The Last Day of 2012

Happy New Year!

I’ve not been here for a couple of weeks. Nothing new to report? Or just busy? Probably some of both.

I had said I wouldn’t start a new quilt and I haven’t, sorta. What does that mean? I’ve been wanting to do a Pineapple Quilt with my smallish reproduction scraps. I was inspired by this quilt on Craftsy.
http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/pineapple-quilt/28047
And here are my blocks so far.

I had made a small pleated pineapple table runner for my Sis before and I had also done some Christmas blocks using the pleated technique. This time I wanted to do a larger quilt, I decided against the pleated technique, and I investigated many different ways of doing pineapples. I have several books and of course there is the ‘net for more ideas. I finally, after playing with the different techniques, have settled on using the “Foldy Stuff” and I made a template for cutting the trapezoid angle. Sooo, trying to come up with the correct lengths for each row and precutting those lengths I have actually made five usable blocks. Well, usable except I haven’t settled on the final fabric for the corners. But that is not starting a new quilt is it?

I’ve been having some problems with my neck and shoulders requiring two trips to the chiro’. It is much better as I’ve gone from being able to cut/sew for only about twenty minutes at a time to an hour and a half. Wonder how long it will take to work up to four or more hours at a time?

I did not get my son’s quilt fixed. My problems are twofold. One, I’ve had a problem finding quality poly/cotton in a color that would work for the fading that has happened over the years. I’ve bought three different ones so far and finally am happy with the black, but not the yellow. I’ve tried using a cotton broadcloth but it just doesn’t have the same look or feel of the older fabric. I’m going to keep looking. Secondly, remember I made this quilt about 25 years ago, my ¼ inch seam is a lot different now. Imagine that! So my first sample is much bigger than the original.

We quilters are known for having too many quilt projects going at one time. So what do you have going on that you consider “current” not UFO’s. I’m listing mine here for me as much as for you.

Joels Quilt Repair

The Row A Long but that is only one row every two weeks

Block Lotto but that is only the first of the month, except that once again I like the Sneak Peek Blocks for January so I’m making thirty for me and nine for Block Lotto. Sophie always has such great ideas for blocks and color combo’s.

Scrappy Rows quilt. I’ve now gotten rows finished in blue, green, red, yellow, orange, purple. I think I’m going to do another row in teal/aqua and one in a combo of black and brown. Then I will see where I am size wise.

Christmas Poinsettia. In the next week or so I should be receiving my swap blocks for this.

Pineapple Quilt

And I actually want to finish a UFO this month.

Too much? Who knows?

Enjoy!

Toni

Christmas Aprons

I don't have much to write about today. For six days  my neck and shoulder have been giving me problems and although my husband has encouraged me to see our chiropractor. I've been resistant. I  feel better each day, so why spend the money? We'll see how today goes. Anyway, I've only been sewing in spurts of about twenty minutes each time. After that looking down at the sewing machine begins to stiffen up my neck. Annnnnyway!

I have about finished some aprons. I say "about" as I'm waiting for some decorative buttons I ordered to get here for the aprons and then, although the pattern doesn't call for it, I'm going to topstitch the two Four Corner aprons. Here:

I'm a terrible photographer but these are really cute, and easy. After you have cut the fabric you can do one in about an hour. You can find the pattern here:

http://www.vanillahousedesigns.com/p132-four-corners-apron/

 

The other two are very, very, cute AND flattering. Although you wouldn't guess that from my photos'. You know how sometimes things are much cuter on rather than hanging on a hanger?

 

This pattern is from:

http://www.cabbagerosequilts.com/Sassy-Plus-Size-Apron-Pattern-Cabbage-Rose-p/161plus.htm

 

I've encouraged our family to no longer trade gifts, but to trade time together instead. Other than the kids of course! So family members who read this, know these are not for you! Actually they are gifts for a non-profit group to which I belong. I only needed two but decided I should have backups.

 

I hope you are finding time to sew. Without pain. And that you are making progress on your Christmas list.

 

Enjoy!

 

Happy Monday~December 3

Good Morning!

Why is it that some mornings you just wake up with a full heart and really appreciate what you have? Nothing special happened yesterday. And I’m not bi-polar so it’s not like I wake up excessively happy one day and then are depressed the next, but this morning I woke up, “stoked the fire” (really, we have a woodstove), fed the dogs and then started going through fabric looking for more attractive combinations of dark, medium and light values to fulfill the requirements for this months Block Lotto. As I did this I was thinking about how lucky I am. Counting my blessings I guess. I have my health, a loving family, we are retired, and while not rich we have enough (1200 sq ft home and my hubby drives a 15 year old truck and my vehicle is 9 years old, so you can see we are not extravagant) and I have a fabric stash that, though it literally spans decades, I have fabric to choose from. Lucky indeed!

Okay! About this months Block Lotto. 

http://www.blocklotto.com/

I mentioned last week that I had earned the right to be a “sneak peeker” and that means I got to do some sample blocks for Decembers block before the block and criteria for the block was released to all. The block is called “Star –Crossed” although I know some may know it by another name. Followers of this blog will remember that I just finished another quilt top with a block also often called “Star Crossed”

so I thought “I will just do a few for sneak peek and this months drawing and be done with it.” Darn it tho’! I became addicted to this block. Here are my first blocks.

Remember I am not allowing myself to start a new quilt this month as I have too many other things to do (snicker! How’s that working for me?) Anyway, the pattern between the two is slightly different but also what a difference going with a controlled palette versus a scrappy, almost anything goes palette, makes. While I love the brightness of the first one, I have to say that good scrappy quilts still have my heart.

We are in the season when everyone feels stressed and starts questioning their sanity. I hope that you have many mornings where you wake up with a full heart and can count your blessings.

Visit Judy’s “Design Wall Monday” 

http://www.patchworktimes.com/ 

for other quilty inspirations!

 Enjoy!
Toni

The Result of Thanksgiving Eating!

 My tummy is still too full. Of course it is because I keep eating leftovers. We pretty much cleared out the refrigerator yesterday. We each being true “fooders”, our term for our eating habits, we are not as sophisticated at “foodies”, would announce to each other each time we finished something out of the fridge. As an example, Gene would say “I made room by eating the rest of the pumpkin cheesecake.” While I was more like “I finished off cheese stuffed celery.” Anyway, tonight will be the infamous, and I love it, Turkey and Noodles.Not much to show today. A quick pix of the Row Along, casually pinned on the wall. See the “leaves?” The newest row.

 

 And then a snapshot of the scrappy rows. I think I will do a red row of scrappy this week. And then on to making some Christmas gifts.

 

Remember, I can’t start any NEW quilts but that doesn’t mean I can’t do blocks! Yesterday was spent doing some sneak peek blocks for Block Lotto. I can’t show those yet, it’s a sneak peek. I’ll show them to you next week. At first I thought “nice little block I’ll do a few for the peek and then be done with it”. After doing five and putting them on the wall, I liked them together more than I had originally thought, so I continued to do more, finishing at nine. Now after looking at them again, I think I need a few blocks with light colors being more dominant so today I will do three more. Maybe, come January, I will win the drawing. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I hope you found some time to relax and enjoy your hobby, or obsession in some cases, this past weekend.

Enjoy!
Toni

Turkey Day in Three~ And I've NOT Shopped

Okay, today will be the day. I will make myself make a list (ugh!) and go the store and actually shop for Thanksgiving day dinner. Hopefully people that had to shop this weekend, as they are not as fortunate at I (retired) did not deplete the stores. There is no way I would have shopped this weekend. Nor will you find me shopping on Black Friday!

Last week I said I would not be doing any new quilts until after the first of the year. That doesn't include swap blocks does it? I mean it's not like a whole quilt.  I found a group on Facebook that does a block swap everyother month. You only play when you have the time and like the block. The blocks for the current swap are Poinsettia's. You can make them any color that Poinsettia's currently come in. Looking that up, I found a rainbow of colors. I'm going to stick with reds, pinks and maybe a cream or two.  Here is the link:

 https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/quiltblockswap/

And here are my blocks so far:
 

 

Also, there is always someone that needs a little help. And right now Quilting for Kids is asking for block donations.

 http://www.flickr.com/groups/quiltingforkids/

I've volunteered to do two, purple and gold with a white wonky star center. The tutorial we are using is very well written and can be seen here:
http://mummastimetocreate.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/reverse-rainbow-starburst-block.html

Here are two blocks already turned in by volunteers, I've not done mine yet but will today.

 

     
If you have gold and purple scraps you might volunteer a block or two.

I did manage to decide on an arrangement and sew the flimsy from last week. 

Now when am I going to get that quilt repair done that I mentioned last week? My sis Joanne says "put on your big girl panties" and get it done. I think she meant ahead of these swap blocks! I WILL begin working on that project beginning Black Friday. Which would be worse on Black Friday? Shopping with hordes of people or repairing a quilt? For me it will be better to work on repairing a quilt! Even if that is not my favorite thing to do, it is better than shopping!

Don't forget, for more quilting inspiration, visit:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/  for Design Wall Monday.

 

Happy Turkey Day! Enjoy!   Toni

 

The Holiday are Coming! The Holidays are coming!

I"m sure everyone has noticed that the holidays are creeping right up on us. What does that have to do with quilting? For most people it means less quilting time. For me it means a promise to myself that I will not start any new quilts for the balance of the year. 

I have a big project to finish before Christmas. And it is not a new quilt. It is repairing an old one. I made a quilt for my son probably about 26 years ago. And then a few years ago my grandson, who just turned 18 took possession of this quilt. It went to wrestling meets and all of the kids activities. Earlier this year, at a wrestling meet, I said "I should take this quilt home and repair it." And so I did and here it sits. Here's a poor picture but you can see it has been well loved. (The spots are from the camera lens, not on the quilt)

My dilemma is this. How much do I repair it? Originally I was only going to repair the one seam that has pulled loose. But then many of the ties are missing so I should replace those. And I had used poly batting, should I replace that? AND the binding, whew!, I do much better bindings now; smaller, with good mitered corners. So between now and Christmas, I have some decisions to make. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It does fill my heart with joy that this quilt has been so loved and cherished. What more could you ask for?

As for my other projects. I am going to let the flannel quilt sit idle for a while. I'm just not into the dark colors plus I have to find more flannel to match the leftovers that I've used.

My black and pink quilt top is finished. Remember, this tutortial can be found here:http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2012/01/star-crossed-block-tutorial.html

I have all the blocks done for my baby Crossroads Quilt,

https://www.threadbias.com/blog_posts/crossroads-block-tutorial

  

I'm just struggling with arrangement possibilities. I say "struggling" as many people think this is a fun part. While I don't. Here are some possibilities, thrown up pretty casually on the design wall. So, blocks of the eight colors? Rows of the eight colors? Diagonals either way of the colors? What?

 

 

Then there is the scrappy quilt rows I am doing.

 

 

These are from "scraps" versus strings. In my definition, scraps are USUALLY pieces less than 2 1/2 inches in width and less than 6 inches in length. Outside those dimensions they become strings or blocks cut to a predetermined size. Just waiting for the next scrappy project.

 

Then there is the Row Along on Flicker:http://www.flickr.com/groups/beeinmybonnetrowalong/ 

 All too cute, but what is wrong with this picture?  I will be unsewing this morning.

All in all, I'm sure you can see why I've said "No more quilt starts this year!"  Visit other quilters at:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/ and Design Wall Monday.

I hope you all are finding time to quilt!

Enjoy!
Toni

What have I been doing this past week?

I don't know! I spent quite a bit of time in the sewing room but I really don't have too much to show for it. I don't have any quilt finishes. Hopefully, as I blog the things I have done, I will feel more productive.

First there was the Block Lotto Sneak Peak. The nice thing about Block Lotto is you can choose to participate each month or not. It's simple. If you choose not to participate, you just don't get entered into the drawing.  If you do participate, you can make as few as one block or as many as nine blocks. And you can enter the drawing or just donate the blocks. There are different blocks and criteria aech month. Visit Block Lotto here:http://www.blocklotto.com/    To see clever versions of mugs and cups.  I made these four blocks month and I am donating them.

And then, there are many quilters asking that blocks be contributed so that quilts can be made for Hurricane Sandy victims. I chose to do some blocks for:

http://vesuviusmama.blogspot.com/2012/11/taking-action-wanna-help.html

 

Erin asked for 12 inch disappearing four patches using a floral and a co-ordinating tone on tone or solid color. She included a well written tutorial. I also did four blocks for that project.

 And I had told you I was going to finish two aprons. And here they are.

And then there was my scrap quilt. I've always loved everyone's "chaos" or "vomit" quilts but each time I started one, I just didn't like it. So now I'm going for a more organized approach to using up my little scraps. This is "little scraps" as opposed to my strips or my more formally organized bags of cut to size left overs. These scraps are all less than 6 inches long and less than 2 1/2 inches wide. When I sorted these by color I was suprised by how much green I had. Probably, at least, twice as much green as any other color.  Here are the beginning rows of this scrap quilt.

 

And lastly, I've have been nuts over little flying geese. When I made the flying geese for the Row A Long,  I wanted a wide variety of geese and sky. Remember this top row from last week?



To accomplish this, the method I used would create four "geese" of each fabric. So I made 48 geese for this row, all different but that still left me about 150 little triangle qeese. I didn't want to just put them in the scrap bins. I mean they were cut to size. So I've been making those triangles into geese also. I don't know what I am going to do with them. Wallhanging? Border on the Row A Long?  I don't know. I have 120, beyond the original 48, finished. Trimmed and everything. And yes, I am going to finish up the last of them too!

So, finishes? Not so much! But I am enjoying every minute of sewing time! I hope you are too!

Enjoy!
Toni

Monday~ October 30

This year is moving right along, isn't it? Getting close to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, but also getting close to Christmas, my least favorite holiday.

This weekend the conditions were perfect for making progress on many projects. I had plenty of time. I had the perfect blustery, rainy, no guilt weather. I had all the fabric and miscellany required to finish some projects. I had a list of priorities.  I had a good book. What! How can a good book entertain you while you sew? It can't unless you do books on tape (I don't. I've tried). I did not have a good movie or series to watch on the computer while I sewed. Is that necessary? No. Sometimes I just want the peace and quiet but then, the book kept calling me. So I read too much.

My list included aprons, Block Lotto Sneak Peek Blocks, flying geese and "place pinks." The following is what I did on each.

Aprons. Not a single stitch was taken on the aprons. The big bloggers give you sneak peeks of projects for a couple of reasons. 1)They are making a gift and they don't want to ruin the surprise 2)They are getting ready for a show or book release and they need to save the reveal or 3)they want to tease you. I want to tease you so I'm only showing you a portion of the aprons.

As for flying geese. I wanted to get 48 little geese done for for this row of the Lori Holt Flickr Row Along that I've mentioned in previous posts. This is how many I did.

Sorry, isn't it? But aren't they cute?

The Block Lotto Sneak Peek blocks are finished. I did five and even managed to find time to embellish one with embroidery. I actually only like three of the five enough to put into the drawing for blocks. You won't see a picture here. Yet! See, we participants in the Sneak Peek portion of Block Lotto have promised to not show the project early.

And "place pinks" What the heck does that mean? The last few weeks you have seen over and over again my pink Star Crossed blocks. They are all finished and I've taken them off the design wall and now I need to get them back up and in their final position and begin sewing them together. Unfortunately, I can't cross this item off my list either.

Oh well! I'm retired! I'm sure I will find time to work on these projects later this week! I now have some DVD's to watch.

Enjoy!
Toni

 

October 22~A Blustery Day

Don't you love when I give you a weather report?

What am I up to? I've got lots going on.

Here are my apple blocks for the Bee in Your Bonnet Row A Long http://www.flickr.com/groups/2113425@N22/?added=1

Here are some flannel nine patches.

The lightest flannel and the green and burgandy are "leftovers" from my sis Joanne. I do tease her about this fabric as she already made one quilt with them. Gave me the leftovers. I added some fabric and made another quilt with the same fabric. And as I was organizing my sewing room the other day I started measuring the scraps and found that with the addition of a little more fabric I can make a third quilt! She still doesn't know how she overbought so much flannel. I don't over think it, I'm just grateful. Righ now I have 60 blocks done, with many more to go. The blocks will finish at 6 inches.

I also have finished all the blocks for my Star Cross Quilt top. Just need to clean off the design wall and those blocks up and arranged. Then sewn together.

And for whatever reason I decided that instead of giving my irregular tinier scraps, less than 2 1/2 inches, away. That I would do some scrap blocks. Here are the first four.

Don't we all need some mindless sewing? I'm learning from these. I'm learning that I need to add some more angles to make the blocks more interesting.

And THEN, as if I need more sewing, I am making two aprons. From these fabrics.

Busy? Sure! But I love it!

Enjoy!
Toni

October 15~Quilting in the Rain!

Don't get me wrong! I love the sunshine! People are in better moods in the sunshine and fall days are just the best. But there is also something to be said for the sound of rain and it's amazing how dried grass can become green in just two days of rain. 

I'm not here to wax poetic today. I'm just going to show you where I am on my two projects.

Star Crossed:

And the fourth fow of Lori Holts Row A Long. Apples and apple cores! Obviously not sewn in to a row yet. There will be sashings in between each block. Aren't they cute?

Looking at the other rows, I'm thinking I may need to do a "golden delicious" apple. Otherwise this row is going to have too much red compared to the first three rows.

 

Have a great week!
Enjoy!
Toni

Pink and Gray

Another glorious, unusually sunny day, in Oregon. In October! We are so lucky!

My sweet sister Joanne teased me about being long winded in last weeks post. To even things up I’m going to TRY to keep this post shorter. So I can get back to sewing.

I have always loved pinks and gray as a color combination. While everyone else is lovin’ yellows and grays, I think pink and gray does not get enough recognition. Fortunately for me, that should mean that my current project should get lots of attention. Hopefully in a good, supportive, way.

 

 

What do you think? Some blocks may end up on the back rather than the front, as they may be a little jarring to the eye but for now this is what it is. Each block has a reverse block of the same fabrics,

I am loving this block and colors. These blocks are made from fabric from my scrap totes. Well, except for the Kona Ash, it was in my stash, unused so not technically a “scrap”.

In last weeks post I mentioned that I had made a list of projects for this quarter. This pink and gray project was scheduled to be worked on with a goal of doing three blocks a week, along with my block a day project. But, I’m loving these colors and loving these blocks, and while I’m not, yet, behind on my block a day, I’m definitely doing more than three blocks a week of this one. These 18 blocks are all from the past seven days! What can I do? I’m addicted!

Enjoy!

Fabulous, Sunny October 1

What a wonderful September we have had! I could have gotten a little more quilting done but the weather has been so fabulous that I’ve wanted to be out there rather than in my cozy little sewing room.

Let me report on the Finish A Long. I had said I would finish four quilts but I actually finished three. With a little extra effort or more of an “it’s good enough atttitude” I could have finished the fourth. The fourth was the Granny Square Quilt Top. I struggled with the quilting pattern…the same reason I was short a quilt top finish the last quarter. (Still unfinished) I quilted, unsewed, quilted, unsewed, and finally did end up quilting one third of the quilt, with quilting that I liked.

When I was young I was notorious for starting projects and not finishing them. I usually lost interest as soon as I ran across a problem and I didn’t want to undo or deal with it in any proper manner.  In the “Age of Aquarius”, when everyone asked “What’s your sign?” I was able to blame it on the stars. I’m an Aries. It’s well documented that Aries can’t be blamed for not finishing projects. It’s an Aries trait. While I’m still an Aries, and I still have a pile of UFO’s, I like to think that I’m adult Aries. I have gained patience. I will unsew, resew, take out an offending block or whatever is necessary to finish a project to my liking. My UFO’s are caused by my mind taking an interest in another project, not because I’m struggling with the first one. Yes, still an Aries peculiarity, but to me, a more acceptable one. If I need to unsew, I just put a movie and get busy doing what needs to be done.

Having said all that, I want to commit to only two finished UFO’s this quarter. One will be the Granny Square

 

And the other will be this Friends and Flowers. I have chosen this one as it is smaller AND it is one of my older UFO’s. In fact, it is the first quilt top I ever posted on Flickr several years ago.

 

But don’t think I’m not going to be busy ! I made a list yesterday of the other things I want to get done for the fourth quarter. They are:

A Quilt Block a Day https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Quilt-Block-A-Day/211113868950661?fref=ts

The qroup is doing cross or plus type blocks this season. I wasn’t going to participate as I had done several of those this year. Until I saw this: http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2012/03/wip-wednesday-one-with-lots-of-fans.html. I only want to do about twenty blocks so for this quarterly group I’m going to plan on doing two per week.

But I do like doing a block a day, it soothes my soul, so I’ve also started this: https://www.threadbias.com/blog_posts/crossroads-block-tutorial I will endeavor to do a block a day of these.

And then, don’t forget “Block Lotto”. I already know the fabrics required for each of these next three months and even tho’ we don’t know the block pattern yet, I know that I will be making blocks each month for this group. Hopefully nine blocks for each of the three drawings.

AND, remember, I'm still doing the Row A Long.

Plus I have a quilt to repair for my son/grandson and another quilt to make as a donation to Oregon Dachshund rescue.

Whew! I’ll keep myself busy! Cheerfully busy!

I hope you each have your fall projects planned for this next quarter. Or even this next month! 

Enjoy!

Toni

Loving September! As Always!

Yep! Missed another blog posting last week. This time we were in Eastern Oregon rather than the beach. Hubby was bowhunting for elk and I was relaxing. As it turned out it was too hot for great hunting, his back was bothering him (he is on disability for his back) although not to the point where it was spasming and so WE had a wonderful vacation. Lots of reading, napping, eating and walks with the five dogs .We even managed to have dinner with friends at their house. They said “We love dogs, bring them all” and we did. Once there tho’, as the dogs were running around they said “Oh! There are rattlesnakes living under the shed. I hope they are snake smart.” These are valley dogs. They know garter snakes, not venomous snakes. But under my watchful eye they were able to run around and still have a good time. “Keep away from that shed !!

I did miss sewing! I came back before hubby did and I’ve spent many hours sewing. And, I have to admit, too many hours on Pinterest and quilt blogs filling my head with even more inspiration.

What am I up to? I am sewing along with Laurie Holt on her Row Along. This is a relaxed sew along with a new row being released every two weeks. Still plenty of time to join in. http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/See my beginning? So cute!

 I am also doing this Crossroads block from this excellent tutorial. I have all the fabric cut and am putting the blocks together at a leisurely pace. https://www.threadbias.com/blog_posts/crossroads-block-tutorial Mine so far;

Plus, I thought I was going to opt out of this seasons quilt block a day https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Quilt-Block-A-Day/211113868950661as I had already done several “cross” type blocks this year. BUT, it’s so fun! So I found a version of a cross block I want to do. http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2012/03/wip-wednesday-one-with-lots-of-fans.html Gorgeous, no? These are large blocks so it should give me time to do the other things I have planned for this quarter.

Thank goodness I’m retired! Besides what is listed above I will commit to two more finished quilts for the 2012 Finish Along and I will make another quilt for Oregon Dachshund Rescue for fund raising. Here is my first quilt for them.

It is about 45"by 57". This counts as my third finish for this quarter for the finish along. I still have one more week to get my Granny Squares layered and quilted to meet my third quarter goal

AND I want, still, to learn to knit two socks at a time. I think I can keep myself busy! To think, when I first retired, I thought “how am I going to fill my time?”

Enjoy!

Toni

STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT

will these stars be finished by tonight?

I hope so! Although I really do like the way this project looks, I really am tired of it. It could because I started it as a block a day project for myself and then spent too many days at the beach and mired in other things to get the blocks (only) finished by August 10. Thirty days, thirty blocks. At least all the blocks are done. And all I need to do is add the sashing, most of which is already prepared, and then sew the rows together. I'm thinking....it's raining in Oregon today, my husband is hunting, I'm thinking today is the perfect day to stay in sweats and finish this quilt top.

My next dilemma is what to do next? I have so many saved as favorites on Flicker and so many saved on my "Quilts" board and my "Nifty~Sewing and Quilting Tips" (for me the quilts that have tutorials go there! Blessed are the bloggers that take the time to do tutes) on Pinterest. How do I choose what is next. I've been going over my choices and I'm just overwhelmed. But I know I will soon have to make a decision. I can't not have a quilt top in progress.

I went to my Grandson's eighteenth birthday party yesterday. It still surprises me that I have a grandson that old! And I had an appetizer that you all may be familiar with but I wasn't. I've never been into jalapeno poppers. I mean they were "okay" but, but, but...if you haven't had a version of Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno's, you are missing out! Everything is better with bacon. And baking is better than frying and there isn't any batter. How can these be bad for you? This is not the exact recipe my son used to make them but I don't see how you can go wrong. There's three (or four) ingredients. My sons recipe had brown sugar lightly sprinkled on top. He prepared some with and some without the brown sugar. Both are FANTASTIC. I hope you try them.
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/01/27/cream-cheese-stuffed-bacon-wrapped-jalapenos/

I hope you find the time to indulge in your favorite hobby today! Oh one quick question. Anyone have a FAVORITE quilt store in Orange County CA?

Visit Judys very popular "Design Wall Monday" for more fabulous inspiration!http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!
Toni

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

I did get all thirty of my scrappy stars finished. I was oh so clever and added the black and white vertical sashing to half of them (Thank goodness only half!). I did sew the the first row together and I did add the first of the horizontal sashing. But it doesn't form the  black and white stars correctly! Oop!

They should be like this!

 

I will be unsewing today! I will have to take the horziontal sashing off  and unsew and rearrange the pieces. And I will have to unsew some of the vertical sashings but not all of them. If I'm careful on arranging on the design wall I will be able to turn many of  the blocks  to make them work. Whew! I'm so glad I didn't finish all the sashings! Was it because I was smart? Because I was lazy? No! It was because, luckily, I ran out of the Kona Black! I was just plain lucky!

Enjoy!
Toni

"Why don't she write?"

That was a line from "Dances with Wolves". The reason she wasn't writing is totally different from the reasons I've not been writing. I'm alive and well but there have been many Mondays when I've been at the beach. The problem with being at the beach is that I don't have a computer there. So with many weeks of retired, beach time, I've not been blogging. Today is just a quick update on where I am project wise.

I finished Amanda's quilt. Here's a picture. This one is a gift from our TOPS group to our cute younger member for her second baby. You should have seen all the great gifts she got at her shower! We have very generous members.

Here is the quilt I did for Amanda as my gift to her and soon to be born "Breanna May."

 

 

I also managed to "build" 17 blocks for the BlockLotto. The first nine give me nine chances in the drawing and the extra seven were just because I enjoyed building the blocks. This block is called "Jacobs Ladder" but in this months BlockLotto we called them "Cool Ladders". All blocks had to be with a neutral background and another color from the cool side of the color wheel.

I know! I'm a terrible photographer!

Additionally, if your remember, I was working on a scrap strip quilt and approaching it as a "block a day". If I had managed to keep on track I would have had all the blocks dones by August 10th. But that didn't happen. Here are the ones I have finished.

And yesterday I got back to them. I now have enough squares and rectangles pieced for another eleven blocks. Today I will get those eleven made into completed blocks. THEN I only have another 4 blocks to do. I may be three weeks late (beach weeks!) but I'm progressing!

And let's not forget. I commited to FINISHING four quilts this quarter which ends September 30th. So I need to get busy and layer the next two and get them quilted and bound. I think I'm on track for that goal.

Be sure to visit blocklotto.com if you like the idea of making blocks to swap.

Enjoy!
Toni