design wall monday

bored yet?  hope not, just over 6 months left in this sew along....with each block i glance at the directions and groan, but methodically follow directions and when it's done, inspired to move on to the next block.

today starting on may 23rd block, so moving steadily closer to june's blocks....and have not bought one square inch of fabric yet for this sew along!  ***  another week starts and few things on the calendar.  weekend heat has abated and laundry is on tap for this morning, then free to sew...can hardly believe i am so fortunate in my richness of available time!

the un-fun sewing....

firmly believe everyone should have pj shorts festooned with flamingos and palm trees....you can be sure this fabric was on the markdown table, as it's what always gets chosen for nighttime attire.  they are done now and crossed off my june list AND 1.5 yards busted from the stash as well...a win/win in anyone's book....all while flipping channels and finding, of all things, "wagon train"....ward bond, black and white...how retro can you get???   can now return to fun sewing and more 365 blocks....and quilt-cam on a saturday afternoon!!!!  super sewing with bonnie!

the latest....

inch by inch, life's a cinch, and that goes for the 365 challenge as well....today's the 10th, have finished may up to the 17th, so that means 24 blocks to get current....my weekend is plan-free so hoping to bring that number under 20.....while each and every one of these blocks is a challenge, have to say into the swing of the task and am really liking how these blocks are coming together.   would like to take a break and get the dark border assembled, but holding off until get closer to june's blocks.  the old viking and i are joined at the hip until this project is done, a mere 6.5 months from now....

the challenge continues!

hard to see clearly from this photo, but the date on this selvedge is 1989...that's right 27-year-old fabric that was sent to me last summer....still usable and going into the 365 project...

trying to do 3 blocks a day, if possible, to get caught up.   you can easily see why this is called a challenge....many of the blocks have a LOT of pieces....

and many of the units essentially get cut twice, once out of the fabric and a second sizing up the individual units....26 blocks to go and tomorrow is out due to a special birthday....good thing nothing else on the agenda.....many of the participants have their little dark squares already sewn onto the medallion, so there's that to do as well....sure you don't want to join in? 

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....