Design Wall~March 18

I had to have a finish! I was getting desperate. I've spent so much time on blocks....for Block Lotto, for the Row Along and the on going Pineapple project. And I wanted instant gratification. So....I made, and finished a doll quilt. Yay! It felt so good that I picked out an unfinished doll quilt from last year and finished it. One new quilt and one UFO! Good job! Okay, maybe I should have been working on larger UFO's but we do what we need to do.

This last week I was given another bag of fabric trimmings, leavings, leftovers, scraps. Whatever you want to call them. This bag was more like what I expected the first bag to be like. No yardage. Truly leftover odd shaped pieces. I put in my "sweat equity" and now have bunches of ready to use squares, already cut to "my" favorite sizes. Last night I looked at my "Scrap Attack" board on Pinterest and think I have chosen my next scrap quilt. I don't believe I will start that until next month, which is only two weeks away, as my list for this month is still very long.

So the fun continues! I hope you are making progress on your personal projects.
Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~March 11

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get inexpensive fabric at a church sale. Now, due to the generosity of a friend, I have more fabric and this time it was free! This friend, Pat, makes quilts for children in Africa. She has gotten a whole circle of women to help. Even women that don't sew, are cutting fabric or in some cases, tying the quilts, although most of the quilts are machine quilted by the women.  They throw away many of the trimmings and I had said, as I love scrap quilts so much, that I would take their trimmings. I really do find cutting fabric into usable sizes soothing. This last week she gave me a  bag full of fabric. Not a small trash bag and not a thirty three gallon bag, but somewhere in between.  There were scraps in there, but also lots of yardage. Boy was I surprised!

This is a picture of the pieces that were about one yard, up to three yards for one piece. In the background you can see the smaller pile that I was going to cut into smaller pieces. Yes, I do have a system, as many do, for cutting and sorting scraps.

Here is a picture of the pieces that were anywhere between a quarter yard and half a yard(ish). Now looking at these fabrics, there are many that YOU might not use, but I subscribe to the theory that all fabric is pretty if  cut into small enough pieces. So as long as I have room, I will continue to keep, and use, these fabrics.

Smaller piece pile, uncut. You can see that green in both the bigger pieces and the scrappier pieces. One was very irregular shaped so it got cut into squares and strips.

And here is a picture of the smaller pieces, cut into, what are for me, usable pieces. The triangles were already cut, I just added white and squared them up. I'm such a lucky girl!

This last week Lori Holt released the directions for the last row of her Row Along. It's tulips. How perfect for spring! I've not had a chance to start them but I plan to have them done in the next two days. I love the rows, I know I will love the quilt when it is complete but mostly what I have truly enjoyed, is the new techniques for completing some small designs. Many that will translate, perfectly, into doll quilts. I am going to do more doll quilts!

I tend to be a little behind the curve. Or is it behind the wave? Last year everyone seemed to be into hexies and I just wasn't. It could have been because I had worked on some yo-yo's and felt I didn't need another handwork project. But I have been bitten! I want to do some hexies. Small hexies for doll quilts. I've ordered a template and papers. I'm too lazy to make them myself and I'm willing to wait for the products to arrive. This years trend, so far, as been scrappy Trips Around the World, but I had already done one so I've not joined in. The other favorite, right now, is chevron quilts. Again, not appealing to me, but if the hexies are an example, next year I will be doing chevrons while everyone else has moved on to something else!


Oh! I just remembered. I have a confession to make. I made a new quilt top. I'm not supposed to as long I'm behind on my 2013 UFO goal, but what the heck? It's my rule. What happened is this.....Sophie issued the directions for the new Block Lotto for March. The block was simple, it had to incorporate gray and white, and another color of our choice. I was going through my scraps. This particular tub, has pinks, purples and blues. My intent wasn't to limit my color choices to these colors, but that is what happened. Then I started making the blocks and liked them so well, that I decided rather than waiting to see if I won the lottery this month. And then having a multi colored scarppy quilt. That I would make some blocks for me and also donate some to Block Lotto. Donating means you don't want a chance to win any of this months blocks. So here is what I did with the thirty blocks I made myself.  Isn't that limited palette pretty?

Boy I've been long winded today!

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~March 4

First things first....did I meet my goal of 4 UFO's finished by the end of February? Unfortunately no. Did I make progress on the last one? Yes, I did! Thanks for asking!

I can give you a couple of excuses. Excuse one.....we started doing a jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table, the only table large enough to layer even a small quilt. Excuse two...Our little Chunk girl was diagnosed with IVDD and is on total crate rest. 24/7. So I'm worried and packing her around in her crate to make certain she does not feel alone. Who knew that 10lbs (without the crate) could feel like so much? So I am emotionally drained, plus there is a toll on my shoulders and back. But being fair. Those ARE just excuses. Thinking outside the box, I could have layered it on the floor. I could have layered it on the cutting table, while narrow, with a little effort it could be done. Or I could have layered it on the sewing table, after moving everything. Again, narrow but doable. I was just lazy. I was ready for something new, rather than something old.

Soooo, instead of working on the oldest UFO. I continued to work on my Pineapple blocks. Those are beginning to get old to me too! And Block Lotto Blocks. At least those are new and fun. I read the instructions, pre-cut much more than for the nine I wanted to finish for the swap and spent time sewing. The pattern and colors are another good pick by Sophia. How does she manage to do it after all these years? Unfortunately I was having so much fun putting the blocks together with fun colors that I forgot....EACH ONE was to have a white, a gray, and a color of my choice. Whoops! Why do three blocks have the first two rows of pretty colors but nary a gray or white in sight? There are only three rows to the block. How am I now going to incorporate gray and white? Darn! I was having too much fun putting the colors together from all those precut sizes that I forgot about the gray and white rule. Oh well! I will unsew those at a later time. For now I have plenty of precuts to accomplish nine blocks.

If you haven't tried Block Lotto http://www.blocklotto.com/, you should. I've had fun. There is no pressure except a challenge to use different colors and skills each month. And that is only for the months you have time for extra blocks. And you could win! I have had very good luck with Flickr swap groups and with Block Lotto. But was very disappointed by the quality of the fabric/work on a lottery type swap on Facebook. So, if you have tried a swap and have been disappointed, try again. Try Block Lotto.

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~Feb 25

Monday Blog. I blog most Mondays. It helps me to have a plan. Whether that is for blogging, exercising (don't ask how that is working for me!) or even quilting.  I love that we have so many options with our on line communities. There are monthly quilt blocks, quilt block a day groups, every other week Row Alongs and every other permutation you can think of. All these options allow anyone to fit quilting into there life.

And then there are those of us who have "over quilted". Probably not an accurate term, in my case it would probably be "over topped". I've made a lot more tops than I've quilted. Many people have UFO's that are in all different stages of development. Mine tend to only be unquilted tops. But this is my year of finishing up those tops. Before this week's end I will have finished four which means I am still meeting my goal. I know it's only two months into the year but....I still feel good about this. The baby quilt UFO that I am finishing this week, picture next week, is my oldest UFO. It is at least twenty years old. My oh my! I've thought about donating it many times but just can't. See, my sister Joanne helped me piece this top and even tho' I lost interest in it, I just can't give away this memory. So this week, it will be finished.

This is a picture of my third UFO finish. Nothing exciting, but fun, bright, colors.

It will be donated to "Quilts from Caring Hands" when I send my donation box to them at the end of March.

Oh! And, all the years I've quilted I've finished the bindings by hand, but the last three finishes I did by machine. Fun, easy, fast and totally appropriate for baby quilts that will be washed many times. If you have not tried it, you should. There are dozens, literally, of tutorials on how to machine bind. I'm not going to go into depth here but I used a method where I sewed the binding on the front first, turned the binding to the back, making certain the edge was past the sewing line of the front, pinned and then sewed from the front, in the "ditch" created there between the binding and the quilt top. This method worked very well for me! Even on the mitered corners. I might try another method at some point but right now I was so happy with this technique that I can't imagine why.

We are getting close to the end of Lori Holts Row Along. There have been so many cute blocks. I can see me utilizing them in more small quilts. Thanks Lori! See these cute baskets!

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~Feb 18

I had so much fun yesterday and it only cost me $7.00! Our local SDA Church had a fabric/yarn sale yesterday. You could fill a plastic grocery bag (we still have them in our county) for $5.00 or you could fill a brown paper grocery bag for $7.00. There was lots of fabric but I had missed the sign that said "Quilters Stash". Luckily a volunteer came to me and said "Are you a quilter? You look like a quilter. Let me show you our stash."  They had a room dedicated to fabric suitable for quilts. All nicely sorted by color. I started out with a plastic bag, as really, I was only shopping for a few reds, my stash is short on reds, and I was looking for a backing for a donation quilt top. Primary colors, please.

Do you think I only came home with that plastic bag partially full? Heck no! I had to upgrade. I came home with a brown paper bag full! There were older fabrics like many in my stash, there were some poly/cotton blends, there were pieces of newer fabrics, some that I owned, but in different colorways and there was plenty of white, cotton, muslin, (I forgot I wanted to go through that stack). You had (got!) to sort through lots of fabric. AND it was all clean and did not smell funky. Good job SDA quilters! Here are pictures, sorry the colors are off, but look what I got!

Ten of the pieces were larger than one yard and one piece is five yards. The five yard one is perfect backing for a brown and blue UFO I want to finish. And I did find a wonderful backing for the primary donation quilt. I had to cut and piece that one a little as there had been curved pieces cut from both ends and those curves made it too short without a little "rearranging". Besides those two, there is another red and white piece that will give me a beginning for the backing for my red and white UFO. Some of the other older, calico fabrics I added as I've been playing around, in my mind, with the idea of making some antique looking doll quilts. Winner, winner!

One of my goals for this year was to finish two UFO's per month. I got a slow start but I now have two finished and washed:

Today I will use that primary backing to layer another small UFO.That will be finished this week. That means I should have time for one more this month. Okay! They may all be smaller, but they will be finished UFO's.

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~February 11

Good Day! Of course it is! For me anyway, and I hope for everyone reading this.

I've not been very productive. Even after getting my machine back on Wednesday. I am having a difficult time getting back to the projects I had planned on finishing. I would much rather start a new project but just can't let myself do that. I have so many UFO's that need work. I'm in a state of inertia.

/iˈnərSHə/ inertness, especially with regard to effort, motion, action, and the like; inactivity; sluggishness.

Blech! A perfect definition of me! Once I get started I will be fine. It's the getting started again that is difficult. I have kept up with my goal of four Pineapple Blocks per week. And I am keeping up with Lori's Row Along. This last row was spools. Simple spools. I've just folded the row in half for the pix.

About my sewing machine. It is an Elna, about 12 years old, but I really, really like it. It is such a pleasure to have it back. It is so much quieter, so much nicer when doing small pieces, and I like the position of the needle and foot than my old machine. BUT, the problem with some of the newer machines are there are things they just cannot fix. In this case, the reverse, pressure sensitive button, is going out. It can't be replaced. At least I still have the backtack feature and so will continue to use the machine but how frustrating. I want to be able to replace things, not have to do a work around or buy a new machine. Whine!

 

And the day I picked up my sewing machine I did stop at my LQS and buy some fabric for the pineapple corners but boy did I make a bad choice there! I thought maybe something with gray to repeat the gray in the third row, but boy was this wrong!

Oh well. I love the fabric. It won't go to waste. I'll just have to try again. Something ligher and brighter.

I'm SOOOO lucky! There are women in my TOPS group that do donation quilts for a charity that supports missions in Africa. While doing our donation quilts for a local group I took all the leftover scraps and told them I would love to have any scraps they have left over for donation quilts of my own. They had told me they didn't like to cut leftovers into strings, strips, or small squares. Whereas I find cutting like that to be very soothing. Anyway, they told me last week, they have two BIG bags for me. I can't wait to see them. Lucky me!

And, there is another opportunity for me to get more bargain fabric happening this next Sunday. Our local SDA Church is having a big fabric and yarn sale. They promise there will be all size pieces and bolts of fabric. I'm going to be there when the doors open at 10:00. They even have a special, although I don't know all the details, where you can have a plastic grocery bag of fabric for $5.00. It will be fun and hopefully I find some "can't live without" bargains.

Visit Judys Design Wall Monday for more inspiration!

 

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~February 4

I mentioned that I needed to take my sewing machine in for repair. And I did. Last week. They anticipated it would be done the 6th. This is the first time I've used this shop. It came highly recommended. The prices are cheaper (and additionally, there was a coupon on line) and the turn around time is normally one week or less, whereas my other dealer's turn time was three weeks. Wouldn't you know tho' that when I took my machine in the repair fella was on vacation. Still a turn time of 10 days is better than 21!

On my way back I stopped at my LQS who had just moved from Oregon City to West Linn. I was going to spend money! Too bad I had forgotten they were closed on Mondays. Oh well!  At least now I know where they are and just zip right to their door after picking up my machine on Wednesday.
So I've been sewing on my old machine, circa early 1970's and it is a workhorse but noisy compared to todays machines. Why is it that I like the noise generated by the muscle cars of that era but I don't appreciate the sound of this machine? I have considered getting a Juki for machine quilting but I hear they are noisy. Sooo, maybe that won't be happening.

As I don't like machine quilting on my old machine I've not accomplished much on UFO's. Now, as I didn't get my goal of two finished last month, I will strive to accomplish four this month. In the meantime tho', I pieced a Valentines top, all from leftovers, already cut into my favorite 2 1/2 inch squares. I just had to sort through and find enough reds.pinks and grays. I was inspired by this one  http://homesweethideaway.blogspot.com/2011/01/rouenneries-valentine-quilt.html 

I hope to quilt mine before the 14th.

And here are six blocks for the Lori Holt Row Along. We only need five for this row but I wanted to do six just in case I hated one when I got them on the design wall.  I think the yellow one is the loser.  What do you think?

I hope you all have a fun, productive week!
Enjoy!
Toni