First top of 2014

This  will be transferred to the appropriate page when I get to the computer.  Can't figure out how to get to pages on mobile blogger.  Anyway, this top is done. I don't have a good location inside the house to take photos, so ignore the other detritus hanging about the edges.  

Today's progress

I've been working on this for the last two days.

I laid it out on the design wall while back, and am finally picking it up to "get 'er done".  

When I lay out on the design wall, I start folding into rows & columns (think "excel spreadsheet"), and label. Then I can come back to the project when the spirit moves me.

Stacked - see the clip on the right? That tells me that is the seam side - sew those edges together

Labels for columns, so I'll know which one goes where

I managed to get this far before I just couldn't sew anymore.

Just 3 more borders then it will be a top. Yay! First one of 2014.

Meanwhile, these little cutie patooties made it to the "finished" column. They needed only the button on top, but that meant they were still UFOs. Now these little guys (12 of them) are DONE! Woohoo! These are for a gift swap we'll do in one of my classes at Empty Spools.

And that's what I've been up to. Thanks for stopping by.

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!

Things I made today

My days are like most people's: some are interesting, others are just living life. The first day of 2014 was a "living life" day for me. I did a lot of stuff, but nothing worth writing about. Besides normal homecare chores, here's what I made.

These little blocks are called "fractures" now, I think.  I was just working through the scrap basket. No plans (yet) for these babies. They're just 3.5" square. I'll just dink around with scraps until I have enough to do something.

Rachel Ray's quick pickles

- during - 

done

Roasted Root Vegetables - parsnips, gold beets, rutabagas, onions, carrots, garlic

the gold beets were the tastiest

I also "made" a huge pile of clean laundry. 

In an effort to learn to take decent photographs, I've joined the "Capture Your 365" group. One photo a day, with a prompt to get me going. I'm starting another page for that project. See the tabs (up top) if you're curious about how I interpret the prompt.

Just a "living life" day, but it sure was productive. Thanks for stopping by!

Steady as she goes

My directing word this year has been "finish".  It seemed like an overwhelming task, but I must say I can see lots of progress has been made.  I'll continue this word thru 2014 (already made that decision) because I'd like to find myself at a point of having (almost) no unfinished projects. 

Some projects reach their "finished" status by being tossed in the trash, or put in the sale bin. This counts!!! They are off my UFO list. I've not done such a hot job of posting all the pics, but that wasn't the goal, anyway, was it?

So with all that said, here are things I've accomplished over the last few days.

I'm working on a project for a class I'll teach next year using these diamonds. They are quite tedious to make (but so worth it for the result!), so I have myself on a one-a-day schedule until they're all made. I'll probably put the quilt together while I'm on the road (Great Road Trip 2014 starts in mid-January. Stay tuned!) then ship it home so the quilters can work their magic.

I started this log cabin quilt umpteen jillion years ago. I call it the manly-man log cabin. I have such a hard time working in man colors! Again, I'm working on one block a day. I'm down to just two more blocks, then assembly begins. I have this idea for a brick-type border that I hope looks as good in fabric as it does in my head. :) The block is 14" so not many will be needed. I've cut enough sets of strips to make about 50 blocks I think....what in the world was I planning????? It's all those leftover strip sets that I'll use for the border.

Lastly, my half-square triangle (HST) units.  The guild is doing a swap each month for 6 months.  I'll be on the road for 4 of those months, so I'm getting ahead before I leave. I made 336 to turn in this month - 112 of each fabric group (batik, 30s repro, and brights). Why that odd number? We are all using the same papers for the piecing; there are 28 on a page. I made 2 pages of each. Simply answers to a funny number. Once they're sewn and cut apart, there's still the trimming off of the sticky-outie corners and removing the papers. Sewing them was the easy part!

So that's what I've been up to these last few days. I hope your Thanksgiving was all you hoped it would be, and thanks for stopping by.

Small Stuff

A few more art dots got completed this week:

I also am in the midst of exploring the design options for these little wristlets:

So many possibilities, and in such a small space. These are easy to whip out in a couple of hours, and won't they make great gifts?

Here are my two newest favorite things:

A thimble that sticks to my fingertip

And these terrific binder clips from Clover.

 I've used hair clips for years, but was quickly converted when finishing a binding for a friend. She had already clipped the binding down with these, and man! Love them! They work great for the art dot bindings, too. No affiliation - just love the product.

Still  practicing my long arming. None are picture worthy yet.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, and thanks for stopping by.

The Big and the Small

  

I've been doing big things - learning my long arm, and small things - making pincushions.

Practice, practice, practice for the long arm. I have a huge stack of tops for practicing that will be donated once they have their bindings. The machine stitches beautifully, and getting the rhythm is going quite well. (I have a Martelli LaCresta, not computerized).  It's fun to get back into quilting my own quilts again, although it will be a long time until I totally stop supporting my friendly neighborhood long-arming ladies!! 

I'm also making billions and billions of pincushions for a gift swap.  OK, 30 - but it SEEMS like billions. It takes me a full evening to stuff just one (they're chubby little suckers) What was I thinking!

My hand is in that one for perspective.  They still need their little yoyo caps, but they're just the cutest darn things! All from the scrap basket(s).  It's fun to remember the quilts that were made from those fabrics.

Staying busy.  That's a good thing.  Thanks for stopping by.