Tuesday Evening Quilt-Cam

Last night I treated myself to a little "Bonnie Time".  I picked up my tablet and headed to my sewing room with my Kitties and Hubby to watch Quilt-Cam and work on cutting Lazy Sunday.  Seemed like a good way to kick back and relax to me!  Hubby played a game on his phone but he was listening because I caught him laughing a couple of times at stuff Bonnie was saying.  He's a good sport and I'm lucky to have him!

I tried out the new ruler in the picture.  I'm still in search of that perfect cut.  The jury is still out on wether or not it worked better than my June Tailor strip rulers.  I guess I'll know for sure once I start sewing.  Here I'm cutting 3.5" strips to use to make Unit 1 for Lazy Sunday.  Bonnie is sewing away in the background.

I managed to get quite a few cut.  I probably won't get to sew any though until Thursday night.  That's my plan anyway to sew during Quilt-Cam Thursday.

And since the iron was nice and hot and steamy .... I decided I'd fuse my wool to this little project I started:

Old Glory Gatherings Sheep Quilt

Now I just need to do the hand stitching and decide how to quilt it.  I think it's pretty cute myself!

Weekend Wrap Up

What a weekend!!

Earlier last week, I got an invitation in the mail for a friend of ours daughter's baby shower.  This was TOTALLY unexpected as they are adopting and it happened much faster than anyone anticipated.  The shower is next weekend and the baby comes home in mid February!  

I just happened to have some baby fabric in my stash that was going to be for another baby, but I never got around to making it.  That baby got a crocheted blanket instead.  So I quickly started cutting up fat quarters using my Yellow Brick Road pattern.  I love that pattern!  It's quick, easy and gets the job done in no time flat!  The baby blanket size called for 6 FQs but I had 9 so I decided I would just make them all.  

Assembly Area for Yellow Brick Road

Chaining Away

Once I got the blocks done and laid out on the floor, I figured I had enough for two blankets.  One crib size and one smaller.  Now I'll have a back up blanket should I get caught like this again.  I also decided that I needed a small inside border to separate the body of the quilt from the main border.  I didn't have any fabric that I wanted to use (of course) but already had a big trip planned to Quilts by Phyllis for her open house the next day.  I would look then for the right inner border.

Since I still had some time left before my Hubby got home from work, I decided I'd do two more Modern Half Square Triangle blocks.  I believe these are Blocks 13 & 14.

Block 13 Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long

Block 14 Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long

Saturday was my trip to Quilts by Phyllis for her semi-annual Open House. I had a great time meeting up with my friends, Mary, Debbie & Susan.  Of course I bought too much!!

I signed up for a class next month.  We will be doing the pattern Shadowbox.  Here is the fabric I chose for that:

Shadowbox Fabric

It's the Flirt line by Sandy Gervais for Moda fabrics.  When I first saw this pattern, I wasn't overly excited about it until I saw the class sample made out of these fabrics.  Just gorgeous! I can't wait to get mine put together.

I also got my fabric for my main class as Jackson's Mill in March.  I will be taking Lucky Stars.  I'm also taking an Iron Tote Mini class.  I failed to take a picture of that fabric, but it's Old Glory Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings.  I think it will be nice.

Lastly, I bought my fabric for Lazy Sunday!!!!  Take a look:

Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday Backgrounds

I can't wait to get started!!!  It probably won't be until next weekend now though.

Today I finished the baby blankets .... I found an inner border at Phyllis' yesterday.

Yellow Brick Road Baby Blankets

I think they turned out pretty nice!

Now I just need to get my borders on Easy Street and "Git 'er Done"!!!

Lazy Sunday

Woo Hoo!!  Just got my digital download of the March/April Quiltmaker Magazine with Bonnie's new mystery!  Can't wait to get fabric this weekend and get started!

Who's going to play along???

Just a Quick Update

I got the first two borders ready for Easy Street today.  I think I had just enough green left if I calculated right!  

Here are my red strips and my 4-patch strips ready to go:

I decided to wait until my Hubby got home to help me wrangle the quilt through the machine.  We went up after dinner and I sewed the first two red strips on.  Then I almost cut my finger off with a pair of scissors, so I decided it was time to call it a night.  I failed to get another picture this evening, but hopefully tomorrow night we'll have time to get the other two red borders on and then I'll take a picture.  Baby steps!!  And it really helps having a second pair of hands to maneuver that quilt with so I need to try to get the borders on this week.  I want to be able to take it with me to the Open House at Quilts by Phyllis on Saturday to pick out that final border!!

Who's ready for Bonnie's next mystery in Quiltmaker Magazine??  It's called Lazy Sunday and I'm anxiously waiting to get started!!

Busy Weekend So Far

Friday I managed to finish Susan & Greg's Memory quilt and my Therapy in Session wall hanging. I took both to Quilts by Phyllis on Saturday to be quilted.  While I was there I picked up a dark purplish red to put on my Easy Street for a first border.  Hopefully I can get it sewn on tomorrow.  My second border I believe is going to be green and teal 4-patches.  My third border I'd like to be a purple with maybe a bit of teal in it.  I'll have to see what I can find.

Here's the Therapy in Session Wall Hanging all sewn together:

I think it's really cute and can't wait to get it up on the wall in my sewing room!

 I'm not going to post any more pictures of Susan & Greg's Memory Quilt until I give it to them.  I think it turned out really nice though and can't wait to share it and lessons learned making it.

Today I cut more 2" strips of green and teal in order to get ready to make those 4-patches for my Easy Street border.  I'm not sure I'm going to have enough green actually.  It will be close!

I also whipped up two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 11

Block 12

I've got one more day of sewing tomorrow before I go back to work again.  These long weekends are spoiling me!!  We'll see what I can get in to tomorrow in the sewing room!

Feline Friday

It's Feline Friday!!!

Here's a couple shots of two of my feline babies that my husband shot this week while I was relaxing after work.

 This is Khaleesi .... a.k.a. The Kheeser.  She's a 1.5 year old Bengal and is just now learning how to be lovey.  She's doing a good job too!

 And this is Khaleesi and Nala.  They aren't the best of friends but they do seem to be able to tolerate each other when it comes to snuggling with Mommy.

I'm going to link up with the other Feline Friday folks HERE!!  Join us!!

Home Front Hexies

Here's a little update on my Home Front Hexies.  This is my first attempt at working with paper piecing but I thought I'd participate in HELP for Hexie-aholics and link up my blog with everyone else because hey .... we all like to share our addictions!!  I love being able to take these with me where ever I go.  I can usually even get a little stitching in at work on breaks and lunch.  It's a great stress release for me.  I find this really relaxing.

Here's where I'm at:

I've also noticed that I seem to do this different than everyone else.  I learned to sew through the paper pieces and it doesn't seem that anyone else does that.  Maybe I need to refine my technique, but it seems to be working for me so far.  I remove the basting stitches and paper once a piece has a hexie or two around it. 

You can see where I've taken the basting out of the red rosette.

No real plan for this other than to make rosettes until I run out of that fabric and then use the black to fill in to make whatever size I end up with.  Wall hanging?  Lap quilt?  I'm not sure yet. 

Easy Street Progress Part III

Those two middle seams on Easy Street were something else.  I had to wrangle with the fabric a lot.  It was definitely a challenge!

It's a TON of fabric!!! But I finally prevailed and I'm proud to report my middle for Easy Street is done!  YAY!!  Now just to pick out border fabric this weekend.  I won't be able to lay it out on my floor after the borders!!

Easy Street Before Borders

This was so much fun!  I can't wait for Bonnie's next Mystery.

After this I decided I'd work on a little something for the walls of my therapy .... er .... sewing room:

I've just got to sew it all together and it will be done, but I think it's really cute and can't wait to get hung up!!

I also got the setting blocks cut for Susan & Greg's Memory Quilt.  I'd say I made the most of my unexpected day off!!

Almost There

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for Easy Street!!  All of my blocks are assembled, the two ends are complete, and I've just got to sew the final row together and assemble the two halves!!  Here's my final row ready to go first thing in the morning since I've got an unexpected day off:

Last Row

Before I pinned them together though to get them ready for sewing, I laid them all out in the floor for a little sneak preview:

Sneaky Peak of Easy Street

I'm so excited to finish this.  Now I just need to decide how I want to border it.  I've seen a lot of great ideas out there in Blogland.  Decisions, decisions ....

I also completed two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 09

Block 10

I think I'm really going to like this quilt as well.  I need to decide how I want to set it now that I've got a decent enough number of blocks to play with.  On point?  Framed?  I'm just not sure yet ... anyone got any suggestions??

Easy Street Progress

Easy Street is turning in to Frustrating Street for me.  LOL The pile of blocks just doesn't seem to be getting smaller.  I swear they are reproducing while I'm asleep!

Un-Sewing

My day started off ripping.  I hate ripping.  I laid out the blocks to sew the next row and noticed that I had flipped some geese the wrong direction on one of the blocks.  I was going to just leave it, but I couldn't stand it and decided to make it right.  Anyway, I finally got the next row sewed together:

Row 3

I was feeling a little frustrated because I kept making mistakes. So I thought maybe a little break was in order.  I decided to put together the blocks for January for the Country Threads Sampler Quilt-a-Long:

January Country Threads Quilt-a-Long

The directions had us using rectangles and squares to make the geese, but I pulled out my handy Easy Angle Ruler and went to town.  Bonnie's influence is showing through!!

Then I put together two more blocks for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long:

Block 7

 

Block 8

Then I went back to Easy Street.  I assembled the other corner then called it quits for the day:

Today's Progress

Baby steps .... I'll add the link to Bonnie's Link up HERE tomorrow.

And I can't resist posting a couple pictures my Hubby snapped of our Feline Children checking out my Easy Street progress:

Keira, Nala, & Khaleesi

Neela

That's it for this week probably.  I'm back to working 10-hour days tomorrow.

Easy Street Progress

I got one more diagonal row put on Easy Street this evening plus a couple of blocks for the next row made.  It's getting big and getting difficult to iron on my little pressing mat.  I  may have to drag out the actual ironing board for the the next row!! It's getting difficult to photograph too.  I need my design wall finished.  I need to ask the Hubby nicely to work on that maybe some this weekend.

Here's my progress:

2 Complete Rows

And here's Kitty Keira modeling Easy Street:

Keira

She seems to like it so far!

Mid Week Sewing & Goals

It was back to work for me today.  Because of the holidays this week though, I have to work 8-hours days instead of 10s so I got home early enough to get a couple hours in at the machine.  I worked on Easy Street - of course!  I got one more block sewn together and the next row partially sewn together.  I failed to take any pictures but if I get the row finished tomorrow I will be sure to post one of the progress.

I also made blocks 5 & 6 for the Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long. 

Block 05

Block 06

I've still got a little ways to go to get caught up, but I'm steadily making progress.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but I was thinking that having a set goal during Easy Street sure did make it easier to keep up with that quilt.  So, I thought I'd pick 12 UFOs from my pile and work towards finishing them in the year 2013.  As soon as I figure out how to add them to the side bar I will put them there and then mark them off as I finish them (hopefully).  I've debated with myself over whether to include Easy Street in that list and I've finally decided that I will not since I'm well on my way with that one.  So without further ado, here is my UFO Goals for 2013 in no particular order:

1. Susan & Greg's Memory Quilt
2. Smith Mountain Morning
3. Vintage Rouge
4. Amish with a Twist
5. Delectable Mountains
6. Hopin' Hares Table Runner
7. Mountain Quilt Quest 2011 Quilt
8. Patchwork Party 2012 Quilt
9. Cottage Sampler
10. All Paths Lead Home
11. Vintage Kansas City Star BOM
12. 45 & Life to Go

Wow ... it seems a little ambitious seeing it in writing like that, but I'll do my best.  If I get them done, I do, if not, hey, there's always next year, right?  Right.

Easy Street Part 8

Today was the big reveal and I have to say I LOVED IT!!!  I can't wait to get this finished! First, I finished up my large triangles from yesterday. My plan was to make at least one Block A and one Block B today.  After I got my Block A done, I couldn't resist ... I had to go ahead and sew the setting triangles on and complete the quilt corner:

Block A Sewn in Place

Then, I did a little blog surfing and saw that a few people were kitting up their blocks.  That seemed like a good idea, so I set out to lay out each block and baggie them up.  I came up about 24 green 3.5" blocks short by the way.  I'm not sure if I made a cutting/counting error or if the pattern was off.  But now the blocks are all kitted up and ready to go.

Kitted Blocks and Setting Triangles

Next, I put together a Block B:

Block B

Here Block B is laying up against the corner I assembled:

Block B laying in Place

I'm really excited about finishing this quilt.  I hope I can keep up the momentum.  Sadly, I have to return to work tomorrow.  I guess I've got to pay for all this fabric some how!