Oh yes, the Holiday Season

So much to do that the blog has taken a back seat. Well, here are some pics of what I've been doing.

More blocks

Still more blocks. These are free-form cut, and I've cut the curve way too sharp. It's a challenge getting these to lie flat.

These blocks are now a top.

 Yep. Still more blocks. I get in moods where I want to sew but not think. This is when I'll sew blocks for simple quilts.

Prisma is now a top. Yay!

This is a full top now. More pics soon.

 Same here. I think you'll be surprised at the difference the border made.

 Scrapolator blocks. Such fun!

The blocks on the left are straight from the scrap pile; no thinking. The ones on the right are all brights. Isn't the difference amazing?

 I have 29 of each set done (true scrappy, and brights) I love them!

No wonder I haven't had time to blog! Thanks for stopping by.

Fun, and progress

I'm still playing with a number of different projects. Gosh it's fun to work this way! No boredom. Even the not-so-fun parts of quilting are easier to take when I know I only have to do a little of it before I can jump into the next thing. (Note: this doesn't work for people who get over-angst'ed by having more than one project going at a time.)

I finished the last of the "big" Safari blocks (4 shown here). Now I can put this top together. I'm still thinking it's going to need something else. Buttons? Some applique? I'll know more when I see the whole thing put together.

 More Scrap-o-lator blocks. I'm really enjoying these, even when they get wonkified. I have 11 so far. The pattern calls for 91, but I don't want to make a quilt that large so I'll need only 72. I see more than one of these quilts in my future. Such a fun way to use scraps!

 More blocks from the third design-your-own quilt. This one has a Halloween theme.

 I got more of Prisma put together. I still don't like that upper left corner. I think the purple shouldn't be broken up with that yellow; the purple should be a straight line. What do you think?

 The lower left corner got put together.

 I found these pieces while digging through more STUFF. (I have a lot of stuff). The first pic is of parts made in my class with Jean Wells at Empty Spools earlier this year. I think I'm ready to make a couple of small works from them.

 The triangles were made in Gwen Marston's class (also at Empty Spools earlier this year). They have potential ... I'm not sure what yet, but I like them.

Finding Stuff

I took a deep breath and dove into the Closet of the Great Unknown Projects the other day. I was looking for one specific project, and (oh snap, what a surprise!) found others I'd forgotten about. I've been having such fun just playing. Work a little on one, a little on the next. Never bored that way. Here's what I've been up to.

Prisma is still in pieces -

but not as many ...

The upper left corner is together. I'm not sure it'll stay that way, but for now at least there's progress.

I've made more of the big Safari blocks

Oh looky! I found some New York Beauty blocks. Playtime!

I actually went looking for this Tree of Life. I started it years and years ago and decided to get to work on it again.

Well. I got one more row added.

There's no real pattern, so I'm guessing on a lot of the parts. That upper left corner presents a challenge, so who knows what will happen, but it's still fun to play with.

Speaking of fun - I started making some Scrap-o-lator blocks (from the book of the same name, by Dianne Springer). Wow, what a blast these are!

Here's the last of my recent shop-hop stash

And here's my Crate and Barrel booty

Yep, that impromptu shop hop (which included Crate & Barrel, and Ikea) was not one of my least expensive weekends. Fun anyway.

And that's what I've found. Can't wait to see what I do next.

Thanks for stopping by.

A little more done

Accomplishments! After a few boring days and no sewing progress, I got some more done. I've finished all the donation blocks for the 2013 guild quilt.

I finished the last set of blocks for the design-your-own quilt  double 9-patches.

Now all the blocks are made for this one and I can get to the designing part. Here are all the blocks:

The idea is to make a bunch of each, then have fun arranging until you have something you like. Keeping similar (but varied) backgrounds adds more interest to the quilt.

I finished all the little blocks for Safari ...

...and made one big block to show you what they'll look like.

(No, the seams don't match - they're not suppose to.) Can't wait to see what this one will look like when it's all pieced. I think it will need something else - maybe a little applique or embellishment (or both). We'll see! It's really fun to make things that have no predetermination of what they'll look like when they're finished.

Today was sew-in day at the local quilt shop: I was able to finish the borders on the rest of the jelly-roll-race/1600 charity quilts. I'm glad to have them done!

I made it to a Triple D (Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) restaurant last week - Metro Diner here in Jacksonville.  Then there was a show yesterday featuring Zia, in Santa Fe, NM - another one to add to my list! I was there this spring. I'm heading to the Mancuso World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach this weekend and will hopefully hit Havana Hideout and can add that one to my list. It'll be fun to see how many of the places I can add to my list over the next few years.

I tried a new recipe, too - Ann Burrell's Asian pork tenderloin. It's really good. And easy. I recommend giving it a try.

That's it for the non-boring parts. Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween

A slow day today. Seems I got distracted by a nice, long nap! I thought I'd rest for about an hour, but ... 4 hours later, I finally woke up. I love naps; they're one of life's most decadent pleasures.

I got all the goodie bags ready for the kiddies, then did manage to get some sewing in. I got the half-square triangle and 9-patch blocks done for the design-your-own quilt.

I also got another block for the donation quilt done - just one more to go - and more Safari blocks (but I forgot to take a pic).

I didn't even have to cook today because I had leftovers from last night's dinner, so see? It really was a slow day! And - when I shut off the light to let the trick-or-treaters know I was "closed", I still had as many goodie bags as I started with. Yep - not one kiddo tonight.  Another sad thing about the times we live in. I think this may be the last year I do goodies.

Here are a few more pics from the Paris/Florence trip

The Louvre

 Hey Venus, oh Venus make my dreams come true

The duomo in Siena

 Spectacular manuscripts! (inside the duomo)

 Floors (still the duomo)

 Ceilings - yep, duomo

 We had lunch at an organic farm in the Chianti region. The grape harvest was still in process. Wine on the vine!

 Two views from the farm

Yes indeed, the cheesy tourist photo, holding up the tower. I wasn't getting on the posts, though. (Don't look now, but I think all the pasta and gelato is showing! :)

 Also in Pisa, right next to the tower. I saw quilt block patterns EVERYWHERE

No much to say, but another day of retirement is always a good day.

Thanks for stopping by

It was a good day

I sure did get a lot of STUFF done today. The last week has been pretty productive, come to think of it.

For starters, there are the charity quilts I'm doing for our guild. Did I pick up one kit? Two? Noooooooo. I had to pick up FIVE! They are Jelly Roll Race/1600/Potato Chip quilts,

so they're easy to sew, but they look really awful without borders. (This one looks pretty awful even WITH the border! Maybe I'll add some yellow fused stars.) At least that's my opinion. So - all the tops are made (my friend Nelda sewed one for me), borders are on 3 of them, and the borders are cut for the other two. The bindings for all are also cut. I want to turn these in to go to the next guildie, who will quilt them, at our meeting next week.

While checking my stash for borders for those JRRs, I ran across 2 other almost-tops that I picked up at a quilt sale function to also turn into charity quilts. I got those borders/bindings cut as well and maybe I'll also be able to get those done by the meeting. (I'll tell you a secret: I'm thinking about keeping them & going ahead & quilting them myself, but don't tell anyone else.)

These are some of the blocks for our guild's 2013 donation quilt:

I'm doing 8 of these blocks (they go pretty quick), and got a few more done today. I have 6 made - should be easy to finish the other two by the meeting. There's a star block that will alternate with these blocks: the quilt is gonna be great!

I got some more Safari blocks done today, as well:

These are also easy-peasy. I guess I shouldn't call them a block YET (4 of these littles will be put together to make a big): I guess they're still just block parts. At any rate, I got more of them done. 

I'm also working on old projects that have been cut and ready to sew for who-knows-how-many-years. (Hey, I really PLANNED for my retirement!!) These are blocks for a design-your-own quilt from a M'liss Rae Hawley book. 

I'm working on the blocks a little at a time so I don't get bored. Won't it be fun to see how these turn out? I still have about 4 other blocks to make for this "mystery". Oh, and of course there's not just ONE "kit" cut - there are three. Honestly, I never seem to be able to do just ONE of anything; it's a personality defect.

So, you can see it was a productive day! Yay!  Here are a few random pics just to show what I've been up to lately:

Earlier this month, the three travelers (I'm in the middle) headed across the pond to Paris and Florence for 12 days. We ended up being there 13 days because we missed a connection & had to spend an extra night in Paris (oh darn) on the way home.

This is one of the many pics I took from the top of ....

....this.  Gorgeous view, huh?

Here's just a few of the things offered in the central market in Florence

Meat

Porcini mushrooms (I brought home 3 bags!)

Pasta of ever shape and color imaginable (I brought home penis pasta for Nelda)

More meat. Prosciutto:yum!

Parts of critters I never wanted to know about, much less see

I loved the trip, but was glad to get home and do a little sewing. I made a bunch of these sweet blocks.

 

I also made Ann Burrell's Bolognese sauce, but added one of those bags of porcini mushrooms. It's very yum!

Then I spent a long weekend at beautiful Epworth-by-the-Sea (St. Simon's Island, Georgia) with the Camden Quilt Guild. It's beautiful here.

So that's what I've been up to. I'll post some more random pics of France and Italy over the next few weeks since I didn't bother to blog while I was there!

Thanks for stopping by.