Birthday Wall Hanging is Done!

Posts should have pictures. 

So, just as proof that I did finish...although I know ya'll would believe me anyway.... here is a picture of my Birthday Wall Hanging. My Take-Along Project.  Not hanging yet,,,DH needs to find a rod and a Place of Honor somewhere in the house needs to be found.

Yes, you are right...there is really nothing special to see.  This is the back.  The front consists of different squares, each with a family member's name and date of birth written on it (DH and myself, our 3 children and 9 grandchildren).  Because this is the internet, I don't want that info to become common knowledge, so you will just have to imagine the other side....

I just wanted something to help me remember birthdays....

People have asked me What if another GC arrives?  Simple....They get their own special block,,,hanging from a safety pin at the bottom....well, maybe I can attach the block some other way.....

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Oh, on a personal note:  I came home today with 2 swim suits,,,,and they were one size smaller than the last ones I bought! Of course I bought the last ones about a year ago or so....but still.....

Quicky Progress

I'm headed with DH to the dentist, so this is a quicky.... 

Also, a couple of Whoops.....

Went to my quilt group Monday morning and was able to sew these blocks into strips for the H2H project Sarah is doing on Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Hopefully it will turn out okay..I am wondering if I will have enough of one of the colors I want to use...if not,,, I'll punt.

I also am tootling along with the churn blocks..want to have them all done by the end of the month and laid out on my den floor so I can play with them...I have steps leading down to the den so I can "oversee" them...

Edited: 3/31/12 - They are on the den floor and except for one slight boo-boo which will be corrected momentarily they are ready for a sew-together..

.....and it's this time again....

We had to stop and smell the roses (of Texas) on our way to town today.

Our area is off the highway and is in a largely farming area. Bluebonnets don't usually come up in fields that are primed for agriculture or cattle, but with the rains, finally, that we have been getting, there is a small section where they are blooming. 

Progress in Fact and in Mind.....

Little Whoops this week....check out the results of other quilters and achievers here on Confessions of a Fabric Addict...

I have nothing I really finished this week.  It was one of those weeks that occur fairly often to quilters and people with a goal or a mission....sort of like washing and vacuuming the car before the Big Wax Finish and Showoff....

 It was a  mundane week of sewing blocks and picking fabric. 

I added these churn blocks to the ones I finished the other day.

I still have some light on dark blocks to do, as well as some blue.  I concentrated on the brown first because that was the easiest.  I am having trouble with the blue which is more difficult to blend in with the colors and values that I have...I may have to make more churn blocks than I need just to get some I am comfortable with...Definitely a WIP...with possible detours ahead.

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I also gathered some leftover fabric together for a couple of quilts I have in mind.  This one is a Maybe..the first one turned out very well, but I used up some colors I will not have this time...so it is still on the drawing board, so to speak.  I'll be playing with these for awhile.

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Finally, I am gathering more leftover fabric for this Monday's quilt group meeting.  I may be sewing and may not, depending on whether I can come up with a nice layout for these bright babies...

I made 26 four-square blocks from small remnants from another quilt and they have been hanging out somewhat impatiently for quite a while.  Right now they are about 6" square, but I will have to remeasure them and trim them to a common inch, whatever that will be.  I added some more fabric to go with them and will be shuffling them around.

See you next week.

I'm Groovin' & Movin'

First,

My 7 year old GD called the first of the week. She received her quilt and loved it. She said she liked the colors and enjoyed opening the package that was addressed to Her!

My DDIL came on the phone. This is a lady who is very craft talented, but has not sewn. She requested any leftover fabric so that she could make pillows and maybe a curtain "puller-backer". She said they were members of 4F and thought about both of them making a pillow or some other thing to decorate her room with the quilt as a basis...The fabric is already on the way. Of course I kept some, because I want to use it again also.

Second,

Look what I have done so far.......

Oh, the numbers on the blocks,,they are place markers...Thanks toTeresa at Fabric Therapy for her idea of freezer paper place markers, I have another way of corralling these blocks into submission.


I hope to make a couple more before I retire for the night....

Playing HopScotch with Blocks and Weather Alert

Time:  Back up a couple of days....

 I finally used my new Wall...and it was not big enough for the kingsize quilt I was making. I put the brown HSTs up and let them stay there for awhile until I finished the blue ones. ...Churn blocks will fill in the blanks...

{Please excuse the excess paraphrenalia that surrounds the wall...I was really pushing the limit on it.}

After finishing the blue HSTs I looked again at the original picture in the magazine for help in placement.

It was not too clear, because the quilt  was folded, but I looked at the original diagram and finally came up with the general idea.  I played with the blocks and left it there last night and all day today and am finally beginning to get used to it. I used EQ6 and recolored the blocks to help me remember the placement logic.   I have to have it up for awhile so that I can see the colors blending in.

  I found I would still need one column on the side and 2 rows on the bottom. Part of the problem was solved by extending the blocks onto the floor (good ole reliable floor!) and I figure that I can play with the final column on the side later...

Now that I have these pictures, I can pick up the ones on the floor and work with those on the wall.

It's going to be awhile until those blanks fill up....

Can you deduce I am a visual person who needs things right in her face to see them????

Fast Forward to current time:

Last night I unintentionally pulled an almost all nighter, played with the above and also grabbed loose fabric and stored it where it belonged...therefore I slept in this morning.  At noon, the electricity went out (bright day, getting cloudy,wind is kicking up; may have had something go down on one of the lines).  At 3:00pm DH and I headed into town to mail packages and grab something to eat.  At 5:00pm we got home to find Electricity!  Needless to say I have not touched anything in my sewing room.  Now wind is still blowing and perhaps we might get a little rain, at least that's what I see on the weather channel.... 

We are kinda midway between Dallas and Houston so we may not get the brunt of it... I'll close for now and hopefully get some cutting time on those churn blocks.....and then maybe a good nights' sleep!

Hands2Help Challenge - I'm In!....

This is the first time I have reached out into the blogging world to contribute something to a worthy cause.  I am not a perfect quilter, by any means, and I am alway concerned that I will not meet the "standard" or will fall by the wayside, or something will get in the way, or some such "stuff " as that...

I have given comfort quilts to a local group and have had success with the endeavor.  So here I am, promising to send at least one quilt to one of the charities Sarah mentioned here in her blog.....look at the guidelines through the link above and come join us

Between you and me, I might even try for two, one for each charity..but I hate to promise something that I will not be able to deliver...I'd rather promise one and deliver two than the other way around...

Anyway, with a little bit of shuffling of the feet, and hanging of the head, I am now part of this Challenge...

Man, I gotta get more positive!....workin' on it....

Winner & RunnerUp of Curtain Fabric - #25

Can't get my fingers to work....typed only the title and then published it...sorry for the frustration, anybody....

Anyway, the winner of the curtain fabric is Raelene! 

Congratulations to her and I know she has some wonderful ideas on how to use it.

And who is the RunnerUp?  hueisee... Yea! for her...

The packets should be winging their way home the first of the week....

2 for 1 - MIni Giveaway # 25

My wall is up and my curtains are down.  After seeing the condition of the first two, I decided all four needed a bath - along with several color catcher sheets.

And this reminded me of the leftover fabric from them. 

Perfect for this month's Giveaway....

As a matter of fact, there is enough for 2 Giveaways...kinda....

The smallest piece is at least 1 yard long. Most of them are longer.  They are all from Jinny Beyer and I believe they were slated for use as borders or columns or some such as that...As you can see, I used them in my curtains....

So here is what I am gonna do......

We will have a Winner of this Giveaway,,,,,,,

And then we will have a RunnerUp....

The Winner will have his (her) choice of three of the following....

The RunnerUp will have the other three.

Got It????

They are numbered, with the number above of the picture...

So pick out the three you want and comment.

Here Goes....

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

and finally #6

...and there they are.

As usual, please make sure I can contact you.  I will let DH draw the winner after 10:00am (CST) on March 17.  Good luck to all and have fun deciding which ones you want...I wouldn't want to choose between them.....

 

Endings and Beginnings

I have finished my GDs quilt....I say so calmly and without too much emotion.....

To heck with that!   

I FINISHED MY GDs QUILT!!!!!

Now, that feels better and is the way I really feel about it.....

I have been working on this forever, it seems....hold on a minute, I'll look back and see when I first mentioned it.... here....now that's been quite a while....I really took my time, didn't I?

The quilt is washed, slightly dried, and is currently drying in my sewing room...in a few days, it will be bundled up, with a one-way ticket to its' destination, albeit a somewhat bumpy ride via USPS.

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{edited 3/16:  I feel as if I have been coasting this week...Finished this on Monday and am giving myself a Whoop! Whoop! today (Friday).  Check out others on Sarah's blog.  It is a great feeling to finish! }

Now onto the next new project.

Actually, I am reminded of a line by the young boy in Jurassic Park....

"Well, here we are...........back in the car......again".

And I answer, "Yes, but at least we're out of the tree"....

I could continue to talk about this, but I think the above just about covers it.....

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Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are headed to town to buy a wall....I had one once upon a time, until I got it down and used it in a quilt...

I decided that the floor was not big enough to hold a king size display and am going to buy some more batting or something to hang over the windows again...I have to have a wall...

See you in a bit..

Whoopin' it Up....

My table runner is finished!

I am giving myself a Whoop! Whoop! 

It will be a Christmas present, along with 12 matching placemats (to be done) to my DS & DIL.....family of 8.

  

After quilting it, I decided to round the corners..I think it gives it a softer look.

 I found this design on another blog,,,sorry, don't remember where, but loved it.  It's easy to make and very striking..may pick out more fabric and make another one for Christmas... 

Looking forward to seeing others who Whoop it up on Sarah's blog.

Next......

Yes!

I am off the treadmill of Forever Quilting!

Now to the Binding stage. 

My GDs quilt and the Goodie Food runner are both ready to bind.

 GDs binding has been done for awhile...I wanted to use the fabric for other projects (which I have not gotten to for some reason???) and sewed it together earlier. 

I had chosen the binding for the runner (the same as the backing) until my DH came in and said he didn't like it....so I am having second thoughts. I may still use my choice, but am willing to mull it over for a few hours....can't use the food fabric, not enough to bind and make 12 placemats like I had planned...

  I plan to round off the ends of the runner and needed something curved to go by.

First I tried a large plate.......

....Too small......

Then I remembered something I bought at an office supply (drafting aisle) a couple of years ago or so......

a  bendable ruler...

So.....I bent it....

With a little bit of tweaking on the placement, I can then draw a line and cut..... 

....Later.....

Decided to use the white to bind it with....it looks good...just need to handsew it now...

Doesn't progress feel good?   

What to Work on Today and Observations

Oh, so many things to work on today and I want them all Finished!  

I have started on my HSTs for my Maverick quilt.  Will get those done and then work on the other blocks... I have a time frame here.....would love to have it all done by the end of June...is it possible, don't know....will be handquilting....So the quicker I get the blocks done and arranged, the better....

Of course, they won't mean much until I get quite a few more and start playing with them.

You know that every time you make one HST, you usually make two.  I have 5 because one of the first pair ended up too small...goof in final cutting... So I fixed a template and am using it as a go-by since I don't have a big enough ruler to suit me.  These blocks are 12 1/2" as they look here. I'll need 28 of them and may not use some of the duplicates....will just have to wait and see what I come up with.

Next, you have seen a couple of these on the side, in My Sewing Room Progress....

Bless its' little heart,  my Wall Hanging is still Hanging....it is dedicated to the "Take Along" spot because it is small and easy to handle during any Waiting Time.....I only have about 1/2 of the binding to go, and then finish tacking down the hanging tabs. 

I have to bind my Goodie Food table runner, and I am not counting the 12 placemats I need to make....

I have only a smiggen of quilting to do before my GD quilt is ready for the Already Made binding...that has been in the works for several months... I have that goal listed in Amy's One Thing One Week Challenge for this week....or is it the runner binding????

I might have finished it last night, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't....

Thus an Observation......

I should never do serious quilting while watching an Indiana Jones movie....I end up Watching the movie....and I have seen it before..... Usually I can absorb various TV episodes while concentrating on quilting, as I should.  I don't have the luxury of quilting during commercials..DH and I like to record what we want to watch for a later date when we can fast forward through them.

That's why I put well-watched movies on my computer in my sewing room...I can listen to the dialogue and work, glancing up every once in awhile, and be completely happy with the "noise background"....

Another Observation....

It's Open Window Day again....the Outside calls me....I even mowed around the house this last weekend.  Another temptation in my quilting path..... We are blessed with a warm winter (as a whole) this year....no telling what the temperature will be several months from now....

Oh, our plum trees are blooming....so we have hopes again this year....we will see how that turns out...

Finds While Cleaning my Sewing Room

I really don't like cleaning my sewing room..the only reason I do it is because of all the lovely surprises I run across that I had forgotten about. 

So of course, I had to stop and share with you......

I have some small booklets called The Work Basket that I have from my grandmother...I love looking through them for their little nuggets of yesteryear....which wasn't that long ago, as I get older...

In the October, 1950 issue I found this:

 Isn't he sweet?

These books have more to do with crocheting, tatting, knitting, etc...but there are a few items every once in awhile on quilting..... 

The hoop can be 23" round or 18"x27" oval, but I immediately wondered how it could stand only on one leg...

The small article states that it can be slipped under one front leg of the worker' chair.....

Oh, how hoops have changed during the years!  (BTW, no $$ amt was given)

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{{{{Sigh}}}}

Back to cleaning...DH will be back from the garbage dump soon...I got out of helping by telling him I really needed to clean up the S.R. so I can get started on "The Quilt".....

so I have to show Some Progress.......

Practice Churn Blocks

I only hope that my churn blocks I am making for the kingsize quilt will be as easy as these.  I had never made them before, and one was right on the money as far as size was concerned {12.5"), and the other was off only 1/8" or smaller on two sides,,,and I know when that happened...during the making of the HSTs...

No, I haven't changed color for my kingsize...

These practice blocks will probably eventually be used in a charity or huggable quilt. 

Can't let them go to waste...