our nation's birthday!

a glorious 4th to all....

and reminder that the 250th is coming up in just 9 short years....plans are already in the works....

https://www.facebook.com/TodaysDAR/videos/1965507670141550/

and recommended reading for today is "the federalist papers".....to read about the process of establishing this republic by three learned founding fathers is awe-inspiring.....

monday task

it's monday again, another hot one and the eve of a biggie holiday as well....one third of summer has flown by but plenty of sewing days ahead!  this is what i've done today....first thing this AM, attached the border to the ocean waves so it's in the flimsy pile now; then, this...

started with the new border for the scrappy 9-patch.  some suggestions were made by a blogger pal, they got impressed into my brain, which then started percolating some ideas and--believe this--woke up early one morning last week with the plan!  that's right, dreamed about this and how to fix...how spooky is that???   anyway, went to work removing both outside AND triangle borders all the way around and began the rework.  the final won't be as wide as the 2 separate borders would have been, but it'll fix the problem and get it to the flimsy stage.   in my careless, perfectionistic youth would have tossed the whole thing, but now older and wiser AND more frugal, realized it would have to be saved and fixed.  of course, now there is more time for such things too....it'll preserve the look of the triangles, which were a big plus for this and the primary reason to find a fix.  ***  no doubt plenty of holidays plans on the drawing board and i've a few as well.  lots of memories of july 4th at reid state park with my extended family, nearly all of whom are now gone. what glory days they were!

and that would be me, the blondie leaning over, probably looking at lobsters...LOL!

win-win-win!

while catching up on the antics of francis and clair underwood (house of cards),  just about finished my ocean waves top....all i can think of is stained glass...needs a final press...i hate to iron much when there are so many bias edges...but it's safe now.   this was a great finish all the way around....the top finally got done....except for a 2.5" charcoal border....

an empty UFO drawer.....

and this gap on the stash shelf.....there used to be 2 piles of solids, now only one...if this keeps up, may have to consider some replenishment....but i think i'm good for a while....lol!

saying goodby to june 2017 today....it was my parents' wedding anniversary and imagine mom is knee deep in memories of that day,  my dad and their hopes and dreams for the future...they made a beautiful couple....inside and out.....

the floor

no individual quilter achieves success by themselves...it takes a village--of sorts...for many of us, it's the floor; our over-size design wall and receptacle of all things scrappy....see what i mean?

thanks to those ever-defective command hangers, my real design wall is now crumpled in a heap on the floor, so my floor stood in...these are just pinned but wanted to make sure no two exact colors were side by side.  it's the best effort i can make, knowing somewhere it'll happen as it always does in my scrappy quilts.  so anxious to get these blocks sewn together and see the top up close and personal....but while the floor has provided aid, it has also created disarray....

for some time now, have had a wastebasket with a wider circumference on my "need" list....this is why.  a date with the vacuum is also on my list....but aren't they pretty???   call me happy to have all the triangles cut and sewn!

coming together

started this years ago, can't recall exactly when, but i know it was after bonnie hunter showed hers off...9 or 10 years maybe?  hers was very large and her triangles were very small...i was immediately wowed and a bit intimidated....and who wouldn't be?

but one day a pattern crossed my path; a smaller version with bigger triangles (for hand quilting, you know) and so it was started.  the charcoal solid was bought on my first visit to lancaster quilt shops when my suitcase bulged with over 11 yards of fabric!  solids were collected in little bits just for this project, and as expected, the last of my cherrywood scraps are included.  and now the first row is done...my fingers are itching to quilt it...the auriful quilting thread was bought at maine quilts 4-5 years ago...charcoal....it's definitely one of those process quilts and one i'm planning to keep for me. not true amish, but homage to the amish quilts that first lured me into quilting....the photo doesn't do the colors justice, so much more vibrant close up.....i'm just tickled that it'll be a top very soon and can probably start quilting in the fall....who knew natural fibers could be so darn much fun!

it's official!

yesterday, sarah posted details of the blog hop "12 days of christmas in july" and it does start on July 14th...the day before my post!   i've "borrowed" her announcement photo, but you should definitely visit her for all the details....

spent entire sewing day monday working on the ocean waves....have begun putting rows together already!  cut a gazillion more triangles to finish up units but still have fair amount of solid stash left, of course.  but with this project have finally used up all my cherrywood solid scraps from years back when i indulged in a few of their scrap bags.  kaufman solids are another fave, and recently i've added some made in america brand solids, which are not as heavy as the kaufman, but i like the idea of buying american made goods.  ***  being further from the ocean means totally different products available in the fresh fish department at the grocery, but after having local fresh haddock for so many years, i simply cannot bring myself to buy fresh haddock from china....china???  isn't that a lot further away than new england?  

whew!

my secret sewing is finished!  all that's left to do is organize the photos and i'll be ready for christmas in july!  you may have guessed that i've been asked to participate in sarah craig's "12 days of christmas in july" blog hop (confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com)...my day will be saturday, july 15th, so check it out plus all the other wonderful christmasy projects by my fellow christmas bloggers!  i don't know exactly what day it starts, but i'll let you know.  in the meantime, since the secret stuff is done, that means the clear organizer is was empty, quickly replaced by pieces of that wonky border flimsy.  have come up with an alternative border that will preserve the triangles, but first have to remove all of them, unsew and repurpose.

unsewing is great TV watching work, so another UFO flimsy for the machine has now come to light..

it's the solids ocean waves and hoping that can get this to the flimsy stage in the next week or so.  by then should have the borders off the other one and then can rework and finish THAT flimsy.  *** it's a gorgeous monday here and windows are open wide for some fresh air sewing.  summer is 1/3 gone and making good progress on my goal of emptying boxes/bags/drawers filled with UFOs, which has also kept me from starting a whole lot of new projects.  quilting the QOV is more than half done and after that, another bed size is waiting in the wings, which should be a 2017 finish.  hoping to squeeze one more big quilt finish before 2018 arrives....and just like that, the year is half over!  fun quilty days flying by.....

sum-sum summertime!

though it's already been summer here in maryland for a bit, now it's official with temps in the high 80s every day...spent tuesday doing more of my secret sewing, but last night during quilt-cam got the binding cut and applied on this little wallhanging i'll be sending off to my mum for her door. 

if you recall, the patchwork block looked wonky because of the pattern in one of the fabrics, so i pulled it out and replaced it with this, which is better.  *** today's task is to finish the borders on the 9-patch flimsy, maybe do some baking, maybe more laundry. organizing bug into overdrive so cleaned out the laptop of any extraneous files, went thru recipe book and did likewise, next up is my box of documents.  plus there's dusting (still) and more secret sewing...who knew not working was so busy?  hoping to clear out one more UFO drawer before June is gone....and it's another gorgeous day to sew!

"she folded her napkin"

i love that line from the movie "the miracle worker" when annie sullivan's efforts resulted in improved table manners and helen's mother exclaims, "she folded her napkin!"  it's one of my favorite movies and truly defines the word 'handicap'...if anyone had reason for a life-long pity party, helen keller did, but her challenges never held her back.  anyway i digress.....monday was definitely housework day....tackled vacuuming, laundry, floors, plus sundry other cleaning tasks...and the sewing area was not exempt....she finally cleaned off the sewing table (to paraphrase)...

doesn't it look user friendly now?  i also removed the risers off the ironing table for ease of use.  since my new chair has no wheels, it works better and easier to have the table lower, since i can't wheel over to iron...i also moved the old viking to the edge of its table and created a sewing L, which also gives me more mat space.  will try it out, but think it'll be more conducive to sewing productivity...and first task is to tackle that 2nd border of triangles....i think i have enough fabric left for the outer border fix, at least on one side....it'll never be a silk purse quilt, but hopefully can elevate it from sow's ear status....then have to move on to more secret sewing and also a new little project from some orange mod waste triangles.   ***  today is dusting day and perhaps a bit more laundry too...something about a clean space that energizes me....and did i mention?  it's a beautiful summer morning!

lessons learned

spent sunday finishing borders on this flimsy.  after completed, took a photo and was not too happy....even though i followed instructions for cutting the triangles, the bias edges ended up top and bottom of the inner border and created havoc.

as you can see, the side borders aren't too wonky, but top and bottom horrific!  nothing else to do but recut making sure bias edges not at top or bottom where the border attached to squares and 2nd border.  decided to leave the sides since although not great, not nearly as bad.  so, after recutting triangles, resewing and reattaching top border, found another problem...

the top redone is better but still not great.  realized some of the issue had to be the way the borders were cut.  now, i usually always cut across the width of fabric....never been an issue until today.  went and checked the leftover yardage and it appears that while the lengthwise grain is firm, the width is a bit stretchy.  i never checked before cutting the borders....i never really have before this.  had no problem with the blocks construction.  i could remove the outer borders and replace with another fabric BUT that means disturbing the side border triangles that DO have bias edges.  either way am afraid it'll possibly be worse off than it is now.  it was going to be donated, but perhaps i'll just tie it and tuck it away for a beach blanket....no way can i simply toss all that effort and fabric.  there is a use for it somehow....but pretty sure it's the last time i cut borders across the width and not down the length....thankfully no real harm done....i've done pieced borders before, even sawtooth ones, without this much disaster....so must be the outer borders causing most of the trouble...as i have often told my daughter, live and learn!