Design Wall Monday 5-13-13

Although I got quite a bit done this week there aren't a lot of pictures to show.  And, it isn't that I'm working on secret things.  Just kept up with mostly the same things and some quilting on Ruthie. 

Here's my May offering of the Brown Bag event.  A reminder of what it is... those choosing to participate put block directions, fabric and a tool in to the Brown Bag.  Each month we take a different brown bag to make the block/s as requested by the owner.   Cindy put in some circle-making interfacing with directions to use it.  Then she asked it to be stitched down to the fabric.  Pretty easy way to make decent circles.  I used some bright colors although not every one did.  She did ask for the circles to be in a color family. Fast and easy! 

I did pretty well on my goals this week. 

Week of May 6, 2013

Finish and trim Jenny’s quilt√

Print labels for Country Piecemakers√

Mark, batt up and quilt challenge quilt√

Quilt 1 of CP’s charity quilts√

Quilt FCQ’s charity quilt Started

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt I had an inspiration on the backing but no action.

Quilt my Kitty Cat charity quilt

Week of May 13, 2013

Finish quilting FCQ Charity Quilt

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt

Load and quilt Kitty Cat quilt

Begin small quilt for swap

Figure out backing for CP charity quilt

Load and quilt CP Charity quilt

Work on strip charity quilt

Sew flannel block quilt together

I hope everyone had a special Mother's Day.  Kevin and Aimee sent me flowers which I was able to arrange in a vase.  And, in his call on Mother's Day, Kevin announced that he and Aimee were having a little girl.  We were sworn to secrecy about the pregnancy, the sex was new. (I admit, I didn't do a great job of being secret some of you might have been aware!)   So we'll have 3 darling grand daughters!  Can you imagine the fun shopping-fest we can go on together!  Or, maybe a fabric shopping trip!  

Don't forget to visit Patchwork Times for more wonderful Design Wall Mondays. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 5/5/13

Here's what I worked on Friday.

Country Piecemakers had a baby quilt sew-in day to use up some of the fabric that had been donated to the group and to produce some quilts quickly.  I chose to make this quilt. I saw this video at Missouri Star Quilt Company with directions. (This is the You Tube version as I was having a lot of problems viewing the video at Missouri Star's web site.) Since I had 2 1/2" strips, that is what I used.  If I did it again I might use larger strips to make it go a little faster.  I had too many strips of the same fabric so I'll be grabbing some strips from my stash to add to it and add a little variety. 

I didn't get mine done as it was way more work then the 1600 quilt every one else was doing.  You can see a video of this from Missouri Star Quilt Company. (Again, this is the You Tube version.) About 30 strips are enough to make a decent size baby quilt.  To save time, our gals were sewing the strips end to end. 

 Sewing the strips together.

Trimming the edges of the quilt. 

Oops.  We didn't always have wof strips so a little border was needed on this quilt.  I brought home two of the quilts to quilt up on Ruthie but I'm not sure they will be done until later in the summer.  I know that more than 10 quilts were finished or almost finished that day.  Wow! 

Yikes!  I didn't do too well on my goals this week. 

Week of April 29, 2013

Work on guild challenge quilt √ ready to be quilted

Finish Jenny’s quilt Well, I’m almost done…

Piece the backing for the kitty cat quilt and load it on Ruthie er, nope

Start the Small Quilt Chat swap quilt ah, nope

Finish binding on charity pinwheel quilt ehhh, nope

Week of May 6, 2013

Finish and trim Jenny’s quilt

Print labels for Country Piecemakers

Mark, batt up and quilt challenge quilt

Quilt 1 of CP’s charity quilts

Quilt FCQ’s charity quilt

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt

Quilt my Kitty Cat charity quilt

This is a horribly long list.  Hopefully I'll get several charity quilts done so I don't need to store them while Ruthie is dismantled.

Check out blogs across the internet at Patchwork Times.   

Happy Quilting All! 

Triangle Thursday #15

May 2, 2013

Road To Heaven

This design is number 1324 in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. It is attributed to Michael James around 1978. This is a more complex block but it is definitely a “do-able” block.   I am using 4 of these blocks in my guild challenge that is due next Saturday. I’ll do a fairly simple quilting design in the border and I think I’ll quilt from corner to corner in the center. (See finished top pictured at the end.) You can find a printer friendly version here. 

Cutting directions are for 6”

Fabric	Number to cut	6”
Black Squares	4	1 ½”
Blue Squares	2	1 ½”
Blue Triangles	10	1 1/2” triangle template
Green Triangles	10	1 1/2” triangle template

Here are the pieces laid out after I made the half square triangles.  Part of the challenge required us to use only squares and half square triangles.  That’s why I made the blue triangles in the corner by half square triangles and a square rather than a larger triangle.

Sew the squares together into rows.  I ironed the seams in the same direction in each row.  The next row, the seams went the opposite direction.

Now sew the rows together.  I chose to iron these seams open in hopes of spreading out the bulk in the seams.

Broken down this way this isn’t all that hard of a block, but there are a lot of pieces to it. 

I’ve used four blocks together.  The sashing is cut 1” by 6 ½”. The little black corner stone is 1 ” square.  I added a black 2” (cut) border.  I’ll be batting it up and quilting it during this coming week.  Then it becomes a part of a display at local libraries for the next 3 months or so.  (Yep, that is a red wall in the background!)

Happy Quilting All! 

April Stashbusting

Here we are firmly into spring and finally the weather is acting like it.  We are having cool, cloudy days interspersed with cool sunny days.  Very nice weather before summer hits us with unending heat and humidity.

I'm pleased with my Stashbusting statistics this month. 

2013	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
April	1.75	34.25	6.7 yds	30.45	3.8 yd

I'm slowly making inroads on all the fabric I bought the first few months.  And, I'm sorry to report I'm going fabric shopping on Monday.  The good news is I am only looking for borders for a queen size quilt I've been working on for YEARS.  Or perhaps the key word should be not working on.  I hope to bring this trip around the world with me to retreat in June to finish the top.  

My finishes for the next few month are going to be much smaller than usual as Ruthie is being dismantled.  Her rails are going in to be powder coated which should make the "ride" very smooth. Additionally, the attic is being finished -- windows being added, some walls, insulation, ceiling and a cork floor.  And, the best news -- my studio will have a new giant home!  Right now I have Ruthie in one room and Bubbles and supplies in another room.  When the attic is done and everything is moved in there we'll have two extra rooms.  One will be an office for Pat and the other will be a room for the grand kids when they come.  Now when Jenny and Brian are here Sophia sleeps in her special room -- the laundry room.  And, strange as it seems, she seems to like it in there even without a night light.  Go figure.  

I'll keep you informed on the progress.  I still have a week and a half to get some quilts done on Ruthie.  And, I have 3 to do.  I'll see if I can find any more.  Right now, Jenny's quilt is on her and I need to actually work on it after several days off.  

Look at that spinach.  Our garden is giving us a ton of wonderful spinach these days.  Yum! 

Happy Quilting All

Design Wall Monday 4-29-13

YEAH!  I've finished the afghan for Natalie.  First, let me admit I am not much of a crocheter.  It's not that I can't do it, more that I don't enjoy doing it.  I have to watch every stitch.  With noncomplicated knitting I just knit, no watching.  But, Jenny wanted Natalie to have a crocheted blanket since Sophie likes hers so much.  Or at least that's what I thought, so off (last summer) I went to buy a variegated yarn to use.  I decided the pattern didn't seem large enough so I added more.  And, I've been working on it off and on for months.  A lot of off but eventually enough on to actually finish it.  During the last few months I've been saying, no more crocheting.  But now I'm thinking about the cute hats I've seen and mittens and... but not for a while. 

I loved the colors. 

I like how the picot edge hides some problems! 

I've been working on other things, especially quilting on Ruthie but I whipped Jenny's quilt off so Aimee could quilt a little baby quilt for a friend.  She did a great meander with loops.  Nice Job, Aimee. 

I didn't crop this picture so you can see the whole pack of dogs we have when we get together.  They get along great so it isn't a big deal.  

I did pretty well on my weekly goals last week.  And this week I have several things I really need to focus on so the list is pretty short. 

Week of April 22, 2013

Finish binding auction table runner√

Finish the picot edge on the crochet afghan for Natalie√  Yeah!  All done!

Go to the Fiber Festival in town with Aimee√

Load and quilt Jenny’s quilt Loaded and about half quilted

Piece the backing for the kitty cat quilt and load it on Ruthie

Start the guild challenge quilt√

Start the Small Quilt Chat swap quilt

Clean house√ not as thorough as sometimes but definitely much better 

Week of April 29, 2013

Work on guild challenge quilt

Finish Jenny’s quilt

Piece the backing for the kitty cat quilt and load it on Ruthie

Start the Small Quilt Chat swap quilt

Finish binding on charity pinwheel quilt

Keep making half square triangles for a small quilt for me

I'm looking forward to another great week with high hopes to finish off some of these goals.  Visit design walls across the universe by starting at Patchwork Times. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Festival of Fiber, Powhatan, Virginia

It was a glorious day with the weather sunny in the high 60s, low 70s at Powhatan's first Festival of Fiber.  Here's what Aimee and I saw, among other things. 

First, watching a sheep dog work these three sheep. 

This dog seemed to love herding the sheep around.  The sheep, on the other hand, were not amused! 

There were goats, alpacas and more sheep around the field.  Lots of fun to see these animals when all you normally see are dogs and cats. 

A month old kid.  He had tiny horns growing -- they are the light spots you can see in this picture. 

A sheep being hand sheared.  I bet he felt good to get rid of his heavy fur coat. 

For some reason this guy looks like a clown to me! Maybe it's the puffy hair on his head and the rest of him shorn. Lots of alpacas were visiting at the Festival.  And, lots of alpaca wool for sale. 

Here are an alpaca before shearing and his friend after. 

Another pair with and without hair.  We were able to get quite close to these two but they weren't interested in having people pet them.  I love how white the left one is. 

I'm guessing this is a ram but remember, I'm mostly a suburbs type.

Eventually we got a bit overheated and stopped for drinks.  Notice the name of this place -- Carpe Donut.  The donuts looked really good but we were good and didn't get any. 

And, just in case you think it was all sheep and alpacas.  Not at all.  Here is one of the vendors, Unplanned Peacock Studio and a glorious selection of yarn.  

Aimee bought several skeins of yarn from various vendors.  I bought yarn for socks from Wandering Wool. It is a wonderful deep red/cranberry hand dyed super wash wool.  I hope to try knitting two at a time socks with circular needles. 

I felt a lot of the alpaca yarns which are super soft.  But, I didn't buy any.  I did find a great sweater pattern but will hold off on buying either the pattern or any yarn for it for the time being.  Maybe next year I'll get some hand dyed yarn for it.  

I am looking forward to next years Festival of Fiber.  It was much smaller than Howard County, Maryland's Sheep and Wool Festival that I attended years ago. But, how can you argue with a festival 10 minutes from home? Hum, just thought, I haven't made up the yarn I bought at the Sheep and Wool Festival, maybe 10 years ago?  Maybe it would work with the sweater pattern I really liked.  

That's it for today.  I have been quilting but wanted to share all this wool business! 

Happy Quilting All!