Whata Weekend!

 I am so ready to settle down with some binding and enjoy a little slow stitching.  We rented Despicable Me 2 to enjoy with the kids, and then after bedtime, it will be time for Downton Abbey!  Such a nice way to end a busy busy week.  I am just ready to turn the last corner and from there it will be the home stretch.  I'll have to think about a hanging sleeve and then think about where to hang this one.  It isn't going to be a bed quilt, but it doesn't really go with most of the colors in our house.  Maybe we should redecorate?
 I was gone all day yesterday for Science Olympiad.  It was in Orlando which meant leaving while it was still dark and getting back after dinner.  The kids had a good time and enjoyed the competition, though we came home completely empty handed.  Not a single place out of 23 events.  So sad for the kids.  While I was doing that, Kurt took Ryan to a FAMAT math competition, also in Orlando, but on the other side.  Then he and the girls did a quick trip to Universal while Ryan was doing his math thing.  Even with all that, they were still home by early afternoon.

Somehow while we were away, the closet organizer that holds the printer and assorted electronic gadgets in the closet in my sewing room collapsed.  We are now in the middle of trying to reorganize and arrange everything.  The upside is that I will now get the closet for all of my sewing things and the electronic paraphernalia is going to live somewhere else.  Kurt has already put up these shelves at one end of the closet.  I'll need to decide how to best arrange things, but it should offer quite a bit of useful storage space.

 At the other end I have installed this hanging bar for quilts with a shelf above for WIPs.  It will be nice to collect everything together in one spot instead of having them scattered about the house.

This was the view of a neighbors house on the way to school on Friday.  FROST!  I know ya'll up north are used to it, but it is quite unusual for us here in Florida.  Keep in mind that our schools don't have inside hallways and it is impossible to buy an ice scraper.  We tried once to find one as a joke for a friend moving to Colorado and it just couldn't be done.
Tomorrow is a day off school for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  Sydney has a piano lesson, but I hope other than that to spend the day with fabric.  Hope you find some time to slow down today and head over to Kathy's Quilts to see what hand stitching people are up to today.  

Midget Blocks are Quilted!!

 The quilting is done.  Its not perfect, but it is finished.  I'm thinking of a simple solid cornflower blue for the binding.

 132 individual 5 inch blocks.  Most of them from the Sentimental Stitches sight and many still available for free.  I threw in a few extras along the way and then set them in a wonky white diagonal offset squared up to 6.5 inches to make them all the same size and give them some space to rest.
I started them on August 3, 2010 without any intention of begining a huge multi-year project.  I blame it on Amy though, she made a block and they just looked so darn cute.  I tried to make a block a week though there were seasons of plenty and droughts along the way.  I posted the last finished block on December 31, 2012.  and had the top sewn together last New Years Day.

The border is a simple row of two inch squares saved from the fabrics for each block.  

Still Plugging Away!

I am SO close to being done with the borders for the Midget Quilt.  I'm having to repin each side which is taking a while. The inner white border is a ribbon candy pattern and the outer border is straight lines half an inch apart.  Just one more side to do and it will be a finish!  For now Sydney wants me to watch the Croods with her.  I think I'll cut up some blue scraps while we watch.  I got them all ironed during The Lone Ranger this morning.  Vacation is a beautiful thing!

New Year's Day Sewing

I could not let the first day of the new year pass without sewing a stitch!  Though I thought I would hand quilt in the car, by the time we headed home from the game it was getting quite dark.  So instead, I dashed off to the sewing room when we got home to see if I could try out a block for a Rainbow Scrap Sampler quilt that I am thinking of making a project for the new year.  The cutting went fine, but my new quarter inch foot isn't quite so scant as one would hope and I am still having trouble getting the measurements to work out exactly.

 So here is a quite nice broken half square triangle block just a bit shy of the size needed to go in my 6 inch sampler quilt.  I'll have to call the repair shop again tomorrow and ask nicely again if there has been an update on my machine.  Surely they know something by now.

Until then though, thankfully the midgets will keep me busy enough.  I think there are still three more rows to quilt.
Hopefully you all found some time to sew a stitch or two to ring in the new year.  Happy sewing!

Slowly

4 rows done on the Midget Quilt.  It is slow going for sure.  Lots of stitch in the ditch.  I'm getting better with each row.  It is a rainy dreary day, perfect excuse for time in the sewing room.  

Christmas Day

 Christmas Morning has left everyone tuckered out.  It was a fun filled morning of gifts and family games.  By afternoon everyone was ready for a bit of quiet time.  Even Lizzie.

 The boys built with Robots while Anna made more cookies and Sydney found some friends.

 That left me a bit of time to quilt a bit more.  Three rows done!  I tried some outlining.  Not perfect, but I think it will work.

I even got out the ruler base and did some stitching in the ditch.  I am getting better with each block.  Slow and steady takes the prize.
I hope you are all enjoying lots of quality holiday fun, any new quilting toys out there?

Twas the Day Before Christmas

I am absolutely terrified of messing up my Midget Block quilt with the machine quilting part, but I am giving it a shot.  I keep comparing myself to fabulous machine quilters whose work I drool over on a regular basis.  There is Judi over at Greenfairy Quilts.  Then there is Leah Day at Free Motion Quilting.  Even Natalia and Kathleen at Piece and Quilt.   Guess what, my quilt won't look that good.  They are professionals and I am just a regular person.  I'm OK with that.  Still, I a sitting here hoping I don't mess things up with the quilting.

 So, two blocks in, going slow, and hoping for the best.

I'm doing a small meander, you might even call it a stipple, in the background. Trying not to do too much in the blocks themselves.  Just a bit of echo quilting to add a bit of dimension.  So two blocks down, Just 119 left to go.  

Border Patrol

 I just finished putting the borders on the Midget Block Quilt!!!!!!!  Hard to believe it took me almost a year to figure out 2 inch squares and background strips.  It measures 80 by 86 inches now, which seems like a nice size.  I'm not telling you because you need to know, I'm telling myself because I don't have anything that will work for a backing.  I'm going to load the top on the frame anyway though, before it gets wrinkled, and I'll want to know later how big to make the backing fabric.  This one will be an experiment in machine quilting.  The little Dear Jane tried to be machine quilted and failed.  I'm hoping this little guy will do better and then I will be up for the BIG Rainbow Jane.

I laid the quilt out in the family room so that I could go up to the bridge on the second story to get a good photo.  There is Ryan walking around the quilt and Kurt's Christmas stocking poking out on the other side.  Getting decent pictures is complicated around here!
Speaking of complicated, the quilting room (guest bedroom) is getting a good clean out to make room for a bit of machine quilting time.  I wonder if there is still time tonight to pop out for a suitable backing fabric?  Maybe not.
Today we celebrated the first official day of vacation with trips to the grocery store and the dentist.  Exciting stuff, right?  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow though, other than Christmas eve of course.  Maybe I'll be able to sneak away for another Dear Jane block or two?  Maybe.  

Big Decision

This top has been sewn together and waiting patiently for almost a year.  I was sure I would get to it this summer.  I almost did.  The summer went another way though, and when the school year started, well, that was that.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the borders.  I'm never sure what to do with the borders.  During the sewing, I had saved a two inch square of each fabric and that was supposed to be part of it somehow.  I kept trying to make it complicated though and time passed.  While catching up on blogs during ScrapHappy Saturday, I stumbled upon this quilt, over at Quilting on the Crescent.  Perfect.  Just the inspiration I needed!  I just finished adding a two inch border of background all the way around and am sewing together all of the two inch squares.  I'll add another plain border outside that and it will be just what this quilt needs.  

First Flimsy of the New Year

The first day of the new year was spent sewing blocks together.  Lots and lots of little blocks.  My Midgets are now officially to the flimsy stage.  It has been so much fun sewing them for the last couple of years.  If not for the new Dear Jane blocks to fill the void I would be missing them seriously right now.  Decisions about how to finish it will wait for a bit.  Now I will just let it hang for a while and think WOOOOHOOOO.  

Mini Monday - Night and Noon

This is officially my LAST Midget block.  It is number 109 and is called Night and Noon.  It was paper pieced in 4 simple sections and marks the end of a long slow and steady project.
DONE
FINISHED
THE END

Well, except for the sewing together and quilting and binding.  

Tiny Tuesday - Blazing Star

 This is Midget Block 90, it is called Blazing Star and was paper pieced in 8 easy sections.  Easy enough as soon as I got the colors figured out.  I must have some spatial deficit that makes orienting things properly difficult.  I like the colors in this one.  The back ground is actually a pale yellow, though it looks cream in the photo

Lizzie is getting used to posing with quilt blocks.  At least some members of my family are trainable. Although I am writing this post on October 7, it isn't scheduled to go live until Christmas day.  So lucky that Christmas is on a Tuesday this year.  I am hoping that by now I will be done with all the Midgets.  Did it happen?  Time will tell.  In any case, Merry Christmas to everyone.  

Mini Monday - Contrary Husband

This one was hand pieced due to all of the inset seams.  I'm still not really good at the whole sewing by hand thing, but it turned out OK in the end.  

Tiny Tuesday - Turkey Tracks

 This is Midget Block number 98.  It is called Turkey Tracks and was paper pieced in 8 little sections.  It took me ages to figure out how all the little toes should point, and I'm still not sure it is correct, but it is done so that is good enough for me.  I'll go take the paper out and add it to my ever growing collection.

Anna was vegging out in the toy room recovering from a busy day.  I cropped out most of the clutter in the background.  If only that worked in real life. 

Mini Monday - Sunbeam

 This is Midget Block number 130, it is called Sunbeam.  The original was in orange and yellow I suppose, but I chose to do mine in three shades of blue.  It should really have a different name, but I can't think of one right now.

There are just 4 empty spots on the wall and I have most of them all prepped for a trip over the river and too the woods to Grandmother's house.  This one was for that as well, but got used up at piano lessons and gymnastics before the trip started.  I had to prep a few Rainbow Dear Jane (RDJ) blocks just in case I run out of these.  

Tiny Tuesday - Sea Star

 This is Midget Block 91 which is called Sea Star.  In thinking of it as a star I kept trying to make the yellow parts turn into the star points.  I couldn't figure out why the triangles in the corner were going the wrong way until I had an aha moment and realized that the background was actually the star part.  The middle part was hand pieced ages ago when I was looking for something to do in the car.  I just stuck it back into the page protector waiting until the turn came for block 90.   

Anna volunteered to hold the block, and unlike her father with the block from last Tuesday, she knew it wasn't a police line-up.  Though this post will appear in December, it is still October here and I am frantically trying to finish up these little blocks before the end of the year.  As soon as I run out of Tiny Tuesdays in 2012 I'll add in some Mini Mondays until all the blocks are done.  144 is the magic number I think.  12 by 12.  I think it will work. 

Mini Monday - Garden Maze

I'm going to have to count again to be absolutely sure, but I think I have just 2 more midgets to go!!!!  Getting so close to the end -- at least for me.  I know there are new blocks being published now, but there was a drought for more than a year and I made plans for finishing mine up.  

The final layout will be 12 by 12 which will be just the right size I think.  I am getting ready to start sewing these guys together, but until then, I am almost sure that I will be done very soon.

Wee Wednesday - Springtime

This one was a simple applique block, but was a bit awkward to put together based on the way it was drafted.  The dark pink was drawn as one solid piece while the light pink bits were sewn on top.  It took me two tries to get it all to line up, but I think it turned out OK in the end.  Mom volunteered to hold it for me on Black Friday.  

Tiny Tuesday - Whirling Stars

 This is Midget Block number 85.  It was paper pieced in 6 sections which required inset seams at the corners.  Silly inset seams, they just don't mix with paper piecing in my humble opinion.  I had two different fabrics picked for this block initially but switched them out at the last minute.  I am quite fond of the pink print and think it looks quite nice with the blue. 

I thought I was going to struggle as I started marking the paper piecing templates with color choices, nothing seemed to line up quite the way it should.  Then I realized that the pattern was not printed out with all the adjacent blocks lined up.  After I cut them apart and rearranged them, it all made perfect sense.  I asked Kurt to pose with the block, for some reason he thought it should look like a mug shot.  Silly boy. 

Mini Monday - Snails Trail

This is Midget Block Number 104. It is called Snails Trail.  It was paper pieced in four simple sections with a minimum of fuss.  The hardest part of this block was getting the darks and lights marked on the patter to make sure the colors went together in the right order.  Shakespeare in the Park is a quilt on my someday list, and snails trail is one of the units for that.  I've always thought it was clever in how the color placement interlocks and give movement to the block.

I have all the block up on the wall now, and with the five that I have ready for handwork, I only need three more blocks to get to my 12 x 12 target size.  WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!  Just three more blocks.  The block will all be done this year for sure.  I am starting to get SO excited about finishing off these blocks.  SO EXCITED.