Design Wall Monday~February 13

Hello! You are not going to get much from me this morning. It’s a softly raining day, the woodstove is feeling good and I’m still feeling a little drowsy. Normally I get up anywhere between 5:00 and 6:30. Last night I stayed up until 1:00 and so managed to sleep in until 6:40! Wow! And although I’m not “tired” I am thinking I should snuggle on the loveseat with a book…..and the four little dogs.

This morning I will just show you pictures.

 I am doing my Swoon blocks as a QAYG and I’m using this technique. http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/sewtakeahike/2010/04/quilt-as-you-go-quiltalong-part-three.html. I looked at many different ways to do this but tho’ this has more hand sewing (thank goodness I LIKE hand sewing) it is the one that will achieve the look I want. My goal is to do one block a day. I like hand sewing so much I am even doing basting the old fashioned way…with needle and thread. No pins or spray this time!

With Valentines Day just around the corner, who could resist this little wall hanging? Today I will do the binding.

 My sis’ was really hoping I was making it for her! Maybe next year Joanne! If you want to try paper piecing on a small project, but big pieces, try this mini/wall hanging that Kelly was nice enough to share with us.     http://www.kelbysews.blogspot.com/search/label/love%20letters

 

Be sure and visit other “Designers” over at Judys http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!

Toni

Design Wall Monday~February 6

Good Morning! And it is a great frosty, but sunny, morning outside Molalla Oregon!

First! We were busy Saturday and so did not stop to get our mail. Yesterday when I went down to the mail box I found a big package. I mean a BIG package!  My first thought was “I didn’t order anything.” And my second thought was “They must have put it in the wrong box.” Reading my name and then the return address didn’t help much at first, but then I realized it was a present from Kim of http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/

Now I know the reason the word BIG is in the name of her blog! She is generous and big hearted! Last year Kim had a Flickr group called “11 in ‘11” http://www.flickr.com/groups/1615547@N24/.

It was to encourage/challenge us to finish eleven quilts or quilted projects in 2011. And at the end, she rewarded us. I expected a small, squishy envelope. I mean who can afford the postage let alone the value of fabric. But look at this~

Is this not BIG? Thank you Kim! I will be sending you a real thank you but in the mean time I wanted everyone to see how generous you are!

 

On my design wall is the latest iteration of my Swoon quilt top. Hopefully by the end of this week I will have decided which blocks I am going to use for the front. You can see the fun comments people have made on the Flickr Swoon-a-long page http://www.flickr.com/groups/1904864@N22/. On Flickr I am known as smalltown97038.

And don’t forget to visit Judys http://www.patchworktimes.com/ today for more quilty, design wall, inspiration.

Enjoy!

Toni

Design Wall Monday~January 30

Oh No! Tomorrow is the end of the month! Will my goal of one finished new top and one finished UFO each month be met? Welllll, ……… no. Not this month. Could I get my fanny into my room and get them finished between today and tomorrow? Probably! But would I enjoy it? Not so much. Will I get “caught up” next month? That’s the new goal.

I could blame it on other activities, or a retired husband that is almost always home, or five dogs, one cat and two horses, or the fact that my favorite, and only machine to FMQ,  was in the shop for three weeks. But I’m going to blame it on Swoon! I’m addicted. Here is a picture of the first six. There will be nine. And who knows? Not even all these first six might make it into the final quilt. I may have to make more. We will see!

See more Swoon at the Swoon Quilt A Long on Flicker. Now over 700 people participating. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1904864@N22/

And don’t forget to visit Judys for more Design Wall and inspiration. http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Now for a shower and another Swoon block!

Enjoy!

Toni

Design Wall Monday~January 23

Another January Morning in Oregon

That’s neither a good thing or a bad thing, I just felt like saying it.

Nothing new on the design wall. I have not been productive this week. Why does this sometimes happen? I’m retired. I could pretty much sew as much as I like. Sometimes we need a break. Or in my case, I don't want to start another project and I've got things in my way stopping my forward motion.

But wait! I don't think I showed you all the Swoon blocks for the QAL. The goal is one block a week. Of course there are lots of superstars out there doing many more than that. For me, these are fun blocks to make. Yes they do each take about two hours, even with all pieces cut. I love all three of them one and I can’t wait to do more.

You probably wonder “why isn’t she sewing then?" I’ll blame it on two things (but truthfully, a great deal is laziness on my part) 1)I’m out of Kona white. And in fact any other solid that I could see using as a background for more of these blocks and two)sewing with my backup machine is not as much fun as my newer (yet not new, 11 years old) Elna. Both of these problems will be resolved tomorrow. I get to pick up my new machine and I will buy a bolt of Kona white. Now to meet my goals, that sewing machine will really be buzzing for all the days left in this month.

I hope you are finding plenty of time to spend on your quilting and are being more productive than I have been.

Don’t forget to visit Judy’s for more quilting inspiration. http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!

Toni

Design Wall Monday~January 16

Good Morning!

My heart is not as heavy as it was last week. A friend shared this with me. I printed it and put it on my ‘fridge. Each time I read it, it helps.
 

“If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think, but the most important things is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you – “Winnie the Pooh

I am doing a Quilt Along over at the Facebook page “A Quilt Block A Day” ~Not sponsored by Eleanor Burns. I showed you a portion of the wall hanging last week. Here is the top. Completed. Unfortunately I can’t machine quilt this until I get my sewing machine back from the repair shop. Hopefully this week.  Remember, I decided to do three small wall hangings, investigating different ways to do flying geese. This technique does not produce “true” flying geese but many people substitute these HST for proper flying geese, The next two quilted wall hangings will be done with other“goose” techniques.

 

And are you Swooning yet? If not, you must at least know the “Swoon” Pattern from over here: http://www.thimbleblossoms.com/Thimble_Blossoms/Thimble_Blossoms_Home/Entries/2011/5/7_Swoon.html

Look at this other QAL on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/1904864@N22/

Here is my first block.

 I just love it!  I’m going to be doing a controlled scrappy for this one. I MAY let myself buy a new fat quarter or two just for fun.
 

Again, visit Judys for other quilty inspiration! http://www.patchworktimes.com/

 

AND find some time to sew!

 

Enjoy!

Toni

Design Wall Monday~January 9

Just a short post. I'm in mourning over the loss of our sweet dog Huckleberry. We're adults. We've lost pets before, but most often you can see it coming. They're old or they have a disease. This was unexpected. A stroke Friday morning. He was 11 1/2 years old. To some that might seem very old, but dachshunds often live to be 15. He had always been healthy. I'm just thankful I was home when it happened.

I finally put my swap blocks together from the "Heat Lightning Swap". My personal goal is to get it quilted before month end. My machine is in the shop and they said "two weeks". My back up machine just doesn't cut it for machine quilting.

The other thing I'm part of is a QAL for Flying Geese.  

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Quilt-Block-A-Day/211113868950661

It's for three months. I struggled. What pattern to do? There are so many choices! I've decided to do three small ones and until yesterday I thought I had decided which three and what colors. Now I've found another one that I think I just "gotta" do. We will see which wins out. For my first one I am doing a "faux" flying geese. This is on the small design wall. See? It's really half square triangles? But they look like flying geese arranged like this.

I was inspired by this miniature. Mine will not be a minature but more like 24x36 or there abouts.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilively/467663659/in/faves-43767908@N08/

Visit Judys blog for more design wall inspirations. http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Be certain you hug your furkids every day. You don't know what is going to happen.

Toni

Design Wall Monday~January 2

Good Morning and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Isn't it great to have a date that we get to start over and try to get everything right? Okay, in my case, I "start over" many times a year but I still like the idea that it is a brand new year.

I do not have anything on my design wall. Literally! Saturday I made certain that I sewed the rainbow blocks into a top so I could count it as a flimsy for 2011.

Last year I said, several times, that I was going to get into the closet and count how many UFO's I had to complete. I never did it. Yesterday I did. The reason? Because I needed to come up with a list of UFO's to finish for 2012. I can happily report that I did finish my goal of 12 last year.

Nooowwww, this year a goal of 12 would be more difficult. The reason? Because last year I had UFO's that only required binding or were smaller projects. What is left are UFO's that are bigger AND there are none that are layered. They are all flimsys or blocks. No choosing an easier UFO when I"m having a busy month.

Back to the numbers. Last year I finished 12 UFOS.  Some dating back from the '80ies. Seen here.

But then I counted how many I started and didn't finish. Flimsys and blocks. By blocks I don't mean single blocks, I mean how many potential flimsys had I finished enough blocks for but hadn't sewn into rows and into a flimsy. Does that make sense?  See these?

Flimsys

Blocks

Anyway, what it comes down to is that although I finished 12 UFO's last year I now have a NEW 11 projects that I've not finished! Can you believe it?

And the final number? How many unfinished projects do I have after taking everything out of the closet? Get ready! The number is much higher than I would have guessed! And remember this is after finishing 12 in 2011.  The number is 26 tops and 4 more where there are finished blocks but they are not yet sewn into a top! Incredible!

So I am reducing my goal to 10 finished UFO's and I have a goal to not generate any more UFO's than I finish. Next week I will have a mosaic of what new quilts I did start and finish in 2011.

Visit Judys for more Design Wall Monday. 

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!
Toni