Design Wall Monday December 19, 2011

I woke up bright and early Sunday motivated to sew the binding on both of the quilts finished up Saturday.  Pulling down all the four square blocks left a big open space on the wall, leaving me wondering what to work on next.  I seem to be on a leader and ender marathon these days and so pulled out these Irish Chain blocks that are my 2 inch sized lne project. I'll do some quick calculations to figure out how many more I need before starting on the alternate blocks.  Head over to Patchworktimes to see what other people have up on their design walls today.

Two finishes left me with a bit of cleaning up to take care of, but after that I worked diligently on Orca Bay for most of the afternoon until I got called away to take the girls Christmas caroling.  The 350 HST triangle units are sewn and dog eared while a nice stack of string blocks is starting to pile up.  I've got a system going now.  Each time I go to iron a set of strings, I work another group of 10 little squares through the iron and pin them together.  I think by the time all the string blocks are done the other blocks will be ready to have little triangles added on for step 5.  I know that I am still a little bit behind, but with just two more school days before the holiday I should be able to catch up very soon. Maybe even by Wednesday when I have my 1000th post giveaway drawing.   Hopefully maybe. Until then, head over to Quiltville to see how far everyone else has gotten on Orca Bay.

Familiar Conversation

Him: That's a pretty bright quilt. What is it for?

Me: It is for being a quilt. What do you think it is for?

Later the same day....

Me: I am finally done with my quilt.

Him: Which done is this? The top done, the back done, the layering done or the real done?

Me: All done

Him: Wow, even the quilting?

Me: Yes, even the quilting.

Him: That's great, what was this one for again?

I just finished putting the binding on Buttons and Bowties. This is my second charity quilt for the Girl Scout project. I used up a bunch of random Hawaiian prints on the back. I'm not sure why, but I thought having a theme would tie it together better. These were gifted from my neighbor who moved away, and she would appreciate having them used in a charity quilt. So that is my March UFO officially done with a full day to spare! Three months and three UFO's finished forever. I'm liking this resolution.

I checked Patchwork Penguin to see what the UFO for April is. It is #4. For me that is the Pineapple in Brights. Yea! I have to admit that I cheated on this one. I didn't have 12 UFO's so I put one NSY (not started yet) on the list. I saved all the extras from my Elm Creek Quilt because I really liked the way they looked together. I had planned a much larger quilt when I started that one. I guess that is part of the fun of 6 inch blocks. Anyway, I loved the pineapple block and wanted to make a whole quilt out of it. I have not done a ton of paper piecing, so this will be good practice. Since this is a new project, I think I'll keep it small. A 6 x 7 setting will fit nicely on the quilt hanger by the front door. That's 42 blocks. Thankfully spring break is next week, maybe I'll have time for some power sewing.

Frugality or Futility?

Sometimes I wonder if being frugal is truly worth it. OK, if I were really struggling to stretch the budget and couldn't afford to go out and get new batting, I could see the utility in piecing together all of the odd scraps to make a new quilt bat. However, I stocked up on batting when it was on sale after Christmas, and still have 3 bags stashed in the laundry room. Why do I torture myself by insisting on using every last scrap? Something in me just abhors waste. I spent all afternoon puzzling together a batting and a backing. I truly don't mind the time. If I wanted a hobby where I could accomplish things quickly and efficiently, I probably would not have chosen quilting. If I had been happy with the way it all went together, it wouldn't have been an issue. As it was, the batting ended up a little lumpy and wonky. I got it all laid out and ended up muttering under my breath when I realized the batting had a swerve to it, leaving one corner completely unstuffed. More muttering followed as I whacked off the protruding section and handsewed it behind the offending corner.

So that took most of the afternoon. Alternated with loads of laundry and the usual weekend stuff, I got my quilt layered and pin basted. Kurt voted for read quilting thread, assuming I have some of that, I'll get a start on that as soon as the kids are in bed. Today was the last OM practice before the big state competition next weekend. Ryan is going to be a newscaster and announce what is happening from this TV he made out of cardboard boxes. The boys are going to be dinosaurs destroying a cardboard city while the girls drop weights on the structure. I think everyone is ready for it to be over. We'll have a final dress rehearsal on Thursday and then it's off to Orlando on Saturday.

Slow Going

It's slow going around here, but I got the Buttons and Bowties blocks put together and bordered yesterday. I'm still not thrilled about the colors. I think it's just too many brights and not enough contrast. Still, it's done, and I'm in the midst of piecing some batting right now.
Sydney has had the stomach flu this weekend, and I'm struggling with a head cold. The menfolk were supposed to be off camping, but a big thunderstorm was in the forecast so they were all sent home again.

I worked through some more happy blocks while I was at the machine. These are simple and fun to do. Unfortunately I only had one charm pack of the monkey fabric, which isn't enough for a whole top. I found some more of the same fabric at the fat quarter shop though, and put in an order on Friday. I'm always torn when I buy something just because I like it. I hate to buy enough of everything for a new quilt that I may or may not get to, but if I do end up turning the little bits and pieces into a quilt, I never seem to have enough of everything. I guess i could only buy the things I know I will turn into a quilt in the very near future, but where's the fun in that?

Anna was at a sleepover last night, I'm going to pick her up now and then we're all going to see Monsters and Aliens in 3-D. Hopefully I can layer up my quilt this afternoon.

Big Sigh

I don't know why Sunday always ends with a big exhale of exhuastion. I don't feel like I accomplished much, but I've been frantically busy. Such is life I suppose. I got a bit of cleaning and laundry done. Sydney and I planted some herbs and flowers in the yard. We had a series of playdates. When there were a few down minutes here and there I got some sewing done on the buttons and bowties. I'm hoping to finish off my March quilt before April arrives. Most of the blocks were already cut and the circles were prepped, so I don't have that much more to do. I just sewed everything that was ready to go and I'm almost finished. I've laid it all out and I think I only need 5 more blocks to make a twin sized quilt. If things stay calm for a few more minutes I can pull some more nickel squares and pair them up for circles.

While I was puttering, I found a charm pack at the bottom of my 5 inch square box from the sock monkey line of fabric. I had completly forgotten it existed. So I pulled some coordinating 2.5 inch strips to turn those into happy blocks. Honestly I need to pull out my school work and power my way through some grading. I gave tests on Friday and collected labs on Thursday. The quarter ends midweek I think, and everyone wants to know where they stand. And of course, the same thought hits me every Sunday about this time, I'd better figure out what I'm teaching this week. Big sigh as the cycle continues.

More of the Same

Sydney had a field trip Friday to a petting zoo about 45 minutes away. She was so excited and walked around for days talking about all the things she was going to do on her "best day ever".

She rode a pony and held a chick and a duckling, and is apparently quite adept at milking a cow now. Not bad for one day.

Every time the weekend rolls around, I think about what a nice break I have to look forward too after a busy week at work. It never seems to work out that way. Yesterday Kurt's parents got into town for a quick overnight on the way to a cruise. This morning, he took Anna to ice skating while I dropped off the cookie paperwork and took Sydney and Ryan to a beach clean-up. Then he went to drop them off at their boat while I supervised assorted playdates. Tonight Anna is having a friend sleepover and we've just gotten back from taking them all to see the school play. I did have time though, to finish the handstitching on Happy Chains, and to pull out my March UFO.

It's fun to pull out something that has been sitting for a while. It all looks so happy and neat sitting in it's little project box. Stacks of finished blocks, and pre-cut pieces sit there, just waiting to be turned into a finished quilt. Trying to remember exactly what you had planned before it all got put on the back burner is always a fun trick. Sometimes the thought process is obvious, but often it just makes you wonder exactly what it was you were thinking way back then. More often than not, you get a glimmer of why it all got stored away for a rainy day.

This one is called Buttons and Bowties. I started with some circles that I pieced to try out a technique I had seen a couple of times on Simply Quilts. I was having so much fun I decided to build a quilt around those blocks. Not just wanting circles, I combined it with a combination of two sizes of bowtie blocks. The bowties are all dimensional, even though I used two different techniques . The big ones use a nifty folding technique that I also saw on simply quilts ages ago. Not that I can find those directions anymore. I'm not sure how I'll do the quilting without sewing through all the 3-D effects, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I followed a link a couple o days ago for a one seem 3-D flying geese block. Maybe I should make a border of those to fit the theme.