Weekend Work

It's not that the weekend is free from work, but it is more relaxing and laid back work which allows me time to work on my wee midget blocks in between. This one is number 24 and is called Hour Glass. It is a simple scrap block made of half square triangles and squares.
I got the yard mowed yesterday but never did any laundry. I'll do some of that today along with cleaning out my car. As usual, I should look at lesson plans for the week though I think I caught up on grading on Friday. Maybe, just maybe, I'll do a little more sewing. The next block is paper pieced and I'm still having sizing issues with the printer. I'll try to get that figured out once and for all.

Easy Peasy

Midget block 23 is called Valentine. It was a simple, straight forward applique.

I sat next to the pool and sewed the edges while the boys swam. Ryan is having a friend sleepover and they wanted to go night swimming.

Harder than it Looks

I like patterns that are easy but look hard. This one looks simple enough, but it was impossible to put together. The pinwheel triangles should be easy enough to put together log cabin style, but there isn't a spot to start and stop. If you look really close at the white bits in the center, you can see that I cheated and cut off one of the corners to have a starting point. Think about how a traditional log cabin looks, the logs aren't all the same size. Even a courthouse steps arrangement leaves two sides shorter and two longer.
Not knowing how else to approach it, I tried to do a partial seam. Have you ever attempted a partial seam on a paper pieced block with a finished size of 2.25 inches? I wouldn't recommend it!

So, the angles are a little wonky, the lines are a little crooked, but until I can think of a better way to put it together, I'm calling this one done. I guess that is where the Dear Jane, "Better done than perfect" comes from. The longer I look at those outer triangles the more off they look. Guess I'd better go look at something else for a while.
Kurt was out of town all week and I was sure I'd find time during the evenings after the kids were in bed to put together a block or two, but by the time I got them settled and tucked I was about ready to be done myself. He called on his way home to tell me that he was supposed to be on another trip this week, but I think he's managed to put it off. I'm glad he'll be here for a while, this single parent thing is no walk in the park.

Back to Blocks

Company is gone and life is back to routine again, allowing me to sneak in a few minutes to work on my next block. I had an appointment with Anna's orthodontist after lunch and department meeting this afternoon, but other than that, it is all pretty calm and peaceful around here. Kurt is gone for a couple more days but evenings have been full of phone calls for Girl Scouts anyway. I'm getting closer to having all the new troops set up so I can put that job to rest for a while.
Block 21 is called Snowball Flower. Isn't it just too cute for words? It is just two four patches with the top one rotated and appliqued on top of the other. So easy! This is one of those blocks that I could see making a whole bunch of. Wouldn't it be cute for a baby quilt?

Fabric Fun and Boogie Time

Mom is having a blast spending time with the kids. She took the girls out for manicures and lunch and then to the mall for shopping and girl time. We had fondue for dinner tonight and right now everyone is getting down with Just Dance on the Wii.
I had some time between laundry loads this afternoon to play with my new fabric. I've only got the first 55 blocks printed, but I went through and started pulling fabrics to go with each of the blocks. Now I know what I am missing so that I can keep my eyes open next time I am out and about. My poor little binder is stuffed to the gills, but it is holding the potential for lots of pretty quilt blocks. Maybe I can get some prep work done tomorrow night, but I'm not sure when I'll have time to get another little block done. It's been DAYS since I've sewn anything. I might go into withdraw if I don't find time soon.

Fabric Goodness in the Mail

It wasn't that long ago that I ordered fabric online. I always make sure to pick out $50 worth at Connecting Threads to qualify for free shipping. They carry fat eighths which should be perfect for my diminutive blocks. I think I ordered two sets of solidish cuts and two of reproduction type prints along with some random sale fabric. I also got a jelly roll from Hancock's of Paducah along with a charm pack of Kona Solids. My mom is in town for the weekend, so there won't be any machine time to work on new blocks, but I did print out some more patterns and start matching up my new fabric bits with the patterns that I think I will use them for. Such fun!

The Return of Before and After

Knowing that I always forget to take "before" pictures, I went around the house a few weeks ago and got pictures of every explosion of messiness that existed in the house. Now I just have to systematically go through and tame each of them, one at a time. Today was the closet in the master bedroom. It doesn't always look this scary. I think this particular crisis followed our own summer vacation and a couple of business trips along with some company who needed extra linnens. Frightening isn't it?
We had the carpet man coming today and it didn't seem fare to make him wade through all of that to get measurements. We decided that the organizers should come out so the carpet can go under, so I'll be trying to get rid of even more before the installation gets scheduled. Goodwill is coming for a pickup next week and they are going to find lots of fun stuff to take away. I have yet to tackle Kurt's side of the closet, but at least my half looks much better.
I didn't get a chance to make any midget blocks today. I measured the blocks I had already made and realized that all of the paper pieced patterns were coming out 3/8 of an inch too big. I'll have to mess around with my printer and see if I can get it just right before I get carried away again.
My mom is coming to visit for the weekend so I really need to pick up all of the sewing stuff so that my studio can look like more of a guest bedroom. She doesn't mind at all, but it a good reason to clean everything up.

Addiction is a Very Strong Word

Of all the things I could have chosen to become obsessed with, Midget Blocks aren't a bad choice. They are low in calories, highly adorable and will someday result in a finished quilt.
This block had me a little puzzled. It combines paper piecing with curves. The little paper pieced arcs were pretty straight forward. Tiny yes, but not complicated. That left the curves. I've never been successful at pieced curves, so I cut out a freezer template and decided to applique. The original pattern showed light pink where I used the muslin background color, but I couldn't find two pinks that played well together, so I changed it up a bit. I also thought the little triangles would show up better with more contrast.
Trimming and gluing gave me perfect little curves that were ready to position on top of the paper pieced arcs.
'I was having trouble with the paper pieced patterns being too small with on my first couple of blocks. I changed my printer settings, and now they are coming out out too big. I trimmed everything up to 2 inches, even though it would mean imperfect triangles. The bus came in the middle of the blind hem stitching. Sydney wanted to know why I was sewing it when it was already finished. I'll admit that it looked better while it was all just glued down, but I've never been one of the steam a seam people, so applique happened.

So, tada, here is block 20. Not nearly as difficult as I thought, but still makes me glad I am working in order or this pattern would have collected a lot of dust before I gave it a try.
Tonight is the Girl Scout leader meeting. Fliers went home this week with my contact information, so I've been spending a lot of time on the phone setting up new troops. I'll be coaching Academic Team this year, and practices start this week. The kids activities will all start kicking in soon as well, so I'm sure life will be back to normal soon enough and my Midget Mania will come to an end. Until then though, how cute is that little block? Seriously.

Midget Maniac

I haven't gotten tired of these little cuties yet. If I had discovered them at the beginning of summer vacation instead of the end I think I'd be done by now. It helps that at the beginning days of school there aren't a lot of papers to correct yet. Also, my beginning of the year lesson plans tend to be much more organized than my end of the year plans, allowing me to just pull out the plans and make minor tweaks.
I worked on block number 18 this afternoon, and that went so quickly that I had time to throw together block 19 before the school bus got here. The kids have just finished homework and I'm sitting next to the pool supervising the swimming whilst updating my blog. I'm feeling pretty good about my life right now.
So back to the blocks. 18 was easy enough, but for some reason the paper pieced segments came up just a little bigger than the rotary cut 2 inch blocks. I squared everything up by shaving off miniscule bits before putting them together. The contrast is low, but I guess they can't all stand out, right?
Block 19 is adorable I think. Except for the border it is just a churn dash block. Right? I cut the half square triangle pieces just a bit big so that I could square them up which I thought worked out well. The border segments were supposed to be background colored, but I had just enough from a 6 inch charm square of fabric and decided to make them light blue instead. I think it looks good that way, don't you? I always wonder on little blocks like this if the original quilt maker just didn't want to do the math to make it without a border or if she wanted to add the extra color to the edges.

Either way, 18 and 19 are done. Block 20 looks a little scary. I've pulled the fabric, but I might have to work up my courage for all those itty bitty curved triangles.

Asexual Reproduction?!

There is no other explanation for the explosive growth of my scrap basket. I'm sure it couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks ago that I was doing a happy dance because it was empty. Now look at it! Full to overflowing. Maybe if all is calm around here this evening I'll get out the GO and do some cutting. I've worked my way through all the 2.5 inch squares I had stacked up for L&Es. That would be a good use of some scraps. I've ordered some 1930 reproduction fabrics from Hancock's of Paducah and some from Connecting Threads. I'll feel really guilty if it comes in before I've dealt with this pile of fabric fun.