Design Wall Monday

Look, I've been sewing!

Saturday I was cleaning my sewing room and it was time to take a break.

I have a giant bag of scraps that were gifted to me by my friend BJ.

I decided to use my break time by sorting and cutting some of these scraps.

I was also getting things together for retreat next month..

Right there, staring me in the face, was my box with Virginia Bound by Bonnie Hunter.

It's one of my favorites from her Scraps and Shirttails book.

I started it at the fall retreat with plans to work on it again in the spring

I pulled it out to put on the retreat pile.

Maybe I'll just sew neutrals to a few blocks.

There were 2 that the centers were already trimmed, ready for neutrals.

That's when the squirrel came out. 

Oh heck, may as well get the centers to the others trimmed up and ready to work on at retreat.

I'm not sure how many a few are but this is only 2 of a pretty good pile

that I already had the centers done.

They are now all completed, trimmed and depapered. 

Sunday Morning comes around and the Mojo is strong!

Ernie already had plans for the day so I decided to sew more blocks.

And more and more and more.

Just like Lay's potato chips,

you can't eat just one!

I started this audiobook Saturday afternoon.

I'm pretty far into it and it is so good.

I'd never read anything from Kristin Hannah.

I'm really happy with whoever shared this book. 

I headed right over to my library and placed holds on all of her audiobooks.

Her books are several weeks out but I'm sure they will be worth the wait.

I added several ebooks to my wish list for when I'm finished with the series I'm reading.

I LOVE MY LIBRARY!

The ability to down load books to my Kindle and

other devices is priceless to me. 

See what others are sharing at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Have a wonderful week. 

Design Wall Monday

On Ringo Lake is becoming a quilt top.

Slowly but surely!

3 long center rows are sewn together.

The 4th row blocks are stacked and ready to assemble.

Eating the elephant one bite at a time.

The Olympics have taken over my TV.

Now I wish I had a TV in my sewing room.

I am soooo very close to working the bottom row of my On The Road Quilt.

I'm only 2 rosettes away from finishing  the last blue row

but I got stalled when I needed more piece neutral hexies.

So I grabbed my neutral scrap bucket and went to work.

I'm not sure how many I have but I'm thinking more than enough.

You know how that works, right!!

Last night I basted all the remaining hexies.

I hope, I might need to make a few more grays and a couple of lavenders 

 but they are easy, 

just cut fabric and baste to the paper.

I'm ready to finish this top!

Bring on the Monday evening Olympics.

Check all the fabulous design walls at 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday and Mystery Monday Link Up

I am loving each step of On Ringo Lake, the current Quiltville mystery.

(Link found at the top of her page.)

I never count when I start cutting pieces.

I'm a guesser.

I always guess wrong. 

Usually I start way under and then go way over.

I love having the extras in another project or pieces for the back.

 I want to cut into these piles today.

And the pile of neutrals that are waiting their turn.

Christmas shopping is top priority today.

I have my driver and shopping companion. I am ready with my list.

We'll have a great time and a late lunch out, 

be home in plenty of time for him to go to his meeting.

I will cut and sew and press until he comes home.

 I press and clip into 10s.

I am having so much fun visiting old fabrics,

using up the last of the chunks that I haven't yet cut for my Scrap Users System.

(Have you ever read the Scrap UsersTestimonials?-Mine is there. 😃 )

So many fabrics pulled from my blue and neutral strip bins.

So many fabrics acquired through swaps with friends.

Today is link up day and my favorite day in Blogland.

Quiltville's Monday Mystery Link Up Part 3

and

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Have a great week everyone!!!

Slow Stitching on Sunday-All Week Long

I am having so much fun with this new project from MD Quilts!

Mickey calls it her On The Road Project,

I am still thinking of a name for mine.

On The Couch???

Beat The Heat???

I would not have made this much progress on this if it hadn't been so stinking HOT this week.

Or would I?

Because there is really nothing like a new project to light the fire!!

My real plan is to get this second blue rosette design complete so I have a guide.

I forgot the purple hexies that go on the top and bottom.

Before I give it the final sew, I have to lay it all out again to double check

 that everything is in it's proper place.

Then I want to get busy with the kitting of the individual designs again.

See what others are Slow Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

I May Have A Scrap Problem...

Confessions Of A Scrap Addict wrote a very intriguing blog post this morning.

She was talking directly to me!

How did she know that I have a serious, overwhelming problem.

I am out of control. 

I cannot toss a scrap.

I want to blame someone but I am the one to blame.

No one else.

insert sad face here

(I'm hoping I can figure out how to put her badge over on my side bar.

This stuff is a challenge for me.)

This is the top of my string big.

This is the side view of my string bin.

One of them.

another sad face inserted here

This is my table top string bin.

My goal is to empty it.

Use each string until it is gone.

Then grab the next and the next.

After reading Sarah's post, I decided I needed a plan.

In September for National Sewing Month,

I sewed every day.

September 25, 2015 was the last day I made a string block.

Until today.

I made 5 early this morning.

I will make 5 later on today.

( I don't want to fall behind on March 2nd.)

I plan to make 5 a day, every day in March.

If I do that,

 I will add 155 3" string blocks to my collection.

What will I do with them?

Oh no worries about that.

These make awesome borders for string quilts,

fun quilts like Bonnie's Love Shack that I will make someday.

But not today.

I have to empty that string bin down some first!

So I am going to do like Sarah and 

challenge myself every month to get my scraps under control.

I have a good plan for March,

I'll have a good plan for April.

I'll have a good plan for......

you get the idea.

Wish me luck, I'm headed into the abyss. 

TaaaDahhh!

Here she is in all her glory!

Pineapple Crazy is officially a quilt top!

She still needs a good final pressing before quilting.

This has truly been a labor of love!

My friends have all contributed to my scrap baskets 

and that make this even more special.

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, 

you know Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has had a huge influence on my quilting.

When she first posted pictures of these little 5" blocks, I was smitten.

I'm not sure if this is the first post but I believe it might be.

I knew that someday I would make this quilt.

Here is my first post about this quilt.

Yesterday was a funny Facebook day.

This showed up as one of my memories.

It was from one year ago.

How appropriate and almost scary.

But not really true because I never wanted to quit.

I never considered this to be a UFO even though I started it over 3 1/2 years ago.

It was always a work in progress.

I would pull it out and make a few blocks,

then put it away again.

All the while, saving itty bitty scraps.

Later today I am going to pull out the backing fabric.

I was going to piece a bunch of things together 

but this weighs a ton.

I think a nice one piece backing will be perfect. 

When you see her again,

She will be finished! 

Design Wall Monday

Now that Allietare is a finished top,

I am deep into Pineapple Crazy again.

I am so close to having all my blocks finished!

I only need 9 more pineapple blocks.

I have 5 triangle border blocks in progress

with the last 10 waiting.

As my granddaughter says,

I'm super duper excited!

It was fun to use the triangles from Allietare for the neutral corners.

Those are gone.

I took a sewing break yesterday to do some cutting.

My next project uses these half square triangles.

I posted this picture on Facebook with the caption of 

I wonder how many half square triangles are in this basket.

My original intent for these were as leaders/enders.

I didn't intend for it to be a contests but my silly friends turned it in to one.

I know what I'll be sewing on soon. 

Guess I'll have to cut more tumblers for leaders/enders.

It's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

I'm going to refill my coffee cup and hang out with my friends for a while.

Have a great day!

You'll find me in my sewing room later this morning.

Design Wall Monday

I cannot begin to say how much I love this quilt!

Alliatare, the Quiltville mystery

is now my new favorite quilt, 

replacing Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll on the most favorite list.

Today the setting triangles will be trimmed.

The borders will be added.

The backing fabric will be pulled.

Since I didn't want to set up my big table to trip my triangles,

I decided to make a triangle for Pineapple Crazy!

Check out other design walls at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

I am finally working on Tumalo Trail (from Bonnie Hunter's book-Scraps & Shirttails II) again.  I haven't touched it since the retreat in May. I swear I had all the blocks made but when I recounted to group into 10s, I was 3 short! So I got busy and made the last 3--I'm sure I'll find those other 3 when this quilt is finished! I did have a few 9 patches left over (or not used yet-however you view it) so I only had to make 5 more. I love the rebel block in the center of the photo block. I didn't notice it until now. It stays! I am completely out of 1 1/2" squares so I now know where my scrap cutting needs a bit of attention. 

Then I got serious about the sashing. I took a bunch of short brown strips and cut them into cornerstones and then got out my box of 1 1/2" neutrals strips. I was so excited to be using a few of the strips from our newest retreat strip swap.  In the past we had only swapped 2 1/2" strips and decided it was time to change it up and start swapping different sizes.

I cannot wait to lay these blocks out with the sashing rows and start playing with which block goes where and in which direction and with what short sashing strips......you know how exciting that it, don't you!?!?! Since the blocks are very directional, I'll work on my tumbler leader/enders while I sew each row separately instead of webbing the top like I normally do. That will make excellent progress on my tumblers.

Check out all the fabulous design walls today at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

This week I am working on more Pineapple Crazy blocks. It's been a little bit of time since I last worked on them.

I'm spending a few days at my daughter's house with her 4 kiddos and with Taylor while they are on vacation. I brought these and my featherweight to set up at the kitchen table so I could sew and supervise. But they are needing very little supervision from Gramma, they have their TayTay. LOL So Gramma sews on her "cute little sewing machine".

5 year old Leland was amazed that it was a real sewing machine because it isn't like his mom's. So cute and interested---for a couple minutes, then he's off again. I thought they might like to pick fabrics but no. Maybe later.

See fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching Sunday

It's been a while since I've done a Slow Stitching post.  Over 2 months! But I've been stitching. I chose last year's BOM from The Hexi Blog as my next UFO to work on.  I have these 4 designs machine to applique to the background squares. Only the green 4 leaf clover is pinned on and I see I need to adjust it before stitching. The others are just laying there.  It feels good to be over half way now with the designs. The next block is a basket and it's half finished already.  My goal is one block every 2 or 3 days.  I think I can, I think I can!!!

It's been fun digging in the scrap bins that were sorted by color for just the right fabrics. I think my biggest challenge is finding pieces large enough to cover my 3/4" hexies. I am wondering if I will ever be able to lay something out on my bed without help from Miss Shirley. If that happens, I'm sure Miss Polly will be right there to help me.  I've raised very helpful kitties!

I have worked on my Castle Wall project too. Lots of hand stitching happening in my living room. Ernie asked me if I have given up knitting.  No Silly Man! Stitching is my current obsession, knitting will crowd it's way in again one of these days, don't you worry.

After the 20th block, I had to put it up on the wall to see and share.  It's now back in it's protective bin. The next block is in my to go box for working on at Wednesday's Binding Friends group.  I can talk and stitch and laugh with the ladies while making good progress on my block.

Check out what others are doing with their Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.

Design Wall Monday

I haven't worked on Pineapple Crazy since retreat in November. I've thought about it but haven't touched it. Wednesday at sewing group, one of the ladies showed her blocks and that's all it took to get me jazzed up to work on mine again.

I pin my blocks into groups of 10 so I did a quick count and was at 86. I made 4 on Wednesday afternoon. Then on Friday, we drove 2 1/2 hours to the beach for lunch so that evening I made the 5 border blocks. Saturday I made 9 more pineapple blocks and got up Sunday morning and finished block #100!  I am deep into Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I discovered that I can make 1 complete block per episode......don't judge.

I wanted to work on more blocks Sunday but I had to show some restraint and clean my sewing room. Instead of just putting things away, I decided to rearrange things and that lead to organizing and that lead to scrap and strip sorting and that lead to no sewing.  With all the scrap sorting, I bet I have enough little scraps for 4 more of these quilts.

I'm hoping that will change this week.  See what others are up to at Patchwork Times.

Tiny Tuesday

Block 28 was fun! 

It's always fun to pull something out of the scraps and

turn it into something bright and happy.

These scraps were left from making rice bags.

Block 31 was a bit of a paper piecing challenge.

The center has been taken apart and redone.

3 times.

(3 times is my limit, if it doesn't work, well I tried.)

It really does look better than this, 

not perfect but better.

Perfection constantly eludes me.

I redid block 34.

I'm lots happier with this one.

I'm having fun with these Midget Blocks.

Lots of them are still available for free at

Sentimental Stitches under her free patterns tab.

I'm hoping to finish an applique block for next week.

Tiny Tuesday Time Again

Today I finished up with clue 3 for the mystery and while putting some things away, I came across my notebook of Midget Blocks from Sentimental Stitches. I haven't touched these since January of last year! Almost 2 years ago. Talk about being a slacker!  It was fun working with these tiny pieces and now this is all I want to do. Not a good thing since I need to finish my Christmas shopping.  But I don't really want to, I'd rather sew.

Blocks 25 and 26 have joined the others in the notebook. I am missing block 23 so I'll either recreate it or do something else.  I looked at all the pages I have printed and I stopped at 136.  I see now there are 196 blocks. Oh My! Will I print them all? I don't know but I will look through them to see if there are some I want.  But I know myself and I will probably print them all.

I've procrastinated long enough. Now I must go do some shopping. Yeah! You know I'd rather sew. :)

Design Wall Monday

I've been working hard to get my 2nd Scrappy Sister's Choice blocks sewn into a top. I did that and now I'm stalling on choosing border fabrics. I'll do that today.

In the mean time..... I'm working on Cascadia. A mystery quilt along with Lori at Humble Quilts.  Scroll through her blog to find Parts 1, 2 and 3.  I have a plastic pencil box that was stuffed full of 1 1 /2" squares. I'd started making 4 patches with them then discovered Bonnie's Tumalo Trail design and switched the 4 patches to 9 patches.  Then Cascadia comes along so I used some of the 4 patches to get started.

It's fun doing Lori's little quilts. I have the perfect spot already picked out for this one. I'm excited for the next step.

I'm excited to see what's going on in Blogland today. Check out great design walls at Patchwork Times today.

Design Wall Monday

This past weekend was spent retreating with local friends. I was lucky and got to share a table with DD2-Crystal. She hasn't retreated with us for quite a while and we were all very thankful that Mike could take some time off from work so she could get in a few days of power sewing.

I only took my Pineapple Crazy to work on. I had 12 bobbins for my featherweight ready to go, my bags of scraps and papers. I thought I could get through those 12 bobbins, I really over estimated myself! I used 5 bobbins all weekend. I made a small dent in my scrap bags by completing 12 pineapple blocks and 5 border blocks.

I am now officially over one third finished with my blocks....82 pineapples and 20 border blocks. Not bad for 2 years time when I consider this to be my long term project.  I'm wondering how long long term is.  But after seeing Bonnie Hunter's quilt in person, I am very motivated to work on mine and get it finished.

Of course we had to play with some of the blocks to see what it could look like.  One of the gals stood up on a chair to get a look-see so I handed her my phone to get a picture. I hadn't seen it from this angle and it looks amazing!  Now I am really motivated. This is what 30 blocks looks like.   Pineapple Crazy is found in Bonnie Hunter's book-String Fling .

Go to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are sharing today.

**I just remembered I didn't make a list for this week. I didn't finish my list from last week so I'm going to finish that and then we'll see what trouble I can get in to.

Design Wall Monday

I go to 2 of the same retreats as my friend Billie. At each retreat, she gifts me with a  grocery bag or 2 or 3 of her scraps. I do love scraps. Billie is getting ready to move and needs to sort stuff and make decisions. Lucky me! This year she gifted me 3 bags.  I was super efficient and instead of just putting the bags in the bin of scraps until I am ready to dig into them, I spent one morning's knee icing time sorting scraps-on my lap!  There were oodles of strips of all sizes. Oodles I tell you!!

There were some wedge pieces, some nice sized chunks and very few crumbs.  So after looking at the wedges, I started to play and came up with 2 mug rugs. I am finally able to sew a little so play time began!  I still have to put binding on the second one but that won't take long. I had fun quilting with decorative stitches and fun thread. These will be fun for the kids when we have our snacks or picnics out on the deck. I'm glad I didn't find a home in my scrap bins for theses pieces. Thank you again Billie!!

I'm headed over to see what others are doing at Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

Last week's sewing time was spent making 8 more Pineapple Crazy blocks. When I was getting ready to put them in the bin, I decided to de-paper the 5 triangle blocks that were in there. That lead to pulling out new triangle block papers which lead to sewing one more triangle block which lead to starting 5 more. LOL  One of the 5 is finished, the others are waiting their turn.

I cleaned up all the scraps and crumbs and put all the Pineapple Crazy-ness away for a while.  With the 5 that were finished at the other day and these 8, I am up to 60 pineapple and 7 triangle blocks complete. I can actually say my bin that holds these scraps and crumbs is starting to shrink. I'm even thinking about mixing in some more scraps next time I work on these.

And I just realized I am over 1/4th done with the pineapple blocks. Yeah me!

Now it's time to concentrate on the quilt for hunting club and to get a couple quilt tops quilted.

See what everyone is working on at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

Once in a while I get the urge to sew on my Pineapple Crazy blocks. My grand plan was to do at least 5 a month but that hasn't happened.  Since finishing 2 UFO tops last week, I needed something small to work on so I pulled out the Pineapple Crazy bin and got busy. These little buggers take a long time to sew. But I love digging through the crumbs and scraps and have no problem with anything goes. I'm in the mood now, I just might start 5 more.

The 5 blocks complete and de-papered. I also took the other 50 blocks and de-papered them. That in itself is a big job. It took 2 movies to get them finished and boy oh boy did I make a mess. Even though I tried to contain it, it still looked like it snowed all over the floor. This is one of those Why didn't I think of this sooner! moments. So now as the blocks are finished, they will be de-papered.

See lots of fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times--I love Judy L's star blocks!

Slow Stitching Sunday

I thought about titling this post The Dangers in Blogland because I have stumbled upon another BOM. This is 3 new projects for me this month! Julia at The HEXIE Blog has started a new BOM.

I'm straying a bit from the instructions and using 3/4" hexagon papers because that is the punch I have and since this is a scrap/stash quilt, I figured everything including the supplies should come from stash. You can find January's block here. It really didn't take too long to stitch the 30 hexies together. I machine blind stitched them to the background. Since my hexies are smaller, I cut my background square 14". It worked out perfect for the amount of fabric I had. I cut all 12 pieces and had 1" leftover for the Pineapple Crazy bin.

See where it's puckering a bit. I need to go back and fix that. That is going to drive me crazy!  I'll put some tissue paper behind for stabilizer.

Today Kathy talks about taking care of your hands. I noticed the other day that whenever I use olive oil or coconut oil, I spread it with my hands. Then I rub my hands together using the oil for hand lotion. I have nice soft hands. If you do this, be careful what you touch until it is all soaked in or you wash it off.

Today I'm linking up with other Slow Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts. Tomorrow I will show you great progress on my Grandmother's Flower Garden.