April OMG Update

In spite of having what felt like extremely limited time in my sewing room this month I actually accomplished quite a bit. I'm very happy to report that I have converted the piles of Starlite Skies blocks into a top, so I am four for four on my OMG projects!

It still needs to be pressed and there are a thousand threads to pick off of it - that sashing fabric was really stringy - but other than that it is ready for quilting. I would have liked it to be a bit wider - it's currently right at 90"- but decided to exclude the optional border as it is already 106" long. I really hate super long quilts since all of our beds have footboards. My husband suggested bucking convention and adding borders to the sides only but I am pretty sure that would be too much for my symmetry-loving OCD brain to handle!

I haven't decided how I am going to quilt this one. I feel like it needs to be custom rather than an edge-to-edge design, but I have no idea how to quilt those blocks. It might be a while before I load it on the longarm.

This weekend I finished blocks 89 & 90 for Triangle Gatherings. I had only prepped enough HSTs to get to block 90 since that was the original number Lisa had thrown out for the total. I spent a little time in EQ over the weekend and figured out a nice setting that will work with what I have so I decided to skip the last 9 blocks. I have a black fabric that will be perfect for setting this one but will need a few more yards of it so I will be searching for that this week.

I also finished my last Magic of Chrismas block over the weekend.  I had been putting this one off because of the teeny tiny triangles - the little HSTs are 1/2" finished.

As always my photos are terrible - the lighting in my house is not ideal for photography, apparently.  The actual color of my background fabric is somewhere between the block above and the picture below.  Anyway, I saw an absolutely gorgeous version of this quilt in Paducah with wool applique in the center and border and have decided to use a similar setting. This layout uses 42 blocks. I thought about going larger since I have 49 blocks, but once I figured out that I would need to make more to maintain symmetry it was easy to decide to just orphan a few. My design wall isn't quite large enough so this is a bit sloppy, but here's the idea. (Now that I see the photo I see a couple of blocks that need to be moved...)

This will be a bit challenging to piece since some of the more elaborate pieced blocks are a little larger than they are supposed to be....apparently my seam is a little too scant...but I am determined to get it together.  I'm a little frightened of trying to applique after quilting but the one in Paducah was so fantastic that I feel like I want to give it a shot. I still need to come up with my applique design and figure out the quilting so this will be another one that takes a while.

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts to share my April OMG finish and now need to decide what I want to choose as a focus project for May. Obviously it should be the one above, but there are a few others calling my name...

FNSI Update

I was able to spend plenty of time in the sewing room Friday night and the rest of the weekend and made fairly decent progress on one of my March UFOs - Magic of Christmas. I finished five blocks which leaves seven more to go - two each of three patterns, one of another that I skipped early on. Seven doesn't sound all that bad until you look at them...hundreds of tiny pieces left to assemble!

I also managed to keep caught up with Triangle Gatherings - two blocks finished last week and six more sets of triangles prepped and ready for Lisa's posts.  

And lest you think that all I ever do is make blocks (I am starting to feel like that myself!), I fnally loaded my Winter Stars quilt on the frame and selected a quilting design.  

I hope to get it quilted this week. Then it can join the growing pile of "just needs binding".  I wish I enjoyed that part!

So Many Triangles!

I have4 been enjoying a little time at home the past couple of weekends and have been trying very hard to keep up with Triangle Gatherings as well as make progress on this month's UFOs.  The weekend before last I caught up on my 6" block and then thought I would get a start on catching up the 3" version. I finished one block and am not sure I am going to take that one any farther.

I'm no stranger to small blocks - I started out quilting making miniatures - but I am not a fan of the triangle papers for these.  The seam allowances are about 1/8"amd are not at all fun to press open.

The little dog ears were a pain to trim also.  And then the pieces aren't quite as easy to line up - somehow the "bulky" 1/4" seams fight the little seam allowances. I may try another one as I prepped about 8 of them but I did not find the first one to be at all enjoyable!

Lisa posted block 17 at the beginning of the week and thanks to having pieces prepared for several more blocks I was able to finish it that night.  Blocks 18 & 19 posted this weekend and I knocked those out too.

So far, so good!  I am really hoping to keep up through the end so it doesn't become another long-term UFO. Speaking of UFOs, my Mosaics quilt is one of the assignments for this month.  This is how it looked at the beginning of the month (yes, it is in exactly the same spot as it was when the workshop ended last October).

It's hard to tell from the photo, but most of it is not sewn.  The inside of the circle, the bird's head and a little bit of one of the branches have been stitched.  Sadly I have not made much progress since the beginning of the month but am still hoping to at least have all of the center appliqued by the end of the month,

Magic of Christmas is my other UFO for March.  I have made some progress on this one, completing two blocks each of the last two weekends.  I think I have about 10 blocks left to make. These are not at all quick to put together!

I have really been going to town on my 1875 Ship rug - that's part of the reason no applique is getting done.  I took this one with me to Lenexa since it was smaller  (19"x 40").  I hadn't worked on it since the class in 2015 and only had the ship, water, houses and part of the flowers finished.  If I am able to keep up my current pace I think I will have the hooking finished by the end of the month.

We're only halfway through the month - let's see how much farther I can progress my UFOs by then!

FNSI Update

I must confess that "Friday Night Sew In" ended up being more of a "Friday Night Cook In" at my house so I didn't get all that much accomplished that evening (unless you count the homemade chicken pot pie and ranch pretzels).  I did manage to get the December block from my guild's BOM program completed.

The red I used is a little darker than most of the blocks I've made thus far but going back through the stack I found a couple of others that are fairly consistent in color.  I have quite a few blocks left to complete so I will have to be sure to make a couple of others in these darker colors.

I made a start on the January guild BOM but found as I started the final assembly that the pattern instructions were wrong. I was probably too tired to be sewing - I knew the flying geese seemed wrong but it didn't occur to me until I sewed them together that there was no seam allowance above the points.

I threw all the flying geese in the trash and went to bed a bit frustrated as I had already cut the excess off the corners of the geese and figured I would be starting over. On Saturday I decided to give it a little more thought with fresh eyes and after doing a bit of math (even used the Pythagorean theorem!) I figured out that the instructions called for cutting the geese rectangles a half inch too long. I carefully unstitched all of the geese, trimmed the base and reassembled them.  They didn't seem too worse for wear and I was able to get the block together.

I decided I would get back to my Magic of Christmas project next and finished another one of those blocks (I'm making two of each).

I was originally planning to stick with the MoC blocks but when I took a break from the machine to tidy up the sewing room a bit I ran across a kit I purchased at Renee Nanneman's open house last summer.  I am absolutely not a pink person but I love baskets and couldn't resist the kit. In a moment of weakness I decided to break into the kit and play a bit.

I made 12 of the little baskets (the pattern calls for making 12 from each of 14 fat quarters).  I still need to stitch the handles down but was happy with how quickly these little blocks went together. I have started countless basket quilts that are all very involved and as a result are all UFOs. This one might actually be reasonably practical to finish!

I didn't get a chance to post last week but I did get a lot of sewing done over the long MLK holiday weekend.  I am still waiting for smaller triangle papers from Primitive Gatherings so I haven't officially started Triangle Gatherings but I did make one 6" block for fun. It isn't Primitive Gatherings fabric (bought from them, but not Lisa's lines) so it doesn't really count, but it was helpful in figuring out that I really need to iron seams open and use pins. There is a lot of bulk in some of those corners!

I also managed to finish piecing my En Provence top.  I originally thought I might want to add more borders but decided it really doesn't need them. I don't want to have a solid border - seems wrong with all of that piecing in the neutral border - but my original idea for piano keys would make the quilt huge (well over 100" square).  I think I will probably leave it as is. I do like it now that it is together but have to admit that I saw a few other versions that I liked a little better.

I am making progress on both of my January UFOs and hope to be able to report a finish by the end of month. I'm off to a good start for the year - now if only I can keep it up!

En Provence Week Three

I definitely set the bar low going into the weekend - work was insanely busy last week and I knew I would be working much of the weekend just to try and keep my head above water. Isn't it wonderful how everyone suddenly gets motivated to try to finish everything off just before the end of the year? Anyway, I figured there was no way I would be able to finish step three this weekend - that is, until Bonnie posted another really easy one!  I have to believe that one or more of the next few steps will be killers - I have never, ever been able to keep up before!

I'm so excited to report that as very late Saturday night (okay, 1 am Sunday morning) I had all 168 purple four patches sewn and seams spun.  

I was hoping we would be using more purple 2" strips but I suspect that's not the case. Unfortunately I was a little over-zealous in my cutting. Guess all of these will have to go to the scrap drawer for future use! 

I even took time between work and sewing to make myself some snickerdoodles. I've been seeing so many posts and Food Network shows on cookies that I decided I needed to make a few for a pre-Christmas snack.  The Christmas cookie baking will begin in earnest next weekend (and I assure you these will not last until then)!

I even managed to find a little time yesterday afternoon to finish one more Magic of Christmas block. I am way behind - this is my first #15. I need to make a second and then two each of blocks 16-15.  I am anxious to see the proposed settings for these.  I am hoping I can come up with a decent-sized quilt using the double set.

I can't wait to see what the next mystery clue brings! Check out the link-up on Bonnie's blog to see how other mystery quilters are coming along!

Rug Hooking with Maggie Bonanomi

As usual I am behind in getting a September update posted. Life has been crazy busy lately!

A couple of weekends ago I attended a three day workshop with Maggie Bonanomi at Nola's studio in St. Louis. We did two days of rug hooking and one day of wool applique. It was really fun to hook again and the workshop gave me the hooking bug.  Maggie has some beautiful designs and I love her color palette!  Below is one of her rugs that I am absolutely in love with. She told us it was her first rug (note the "97"). The colors are beautiful and I love the squiggly line around the border!

I hadn't done any hoking since the beginning of June and was reluctant to start yet another rug, let alone another huge one. I had purchased Maggie's cabin rug (I can never remember the actual name) last year while out at Janice's so I had to decide between starting another giant project and buying another pattern.  I decided to stick with what I already had and thus now have three ridiculously large rugs in progress. I am loving this rug so far!

                                           

I actually have a little more completed than shown in these pictures.  I have a bit more of the greenery hooked and have started filling in the background.  I also have the cabin below completed.

I will be attending Janice's Birthday Bash in November and plan to keep working on this one.  I need to get at least one of these big ones finished before I even think about starting another one!

I thought that September might be the month that I finally achieved my orange peel goal (one per day).  I was going strong the first half of the month but fell behind once I started traveling. I managed to do 20 in September, which when combined with the pathetic 7 I finished in August but never counted brings my grand total to 163. 

I had also hoped to catch up on my Magic of Christmas blocks last weekend but fell just a little short. I finished two each of blocks 6, 7 and 8 and one of block 9. By the time I had those done Lisa had published blocks 10 and 11.  I wouldn't be surprised to see more posted before the weekend so I will be spending a lot of time at my machine again this weekend. 

I have a busy rest of October - a business trip followed by some fun.  I will be attending the MQX show in Springfield next weekend and then will be hosting Irene Blanck for a two day workshop the following week. I am really looking forward to both (but not so much the trip to New Jersey)!

FNSI Fail

FNSI ended up not happening for me this month for various reasons - getting home from NY a little later than planned, one of the fur babies not feeling well, and my daughter deciding last-minute to come home for a visit with her new puppy in tow. So the only sewing that happened Friday was four orange peels on the flight home.  I've been trying to get back to the orange peels after a couple of months of neglect.  I've done quite a few so I will be able to take credit for at least a little progress at the end of the month!

I finally made the trek to Eataly while in NY last week.  It was crazy busy but well worth the trip!  I went to the original store by the Flatiron Building.  The Empire State Building was feeling Italian that evening too.

They have a whole section of the store devoted to Nutella!

The fresh pasta looked incredible but the wait at that restaurant was over an hour.

I decided to eat in the center area between the meat, cheese and wine counters. It was crazy busy but I was able to get a seat after a short wait.

Almost everything on the menu looked incredible (except the wine)!

I decided on the meat and cheese selection.

It was so yummy! I'm not even sure what the toppings were on the plate but I thoroughly enjoyed them! 

I had planned to stop in this section before heading out but I was too full.  I will definitely have to go back.

Most of my sewing room time this weekend was spent preparing for Baltimore on the Prairie.  We head out to Nebraska first thing Tuesday morning.  I did manage to get a second block four and one block five of Magic of Christmas finished this afternoon.  Here's the new one:

I will be back next week with a BOTP update.  Lots of fun classes and things coming up over the next few months - I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Truman Lake Hook-in

The Truman Lake hook-in took place a couple of weeks ago.  It seemed a little smaller overall this year, perhaps due to it being a couple weeks earlier than normal, but Patty and her crew put on a great event as always. I think there were more rugs than ever before - and there were definitely a few show-stoppers!

I only took a few pictures and none of the hook-in itself.  I fell in love with this tree skirt, however, and took plenty of pictures of it. It is gorgeous!

I have been trying to finish the binding on my Garden Album quilt to take to Baltimore on the Prairie next week.  I'm almost finished so I should have a picture to post soon.  Other than that I have mainly been working on my Magic of Christmas blocks.  Blocks 3 & 4 were posted last week and are making me re-think my decision to make two of each.  They both had a LOT of pieces for 6" blocks.  Here is block 3 before it was assembled:

That star in the center - 2.5" square when sewn. Surprisingly it went together pretty well! Here are my two #2 blocks and one each of blocks 3 and 4.

I have both of the others cut and have started sewing so hopefully I won't get too far behind.  Block 5 is supposed to be posted today!

FNSI Weekend

I did manage to spend a lot of time in the sewing room Friday night and most of the weekend although it really doesn't seem like I accomplished all that much!  I received my fabrics for Lisa Bonjean's Magic of Christmas Stitch-Along on Thursday so that was the first thing I worked on. This stitch-along project will have 25 six inch red & white blocks. The setting is still a mystery. I chose to do the "country" version (red & cream/tan) and decided I would try to make two of each block for a larger quilt. The first block was nice and easy and went together quickly.

I couldn't decide what to work on next so I thought I would dig out my APQ UFO and see where I stood on that one.  The answer?  Very,. very far from being complete. Really only barely started. I assembled a couple more blocks just to say that I at least worked on it this month even though I can't claim much in the way of progress.  This is one of those projects that cries for a nice weekend retreat. 

Our local TAS chapter met on Saturday morning and we had a guest (and hopefully new member) that brought along a collection of 23 album blocks that she and her late sister had been made starting as far back as 1990.  She is working on finishing a few more blocks to bridge their two different color palettes and will then assemble them all into a quilt.  The blocks are beautiful!

I spent a little time cutting and sewing hourglass blocks for my first Clarissa block. The colors aren't very true in this photo but I really like how this came together.  I'm envisioning an off-white sashing and border. I plan to do the rest as leaders and enders - this one was just to get a feel for the project and help me plan for cutting.

The remainder of my sewing time this weekend was spent trying to catch up on SBOW prep work.  I assembled three more of the freebie blocks and three My Crazy Life blocks.  There were a lot of little pieces to cut out!

I am headed out of town for the Warsaw hook-in this weekend and hope to get some of these blocks stitched.  I am so far behind!  I think I have enough wool applique in the works to last me several lifetimes...