Time to divide the loot

Deb sent Mom some hand dyed fabric for us to share. They make great
backgrounds for our postcards. Thanks Deb!

Ann's new project

We worked on getting Ann's project ready to hand stitch last night.

Postcards

After a trip to NC today to visit family, we're playing with postcards
tonight.

I've been bad!

A new project for Mom

I decided I'd show Mom the method I used to make my Pineapple quilt on this trip. She picked out this pink one from the book Pineapple Passion by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan and we'll use the Quilt in a Day ruler and the book Pineapple Quilt; A piece of cake by Loretta Smith for the instructions.

Mom didn't have enough of any one pink so was ready to run out and buy fabric but I convinced her to make the pinks scrappy. Use used about everything she has in this shade so I'm hoping we have enough.
Speaking of books, I bought this one about a week before my trip and had skimmed through it when it came but I took time to read through and study the photos when I was traveling yesterday and I've got a lot of fun ideas for my postcards. Some of the pieces don't appeal to me at all but even in those, I'm seeing neat ideas for beading, embroidery, and quilting stitches.

I've never felt compelled to buy or subscribe to Quilting Arts magazine but I think this book changed my mind.

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I love to travel

But it's hard to leave Chesty for so long. He's always so clingy when he sees the suitcase come out and he didn't leave my side all day yesterday.

I quickly ran out to get the mail this morning before leaving for the airport and there were lots of goodies for me. I had the camera packed so I used the phone to snap some photos to share.

First up is an Airport Art Binder from Sio. It is so beautiful, this photo doesn't do it justice at all. I know it may seem greedy of me but I love all 3 that I've received. Gail's is with me on this trip, Marilyn's is up in my sewing room for jotting notes and drafting layouts, and Sio's will stay by my chair and travel with me when I go work at the library or coffee shop.

You need to visit Sio's blog, she's been making more binders and she's up to something!

I also had 2 postcards waiting. This one from my sister Ann. It's so cute! The hearts are embroidered and there are tiny paper flowers attached with beads.
And last but certainly not least, a postcard from Suzanne from our MQResource swap. I'm not sure of the title of the fable, but it's about an astronomer who fell into a well because he was only looking up at the stars. Very cute!

Since Keith brought me to the airport before work, I still have a couple hours to kill. I'm in the NWA lounge and am going to work on some layouts for my class while I wait.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

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Tell me I'm not the only one

You've seen my sewing room photos so you know I can be kind of messy when I'm in the zone and working at a fast and furious pace. Well, other things stack up too like this laundry basket with clean clothes (and a pillow? and some jeans I bought from Penney's Saturday). (Can you believe I'm showing this mess?? I have no shame!)

So since I have to pack today, I decided it was time to clear this out and put everything away.
I went through EVERYTHING hanging in my closet and culled about 4 bags of clothes to donate.
And while I was at it, I pulled out some of my *travel* T-shirts and cut off the fronts -- I'm saving them to eventually make a T-shirt quilt. I typically buy a t-shirt and wear it a while ( a year or two) and then it gets cut and put into the bin. I've been planning this quilt for a few years and one of these days, I'll stop and count how many t-shirts I have. I added 7 to the pile today.
Speaking of traveling, did I tell you Keith and I are going to Chicago for his birthday March 6th? Just a couple nights but I haven't been before so I'm really looking forward to it.
The only quilt related activity so far today was taking down the K-top and putting up these blocks on the design wall. They need some arranging but having the design wall at the top of the stairs is actually a good thing....each time I go up, I look at what's on the wall and move things around a bit.

I leave in the morning for Virginia and will be home the 4th of March, just a day before going to Chicago. It will be a busy 2 weeks but the blog won't be idle, since I've learned out to post directly from my iPhone you can come along on my trips with me.


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Well...

Was it worth me fussing over it another week?? It took a bit of work to turn those different size scraps into a border and I had to really scrounge around in my stash to find bits and pieces that would work with the fabrics in the quilt but it's done now.

Click the photo to enlarge.

The final size is 62 x 74.


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Sunday Progress Report

• K-blocks finished/twisted and sewn together. Pieced border completed for two sides of the quilt. I bought 3 fat quarters to supplement my dwindling scraps in the hopes of eking out the last two sides
  
• Finished the Red/Brown/Pink Happy blocks -- from stash
• Quilted Ann's wallhanging - backing from stash
• Bound QOV #1 from San - binding from stash
• Binding made and machine stitched to Maureen's wallhanging -- binding from stash.

The fat quarters I reported as purchased last week arrived in the mail and I bought some yesterday too. I also ordered a bunch of 2 yard pieces for use as borders and backings which should arrive while I'm gone but my stash used YTD = 62 yards. So I am still using it at a slightly faster rate than it's coming in.

Other than tying up a few loose ends - my February to do list is completed just in time for me to travel on Tuesday.


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The *after* photo

I posted the *before* photo this morning and here Chesty is after his visit to the beauty parlor! He's so skinny without all that hair.



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Snow!

We had 4 and 1/2 inches of snow yesterday evening and during the night. It's been a while so I'm happy to see it again!


On today's agenda a visit to the beauty parlor for Chesty and lunch and errands for us while we wait for him to be groomed.



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A finish

I finished the binding on this top sent to me by San (Gypsy Quilter) for Alycia's Quilt of Valor project. I have a couple more tops that will be quilted next month and I should have all 3 mailed by the end of April which is when Alycia wants to have all the quilts.
On a sad note, of all the shops in my neighborhood did it have to be the wine shop that went out of business?



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Happy Friday

After being up more than 24 hours straight, I slept last night -- well at least until 3AM when I started worrying about pulling stuff for our meeting today with a new tax guy so I got up and started searching through my files. This is just a preliminary meeting so I've got work ahead of me still once he tells me what all he needs. Keith's former BIL has done our taxes for 20 years so I'm not exactly excited about having to go to someone new.

While I was up yesterday, I did manage to get a few things done including a haircut and some shopping. My MQResources postcards were mailed out along with a HeartStrings quilt. I got a binding on Ann's wallhanging and just need to hand stitch it down and I worked more on piecing the scraps into a border for the K-quilt. I love how it looks but my pile of scraps is dwindling fast so I may not have enough in which case I will just stop where I am.

I've had a lot of great suggestions but as I said -- I don't have other yardage options from stash AND I'm not going to purchase anything. This is a quick, stash quilt for donation. I did find just enough of the purple from one of the blocks that I'm looking at for a narrow inner border assuming I can stretch the scraps far enough.

I'm going to work on bindings this morning and then walk downtown for lunch with Keith and the meeting with the tax guy and we even have dinner plans tonight with another couple -- hope you all have a great day.


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Fun things in my mail today

We've been chatting on HeartStrings about the Mid Atlantic Quilt show, we don't have plans to meet up but there will be several of us there and we talked about how we might recognize each other.

Today, I opened my mail and found the cutest pin from Sue (one of our coordinators) for me to wear at the quilt show. I love -- it looks big in this photo but it's just the right size -- not too big to be overwhelming but just large enough to be noticeable.
I also received the marking pencil and fat quarters I ordered from Suzanne's shop last week when I signed up for Deb's class -- and look, she wrote a note that she pulled ones with printed selvages for me. That's what I call personal service!



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It's done

I appreciate all the comments and support - I think I just expect more from myself because I've been quilting with my longarm for 6+ years now and even though I don't do much of this type of quilting - it seems like I should be better at it than I am. The photos should enlarge when you click them.

Deb suggested these half flowers for the white portion of the log cabin block but the shape was odd for me - I wanted to try them but decided to do them in the dark where they wouldn't show as much.
Quilting inside of applique makes me really nervous but these were very large fused shapes...I'm not completely happy with the results but they're OK.



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The question is....

Do I not like this type of quilting because I'm not good at it....or am I not good at it because I don't like this type of quilting (and avoid doing it)?

Tonight I've been quilting a wallhanging that Mom pieced for my sister Ann. I've had this for several months and have been avoiding finishing it but since I'm going to VA next week and Ann will be there, I decided it was time to just get it done.

I had some idea about how to quilt parts of this and Deb had some suggestions for me too (I ignored all the ones that included stitch in the ditch!).

I did break out my ruler and quilted some straight lines in the 4 patches.

Did some leaf quilting in the border and in the background around the flowers & vase where it may have been less successful. (See first photo)

I just have to reload and quilt the last couple borders but I was getting really tired and decided I should do that after a break or after sleeping.

I'm need to accept that if I'm going to quilt these types of tops that I'm just not going to be but so good. I don't do them often enough to be really good at them and I'm trying to focus on the fact that Mom doesn't care how I quilt them and is always happy with the results.


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Pondering

I'm still reading and re-reading all the comments and pondering this quilt.

I debated leaving it as is but it looks a little unfinished to me.

I have NO fabric in my stash that would work as a wider border -- and since I'm trying to use stash -- It's either the pieced border or just stopping at this point.

I do like the idea of a narrow border and I *might* be able to find something that works... had thought along the lines of the comment that suggested using the binding fabric for an inner border and then finding another binding fabric.

All great input and I appreciate the time everyone took to comment. Thanks!


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Opinions please!

I've got limited options here because I only have little bits of fabric left. The dark blue is gone except I have just enough for the binding.

So do I just stop now?? Or do I take the scraps and do a pieced border and end with the dark binding? The size will be OK whether I add a border or not.

Please click on the photo to enlarge. Thanks!



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I'm excited again

I mentioned I'd signed up for another online journaling class but I didn't realize it was starting today - how great was it that one class ended as the other one began.

This is going to be SO perfect. I got the introduction and the first prompt and she wrote.

This album’s framework has three sections: Here, There and Everywhere. In the first section - Here - we’ll document the places near us and the short journeys we take regularly. The second section - There - will be home to the travels you have taken so far. Section three - Everywhere - will be filled with your notes and a few daydreams about the places you still want to go.

I love Minneapolis, I love traveling, this class is made for me. I'd actually done just one page a few months ago using a photo from my trip to Copenhagen last year...I can't wait to start making an entire album.




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Twisting and turning

This was a quick set of blocks! I finished the last 20 tonight before turning my attention to the Kaleidoscope blocks. You can just see the Quilt as you Go blocks for Australia in the back corner of this photo -- I pieced a couple of them before starting in on my blocks.

What does one do when blocks won't play nicely with each other, separate them of course. Since I don't like sashing blocks I usually turn to Sharon Craig's Twist N Turn method.

The colors and fabric in this photo are not shown very well, my hallway at 3:45AM is not the best place to be taking photos. The dark fabric is a subtle dark blue/turquoise print that picks up the colors from the blocks. I'd discarded it as too dark earlier this week when I was looking for a border but between the blocks it's working well.

I stopped working early -- I'm too tired to continue but not tired enough to sleep -- I'm happy with what I got done tonight so I'm going to veg now.


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Sunday Progress report

• K blocks finished - all from stash
• Strips & Strings Log Cabin #2 top assembled - from my strips and strings bins
  
• 8 Selvage postcards made
• 8 postcards for my MQ Resource exchange are all in progress now
• 18 Quilt as you Go blocks for AUS - all from stash and leftover batting
• 2 backings pieced from stash
• Started the brown/red Happy Blocks from stash
• Finished my Photoshop/Digital Scrapbooking class and learned lots!

I did purchase one set of fat quarters from Suzanne's online shop when I signed up for Deb's class.

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Another working night

First, those log cabin blocks needed assembling. So the Sunshine and Shadows top is done and I do like how it turned out - I'll probably love it by the time it's quilted.

Then the Kaleidoscope blocks went up on the design wall - I'm not sure about the arrangement yet so I'm going to contemplate them for a day or two. I'm also not sure I made the best fabric selections for this quilt - I like all the fabric but I'm not getting that *circle* effect. I'll have to plan out my next one better.

Then I decided it was playtime. It is all I can do not to cut up my entire stash using the new cutter so I'm make myself finish a top before cutting into more fabric. I had some Charm squares that Deb had given me as a gift - probably for my birthday but I can't remember for sure and I decided they'd make a good Happy Block Quilt.

I folded a yard of fabric and in one pass - I had my red 2.5 inch strips and repeated the process for my brown ones.
I got 28 of the 48 blocks I need pieced before I had to stop - I'd been working all night and needed a break.
Since I wanted more squares for my quilt than the ones in the Charm pack - I pulled a few pinks from the stash ...and look, more selvages for my collection.



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What's your favorite color?

It's a question I find very difficult to answer but I think it's blue. I realized after I'd been quilting for a couple years that I was drawn to blue fabric ... I still am and typically have more blue in my stash than any other color. I think I've learned that again though the classes I've been taking to learn Photoshop Elements. I want to color everything blue!

My class is over and I'm kind of sad. I've enjoyed learning and playing in my photos.



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More progress

After getting the design wall reassembled, I put the log cabin blocks up and started playing a little with layouts.

The uneven strips may not work for all layouts so we'll see how far this Strips & Strings Log Cabin series goes. I decided to go with Sunshine and Shadows for these blocks and have about 1/2 of them assembled already. Right now, I have to take a break from the sewing machine.



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K blocks finished

Four more

With just a few blocks a day, my stack of Quilt as you Go blocks for
AUS grows.

More postcards

Just two more before stuffing the selvages back in the drawer.

Up all night!

I'll be up all night working and to make it fun I thought I'd share my
progress with you. First up an embroidered postcard.

Selvage projects

To get ideas for fun selvage projects like the postcards - check out Karen's blog. You all should take a look - there are so many really cute project ideas including the Red Zinger Quilt that I'm going to make this year only I'll be using strings not selvages for that one.

http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/

One of the recent projects featured was a cat mat made by Gail who just sent me an Airplane Art Binder as a gift.


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Yes, another class

Since I'm on a learning spree - I decided to sign up for a machine quilting class at MQ Resources. I was trying to catch up on messages last night when I saw that Deb was giving a class and by the time I saw the message it was already FULL. Luckily, Suzanne and Deb had already decided to do a second one that will start in April.

If you've ever followed links from my site to Deb's blog you know she does beautiful custom quilting (yes, I'm just a bit jealous) and she's been doing some classes and video demonstrations on the MQR list I belong to. If you're interested, you can read the class description and sign up at Suzanne's site but you should probably hurry, the first one sold out pretty quickly. You might want to take a look around Suzanne's shop while you're there, I had to toss a couple other items in my cart while I was there.

Maybe next time Deb could give me a heads up??


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Postcard fun

I'd intended to sew some when we got home from dinner last night but after watching TV for a while, and then catching up on the computer I was tired - Keith had gone to bed hours earlier but I knew I wouldn't sleep....so what did I do? Decided I should pull out those selvages I'd been saving and make some postcards. It was fun and I could have made more but I'm tired and I'm going to head to bed.




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Random items from my day

Green and Purple are my new favorite colors! The mail today brought me all kinds of goodies. Do you remember the Airplane Art Binder I begged for someone to make for me? I got TWO in the mail today. You might think that a person would only need one of these but you'd be wrong! One will go in my laptop backpack which I carry around town when I go work at the library or the coffee shop. The other will go in my Carryon that I take with me on all of my trips.

This first one is from Gail and I did know this one was coming because she showed it on her blog but it looks even cuter in person. Thanks so much Gail!
And this one arrived today too from Marilyn. I did know that she was sending something because she asked for my address but was thrilled to open the package and find this along with a pad and colored pencils too. Thanks Marilyn! I'm just thrilled with both of them.
Finally, the mail today brought the first Postcard from my MQ Resource Exchange. I'm not done yet but Shirley is way ahead of the deadline. The Aesop Fable she chose was The Crow and the Pitcher and the moral is Little by little does the trick. Thanks Shirley!
So today, in addition to opening mail, I've been working my way through my *to do* list making a few blocks and piecing some backs for donated tops I have here for quilting. I always have quilts coming in and being finished and it's not unusual due to the number of tops I have for it to take me months to get them all done but this beauty has been here too long -- why, because every time I went to grab a top to quilt -- I grabbed one that already had a pieced backing (Thanks to Sheree and other HeartStrings members who made them for me).

Yes, this top from Sharon has been here for MONTHS because I hadn't gotten around to piecing a backing that was large enough for it. Today, I pulled it out, measured it, and made a big Off Center 4 Patch back for it and it WILL be quilted in March.
Poor Chesty was SO bored today - he's sitting between my sewing table and the door.



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I like simple

I'm learning a lot in my Photoshop scrapbooking class but in the lessons we create elaborate layouts - helpful for learning but simple is more my style. It wasn't until I'd done a couple lessons that I realized that I could make changes to suit me in the layouts but they're still a little fancy for my taste. I did the lesson for week 4 and then reused the same focus photograph for the Wednesday challenge - this is where we create out own layout.

I've been working in a 5x7 format so I can print here at home and I've been using some of the pages I create as cards. I think this one will make a nice card.

Speaking of nice, Kathie sent me a beautiful top to quilt and donate for HeartStrings. I really appreciate the opportunity to finish and donate the tops sent to me and with the others that have arrived in the last couple weeks, I'll have plenty of quilting to do in the next few months. I can't wait to show you my progress.


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How can it be Thursday??

It doesn't seem like I'm getting much done but I'm working my way through my list. I got the rest of the log cabin blocks for Version #2 pieced today but will try to finish up a couple other things before assembling the top. I did get one backing pieced also and I'm halfway through stitching my postcards for the MQ Resource exchange.

However, I took a brief break from my to do list to make a few blocks to send to Australia for quilts for those effected by the bush fires. Jan Mac is a member of HeartStrings and will be collecting some Quilt as you Go squares to assemble. So I gathered up some leftover backing scraps, some batting scraps and dug back into my string bins. I'll probably make a few more over the next couple days before getting back to work on my list. If you'd like to help. Jan Mac has posted instructions on her blog.



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Another addiction?

I've been taking online photoshop/scrapbook classes and haven't even finished the current one before signing up for a new one today.

This new one is similar to my Journal Your Christmas class that I had so much fun with in December.

My current class projects are in this online album.

Did I mention I need to spend LESS time on the computer not more? I'm going to sew right now!


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A series of quilts

My strings and leftover strips are out of control and just before my Go Cutter arrived, I started to contemplate a series of Log Cabin quilts to tame the string bins. It would be so easy for me to just play with the new Cutter and my fabric stash but I like to set goals and stick to them - gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

So I've decided I'll do a series of Log Cabin quilts this year and see if I can make a dent in the strings. I'm going to work with different layouts, color options, and some variations (i.e. Courthouse Steps, Half Log Cabin) . For all of the quilts, I'll use leftovers of various widths so there will be no cutting involved and I'll alternate making these blocks and tops with ones I'll make out using the new cutter.

I've been puttering around the last couple days getting caught up and have managed to make 30 of the 48 blocks I need for the 2nd quilt in my series. I also need to finish those last Kaleidoscope blocks this week.

So do you get bored easily and have to try lots of different patterns or do you enjoy making the same pattern in different variations? I figure if artists and art quilters can work in series; so can I.


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How do you ....

How DO you keep up with reading blogs that interest you?? I know there's been a lot of discussion about this before but really, I just can't keep up with all the blogs I'd like to read.

My latest is that I have about 15 blogs on my daily reading list. About 5 of those change depending on the content. If I run across one that is posting some interesting stuff, it goes on the Daily list...if one stops appealing to me...I drop it off. These are typically just *inspirational* ones with techniques or quilts that I'm drawn to.

Secondly, I try to visit the blogs of people who leave comments, I'll click on their profile and go take a look - I don't always comment but if you've received a comment right after you've commented on my blog...that's why....you've moved to the top of the list just by commenting.

Third, when I have some spare time -- I try to run through my list on Google Reader ...it's usually over 600 posts these days and I do a lot of skimming but I do try to comment some on those too.

So, how many blogs are you following and how do you manage to have a life, quilt, AND keep up with them??


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Tops!

The mailman brought these right to my door this afternoon. Four beautiful tops from Barbara in FL. I'll quilt and donate them as a part of HeartStrings.

Suzanne posted a link to a website to generate your own handwriting font (free) so of course I had to try it out. I love it! Go to Suzanne's site to get the link if you want one of your own.



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Let's set some goals for February

The boys are off to the airport and it's time to get back to work. I have until the 24th when I head to Virginia to visit Mom and attend the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest to get through the following list.

• Make postcards for MQ Resource Exchange - 3 of 8 are in process
• Finish piecing the Kaleidoscope top
• Quilt Ann's wallhanging
• Finish embroidery on Maureen's wallhanging and sew the binding on
• Make another set of Log Cabin strips & strings blocks
• Piece backings for 2 donated tops that I want to get quilted next month
• Bind San's 1st QOV top quilted last month
• Start washing/drying the stack of finished quilts from last month
  

Not a very ambitious list but if I get through it all I'll add more to the list. In March, I'll set a goal to quilt another 10 tops.


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Sunday's Progress Report

• Log cabin blocks assembled - fabric was from my string bins
• Small Happy Block top pieced - from stash
  
• Kaleidoscope blocks started - last 6 are in progress - from stash
• 3 of 8 postcards are embroidered (a simple motif embroidered by hand)
  

No fabric purchased although my Go Cutter did arrive on Monday and that was a hefty expense.


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Lake Calhoun

We haven't been out on any of the lakes during winter since we moved to Minnesota so we decided to take the boys over to Lake Calhoun today.

This made me a little nervous...

but there were lots of people out on the ice...either walking or skiing. We even watched someone pitch a tent (green speck behind us in the photo).


Tonight we'll play Scrabble, the boys are thinking up handicaps for us so we'll see if it helps them.


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At Minnehaha Park

We decided to go see if the waterfall was frozen. (Yes it was.)

Killing time on the train.

OK, quiz time! Which one is Chris? which one is Adam??
My boys!



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They have arrived!

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I hate to clean!

I've done nothing but work on one project after another and again, my sewing room was a disaster (yes, again!). It's probably a good thing the boys are coming because it will be so much nicer when I go back to work after their trip.

My strings bins were a mess.
I didn't even bother to throw out the boxes when I opened up the Go Cutter - they were in the middle of the floor with everything else.

Now, it's all set up for company. The bed is made up.
The string bins are nicely stacked.
The floor and table cleared off. An extra pillow and quilt neatly stacked in the chair.
Thank goodness for these big drawers - all the Happy Block leftovers got stuffed in this one.
And look what's been hiding behind that design wall - my guest bathroom!
I went through and vacuumed, cleaned, and straightened the rest of the house too so we're ready for the boys!


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Just 1 more day

Tomorrow, the boys are going to take the light rail from the airport to meet me at the station closest to Keith's office. Do you think they'll find their way? They have some experience with map reading!



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The many faces of Mary

Edit: continuing the theme, here's my class assignment for today. Click to enlarge the photo (please note I used the more attractive photos in this page!).


Yes, Keith basically looks the same as the day we met but looking through our family photos .... my looks change frequently! Hair color and weight changes, bad hair days and all...

Click photo to enlarge

Yes, I should be cleaning or finishing up my kaleidoscope blocks instead of playing on the computer!


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2 more days

The boys on our wedding day with my Mom. Just in case you hadn't done the math - the boys were 4 & 5 when Keith and I got married. Lucky Keith, twenty years ago he got all 3 of us.

Aren't they CUTE?! Seriously I know everyone thinks their kids are cute but mine really were!




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How perfect is your piecing?

I've read lots of discussion recently about pros and cons of these cutters and while I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy one I thought I'd address two here.

One con is that you still have to precut and you might as well just do all the cutting yourself: My answer is yes, for the Kaleidoscope blocks, I had to rough cut 7.5 inch squares - that was really quick....much quicker than cutting all these triangle shape pieces. In some cases, you can just fanfold your fabric over the die without cutting too.
Rolling through..... I'm typically cutting 8 layers at a time ...that's 16 of these triangles I get with one quick pass. I couldn't begin to cut them this quick.
Another con I've read about is about wasted fabric. These triangle shaped leftovers will go into my crumbs and string bins so they don't bother me...it might bother you - I don't know.
Now, to my question for today. How perfect is your piecing? I've been fiddling with these blocks and some are better than others but the funny part is the more I TRIED to get them perfect the worse they were so I went back to my usually method of pinning which depends on feeling and manipulating the seams with my fingers and then using pins to hold it in place. I tried the pin through the middle of the seam and even tried basting the center in place first (easier to pull out if it's off) but the blocks I tried those on were worse.

Most of the blocks look like this and I'm NOT showing closeups of the bad ones!

Not sure where this top is going - the fat quarter packs I started with are small ... and I pulled one fabric from stash that works too (12 blocks total at this time) but I'm going to have to border them with something. I think this fabric has too much green in it.


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Just 3 more days!

These photos were from 10 years ago....I was trying to get one good one of my three guys. You can tell what a challenge that was (still is!). Click photo to enlarge!


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I'm tired

I'm going to stop for the night - I cut out a bunch of triangles and have been piecing Kaleidescope blocks.

They're 10 inch finished so they may be larger than some people like but I'm having fun playing...except for the center of the block on the (R) I'm happy with these. I took it out twice and it's still not matched up exactly right and since the fabric is fraying some...I'm not going to try again. Tomorrow I'm play some more with these blocks and then I absolutely have to take the design wall down and do some cleaning before the boys come to visit.



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Go Cutter

A couple people asked whether the Go Cutter comes with any dies. It comes with this one that has 3 different blocks -- a 4 inch square, 2 inch square, and 2 inch finished half square triangles. I just placed fabric over the 4 inch block (4.5 with seam allowance) to cut my cat squares.

This evening I assembled the cat blocks and then started playing with the isosceles triangle die and a set of fat quarters. I made a mistake and didn't order the size triangle I needed to turn these into Kaleidoscope blocks but I think I'll just cut those by hand.



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Playtime

First, to prove I finished my work before playing - the Strips and Strings Log Cabin top is assembled.
I opened up the box and grabbed this fabric sitting on the table (from New Year's) Happy Block party) and cut it up into 4.5 inch squares - that was easy - but on a few of them I wasn't careful enough about my placement so I had some that were about a 1/8 inch short on one side (I used them anyway). That pile of strings is what was left.

Then I grabbed some yardage and fanfolded it over the 2.5 inch strip cutter and this worked pretty good although I had to snip between my strips - probably due to how I lined it up - but still way, way faster than anything I could rotary cut.

There was very little waste - to the right of the scissors - a couple pieces big enough to go into my string bin and a couple slivers to the trash can.
My quilts are usually scrappy but I'd seen some cute version of our Happy Block quilts with limited fabrics so I decided since just cutting doesn't accomplish anything to grab another coordinating fabric from the table, cut it into strips and then pieced these blocks.
You can't really fussy cut the center squares but this fabric had a dense enough pattern that it still worked well.
You can never really tell how something is going to work just by looking at a video and website. It took a little more effort to turn the handle than I expected and for some reason I didn't expect the die to bend a little but I can see I'm going to LOVE this.

Now after checking my email, I'm going to run sew those blocks together and then maybe I'll cut something else later tonight.


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Not my favorite part but this one goes quickly.

Assembling blocks into tops is not my favorite task but I try to make it as painless as possible. Many quilts I assemble into sections rather than rows but for this one - rows will work best.
I work with one row at a time, stacking up the blocks in order with a pin in the top block to help me keep things in order.
Once the row is sewn, I iron odd rows toward the pin and even rows away from the pin. I find it easier to iron seams *up* so rather than laying the row across the ironing board...I either start with pin up (odd rows) or pin down (even rows) and then I can always iron the seams up.

To keep from having a bunch of long seams to sew toward the end of my piecing....I assemble two rows and then sew them together... here after sewing rows 3 & 4 together, I'll sew 1&2 to rows 3&4 before going on.

There's not any pinning when making these blocks or sewing them into rows but once I start assembling the rows I do pin...please note that the intersection is where the red/blue strips come together NOT the one above! Even I would take out that and redo it.
And guess what came a day early?? It was scheduled to arrive tomorrow but I won't open the box until this top is assembled so I better get back to work.


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A quiet Sunday; a busy Monday

We had a quiet day yesterday - some of us just found a patch of sunlight and alternated chewing our bone and sleeping.
I finished piecing all the blocks for the Strips & Strings Log Cabin and I'll assemble those today. I need to get the design wall down and clean up the sewing room so I can set up the bed in there for Chris and Adam's visit on Friday.

Deb posted the exchange list for February and my card will go to my cousin - but it's not due until the 25th so I'll leave it on the mantle to enjoy along with the snowflake Mom sent me and I guess it's time to put away the Champagne glasses from last year since January is over. I keep thinking I'm going to buy an easel frame but I usually just prop the newest cards up like this.

We were rooting for Pittsburgh yesterday so we were pleased with the outcome of the Super Bowl for a change.


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