Nine-Patch in Furrows

My Nine-Patch in Furrows quilt top is still on the flannel wall. I experimented with my camera  to get the best picture and this is it. It turns out I don't want the sun to shine because it lights the quilt  unevenly.  Best to go with the flash on the big quilts.

I'm hoping to get some serious time in on the long arm for a while. Not sure what I want to piece next. But I do like having both some piecing and quilting going on at the same time.



I'm also hoping for the best for north eastern US as hurricane Sandy blows through. It's threatening to be pretty wicked. I hope you're all safe.

Going to check out the posts linked to Judy's at Patchwork Times.

I'm at it again!

Quilted in the studio this weekend. It felt pretty good, but I see I still need to slow down a bit. Does that mean I need a heavier machine??? Oh, that's right, I'm just rusty from not quilting for 2 months.

This is a comfort quilt that Lois put together. She always adds her own fabric to the bag she picks up at church. Here she added the blue sashing and border fabric. She sure makes our scraps look good. I used a circle template for the sashing and quilted the rest freehand.

I need to decide which top to put on the frame next. Should it be mine or one for church? I have the backs and batting ready for half a dozen. I think I'll be quilting a panto (edge-to-edge) design on most of them. Maybe I should just take the first one on the pile. Duh.

Uneven 9-patches

It didn't take long to make these blocks for the next step of the mystery quilt I'm working on. I'm thinking I shoulda been smart enough to predict this outcome. Of course, it isn't finished yet so maybe I should refrain from expressing an opinion till it's further along.

I also finished the quilting on the 9-patch comfort quilt. As I suspected, I was a bit rusty. I hope I can put a little more time on that machine now that it is cooling off outside. Once Mark retires I suspect I will be spending lots of time  hiding working in the studio. Time will tell.

Out and Back

 I've been gone so I haven't had a chance to sew. Before I left I cut out the fabric for a mystery I am doing with the Oconomowoc shop. I rarely join in the fun, but I thought once I followed directions and chose my fabric, I wouldn't have to make anymore decisions for that quilt. So I chose these fabrics and did my cutting. I will NOT try to solve the mystery, but instead do what I am told. Will it be fun??? I chose some orange prints and some older fabrics. Wish I knew how they will be used.

 The Stringtown Quilters of northern Kentucky are a bunch of fun quilt-loving ladies. I hauled my two trunks of quilts for a program Thursday night with workshops following on Friday and Saturday. I think we found each other equally inspiring.  As usual, the ladies in the "Savor the Scraps" workshop were very enthused about my Thirtysomething techniques and encouraged me to get going on the block book. All along my goal has been to get a book proposal accepted by the end of the year. I guess I better get going.

On the way to the airport, Mark asked what town I was going to, but I couldn't remember.  Did I ever feel dumb when I realized I was going to Burlington, KY. How could I forget that when Burlington, WI is just 10 miles from here??? I stayed at the lovely Willis Graves B & B in a home built in the 1830's. Breakfast was absolutely the best of my life. I'd be thrilled to go back.

It's cloudy and rainy today and that is fine with me.  I finished my nine-patch quilt but didn't get a picture yet cause it is so dark inside and out. Check later this week for that picture. We are sure to get more sun and I'll try to get a good one then. Meanwhile I will start sewing  on the mystery - and putting together that proposal.

Things I could do better

I had hoped to finish my nine-patch in furrows quilt tonight, but I didn't count right. I needed one more nine-patch and 72 more large triangles! I can't imagine where I went wrong. Good thing it doesn't matter. I have no deadlines and LOTS more fabric. I could cut a gazillion more triangles.

I should be thinking ahead of what I want to work on next. Maybe it's time I make a new list. I think some long arm quilting should be at the top. I ought to warm up with a few comfort quilts before I dive into doing any custom work on my quilts, don't you think? Notice I am still inspired by Judy's masterpiece. When she gets pictures up on her website, I'll let you know.

I missed the meeting at church this week. I had other things on my mind.  I am sure the ladies would have liked a report on how well we sold at the Fall Festival at church on the 7th. I know they were thrilled that they sold as well as they did. I think it means we could up our prices (They already decided to do it again next year) especially since people hardly even looooked at the prices.

Well, back to my sewing.

Two Corners

I sewed the blocks together last night during the football game.  (Go Pack!) Now for the pieced border.
When I arranged the half-square triangle blocks for a border, I didn't like the design unless I added a single row of more nine-patches and triangle/squares to the two long sides of the quilt first. Because of the diagonal arrangement of the blocks, I will have two corners that look like this.

The other two corners will look like this. Sewn together, of course. I used 2" squares to make the nine patches. The triangles were cut from 5 3/8" squares cut once diagonally. The  blocks finish  4.5" and the quilt will be 72" x 90". Unless. . .You get the idea?

My friend, Judy called me over the other day to see this masterpiece Baltimore Album she quilted. Soooo inspiring. I've had the same  9patch comfort quilt loaded on the machine for the last two months. Obviously nothing exciting there.  I'll have to finish that thing soon so I can start working again on my own custom quilting. I'd love to do even a mini-masterpiece like Judy's. And no I won't applique one, but then neither did Judy. It belongs to her customer.
Thanks for visiting. Let's go check out some other design walls.

Peak II

Okay, it's not quilty. But who doesn't love these oaks?

This is a bit of the view outside my sewing room window. Yeah, yeah. The sugar maples are pretty. But around here they are usually more yellow than - this. I  have a few young oaks in my yard showing lots of color. Can't wait till they are bigger.  Did I mention that we have two peaks of autumn color around here?  This is the second.

I do have my blocks ready to sew together. Maybe tonight while the ball game is on. Enjoy.

It's a Life

I finally got an hour to sew tonight. I decided to make the nine-patches and triangle-squares into fourpatch blocks. I only got these 10 blocks together so far and I thought  it was great, cause I finally have something to post on my blog. Unfortunately, it's nothin' new, except that you can see the configuration of the units in the fourpatch needed to build this design. It's either this or photos of my patterns other quilters have made and sent to me.  I love that they send them to me, but there are clearly  favorite patterns and I'd be showing the same ones often.

 I've been a bit too busy to sew lately. Last weekend I was in Rockford visiting the guild there. They have an afternoon and an evening meeting, so that means two lectures. They requested two different lectures. Then the following two days we booked workshops. The classes were great fun as the ladies discovered how many different designs could be made with the two different Thirtysomething units. Click on the posts labeled "mystery" on the right to see what we worked with. After Friday's class, my hostess Teresa took me to the quilt shop Lucky 2 B Quilting in Pecatonica. I really liked the shop and Polly's taste in fabric. 


It sure would have been nice if Mark took care of the laundry while I was gone or . . .  Besides the usual household stuff to do, I have been finishing up paperwork for probate on mom's estate and Mark is retiring, so there is extra paperwork there and all that other stuff of life. Add to that, I have been getting some walks in with Sue. It's been soooooo pretty this fall, I can't resist. I hope your having better luck finding time for some stitching.

My 3rd choice

I've made enough of each the nine-patches and the half-square triangles to make a twin sized quilt. Is that big enough??? Then, as usual, I tried the blocks in different settings on my flannel wall. I liked the stars, but I'm going with my original plan. I usually arrange them all on the flannel wall before starting to sew them together. Though it would be easier if  I make these units into four-patches first.  Give me a few days to think about it.

I'm still spending time outside. The weather has been perfect for enjoying the beautiful fall colors. Fall is my favorite season and I far prefer going for walks in this weather as opposed to summer or winter. There are lots of places around here for taking hikes: County park, State Natural Area at Beulah Bog, Prairie Preserve subdivision, bike trail, farm fields and the woods. Sue and I often hit the trails together.  Yesterday we went for a walk and I musta stopped to admire the trees too often cause I just about missed my ride with Judy to the quilting meeting in Oconomowoc (Easier to spell than pronounce at first). More later, Sew long.

Ready to Fall

The leaves are ready to fall on this little tree. They've been ready for almost 15 years when I made the tree for a guild challenge. I forgot the guidelines for the challenge, I just remember that I never finished it and took it to the meeting. I found it a month or two ago in the cedar chest and finally added the border, quilted and bound it.

 The leaves on my Autumn Applause Ash trees are about ready to fall too. The trees in our area have reached their first peak this weekend. In a few more weeks the rest of the trees including the oaks will then reach their peak fall color. I love them all. I hope you get to enjoy the pretty leaves this fall. And now maybe some other design walls linked up at Judy's.

Sugar Creek Maples

She said, "It's Perfect". Really.  And I have to agree. Of course, Sue might have been talking about the border, or the setting, or the green squares. She was here while I was making my decision, and though it is nice to have her stamp of approval, I don't need it. To be honest, I couldn't be happier with my Maple Leaf quilt. I could be happier with the camera though.

Next on the agenda is cutting and sewing triangles for my nine-patch in furrows quilt. With it cooling off, and getting darker earlier I am likely to get back to the longarm quilting again, too. I think it has been over a month since I've been down in the cellar.

Break Time

Please tell me that I am not the only one that goes back and forth between projects. I've always done that so I can do what I want when I want. What I am trying to say is, I set the leaves aside and picked up my box of  nine-patches and sewed some more of those. They were all cut and I didn't feel like cutting for the leaves. I was starting to get a little carried away, so stopped to count and sure enough 132 later, I decided I've enough of those till I start to arrange them into a quilt top. Lots of triangles to cut and sew first.

This is a rough idea of what I am doing with them. Not sure if I am going to set them diagonally or straight, it's the same thing either way. I thought I might even set them in a barn raising layout, but I just did that with the Birds in the Air quilt. So as usual, we'll see.
 
September has been beautiful so far. I've been puttering in the garden lots. I have big plans to redo my big flower beds over the next few years. I find I only work outside for 45 minutes before I am ready for a break.  During break time I read or sew, then go back out to the garden again. So during breaks,  I've been able to get all 72 leaves done, and not a green one in sight. I know how I plan to arrange them, but didn't want to take the time this weekend to arrange them on the phlannel  flannel wall. Maybe tonight. First I'm stopping by Judy's to check out some other design walls. Sew long.

Little Progress

 A friend told me once that everything takes her twice as long as she figures. It was all the little interruptions and things going unplanned that slowed her down.  That doesn't often seem to be my problem, but lately, well, see for yourself.

This was my attempt to add red to my leaf quilt. Granted the color from the camera isn't 100% accurate. I pulled the print from my red drawer. It really blended in pretty well at the time. Good thing it reads kinda red-orange rather than red-violet cause it fits in pretty good now with the orange leaves.  You'll see.

I ran out of brown triangles, so I needed to stop and cut. I wonder what kind of interruption there will be now. The laundry buzzer doesn't count. 

More to Sew

Yes, I have been working on some quilts. Not often enough otherwise I'd have posted. Still deciding if I want to include red or green in the quilt. But the big hold-up was deciding how I wanted to arrange the maple leaves. Now that I have decided, I know how many more to make. Too many. Like 54 more.  So, I may have to tweak the layout a bit. I hope I won't be sick of orange after this.

It reminds me of the year I made 5 big pink quilts. UGH! The last one was named Pepto Bismal. And Why Pink? I only remember that one was a gift and the requested color. Still don't like Pink in quilts too much anymore. Love pink flowers though.

Also made a few more stars for the Ladies in Waiting quilt.  That one will take a while too cause it's another big quilt and I really want to work on it only away from home.

Fall is here and that means quilt show season. I haven't decided which ones I will enjoy this year. Hope you get to see a few.

Maple Leaves turning

It's time I make a decision on what to do with the maple leaves. I'm really liking the colors and how easy they are. I originally thought maybe I'd use a medallion setting. But now I don't know.

Then I tried a few like this and I liked, so maybe. I'll have to decide soon so I know when to stop making leaves and I can get this puppy done to enjoy this fall. Okay, sorry. I was trying to fool myself. I know if I get it together I still won't quilt it this year and I am still loving it the way it is. So glad I don't have deadlines.

Also did the two blocks for the exchange with Dorinda. Requested black and taupe. I think it will be yummy.

Take the time to enjoy a few other works-in-progress at Judy's Design Wall Monday.  I will.

Scraps Over the Years

I didn't mean to get side-tracked with these Broken Dishes, but I wanted to try my new toy and I had nothing else cut and ready to sew. My scrap box of 3" finished triangles was quite full so I pulled out sets of 4 matching triangles and paired light to dark. I have no definite plans yet for this, except to add more brighter colors. Gosh, I sure like dark colors.  I don't plan to really work on this any time soon. It was to be an ongoing project, but I sure am glad I had them ready to sew. I ought to make sure I have a few more projects to pick up in a hurry like that.

The featherweight hums real pretty and Mark never did open her up. I surprised him the other night when he got home from work. I ran the machine off and on all day and that is all it took to clean her out and make her happy. If she stays so quiet, I might rather use her when I talk on the phone evenings with my fella friend. He has not once complained about the noise of my big machines.  I set the phone right next to the machine and turn the speaker phone on so he can yak all he wants, and happy to have someone to talk to.

Oh, FYI my machine is a 1938 model. And for the non-quilters among you, these machines are very popular with quilters cause all they need is the straight stitch for piecing a quilt and their light weight makes them portable to take on retreats and such. Back to stitching.

DH Plays Doctor

Nothing is on my design wall  because I have been busy pulling weeds. Actually nothing but a big piece of fabric and Mark teased me that we finally figured out that we were wasting our time cutting up our fabric into little bits first when we make quilts. But there is a new member of the family here. Another sewing machine I mean.

I have quite a family of machines, though I don't usually name them. After my last retreat I decided it was time I get a featherweight cause I can't see quitting this quilting thing anytime soon. The older I get, the harder it is to lug those things around. I could just get better wheels, but what fun is that? So I told Mark and right away he was anxious that  I get one. I won the bid for this one on our 38th anniversary. He is not convinced it just needs oil and lube however, so he intends now to open up the motor and clean up her guts. I haven't  even tried her with a needle and thread yet, but she sounds better everyday and I believe when he is done with the procedure, she will hum like new. It is amazing the info you can find online about these puppies. I am sure he wouldn't attempt it otherwise.

If I add them all up, she counts as my 7th machine. Sorry, I won't gather them for a picture. But what I have is a Bernina, Pfaff, Babylock, Singer handcrank, Franklin treadle, an APQS Lenni and now the Singer featherweight. Yes, I count my blessings everyday.

I've got to do paperwork today and I have to gather a few things for quilting tomorrow. I get to teach the ladies how to do invisible applique by machine. What fun.

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.

Tell Me Why

     This is what kept me awake last night after my show for the Patched Lives Guild:
Why is the space on a longarm sewing machine between the needle and the motor called the throat and not the armpit? 

     Since the Machine Quilting Show I quilted this orphan sampler for church. They are fun to quilt, but without any practice to memorize the quilting design for each block it was easy to get confused. So I ripped a little more than I would normally. I try to keep the quilting on the light side for these quilts, but sometimes it isn't easy. Maybe it is time I quilt one of mine again.  I see I will have to play with this new camera a little more. The color isn't the best. Here are a few closeups.

      It was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd last night. More than one gal was surprised to see that it was me doing the program.  We both attend the BenFranklin club way over in Oconomowoc, and I never let on there who I was.  Sometimes I try to be just one of the gals and it is easy at a shop club as opposed to a guild meeting. Things aren't as "social" there.

     And here's a few things I learned at the meeting last night:
Grandkids can cramp your style, but in a good way.
I have lots more local mystery readers of my blog than I thought.
I have more than one "biggest fan" in Wisconsin.
Sometimes Walmart clears fabric at 75 cents a yard.

Happy quilting.

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!