Tiny Tuesday - First Day Eve

Midget block 9 Is called Cactus Bloom and it is an applique pattern. I usually use freezer paper for applique.

After cutting out the pattern with freezer paper, I iron it to the wrong size and then glue the seam allowance down.
I left a little flap open for the extra leaves so that I could tuck them under the top part. That seemed to help so that I didn't get gaps between the pieces. When it was done I trimmed away the extra backing and pulled out the paper.
Here it is all finished up.
If you are thinking about doing the Midget blocks someday, make sure you head over to Sentimental Stitches before the first blocks get retired at the en of the month.
Today is my first day of school with students. I think everything is ready to go. There is a Girl Scout leader meeting tonight, but otherwise things are pretty calm.

Mini Monday Again

This one looked so simple that I couldn't resist whipping it up. It went super fast.
I don't have much 1930s reproduction fabric, but I did manage to find these bits of blue and green in the strip bin. It is amazing how little fabric these tiny blocks take.
If you are looking at the Midget Blocks or just collecting them for someday, make sure you head over to the Sentimental Stitches web site. There are new blocks up! I'm going in order, so it will be a while before I get to those, but it is nice to know that I won't run out anytime soon.

Mini Monday and Day 1

Today was the big first day at a new school for my three kids. I tried not to post about it excessively at the time, but there was a bit of a thing about rezoning last year which eventually ended with all of our neighborhood going to a new school. It is a good school, and our entire subdivision is headed there, so the end was much better than the initial plans submitted. So, new teachers, new routines and new friends. Everyone came home happy and excited. We went through papers and filled out forms before they all scattered to play with friends.
I had just enough time before the school bus got here to make Midget Block Number 7.
It is called At the Depot. It doesn't look familiar to me, but I've seen similar blocks with spaces left for signatures. It is traditionally pieced and went together easy as pie. I've started saving a strip of all of the fabrics I'm using in case I want to make a charm quilt or a border or sashings later. I'd like to use different fabrics in each block if possible and try to match the colors in the original blocks. We'll see how long my stash can hold up to that! I finished up the sashings on my Dear Jane this afternoon and got it all up on the design wall. I'll let that simmer and play with it for a while before I commit. I did dump all the extra fabric into the scrap bin though, so cutting scraps will be a pending job. I don't want to do a pieced back because I plan to hand quilt this one, so all I'll need is border and binding fabric from the project box.

Design Wall Monday, August 9, 2010

I have three quilts currently residing on my design wall. Two of them are special requests with people waiting for the end results. Guess which one I'm working on? You guessed it, the one nobody cares about with no deadline or recipient. I am motivated to finish of my Dear Jane though, so that I can work on my Midget Blocks without guilt. It's my plan, and I like it. I have 45 completed blocks, but the rest are still in the process of having sashing strips and cornerstones attached. If it were still summer vacation I would be sewing away for at least another hour. It is the first day of school for the kids though, with just two more until students hit my classroom. I'll get all the blocks up onto the wall within the next few days and then move them around until I'm happy with the layout.

Baby Steps

One room at a time.
I've been trying to cut fabric in the laundry room, but it tends to get cluttered. It is the pass through from the garage to the house as well as storage for fabric and craft things. Everyone tends to dump things on the counter as they walk through.
There is room to cut fabric now, and if you look off on the left hand side, you can see that the scrap basket has managed to fill itself up again magically. It must be some sort of spontaneous self replicating behavior unique to scraps. I've asked DH to put an outlet above the counter so that I plug in the light without running the chord over the edge. After that I might do something more decorative on the wall. Before I get too carried away in here, there are a few more rooms in the house that could use some attention. One step at a time.

Last 3 Dear Jane Blocks

I just finished off the last three Dear Jane blocks. Despite fears that I had gotten sidetracked again, I was pretty sure I had at least three blocks in progress hiding out somewhere. During my cleaning today they turned up, just as I had expected. The first one is L-13, Harvest Moon. It was all prepped, and just needed to be appliqued down at the edges. The one in the middle is a Log Cabin, which isn't an official DJ block, but it was on the software, so I decided to include it anyway. The last one is A-13, Starlight, Starbright. It was a major pain in the neck and didn't want to lie flat at all. I hand pieced it in the car when we were driving to the cruise this summer. I'm not a very precise hand piecer I guess. I didn't have and iron at the time and was hopeful that it would all work out in the end. One side did, but the other, well, it wasn't cooperating.
I've got all the sashing strips and cornerstones cut out and ready to go. I squared up all the blocks and it should take too long to get the top put together.
The girls wanted to see a free movie this morning. The theater is very near Joann's so we popped in to find some more fabrics for the Midget blocks. I showed them what I meant by "small scale" prints and they went to town picking out a rainbow of fat quarters which were on sale today. They are just out of the laundry now, so I'll get them all pressed and squared up. It looks like the next two blocks are pretty simple, so I might get another put together tonight. I'm sure the initial enthusiasm will wear off at some point, but long term Amy and I were thinking that one block a week is reasonable goal. Some weeks I can get more done, but I'm going to try not to put this one away and let is turn into a UFO.

Happy Weekend

Last night was a 40th birthday party for my friend Ashlyn. It was actually the second 40th birthday party for her, but the first was a surprise. She's the one in the middle wearing blue and Meisje is on the other end in purple. We used to all run together, before we got old and worn out.
Kurt took the kids all to beach volleyball this morning and I went in to school to get some prep work done. It is amazing how much easier it is to get things done when there is no one there to chat with. I've still got two more days to get everything ready, but orientation will be going on, so there will lots of people around.
I lounged by the pool and stitched binding while the kids swam after lunch and then went out for groceries with a quick pit stop at Hobby Lobby. I've got my eyes open for small scale prints that will work with the Midget Blocks. Then after the kids were settled all snug in their beds I started on block number 6. It is called Palm and seemed like a lot more work than it was worth for a design that isn't visually complex. There are 56 pieces and lots of sharp little points.



Maybe it would look better with three different greens in graduated shades? The seams are pretty bulky and it doesn't really want to lie flat, but maybe when the dissolvable paper goes away it will look a little better.

Sanity Check

I've gone off on a tanget out of nowhere working on the new midget blocks. Every time I work on a new block though, it reminds me of my poor, sad, lonely Dear Jane blocks. I am too often guilty of starting something new without finishing off the old.
So before I get all carried away with the new blocks, I decided to pull out my blue blocks and figure out what they needed to be done. These were never meant to be a full sized quilt. They are going to hang in the entryway with a delicate scalloped border after being lovingly hand quilted. So it looks like I need 3 more blocks along with some small blue cornerstones and a simple white lattice. I can do that.

Stopping Now, Really, I am

OK, I'll put these little guys away for a while. I wanted to get one more done though before I work some more on school stuff. So here is midget block number 5:

It is a Pineapple block of course. I think it looks more impressive than the Wild Goose Chase, but it only has 46 pieces compared to the 56 of block 4. The kids are asking for dinner, and Kurt has gone out with the guys after work tonight. I'm supposed to go to a 40th birthday party tonight, but I'll wait until he gets home and we'll play tag. The kids have had plenty of time with sitters this week so we decided not to go together.

I Should be Working

School starts Wednesday. There are a million things I need to get done before then. These adorable little blocks are calling my name though and I just wanted to get one more done before getting to work.

This one is called Double X. The sample was done in pink green and blue 1930s fabrics, but I chose this coordinated line from Connecting Threads. None of the points got cut off, but the middle seem didn't match up quite right. Maybe I should have used a pin or two.
I think I've figured out my printer problem, so I might try another paper pieced block next to see if it comes out at the right size. I really am going to get some school work done first though. The kids are coming and I'd better get ready.