Design Wall and a little more

Here is my design wall.  Up there are blocks for two different quilts.  I finished the Christmas swap blocks and as I did I put them amid the deco swap blocks that I was working on a couple of weeks ago.  Until I started posting this picture, I didn’t realize that the Christmas swap blocks are really almost the same as the deco swap blocks.  Funny, huh?

 

Here are the Christmas blocks, in process.  I have difficulty chain piecing and still getting blocks together right.  So I get all the pieces prepared and then I put them together.  In order to keep all the pieces together I set up each block either in a manila folder or on top of one.  Here are just two with four blocks ready to be sewn.

Today I will be sending these blocks off to the “swap mother” and someday I will get a package back with blocks made 11 other quilters.  I don’t plan to make a quilt with them this year so I will start 2012 with at least one UFO ready for me. 

But, that’s not all I got done this weekend. 

 These are my newest

 

Crazy Cat blocks.

 

 

 

 

I have really enjoyed making these.

 

 

 

 

I have a couple more to do and a little hand embroidery to do on all of them.

 

 

 

Because I do three WW meetings on Monday and Tuesday, I have decided that the rest of those days are devoted to household chores.  But Wed – Friday are planned for the studio (of course the best laid plans …….).  The weekends?  Well, they are just up for grabs. 

Back to Quilting

It is hard to believe that a week ago we were buzzing down the highway, working our way home. Most of this week has been catching up and napping but finally by Friday I was able to begin to get back in the groove. Friday I spent the morning doing some cleaning up in the studio so I could begin working on a couple of UFOs and some swap blocks. And Friday afternoon we traveled to Montgomery, AL, where I attended a leader’s meeting for Weight Watchers. Yes, I said Leader’s Meeting. I was asked if I would be interested in becoming a leader so I went to a training meeting to see if I was: I still don’t know if I am or not.



Saturday DH was off judging a Jr. Miss pageant so I spent part of the day cleaning the pool and swimming and the rest in the studio. I did spend some time redesigning the layout for these blocks

and then making the additional blocks to complete the picture. After I cut the strips and sewed the first strata, I cut it into 4 blocks and set them together with one of the Thangle blocks to see how they looked.

This morning I completed sewing all the strata and cutting the blocks and got them up on the design wall.

And I even have four of the seven rows sewn together. Yea, me!

While working on the above, I also was embroidering the centers of the swap blocks I started a couple of weeks ago.

I have gotten 5 done: there are 18 color changes in each square so it is taking quite a while to complete each one. But I did put one block together, again to see how it looks.

So, no completions this week but two well on their way and, if I get off this computer, I hope to have Alabama Escargot bound and done soon.

Wall, Deck, What’s the Difference?

Last Monday I took the Dragon down from the design wall, pinned him to the backing and then basted him down really good: check out this post.  When I finished with him he looked a lot like Gulliver when he was tied down by the Lilliputians.  However, now he is folded up on a shelf until I can begin the long, tedious, applique process.   

In the meantime, the wall needed a project.  Recently I found these blocks that I think were a jelly roll QAL run by Konda of Moose on the Porch Quilts.  I liked most of the blocks and even have coordinating fabric for them but never came up with an idea of how I wanted to set them.  So, up on the wall they have gone and hopefully a creative idea will come.







Meanwhile, here is Block 2 in the Carol Doak Mystery BOM 2012.














And doesn’t it look good with Block 1?  Seeing them together I am really getting excited for how this quilt is going to turn out.









And, in the middle of all my sewing on Sunday, DH came to the studio to ask if I could help him “for a minute.”  He has been building the cart that came with our riding lawnmower and needed an extra set of hands.  In fact at one point he suggested we might need a third set of hands but since we are the only ones here, that was not to be. 









But see, it is built and works.  Now we just need to hitch it up and pull something. 












Then back in the studio to start putting together blocks for an embroidery swap.  Here are two but I actually finished three.  I have 9 more to go but they are not due until Aug 1 so I am fitting them in between other projects.

The one thing I did not start was Judy’s feathers lessons.  I am ready to start but decided I needed to get a couple of other things done and then will work at my own speed.  I really like my Carpenters Star so I am a little nervous about making a mess of it.  Oh, well………….

Swaps and Stuff

Once again, I have had difficulty finding sewing/quilting time.  Monday and Tuesday I was busy leading 3 of my 4 Weight Watchers meetings.  By the time I did all the paperwork and then drove the 50-60 miles home, took the three dogs out, fed the cats, fed the birds, fed the dogs and took them out again, reloaded the washer and dryer, and started dinner, I was too pooped to even open the studio.  So the plan was to sew Wednesday and Thursday. 

However, both those days I moved furniture.  Some of you may remember that on this post I reported that we purchased a new TV and that we agreed to place the new TV where I had wanted the old one 5 years ago.  Unfortunately this necessitated moving almost every piece of furniture in our great room.  It also would mean some moving of the wiring for the TV, DVD/BlueRay, and the Direct box.  So I decided that we needed to start before the TV got here and that’s what I did all Wednesday and Thursday.  I’d like to say that it is all done but only the big pieces are more or less in place.  We did move the old TV to where the new on will be going and I really love it there.

Today I finally got into the studio.  I am working on some swap blocks through some internet friends.

 

We were given the pattern and colors and told to make 12 12” blocks to swap.  Now, this is not a difficult block but today, as I was trimming 48 HSTs, I couldn’t help wondering about those people who do quilts with hundreds of HSTs.  Rather than make quilts with lots of little pieces, I think I may try to learn how to be an art quilter.    Anyway, I have 5 blocks finished with 7 more to go.

Tomorrow I will be leading my 4th WW meeting in the morning and then traveling to attend a WW staff meeting so no sewing will get done.  But Sunday I hope to get  the rest of the blocks done and ready to send.  Then it will be back to the blocks on the design wall and some Christmas gifts I have just barely started.

Design Wall Accomplishments

 

This is my very first table runner.  The picture was taken Sunday evening, after the sun went down, so the color is somewhat strange: the bottom square is close to true.  Anyway the runner is 56” long and 14” wide.  I am using 2 swap blocks (tan) and 2  new blocks made like the ones I sent for a Christmas swap.  I hope to get this quilted this week so it will be ready for our table right after Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I can start quilting the table runner I need to finish quilting this swap block quilt.  (Does it seem I am swap block obsessed?) 

 

My original plan was to practice some ruler work while doing this quilt but then I realized that I needed to get it done quickly so I could do the runner so a medium meander seemed like the best way to go.

 

Here is the backing I chose.  It is in the center with a border fabric on the sides (not shown).  I love this fabric and did when I first saw it in the shop so I hated to use it for a backing fabric.

 

However, it was perfect for this quilt so here it is.  I have about 3 more passes to complete the quilting.  I have been having a little trouble: my stitch regulator is not working very well.  I will probably be calling HQ later today to see if they have any ideas why it is “dragging” and/or falling out of regulation all together.  I can get pretty regular stitches unregulated but I really like not having to work at keeping my speed steady.

One last thing:  today I found a top from a BOM in 2007.  It is the second top I ever made.  I haven’t unfolded it yet but I believe it is a king/queen sized and the original plan was to make a duvet cover.  I remember I bought two king sized sheets to complete the task but then put it aside.  I think the next thing I will be doing is seeing if I can find all the parts and get this UFO underway.  If I do I think I will have all my swaps and BOMs either completed and/or ready for quilting.  Maybe I’ll even have it out so I can show it next Monday  Yea!!

Don’t forget to go over the Patchwork Times to see what other’s are creating.

Wow, it’s Design Wall Monday, again.

And yet, there is nothing on my design wall this morning.

During the last week I sewed the blocks together and decided on the inner border.  I blogged about this fabric here and am really happy with how well it goes with my swap blocks.













And then I decided on the outer border and this past weekend I cut it out and

















And sewed them on.  I am so excited at how this quilt has turned out.  During the making I, again, remembered how difficult swap blocks can be: not the right size, no quarter inch seam allowance, poor stitching, pleats inside the block, etc.  However, once I decided that I was going to use each block pretty much as it came, the top came together to be beautiful.  I also got the binding prepared so now it is ready for quilting (once I put a backing together).

And that brings me to the mental block I have been suffering since June.  That’s when Judy at Patchwork Times offered lessons on stitching feathers.  I made my quilt, a Carpenter’s Star, put it on the frame and stitched the top border.








And that’s as far as I got.  Between the stitch regulator now working and my unhappiness with my feathers, I just couldn’t make myself go back into the quilting room…..until Sunday.







You see, I am making two quilts that I want to have done by Thanksgiving.  Both tops are done but in order to get them quilted I have to finish this quilt.  So Sunday I made the stitch regulator work and then quilted one more line. 








I am not unhappy with how these feathers look, but I still need to quilt a curved feather as well as a circular feather.  I have given myself this week to get this done: I really need to move on.




And, in between quilting bouts I will be making my funky chicken #9, my color challenge project, and working on my EQ7 lessons.  And, how do I relax?  I read murder mysteries, especially ones that include quilters.  Nothing better than sitting on the swing out on the deck, reading a book and petting a puppy.
Oh, I also spend a little time on the computer trying to get through all the blogs that are posted on Patchwork Times every Monday.  Lots of great stitching going on over there. 

The Start of Another Week

Here is my Design Ironing Board for 7/30/12.  Here are 6 of the 10 completed blocks for a swap: two more to go.  These have not had their final press so they hare not in the BOM box, yet.  I still have 12 blocks for a second swap to sew but they are all embroidered and the pieces cut so it will just be assembly line sewing on Wednesday to have them ready for the mail.


My real accomplishment was my apple core placemat.  I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with my apple core experiment but this past weekend I decided that it would make a great table mat and decided how I was going to accomplish it.


The first thing I did was to find a backing fabric: a fat quarter from stash.  Then I pinned the cores to the backing, right sides together, along with a leftover piece of batting.







I realize it is hard to see one piece from the other so here is a close-up of the one pinned to the other.









I then sewed all around the outside of the apple cores, 1/4” away from the edge, leaving about a 4” opening at one end.






I then cut the new sewn together three pieces right at the edge of the cores. 







Next I cut the outside edge of the batting as close to the stitching as I could get.






Now tell me, doesn’t this look funny?  This is what my mat looked like while I was turning it.
Before I turned it I trimmed the corners to have as little bulk as possible.



After sewing the turning hole closed (whip stitched) it was time to quilt.  The first thing I did was to stitch in the winding ditch.  I did this on my domestic straight stitch machine that has a pinstitch feature.






But once I had the ditches stitched I decided to add some echo stitching.  And I must say I really like how it looks.  I, however, did decide that when I make a larger apple core quilt, I will not quilt it this way.






And here it is in it’s new home on the deck.

My apple core GO die has arrived at my LQS and I will be picking it up Wednesday but even though I really enjoyed making this mat, it will be a while before I start a full sized apple core quilt.  I have way too many on going projects to start that anytime soon.


This week I will be working on my Carol Doak BOM block, the rest of my swap blocks and the borders on Henrietta.  Let’s see if I can get most of that done, shall we?

Deck update: 
I bought another hanging plant.  It is not easy to find orange flowers so when I saw this it had to come home with me.  We have also be sitting in a lot of rocking chairs but it is hard to find one that fits and rocks well so we keep sitting and sitting.

Now, if you are not too tired, why don’t you hop on over to Patchwork Times to see what a bunch of other quilters are working on.

Little News and Bigger News

This has been a week of working and a weekend of accomplishments. I embroidered, pieced, pressed, cleaned, washed, read, played, and rested Wednesday and Thursday. And, I did get the Eleanor Burns BOM block done.













Then Friday I was off to NWFL to visit with friends. My friend, Nita O’Keefe, was in Ft. Walton Beach, at the LQS doing a trunk show of her embroidery designs.

See that table? That was 1/3 of the samples she had to show. She and Holley Pike have formed a union with Becky McNeal, Gal Pals, to sell their designs. For the last two years their designs, along with thread, have been part of a subscription so I already have most of them but it was great to see them stitched out. And did I get pictures? No, I forgot to lift my camera I was so entranced with what she had to show.

Also while there I got the swap blocks I completed in March. It seems that some people signed up for the swap but didn’t do their blocks so others had to be recruited in order to complete the swap.


These are the blocks that I now have to work with. They range in size from 11 ¾” to 12 ¾” I see this as a challenge but as of right now I have no idea what I will do with them. As you probably have seen, I really like bright fabrics but I also like a challenge so we will have to see what my fertile imagination will come up with: a UFO all ready for next year.

After the show I was able to go out to lunch with another friend, Jeannie no blog (a wonderful seamstress), and then spend a little time, and money, at Joann’s and one of my favorite quilt shops, Margie’s.

The big news:


South Seas is quilted. The panto came in on Thursday but, except for setting it out on the frame, there was no time to quilt. However, this morning I was in the studio, ready to quilt. This is the panto, a 9” swirl.

I guess I have been spoiled by the pantos I have been getting from Urbanelementz. They come with 2-4 rows printed and nesting designs. As you can see, this is only one row and I would have to move the panto for every row to make it “nest” with itself. So, I quilted the rows as you see them and then was left with large blank spaces. So this is how I decided to cure what I saw as a problem: click to enlarge.



I quilted a water-like meanter between the swirls and I really like the effect.