Meanwhile, back at the dance...

Three things to be happy about:
(1) spacious refrigerators
(2) fresh fruit
(3) remote controls

Hmm... remote controls.  They're okay when used to control your TV or radio or garage door... but when someone ELSE uses something remotely to control your car while you're driving?  Not so good!

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of the alternate block I'm making to go with the ID square dance block.  You ever have a "well, duh!" moment??  I had one after I made a couple more alternate blocks with light backgrounds, and placed them with the main blocks; see what I mean?

That light background gives the blocks an entirely new look!  Look at the secondary design... you have the four patches making an "X" design - and look, there's a 16-patch!

After looking at these, I realized there really was no other choice - well duh!  With any other color I'd have stopped the flow and missed this great design opportunity - thanks for the input, June!  

Webbing the blocks, then laying them out on my "design floor" makes it easier to see the overall design.  My design wall just isn't big enough nor easy to use with this many blocks.

I'm making this one a throw size, setting the blocks in a 7x8 arrangement.  The blocks finish at 7 inches.

I started trying to rearrange blocks for even color distribution but you know what?  I don't think it matters that much.  There IS no perfect (nor WRONG) layout when dealing with scrappily colorful, scrappy delicious blocks!

Webbing the top, but not without seeing a few of these goofs:  I didn't orient some of the four-patches correctly, how did I not see that?

They should all be light against dark, light against dark... I hate unsewing.

I had enough of the 2-1/2" four patches left over that it inspired me to go ahead and make those as leader-enders for now, eat up some of those 1-1/2" strips!

For some reason using the lozenge blocks for LE's isn't working for me as well as I thought they would; I think it's because of the angled seam.

Who knows.

So that's partly what I've been up to lately, sew forth and sew on til later!

out and about and back and forth

Three things to be happy about:
(1) cool breezes
(2) ceiling fans
(3) frozen yogurt bars

It's been awhile since I posted, oh my how time flies when you're having fun!

One thing that held my attention was a trip to New Orleans (Nawlins) with my sister Michelle!

This is a picture of the Natchez, the steamboat we almost took a luncheon cruise on - the day we were supposed to go, we overslept and couldn't get ourselves together!

There it goes... pretty steamboat though...

Someone recommended Mother's as a good place to eat with decent prices and great food...

One of the first things we did, even before getting settled in the hotel, was head to Mother's for breakfast - look at all that food!

I think I ate maybe a third of it, and my opinion?  Do not, I repeat do not  go all the way to Nawlins for breakfast at Mother's!  Nuff said.

Michelle was talking about Bourbon Street at night, what a hoot!

Lots and lots of people walking in the street, they rerouted traffic to accommodate all the pedestrians.

We got there around 8 pm and it was already crowded, who knows how it looked at midnight!  Here are a few street scenes...

People (mostly tourists) wandering in one bar and out the other...  I think New Orleans may be the only city in the US where you can walk down the street with an alcoholic drink.  People dressed in their Bourbon Street finery - cross dressers, "live statues", tap dancers... More on my trip later!

Meanwhile I've been trying out alternate blocks with the Idaho Square Dance blocks, can't get a good hook on it somehow.

I chose to make a star with a 4-patch center; notice the 4-patch corner stones on this one.

The light block seemed to disappear...

Dark was way too ... dark!

I had sorta settled on the medium block using white and black...

But now that I look at it on the screen, I might go with the light block although I need to make a few more to see it better.  But I don't want to make that many test blocks!

Decisions, decisions...

Have a great Monday, sew forth and sew on til later!

Progress

Three things to be happy about:
(1) the color red
(2) modern quilts
(3) unsalted mixed nuts

Unsalted mixed nuts!

I get into trouble with Kirkland's unsalted mixed nuts!

This jar used to be full ... nuff said!

I'm still making progress on the Idaho square dance blocks, still liking the pattern!

Am I working on anything else right now?  Nope, just The Dance.

So far I've done 30 - yes, thirty - blocks!

I didn't realize I had done that many til I stopped yesterday and counted them.

You gotta love progress!


*************

The last few days have been getting warmer and warmer (notice I didn't say "hotter" - don't want to call that up right now!)

But lest we forget... this is what we were looking at just two short months ago!

Have a great day - sew forth and sew on til later!

Dancing merrily along

Three things to be happy about:
(1) good health
(2) farm fresh eggs
(3) taking a quilting class

This reminds me - I bought some classes from Quilty that I haven't taken yet, gotta get busy!

Do you use Best Press?

I love it because it puts just the right amount of body to your fabric, not too much stiffness - and it smells good too!

As you can see from the bottle, I was running out, at the point to where it was almost making slurping noises!

It was at night and I didn't want to run out the next day and get more...

... Amazon to the rescue!

I got a gallon refill that, according to their site, was on sale.  I also bought a book that I had been waffling about, and with my Prime membership I got free 2-day delivery.

As an added bonus, a friend told me that you can stretch it with water. (See my scrungy ironing board cover?  Never mind about that!)

I added enough water to almost double the amount I had left in the spray bottle and you know what?  I can't tell the difference!

So now I know...

Meanwhile, I'm still cutting and sewing the Idaho Square Dance blocks; with the precut strips from my 1-1/2" bin it's almost mindless sewing!

Here are parts ready to be assembled into strips...

... and strips waiting to be pressed and assembled into blocks!

I think if I use a sashing strip, I'll probably set them 8 x 9 with two borders.

Or maybe I'll dust off my EQ and play with an alternate block... we'll see!

Have a great day everyone, I'm going to fix an omelet and mixed fruit for breffus.  Sew forth and sew on til later!

Memories, loving the dance

Three things to be happy about:
(1) oatmeal with apples and almonds
(2) the month of May
(3) sweet memories

While digging through my yardage to find less-than-half yard pieces to add even more variety to my 1-1/2" strips bin, I found this piece of Alexander Henry fabric.

Ahhh, sweet memories!  Before I retired I bought this piece from G Street Fabrics, which was just about 4 blocks from my office.

There was a $2.98 sale table, and they had gotten this humongous load of Alexander Henry African fabrics!

That's the good part...

The bad part is, I found out 3 days later, when most of that delicious fabric was gone!

I managed to get two good pieces, this is one of the pieces.  The date on the label says 2002 - I think I bought it somewhere around 2006? 2008?

Anyway, it's been safely tucked away in my stash - time to give it some air!  Part of it will definitely be cut up to find a place in my Idaho S-D blocks.  Speaking of which...

I'm loving these blocks!

I've done about a half dozen by now, I'll be using different colors for the centers; the fabrics will either be solid or a low-scale design.

That's it for now, enjoy your Saturday... sew forth and sew on til later!

Leading right along...

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a good camera
(2) light showers
(3) a morning stretch

It's bright and early... I woke up at around 3:30 am and had a good stretch, then I thought about the Idaho Square Dance blocks, then I got up to sew just one more seam... yadda yadda yadda I haven't been back to bed and I'm up way earlier than I meant to be!  Morning stretches are good things though  :o)

I'm piecing...

I'm leading...

I'm ending...

- never mind the fact that I need to be quilting and binding my WeeBee challenge quilt!

The flimsy has been finished for weeks, it just needs to be quilted - sheesh!

I went ahead and put one Idaho SD block together just to have something to look at while I worked on the pieces and parts.

Then I noticed that in Bonnie's blocks, she uses the same fabric for that long strip on the sides...

... so I put another block together, using the same middle square, just to see what I saw.

Scrappy... or controlled?

The jury is still out, I kinda like both!

There will definitely be sashing included - or even an alternate block - which could affect the way the finished quilt looks anyway.

Either way, I like the block!  What a clever use of 1-1/2" strips, Bonnie!

Do you think I could get just two more hours of sleep before I get back up?  I'll know in about an hour!  Enjoy your day, sew forth and sew on til later!