Tiny Tuesday - Setting Sun

 This is Midget Block number 63.  It is called Setting Sun and has 26 pieces in a block that will finish at 4.5 inches. 

 It was prepared using a combination of paper piecing for the blades and reverse as well as traditional applique. 

 I used a freezer paper template to prepare the overlay for reverse applique. 

 The seam allowances were trimmed and ironed down before the background was glued in place on top of the blade circle. 

The center portion was prepared with freezer paper ironed onto the front to that the seam allowances could be glued down in preparation for regular applique.  Anna was my helper and held the block for a final picture.  I am posting ahead and have to smile at her teeth.  By the time this block comes out she will probably be in braces already.  Sometimes I go back to old blog posts and look at how small all the kids used to be.  It is amazing how fast they are all growing up. 

Design Wall Monday June 4, 2012

I puttered away at a few things on Sunday, but tried to make some headway on the Goose in the Pond blocks that are overfilling my design wall right now.  The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirtails II book, although I have made some changes.  The problem with making changes to the pattern is that it leads to lots of decisions.  I'm not sure I am happy with the sashing variety, and then I need to figure out what to do with the cornerstones.  I didn't feel like making lots of tiny pinwheel blocks, and so tried out a red and white print, but with only a fat quarter, there isn't enough.  9 patches seem like an obvious choice, so I tried one with dark in the corners and one with light in the corners.  Sometimes the best thing to do with lots of decisions is to sleep on them and see what looks good in the morning.  I think I'll try that.  If worst comes to worst, there might be time between driving kids around in circles to pop into a fabric store and look for a nice border print.  A nice large scale red white and blue might tie it all together.  What do you think?
To see what other people have up on their design walls today, head over to Judy's blog.  

Purple Nines

It didn't take long to cut some purple scraps into 1 inch strips and put them together to make these tiny little nine patches.  Then Sydney wanted to go to Target to spend a gift card from her birthday party.  We got all stocked up on snacks and lunch stuff.  Anna has math camp all week and Ryan is going to Mr. Science.  That leaves just Sydney and I hanging out together. For now though, I have a little more time to sew a few more scraps. 

Birthday Festivities

Yesterday we had a combined birthday party for both Sydney and Ryan.  Sydney had her birthday a couple of weeks ago and Ryan's isn't until next month, but we were only going to rent the water-slide once.  The kids went door to door rounding up people as soon as the slide was delivered at 8 and we had to kick of the last of the group off when the rental company came to pick it up at 7.  In between the kids all ran themselves silly climbing and sliding with a few breaks for food in between.  I am guessing today will be a calm day.  I think the kids are all worn out.  I know I am. 

First Purple Scraphappy Day

Today is the first scraphappy day of a new month.  There is something so full of possibility when pulling out a new scrap jar.  I wonder what the month will bring?
Use the linky below to share your own purple ponderings and plans.

Lazy Crazy Days of Summer

I'm still waiting for the lazy days to kick in, so far summer has just been crazy.  I did jump in first thing this morning and finish putting the bow-ties top together.  I don't think it needs a border, but for now I just wanted it up and off the floor.  We are having a birthday party for Sydney tomorrow with a water-slide and I am guessing there will be lots of little wet feet traipsing through the house.  Anna is baking cakes as I type and Sydney is doing a major overhaul of her bedroom, throwing down all the clothes that are too big or too small or too warm for summer.  So far 5 garbage bags have been filled and she is sure it will be much easier to keep her room clean now.  Kurt is off today and tried to convince the kids to go with him to beach volleyball, but they were all too busy.  There are water balloons to be filled and streamers to be hung. 

Beach Day

1st beach day of the summer.  Lovin life.

Tiny Tuesday - Liberty Star

 This is Midget Block number 62.  It is called Liberty Star and was paper pieced with 32 pieces.  After paper piecing the little star points, I had to set in the background pieces, Wow, that was not fun.  I have definitely decided that it is just easier and better to do set-in seams by hand.  Lesson learned for next time.  Still, after a couple of tries and a few trips to the ironing board, it kind of lays flat, so that is good enough for me. 

Lizzie is my quilt block holder for the dead of night. I'm having my own little midnight midget  marathon and she is good company while the rest of the house snoozes away. 

Happy Birthday

The girls celebrated my birthday by making me a homemade birthday cake complete with a fondant quilt.  Notice the spool of thread on top and row of buttons around the bottom edge?  They did that all by themselves.  The kitchen may never recover, but they had a great time doing it. 

My gift was a day in the sewing room which I used to make the rest of the Goose blocks for my next quilt.  Sashings are next.  The pattern, from Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirttails II calls for 3.5 inch sets of the same units used to make the nine patches along with pinwheels as cornerstones.  I'm not sure about the cornerstones, but I'll get started on the sashings tomorrow after work.  We are required to go in for one day of post planing.  Even though I have finished everything on my list, I'll go do some tidying and such to avoid having to use a day of sick leave. 

Design Wall Monday May 28, 2012

At the end of a very productive weekend, I was faced with two big empty design walls.  One held the Scrappy Irish Chain blocks before they got put together into a finished flimsy.  The other used to have the bowtie blocks which are all assembled into rows getting sewn together.  Instead of leaving the walls empty, I started digging through bins to figure out what is next.  Last time I pulled out the star blocks, I couldn't find the tri-recs ruler to make more.  At some point it occurred to me that it was probably still in the box that I took on vacation last year to cut quilts.  Sure enough, there it was right between Goose in the Pond and Smith Mountain Morning.  Both were quilts from Bonnie Hunter's last book that I started working on last summer.  One thing led to another and soon enough, some finished blocks made their way to the wall.