Decisions, Decisions

It's always nice to have folks who can give me some ideas about finishing a block or quilt. (Just for the record, I've put away the center of my Talking Turkey wall hanging that I last asked about.  I'll pull it out later and see what needs to be done.  People seemed to like the lighter red and I did too so that's probably what I will use, eventually.)

Today's question has to do with this block I'm making for the quarterly BOM at Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland.  I am fairly good at getting the monthly blocks done and sent up if I like the block.  I'm not so good with the quarterly opportunity blocks.  I had hoped to get this one done while Sharon was here but no such luck.  I'll see her in a couple of weeks so would like to have this one done so she can take it up.  I used a half of dresden plate I had left from a quilt I haven't worked on in months. (Note to self, need to finish this one up!)  I made up some more blades to make it a circle. I've picked my background fabric and it's time to get the center circle picked.  Sharon said I need two so here's what I came up with after she left.  Which do you like better? Dark center or medium center?  And, yes, they will be circles not folded up rectangles! 

OR

You can't tell but the bottom gold blade has a spider hanging near its web. Too cute for a fall colors block.  The object of this particular challenge was to use a specialty ruler... mine was the dresden ruler.  If you check back to Tuesday's post you can see Sharon's -- the two blocks with the fall colors -- one was the Rapid Fire Hunters Star and the other one I have no idea what the ruler was. 

Here's what's been visiting at our patio. He's big -- 5" or so long.  He's been back a couple of times recently too.  

I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 9 - 14 - 2015 on Tuesday (Oops!)

I had a great and very busy weekend.  Sharon in particular got a lot of things done.  I got a lot of individual blocks done for the most part. 

The best news is yesterday I picked up my repaired computer and everything is much easier.  When I got home from the trip to the other side of town I started to read.  Next thing I knew it was 4:30 so didn't really go upstairs to the studio.  

Here are all the projects Sharon and I worked on this weekend. I was making blocks for her to take back to Faithful Circle Quilters for drawings. 

My red and white blocks for the quarterly drawing held yesterday, 9/15.  Boo!  I didn't win.  I probably should have done an easier block then the one on the right. 

Sharon's on left, mine on right for the September BOM drawing held the first week of October. 

The last quarterly challenge of the year is to use a specialty ruler.  I can't remember what the one on the left is but the right is Rapid Fire Hunter Star by Deb Tucker. Both of these are by Sharon.  Mine is a Dresden but I need to figure out the center circle and get it sewn down to a backing. Pictures will come later. 

Sharon ran this mystery table runner at the guild meeting on Saturday.  We thought it was really funny when we ended up with two patriotic table runners with the colors in the same positions and even having flags as our border fabrics considering we didn't talk to each other about it.  There was a good turn out and everyone got the center portion done. Some of us are a bit slower and didn't get the borders on until later.  Perfect short project for an afternoon's sewing.  

Sharon also made a small wall quilt using her Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler. WOW! 

We auditioned every black in my stash before we both thought this one was the very best!  We came up Sunday morning to make sure and then Sharon was able to get them on before she had to go home. 

 I didn't do so well on my goals this past week, but there is always this week!

Week of September 7, 2015

Spiff up studio – esp cutting area and extra desk√

Begin embroidering secret stuff didn’t happen

Make mystery table runner at guild meeting√

Make pillow shams for master bedroom nope

Border 2^nd antique quilt nope

Week Of September 14, 2015

Do some embroidering

Continue making Easy Street blocks

Pillow shams

2^nd antique quilt 

Blocks for Fran 

This week I am linking up with Free Motion by the River and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.

Happy Quilting All! 

NOTE:  So, my track pad and cursor are working but now Blogger is making it very difficult to work with my elements.  For some reason all of the bottom half of my post is now part of a caption on a picture.  Cutting and pasting is not making it any different so I give up for this post, maybe next one I can get it figured out.  Sorry folks. 

Ooh No

Over the last few month the cursor on my laptop has randomly stopped working.  No fun because I have to shut down my computer with the start button.  I did a chat with the support team and was able to do several things in hopes of it working again.  No luck.  Monday I went to my local Apple Store and had an appointment with at the Genius Bar in hopes of having it fixed and working again.  Um, no. Instead my laptop went on a spa retreat.  WHAT??? No computer? Well, I do still have my old laptop, and IPhone, and iPad and at least one windows version laptop so I'm not completely disconnected but the issue is I LIKE that computer.  I can do things on it that I can't easily do on the iPad.  

So today's post will be short.  And pictures aren't watermarked because that software is on the laptop. 

A while ago I mentioned the book, More Quilts for Baby Easy as ABC.  I've used it for years and the pages were falling out.  So I took it down to the local office supply store and had them trim the side off and put a spiral binding on it. Neato! 

Another advantage of doing this is the book lies flat when opened. 

Hum, I may take a few more of my books in to have this done.  Do you have your well used books spiral bound? 

They say my computer will be back in a week by the weekend but I'm not holding my breath!  I'll keep you posted.  Today I'm linking up with Let's Be Social, http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2015/09/lets-bee-social-89.html.  Another thing I can't figure out how to do on the iPad version of Blogger, embed links.  Sigh. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Design Wall Monday 9 - 7 - 2015

Happy Labor Day!  I'm so glad I'm retired and don't have to work for a living.  On the other hand these holidays aren't as important for an extra day off.  

First up the 2014 Row by Row quilt.  

I still need to sew the final sections of the sides together.  I'm trying to decide whether it needs a dark blue strip between the sides and the center section.  I used the dark blue to enlarge the smaller blocks so they were the same size as the peach.  But I'm thinking of putting a 2" finished strip between the sections. And, then use the same color as a border.  Decisions, decisions.  What do you think? 

The center of Talking Turkey is together and it is time to decide on borders.  I really don't want this huge so I am thinking of putting a red border around it and calling it done.  Here are two I happen to have in my stash.  Opinions?  Ideas for something different?  I thought I would love the left side until I pulled out the one on the right.  I'm leaning toward it.  (And, honestly, the left red is actually going to be pillow shams for my bed! But there might have been enough leftover to do this too.)  

I did pretty well on my goals considering I wasn't spending all that much time up in the studio this week
. 

Week of August 31, 2015

Finish piecing 2014 Row by Row√ farther along but not quite done

Load and quilt Dorothy’s R, W, and Blue quilt√

Sew Talking Turkey blocks together√

Mail blocks to Joan√

Bind donation quilt√

Sharon's coming down so I will spend extra time in the studio plus doing the mystery table runner she is teaching at guild. Here are my plans.

Week of September 7, 2015

Spiff up studio – esp cutting area and extra desk

Begin embroidering secret stuff

Make mystery table runner at guild meeting

Make pillow shams for master bedroom

Border 2^nd antique quilt

I'm linking up with Monday Makings, Design Wall Monday and Main Crush Monday. (This isn't up yet so I'll take a look later and link up then.)  Take a look at what others are doing this week. 

Happy Quilting All! 

A Finish by Friday

Yes, I'm actually getting quilts finished!  YEA!  This is a donation quilt for the NICU at a local hospital.  I try to make one every month along with the things I am doing for myself. 

I love using stripes for binding.  This was just sitting around the stash.  Yea for serendipity. 

I took the quilt to the front porch for a photo shoot.  Love this fern on the porch so had to figure out how to get it in the shot!

And almost the whole quilt.  I may need to figure out a clothes line I can put up to show the whole quilt; the top border is hanging over the back of the railing.  You can read more about this quilt here.  There's a better picture of the pieced top there too.  I used a new edge 2 edge design called Double Bubble.  It's a good design to add curves to a geometric design.

One of the best things about this quilt is all the fabric came from my stash. Generally the quilts in the book More Quilts for Baby Easy as ABC use small amounts of fabric so those 1/2 yard cuts can be put to good use.  And, remember, just because it says baby doesn't mean you have to use baby fabrics.

Some of the trees have begun to lose their leaves.  The cherry trees in the yard are almost all without leaves.  Now some of the big hardwoods are beginning to turn.  Their leaves are turning to the yellow green instead of the vibrant green of the spring.  Here's what our biggest cherry tree looks like and some hardwoods behind it.  (cherry to the left.) It's hard to tell but the bare branches cover the left half of the picture. 

Pat and I went out to dinner last night.  Here's what greeted us as we drove down the driveway.  This appears to be a family unit.  Mom on the left, baby to the left of the lamp post. Dad (with antlers) to the right of the post.  I'm not sure about the one to the far right.  I thought it was a baby, but maybe not.  My other pictures were all blurry.  It isn't unusual to have deer hanging around the yard but to be able to snap a picture, in focus, with my cell phone -- not bad.  But I wish they'd leave our gardens around the house alone.  

Today I'm linking up with TGIFF,  LAFF,  Let's Make Baby Quilts! and Can I  Get a Whoop Whoop?. (Really, a period after a question mark?  Well, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? is the blog title and my whole sentence is definitely not a question.  What do you think grammarians?  Yes, or no to the period?) 

Today I'll be quilting on a customer quilt.  I should have pictures of it soon.  

Happy Quilting All!  

August Stashbusting Statistics

Wow!  I knew August would be a great month for using up fabric -- I just didn't know how good it would be!  And, I bought a bit of fabric too. 

2015	Fabric In Month	Fabric in Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
August	3.125	46.205	15.75	57.775	12.625

Color me tickled pink!  The biggest part of this is the queen sized Trip Around the World quilt I showed here. And, I finished another donation quilt that I'll be showing later this week. 

I've been goofing off for the last few days and really haven't spent all that much time in the studio.  Therefore, to make sure there is at least one photo on the blog I'm showing a quilt that is being donated to an auction at church.  I enjoy donating my quilts to great causes.  It makes room in the house for more quilts and it raises funds for causes I support.  I finished this one a few years ago.  I'll probably make a new label for it and that's all I need to do.  I like this quilt but I've never used it as I have so many other ones. It is a disappearing 9 patch.  

This was a group quilt (in a way) where all participants were given the same oriental fabric.  We each made 9 patches and then swapped the blocks. I forget how many blocks we got but I eventually sliced them up and made this quilt.  I imagine I added some extra blocks.  I do remember how much I like/d the yellow I used for the binding. 

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Happy Quilting All!