Frolicing away! And a cake mix...

Steadily making progress on Frolic.  Here is a picture with 15 squares made. 

I am actually up to 21 and have the 9 patches to put the last 4 together today. 

It is a challenge, but I am pushing to get it done. 

The corners and setting pieces are cut, but not ready for anything. 

One step at a time.

Here is the alternate block for Blockheads 4 made in 6 inch size. Meh.  O.K.

And here is how to make a cake mix.  No not on the stove, oven or any other cooking device. 

This is the Miss Rosie's Cake Mix Recipe. I believe there are about 10 different pattern sets for the 10 inch block size. ( And some for charm packs as well)

Here are the 2 10 inch blocks cut.  ( It turns out that particular one needs 2 sets to complete a 16 inch block.

Layer right sides together. pin the pattern piece on. Sew on the dotted lines, ( There are even directional hints to do all the lines in one motion. ) Cut on solid lines.

And for this pattern you get 2 8 inch blocks, and 8 4 inch blocsk.

Here are the various settings I laid out. 

But this is my final block. 

Valentine UFO

Two weeks ago I dug out a Valentine UFO. I cut out extra pieces, sewed additional blocks and even started piecing borders around blocks. Until I measured my completed blocks. HALT! 

You see my old 1/4 inch seam from when it was started to the new blocks with 1/4 inch seams were different. And the plan to have 4 blocks alternating was canned. The final size did not match.

So here is the single block made recently. 

It used a pellon printed grid to stabilize the square and then fold and sew.

And here is the wall hanging with 3 different blocks. 

I quilted it using straight lines vertically. 

Since the photo was taken, I have added the binding and a rod pocket. 

And it will be done tonight. 

First UFO finished. And I do like the final project.

2nd project continuing : 3 more blocks for my square quilt a long

This gives me a total of 11 completed. And now I have a couple more cut out to assemble.

Lastly, I made Christmas block for a pass a long in my guild. 

The package is actually a red and green fabric. 

Winterfest and blocks

Winter celebration. My husband and I had a fun afternoon and evening in Lake Geneva.

We saw snow sculptures, ice sculptures, lazer light shows and more.

  Oh, and yes it was outdoors and cold.

We had fun, despite the cold noses.

But today is the palindrome of the century: 02-02-20-20

And the groundhog saw his shadow. 

Spring is around the corner, right? 

All week I have been plodding slowly through projects. 

Here are my first 6 blocks of Frolic. 

And here is my 3rd block for the Blockheads 3.

 I liked Lisa Bongean's twist of the tiny triangles.

It really is nice to have different examples of the same block. 

Darned if I could get the aqua to look right. 

At the beginning of the week I took out my UFO for Valentine's Day. 

These are 1 and a half inch blocks placed on grid work on an  iron-on pellon.

You lay out your squares, iron to secure, and then fold them together and sew 1/4 inch seam.

Below is a block half sewn. 

And here it is completely sewn. 

I have 3 more and am making it into a wall hanging. 

I spent the Superbowl, taking the smaller ones apart which I did not like.

But I think I will use them as frames around the blocks.

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. 

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.

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

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.

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

http://mysistersquiltsut.blogspot.com/2014/01/here-is-great-two-color-quilt-for-you.html?m=1

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.

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.

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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. 

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: 

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.