The Day

I've been avoiding the sewing machine for the past 10 days or so. I got back to it today after pushing through the whining wall. Here are my results.

This is one big quilt! I had all the blocks made, and 2 of the rows put together. Now it's ready for quilting (as soon as I make a back). One thing I really like about the current modern quilting movement is that most of the designs don't have borders. I love being finished with the top once the columns and rows are together.

I started the day by re-reading the directions for Judy Niemeyer's Autumn Splendor quilt. (Have you ever done one of Judy's patterns? The instructions are like the Sunday New York Times!!!!) Two years ago I took 3 classes with Judy at Quilting By the Bay in Panama City Florida. I've worked on the parts off and on, but it's been awhile since the last time. It all came back, though, and this part went together quickly and easily after the refresher. I highly recommend taking a class from Judy, or one of her many certified instructors if you can't get to her. You'll be amazed at how easy the cutting and piecing are. I hope to get a part or two done daily now that I've refreshed my brain on the how-to.

I ended the day making a whole passel of half-square triangle blocks. These are 2" (finished). After finishing the quilt top, above, I was still in the mood to sew (it's amazing what happens once your push yourself to just do it).  I did a browse through my project bins and stumbled upon a bunch of fabrics already cut, just waiting to be made into HSTs. My guild just started a HST exchange and I know I'll need more, so....what the heck! I made 102 tonight. Then I quit sewing! 

It was a good day.  Thanks for sharing it with me.

Playing

I read about  how to sew hexies on the machine. What?!?! Knowing I could also use the glue method instead of hand-sewing .... I'm in! 

Ignore that badly scorched pressing board.  I can sit in my chair in the evenings and hexie myself into oblivion.

I finally got this top done and to the quilters.  It sure is big!

Can't wait to see it finished. That's all for now.

Experimental Post

OK even though I'm a techie, I haven't yet tried posting to the blog from any of my mobile devices, so here's my first try.

I really have been quite busy, getting lots of UFOs to the quilters. Here are some of the things that have made it to the next step.

This Drunkards Path uses a 4" block. It was just an experiment. After learning a new way to piece curves with no pins, I whipped this out of the stack and it came together quickly.  Hooray for no pins when curve piecing! 

I can't believe how bad the border looks in this photo! Honestly, it looks much better Than this.

This was sitting in the pile, waiting for some fused appliqué. For five years. Enough already. I made a back & sent it to the quilters.

Just some fun. The rows were put together, so I added the rest of the sashings and called it done. This one is small enough for me to quilt on the Bernina.

So, then, looks like its pretty simple to post from the iPad. Good deal!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bunches of Bindings

Binding day. I got bindings put on these quilts (just the machine part). I have one more that needs it's binding attached, then let the handwork begin!

On another note, I found this critter in my garage when I put out the garbage:

Hard to tell from this angle, but I'm pretty sure it's one of those Cuban tree frogs - an invasive species that eats just about anything, including other Cuban tree frogs.  I have to catch him and freeze him. Ugh.

The hot Florida weather is breaking a bit - finally. Still 90, but the mornings are much cooler.  Walking is almost bearable again.

Onward! Thanks for stopping by.

A Few More Tops

I spent the weekend grabbing something out of the UFO stack and just barreling through till the top was finished.  Here are the 3 that are ready for quilting. The fourth one is my Scapolator (see some blocks here), and I'm down to the last border.  Progress!

This is the pattern "Red Onion" from Karla Alexander, Stack a New Deck. I thought it would be interesting to slice the targets in with the blocks. I'm pleased with the way it looks; very noisy, yet calming because it's so blue. I named it "Blue Eggs and Spam". It's about 64"x72"

This is about the 6th or 7th one of these I've made. It's a great donation quilt from a free pattern that was found on the Internet. It's big - 72"x 82",  so is perfect for a bed quilt.

This is from one of the older books for using fat quarters. The pattern is "Ashley". Easy peasy. About 50" x 66" - nice lap size.

Thanks for stopping by.

I could make excuses

...all the excuses in the world. Fact is, I've been having way too much fun which left me with no time to blog. So. No excuses. Just pictures.

And that's part of what I've been busy doing.  More later!

4 weeks already??

Yea, how does that happen? I write a blog post, then suddenly it's a month later.  I'll try writing BEFORE I take my morning walk now & see if that works any better.

The decluttering is going well.  Lots of things have been either given to others who wanted them or donated to women's shelters or Goodwill. I no longer needed 3 sets of Christmas dishes. When I used to have 32 for Christmas dinner, that was OK. Now I may have 7 for brunch - all those extra dishes can go. Lots of other items have also departed the house. It's like potato chips; hard to stop once you get started.

Weight? Ah, let's not talk about it except to say "not good". Definitely not where I want to be but never, never, never give up.

Sewing: here are a few things I've done in the last few weeks:

I also went here (which explains part of the weight issue):

 (Don't kiss blue people or you'll look like this:)

Time for a little pampering after all that!

I'm also on target for "finishes", even if they were small:

 Lots of my little Art Dots got finished, and they count. :) They are little works that will add a dot of color wherever it's needed. I'll list them on Etsy within the next few days.

And that's what I've been up to. Nothing terribly interesting, but it sure beats having to go to work every day!

Thanks for stopping by.