Long Weekend

Sadly it's time to get back to work this morning after an extended holiday weekend at the lake.  I wish I could say that I feel completely refreshed and ready to hit the computer this morning, but after three days at the lake with a neurotic dog that is scared to death of fireworks (which, by the way, can be heard going off about 20 hours a day down there), I feel like a need a really good night's sleep.

I was able to get quite a bit accomplished while keeping the dog company.  Most is not picture-worthy - I caught up on all the prep work for my summer BOW and summer freebie and managed to get most of the stitching finished on block one. I still have a little way to go before it is finished. I have to say that I absolutely loathe the new Steam-A-Seam 2 Lite that I purchased when it came back on the market briefly last year. I hate how badly it gums up my needles. Lisa Bongean said that steaming it more would help so I tried steaming for a second time with loads of steam but it doesn't seem to make any difference.  I find that I have to keep alcohol wipes handy and clean my needle frequently. Very frustrating.

I finished the next block for our guild BOM. The taupes do not look great in pictures, but I am really loving how they look.  I didn't do a wool version this month - I have enough wool applique in the queue with my BOW! 

I worked on one of my hand-pieced LeMoyne Star blocks on the drive and managed to finish another couple of diamond wedges. It was fun to work on it again - I'm inspired to get back to that one in hopes of finishing it for our quilt show next year.  I think I am down to only a couple more 12" blocks and then seven or eight 6" stars. I need to unearth that one from one of the UFO piles and start working on it again.

Speaking of digging out old projects, I was inspired to get back to my last Dear Jane over the past week or so due to a lot of new activity in one of the online groups I am in.  I managed to finish two more blocks.

I keep thinking that I want to start over (again) but then I go back and look at what I have completed so far and actually like them - all done in Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  It's mainly the background that I don't like - white on white. I started this one a couple of years ago in hopes of finding a theme that I liked well enough to stick with it. My previous two attempts never made it beyond 40 blocks or so.

I'm looking forward to another quilt retreat this weekend.  I am hoping that I can finish my Celtic Solstice at this one...which means I will have to make a final decision the setting very soon. So much pressure!

Turkey Day Break

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break - five whole days without work - wonderful!  I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room and made a little progress on a couple of projects.  I finished my first LeMoyne Star block early last week and am getting close to finishing the second one.  These blocks were a bit obnoxious - trying to organize 16 points in the center is not my idea of fun. I am very happy with how it is turning out, however. I love my colors!

I made some progress on Dear Jane over the past couple of weeks, too.  I prepped several blocks while I was on vacation - I will be traveling a lot over the next three weeks so I figure I can polish off a few during flights.

They look a little wonky in the above photo since I haven't trimmed the over-sized ones down yet.  I need to re-make the little LeMoyne Star.  I tried to do it by machine and I am not happy with how the center turned out.  I tried to let it go - to live by the Brenda Papadakis Dear Jane motto "finished is better than perfect" - but I'm pretty sure I will obsess over it until it looks better.  That may be a project for next weekend.

Another project I made progress on over the break was my Antique Rose.  I finished my second block.  I'm toying with the idea that I might actually be able to finish this one in time for the quilt show if I put my mind to it.  I need seven more blocks.  It's not THAT much work if I focus, right?

As usual, any time I have more than a few hours of spare time I come up with new projects to start.  I received my pattern for The Caswell Quilt in the mail and it is even more beautiful "in person" than it looked on the website. I couldn't wait to get started! It doesn't look like much now...not at all like it took several hours to do.  The only down side to this pattern is that the block placement diagrams are photos of the actual blocks.  I tried a light box for placement but that wasn't great, so I opted instead for making an overlay, but I find that an overlay doesn't really work for me when it comes to stem placement and embroidery lines.  I think I will need to wing it a little with this pattern.  I'll have to keep in mind that no one will be holding up the overlay to see where I've strayed once it's finished...

And last, but not least, the mystery quilt.  I've followed Bonnie Hunter for years and have always wanted to do one of her mysteries. I decided that this would be my year. I am not too sure of my overall fabric choices just yet - my daughter was helping me pull from my stash over the weekend and I'm not too sure I'm happy with where we landed (burgundy, hunter green and navy...flashback to the 90s!), but I am happy with the two fabrics I selected for step one.  The light fabric is a background I bought four yards of over the summer.  It's too busy for applique, so it's just right for something like this. The other fabric is one I had a couple of yards of (not sure why...it probably had a purpose at one time). 















I'm not finished with the first step, but I made a good start.  I know I'm going to fall behind quickly with all of my upcoming travel, but I just couldn't resist.  I'm certainly never at a loss for something to work on!

Shop Hopping & Trying to Keep Up

I had an opportunity to head down to the lake to participate in the Country Shop Hop at the end of last week.  I really enjoyed the trip.  The trees are beautiful and I really appreciate that the shops run tons of specials and sales to make the drive worthwhile.  Some shops had 20% off everything in the store.  I was disappointed in the free patterns - I think everyone just goes for the quick and easy things these days - but everything else was great.  I found lots of size 5 pearl cotton and since I have visions of doing a bunch of twilling, I had to pick up one of every color:

Note that this picture doesn't really convey the size of the pile - it's a couple (a few?) inches deep - I think I bought 70 skeins or so.  (They were on sale - how could I pass them up?)

Although not part of the shop hop, I visited Homestead Hearth on Saturday.  It's definitely my favorite shop of all time!  I found several fantastic Japanese taupes to add to my collection for my LeMoyne Star and also picked up Dawn Heese's new book.  I am planning to pick up wool to put together class samples before our next guild meeting, so I was happy to find the book without having to order it online.

I have been keeping up with Dear Jane the last couple of weeks (the blocks, anyway, not the triangle assinments).  I was at our guild's Quilt Club last night and was amazed by the renewed interest in Dear Jane.  We just may have to resurrect our group - it would certainly help keep me motivated!

I'm also doing okay at keeping up with my hand piecing homework.  I have one of this month's 12" blocks done and the second well underway.  I am really enjoying the process and loving my colors.

Switching gears to my other obsession....I'm starting to get excited about the Cardinals' game today.  We have tickets to the game tomorrow - I am so hoping that the weather cooperates and we get a couple of wins at home.  Go Cards!!!

Homework

I had planned to post about my class with Nancy Kerns, but I haven't touched that project since I've been home so that will need to wait for another day.  I had a very busy weekend with my oldest home from college but did manage to squeeze in some sewing time.

I'm making progress on my September hand-piecing class assignment - I may even get all three blocks completed before Saturday's class!  Here are the two 12" blocks for this month:

I also finished this month's "buck-a-block" from my guild.  I really like this pattern - it's a Kansas City Star pattern that was published in the 1950s.  I would love to win the blocks this month!

I also experimented with a cool technique for an old block that a friend told me about.  The pattern, "Arrowhead", was originally published in the Kansas City Star.  Anita Grossman Solomon came up with an innovative way to piece the block.  I tried the technique using some of the red and white fabrics I've been collecting:

I love the technique and think this would make a fantastic two-color quilt, however I'm not sure I would use two prints.  This might be a good place to use that 6.5 yds of white-on-white I bought at Sweet Annie's a while back.

Last, but certainly not least, I made a new start on my rainbow Dear Jane.  I decided that I just couldn't stand the Moda Bella solid or the Kona Snow - they aren't nice to work with and they are very boring.  I found a nice leaf print white-on-white this weekend that isn't too "painty".  (I hate the paint - it always looks yellowish to me!).  I was able to snag 11 or so yards at a really good price this weekend so I am starting over (I only had five blocks in the Moda white, so not to much to re-do.

I'm a couple of weeks behind on the 2012 Dear Jane BOW assignments...and haven't made any triangles yet, but it's a start.  Yay!

A Few Days Off

A few days off over the holidays has meant a little extra time in the sewing room. I probably should have used the time more effectively - picked a project and spent all my sewing time making progress on it - but where's the fun in that? So instead I spent the time on lots of different things and made little bits of progress on all of them.  I started my second block for Stars and Sprigs (still in progress) and stitched the first applique block for my Farmhouse quilt.

I also started the new Dear Jane I have been planning ever since seeing the photo of the one done in Kaffe fabrics...

I started with applique blocks, of course.  There aren't nearly as many as I remember - so many pieced blocks!  I would love to hand piece them but probably should stick with paper piecing so that I actually get at least a few of them done.

I also had a blast digging out an old project I started back when I first began quilting. I have always loved New York Beauty quilts, especially the bright ones.  I started a NYB quilt in a class at The Quilted Fox. I don't think I had much fabric at the time (boy, how that has changed!) so I purchased all kinds of brights to use for this project. I was shocked at how much fabric I found in those boxes!  My original thought was to sort it into my stash, but there is clearly not enough room in my drawers to accomodate it all.  I'll have to deal with what to do with it all later... In the meantime, I decided to get back to working on the quilt.  It took me a little while to get back into the swing of the paper piecing and curves, but I managed to knock out one block on Thanksgiving.

I now have 13 of the 30 the pattern calls for - still lots of work to do there, too. 

Other projects I worked on this week include my Runaway quilt (stitching binding) and the Ha Ha Tonka rug. I am the poster child for quilter's ADD!