Progress on Crazy 8's

I just put the other half of the blocks up on the wall when I remembered it was Monday and time for Judy's linky party. I still have to add the sashing then I will stack it down off the wall in the order I need it to sew. Could possibly finish it tonight.

Also finished  a small sampler, including the binding and a sleeve. I put it up at Studio 3 this afternoon. I will have to take a picture of it next time I am there.  I put another quilt on the frame ready to go too, but I am a little short on batting.
I haven't done much yet to prepare for the holidays. Dear daughter is coming on Wed. to help get some decorations up. Hubby about has all the shopping done. No Christmas quilting for me this year. Things should be pretty easy going the rest of the month. I wish you the same.

No Intentions

I'm still catching up from being gone to Quilt Market so haven't had much chance to sew. But Sue came over and saw my new antique quilt (last post) she thought we should make it as on of our sampler blocks in class. So I made a sample block and have to say that I don't think it is a good choice for beginners. Sue won't have any problem with it though and already bought fabric to make a quilt with the pattern. So this is the only thing on my flannel wall.

There is nothing on the wall either at Studio 3. Hope to rectify that situation on Thursday. First I must prepare for a program I am presenting on Wed evening  in Antioch to the Northern Lake County Quilters.
Now to visit a few blogs linked to Judy's.

Juggling Hats

A few weeks ago I started using my Civil War scraps to make these Union Square blocks at Studio 3. Maybe you know this block as Contrary Wife. I kinda liked them all scrappy.

After just making a few I decided not to make the big triangles scrappy. Mainly cause I didn't have those sizes already cut and leftover from another project like all the little pieces. I decided I like these too.

Next thing you know, I  want use even more different fabrics so cut some more little triangles. May as well plan to use one color small triangle per block. And the blue block I found in my pile of orphan blocks. I have no idea when I made it. These I like the best but still don't have a problem with the others.

 Now I need to decide if I want to use all of them together in the same quilt. And why not? And since I didn't start with a plan I need to decide the setting and number I need... Sometimes I stay after class and sew aimlessly. Can you tell?

I've been juggling all kinds of things lately. Classes and my own projects at both Studio 3 and here. Then there are orders to fill  and vending a show and Quilt Market in Houston. I still help our fella friend out with a few things and tomorrow is quilting at church. That one doesn't take much prep on my part, but I am taking things there that I need to gather. It has been difficult to stay inside and work when it's been so pretty out in the woods. I took a walk today and scattered some of the many wildflower seeds I collected earlier.

Preparing for quilt Market has been a bigger job than I thought. Silly me. I thought I didn't have much to do to get ready just cause all the quilt were quilted. Glad I thought to make room and airline reservations a few months ago. But besides that I also should have ordered early the other stuff I need for my booth and could have saved some money. Lots of details to consider. Glad I've done it before cause  I don't feel stressed, just busy.Pretty much just have to pack it all in the suitcases now. That means there is time to join in the Linky parties at Stitch by Stitch and Patchwork Times.

Prepping Binding

My Thirtysomething sampler is quilted and waiting to be bound. It is supposed to be nice out all week so I may put it off till next week.

When I make my binding I usually cut each end at an angle for my mitered seams before I sew them. When I cut 2 1/2" binding strips I use the Easy Angle triangle or similar tool so I get useable, measured triangles that I can use in the future. Better that corner triangle goes in the scrap basket than the trash.
 
 I cancelled classes last week at Studio 3 cause it's getting a new roof. But before that some of the ladies helped me sort through the orphan blocks. Now I have to find  coordinating fabric for sashing, borders or whatever they need to make the kits complete. Not in a hurry to do that cause there are still plenty of kits waiting to be completed.

The only thing on my flannel wall is these 3 blocks that I found stuffed in a basket in the living room. And to think they have been in that basket nearly 20 years! I will hang on to one for my orphan block pile the other two  joined the others for comfort quilts at church.

Two Design Walls

Since I am doing some piecing at Studio 3 and I have a flannel wall there I can share what I have on each wall. Here at home I just made this block to see if I would like the size. I just dug into my scraps and cut squares and over-sized triangles. The block finishes at 12.75". I like the size but really don't like piecing this block cause it's on the diagonal so I don't think I will be making anymore. This can go in the orphan block pile. I am glad I made the sample block. I usually do it to test colors or technique. I just wanted to see If I wanted to use 3 1/2" squares. Now I will have to choose a different block.

 I took a box of my Civil War scraps to Studio 3. I started some blocks and have some of the units arranged here on the wall. This is nothing like what I a going to do with them but by now you know I like to play with the units to see if some hidden design speaks to me. Nothing was talking when I arranged these and then arranged them in reverse order. That is just as well sometimes. I don't really need more ideas.

I have not been posting as much lately cause I limit my time at the computer and I signed up again for facebook. Not sure I am going to stick with it again. I mostly understand how it works except I did post a message to someone in error the other day.  Kinda more detail than the blog here. Not so sure I wanna do that. If you'd like to be friends on facebook then invite me and maybe I will stick around this time.

Posting Late to Design Wall Monday. I see it's quiet there. I think it's the time of year.

Time to Decide

I've made 56 Shoo-Fly blocks. I need to make a few decisions. First do I want to make any more blocks and second, which setting do I use? Here are a few of the settings I've seriously considered.

 And this one I have shown before. I like the two above because the color is stronger but I don't like the setting at the left with dark sashing. Go figure. I don't know when I will get  a chance to put them together this week. Tomorrow is quilting at church and it is supposed to be unseasonably cool this week so I want to work outside some more and there's the quilting classes besides. Maybe  late one night if I can't sleep. Then I will see if I have something suitable for a border.

 I will be glad to be done with this one.It has taken too long. I am anxious to get onto something else. I think I will focus on some quilting for a while. The Midwest Machine Quilting Show is coming up and I always find it very inspiring. I want to get a few comfort quilts done and then do something fussy for me.

Stop by Judy's blog at Patchwork Times if you want to see what other quilters are working on.  I really like the linky parties cause they help me stay focused. And I like seeing what others are working on.  I always enjoyed show and tell at guild meetings and I don't belong to a guild anymore so they make a great substitute. I have thought before of joining another linky party though I am not sure when I would getting anymore quilting done than I do now. At least not while I am working outside so much.

Better than nothing

I knew I would have little time to sew these days. Since I couldn't get a booth at Quilt Market to sell "The Thirtysomething Block Book"  I am going to have to move on to Plan B. That will require more work on my part to promote it to the shops. It might be easier in the end because my work won't be so concentrated in preparing for Market. See the post previous to this one about the book. I am still updating my website with it.

This is the only sewing I have to share this week. In fact I didn't even do this recently. I found these in my cabinet with class samples. I sewed these pieces in the course of demonstrating several techniques for classes. I pulled them out again to demo to my beginning  sampler class. It's pretty much cut and ready to sew thanks to my organized scraps.

I am not sure of what my plan was with this. The original quilt, Full House, was featured in my book "Save the Scraps". But then I bordered a single block. And again I didn't draw up a finished plan for the pieces. I know I planned to make 4 of the bigger framed blocks and join them somehow and border them somehow, but I don't remember. So I think I will just finish it like the original. Lots of times when I have the same class scheduled I have one work in progress that I can demonstrate with to all the classes. That was the case here, but I don't know what the plan was. I guess I will have to start making better notes. BTW, Save the Scraps is nearly out of print unless you don't mind an e-book.

I've been wanting to work outside but we have had a cold wet spring so far. The rest of the week promises to be nice so I guess it will be no sewing again.

I'm linking to Judy's and will plan to check out all the links tonight when I crash.

Sew long...

Honeypot

Spring has finally sprung. The only snow left now is what is left of the deepest drifts. Spending less and less time indoors. I did get these blocks together finally. And added the border. Thank goodness for the gals coming over to quilt Wednesday nights or I wouldn't have gotten that much done.

 One good thing about the snow, it brightens the wall for taking better pictures of my quilts.


Stop by Judy's next for Design Wall Monday.

STiLL Winter

It sure doesn't feel like spring yet. I don't remember a colder March. That means it is still quilting weather. Lots of us are getting a little tired of the dark colors of winter, me included. So I brightened up the blog a bit. Even though black isn't a bright springy, cheery color, I love it with the bright prints in this quilt. It's all I've had time for.

If you have the new version of the Thirtysomething Square Up, you can make these stars and border units easily using it. You will also be able to find the block in my new book, The Thirtysomething Block Book.
and I may be late, but I am still linking up to Judy's.

Authentic 40's

This top took longer than I like to get to this point. I was busy finalizing plans for Book 9.  But I am pretty happy with this top  so maybe it was worth the wait. I want to get it quilted soon Those fabrics aren't getting any younger.  But first I have another on the frame to finish and I haven't been quilting much because my back and shoulders are a bit sore.

Mark did me a favor yesterday and left me alone a few hours so while he was out I cleaned out my closet. Wow! What good feelings. Lots of clutter was relocated. Some was designated for the church rummage sale, some just belongs in the basement and some stuff goes to other people.  I didn't tally up my ufo's, but I'll tell you that I have 5 empty boxes that are still waiting for those kits I want to put together. I wanted to get that closet cleaned out before another bunch of ladies begins to meet here for sampler class. That group will begin in another few weeks.

The friday night gals are switching to Wed.nights. I hope that works better for them. My daughter and her friend have also decided to start quilting. Her friend hasn't used a machine before and was having a hard time getting the hang of sewing a straight line.  I hope she doesn't give up to soon. I remember learning to sew 45 years ago! Our teacher had us use the machine without thread as we practiced sewing on paper. This may very well help this gal, but first she needs to learn to lighten up her grip. She was hanging on so tight that the fabric couldn't feed through the machine.  Now that I know what I am dealing with I will be quite a bit more explicit. Still she was successful in making 2 ricebags. I was very pleased with how my daughter did when she sat to work on a 13 year old ufo. 
I hope to get them to the point that they can join the ladies at church or the Wed night group. Occasionally anyway.

On Valentine's Day the snowshoes I ordered arrived. We've been enjoying them pretty much since. I won't go out when it is below 20 degrees. And we did have rain one day. Now we have some pretty icy snow. So now everyone else has had enough of winter, and I  could go a little longer.  I don't wan't spring to come to soon cause I have things I need to get done indoors before it gets so nice that I'd rather be outdoors. It would be nice if it were a bit warmer though, like 20's and 30's.

If you blog at all, you know it is never to late to enjoy the links at Judy's. But since it is time for Design Wall Monday that is what I am going to do.

So much for the kit

I guess I couldn't resist sitting down to sew up these blocks right away.  The dark half of all the blocks are sewn. I still have to cut the large muslin triangles for the other side of the block. I should be able to get those done lickety-split, but one never knows what kind of interruptions  are in store for us.

One more round of blocks gets added to this layout. I ended up turning these blocks on point. So that means I cut too many little squares. I already have something planned to do with those, but I will wait to see if I add to the collection of scraps so there is some difference in prints between the two quilts. 

Mark has been retired for 13 months now and I suppose were as adjusted as were ever going to be. He is a mite bored this winter due to the extreme cold and snow. I was hoping and even expecting to get him to do some longarm quilting, but not so far. We did just order some snowshoes though. There is still plenty of winter left to use them this year and the temps are likely to start rising to something tolerable. I'm looking forward to enjoying the snow and exercise. Till then, I will enjoy the blogs linked up to Judy's today and probably a little sewing.

Vintage patchwork scraps

I'm so glad I have had nowhere to go, so I can stay in and stay warm. Though I will go out and shovel a little in the driveway when we get a light snow which seems to be several times a week this winter. Like everyone else, I'm hoping for a milder February.

I had Sue over to pick through  the donation to church of old fabric scraps. She collected a small pile and made a donation to church in return.  I've been picking through the box of squares too, trying to decide if or what I want to do about them. I've a plan in mind so stay tuned on that.

 I'm still a little undecided about this set of blocks.  I've never seen the dresden plate block made from just one or two fabric before. I don't think some of these are worth the bother, but others appeal to me more each time I look at them.Any suggestions?

Going through those old scraps inspired me to dig out my own collection of old fabric and old orphan blocks. I put them in order and made some plans for some of them. 

Time to check the blogs linked up at Patchwork Times

Improved Square Up

I just remembered that a year ago when I added two little lines to my Thirtysomething Square Up tool, that I never posted about it. So hear goes. The two new lines were added so the tool could double as a trimming template for the companion pieces to the Thirtysomething units  that I call "Onlies" I called them that cause they have only one little triangle in the unit as opposed to the two little triangles that the Thirtysomething unit has. This first photo shows the tool in position after trimming a square. In my case, the piece under the ruler is discarded. You might opt to use it in a miniature. The other line is 1" below the line I've used to trim squares for 4" finished units.

I had some scraps on my cutting table and thought these little blocks would be cute in this design. I don't have many more scraps that would work with these, so before I dig into the stash to really make something with them, I thought I oughta just use up those scraps first.

  I was inspired by this quilt by Kelly Kroon that I put in my first Thirtysomething book. I think it's wonderful, but apparently you have to get the contrast just right.   

I was pretty excited about these two little lines. I've been using the improved tool in my classes all year and the quilters love it. And they don't even know it saves them from having to buy yet another tool to do what the new lines do. If you are interested you can go to my website to order one. And you still have time to make  a quilt for the QOV/Quilter's Rule tool challenge. Check out these links.

I'm off to Judy's to check out the blogs linked up for Design Wall Monday.

Standard Operating Procedure

I'm busy quilting, trying to ignore the cold. And as usual, once I finished the quarter blocks, I took them to the flannel wall to see what else I might like. This was the most obvious option.

 And this is what they would look like together. 

 Not that different than the plan shown below.

I musta planned on 16 blocks. That would make it another square quilt. I must prefer them and not even know it. So since I couldn't find any more of that gray fabric I'd used, even though I am sure there is still some in this house some place, I will have to decide if I want to set the blocks 3 x 5 or 4 x 4. If I decide on the 16th block, I will have to take apart that first block I made umpteen years ago. Not that I mind using the seam ripper. It IS my friend. But those stitches are awfully tiny in that block. Not my usuall stitch length.
I'm thinking maybe I should go dig a little deeper looking for that gray fabric. Toooo cold to do much else and I need a break from the machine.  But then I will be blogging for a while, linking up to Judy's and all. Happy, happy to all.

Rough Draft

These blocks are the result of my experimenting with an idea I had. The idea wasn't fully formed, so I didn't draw the design. I call it a rough draft in case I decide to do another one and make any changes.

They started with a pile of 3 1/2" squares sitting in the scrap box that were getting old so I thought I ought to use them. So far this is what I have.   I have 6 more blocks almost done. It ought to be good for something by the time I am done with it. I can see if I did it again that three dimensional centers like the knots in the bowtie blocks would look cute on this.  Too bad I don't do cute. Very often anyways.
It's DesignWall Monday and you know what that means.

High Hopes

I HAD high hopes for getting lots of quilting done last week, but I caught a cold and didn't have much energy.These are the Broken Dishes blocks that I cut from my scraps last week. I have enough blocks made now to make a good sized quilt. I just plan to alternate them with squares. That'll be quick.

 Once again I was glad I had some projects cut out to work on when I felt like it. I see I will have to hold another cutting marathon as my supply is running low,  and I will have to plan another few quilts to have as on-going projects. The Birds-in-the-Air quilt, the Nine-Patch in Furrows and the Broken Dishes were my "go to" quilts for a while and they are nearly all done.

Before I packed away the Lemoyne Stars I made last week, I dug out the others  I knew I had stashed with the orphan blocks. No, I don't care for them together even though they all use Civil War prints.  I will keep them in separate quilts. It was worth checking.

I'm almost done with the borders on the the Birds in the Air quilt. That's on the agenda this week. Last week was the meeting of the Ben Franklin quilt club. I picked up the directions for the next step of the mystery, so I have that to work on this week, too. I have to work on paperwork now and Mark will be home a few days this week too, so there is some distraction to deal with. With just a smidge of luck I will meet my goals for the week.
Thank you Judy for hosting the  Design Wall Monday Linky. It's really motivating.

The Ladies Are Waiting

Apparently lots of you like this block. It is called Amish Star in Maggie Malone's 5,500 Quilt Block Designs book. If this is something you want the pattern for, don't hesitate to ask.  I can only say no. I found a golden brown print and made the last few blocks I needed and made a few of the border stars. Now I will pack it all away for  another time and get back to the leaf quilt.

I didn't get anymore done than that because the disabled man I take care of has been pretty sick. Kinda eats my time.  Things are peaceful now so I plan to load another top on the longarm. Hopefully alternate that with piecing the leaf quilt.
I'm going quilting tonite, but first I'm checking out the posts at Judy's on Design Wall Monday.

Our Acceptable Obsession

Last week I enjoyed the Machine Quilting Today Show for 3 days.  Lucrecia and I took a room for a couple of nights and did some sewing in our room between classes. I finished 9 more blocks for my Ladies in Waiting quilt. It was slow going at first cause I wasn't familiar with the machine. The back of the hotel bedspread works for a design wall in a pinch.

When I got home I dug out this multicolored print I'll use in the border. I still want to pick out a copper or brown for some of the blocks then I can get on with the border blocks.

More about the show. Many of the classes at a machine quilting show are only 2 hours long. They have classes for beginners and experienced, for longarm quilters or domestic machine users, for art quilting techniques, for competition and for those with a computerized machine.  And then classes that interest me. Predominantly freehand quilting.

The classes are usually pretty good. I like to take classes to see how the teachers present the material and gain some new inspiration and ideas.  And just imagine, I learn something new while I am at it.
 I only take a drawing or a demo class because I don't want hands-on with a big heavy unfamiliar longarm. Ouch!

The show itself obviously had some phenomenal quilts made for the competition. This show also has categories that are more for everyday quilts I guess. Maybe next year I will enter that category. Again I was disappointed there weren't more pieced quilts. Always the art and applique quilts predominate. The lighting was pretty bad, but next year promises to be better. My camera has a flash so the pictures turned out fine.

Now it's back to reality. I have paperwork and doctors waiting and have a "show" to give in Waukesha. Yikes!

This, That or Some Other

I finished the quilting on the comfort quilt Lois put together. I'm happy enough with it, but it would probably be even better if I'd slow down. I'm still practicing that, but the machine is so light and it moves quite effortlessly. It sure is fun though and I didn't bother to mark a single line. Can you tell? Oh, well. I took this quilt off the frame and put another one on right away. It's been nice and cool in the studio and right now I'd rather be nowhere else. I'm glad I finished it in time to take to church tomorrow.

Since I put a few more kits together and made the Crumb quilt, I've made a mess in the closet. So I spent an evening organizing that. I came across this floral print that I thought would work with these extra 9-patches of mine. It'd make a small quilt unless another round of 9-patches were made in different colors.  I have more of the same pink If I decide to go with that.

I'll tear this off the design wall and work on the cheddar Rolling Stone quilt  next cause my goal for the week is to finally put that quilt together and finish another quilt in the studio.The cheddar is cut waiting for me. Oh, to have the patience of fabric. I'm still practicing that too. Now to go check out a few other Design Walls.