Something New & BOMs

(I am unable to edit my pictures without losing them so bear with me.)

On the design wall today is the Henrietta Block 5 and……………

Block 6. I am finally caught up, yippee!

Also on the wall are blocks 1 & 2 of Crazy Cats from syverkstan.net. I have been saving them all year but recently decided they will be a great Christmas gift so into the mix they went. The trouble is that I was having trouble finding time to get them started. Aren’t they cute? They will have embroidery on them later.

Also on the wall is Block 5 of Boot Bash from Molly’s Place. I fell behind on this one, too, but I am getting caught up.

I also worked on a new project, a Jelly Roll Race quilt.

This is me sewing the strips together: I can’t remember which Moda line it is, but it is bright and cheery.

Here is the center, finished. I was really surprised at how big it was. But, as is my want, I thought it needed a little bit more.

And here it is, a finished flimsy. The inner border is orange stripe which will also be used for the binding (you can almost see the binding strips on the hanger). I hope to get it on the HQ this week as I would love to take it as a handwork project (binding) when we travel later this month.

And this is Ms. Murphy, lounging. She was sound asleep and for the life of me, I couldn’t see how she could be comfortable.

Now, after you finish laughing, don’t forget to pop over to Patchwork Times to see all of the other quilty creations being shared.

Design Wall & Family

This has been a most productive week. 

I got my April Boot Bash block done: 

These have been fun and rather easy, a nice break from the Heart’s Desire blocks which are quite a challenge (here).  These I have made great progress on (no picture ) and hope to have Block 2 and possibly all three Block 3s done and on the wall by Wednesday.

Here are the four done blocks, don’t you think they will make a fun quilt?  I am getting some ideas of settings but nothing for sure: I do have 8 more months to get creative.

 

And I completed the April block for Henrietta Whiskers.

 

 

And here are the Jan – April blocks all together.  The blocks are made in different sizes so it will be interesting to see how they all play together.

And Sunday was a very busy family day.  Our DGS and DGDIL came for a visit.

They are on a “road trip” all the way from CO.  He just recently got out of the Air Force and she is entering the Air Force next month.  It was so much fun being with them and when she is in tech school they will be really close to us so we should get to really know them, for a while.

As they were arriving I got a call from my mother but had to call her back when our company left.  We talked for 30 – 45 min and almost as soon as I got off the phone with her our DD called.  I felt very popular today.

Now I’m going to get another cup of coffee and head on over to Judy’s blog to see what other’s are up to.

Finally, Some Sewing

It seems that anniversary celebrations and recovery from same caused me to do very little in the studio all last week.  But Sunday I made up for all that and this is what is on my Design Wall.

First I completed Blocks 3 & 4 of the LQS BOM: Underground Railroad.  I love the Wagon Wheel block and may consider doing several of these as a whole quilt.

Next was Block 3 of the current Bunny Hill Designs BOM called Henrietta Whiskers.  This is also a great illustration of what happens when you don’t turn the pattern over for fusible applique.  But it is my quilt so it is OK.

And last but not least is Block 3 from Molly’s Place Boots BOM.  It is always fun to go through all the saved scraps to see what will go together for a project and it is rarely what I might have planned.

As of right now I am caught up with all my BOMs and can begin to work on some other projects.

But, before I do that I am starting with a new Weight Watchers group today (this makes 3).  My manager emailed me that there was a group of teachers that wanted to start a WW at work meeting “right away” and so off I go.  At first all I could think of that this takes another day away from the studio but with a little organization, I’m sure I will be able to make it work.

Mid-Week Working

This has been a great week.

I have been able to be in the studio every day so far.  My first completion was the first Henrietta Whiskers block.  Now, this isn’t really complete since I haven’t stitched the applique down yet, but I can see how cute it is already. 

When that was done I completed making the backing for this quilt.  The lighter printed fabric is really border fabric but I just couldn’t bear to cut it up.  So I added the center panel and put additional borders of it on the sides.  And, I was going to load it on the frame when I heard that the Red Snappers I had ordered from Renae Haddadin were going to be coming next week.  Well, that gave me permission to put it off so I don’t have to pin 102” x 2.  I am really looking forward to having an easier way to load a quilt.

So, with some time on my hands I decided to begin working on the BOM from my LQS.  We are making blocks from Eleanor Burns’ Underground Railroad book.  And, since we

 are making 15 blocks, we are making 2 a month for the first three months.  So here are my first ones done.  I am making mine in batik since I don’t much like civil war fabrics.  These went together really easily: I hope they all do.  So, what are you doing?

Merry Design Wall

Today begins a whole year before my next birthday and the beginning of the Christmas season: how fun.

Doesn’t it seem right that my design wall today has 11 snowmen? All of these are appliqued down and ready for the hand embroidery which I will try to get done when we are visiting in MD at Christmas. Anyway there is only one more snowman in this years Bunny Hill Designs BOM. And here is my problem, I need 13 snowman blocks for this layout. What to do, what to do?

Anyway, I finished these last two snowmen blocks this week so I am ready for #12 and will have to decide what to do about #13 later.

I have my 12 Days of Christmas ready to quilt and it will be on the HQ before today is over.

Yesterday was my birthday. After a week of reviewing the DVDs, DH took me to see Harry Potter (big fan), out to eat.

I only thought to take a picture (taken with my new iPhone) after I had almost finished.

And after we got home I opened my gift from DS#3 and his wife. Thanks my children.

It was a great day and now it is off to another great year.

Going Dotty is DONE!!

And isn’t she beautiful?

And besides that I got caught up on the Bunny Hill Snowbound blocks (sans embroidery).

and the Jelly Roll Sampler blocks.

Not bad considering that the new blocks come out tomorrow and/or next week.

I was so excited about getting so much done that I made what could have been a fatal mistake.

I have never done that before. When I found it I flashed back to old movies and cartoons of scorched shirts. However, it is in the middle of my pressing mat so I will be reminded every time I go to use the iron

I’ll be back Monday with my new design wall. I am already working on my current UFO, planning my new project and have the fabric set aside for the new comfort quilt. Finishing something always gives me a burst of energy so I am busy, busy, busy.

Design Wall Monday

So this is what is on my design wall today. Yesterday I found that I had not made enough sashing strips: I guess I just can’t count high enough. So I made two more and cut the outer borders and corner stones. So now we know what this quilt is going to look like.

Yesterday I also got the backing for the Purple Rail Comfort quilt made so I hope to get it on the frame and quilted this week.

And two nature shots. I found this vine in our woods. The vine twines itself around the trees, probably killing the tree, but at this time of the year the blooms are beautiful. Interestingly, there is no scent in this flower.

With all the beauty that is beginning to show up around here, it is getting very hard to stay in and sew/quilt, but I am trying to balance my time wisely. Yea, Spring!!

One last thing: this is my baby quilt and my finish for March. It took me until last week to find the right fabric for the binding. I used a light green with even lighter green polka dots.

Bunny Hill, Owls, and Spring

My design wall has changed. I have 5 of my Bunny Hill BOM basket blocks completed: the others only need a little hand embroidery. Last week I found some lace I have had for several years and came up with this layout. I cut the sashing, red, and then overlaid it with the lace. I have only basted the lace on as it will be caught in the seams and then I will sew it down at the edges. Next week I will cut the cornerstones and borders (same fabric and the top will be ready to sew together, if I can only get that hand embroidery done. This little quilt is so out of my comfort zone as I just don’t do frilly but I like it because it is different.

And as long as I was working on the Bunny Hill blocks, I decided to get started on her new BOM. It is a series of snowmen and she has posted 3: I hadn’t started any. So I spent part of the weekend copying the designs onto the Heat & Bond and put the first block together. I think that when I get the basket blocks done, I will start the embroidery on these so I don’t have all of them to do at the end. The background fabric has silver metallic so there is a lot of shine behind this little snowman. I have the designs ready for blocks 2 & 3 so will have them fused before the week is over

My new glass owls arrived this weekend. Here it is (the little clear one) nesting nicely with a small selection of my collection. Also in this grouping is the first glass owl I ever got (light brown furthest left) and the clock my paternal grandpa bought for my grandma following the birth of their first son in 1907. Also you can see my collection of batiks: isn’t this a wonderful set of shelves? No wonder I love going into my studio.

And last but not least is a sure sign of spring. Here is the first rosebud on my bushes. We have lots of new leaves but it appears that this will be the first flower of the season. Today it was 74 with sunshine and I took advantage of it by sitting outside designing a snowball quilt.

What fool decided… Part 2

If you remember from last time, I couldn’t find the drawing I made of the quilt using the drunkard’s path blocks. Well, I still haven’t found it so I spent Friday night, while watching TV, redrawing it. And guess what. I find that if I do it as I drew it I will be making 178 of those little 3” blocks. 178!!!!! So I am rethinking the design, just a little. Since I only have 46 made I figure I have a while to “rethink.”

Ed: Thought about doing appliqué in place of some of the DP blocks but decided I like my first idea and will just push through. I am kind of getting a rhythm going.

So on the design wall is the beginning of how this quilt center will be laid out. It is going to be pretty busy but I am liking it more and more. Nothing is sewn together because I will be moving both the sampler blocks and the DP blocks around to get the color matches as right as I can. But I can’t do that until all of the DP blocks are done.

Also on the wall are the Bunny Hill blocks that I have completely finished, 6 more to go.

Last time I showed them the appliqué was done but I hadn’t started the hand embroidery. This past week or two I have been taking a little time out to work on that and it has gone pretty well. I can’t remember how to do all the stitches I used to do but I’ve got the stem stitch down pat.

And look what I found.

I thought when I made my last move I had thrown all my embroidery stuff away: I had moved into the realm of machine embroidery. However, I did check in a storage area of the studio and there in a lone plastic bag was all this thread and a cross stitch project I started 15 years ago. Actually, the stitching is done but the young man I was making it for is graduating from high school this year so I don’t think he would appreciate it as much as he might have years ago.

And a little family stuff: This is our granddaughter’s boyfriend’s new car.

It is a customized Honda Civic. Check out those gull wing doors.

and here is Skylar, a man and his car. ;-)

And what did our granddaughter get? Well, meet Heineken. He is a 9 week old Great Pyrenees. Do you think they really know how big he is going to get or how much grooming they will have to do? I know that when we were that young we would never have done such a thing……NOT. I guess that’s what being young is for. Time enough for being practical.