Design Wall Monday

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I participate in Design Wall Monday’s at Patchwork Times. It is a wonderful place to share and see the works of several other quilters. But I sometimes wonder if everyone who lists their blog there reads all the other blogs. I do. But I read them 10 at a time and sometimes it takes me all week to get through them all.

Here is what is on my wall this week.

All quilted and ready for binding.

I also have strips cut to begin paper piecing Esther Eliu’s 12 Days of Christmas BOW (block of the week). I haven’t let myself start this until I get the above quilt done.

I have sewn the binding together and will be

pressing it and sewing it on today.

So, that is where I am, how about you?

Frustrating

Oh, not in the studio/sewing room. Things are going along there swimmingly. I am right on track with my Christmas gifts: should be all completed by the end of this month. (don’t get jealous) And I am coming along nicely on the Better Late backing: pieced backings do take a little more time, don’t they?

I even had to piece the label into the backing because I was short on the fabric I chose.

My frustration is with my reading. I am reading a wonderful book written by someone I care for a lot. However, I have always been a slow reader. But there is one other problem. I tend to read the good/happy parts quite quickly but when there is sadness or threat, I tend to slow down to a complete stop. I don’t like to read bad things so when the plot starts to put the hero in danger, I stop reading. Today I have stopped to do laundry, eat lunch, and sew. And then it takes me a while to go back and read through that part so I can get the hero to a good/happy point again.

I worked as a psychotherapist for 25 years and heard all kinds of horror stories that people were living through. My job was to help them make peace with what had happened so that they could live comfortably in the life they had ahead of them. I was good at that. But when I am reading (or watching TV or seeing a movie) I tend to shy away from the problems.

Now, my current dilemma is that this is a very good book. I love the characters, I love the setting and the family interaction and I want to finish the book so I can tell the writer how much I liked/loved the book and all that she has put into it. But I am having trouble getting through it: not the book’s fault but mine. You should have seen how long it took me to read the Lord of the Ring’s books and I loved them so much I read them twice.

Well, now that I have vented, I will show you that I am using my new placemats so it must be Fall in AL.

Design Wall Monday

And I have something new on it.

I have started working on a backing for this quilt.

This is my plan and I plan to put lettering in the white squares.

I have been working on the machine embroidery letters and have them almost ready and they are what is on my design wall this week.

Here is a close-up of one of the letters.

I decided to finish this quilt for a friend who recently was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I want her to know that she is being wrapped in love.

While the letters were sewing out I was working on some placemats for our fall table.

And, being a thrifty person, I put Christmas fabric on the back so we can use them for 3 full months each year.

All that and over 450 miles for Weight Watchers. Busy, busy, busy.

But the nicest thing that happened this week was that our SIL came over today and washed the outside of our house and the studio. We live in the humid South and suffer from a little mildew. But now our buildings are beautiful. Thanks, Gary.

Did you know it’s Summer?

Well, it sure is here!! It was 102 on Saturday, 104 on Sunday and predicted to be at least 101 today. I am fondly remembering the freak snowfall we had last winter.

So, of course, I spent most of Sunday in the studio, next to the air conditioner.














What I worked on was my orphan blocks that I showed a couple of weeks ago.

















Then I posted this picture of the quilt design I came up with in EQ7.















And today I have this (on my design wall).

I have sewn three rows together and hope to be finishing the rows today. This should be the center of the quilt but I haven't cut the borders yet. This quilt has gotten a lot bigger than I originally planned so I am not sure what I am going to do. Stay tuned.

Design Wall & WIPs

Judy asks “What’s on your design wall?” every Monday morning. Well, here is mine.

These 5 blocks are UFOs, leftovers from a BOM of 2005, I think. I used 7 of the blocks for a valance in my bedroom and always planned to make a throw with these 5. But as you can see, here they are, still orphan blocks. So on the design wall they went. I have finishing fabric for them but just haven’t decided what I want to put between them. The blocks are 15” so they should make a nice sized 9 patch plus borders.



On Thursday I got my first Christmas gift for this season, quilted. Friday I sewed the binding together and on the front and Saturday I finished sewing it on the back. I won’t have pictures until later but am really happy with how it turned out. I have one other gift to finish as I have not planned handmade gifts for more than a couple of people.

DH was off on Saturday to judge one of the last Jr. Miss programs in AL for the season and I had all day in the studio. I did a little cleaning and then some sewing. I am working on a Dresden plate quilt: 4 plates have been appliquéd with 2 to go. Today I made the centers for all 6 and fused 4 on the completed blocks. Next week I hope to get the last two appliquéd and then all 6 centers stitched. I also set up a new quilt with the last fabric I bought and plotted the design layout in EQ6. The last thing I did was sort and press lots of 1.5 and 2” strips for some scrappy strip piecing. I have an experiment I am going to try and if it works, I will share later next week.

We have not yet entered into Fall in the South. It has been rainy, warm (90F), and humid. I don’t mind much as I have been able to continue wearing shorts and my feet haven’t been cold, yet.



Anyway, late last week, due to the high humidity, I found this growing in my front yard.

The next day, the mushroom looked like this.

Isn’t nature wonderful?