Monday, January 27, 2020

Quilt alongs


FROLIC!  
Here is my first block almost put together.  
I am loving it. My spin on it  was to switch out the aqua and put in a gray. 
Here it looks more white, or background like the beige. 
My camera takes poor picture at night without natural light. 




And now I have m 2nd block completed for Blockheads 3.  
Again these are 6 inch blocks.  And the star is actually an aqua background, not white as it appears here.  More photos to come as more blocks get competed. 


Saturday, January 25, 2020

Winter wonderland

For those of us in the northern states, winter is a mixture of beauty and fun. The snow scenes can be breathtaking and the outdoor sports will pink up those cheeks with smiles. This morning I awoke to the most amazing sight. The trees look as if they are flocked. I am so glad I get to sit and watch the gently falling flakes and not drive to work.




This week has been long.  I had the pleasure of a day off Monday and spent it with a friend sewing. Lots of catching up and project planning as well as sewing.

But then the new semester started on Tuesday. My students' schedules were all mixed around because of new semester classes. and I added new students. A few from the algebra 2 failures.  It is frustrating to see kids not learn the practice of doing homework. After a couple years of getting by, algebra 2 is truly a culmination of skills at increasing difficulty. And those with bad habits cannot fake it anymore. But I also had a couple girls with difficult situations at home. They are amazingly mature with the problems they have to face at home and yet so vulnerable. So my week was rewarding, but exhausting.

And so I was unable to quilt much

But I did redo my colors for the first Blockheads 3 block. I made the 6 inch size. Much better.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Frolic and Blockheads

So I jumped off another cliff.  Not literally, of course. I started another project.
I had this great fat eights pack of the Hedge Rose fabrics.  
And decided they would be perfect fabrics for the Blockheads 3. 
Corey Yoder posted the directions in 3 sizes: 6, 8, and 12 inches. Here
And if you are really daring,you can find the 4 inch ones on Lisa Bongean : Cutting directions
You need to assemble it according to Corey's post. 
I am making the 6 inch which I did for the first go round. 
I am debating the triangles; the print is too big.



And I love the setting layout Corey proposed.
I think that is what drew me in to hers. 

But I did get some other sewing done yesterday on my day off.:
Here is another clue of Frolic. Only 4 more pinwheels to make. 
Then I need to do the last set of flying geese.
I already have the finishing fabrics cut out. 

Frol

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Baby Downey's quilt

My first finish of 2020 is the beautiful baby quilt for my nephew.  I love it: the colors are so pretty.
They are a range from a darker teal to a pale one with a little lime green and seafoam green in it.
O.K. so the description is better than the photographs. (better photo of the colors here)

Can't you jus see how soft this back is?  It is so velvety. The minky is so perfect for this. 


The binding is one of the prints which look like green and bluegreen pebbles. 
The pattern was one of the easiest I have every made; from Pinterest called:Baby Bricks
This was a great tutorial and another pretty colorway.


At guild last week, we had demonstrations. These were placemats made into little zipper pouches.  
The hardest part was getting placemats and zippers. 
I made all 4 in an hour and a half.  
They look kind of blah. I really need to learn how to take better photos.



Sunday, January 12, 2020

Binding and blocks

I had guild last Wednesday.  I really liked the demonstration. Each member can make a block and enter a lotto for receiving all the blocks. Our BOM for next month is this.

It was a real easy block to make and called arrowhead
Sew almost around all 4 edges of 2 squares, cut kind of like a disappearing 9 patch, re-scramble and sew together.  Voila new block! The background is a great gray print and the fabric is Kaffe Fassett and all be made out of in blue/green/purple colorways. 


I also spent the football game, watching Green Bay win for the conference playoffs tonight while hand sewing the binding on this.
It was a nail biter at the end, but none the less a win for the Packers. 
This is the baby quilt. I had a hard time sewing through the minky.
I think it was more because my bindings were full. But it is DONE . Photos later.


Still working on the Frolic mystery. The top blocks are flying geese finished.
The bottom  are those left to attach the wings.
Still 2 steps behind.


These are blocks from my star quilt a long.
Love them for sure,  63 pieces per block. 
I am so proud of my sewing on these and can't wait to get it done.



Monday, January 6, 2020

Blocks and more

Sewing continues into the new year!
 I have made 2 more blocks for my quilt along for Bea et Cecile Quilt along. 
I really, really like these blocks and it is making my sewing much more precise.
 And if you couldn't tell, I am making sure to include browns. 



The baby quilt is progressing well. I have finished the free motion quilt on my home sewing machine. I couldn't find my free motion slider. Ugh.  But I muddled through and did a stipple. 
The back is a minky fabric with a soft batting in between.
 0

And here is a close up of part of the quilt; some of the quilting shows through.
I used a new thread for me called Isocord. It has a sheen and is 2 ply polyester. 
I loved the color, and it went through my machine well, but I felt I kept wasting some as it slipped after threading, but before my machine began.  I think part of it was the weight of the quilt as I sewed and drove it more with my arms than usual. My fingers are not strong enough or for that matter big enough to spread and control the movement.  I am kind of out of practice. 


For the Frolic mystery, I am happy to say I have all of  clue 4 done and trimmed. It took forever. And now I have all of clue 5 made and pressed and about 1/4 of these lovely triangles trimmed.
Progress a little at a time....on to clue 6 and 7. From my perusal around the blog world, I can see I am not alone. 




So I keep at it. 

Friday, January 3, 2020

Happy 2020! and Get on quilting!


Projects planned thus far for 2020

Bea et Cecile Quilt along: Stars: I need 20 of these for a lap quilt


Finish baby quilt for January


Frolic: Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt

Oh my gosh, she added a second clue this week.  I thought I was doing well to have the last 2 almost done. 


Henrietta Squirrel: wool applique from 2009



Little Red Hen's Snowmen in the bakery
Wool applique 3 blocks almost appliqued
3 to go plus patchwork and assembling


Over the Moon: out of Woolies Flannel:
Needs quilting and binding


Plus some candy bags: 





Wednesday, January 1, 2020

New year's quilting

New Year's quilting

I am in a round robin type of group in my guild where each month I get a box from someone else and then follow the theme and directions given by the owner. This month I received a box that has a Christmas theme requesting 8 inch blocks. I searched pinterest for quilt blocks of trees, drew my own paper piecing, rescaled several other patterns. 



This one I had inch and a half triangles already made. Of the three blocks, this went the quickest.