Saturday, March 28, 2015

Penny's Single Irish Chain

I must be done with this top. I can't decide what else to do with it. Since I haven't much fabric for a decent border or more blocks it will stay like this.  I have more muslin, but available muslin doesn't mean I have to use it. I like it well enough the way it is and was thinking of just backing it for a summer quilt, though it wouldn't quite fit the bed at 66" x 72". Perhaps if it could have talked it would have told me to make it bigger. I'm so glad my things don't tell me what to do though it is nice when they make suggestions. Now if only I would pay attention. . .






As I look at this I am almost sorry I didn't arrange the colors to blend. I was so undecided, but decided to just get on with it and start sewing. As I began to stitch the blocks together I felt I was doing something wrong. It was hard to keep myself from rearranging them but eventually I had so many together that I wasn't about to undo all that work. Like the rest of you, I'm still waiting for someone to come up with that gadget that you can program to remove stitches for you that were made in error or just cause you  changed your mind.

The 1930's fabric I have left for the Bin Bust will make one or two more small quilts. It's pieces already cut in 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles and assorted strips. I have plans for the rectangles and one of the quilters at Studio 3 is interested in the strips.  I kept out a few pieces for binding a few quilts. And then I can declare the Bin's Been Busted. That will motivate me to get on with the next one! Cool!

Monday, March 23, 2015

27 Seams

I've done little sewing all week. Even at Studio 3 I was busy helping the others so I did little of my own sewing. Just a few minutes ago I finished up these 9 little blocks.



The quarter-blocks were turned in to me at church. They only needed squaring up before I put them together. They are arranged on the wall next to each other but if that's all I do with them then it's a pretty small quilt. So I will dig through my stash to see if there is anything I have that goes with them and make them the center of a star or come up with some other alternate block.

Before I do that though I want to get back to finishing up my Penny's Single Irish Chain. We had snow last night and the forecast is for more cold, so hopefully this will be together by tomorrow night. Then I want to get another top loaded to quilt.

And before I do that I'm going to do some blog hopping starting with Judy's Design Wall Monday.


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Hasty Decisions

I was rummaging in my closet the other day and found I had a bunch of 3" squares, triangles and strips in autumn hues. So I decided to quickly choose a pattern and start sewing. This is what I chose.
I have 16 blocks on the flannel wall with 20 more waiting to get sewn up this week at Studio 3.

Then I will decide on another block or pieced border to surround these blocks and then put the top on a pile upstairs in the warehouse. Probably anyway.

Our snow has melted and it's been beautiful outside though still a little cool. We have a few prairie type areas to burn in the next few weeks. It is probably to soon to burn the wetland where we had the brush mowed down, though there is a bunch of deadwood in the mix. We'll have a professional out for an opinion/quote later this week. Weeks ago I started 6 pots of flower seeds and today I transplanted 2 flats of them this afternoon after quilting at church. I'm not sure yet if I will bother to put them under lights downstairs or leave them in the sunny window. So far they are doing fine in the window.

 There were only 6 of us at the meeting today. I wouldn't have thought to call the others snowbirds, but one is in Panama, one in Florida, 2 in Arizona and the other two have been known to spend some of their winter in Florida. I wonder if I will ever be interested in a warmer climate in winter. Right now I like the excuse (cold weather) to stay in and quilt. We planned and began a few simple quilts using novelty prints with farm scenes on 'em. I need to start thinking of getting the raffle quilt quilted. With a few road trips planned this spring I don't want to be stressed about it later. That means shopping for fabric. That's always fun even if it's only for the back.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Union Square

Yes you may have seen this before, but not with the border. I can't check anything else off the list.


I have planned a few more quilts and began sorting scraps. I misplaced my favorite ruler, so I am using my smaller rulers for 3" finished squares and triangles and cutting the scraps instead of the
1 1/2" diamonds I wanted to cut.

I sorted through a tub of fabric and comfort quilt kits and picked out a bag with 13 log cabins. So I  made 7 more blocks to finish a set. Set aside a couple of bags with pieces for a few more done with random strip widths. Maybe I will play with those till I find my ruler. 

Our snow is melting this week. We will be lucky that it should all be gone soon. I hope the snow doesn't melt too quickly causing flooding where you are.


Thursday, March 5, 2015

Cracker Box

I feel a little behind on my quilting cause I didn't get much done this week, but I don't know why. It doesn't matter, as I have no deadlines. I finished putting together the Cracker Box quilt last night at Studio 3. It's a bit small - only 46". It was a spur of the moment quilt and I used all the yellow background I had, actually two different yellow pieces. I guess I could think about a border for this, or maybe a round of a different block. This one will stay "as is" till inspiration moves me to either quilt it or add something for a border.


I went to quilting at church on a sloppy snowy morning. The forecast was for freezing rain but we never got that. Of course we didn't know that so only a few of us showed up and then we left a bit early without going for lunch. The ladies got another 9-patch quilt together and a few others worked out the sashing for a sampler kit I bagged up. That means I gathered a bunch of orphan blocks the same size and they had to cut sashing and cornerstones. Our newest quilter needed a lesson on how those go together.

The oak tree block is done. I don't think I want to put a border on it. Just this brown for a binding. I don't have much wall space for it. So next I need to decide how to quilt it. I don't want it to look modern or artsy so I hesitate to quilt it to look too modern.  Mark suggested simply straight diagonal lines to simulate rain drops or sun rays. Talk about traditional.

This morning back at Studio 3, I prepped the binding for my star quilt. I will attach it here at home though. Earlier this week I cleaned out my drawer of Civil War prints. I'm trying to keep that in a certain order till I have all the charms cut for the Thousand Pyramids charm quilt I am working on. So I gathered all the smaller pieces  for that and cut those this morning. From the same scraps I cut a few bow tie blocks for that ongoing project and a few miscellaneous pieces - mostly strips for another log cabin. I counted the charms and I have just over 500. I've got a lead on a source for more prints for that quilt. It sure is putsy cutting one patch from all those prints, the cutting alone is a bit like an ongoing project. I found I need to plan another few quilts to cut  as I cut the next 500 charms. I am keeping the charms sorted by color for now to make it easier to check for duplicates. The other ladies are working independently right now and need only a little help with their projects. Tomorrow we are finally having the free-motion quilting class. Should be fun.