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.

Design Wall & Frozen Roses

With all the Christmas gifts finished, wrapped, and either sent or stacked, it was fun to get back to working on those UFOs that seem to plague all of us.

The rail fence blocks on the left are leftover blocks from the South Seas quilt.

My plan is to put 2-3 borders around them and it will be my first charity quilt for 2010. There is one block left so it will go in the orphan block bag which one day will be a Bonnie Hunter type of backing for a quilt.

The three basket blocks are the last of the A Tisket a Tasket BOM blocks by Bunny Hill Designs.

I was behind so I got these three fused and hope to get them stitched down this week. Then I will have completed all of the BOM blocks and be ready to figure out what setting I want to use. I have really enjoyed doing the fusible appliqué and love how these blocks turned out. The one thing I seem to not be able to learn is to reverse the pattern when I am copying it onto the fusible. Several of my blocks are backward but I know that no one who sees my quilt will know that so I am not upset, I just need to learn. Be sure to drop over to Judy’s blog to check out the other design walls.

Not on the wall, but done this last week are two shirts I machine embroidered for DH and I to wear to the Outback Bowl in 10 days.

We are really getting excited and the “rivalry” has begun. What fun!!!

And lastly, frozen roses:

I didn’t want our friends and family up in the Northeast to think that they were the only ones to have winter. We have had frost for the last two nights and my poor roses, which keep blooming, are really suffering. But don’t they look like God placed diamonds on them?

Is Football Season Over Yet?

It seems that Dish offers a special deal to be able to watch all the Big 10 football games. Ask me how I know. Football started Friday and was on ALL weekend. I must say that if I am at the stadium to watch a football game, I am a real fan and can yell with the best of them. But on TV, I don’t think so. But 3 solid days of football and I am so over it. Lol


So while the games were on, I spent all day Saturday in the studio. I worked on some paper pieced blocks I had been gifted by Pat and completed a quilt top that will be a gift so can’t be shown at this time. I, however, was really impressed that I got a complete top done in one day. The blocks were a little rough, some still had paper on them and some were made using cut away stabilizer and wash away stabilizer that had been “fused” to the back due to steam pressing. And, of course, they came in several different sizes. lol So, most of the morning was spent cleaning up the blocks and cutting the sashing strips and borders. The afternoon was spent sewing it all together. This is the layout that I have drawn: sorry I can’t show the work until later.


Sunday, because football continues all weekend, I worked on this charity quilt. Last week I cut out and sewed the blocks for this quilt, a D9P using shirting and fish fabric.

I had decided on no sashing between the blocks so it went together pretty quickly. All of the fabrics came from stash: I am so proud. Once I figure out a backing I hope to get this on the frame Monday and try a new panto on it. I really like these bright quilts.




Last week I finished the block at the top of this picture and was really excited. I had started this BOM in April or May and now I was caught up. Just as a matter of course, I counted my “finished” blocks and it came to only 7. “That couldn’t be right” I thought since I had just finished block 8. I got out all my instructions and low and behold, I hadn’t made block #7 cuz it wasn’t even in with the other patterns. But now I am all caught up, even have #9 done. These three haven’t been machine appliquéd yet but that will be part of next week’s work.

While I was working away in the studio today, DH was fixing brownies. Ask me how I know…

So, between daily rain and football, I have had a very productive weekend. How about you?

Coming Up For Air

We got home from MD at 6am on Monday and the week has been filled with mundane things: laundry, napping, cleaning, napping, furniture moving, napping, company (DD & SIL) for dinner, more cleaning, napping, and finally a visit to the LQS for a BOM meeting today. I had done my block the day after last month’s meeting so I was ready.



It is a faux grandmother’s flower garden a’ la Eleanor Burns. We have now done 7 blocks and I am beginning to get an idea of how I want to set them. I think this may be a gift quilt as repro fabrics are not my cup of tea.







It has been raining every day for the last two weeks. I had ask my DD to water the hydrangeas while we were gone but she said that she never had to turn the water on. That has been the case this week, too. And today I was planning to dead head the rose bushes today but every time I started outside there was thunder, sometimes with rain. Anyway, look at my little hydrangea flower.

I am so excited although it is still the only one. And something is eating the leaves of the other plant so on Saturday I will be off to the nursery to see what can be done to protect my little plants. And look what else is growing in our yard.

Now, as much as I like eating mushrooms, I figure these humidity loving little stems would not be good for me. We only get them when there has been a combination of a lot of rain and humidity at the same time.

I did spend one morning this week in the studio and prepared two basket blocks for appliqué.

I am really enjoying doing these blocks but have no idea how I am going to set them or what fabric I will be using. I guess that’s what I like about how I do quilting, a never ending adventure.

A Little This, A Little That

The weather has been wonderful: low 90s, sunshine and a nice breeze. I have found myself balancing piecing with reading (and of course housework). And look at what a week of rain and then sunshine has done for my plants. My hydrangea flower is getting bigger and my roses are outdoing themselves.








I did get all my Dresden plates done and have started working on a layout.






I also have been working on the A Tisket A Tasket BOM at Bunny Hill. I got a late start with these but have now gotten them done through May.

And, I have made another Quilt in a Cup.

They have come out with a lidded cup so, of course, I had to have one. It arrived Wednesday and Thursday I was busy making a little quilt for it.

See, I even made a label for it.

DH and I will be leaving for Maryland on Monday so I am putting together some things to work on while we are traveling and visiting. Each of the above BOM blocks have a small amount of hand embroidery to complete so I am bringing them along. I did a lot of hand embroidery MANY years ago so figure I can do a little now. LOL I will also be sewing down the binding on Alabama Escargot. Any bets on how much I actually get done?

I am currently enjoying an evening “home alone.” DH has been assisting with a college musical, Footloose, and the first performance is tonight. I went to the dress rehearsal last night and it was terrific. Tonight I am finishing the laundry, reading blogs, and beginning the planning for packing. And I guess that sitting here writing/reading on the computer isn’t getting any of that done so I better get off and get busy.

Look what arrived at my house today. Nancy was giving away chicken fabric she had decided she was never going to use. Because my mother collects chickens, all kinds, I couldn’t resist entering and, what do you know, I won. Thanks, again, Nancy.

After doing housework and grocery shopping, I fled to the studio and worked on setting up two basket blocks.

I drew the lines where the embroidery is supposed to go: we will have to wait to see if I do the hand embroidery. But I have bought floss, just in case I am so inclined. I now have started Jan, Feb, and March and will probably do the machine appliqué before I start the next three. I would like to get caught up with this before the end of the year. lol

As I was closing up the studio today I happened to look back and this was what I saw.

Isn’t that awful? Up close you can see that I pressed all of the chicken fabric so I can start on my new project. But the cutting table in the background is just full of “stuff.” I have been working on one project after another but the scraps from each project have been shoved to the right and have become quite a pile. I guess that tomorrow I will need to do some housecleaning in the studio before I start cutting or sit down to sew.

Before a weekend of no sewing.

Well, here it is, Friday, and I have completed one quilt: note the blue binding. I even have the guild label on it, ready to be given to a child in need. For some reason I really like this little quilt. The fabrics are mostly shirting but have different textures that make the quilt top interesting.














I also started something new. This is from Bunny Hill Designs and is the first of a series of 12 baskets she is doing as a BOM. I have been collecting the designs but until yesterday had not started them. And, while I was doing this block I also made two bird appliques, from the February block, to use in a UFO I also started working on as a gift quilt.


Now, if I did the math right, I completed one project and started two. Opps, that sounds like I am going to be busier than before. lol

Tomorrow I am going away to visit friends in NWFL and Sunday Dh and I will be going back to FL with our daughter and SIL for a fun lunch and possibly some antiquing. By Monday I will be having sewing withdrawal and will get back to these two neat projects.



And for a parting picture, here are my two best friends, again. Don't they look cute?