Design Wall Monday 9-26-11

Help!  I need to make these blocks (about 10" or maybe 9.5") big enough to make a 36 x 48 quilt for a NICU.  I only have the 9 center blocks.  Here's the fabric I'm working with and some variations. Original plan was to sash with this aqua fabric.  I've got lots of it so I could also use it on the back.  But wow, it really washes out in this photo.  

So then I searched the stash and came up with this "flamingo" colored fabric.  Wow, it pretty well shouts at me. 

Oops, it doesn't go well with the borders -- I tried two different purples but the stripe on the left was the original choice.  The darker doesn't do much for me. 

Another look at the aqua... hum, using the flash it does show up better . . . 

 Ok, how about some green Moda Marbles?? Yes, this might just work.  I think I'll be adding strips of yellow, blue and green at the top and bottom to take this up to 48" approximately. And, maybe I should use my lessons on mitering with that stripe? 

Luckily, I know what I'm doing with these fabrics.  This is from Terry Atkinson's book, Time Out Designs. Terry has you cut the stripe two different directions which makes for a very interesting design.  I've wanted to make it for years and in fact had the fabric picked out for at least a year.  I will be cutting this out before I go to retreat and hope to get the top made there.  Unfortunately I don't remember what size I was going to make so I'll have to remeasure all the fabric to see.  I think it is going to be BRIGHT!

I didn't do too badly on last week's goals. 

Goals for week of 9/19/11

Mail blocks to New √

Finish up my round of the Komen donation quilt

Cut out quilt to take on retreat

Return some shoes and a dress √

Make and mail pinwheels √

Finish NICU top √

Quilt Quilts for Kids Quilt

Quilt NICU top √

And here are the plans for this week.  I realized I should add making the stuff I was planning to bring with me.  Duh! 

Goals for Week of 9/26/11

Shopping expedition with the gals

Cut out quilt to take on retreat

Pack for retreat

Plan on three projects to take

Make stripe quilt top

Finish funny animal quilt top

Put the binding on red, white, & blue baby quilt

Sew the twin size quilt top with red, white and blue squares

I probably won't get a lot of posting done as the wifi was really weak. I will get up my stash usage figures for this month though.  I've been really good.  Although I may buckle as we are looking at new sewing machines on our shopping expedition.  Zowie, that means lots of fabrics hanging around.  Could be tempting! 

Hey, remember it is design wall Monday so go check out Patchwork Times.

 Happy Quilting All! 

Something's on Ruthie

I put together the small quilt that I made from the FCQEquilter's blocks to me from earlier this summer.  I know, I said I would do it at the retreat but, honestly, it was done in a jif.  Here's the layout I chose for this. 

 This pantograph is Popcorn from Willow Leaf Studios.  Two plus years ago when I first got Ruthie, I couldn't do this pantograph worth a hoot.  It was lumpy and bumpy and generally was embarrassing.  I really love how this one looks on quilts and I am so happy it is now in my repertoire.  

I will be using it on the next quilt I have to do also, a quilt from a Quilts for Kids quilt kit.  I've had two quilts way too long.  One is done and the other still needs quilting and binding. Time to get it finished. 


Jenny L --- skip this part of the post... 


                       We found this spider making a web and nest? on the side of the garage door.  It was huge and seemed a bit fuzzy.  YUCK.  Sorry, it is no longer there.  

Time to get going this morning.  Happy Quilting All.  

Field Day of the Past

Friday I was in Goochland helping the guild with Field Day of the Past.  Country Piecemakers has a booth where we sell various fabric items.  The money supports our charity -- quilts for the NICU at a local hospital.  

Our space was on the side porch of a log cabin.  It was a bit windy and chilly so I was happy when my time was up.  Surprisingly we sold about $100 worth of quilts and "stuff" before I left.  By the way the star quilt above is a raffle quilt to benefit the guild and we sold quite a few tickets for it. 

 Across from us was this pen where trick riding was being shown. 

Two? Really riding two horses at once?  This gal made it look easy. 
Down the row was this enclosure showing off American wolves... 

There were a lot of tractors and trucks and, yes, tractor pulls. And, no I didn't watch any. 

I did watch some steam driven saw mill activity.  And a piece of equipment that squished molasses from cane. Or whatever it actually did. I was on my way to JoAnne's with a 20% off everything coupon and wanted to get on with that before all the good stuff was sold. (as if!) 


Today I'm off to return some things I got for the wedding and didn't like -- shoes and a dress.  Don't know if I'll do any shopping or not. 


Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 9-19-11

I'm back and I have some new things to share. The wedding was lovely, the bride and groom were beaming as was the sunshine.  Kevin and Aimee are in Thailand learning to scuba dive and riding elephants. 


Here's what's on the design wall bed: 

These are the blocks I received this year from the FCQEquilters.  They made enough so that I could make a twin size comforter and a baby quilt.  Both will be donations. 

I'm making progress on the center of this applique.  It will be donated to the Komen Foundation and auctioned in Baltimore.  I hope to get my part finished and in the mail this week.  All the triangles are made but I'm still sewing them together as a leader/ender project. 

These blocks are the current FCQEquilters requested block.  Wow, these are really easy.  I'm going to have to find some more pastel fabrics to go with the sweet baby clothes.  And, heaven knows I have lots of the brights.  
I have one more project I started yesterday.  I had gathered the fabrics over several years.  I'll try to remember to post it next week when it actually begins to take shape.  It will be another donation to the local NICU. 
No goals last week and it sure was obvious.  I think I finished 2 books though as I wasn't very motivated to sew or quilt. 

Goals for week of 9/5/11

Make bandanas for Homer and Cassie√

Prep binding for the red and white quilt√

Mani, pedi and hair trim √

Get the wrinkles out of the dress for the wedding Um, didn’t work really well…

Finish cleaning house√

Enjoy Kevin and Aimee’s wedding weekend√

Goals for week of 9/19/11

Mail blocks to New Zealand

Finish up my round of the Komen donation quilt

Cut out quilt to take on retreat

Return some shoes and a dress

Make and mail pinwheels

Finish NICU top

Quilt Quilts for Kids Quilt

Quilt NICU top

And last but not least -- guess who took some steps on her own this past week? 

Not at the wedding but at home.  She was a big hit at the wedding too. 

And, here's Cassie wearing her Wedding 5K t-shirt and her bandana I made along with the bride and groom's legs. 

Go visit Patchwork Times to see design walls across blogland.  I'm off to do a bit of sewing and to get breakfast. 

Happy quilting all. 

Playing Tourist

Very little quilting is getting done around here but I am hoping to do better over this coming week.  Here's what I have been doing instead of quilting... 


    Our friends Bob and Barb came back to our house after the wedding.  It was great spending time with them again.  California is a long way away.  But, don't worry, we won't be moving there again.  Monday we went to the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar Iron Works.  I believe the Civil War Center is a new museum and did a great job of providing interactive information about the Civil War.  From there we went downtown to the Museum of the Confederacy and the White House of the Confederacy.

Before we went into it we stopped a street vendor to get lunch.  It was a pretty good lunch and really cheap. We lucked out to find some empty benches. 


Then on to the museum. 

Here I am with a fish painted with several Confederate generals.  It kind of reminds me of Stone Mountain where several Confederate generals on horses are carved into the side of the mountain.  There is a great multimedia show there also.  We used to love to go there when we had out of state visitors. And, no, I have no idea why a painted fish is there.  The museum had quite a collection of items from various soldiers of the Confederacy.  It was chilling to see holes in uniforms knowing that a bullet went through it and most likely caused the death of the man wearing it. 

I was fascinated with this flag, one of many at the museum.  What really struck me was these stars were sewn on by machine.  The written part was printed on.  But to see a machine sewn star on this flag blew me away.  There were many such flags on display but I didn't see any others with the machine sewn stars.  Of course, we only had an hour in the museum because we were going to tour the Confederate White House within the hour. The tour was very interesting but we couldn't take pictures within the house. The Davis family had 5 children, if I remember correctly, and only one lived past her 22 birthday.  From what I remember none of the deaths had anything to do with the War.  

Enough of being a tourist...I'm on may way to the studio to do a bit of piecing.  Heaven knows I am way behind on several projects that need to be mailed on to others.  

Happy Quilting All 

Wedding Day 9-10-11

Aimee, Kevin, Homer and Cassie grace the wedding cake... 

Where are we sitting?  

Sophia was a popular photo subject. 

Cassie got to attend the wedding even if she mostly spent time in her crate in the house. 

Aimee and Kevin during the photo shoot. 

Aimee is one smart girl! 

I basically put my camera away during the ceremony and the party afterwards.  So until I can get photos from Jenny and some other friends I'm done with wedding day pictures! 

I hope to share photos of our day in Richmond but I don't know how many photos I took.  Today, I plan to spend in the studio.  I've got bandanas to finish and blocks to do for Fran and the Komen quilt center to get done. Plus I have a retreat in two weeks to get ready for.  I'll be busy over the next few weeks. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Pre Wedding Fun

 All packed and ready to go... yes our clothes are in there too. 

On the way to Williamsburg.

Dropping off a goody bag for Lisa and Kirk. 

Aimee and Kevin before the Wedding 5K.  

Relaxing after the Wedding 5K. 

Even the dogs are all dolled up in their Wedding 5K t shirts and bandanas... 

Sophia, Kevin, Brian, Jenny, Aimee and Cassie ready for the next event. 

Bring on the wedding! 

I'm not quilting but I hope everyone else is having a great time quilting. 

No Design Wall Monday 9/5/11

There is nothing new on my design wall.  So I'm not really doing a design wall Monday.  You can visit Patchwork Times to see what others have been working on. Cause, I haven't been doing much of anything sewing-wise.  

Goals for week of 8/29/11

Buy shoes for new dress √

Finish a few more dog bandanas√

Finish quilting the Red & White baby quilt,√ make and apply binding

Start cleaning house for post wedding guests √

Add borders to Komen donation quilt started

Make and send blocks for FCQ Equilters (really, it is time to get this done and in the mail…) Need to make some more but some are done

Finish Winter Rail Fence binding

Clean up cutting table & organize fat quarters Ok, one or two things were put away but definitely not cleaned up.

Goals for week of 9/5/11

Make bandanas for Homer and Cassie

Prep binding for the red and white quilt

Mani, pedi and hair trim

Get the wrinkles out of the dress for the wedding

Finish cleaning house

Enjoy Kevin and Aimee’s wedding weekend

By the way, the first shoes are being worn to the wedding.  The second shoes are headed for the trash because some little black dog drag one of the shoes off of the dining room table and ate it...or at least tried to eat it.  Can you say "living in the dog house"?  to a little black dog! I was definitely not happy about that whole thing. 

It looks like Katia, the hurricane, is going to make a right hand turn and head out to the Atlantic instead of turning left and visiting Urbanna, Virginia where the wedding is taking place. Let's hope she doesn't change her mind.