Design Wall Monday

 What a fabulous 2 weeks I've had!

We spent 8 days at the beach!

Lots of clamming, reading, relaxing, walking, talking, resting.

I worked on Wild and Goosey.

I knitted on socks.

We did a few small projects on our property.

We made major plans for improvement.

Doug and his family visited one day.

It was a wonderful vacation!

When we came home, 

I was in the mood to sew!

I finished my Crabapple quilt.

No picture yet.

I finally got the borders on my Garden Party.

I'd love to have it quilted before retreating with Bonnie,

but that just isn't going to happen because it's 8 days away 

and I have other things to do between now and then.

Clamming finally opened for us and DWFW was generous

and upped the limit from 15 to 25.

That brought out hordes of people.

HORDES!

I'm not a great digger but I do my best and 

Ernie will have yukky clams to eat whenever he wants.

I don't have to ration them. 😉

This is my favorite beach picture.

My gray haired men.

Now it's time to get back to a bit of reality before retreat.

My list is long.

Check other design walls at Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

The mojo was missing most of the month but I think it's returned.

For a minute maybe.

The quilting is finally finished on Crabapples.

It didn't take too long to get it trimmed up and binding on.

I was going to take it to the beach to stitch the binding,

but I was sitting on the couch petting it so I grabbed the hand stitching box and started.

After the binding was finished, 

I had just a few minutes left of my audio book.

I grabbed my bin with Oklahoma Backroads and 

decided to make one block.

I need to get busy and get the rest of this kitted up.

I've been using the 4 patches for my leader/ender and 

think I need to see where I'm at with them.

The other day I watched a you tube video and the gal was making Chocolate Cherry Jam.

So I ordered the newest Ball canning book and bought some frozen cherries.

Here's a helpful tip,

Cherries are expensive,

3 little bags were $12!

When I chopped them up,

they equaled 3 cups.

I need 6 cups.

I made half a batch.

It's good, really good!

I'll buy cherries when they are fresh and make more.

Or find a new/cheaper source for frozen.

See what others are working on at Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

If you stole my quilting mojo,

would you please return it!

I'm having a heck of a time getting the Crabapples quilted.

Mostly is an arthritis issue. 

In my left pinkie finger, of all places!

It is so painful sometimes that I can't move the quilt around.

Then I remembered I had the Fabulous Fabric Glide from The Gypsy Quilter.

What a difference that made.

I'm hoping to finish this today!

I swear! Even get the binding on.

I needs to be finished so I can play!

I was one of the lucky 94 quilters that was able to buy The Easy Center Square ruler

when they became available on the Quiltville blog.

I just happened to read that blog post at the exact right time.

This beauty is right outside my living room window.

It's about 8 feet tall and loaded with buds.

I've spent the winter worried about it because there were so many buds so soon.

I'm hoping the rain goes away so I can enjoy this before the flowers all fade away.

See all the fabulous Design Wall Monday link ups at

Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

There's no design wall happening here.

There is quilting and there is preparing for retreat.

Not just any retreat,

it's a retreat with Bonnie in 43 days!

Excited?

A little.

I thought it would be fun to finish off as many Bonnie quilts as I can.

I, of course, had big plans but you know what happens to plans.

I'll get done what I can.

No pressure!

I will have my class projects kitted up and ready.

This is Midnight Flight ready to go.

The only problem I have now is that my bin is too small.

There is an easy solution.

I have lots of bins.

See what others have happening at 

Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Quiltathon Day 4

Is your husband retired?

Mine is.

Some days it's hard to get anything done.

Like today.

It took all day but I got my quilt basted.

Not one stitch was sewn.

Not looking good for tomorrow either. 

I'm trying to use up the stuff that is taking over my sewing room.

Like batting scraps that my friend gives me.

I've use lots of them in donation quilts but not the wool batting.

I've saved that for myself.

I use the iron on tape to join the pieces.

Some times I amaze myself with how close I come with measurements.

I swear I had at least 5 extra inches but as you see, I didn't.

Close is good enough today.

Thanks Judy L for another quiltathon.

I'm hoping to get a bit more accomplished during April.

Design Wall Monday

It's time to make some decisions on the On The Road Project.

Like exactly how big I'm going to make it. 

What am I going to do for the sides and the corners.

How many more blue pieced hexie do I need.

How many yellows.

I love how it's looking! 

Sometimes this is all I want to work on.

I went on a hunt for a complete picture of this quilt and didn't find any.

I did find a few of this in progress and labeled them.

And I found pictures of the mini sister quilt called Trees Left Standing and labeled those also.

That will be quilted next.

The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's Adventures with Leaders and Enders.

If you don't own this book, you should order your own autographed copy.  😉

Leaders and Enders has changed my quilting life!

Anyhow, the basting will begin today!

I'm pretty excited that I have the binding ready, 

the thread is picked out,

I even know the quilt design I'm going to try.

Quiltathon Day 4 begins now!

See what others are working on at Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

As I continue to work on my Crabapple top, I need to have a new leader/ender project. I want to make a couple more Quilts for Kids to send with my next quilt from their kit, so I decided to make a couple tumbler quilts. I had a bin full of homespun fat quarters and had cut them all into 6" tumblers using my GO! Cutter. This will make a great quilt for an older boy. After sewing several pair of these, I decided I better have some kind of plan. I put them up on the wall and now will sew them into rows.

Once you get into the habit of using the leader/enders, you have to have them beside you! As weird as it sounds, it's just strange not picking up those pieces and having to clip the long threads. Isn't that right Diane? I have a drawer stuffed full of 2 1/2" squares that will get reduced down for the next leader/ender quilt.

I am ready to sew the last pieced border on the Crabapple top and the final borders will be on it today. I do love this quilt and cannot wait to get it finished!

Then there is that pile of scraps from the Stash Builder's Sale. I got out my GO! Cutter and 3 bags of those scraps and I cut. And I cut. And I cut until all those pieces had a new home in their proper bin or drawer. I have 2 1/2" strips and squares. I have half square and quarter square triangle pieces and I have 5" charms. I have a few little string scraps and a few itty bitty pieces for the crumb bin. But mostly I have 3 empty bags that once held scraps.

Since we have a week of cold rain in the forecast, I think I will spend the week finishing up a few things before I turn into a toad!

It's Back...

...and I'm one happy quilter! My Mojo is back and here to stay for a while! I think all it took was posting to DWM and finally sitting down and making some major progress on something. And this quilt makes me happy.

It's the first one in Bonnie's Adventures with Leaders and Enders book that I wanted to make and I'm finally making it. The borders are all cut and the pieced border is sewn into sections waiting for the last few sections that are still being sewn as leaders and enders.

Thank goodness for the timer though or nothing else around here would get accomplished ~ like dinner or laundry or housework. That's where I'm headed now ~ the last load of laundry and then the kitchen. It's chicken enchiladas tonight and my first adventure at home made tortillas.

Design Wall Monday

I finally have something quilty on my design wall. I've been using my Crabapples as my leader/ender for some time now. I have all the blossoms bits sewn together and now I'm making the tree parts. I'm to the point in the leader/ender project that I just want to sit down and sew the blocks together now. I have all the paper pieced tree parts in progress with several more ready for the blossoms. (I don't know if that's what they are really called but it seems like a perfect name for me.)

Now that spring break is over and all the kiddos are back to their regular program, I will get back to mine. I still don't have the longarm timed although I did work on it once in a while for a minute or two so that will be a good place to start as soon as I get to the sewing room.

Go over to Judy L's and really see what everyone else is doing. Don't you just love the new link feature she is using?