Tuesday, February 9, 2010

#3 and #4


Both came out of the dryer with wrinkles. I guess they are just a little too big for the space available.


So, I have four less UFOs than I had at the beginning of the year. And three quilts ready to send to a needy family in St. Louis.

But the snow is snowing, the wind is blowing. . . and I'm not going out first thing in the morning! Maybe they will get mailed on Thursday.

Sara

Finishing two in Feb

Sewing the binding on the back of Eleanor's Pink & Green Bargello, I found that the quilting lines show up very well through the polar fleece. It is currently in the dryer, so I will take a full photo later. Where is the fabric I was going to use for a matching pillowcase?


And here is how the quiltiing looks on LaShawn's flannel quilt. I told Catherine to make it "more feminine" with flowers, since the front has some pretty masculine fabrics. I just finished the binding and label and it is now in the washer.

I'm planning to mail all three of the quilts for this family on Thursday. Where do I find a big enough box?

We are finally getting some snow. With all the news about the East Coast, we have been feeling left out. Didn't seem right to have hardly anything on the ground in Michigan in January and February! They are forecasting 6-10" today and tonight.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Fun Super Bowl party at Ray and Dianne's
Have managed to keep a food and exercise diary for four days
Day at the sewing machine with snow outside

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

9-patch and paper dolls


I've been taking the next steps with this neonatal quilt. I found this cute paper doll fabric online, cut squares, decided on brown sashing, and got to this stage tonight. I'm going to let the border decisions percolate overnight.


Sara

Gratitudes

No need for an injection at the eye doctor today
Dark room to rest my dilated eyes
Spaghetti for dinner -- comfort food

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Start of "Emerald Forest"

Despite all the UFO work, or BECAUSE of all the UFO work, I have started a new quilt.

Here are the batik strips Lynne and I purchased in St. Louis back at Thanksgiving to make a quilt for their queen-sized bed in their newly redecorated bedroom. She saw a sample quilt in the store, and said, "That's IT!" The pattern is called "Emerald Forest".

We bought two "jelly rolls" of Hoffman "Green Tea" batiks, and a couple of FQs in additional colors to add into the mix. Also some yardage for the borders.

I have so far made 22 blocks, which look to me like Kleenex boxes! However, they are pretty easy to construct, and I am whipping along toward the end of having 88 of them.
So, one quarter of the way.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Toenails cleaned and trimmed
Leftover chili for supper, yum!
Got all the cutting done for all the blocks

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Difference of Opinion

After church today I began another Neonatal quilt, as usual made of leftovers from another project.


I have 36 of these 3", pink and white 9-patches left from Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight. I'm hoping to get three baby quilts from them.


I hung up "Difference of Opinion" to get a better photo, even tho' I see there are quite a lot of wrinkles still.

What do you think of the "lean" of the right hand column? Will it just look like a mistake?
Or is it enough to look intentional [which it was]?

Sara

Gratitudes:

Concert in Saugatuck went well
Warm bed on a COLD night
Hot tea for breakfast

Friday, January 29, 2010

At Home Quilting Retreat

Even though I was not free to go AWAY on retreat, I have been working at home.


This project is a continuation of "project improv" which started a YEAR ago, so another UFO to work on-- Pink/Orange Liberated Log Cabins. I have now finished 15 blocks, including this one with a heart in the middle.


After I have quite a few made in a "wonky" fashion, I thought I should make ONE that was a REGULAR Log Cabin. Probably put that one in the very middle of them all to show where they came from.

Oh, yes, one with a House in the middle.

When I had enough, it was time to put them all together with some white sashing and a narrow border.

When I had all the columns made, I thought, "But why have all the columns standing right together? Why not. . . .one column falling away, or tipsy?"

Now that I see it, I wish I had been even MORE daring and made the sashing even more wonky.

I have folded it all up for the time being while I think about creating a backing. Should I use up some more of the pinks and oranges? Use one backing fabric? Hmm.

Sara

Gratitudes:

House is clean
Sudden decision had us out to an "anniversary" lunch at Marco
Getting this quilt top finished

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Stay at Home Day

While I am waiting for the other charity quilts to be quilted and come back from Catherine, I made two pillowcases. The red one is made to match the red and white Zigzag that was finished just at the end of 2009.


The one on the right is made of the fleece that I used to back my first finish of this year, the 9-patch and snowball Xmas quilt.

And here is each quilt packed into the pillowcase, ready to send off!

I am a member of the Libquilters group, which is having a two day stay-at-home retreat. I got out four pink and orange Log Cabin blocks I made about a year ago as part of "project improv". Right with them were some more pieces, ready for more logs, and there were also more logs! So today I made four more blocks so far. I think there will be four more, hopefully by the end of the day.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Tuesday is my "No Errands, Stay At Home Day". Makes me happy.
The bed in the sewing room is slowly re-appearing.
Rehearsal last night preparing for our concert in Saugatuck Saturday.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Flannel Waste Triangles

Today I took the "foursies" of flannel waste triangles that I put together a few days ago, and I have been seaming away. It is six blocks by nine, so forty intersections to match through the machine. O my gosh, was it really that many? No, it was eighty, two intersections per block.


And here's view of the end result. I decided to set them randomly rather than any of the several "organized" sets that I tried first.

Now I am adding a three inch border in a green plaid. The top will be put away until the backing I ordered on the internet arrives, and the time to take this over to Catherine's.

My next task is to cut all the scraps up into useable sizes and clean up the mess.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Making plans to visit Sue in Richmand.
Watching some ice dancing on TV
That the logjam in Haiti is getting a little better

Friday, January 22, 2010

Shoo-Fly quilt DONE


I was able to finish the binding yesterday before the Bee meeting. So, it's DONE.

This is my take on the "Your Way" mystery our Bee did during 2009. Mine is larger than most of the Bee member's versions since I wanted it to cover the queen bed, not be a throw.

I'm thinking about putting this one in the Guild Show in October. Mostly because it is wonky and not many like that are shown here. But also because I am pretty proud of it!

This is my #2 UFO completion for January, so I made my goal this month.

So after that excitement, today the box with the Christmas 9-patches and Snowball blocks was still out in the sewing room--- and I thought, "Why not just get these finished off?"

This one, the LAST one, is mostly green. And now the blocks are all sewn together! It comes to 60" X 96". Pretty long.

I stalled out on the backing, until I realized that the flannel waste triangles might be just the thing. Make a reversible quilt.

Those flannel blocks are NOT completely sewn together, but they might just be the next thing I work on. I did make a diagram of my plan for them.

Meanwhile I am spending time squaring up the waste triangles from the Snowball blocks of all three Christmas quilts. Why? Well, I needed a "hand" project I could take to the Bee meeting last night. And once I was started, I again thought, "Better finish this up while it's OUT." They are coming out to 3 3/4", which is odd indeed, but I don't want to lose that 1/4 inch. Just call it my "Personal Precision/Peculiar Measurement."

There are 200 of these which will need to be thunk about.
How to put them together?
When to put them together. DARN, I think I just created another UFO!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Charlie will go with me to Elk Rapids for Gwen Marston Retreat in October
NPR news and classical music while I sew
Secret Sister gave me a Dorothy Sayers mystery she had liked

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Rams Christmas quilt

Here's my first UFO finish for 2010. It had mostly blue Christmassy fabric in the 9-patch and snowball blocks. It's meant for a boy who likes Scooby-Doo.


The back is polar fleece lauding the St. Louis Rams football team. Clever Catherine copied the ram symbol into the quilting design. The binding is made of various blue scraps of previous bindings.

Now I am putting together the "waste" triangles from the flannel Square-in-a-Square blocks. The original squares were so big that these cut-off corners are 5.5". For a first step I have joined them into "foursies", each triangle pointing the same way. There are 38 of these. I think with just making two more of the plain four-patch I will have enough to make a twin top 60" x 90".

But I am putting this aside in order to get the binding on my second UFO for January. And I need to get this done so I can take it to Show at the bee meeting tomorrow night.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Breakfast with friends
Some sun again today
Leftover pork roast from Peter for dinner