Monday, November 25, 2013

Design Wall Monday 11-25-2013

I'm making a few house blocks.  One is done and 2 more need to be made.  I'm not sure why but I don't particularly like making house blocks.  These go to Joan from the FCQ Equilter group.  It was suppose to be done between Sept and October.  Here it is the end of November and I'm finally working on them!  I think the kitty in the window is going to get part of his paw cut off when sewn with other blocks. 

I'm in the process of making 10 placemats for Christmas.  I've had nothing but trouble with them all caused by ME!  First, I cut the border strips the wrong length and then had to go out and buy more fabric.  Then I' misjudged the backing fabric so I decided to use all sorts of different greens that some I cut wrong so I will have different size placemats.  Then I ran out of batting that wasn't all that big a deal as I just used a different type.  I have 3 done, 3 ready to stitch the binding down and 4 cut out and waiting.  I'm tickled because I only had to buy the white and gold border fabric. (Ok, buy it twice...but it'll be a great baby quilt next year!)  The rest came from stash.  If you want to make your own, visit the Quilt Patch and type "placemats" in the search box. They have lots of different patterns for the quilt- as-you-go placemats.  The directions are on a laminated card.  I bought Picture Perfect and left off the corners and added a different border fabric. Most of the batting was a puffy poly that had iron on adhesive.  It worked pretty well and I was tickled to use it up!  


Here's what got done this week.  Remember, I spent three days away from home so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to. 

Week of November 18, 2013
Play with Natalie as she recuperates √ well, she slept instead
Attend Faithful Circle Guild
Use x block ruler to cut 9 patchesand make last two rows of red, white and blue quilt will get them sewn together at some point
Finish baby quilt for CP Guild √ -- 5” short of finishing the quilting and the backing ran out. I took it off Ruthie and will add more.  But it goes to the back of the line now. 
Load green quilt on Ruthie it’s ready to go
Make a couple of placemats√√
Try to do SOMETHING, any thing for shaded 9 patch ARGH!
Get binding on black, white and bright baby quilt.

Week of November 25, 2013
Load and quilt Kay’s green quilt
Make more placemats 
Finish hand sewing binding on black, white and bright baby quilt
Sew last two rows of x block together and on to the rest of the quilt
Cook and Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner
Make at least one more house block and get it in the mail
Load Jenny’s Row-by-row quilt
Knit on any of the various projects I have going! 



Sophia has started preschool at Univ. of Maryland. She was showing me her pictures so we recreated it at home.  













I leave you with this little shocker.  Yep, here in Central Virginia at the end of November it was 18 degrees this morning.  YIKES.  

Take a gander at other design walls by visiting Patchwork Times


Happy Quilting All and Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating this week. 



Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Down Time With Natalie

I had a lovely visit with my Maryland guild, Faithful Circle Quilters, last night.  It was great catching up with my old friends and meeting new ones.  I saw a couple of gorgeous quilts.  I only got one picture as I was helping Sharon baste a quilt.

Barb B had a wonderful Easy Street done except the binding.  I loved her border which she used with permission of another Bonnie Hunter fan. I may need to try it too. I sure hope mine turns out as well when it is together. 


Today I'm babysitting Natalie who has been sick for the last few days. I spent the morning being a human mattress. After I woke up I was able to move Nat to a quilt on the floor. She's still asleep as of  2:30. Oh yeah, did I mention she was awake much of last night?  
She hasn't moved much since I put her down 3 hours ago. I sure hope she sleeps tonight!  

Happy quilting all! Bonnie 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Design Wall Monday 11-18-13

This past week got away from me.  

I spent one day making place mats with my neighbors.  They got several done, I got one done.  I proceeded to cut out more while they were sewing.  We had a great morning chatting and working.  Except, I cut both borders too short.  ARGH!  I was able to cut the 2 smaller pieces from the long pieces that were wrong.  The wrong short pieces are going to become bricks in a baby quilt.  And, off to JoAnns I went the next day to get more of the border fabric which they actually still had. Thank goodness. 

I spent a day being a Christmas Mother "shopper".  I'd never heard of that organization until I came here.  There are lots of toys, clothing, books and games organized on tables at the old Armory.  The shoppers get a list from either a needy family or children of what they'd like for Christmas from the organization. Shoppers try to find what they want in all the items there.   I thought it would take me an hour or so.  Wrong, I was there for nearly 3 hours.  Then it was on to JoAnns. 

Thursday I got a little sewing done and Friday we were off to visit Ellie and her parents.  No wonder I don't have a lot of finishes on my to do list.  And this week doesn't look like it will be much better. 

Here's what I've done recently: 
This is a pattern shown on Missouri Star Quilting on You Tube.  The pattern idea comes from 3 Dudes Quilting in Phoenix, AZ.  You can watch the video here to make your own. 
I haven't decided if I am going to put a border on it or not.  These strips were gathered from here and there.  Many of the strips were duplicated but some were just one or part of one strip.  It isn't a particularly fast way to make a quilt but it is a little more interesting than the basic 1600 Quilt.  


I finished this little quilt last week.  It was the March challenge on Small Quilt Talk Yahoo group.  I went a little crazy.  The half square triangles finished 3/4" or so?  I'd have to run upstairs to measure them.  I think it ended up 7 x 10" in the end.  I used a decorative stitch on Bubbles in the border.  Some how the corners all came out pretty good.  Amazing.  Below I've let one of my bears hold it. 


As noted above, I was busy this week and sewing wasn't the main thing! Maybe this coming week I'll get more accomplished on my list.  (Or, maybe I should put everything on my list I know I will be doing!) 


Week of November 11, 2013
Border shaded 9 patch
Use x block ruler to cut 9 patches and make last two rows of red, white and blue quilt
Spend a day making baby quilts: blue one, more pinwheel blocks into quilt top and cut fish quilt out√√ actually I sewed a little on the fish one
Spend a day sewing some Christmas placemats with Jennie and Diana
Visit Ellie and her parents!
Load a baby quilt on Ruthie and quilt it? √ started at least

Week of November 18, 2013
Play with Natalie as she recuperates
Attend Faithful Circle Guild
Use x block ruler to cut 9 patches and make last two rows of red, white and blue quilt
Finish baby quilt for CP Guild
Load green quilt on Ruthie
Make a couple of placemats
Try to do SOMETHING, any thing on shaded 9 patch!
Get binding on black, white and bright baby quilt.

By the way,  Cassie, the yellow lab, mentioned that she wanted equal time. So here she is with Ellie.

Don't forget to take a look at Design Walls across the Internet by starting at Patchwork Times. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Monday, November 11, 2013

Design Wall Monday 11-11-13

Wow, did this past week zoom by.  And, this week doesn't look like it will be any slower.  Does time speed up the closer we get to the big holidays?  ie, Christmas and Thanksgiving? 
First off, I made the block for Queen Bee, Ashley.  Lots of triangles but not all that hard.  I like that it is a big block! It will go in the mail to her soon.  (Note to self, get it mailed!) 

Both of these baby quilts were turned in to Country Piecemakers this past weekend.  They will go to the neonatal unit at one of our local hospitals.  I had a third one almost ready but it didn't get finished.  Don't I look bored in the green quilt pic?  

On to the goals. I thought I hadn't gotten much done so I was surprised when I got to the end to realize I had gotten quite a bit done -- there's was a lot on the list. 

Week of November 4, 2013

Finish binding on bright and white
Quilt Michelle’s Black and White
Make binding and bind Michelle’s Black and White nope!
Load and quilt Kate’s green 1600 quilt
Border shaded 9 patch nope
Use x block ruler to cut 9 patches and make last two rows of red, white and blue quilt um, no again
Plan Christmas placemats
Sew three more pillowcases
Make labels for quilt group

And this week's list is a little more reasonable as I'll be visiting Ellie this week. 

Week of November 11, 2013
Border shaded 9 patch
Use x block ruler to cut 9 patches and make last two rows of red, white and blue quilt
Spend a day making baby quilts: blue one, more pinwheel blocks into quilt top and cut fish quilt out
Spend a day sewing some Christmas placemats with Jennie and Diana
Visit Ellie and her parents!
Load a baby quilt on Ruthie and quilt it?

Speaking of Ellie -- Kevin sent us a couple of pictures last night.  I thought this one is too cute.  The white to the right is Mommy keeping her snug. 
Ellie, 2 weeks old and Homer -- um 7 or so? maybe 8?
Take a look at Design Walls around the internet by first visiting at Patchwork Times. 

 Happy Quilting All! 








Thursday, November 7, 2013

Triangle Thursday #26


Ribbon Quilt
This design is number 1160 in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. It is attributed to Nancy Page.  Look for the printer friendly version here. 


Cutting directions are for 6”
Fabric
Number to cut
6”
Triangles –
8 green,
8 red
Use the 2” template.  Or cut 4 green  sqs., 4 red squares at 3”. Draw a line down the center and sew ¼” from each side, trim to 2 1/2” unfinished. If you have trouble making half triangle squares cutting the squares slightly larger helps to make more accurate units.   
Square
1 green
2 1/2”

Make half square triangles:  Sew the  red and green triangle sections together. I actually cut 4 squares of each color, paired the red and green squares together. and then sewed ¼” from the center diagonal line I drew.  Cut the squares diagonally after you sew the two sides. I pressed my triangle squares to the red triangles.  If you are using a light and dark fabric I suggest you iron to the dark fabric. After you iron the seam, trim up your squares to 2 ½” squares.  You will end up with 8 red/green squares. 




Layout all the pieces as shown above.  Be careful to keep the half triangle units going the correct direction when you sew them together. Sew the blocks into rows.  I ironed the center row seams to the plain block and the top and bottom rows away from the center. Then sew the rows together. 



This makes a great quilt all by itself.  The ribbon look is enhanced with several blocks together.  I only need 3 more blocks for my little quilt – so look for more blocks in red/green/yellow and rust. 







Happy Quilting All!