Creativity is Happening

My Design Wall continues to grow at a slow pace but grow it does.  These are still now sewn together: they are sewn in sets of two only.  I decided to not sew the full blocks together until I have as many as I need and I have them moved around as much as needed to be balanced. 













I still have these to sew together and I will be cutting more black on white and, as I start refolding my stash to put it in it’s new shelves, I may cut more of the brighter fabrics as I think I am going to need more of these blocks.




























I have decided that I am going to pair the above blocks with this chenille.  I bought this bedspread several months ago to use in a quilt but right now I am thinking “jacket.”  That means that I have to make at least three to four yards of “fabric” for jacket pieces.  I may be at this for quite some time. 
























I am also working on an embroidery project.  This is my test piece but the real one (1 of 10) will be red work. 

I am also hoping to do a couple of new embroidered t-shirts.  I sometimes forget how much I enjoy embroidery but right now I am kind of wanting something new to wear. 























  This afternoon we had RAIN.  I posted on Facebook that it looked like we were living in a rain forest.  And right now we are waiting for a really big storm to come through.  It should get here later tonight, after we go to bed, so I am hoping that I will sleep right through it. 

Of course I am still knitting but I will report on my progress (and there has been some) on Friday. 

Have a great week and be sure to drop in on Judy to see all the beautiful work others have been doing.   
Gari

Monday, A New Week

My Design Wall has not changed since Wednesday.  After discovering the mistake I had made, I decided to work on other projects while I pondered how to remedy my mistake.

The first thing I did was

to begin quilting the 16

patch comfort  quilt, now known as Froggy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even got it done and…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have the binding sewn to the front.  I will finish it when I design and embroider a label for it.  For now it is back, hanging on the “to be completed” rack.

 

 

 

 

I also made two Eleanor Burns’ Underground Railroad blocks but forgot to take pictures so will show them later this week.

So the plan was to get back into the studio Sunday and begin the reclamation project for my DW quilt.  However, we went on a 114 mile road trip instead.  WW is opening a new office 57 miles from here and I have been offered three (3) meetings there.  So we drove down to scout the new place, to get new cushions for our deck swing, and find food we can’t get in our hometown.  We had a great and restful time and now I am ready to tackle my Design Wall problem. 

Be sure to stop by Patchwork Times to see other walls and projects.

Lots of Projects: No Finishes

This is my design wall this morning.  And when I saw it in the picture, it really looks like a mess.  But when I was putting it on the wall, I thought I was coming up with something.  The 12” blocks are from the LCQAL that finished up earlier this year using Bliss by Moda.   My thought was to use some charm squares to make up a divided 4 patch but, oh, I don’t like it at all.  So later this morning I will be taking the charm squares down and trying to come up with something else.

The first thing I took down from the DW Sunday morning was the 16 patch quilt top.  It is ready for quilting and the backing has also been readied.

I went through all my batting pieces and chose the ones I could put together for this quilt.  Here are the leftovers, ready to go back on the shelf to await their call to duty.

 

I even prepared the binding and it is also waiting it’s turn to be used…….sometime in the near future, I hope.

 

Then I started working on my Snowbound UFO.  I trimmed all of the blocks while I began sewing them together.  Look at all the slivers of fabric on my cutting table.  I keep thinking there is something I should be able to do with them but I probably will just toss them.   As you will soon see, I already have enough mess in this studio.

 

 

I sewed the blocks together and once again enjoyed seeing these clever blocks from Bunny Hill Designs.

 

 

So now the center is all together and pressed.  And on the chair back are the inner borders (don’t look too closely at the mess behind the chair).  I still need to add cornerstones and then we will be ready for the outer borders.  I am thinking of white cornerstones on them with maybe embroidered snowflakes.  But that also will be decided either today or tomorrow, or whenever I get around to it.

Here in South Alabama we have been getting rain.  No, I mean RAIN.  We have had about 7.5” in the last 4 days. 

 

This is how my shoes have looked every time I go out.  But I don’t mind, we really needed all that rain.  Besides, these are Crocs and I just rinse them off and keep going.

Now, clean off your shoes and run on over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are working on.

Design Wall and finishes

I didn’t have a design wall post last week.  Somehow, with a very long holiday weekend, I didn’t realize I had missed it until Monday night when I was getting ready to write and suddenly realized the day had passed.  Oh, my, do you suppose I am getting old?  No way!  I just don’t pay attention to the calendar as much as I used to.

So, here is my design wall for this week:

 

This is my 16 patch quilt top, ready for backing, batting, and quilting.

 

And here it is with the backing fabric.  I hope to be getting the backing ready this morning and maybe even get it on Mildred, too.

 

I also finished quilting JR on Friday, sewed the binding together on Saturday and on Sunday completed sewing on the binding.  I always love it when a quilt or project is finished.

And now another kiddy picture.  As we were getting ready to leave for our morning walk this morning, this was the scene that greeted us, Pewter, the momma, and her two growing kittens, basking in the sun.  We have two small families living around our deck: anyone want a kitten/cat?

Another Design Wall Monday

This has to be the most boring design wall in history.  I did take this picture Sunday afternoon but it looks a lot like the picture I took Wednesday.  The difference, however, is that I have started sewing the rows together.

I have three more rows to do and the center will be done.  And I have already decided how I am going to quilt it…….

Isn’t this cute?  I got it last month as part of the ‘panto of the month’ program from Urban Elementz.

And speaking of UE, yesterday I got June’s panto and have decided to use it on JR. 

I think this will be perfect for that strip quilt.

Speaking of quilting, I started quilting on this today but had to rip it all out (only got 6” in).  The tension, which tested perfectly, went all whacky.  I think it is really the thread but after ‘unstitching’ I was not ready to try again.  Perhaps this afternoon.

And one last picture, since my last cat picture did so well…         

I am not really into bathroom humor but I cam around the corner and this was what I saw.  She has water both inside in the kitchen and outside on the deck, so where does she drink?  No wonder she was so laid out last week.

 

Mid Week

Well, here I am, finally getting back to at least twice a week posting.  You can blame Esther Aliu for this.  She has started a WIP Wednesday on her blog.  So I decided that if I want to be a part of things I need to get back to Wednesday blogging.

I have been somewhat busy.  I got a backing sewn for my JR quilt and got it all on the frame yesterday.

That's as far as I got but Friday I will decide on the thread and pattern and maybe even start the quilting.  It should go fast and then it can travel with us next weekend.

I also finally cut the white squares to fit in with the 16 patch leftovers for a comfort quilt.  I have the top two rows sewn, not together, and plan to finish the rest this weekend.  Right now it is only 36x48 so it will need a couple of borders before I can call it finished.

And I did something that is unusual for me.  I cooked.  This is not my creative bent but my DIL posted what she was making for dinner and it sounded good to me.  I changed it a little to fit my Weight Watcher’s points (and what I had on hand) and look how my Ange’s Oven Fried Chicken turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t that beautiful?  I must say that those chicken breasts were huge so we split one, and look how I packaged the other:

I wanted to remember where I got the recipe when I find it again in the freezer.  

Today was my last day to lead one of my WW meetings and I am feeling a little down.  I hate closing a meeting when there are still some people who want to continue but we just don’t have enough to keep going.  I also feel I am loosing friends who are helping me as much as I am helping them.  But they have the tools and a list of other, further away, meetings where they can continue so we are all moving on.

Design Wall Repeat

My design wall has not changed since last Wednesday.  These are the 16 patch squares I am making out of 30’s scraps.  I have also sewn about 15 2” double strips to make more and have cut them into 2” sets but that’s as far as I have gotten.

 

And this is as far as I have gotten on Block 3a for Heart’s Desire.  I have all the pieces ready to fuse but then I will have to do it over again three times.  This is a very complex, for me, applique piece.

The reason I haven’t gotten any more done is that my Railz and Edgrider  wheels (Urban Elementz) for the HQ came on Friday: I almost kissed the Fed Ex man.  So on Saturday DH and I put the wheels on the machine and the track on the frame.   

Here is the machine with it’s new wheels.  And you can see the track under the carriage.

And here is the wheel behind the stitch regulator.  The funny thing is that the stitch regulator is now working better than ever.

So, of course, I had to quickly load (Red Snappers) the comfort quilt I had been saving and try it out.  I was amazed at what an improvement I had in control.

 

I used a panto and it was ever so easy to stay on the lines, much more than before. 

And the quilt is quilted.  I still need to make a binding but that will wait until the weekend.

Between the Red Snappers and the Railz/Edgeriders, I was a happy quilter Sunday.

Be sure to check out Judy’s blog for more inspirations.

 

A Little Play Time

So, what is this? Well, this is my iPhone with it’s new camera lens. What? you say. It comes with a cover that goes on the phone and then the lens screws onto the cover. And it even comes with it’s own tripod. Cool, huh?

And does it really work?, you ask. Look and see…..

Here is DH taken with the normal setting on the phone.

And here he is using the telescopic lens. Pretty neat, huh?

I love techie toys!!

I did some “sewing” before beginning my two WW days. Here is my Heart’s Desire Block 3a with most of the parts ready to be fused on. I still have some tweaking to do but when this one is done all the fabrics for 4 blocks will be chosen.

And I even spent some time putting together some of the 16 patch blocks. I think this is going to make a great comfort quilt, hopefully someday soon.

I don’t have anything on the HQ as I am waiting for my new Raliz to come in. They have been on backorder for over a month but I have been assured that they should be coming my way soon. I sure hope so as my “to be quilted” pile is growing.

3/25 Edit: The Raliz arrived today. DH and I spent part of the afternoon installing the new Edgerider wheels and getting the tracks together. Tomorrow I will get the frame back together and see how it all works. Yea!!!

Tomorrow morning I will be doing WW paperwork and then I hope to spend most of the next 4 days in the studio (along with laundry, yard work, and other necessary things).