Design Wall Monday and More

My Design Wall contains Henrietta  Whiskers.  All of the blocks are done and the borders are cut.  Here some of them are on the wall so I could see how they played with the blocks.  Now, nothing is sewn together.  My plan is to sew the cream and small brown borders together first so I can do the applique that is supposed to be on them.  I must say that I usually do not follow the designer’s plans for their blocks but in this case I am going to try to come as close as I can.





I do have one finish, this visor.  This is my Color Challenge piece.  And the visor came from a tutorial offered by Vicki.  It is a wide-brimmed visor and is pretty easy to make.  I plan do to a couple more (I do drive a convertible, you know) but will probably make a smaller brim for car use.







You may notice that my fabric has all of the bright colors and to get the purple in, I used purple thread for the quilting on the brim.










On Sunday I started cutting my “ugly” fabrics.  I cut strips that should fit the paper piecing pattern I created last week.  I still need to cross cut these strips but I feel I am on my way.









And, while I was doing all that cutting, I started on my first Christmas project.  Don’t hate me!  I just got what I think is a great idea, found what I needed so there was no reason not to get started.  And, of course, I am more than a little proud of myself. 









I have set up some temporary seating on the deck but now I am on the lookout for a set of rockers.










But while I look I found some hanging basket flowers for the roof.












I have always wanted hanging flowers and was really excited to find these that offer color in our gray and green world.    I plan for more plants, maybe after I find the rockers.  Can you tell I am still excited about our covered deck?

I’ve Been Busy

All this past week I have been beginning a reorganization project in the studio.  I began by emptying a large 9 shelf storage unit in order to replace it with this:


It is much smaller and I had to find new homes for much of what was there.  What is left for this “wine rack” is all the UFOs that I unearthed, many of which I didn’t remember (2007 and up). 













The top two boxes are BOMs: green for the ones that are completed but not yet made into a quilt and the purple one is for ongoing BOMs. 










The wine rack is solid wood and wrought iron: very heavy, but small enough that I now can get to all of my design wall.













So on my design wall today are two of the many UFOs.  On the right is Star Struck by Bonnie Hunter (I attended a workshop with her which was wonderful).  This will not get any larger but soon I will plan borders for a child’s quilt.

To the left is the result of a workshop where we learned how to use a wedge ruler. 







My plan was to make a Christmas Tree skirt but somehow I seem to have fallen down on the job.  I have several more segments done so we will see how close my circle gets.











Another UFO I have been working on is my Henrietta Whisker’s blocks.  I embroidered the first 8 while we were in NC and I just made 9th block over the  weekend.  I still need to applique it down but that will get done soon.  It is the last block and then I just have the setting pieces and final applique to do and I will have another top that needs quilting.








I also have prepped the pieces for Block 3 of Carol Doak’s BOM.  This will be the first thing I do this morning (after dishes, laundry, etc.) and I will feel so good when at least one BOM is on time.











I even decided on what fabrics I will be adding to my ugly fabric challenge fabrics.  The pink is added and I will also be using a white.









And this is my plan.  The block was a Quilt Pro block of the day which I redrew in EQ7 and then designed the plan on the right.  Now, of course, I just have to begin making the blocks, always a problem when I have so many projects going at the same time.







I forgot to share the last of the fabrics I bought at Mary Jo’s.  Isn’t it beautiful?  I have no idea what I will be using it for but I have 2 yards of it waiting for inspiration.











And one last picture.  These are the overalls I found in an “antique” mall.  Of course they are not old but I fell in love with them.  And they are oh so comfortable.  I now have almost enough overalls to wear a different pair every day.  DH says I am still a hippie from the 70s and I guess in some ways I am.


That said, I guess it is time to get on those household chores so I can get back to all my waiting projects.  And you can get over to Judy’s blog to check out all the other Design Walls.

Opps: Empty Design Wall

Actually, the wall is not empty but you have seen the dragon who is up there so often that I decided he would not be seen today.

So, here is the fabric I received for the Ugly Fabric Challenge.  And may I say, challenge is the right word.  However, I had just looked at a pattern online that I think will work well ok with this fabric.  I probably won’t begin work on it for a couple of weeks as I have other projects going but I do have a kind of plan.

I have been working on a couple of projects I can’t show.  I almost finished one project yesterday and have a second one about half way done.  Of course since I am making it up as I go along, who knows how far along I really am. 

As for the dragon, I have decided on the background fabric, prepared it and then attempted to pin him on.  I put the fabric on the DW and then the dragon but I found that I couldn’t pin him on because the pins kept sticking through to the wall fabric.  So I am currently waiting for DH to unearth a craft folding table from our junk storage room so I can get him pinned on.  After he is adequately stuck on the fabric I am going to hand baste him down in preparation for applique.  Then I will have to decide if I will machine or hand applique him.  (Or maybe he will decide for me)

And I guess that’s all folks.  Hopefully I will have more to show next week.

No-reply and quilting progress

No-reply bloggers:  Please set up an email address so I can address/answer questions.  I LOVE comments and reply to them all.  However, it is really discouraging to have thought up and typed a reply only to see that it is going to go nowhere.  I do try to remember to look at the return address so that this doesn’t happen, but it rarely ever occurs to me that someone would ask a question with no way for me to answer.  Now, on to the good stuff.


I had a very productive week. 

This is the beginning of my Carpenter’s Star for Judy’s quilting feathers class.  I got this fabric cut on Monday and sewn on Thursday.  I got it on the wall right away, just so I could have something new and different for Design Wall Monday. 





These are my main fabric choices, all from stash. 









Then yesterday, after a great Mother’s Day dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, I got most of the rest of the blocks cut and sewn.  I have cut the last 4 but they have to wait until today, after I get the laundry started.  (Don’t you hate it when housework interferes with being on a creative run?)







But wait, there’s more.  On Monday I gathered the fabrics for the May Color Challenge.  See the banana fabric?  I bought that in January.  When I saw it I thought of the 0 point value of fruit, especially bananas, at Weight Watchers.  I was going to make something to wear to my meetings but nothing ever came to mind so now they are going to decorate my house.




 They are now 2 placemats and a table runner for our dining room table.  Here are the tops, and the backing fabric, waiting to take their turn on the frame.  I think they are going to look great on the table during the summer. 





I also worked on another project, completing the top but since it is a gift I can’t show it for a while. 




Oh, I did one more thing.  I collected my fabric for the “Ugly Fabric Swap.”  This was really hard for me.  I found that I have very little “ugly” fabric and what I did have didn’t go together at all.  I also found that I feel guilty sending ugly fabric to an unsuspecting quilter.  But those are the rules so off they go today.

And, off you go to check out Judy’s Design Wall.