casa frederick, so now have internet access 24/7.....first up? catching up on blog and missed quilt-cams.....now it definitely feels like home!

the secret...

of pretty good machine piecing (notice I didn't say perfect), must be to NOT pay such close attention!!!  was working on this block for the 365 challenge while trying to watch videos--the revenant (book much better altho Leonardo is worth the watch) and a jack ryan adventure type when look what happened....it came out good! 

couldn't have been more surprised due to the many small pieces--well, all these blocks seem to have that--it looks so good without ANY drama or re-sewing!  as you can see this is the april 26th block and I just also finished the 27th, so still struggling about a month behind....due to a hectic week with a variety of other must-do things.  the calendar is clear for today, most of tomorrow and Monday so perhaps can make a dent.  obviously, taking a bit longer due to increased size of blocks, so it was a sparse sewing week for a change.  summer has definitely arrived with the hot/humid temps and expect more time will be spent in a/c, which makes for terrific sewing weather.  ***  weekend plans are few but include a bit of sightseeing.  another wallhanging is hung, as is the bulletin board so apartment nearly "done" decorating-wise.  the folded clothes are on shelves in the closet, and that needs a bit of tidying/organizing, but save for another day.  also, the Hawaiian and my scrappy boston commons will get laundered this weekend.  currently quilting on the kaffe wall hanging, but next up is basting and quilting the milky way masquerade along with some donation and Christmas sewing...it's nearly July doncha know! 

friday fling-ee sewing

before tackling the 365 blocks, just happened to spy the inchie drawer so one thing led to another and several rows got sewn together on this project.  now there are 2 rows all done.  it'll be a total of 12 of the 16-inch blocks, with a 4-inch neutral border, then another border of 4 rows of colors.  it'll be tied, of course, due to the gazillion seams.  most of the inchies I sewed together were sent to me last summer...a package of several manufacturer's little 1.5" samples....I pulled out the solids for the bow tie project and the rest went into the leader/ender pile. 

it is so great to take photos as it gives a bird's eye view.  when I started sewing these together, I just sewed them without thought to color or value.  later decided to concentrate on colors for the blocks and keep the neutrals for a border.  it is really noticeable in this photo.  no, I am NOT un-sewing any of the blocks/rows, but will flip one of the rows and relocate to spread the lighter area out so it's less noticeable.  the "before" is before attending the bonnie hunter school of scraps and the "after" is after I'd been exposed/indoctrinated  how to use my scraps better for more effect a la bonnie hunter....big improvement and important lesson learned....thank you bonnie!  this will probably be a donation quilt to bob's blankie brigade in the fall....

another finish!

racked up another finish with this sofa quilt....it's plenty long enough for me at five feet tall. haven't yet calculated yardage used but got another wallhanging already in the hoop. the "finish" pile is slowly decreasing....and as for machine work, the 365 center medallion is done as well..

course being lefthanded, the right side border got flipped....well, that's my story anyway....and i am leaving it.....now to tackle more blocks...i think there are 12 more of the little ones and then hope to get the first dark border attached....another cloudy and rainy day so we are way overdue for sun and heat....next week maybe??

design wall monday

the tablerunner is all assembled....must be about a thousand pieces in this runner.....doesn't look it from here....maybe at the closeup?

all those tiny red squares have 4 corner squares each; all those white flying geese have 3 pieces each.....well, it's together now and it does look quite reminiscent of turkish tile floors.....so it will go in the flimsy pile.....and the "amish in the city" is nearly all bound....work on 365 continues and a wallhanging will go in the frame for the next finish.....a sunny and cool morning, feeling more like fall than summer....but no snow!  that's good in my book!

back in the groove...

that would be the 365 challenge groove...due to moving, unpacking, organizing all the fabric and sewing stuff, it's been on the back burner far too long, until today that is.  my entire Saturday sewing consisted of blocks for 365.  right now I am done thru april 4th, so as of tomorrow it'll be 41 blocks to get current.  the little 3.5" blocks work up fast.  takes more time to find fabric and cut pieces than to sew them.  next 4 days are corner squares for the center medallion, then it's back to blocks, bigger ones and lighter colors.   this is on the design wall right now...

you can see where the corner squares will go....and I have 2 plastic pouches with ALL blocks up thru march done!  right now have oodles of free time, so maybe another week to get current--maybe???  ***  cool, blustery and rainy here today.   the greek festival is going on down the street and they have 2 tents up but hardly anyone there, no doubt due to the weather.   it has poured off and on and winds have been quite gusty with a possible FREEZE tonight??? yes, that is what they say.   ***  and quilting on the "amish in the city" is nearly done...expect to start binding maybe tomorrow.  in addition to most of my fabric and UFOs, have found some extra binding so it's all ready to go.  it is sooo very nice to have time to sew every day.  usually start in first thing in AM after breakfast.  feels odd but a very welcome odd--I feel very blessed at this point in my life.  so many hardships and setbacks along the way for this here and now....I wish this for every quilter....

then there were 2....

got 2 blocks together and am really liking the look...if my math is correct, have to make 100 more bow ties for the flimsy....so this is a future flimsy, but will be so fun to hand quilt, which is my goal--that plus using up my fabric.  ***  two years ago at retreat, found this on sale and was only going to buy half yard, but sensibility prevailed and I bought 1 yard of the 3 that were left on bolt. 

I did briefly entertain the thought to buy it all but hesitated....and wish I hadn't.  this is called "la scala" by Hoffman and it is gorgeous.  recently while browsing thru an old "love of quilting" (july/aug 2014) was intrigued by this pattern...completely dismissed the little word upper left that says "challenging" as I knew the Hoffman print would be perfect! 

and it is!  have to say have never made a table runner with so many pieces--they weren't kidding about challenging--but it's nearly together now and well worth the effort.   watch this space to see the flimsy, maybe some time this week.   and even tho I took a brief detour from UFOs for a new project, at some point in the not-too-distant future, it's gonna be scrap day....see what I mean? 

these need to be cut up into usable pieces and some are even large enough to get some big tumblers for a top in progress....in the meantime, the "amish in the city" is nearly all quilted and the binding is ready for a hopefully may finish.  next up will tackle a couple of small projects from the basted pile....am determine to obliterate that F pile!