Ta Da!

I started quilting bright and early this morning.  Well, first I ran out to the store for dog food, then I started quilting.  And Quilting.  And Quilting.  With all the strings and little bits in this quilt, I thought it needed fairly dense quilting.

I went with a swirly doodle in lavender thread with pink in the bobbin to go with the pink backing fabric.  Now I am going to go sit and sew for a bit.  I have two quilts waiting for binding and two more waiting for a turn on the frame. 

One thing at a time though, SO happy to have this one quilted

Pumpkin Colored Plans

Though I was low on orange scraps this month, I have been whipping up flying geese and midgets in order to generate some more.  Didn't want to be a big cheater and just cut some new scraps.  I really am making good progress on my scraps after all this time.  So now I have a gaggle of geese, a few new quilt blocks AND some orange scraps to sew together.  I haven't made any tiny log cabins this month.  I think that might be first on the agenda.  How about you?  Still working on your pile of orange goodness?  Use the linky below to show us what you are up to. 

Just a Thought

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Dear Jane. 

Tiny Tuesday - Cowboy's Star

 This may come as a BIG surprise, but this weeks Midget Block is NOT applique.  It is hand pieced and is the final block that I  hand stitched on our big family vacation this summer.  It is from the Dear Jane BOM series and is called Cowboy Star

The middle doesn't look quite perfect, because I couldn't get it to lie flat.  I may be able to go back and trim some tips to get it to behave better.

I have all the Midgets so far sashed and hanging out on the wall.  I should think about sewing them together, but it seems like a big commitment.  What if I want to balance the colors better later?
Now for the really big decision, how many blocks should I make? There are 125 blocks published.  I have made106 so far, but because many are "extra" blocks, I still have patterns for 38 unfinished blocks.  The original quilt is 11 by 17, which is 187 blocks.  If I make all the blocks published so far I will only be at 163.  An 11 by 15 setting would put me at 165 blocks needed.  That would make the quilt 66 by 90 before borders.  A 12 by 14 setting would need 165 blocks and end up with a quilt 72 by 84 before borders.  The top of a queen mattress is 60 by 80.  Maybe that could be my target size?  Dear Jane is a square quilt with a 13 by 13 setting.  That is 169 blocks.  Mine are a bit bigger, but I could do 12 by 12 for a nice even 144 blocks.  That would be 72 inches square before borders.  In any case, I guess I should keep making blocks for a while. I would love to finish this year though.  It could happen........

Mini Monday - Grandma 3

 I didn't have time on Saturday to make the Grandmother's Choice block of the week.  It is just three weeks in, and I am avoiding long term commitments, but for now I am making one midget sized grandma block each week to add to my collection.  This one was easy to resize by drawing it out on graph paper.  The middle nine patch is made of 1.5 inch squares. I think the corner squares are about 2 inches, but I just cut them big and trimmed them at the end to make them square up while keeping the quarter in seam allowance along the edges. 

 The closer it gets to the end of the year, the more anxious I get to get this quilt done.  I haven't decided yet how many blocks to make, but I'll have to call it quits some time, and after two years, I am already starting to work on  new schemes and plans. 

How about combining the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with a Dear Jane quilt?  I could focus on a new color each month and work my way around in a beautiful rainbow bulls-eye.  Just a thought.  No new projects for now.  But maybe for the new year? 

Design Wall Monday September 18, 2012

The weekend is never as long as it seems like it is going to be on Friday afternoon.  I had a great all day quilt marathon for charity on Saturday though and then made a little bit of progress on Hawaii Sunset today.  Just 4 blocks completed, but lots of bits and pieces in the works.  The geese are definitely the logjam step. Just about 20% of those are done, but all the other subunits are sewn and ready to go, so the blocks will come together quickly as soon as the geese are ready to fly.  Now that I have all the cutting for those done I hope the rest will go smoothly.  AND Orca Bay is now loaded on the frame!  Maybe if things are calm this week I will be able to quilt a row or two in the evenings. 

Slowly on Sunday

After reading Kathy's Slow Sunday post, I went to move my hoop over to a new section on Dear Jane.  She just had a wooden hoop break, and after having the same thing happen more than once, I switched to this plastic hoop, also available from Joann's.  I just checked on their web site and it is a Dritz hoop listed at $25.99, though I am sure I used a coupon.  It is flexible and comes in several sizes.  This one is 14 inches in diameter and seems to expose a reasonable amount of quilting space while still fitting in my lap.  I haven't tried any of the expensive floor or lap frames, but this one seems to work just fine for me.  Head over to Kathy's blog to see what handwork other people are taking time for on this slowpoke Sunday. 

Great Day

Today was one of those days where everything just worked out well.  The kids had a full schedule, with a Lego thing, then Girl Scouts followed by a football game.  I really wanted to go to an all day quilt marathon for Quilters Against Kids Hunger.  They make quilts for kids in need which are distributed through the schools.  Last year they made 375, this year I think the total is going to be about 380.  I volunteered to help out with the shuffling of kids, but my terrific and fabulous husband told me he would handle it all so I could go and quilt the day away. 
Sometimes I really like living in a small town.  I lived in Chicago for five years and was shocked to see a familiar face in the grocery store once.  Here, I am surprised if I don't run into friends while running out and about.  I learned long ago never to run out for milk in a grubby T-shirt for fear of being in line to pay behind your boss hoping she doesn't recognize you with the strained peas on your shoulder (true story), 
So first I saw the lady who first invited me to come, her husband works with mine and they go to the same church as my best girl friend.  Our husbands often chat about quilting and pass messages back and forth.  She is always very welcoming and wanted to make sure I wasn't feeling left out.  Then a couple of other Moms who are my age showed up.  I recognized one, though I didn't have a name to put with her face.  Turns out our kids all went to school together before we got rezoned and her husband works with mine as well.  Her daughters were there with her, but her son was at the same Lego thing as Kurt and my kids.  She introduced me to her friend whose kids used to go to my school and we were talking about her mom who teaches with me.  Then we realized that she goes to church with my neighbors who were also at the Lego thing because their dad is our other coach. 
She was hanging out with me talking quilting when Suzy came to sew.  I follow her blog, but we've only met once in person.  So we chatted for a while about quilts and such when the original friend who had worked so hard to make me feel welcomed just looked at me with a puzzled face and asked how I knew Suzy of all people.
I love where I live!  Though it isn't truly a small town, it feels that way. I did sew A LOT today, I did not take a single photo though, or sew a stitch on one of my own projects.  I think I will spend a few minutes tonight doing a little cleaning and organization in the sewing room so that I can have a frenzy of sewing tomorrow to make up for it.  I think it sounds like a great plan.   I hope you all had busy and productive days as well. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Midpoint on Orange

Another orange Saturday has arrived.  Do you have lots of pumpkin colored plans?  Check out the RSC12 tab at the top of the page if you need a little bit or inspiration.  I have candy corn on my mind.  There is a spot by the front door where I like to hang a seasonal quilt, and it would be fun to have some holidays pop up in the rotation.  Use the linky below to share your own progress in the spectrum of orange. 

Tiny Tuesday - Cactus Rose

 I was out of Midget Applique block that I liked and went searching for other blocks that were the right size.  Dear Jane would work of course, but I plan to make the full quilt someday and would rather find unique blocks. 

I found this one as a BOM from 2010 on the Dear Jane sight.  It is called Cactus Rose. The diamonds were pieced together before getting appliqued down to the background along with the stem.  I love the green of the stem, it has such a nice reproduction feel to it.