UFO update

Three things to be happy about:
(1) fish fries
(2) old fashioned values
(3) a childhood nickname

Mine was Tansie - don't ask me why, but mama called me that all the time!

My bee's Christmas swap blocks are now officially put together and ready for quilting!

I went with black for the outer border; didn't want red or green or gold or white -- or to think about it any longer!


As I mentioned, my guild is doing the All People Quilt UFO challenge, it's a good way to stir up those UFO's that are hanging around!  I want to do some more work on my Baltimore Album quilt blocks, but before I can do them I need to make scrap yardage!

Working on yellows and blues right now...

a bunch of blues done; I might need to make more, not sure at this point

and yellows!  a nice little pile of scrap yardage...

and next up - pink!

When I get some red and green and brown stockpiled I can start laying out more blocks.  What flower designs will I use?  I have no idea, I'm making this up as I go along!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on til later...

Showing, sharing and ufo-ing at the guild

Three things to be happy about:
(1) hush puppies
(2) brightly colored throw pillows
(3) oven mitts shaped like animals

Saturday was guild day, another month already!

There were lots of gorgeous pieces on display but for some reason my camera wanted to shake just as I snapped a picture ... or was it me?

Whatever...

Here are some pictures that I managed to capture:

An African panel by Nadine

Cynthia's hand pieced tumblers

But the one thing that really impressed me was the number of UFO's that were either completed or had been worked on as a result of the All People Quilt UFO challenge:

I call it impressive - and that doesn't even include the ones that weren't shown!  

The UFO number pulled this time corresponds to the Scrap Crystals quilt I started in 2013... I was working on it last year before it "went under" again.  Time to pull the pieces and roll it on out.  Maybe a good name for UFO's would be "undercover quilts?" Sew forth and sew on til later!

Silent Sunday

UFO Blocks

Three things to be happy about:
(1) walnuts
(2) company logos
(3) the smell of bacon cooking

I've been working on the Christmas swap blocks I got from my Bee, that had been sitting almost a year.  I'm glad to say - I've made a lot of progress!

I've sashed the nine blocks I'll use in the wall hanging. although I met a challenge head on when one of the blocks stretched because I had handled the slashed border too much.  Got out of that one!

I laid out all the blocks before I started, so I felt okay joining them as I went along. But after I got them all assembled I noticed some things I could have done differently.  Oh well, it passes the galloping-horse-at-50-feet rule, so I'll let it stand as is!

Now I just need to put on the bottom sashing, and decide on an outer border.  It won't be very large because the hanging is large enough already!  Maybe next time we'll swap smaller blocks, eh?

So that'll be two UFO's done already, I'm averaging one a month!  Gotta make a UFO list...

Sew forth and sew on til later

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made this little challenge quilt last year, I don't think I showed it after I finished it 

... 2-1/2" squares and HST's.

Happy Valentine's Day.

A change of direction

Three things to be happy about:
(1) patterned throw rugs
(2) Ott lights
(3) sweet tater tots

I've never tried the sweet potato tots but they sound good; I like the sweet potato fries, so I know I'd like the tots too!

Still working on the Christmas swap blocks from my Bee.

I don't have a large enough square ruler to cut the diagonals, so I just use my 8-1/2" wide ruler.

Whatever works...

But this didn't - yuck!

It looked great when I did that one block with the angel, but I don't like the way that red and white looks when the blocks are sewn together.

The sashing declared a turf war - not gonna work!

Oh how I hate unsewing!

So I went to my stash to find some low-impact fabric to surround the tilted blocks as a straight-on sashing.

I picked out a muted shade of green that would have looked good, but I didn't have enough of that piece, and green can be a bit tricky anyway.

Different shades of grey will work, using the same fabric on two sides of each block.

I'm using 4 different fabrics that are muted enough to let the blocks take center stage.  I feel good about this choice.

Sew forth and sew on

Just in time

Three things to be happy about:
(1) pink bubble gum
(2) a new notepad
(3) being spot on!

I was just in time, taking my sewing machine to Hancock Fabrics for repair!

Somehow I missed it on the news, but they filed bankruptcy and will be closing 70 stores... the store I went to yesterday morning is one of em.

They start the liquidation on Thursday.

Will your local Hancock's be closing??

Yesterday was the last day Jeff will be at the store; he was able to replace the foot pedal on my Touch n Sew while I waited.

The good news is he's trying to get a contract with a small-appliance store that's within a mile of the Hancock location.  The other good news is he'll come to your home for a small fee.

I bought my Singer somewhere around 1970, Jeff is the only repairman who has worked on it for the last 40 years - that's a loooooong time!

In other news, now that I finished the x and plus UFO, I can move on!

At our guild we're doing our version of the All People Quilt UFO challenge.  On my list, the number Carol pulled corresponded to these Christmas blocks from my Bee that I haven't done anything with since the swap in April 2015.

Because all the blocks aren't exactly the same size, I thought using a twisted block setting would be a good choice.  So... I pulled out this book that I've had for a long time, Twist n Turn by Sharyn Squire Craig.

I started with one of my own blocks to see if I like the look - looks pretty good!

Onward and upward with these blocks... I have to show some positive progress at our next meeting, on February 20.

Heck, I might have the flimsy done by then!


That's it for now, have a great Tuesday, go out and buy some fabric, sew forth and sew on...

Top done!

Three things to be happy about
(1) being in the know
(2) TV show marathons
(3) chunky jewelry

I did it and I'm glad!

It's always great to finish up a UFO, this one has been hanging around for awhile.  I looked back over my posts to when I started this quilt - 4 years!  You can read the initial post here.

It occurred to me Saturday that this project qualifies for the American Patchwork & Quilting’s "It all Adds Up" Quilt-Along.

I wasn't too sure about my choice for that inner border - still not 100% sure, maybe I should have gone with gold - but it's a done deal now!

The peacocks just nestled right into the outer border.  They weren't fussy cut but hey, that's fine with me!

I would have lost too much fabric otherwise; my goal was to use up the fabric, not create scraps by fussy cutting!

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Today will be a no-sew day for me, I have to take my sewing machine to Hancock Fabrics so the repairman can look at it.  I have a very disobedient foot pedal that sometimes wants to keep sewing when I take my foot off.  I mean I'm stomping and banging on it to make it stop - annoying as heck when I'm trying to adjust my seam!  Anyway, I'm hoping he can replace the pedal while I wait, that Hancock's is over 20 miles away.

Have a great Monday, I hope your team won the Superbowl, sew forth and sew on til later...

x plus x = panels

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Youtube Missouri Star tutorials
(2) minty toothpaste
(3) hot coffee

Still happy about that first cuppa in the morning!  In a Rugrats cartoon a few years ago Tommy and Chuckie were pretending to be grownups eating breakfast before going to work.  Chuckie: "Mr. Tommy, this coffee tastes like mud!"  Tommy:  "It is mud, Mr. Chuckie!"

Ahh, that first cuppa - tastes like hazelnut!

I'm piecing my x and plus blocks by groups of nine to make it easy on myself.

Three rows of panels, plus one odd row...

I saw this after I sewed on the right panel - ouch!  What are the odds of having two identical fabrics side by side?  More to the point, what are the odds of me unsewing this seam???

I think I may have used just 3 of those squares in the whole thing.

So here's progress (can't see those two identical squares, right?)

One panel done, two more to go!

It shrinks horizontally by two inches after sewing.


That's it for now, time for breffus, sew forth and sew on...

x and plus progress

Three things to be happy about:
(1) temperatures rising
(2) new movies
(3) red nail polish

I didn't really "get" how close I was to piecing all my x and plus blocks til I gave them my full attention!  Before I knew it I had completed the 90 blocks I was aiming for.

I laid these out on my design floor, just tossing them down as I unpinned the 10-block groups.  If I saw two that matched too closely I moved one, but you know what?  I'm not going to start moving these around because it would take me half a day to get a perfect balance!

Just looking at the photo now I can see some dark spots but I won't worry about that.

I'm using these two fabrics for the borders, I thought a light inner border would give the eye a rest.

Or, maybe not...

This bluish-purplish border print fabric is a Jennifer Sampou that I've had for years!

I like it; it was tucked away in a cabinet, and that's probably why I hadn't used it by now.

Notice the peacocks in the border strip?  My first thought was to cut it away and "save" it for later.

One little curious thing though - when I unfolded it all the way I discovered that at some point I had cut out big hunks, and part of the border was missing.

I started to put it back but then I thought to myself "why not use it?  If not now, when??"

So, final decision - I'll use this fabric, some of the strips will have the peacocks and some won't.

I'll think of it as a design element!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on til later...

New stuff!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) getting new stuff!
(2) stuffed cabbage
(3) a new recipe

One day last month I ordered some things that got delayed because of the snow storm.  I got my 2-1/2" square die the next day, but Saturday morning I got the second item...

A new iron!

It's no ordinary iron - this baby is a DRY iron all the way from Vermont!

No holes in the sole plate, no danger of spitting or dribbling water on my pieced blocks.

It's to replace the iron on the left that I've had for ages and ages!

A few months ago I noticed a frayed place in the cord so I put blue painter's tape over it.  I know, I know - that wasn't the best way to handle the problem but, well, you know...

So I got this new iron, and boy is it heavy!

At our bee on Saturday I bought this piece of SSI fabric - Matters of the Heart by Kaye England.

Three yards, what a great find!  In 2006 I only had a small piece of this fabric and I really liked it but I just couldn't find any more of it.

I made this wall hanging - Goose Steppin' - using strips and pieces from what I had.

I remember when I finished the quilt I said to myself  "Wow!  Look how those geese are steppin' around that quilt!"

Label art designed by a former co-worker - John is a very talented, creative graphics artist!

I just explained to him that I wanted a picture of a goose doing the goose step, and he designed the art.

On Monday afternoon my third item came - a new school house die on sale at Accuquilt.

Haven't had time to play with it yet, though.



That's it for now, I placed a few pictures of show and tell from our meeting on the bee's blog - enjoy!  Sew forth and sew on til later...