A new thing is a good thing

Three things to be happy about:
(1) Fresh flowers on your table
(2) a hot cup of coffee
(3) a good movie

Sometimes I like to try new things, especially if I think it's good for me.

At the Giant I saw this "thick and rough" oatmeal by Silver Palate - whole grain milled oats, double toasted in granola ovens, richer flavor, rougher texture, yadda yadda yadda.

I figured if that couldn't do it, it can't be done!  So... why not give it a try?

Well ... when I prepared it according to the directions, it certainly was thick - and DRY!  It was like eating ground up cardboard.

Moving right along.

Lately I haven't been able to wrap my mind totally around quilting, even though I love it, isn't that strange?

The house quilt I'm working on keeps fighting me, even after I picked it all up and laid it back down.


Then I had an "ah-hah!" moment - why not lay out just the black part, get it flowing the way I want it, then lay out the white (or bottom) part.

Here we go, I think I have the darker half the way it should be, trying to balance the placement of the white houses.

I'm working without a pattern, so that's one reason I'm having these challenges.  But the important thing is now I have it at a point where I can go forward without a lot of drama.

Gotta go - time for breffus!  I think the second house from the right could move down just a wee bit though ... sew forth and sew on

Spring, finally!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) new plants
(2) settling in
(3) clean windows

Mine are dirty ... nuff said!

Yesterday was a wonderful day to go plant shopping.

It feels like we're finally moving into summer - uh, spring - uh, summer!

The Home Depot always has a large selection of plants, and plenty of them! 

The sun was out (kinda hot, actually!), there was a gentle breeze, and all the colorful plants just made me happy!

I picked up some coleus, vinca vines and petunias for the planters on my front porch.

On another note, I made more of the little black and white houses I started a couple weeks ago.

I know the layout I want to do, but for some reason it's just not working out.  I need to just pick everything up and lay out the background fabric, then place the house blocks where they belong. 

I have about 18 blocks pieced - that's enough to make a throw sized quilt.

And that gives me a great opportunity to use some of this pretty black-on-white fabric.  I think I bought it last October on the Lancaster trip, and I've been wanting to cut into it.

Birds, pine cones, holly, snowflakes - what's not to love!


That's it for now, have a great Thursday, sew forth and sew on ...

That little house quilt, again

Three things to be happy about:
(1) remembering when
(2) mailing labels
(3) learning a new tip

I like finding new tips!  Now, I'm not particularly a gadget person but I do like running across handy tips in unexpected places!  For example, I was watching a YouTube video the other night sponsored by Jordan Fabrics, and I saw the neatest thing - Matt placed an 8-lb barbell on his ruler while he cut a batik WOF.  My ruler always wants to shift just as I reach the far end of a long cut, probably because of the way I lean over it.  What a great idea to keep rulers from shifting!

Here's another money-saving tip (spend that money on fabric instead!):

I own a pair of quilting gloves that I got at a quilt shop, but I'm pretty sure I got these gloves at the Dollar Tree in the tool section. 

What's in a name anyway?

Whatever.

The houses are quilted! 


This little bit of of ugly was used for the binding (Why did I even buy this fabric???)

Who'd have thought it would actually look this good?  But agsinst the ugly blue Christmas fabric I used for the backing (see it here), not so much.  Does it match the front?  Nuh-uh.  Does it matter to me?  Nope!

You know what really matters?  Another quilt got added to the "done" pile!  Finished is better than majoring on the minor, right?

Just to move it along and because I didn't want to think about it, I quilted it with a simple wavy line, edge to edge - it looks good enough I think.

Have a great Thursday (where did the week go?); sew forth and sew on til later!

That little house quilt

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a denim jacket
(2) a new resource
(3) WALL-E

Watching WALL-E as I'm preparing this post, that's the cutest movie ever!

For the past couple days I've been trundling through my fabric inventory, deciding how to use what, and where to place it in the meantime.  That's not a small task, I tell you what!

Decided to put a border on that little house quilt so I can finish it ...

yuck, too dark!

 Needs to be brighter

A bit too Halloween-y.

For some reason brown is sticking in my head

Too dark though

This one??

Good choice!

I think that shade of brown sets off the many colors of the houses, and it works well with the black sashing.

Also, the little poke-y dots echo the happy theme of the houses.



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

Changing direction

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a moving target
(2) fall foliage
(3) pigs in blankets

I like the two yellow scrappy blocks I started making for the December guild meeting but they're very piecing-intensive!  They'll take more time than I want to devote right now because I also need to make a challenge quilt for December.  I can either make two pillow covers with what I've pieced, or make two more blocks for a small hanging.

Some years ago I made this house wall hanging from gifted scraps that I never quilted.

The point of making a scrap project was to show other guild members what can be done with small pieces .... this will do what we wanted.  I need to decide on an outer border and quilt it, plenty time to finish it for the meeting.

Now for my challenge quilt (music theme) I can use this silhouette couple that I've had for a very long time, it even has fusible on the back.

My idea was to name the quilt "Dancing in the Street," but buildings drawn in perspective had me stopped in my tracks!

Then yesterday I took a different direction - how about "Dancing in the Moonlight"??  Anybody remember that song remade by Van Morrison?

I'll hang the moon behind them so their heads aren't lost on that blue background, but it needs to be larger I think ...

I like the idea of their partial shadow cast by the moon, might have to cut it off when I do the ground, though.

The border will be made from neutral and black quarter-square triangle - or hourglass - units.

I made a lot of these sometime last summer when I was just doodling around, so I have a pretty good head start!

.

Twirling my seams, pressing in a counter clockwise direction...



Gotta love that dry iron from the Vermont Country Store!

Have a great Saturday, sew forth and sew on

Gearing up

The weather has been so roller-coaster lately, with the temperature swinging from cold, warm, cold again all in a one week span.  Now it's back to cold, so that means it's time to bring out a bold new plan - grits!!

When I was growing up our main breakfast food was grits - you either got grits and sausage or grits and fatback, but it was always "grits-and".  I was so tired of grits, I promised myself that when I "got big" (which was another way of saying "when I grew up and moved out of mama and daddy's house and got a job and my own house and be able to do whatever I wanted to do and they could kiss my foot and nobody could tell me nuthin'") I would not eat another spoonful of grits!  But one day about 35-odd years ago I got to wanting me some grits - hello!!

So now I'm not only a reconverted grits eater, but I'm also a grits lover.  One morning when I reached for my box of grits (I had a taste for grits and salmon cakes) there was barely a spoonful left in the box, I had forgotten to buy some.  I was going to Costco that day so I acted on impulse and got the three-package deal... I think I might have gone a bit overboard that time!  Anyway, I have enough grits to last me awhile, don't you think?  You only need a quarter cup to make enough for a generous serving, and they're so creamy!

In between other things I'm playing around with the little houses I made from scraps.  When I was doing these I wasn't thinking in terms of setting or sash colors... I was just doodling.  I didn't want to set them smack together, I was afraid they would lose their individuality somehow.  So then it came down to sashing decisions...

I tried black; my first impression was "oooh, I don't think so!"  On most of the blocks the bottom of the house was made from a dark fabric and the black sort of melted into it.  I tried a few with a white sashing but that completely killed the blocks!  I didn't think I liked the black but I left them on my wall a couple days and you know what?  They didn't look half bad! 

For the bottom row I sashed the top and bottom of the blocks and added a side sash with the corner stones attached to top and bottom.  This is how I'm making rows 2 and 3 -

The sashing goes on the top only, with a sash/top cornerstone combination for the side.

Here's a layout of two rows combined - I think this will be a cute little quilt!

I might have made the sashing a little narrower - they were cut at 2" and finish at 1-1/2" - but I here I have to play my "it's just a quilt" card!

That's all for now, have a great Thursday - sew forth and sew on!

Lights and little houses

The sounds of happiness, the bright lights and the faint but delicious smells of Christmas cooking reminded him of past Christmas times when his wife had still been alive and his own children little.
- Leo Tolstoy, "Papa Panov's Special Christmas"

Hello, is anybody there??  Good!

I guess we have to listen to the right news!





I just went outside to get a package from my neighbor's porch and boy is it windy and cold!  Yesterday morning I woke up around 7:30 and wanted to re-snuggle under the quilts and catch some more sleep, then I remembered his lights ... those b-l-i-n-k-i-n-g  lights that I had to get up and turn off.  That boy better come home soon, I tell you what!!

I'm working on a project that I can't show you yet, but I did do some more of those cute little houses from the scraps given to me at guild... 

aren't these cute?  There are 16 of these, they make up really fast!  I had been thinking of parking them in my Parts Department til later, maybe using them for a border.  But now that I see them grouped together, I think they'd make a sweet quilt on their on, with sashing between.   Something to think about!

Well, that's it for today, here's a quilty hug to insert into your day...

take a nibble as often as you like!  Sew forth and sew on til later...

Scraps, glorious scraps!

"Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds."
- O. Henry, "The Gift of the Magi"

There are two basic rules about scraps: (1) The more you use, the more you have, and (2) Other people's scraps are more interesting than your own!

At guild meeting Saturday Rosa gave me a humongous bag of scraps - I was scrap happy!  I couldn't wait to dig into the bag, there's some wonderful stuff in there! Isn't that the cutest little toady-frog? 

I had some paper foundations that I keep in a folder, I can always use those shapes.  Actually this is a modified flying goose (geese?) that I manipulated in EQ by moving the peak over to the left and right, to make the top flat.  This makes the perfect roof top for a tiny house!

I pieced a 4" rooftop, scrap, then I cut another piece roughly 4 x 6 to make the body of the house.  Does the measurement have to be exactly exact?  Nope, we're only doodling!

To make a door for my little masterpiece, I cut off a 1-1/2 x 6" slice, then cut the bottom part just slightly off center to insert a door.

It can be left or right of center, or even IN the center, doesn't matter - here a doodle, there a doodle!

To make the door, cut a 1-1/2 x 3" or so piece of contrasting fabric.  Insert it between the two bottom pieces, reattach that 1-1/2 x 6" strip you sliced off.  Before attaching the body to the roof  I trimmed only the bottom of the roof unit, NOT the sides. 

Then attach the roof to the house, trim around all sides, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

Voila, houses!

These little houses can be used as a border treatment... or I can add a piece of background at the TOP, and/or make the house part taller to make them different heights.  Who knows where we'll go from here... I just know I love playing with scraps!

That's it for now, I plan to stay in today and sew sew sew!  I have a challenge I'm working on for my guild and Christmas gifts for my bee.  Have a great Monday - sew forth and sew on!

Houses on parade

Three things to be happy about:
(1) joining a kewl house swap
(2) working on the houses
(3) putting it all in the mail

I finished all my wonky houses, yes!  I might go back and do some landscaping on a couple of the blocks, but I think they look nice the way they are...

On these next two I extended the height of the house a bit, for a different look ...

I think my favorite of these is the orange house with the cat in the window.  He can't decide if he's more concerned about monkeys on his roof... or puppy footprints on his sidewalk!

That's it for the houses, you can see the entire collection of all the participants who posted, by clicking the Wonky House Swap button on the right.  I just need to do the siggy blocks, then everything can go into the mail.  As much fun as I had, I'm actually glad to be finishing these so I can clean off my cutting table - I need to use a whole different set of fabrics for two other projects!

Enjoy your Monday, sew forth and sew on



New house in the 'hood'

Three things to be happy about:
(1) sleeping late without guilt
(2) waking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
(3) a hearty breffus

NancyinSTL gave me these three things to be happy about:
(1) the best hubby in the world
(2) great friends
(3) a good night's sleep

I'm loving it!

I'm usually being uprooted from bed by the workmen next door, but this morning when I could  have slept later?   I woke up bright and early around 7!  Go figure. 

Here's a new neighbor on the block:

This is my seventh house for the wonky house swap; I did a bit of landscaping on this one, I might go back and add a sun - we'll see.  

I've been a bit "down under" the past few days - in fact it was more than two weeks!  There was a mixup in my health insurance, which I had to pay myself since retirement (they couldn't automatically deduct it from my interim annuity).  Benefeds didn't get December's payment that I sent in mid-November  just after my cruise, then by the time I saw what was going on and made the payments for December and  January - and THEY CASHED THE CHECK - it didn't get posted to my account in time.  Long story short, my supplemental dental and visual insurance got cancelled the first week of this month.  And they didn't just cancel it effective January 7 - it was retroactive all the way back to September! 

It got straightened out and everything is okay now, but during that time I was in knots!  I didn't feel like working on anything quilty... and the stuff that I did  do just wasn't turning out right.  So... it's been a very frustrating, unproductive more-than-two weeks for me with the insurance mess at the back of my mind and the workmen next door bang-bang-banging all day long. 

Well, that was my story but I'm bouncing back on top now!  My plans today are to do a bit of sewing and some cleaning in my basement.  I hope you have a fun day!  If you're still "non-retired", have a great holiday!

Sew forth and sew on