Design Wall Monday

Wednesday is Binding Friends Day.

I had my rows to Midnight Flight sewn together, 

I took them so the ladies would help me lay them out.

I really need to get a design wall up again!

After much oohing and aahing and a couple of rows switched,

we had it perfect!

It is now a completed top,

arrangements have been made for the quilting.

Pressing needs to happen today.

Lori at Humble Quilts is hosting another QAL.

This one is called Palmateer Point and part 2 is up today.

I know what else I'll be doing today.

Oklahoma Backroads is coming along nicely.

It's my leader/ender project.

I am one block short of half way.

This will be a lap quilt.

I worked on Mischief Quilt in the evenings this week.

I had to lay out a few of my blocks because it's time to cut more parts.

I can't wait to see what the next set of blocks will be.

No more pink or blue because there is a lot of that.

The strips are in the bin so it will be easy to cut the next bunch.

It's nice to be back into super sewing mode. 

And to make it better, the rain has returned to the Pacific Northwest!

I'm very thankful for that!

It's Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

It's a great day to sit with my coffee and catch up with my friends.

The Mischief Quilt

The Mischief Quilt

Or as I am calling it, Squirrel!

I follow Karen TheDIYAddict on Instagram.

She's been sharing these awesome epp blocks.

I fell in love and had to check them out.

Variation #3 is my favorite.

I ordered the kit.

It came a few days later.

I watched the videos and

started pulling batik strips that I have accumulated from strip swaps.

The aqua is for my center octagons and the pale green is for the neutral kite shapes.

Honestly I was only going to make one block to see if I liked it.

Originally I cut enough pieces for 7.

I sewed up one block and immediately started on number 2.

I know I'm weak.

I went back in and kitted up 18 more blocks.

And have the papers kitted up for the next 25.

I can rationalize all of this.

Of course I can. 😃

My On The Road Project is getting pretty good sized.

I need a small project to take to my Binding Friends group on Wednesdays

or to the beach.

This will be perfect.

I hope I don't finish it before the 15th when we meet again. 

Design Wall Monday

Guess what!!

I've got Millefiore almost all done.

I was pretty excited when I got the final rosette stitched on Monday.

After last week's DWM post, 

I parked myself on the couch with the tv remote and

went to town on her.

By 4 pm, she was ready for the outside fill in pieces.

As of Saturday night,

one edge has been completed.

I chose to do the half hexies first because I like instant gratification.

She says after a whole year + working on this quilt.

I needed something a little smaller than Millefiore to take to my

Wednesday Binding Friends group.

Mickey Depre of MD Quilts has a new On The Road project for 2016.

You can find the link for it in a tab at the top of her page.

I have been thinking for a long time what I would do next with hexagons.

Since I have already done one Pieced Hexi quilt for Taylor,

I wanted one for myself.

This new design is right up my alley.

Scrappy, pieced hexies and fun.

Back in March, My friend Mary of Quiltin' Grandma fame,

won this batik and posted that she didn't like it.

I commented that it would be perfect for my next hexi project I was planning.

Guess what showed up in my mailbox!!!

Quilty friends are the best!

So I've been basting centers for one of the steps.

So this is all I've worked on this past week.

I have a couple things planned for this week.

I want to pull a quilt top off Mt. ToBeQuilted and get it basted.

But first,

I need a new swim suit.

It's time to pull out some of that fabric out of the stash and sew it up.

Head over to Patchwork Times to see what others are working on.

Design Wall Monday...

...Retreat Report

Retreats are always so much fun.

Retreats with your daughter and 10 other close friends are even more fun.

That's what I did this past weekend.

Day 1 started with making these pillow cases for a horse loving granddaughter.

It always fun to have a TaDah moment early on.

Then I went to work on Pineapple Crazy.

Thursday and Friday resulted in 10 more blocks.

I decided Saturday would be UFO day.

I took along the blocks from 2014 BOM at The HEXIE Blog.

At our May retreat, I finished appliqueing the motifs to the background.

We won't go into the details of the sashing cut too short and

 the blocks having to be trimmed down a bit.

Now the blocks are sashed and the top is sewn together.

I can't wait to quilt it and gift it.

After the BOM top was finished I pulled out the new project.

This is called Between Friends Junior from

The Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs.

This was a kit I had bought several years ago.

I just had to have the right person in mind before starting.

Sometimes that takes a while.

The blocks are ready to be layed out.

I'll do this Wednesday at Binding Friends group.

Deciding a layout is more fun with friends.

Sunday morning I decided to make 2 more Pineapple blocks.

It was raining and gloomy,

perfect for sewing while we waited for the storm to blow over before loading the cars.

The storm didn't blow over.

We loaded our cars in the rain.

Retreat was a blast.

I love to bring my friends over with me to the super scrappy side of quilting.

Marian showed her fabulous black and batik Pineapple Crazy quilt.

I thought she needed a new scrappy project so I introduced her to Wild & Goosey.

I showed my few blocks and hope to be seeing several other friends

 with W & G quilts one of these days.

I didn't sew any more W & G blocks but I did take 5 sections out of 4 blocks and 

turn them the correct direction.

Better to catch that now than when the quilt is finished.

Thanks Marian. 

I predict very little sewing this week due to other things.

My mind will be working overtime planning for the next retreat.

I'm headed over to Patchwork Times to see what others have on their design walls.

NSM-Days 2, 3 & 4

I looked back on my blog and see this is my fourth year of celebrating National Sewing Month. Planning to sew every day and actually doing it is sometimes difficult.  To see so many of my projects that I worked on was fun but to see several that are now UFOs, not so fun.

On Wednesday I didn't sew but I helped my Binding Friends cutting fabric. They are taking a class and need to have all their pieces cut before hand. I think that counts. I depapered my Pineapple Crazy blocks and added them to my bin.

On Thursday I decided I need to work in my sewing room. Piles everywhere. Some things have been put away. Lost treasures were found. Fabric strips were cut in preparation for today's sewing. There are still piles for another day. Today I needed to sew.

Today I worked on Tumalo Trails. The rows and sashing are all sewn together to make a really nice looking center for my quilt. Now I'm working on the piano key border. Wowzers! I need 360 inches of piano keys. I sewed and sewed and sewed, first into pairs, then into 4s and now into 8s.  I counted them into groups of 10 8 piece sections. I have 23 sections. LOL I need 45 sections. It looks like I will be pulling more 1 1/2" strips and I need to be cutting some more. My scrap strips are dwindling fast. Time to replenish the bin! This is sure to add more variety to the border. It's so fun going into the deep stash for these strips.

The Caste Wall Project

All last year I have watched Mickey Depre work her Castle Wall blocks. She posted them to Facebook quite often. I loved them but didn't have time for another hand work project.  After finishing the hand stitching on Circle of Jewels, I needed a new project.

I had great intentions to start this quite a while ago and ordered the templates, only to have to them sit and age.  While moving some stuff around the other day, I stumble on to a fat quarter pack and thought they would be perfect to use to start Castle Wall.

Every Wednesday, I try to make it to my sewing group.....Binding Friends.  I decided this would be a good project to work on this year.  So this is block 1.  I have 3 more kitted up ready to stitch.  I've also pulled a few more fabrics to add to this.

For more information on Mickey's Castle Wall-The Block & Quilt, go to her website.  She has a tab with all her information.  I can't wait to work on block 2.

National Sewing Month-Days 8 & 9

 Monday I started to pack things up for retreat next week. We are using these blocks for our lotto blocks. They are made with batiks and red/white/blue--2 different blocks, not batiks and r/w/b together but I guess that might work... I have a bag of patriotic fabrics and had made some blocks with that fabric to give to my friend for their group. I still had some of this fabric out so I cut more fabric and made more blocks. The video showing this block is from Missouri Star Quilt Company and can be found here.

Next up I put borders on the Piece Hexies top and stitched the binding pieces together.  The plan for the backing has been drawn out and now needs to be sewn. This was not on my list of projects for the week but it didn't take long to get it done.  I had finished my audio book and was listening to mp3 music while sewing and on my player is an interview Bonnie Hunter had with Pat Sloan a while back. It is always a pleasant surprise when that shows up in shuffle.  I had to sit there and sew until the end of the interview.

Tuesday was coffee day with my dear friend Cindy.  I surprised her with this quilt. She was shocked, there were tears, there were hugs, there is love. After our date, I had a full day of errands and then a nap and time to cook some dinner. No machine sewing for me.

After dinner, I got cozy in the recliner and added the next 3 flowers to Circle of Jewels. It amazes me how much I get done in a couple of hours.  I need to figure out what to do on the sides with the second row. I'll think of that another day. 

Today will be spent with my Binding Friends. I love my Wednesday group!  Today I will be basting more jewels. So far I am on track with my sewing every day in September as I celebrate National Sewing Month.

September Sewing-Day 3

I am using National Sewing Month as my excuse to sew every day this month.

I really like having my little list posted on Mondays.

On Monday, I set up tables on the deck and basted my hexi quilt.

I quickly basted the section that was in the sun and covered it up.

By the time I was finished, the whole quilt was shaded.

Then I started quilting until it was time for 2 1/2 year old Corbin to spend the afternoon. 

After he went home, I collapsed in the chair for the rest of the night.

I picked up the hexi box but all I did was open and close it.

After a very good night of sleep, 

Tuesday I quilted and quilted until it was done.

Added the binding and label, then settled down to stitch them down.

By the end of the day, 

I had a finished quilt. 

UFO Parade quilt 1 is marked off the list!

Simple somewhat straight line quilting in the ditch.

This morning I finished up my 9 patch wall hanging #2.

Wednesday is Binding Friends (sewing group) day and 

we laid out my Smith Mountain Morning blocks.

Darn me, I forgot to take a picture.

They are all pinned into rows but I'm not sure when I'll start sewing them.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings,

A New Project Begins

You know when you see something and it just reaches out and grabs you?

That's what this post by Mickey Depre did to me.

Travel down her post to see what she is doing.

I LOVE her new project.

So I went to Paper Pieces and ordered myself some 1" hexi and jewel shapes.

I intended this to be my new project for my Wednesday Binding Friends group.

But you know how it is,

you have to try just one or more to see how it looks.

My jewels are going to be all alike since I have enough of this fabric in my stash.

(She says with fingers crossed.)

The flowers are being made from charm packs that I receive every quarter for Benartex.

I am a long time member of Mr. B's Preview Pack Club (shown on the right sidebar of their home page)

 and a new pack arrives quarterly and I need to use some of these that I have saved.

This pack is called Arabella.

I'm starting out combining fabrics just from the charm pack.

Each flower uses 4 different charms that have been cut into quarters, 3 squares from each.

The 4th square is put in a pile for centers and maybe complete scrappy flowers.

I haven't gotten far enough along to decide that yet.

They could just end up in the 2 1/2" square bin.

This is my travel bin with an extra charm pack, papers, needles, thread and threaders.

Along with my flower and jewel block fabrics ready to stitch and my Perfect Scissors for trimming.

I'm quite excited about this new project.

Thanks Mickey for the inspiration.

I'm linking to Kathy's Quilts: Slow Sunday Stitching.

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to make that rug that Kathy is working on! 

Sunday Stitching

Today is my 5th post about Ms. Owl.  She has been my project for my Binding Friends group and rarely gets stitched on at home. I'm hoping post #6 will be the completed pillow.  I was amazed at how much personality the eyes gave her. I'm not all that thrilled with the little flowers on her tummy so I an going to redo some of them.

My friend's daughter is working on her own Ms. Owl.  She is using black fabric and bright thread.  I cannot wait to see hers.  You can get your own by going here.  You will need to open the picture in a new window or tab and then print it and tape it together.  

I am so in love with this piece.  Today I am going to go stash diving and find the fabrics for the pillow.  I'm not even sure how I want to "dress" her, I just know I want her to live on my bed.

Visit Kathy's Quilts-Slow Sunday Stitching to link up your post or to see what others are stitching.  This is a fun link up party Kathy, thanks!!!

Early Morning In The Quilting Room

I love leaders and enders and find it out of my comfort zone not to have a L/E project going. I've been working on the bow tie leader/ender challenge for quite a while and am now at the block count down. I needed to have 71 more blocks to finish my layout.

This morning, I decided to take my first 2 hours and get my remaining bow ties ready. I hope I didn't go crazy and cut way too many but if I did, I'll put them on the back.  And everyone knows if I don't have enough, I have lots of fabric to cut more from.

I start by cutting my background fabrics and lay them out for easy pick up.  Then I cut the bow tie fabrics and lay them out.

I pick the background fabric for the block and pin them together and put them in the yellow basket.  Then cut some more.  My scrap 2 1/2" bin is quite low now.  That's a good thing.

When I am sewing, I have a stack of 5 block kits by my machine.  I work on these 5 until they are finished.  Then I work on 5 more.  When I have 10 blocks, I pin them together and put them in another bin.  Then I want to see what they look like in a 4 patch block........you know what I'm talking about.  

When I get to this stage in the l/e project, I want to just sew the whole thing together.  But I'm trying to resist and keep working on my pineapple blocks.  I have a few more to go before I can lay the top out.  I'l love to have that ready to take with me tomorrow so my Binding Friends can help me with the layout.  We have so much fun doing that!  Ohhh, that would make a great Wednesday post.  Note to self, take camera, use camera!  

Design Wall Monday

This is my Twisted Mystery from Carol Doak Quilting Group at Yahoo.  This was started in the fall of 2011.  I took the final steps to work on at one of my fall retreats and was so distracted that I put it away and forgot to get it out again.

Tuesday I wanted to sew something at my Binding Friends quilt group the next day so I pulled out this bin and paper pieced the last clue.  It was fun to make good progress on something while visiting with friends.  Sunday I decided to put it up on the wall to see how it would look.  It's a good thing I did.  I am missing 4 pieces.  They have to be somewhere close by.  I had to have sewn them because I have no fabric pieces left over.
*** Thank goodness I found them.  They weren't really lost, they were in the bin-right where they belonged--hiding under the border fabric.


Between laundry loads and bed remaking today, I hope to find my missing pieces and finish sewing this together.  I think this will be the perfect spring wall hanging.

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others are working on.   Also today is Orca Bay link up at Quiltville.  Isn't Monday in Blogland fun!!!

Decisions

I'm not sure how big to make my rug. I thought I would end here with the diagonal red/yellow rounds. It's not very big but I could stand on it and keep my toes from hitting the cold floor first thing.

I have lots of clothesline and lots of binding left. I'm thinking I'll add at least 100 feet more of clothesline. Or maybe 200 feet because that's what I have left. My big plan (there's that word again!) is to use up all the clothesline. I guess I can always make mug mats or trivets. Thinking out loud or on the blog is always helpful for me.

While I was stitching away this morning and getting a bit wonky, I remembered I have a seam guide in the accessory box and wondered it would help me at all. What a great thought that was. I snugged it up against the cord and now I just go like I know what I'm doing.

I'm going to make more cord while the washer and dryer do their things-multitasking-and then I'm headed out to spend some quality time on my afghan while I chat with my Binding Friends. I missed them last week, they met on the same day as the great paint fiasco. Glad that's behind me now.

I've made up my mind, I'm just going to keep adding rounds until I run out of binding pieces or clothesline, whichever comes first. Wow, that was easy! Thanks for talking me through this. :~)

Sleep? Who Needs It?

I wish Ernie's work schedule would go back to normal hours. Normal as in get up around 5 and go to bed around 9 or 10. We haven't had that most of the summer and I am so ready for normal again. Getting up at 3:15 in the morning just isn't right. I've tried to adjust myself to his hours but I can't do it on a daily basis. Maybe if I'd go to bed at night instead of watching mindless tv......but I've been crocheting and don't want to stop. This photo shows what I would find if I decided to go back to bed. Tony thinks if there is no one's head on the pillows, then they must be for him. At least someone can go back to sleep.

I remind myself of the Disneyland commercial......I'm too excited to sleep. Today is Binding Friends day and I have a project I need help with. I'm going to get the perfect layout for my bright stars. They don't know they are going to help but I've never asked for their help and not received it. My friends are the best! I put the camera in my bag so I wouldn't forget to take pictures of the layout~~~just in case.

I'm going in to sew for a little while this morning. I'll be very quiet so I don't wake up the dogs.

Rough Morning

I'm feeling a lot like this deconstructed sewing machine that was on display at the Clark County Fair last week. I've caught the quilting bug and I've been quilting up a storm, having my own quiltathon. Last night I had spasms in my lower back that about sent me through the roof.

My friend has these all the time and I don't know how she manages to get through the day. So really, I'm only whining for a bit!! Then I'll suck it up and stop my sniveling.

Ernie has been getting up at 3:OMG30 because of the fire danger in the woods. Normally I can go back to bed and go right back to sleep. But not this morning. After a long night of clock watching and then a short sleep, you'd think I would cuddle right down under the quilt and sleep like a baby. No, I have a quilt that needs the back made and that's all I could think about. So I got up, made coffee, cruised through BlogLand then went in and made the back, cut the batting, loaded the quilt and have one row of a very dense pantograph done.

I'd like to go in now and take a nap but today is Binding Friends day and I need some friend time. The best part of this is my stash report will show fabric out this week.