Some things that got finished

The Double Irish Chain is finally finished.  I bought this fabric bundle at PIQF in Santa Clara last fall. Of course I had to add to it so it would be bigger. I'm thrilled with the way this turned out.  Love the quilting! Although it's not really noticeable in the photos' there are 16 fabrics in the binding. Scrappy quilt, scrappy binding. Love this one!

Finally finished the gecko piece. I'm not sure it'll ever be "finished", really, though, because I'll be adding embellishments.  Lots and lots of embellishments.

My scrap play is also finished. I first tried alternating the red "cross" blocks with the scrappy blocks, but it was too much red.  I randomly replaced cross-blocks with more scrappy blocks until I was happy with the look.  The stars are from my Parts Department.  (See either of Freddy Moran/Gwen Marston's books for ideas for Parts Departments.)

So three more finishes for 2015, and a bunch more getting close.  Thanks for stopping by!

2015 counts

Tops: 9 

Finishes: 26 (16 quilts, 10 other)

Therapy Sewing

Just another "living life" day. It rained all day again (sure beats the heck out of shoveling snow, though!), so I had time to play.  Sometimes I don't want to work on any specific project, so I sit down for a little therapy sewing. I decided to make some 16-patches for the Parts Department. (When quilting, one can never have too many parts waiting for just the right project!!)

Start with some 1.5" strips, about 8" long. Sew them together into groups of 4.

Now chop 'em up again, back into 1.5" strips.

Put those pieces into groups of 4, then put 'em back together again.

Yes, quilters are crazy. We take perfectly good pieces of fabric, cut them up into little pieces, rearrange them, then sew them back into big pieces of fabric. But hey, it's great therapy!

The photo of the day has been added on the CY365 tab.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Busy Day - just not at the machine

Oodles got done today, but not interesting stuff. Just routine stuff that needs to be taken care of.

I did a lot of cooking, though. I made some more OMG applesauce (it's unbelievably good; be sure to use really tasty honey), and a new recipe for bleu cheese cole slaw. Tres yum! I made other stuff, but those are the interesting ones.

I got a few more rows done on the scarf, and as for sewing - just a few more 16-patches:

They're now bundled up with other Parts.

No telling what mood may hit me today! Thanks for stopping by.

A Leisurely Start to the New Year

I did manage to sew on the first day of the year. I didn't do much, though.

I finished the rest of the already-started wonky stars in the Parts Department box, and sewed the rest of the strips into stripsets. Today I'll chop them up and make more 16-patches for Parts, as well. After that? Anyone's guess!

My phrase for the year is "live completely". I'm not quite sure what that means, so I'm thinking about it a lot while I walk. It'll be interesting to see what I discover.

Much happy quilting to you in 2013. Thanks for stopping by.

Parts is Parts

In the spring of 2010, just a few months after I retired, I took my first driving trip across the country. The purpose was to attend 3 weeks of classes at Empty Spools Seminars at the very beautiful Asilomar State Beach (in Pacific Grove, California). One of those classes was with Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston. If you ever get the chance to learn with either or both of these ladies, do whatever you must to do so; they're wonderful! (Also treat yourself to a class at Empty Spools: the location alone is worth it!)

Freddy and Gwen encouraged us to start our own Parts Department, where we make small pieces when the mood strikes us and keep them corralled until they're needed in a quilt. No specific quilt has to be in your mind: just the urge to sew and no idea what you're in the mood to work on. Make Parts. Yesterday was one of those days.

I unburied my Parts Department project bin, got out the Parts parts (hey, even Parts need parts!) and played.

The Parts Department discoveries. Yummy.

First I took a bunch of the strips (1 1/2") and made strip sets

Then I whacked these babies up into more 1 1/2" strips

Then sewed them all back together again into 16-patches

Aren't they cute? 18 of them (4", finished)

OK, those parts have now become Parts and are ready whenever inspiration hits. On to star parts.

I had already sewn on the wonky points, so I had all the star points made; just needed to put all the stars together.

OK, so ALL the stars didn't get put together. I was getting tired. These stars measure 4 1/2" (finished). Into the Parts to join their brethren (and sis-tren). Maybe I'll sew the rest of the star-parts today, or maybe not. That's what the Parts Department is all about!

Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope it's a great year! No goals or resolutions for me this year - I plan simply to enjoy each day to the fullest.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots Done!

A good, productive day.

The backing and binding for the poppy quilt are done, so now the quilt is in RFQ status (ready for quilting).

(poppy backing)

I worked on more free-form blue blocks (see them in this post). I finished the ones with the too-drastic curve (yikes!) so now am having a much easier time of it.

This project is from some of the (many) bunches of blocks I made over the last month. It's half-together now so should be a top soon.

I also played around with some wonky star blocks. OK - ONE block

(the blocks on the top are from my Parts Department stash - see Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston's technique). This is just a test block, to see how the process went. I used the remains from trimming strip-sets that are used for the Scrapolator blocks (See Dianne Springer's Scrapolator book - I want to make most of the quilts in that book!!). After I wonkied the star points, I then "made" fabric for the center, still using Scrapolator strip-set remains. (see Victoria Findlay-Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play technique. She has just returned from Africa, so you may want to spend some time reading through her blog. Great stuff!)

I'll do more of these blocks, but learned some lessons in making the test one (like - don't bring the star point out the top - see the red on the center-right.) I also think I'm going to use black-and-white for the backgrounds. Black and white is an easy fix to design challenges so is looked down on by some, but I think it works great so poo on the color snobs.

I also knitted a bit more on the scarf - a little at a time will get the project done!

About 2 months ago I made a huge pot of bolognese sauce from an Ann Burrell recipe. It's wonderful, but of course way too much, so I froze it into one-serving containers. That was dinner last night: I'd forgotten how delicious it was. A nice glass of Pinot Noir was the perfect accompaniment. Yum!

As I said - lots done! Thanks for stopping by.