Mini-Giveaway #24 - Dinos

Welcome!

I made one of my first whole quilts out of this older fabric and have a little over 1 yard left... (the piece is folded over)

That blue is even a darker blue in person, and the dinos are neon colors.I am pretty sure I got it at either Walmart or Joann's.  I was somewhat new at quilting when I worked with this so it may be an unwashed piece. You might need to use at least a couple of Color Catchers, but it is worth it...

I can see some large blocks in a "Match This With That Quilt" or a "I Spy Quilt"........or even applique......

So comment if you are interested and DH will pull a rabbit out of a hat, or some such thing, on February 17th sometime after 10:00am.  Be sure to be available for contact and Good Luck to all...

My Other Learning Curve - HSTs

I want to make churn blocks.

In order to make them, I needed to review HSTs.

Half Square Triangles - those little things that look so easy...but can irritate you like a pebble in your shoe.  See them in the corners?

I started out with 4 7/8" squares and drew a line from corner to corner. This time I used my rulers and drew 2 more lines, one on each side 1/4" away from the first.  I then sewed on these two outer lines, using the middle as a guide.  Before I had only the one line as a guide and hoped I could keep it even.  Using 2 lines was more time consuming, but I think it helped me with my "balance", so to speak.

After cutting the two triangles from corner to corner, I pressed the resulting HSTs while still folded to set the sewing.  I then opened up the HSTs, light side to the ironing board, being sure I folded it right on the stitching line, then I put my iron down and Pressed the seam.

I ended up with 6 HSTs... and used only 4 of them....

Of course, I won't have to make pinwheels with HSTs when I make my churn blocks, but

couldn't let them just sit there, could I?

This is a picture after I had sewn 2 sets of 2 HSTs together (top row and bottom row). After I had set the stitching line (while still folded) I opened up the two HSTs and looked at the seams (the straight seams in the middle). By examining the "natural" layout of the seams, I decided to fold them toward the white portions.  It was less bulky and Lookie Here..I can now match the final seam with ease. 

When I was pinning the squares, I made sure the meeting midpoint matched.  When I decided the size of squares at the beginning of this exercise, I really didn't know what I would end up with...I was just practicing..

I ended up with roughly (really rough) 8 1/2" lopadoodled pinwheel. So I used my ruler (above), centered it on the midpoint of the pinwheel, 

trimmed, and trimmed,,,,,

.

and finished with a 8" decent size block

 

And what have I learned in this small exercise?

Speaking for myself....I cannot rush HSTs..the more preparation before sewing the better.  Check dimensions constantly, and don't sweat the small stuff.....it will all get done.....

Learning Curves - culinary and HSTs

No, I am not going to whine...or pout....or have negative feelings.....really I'm not...

I don't mind learning curves....everyone has them whenever they start something new, or need to refresh their memory.

Sometimes they are as easy as 1,  2,   3....

I have been on a couple of learning curves the last couple of weeks...

Cooking....

Not just warming up, or microwaving, or outside grilling (DH's job), or even opening up jars/cans/boxes. 

It involves recipes;  finding, searching, examining, printing...and Using.

Then comes various ingredients, spices, measuring, mixing, dirty dishes, pots, pans, counters, tables, ovens, top burners, {Cleaning Up!}

I haven't been in the kitchen so much since my 3 children were young and I had to cook 3 meals a day.  Boy, have I gotten lazy in my old age!  I had morphed into quicky meals, simple and unelegant. 

This is all due to the fact that I have not just gone on a "diet", I have been forced to acknowledge that that diet is absolutely necessary and ongoing, like, maybe ForEver!   So all my thoughts have been, what can I fix myself to eat....much less DH.

 My DH has been so sweet.  During this time, he has done more than just accept the fact that while I don't exactly ignore him at mealtime, for a time he has become second place.  He has actually been willing to cook for himself a time or two...although he did look at my numerous # of  small  turkey meatballs and say, "We could use those with spagetti sometime"...

I think I am still at Phase #1 in the chart above...looking for multi-serve recipes. I plan to have a lot of choices in the freezer all the time, ideally.  It is like searching for treasure..... and X marks the spot .... in the kitchen.....

I know that as I progress through this curve, I will be able to make some of these recipes my own, tweaking here and there, possibly even to the point that DH will enjoy them.

Who knows, maybe I'll share some more treasures with you in the weeks and months to come....after a sample has been properly consumed by yours truly, the human guinea pig....

I will tell you about the HSTs (the second learning curve) in the next post.....please be patient.  The curve is curving......

Leeettlle Bit of Quilting - Among Other Things

I have been HQ at least 15-20 minutes a day on my GD quilt. (see side) That is about all I have been doing sewing-wise since I posted last.

I have cut some of the practice churn block pieces, but not all...

I have been collecting recipes for my new diet.  I have dusted off my George Foreman grill (small) and bought a newer crock pot, large enough to make soups, etc so I can freeze individual portions. I have been grocery shopping and have a lot of fresh, therefore quickly perishable vegetables, fruits, etc.  Must cook/eat these soon.

Now give me a few days to cook up some of these recipes and I can get back to quilting for a little while. 

My favorite recipe so far? 

Spinach and Cheese Omelet

I keep the butter, but use egg substitute. 

Will be cooking this today, if the chicken ever thaws out:

Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

 Talk to you soon......

EQ Rocks! If you know how to use it......

I have been stalling for awhile on one of my quilts, Maverick (for my BIL).  My excuse was that I had to figure out cutting sizes for a churn block.

I saw directions for a  lap size quilt in a magazine that I really liked,,this was about 2 years ago. 

A couple of months ago (before Christmas) I was able to reconstruct the same design on EQ6 as a king size quilt (DH wanted his brother to have a BIG quilt).  But I didn't want to make 7" blocks.  I wanted my blocks to be larger.  I finally decided on 12" blocks..

At various times I thought about how to work the math so I could cut the pieces.  Even got a friend in the quilting group in on it.  She had a program on her iphone that she thought would help, but it didn't.

Today I got to thinking that EQ should have the dimensions of the block somewhere....so I started searching.  Sure enough, under "Double Monkey Wrench",  "Work Block" and " Rotary Cutting", there it was...all I had to do was put in the 12" dimension, and the cutting instructions were there.

To make the Maverick blocks all I had to do was flip the 4 corners of this block.  I have the basics now.

I am going to make a couple of sample blocks to see how they turn out, pick out my fabric and I will be on my way!  Maybe this will be February's goal.. a King size....56 blocks,,,well,, maybe March....

One Small Item Done...

Finally DH and I got our act together and covered my small ironing board.  This has been on my list for almost a year, if not longer....Just something I never got around to.

Don't remember where I got the fabric, but it is canvas or some heavy duty fabric.  I cut a rough pattern and then cut the fabric and some insulation material.  I add two layers of  left over batting, one of which was comprised of 3 parts, not sewn together, but as it was the "first" layer next to the original board, it is held in place well. 

DH did all the heavy work.  Our electric stapler will never be the same again...it was on its' last legs anyway. 

Now I can put up my regular ironing board for awhile..I plan to use this one and the smaller one made out of a cheese board I made earlier last year.

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Personal Note:

I have been having some tiny health issues lately...hopefully will get back into the swing of things shortly.  Just found out I need concentrate on losing at least another 12+ pounds (already lost 10 in the last year!) ...am in the pre-diabetic stage and I really don't want to go there.

So, I guess I'll have to get into the kitchen a little more than I have been.  Anyone have some good simple recipes (diabetic) that they know about?  I'm surfing the web and have found a couple of good sites...

Winner Mini Giveaway #23 is......

Janet!  Congratulations!  The calendar will be winging it's way to you as soon as I can get it ready....hopefully Friday or at the latest, Monday...

She said she was going to share it with friends, so there is more than one winner here....

Remember to look out for my next Giveaway on Feb 15th...as well as what I am doing, or not doing, depending on when you look, in my sewing room on the side....

Mini Giveaway #23 - Quilting pattern/block calendar

Welcome to our first Giveaway of 2012.  So glad you dropped in. 

I bought this boxy calendar in 2009 and haven't used a pattern from it yet.  They are all lovely, different, and colorful... You will see a lot of paper piecing here, with some basic instructions.   All the necessary information is available....finished sizes, cutting sizes, yardage, etc.....

Here are pictures of the front and back of the stand-up box...

Each quilt is shown at the beginning of the series, with all basic information on the 5 1/2" x 7" cards following (back and front). Since everything is shown on a smaller scale due to the size of the calendar, it shows how big the pattern or block should be enlarged.  Different quilts, depending on their complexity, have from one accompanying card to quite a few.

 Here are a few examples of what are inside....

It has oodles of applique designs which can be incorporated into other quilts as well....

The only thing missing here is minor...one sheet of the date cards on which you can list the patterns you like and where they are...but you can make one up easily enough.....it shouldn't hamper anything.

So comment if you are interested and be available for contact.  DH will draw the winner on January 17 after 10:00am and I will announce it as soon as I can afterwards....

Remember the next giveaway is in a month....February 15th  

See you then......

Am I Nuts? .... Opinion, Please...

.....or am I thinking too much....

As said earlier, I am in need of 2 pieces of fabric, plus 1 fussy-cut center block, for my Mountains wall hanging... again,  example from book:

Now, I know I can find 2 lovely fabrics which would fit together perfectly.  Any bright/neutral would do....

orange background,,,multicolor mountains,,,But what to put in the middle?  Maybe either one as the middle, with the other as the mountain and white (?) as the sky....

Again, either of these with white sky would work...but what to put in the middle?

Am I limiting myself with a fussy cut idea??? I really wanted this to be an exercise in mountain climbing, so to speak.....and not worry about blocks in the middle..

but maybe a simple middle block instead of the one shown......

Can't go wrong with red and black...flowers in the middle, red as mountains, and again,,,white as sky....

but I have the urge to use a couple of these, along with gray for the neutral color.....

 Either fish fabric used in a large block in the middle,,,at least 13" square...with gray as sky and either waves (cut either lengthwise or across the design???) or the green as the mountains....

Would like to get this decided by Monday,

but may have to wait.....

I think the fish would be funky, but this is a new design for me and I don't know where I would hang a fish..

But I don't want to be predictable....

Okay, main decisions:

1) fussy cut or simple design block in the middle....

2) should I add another color in the middle block if  I choose to go that way...

3)  or,,,,and I'm leaning toward this....use EQ6 and play with ideas...my group is going to start tomorrow on these blocks....they only meet twice a month...maybe by later on in the month I can decide and try to get caught up.....

4)  Rereading this, I realize I have all the ingredients in the red and black idea for tomorrow, and could still check out the others in EQ....

........groan......

Wonky Top DONE! I'm On My Way!

I finished my Wonky Top (size approx 64" x 64") on 1/7.  I'll be keeping the progress report on the side of my blog for a few more days....

It was made from a package of layer cakes (10" square) I bought this summer. 

The sashing and borders are made of cotton, but has a little looser weave that the blocks.  I am hoping that the quilting I do will help anchor it in more.  I really like the color.

I had to be careful with the blocks and keep them in order....really had to watch myself...I did goof...Nope, I promised myself I would try to keep the minor goofs to myself this year.

....although major goofs could be a fun thing to look back on....

This may be a UFO for awhile,,,I have a couple of other quilts I am HQing now....

Next up --  searching my stash for

 two colors + a block to highlight 

January - Lost Month......Nevermore.....

At the end of each January, have any of you said, "That was quick, where did January go?" 

I have.  January, being the first month of the year, has always sped by like a jet plane, or satellite, or .... Secretariat...

Not this year.  I want January to be chock full of things done or doing....It's bad enough to have time go faster and faster, much less not knowing where it went to or what has been done...

This January I have vowed to do several things...

1)  Give/Throw away items that have been on my "Don't Want" or "Don't Use" lists for several years...averaging one thing a day.

2)  Start/Finish/Continue on tasks (Quilty or Otherwise) which are named on one of my many lists.

3) Do something that won't take more than a few minutes (less than an hour), that has been hanging around waiting to get done for months now....minimum one item a month. Ex: cut away and clear dewberry bush et.al. which we tried to train to grow on a trellis...didn't work...dewberries, as their name indicates, tend to grow and stay close to the ground. 

  4) Definitely work in 15 minutes of handquilting a day, minimum, regardless of any other quilty task I also do.

I already have 3 dresses hanging in my closet, ready to give to the local church thrift shop, and have my eye on several more things.

I am oonches (that's a few inches) away from finishing my first top (flimsy....love that word!) of the year....see side panel...

Next week a heavy duty dentist visit will slow me down some, but that may qualify for the once a month item (true, it will be more than an hour, but it is something that has been delayed long enough).

Enough of this...time to get back to work and "...do the things I do...."

 

Plum Jam Turned Out SO GOOD! -(nq*)

(nq*) = non quilting

When we bought this place about 8 1/2 years ago, we were pleased to have 2 plum trees on our property.  About a year or so later, they were overloaded with plums.  So we picked, and picked, and picked...etc....

 And I learned how to make plum jam.....

I canned at least 50 quart jars of jam that year. From 2 trees.  That was a lot of jam for me.  Some of you who can might think I was a wimp, but I just couldn't keep up with the trees. I could have put up a lot more, but I couldn't reach all of them (even with a ladder) and I was just learning and was slower than molasses.....picking, pitting, cooking, etc....this was an introduction to retirement that I was not expecting. 

But oh, such good jam.. and from our own trees! I shared a lot with relatives and friends....

Fast forward to Summer, 2010. 

Drier weather, pre-drought conditions, but we were lucky to have rain at the right time....One of the trees came through again. The other had a few, but this one....WOW!  No pictures of the crop of plums during that summer, but there were even more than the last time.  Branches were weighted down.  Still a lot I couldn't reach. Big job for someone in their 70s.... I called a friend of mine who loved to can and told her that I couldn't handle them all and didn't want them to go to waste.  So she came over, several times actually.  There were so many to pick..we concentrated on one long branch at the bottom..She is shorter than I am and I am only 5' tall.  We filled about (10) 5 gallon buckets that day..we continued to fill buckets in the days that followed and still didn't get them all... 

This year I was smarter...I prepared about (3) 10 cup containers of pulp and juice and froze it (no sugar, no jell). My friend took the bulk of the plums for her use and canned them all..In addition, she brought me 3 more containers, same size, and I froze them. I made a couple of batches last year. 

This year I made another batch. On Dec 23rd.... The containers hold just enough for one batch + enough juice for a couple of loaves of plum bread...

There is just the two of us, so the main portion was canned in 12 small 1/2 pint containers for us. 

I'll give away the 3 larger jars and keep the 12 smaller ones, one for each month.  Hopefully I can finish canning the rest of the pulp in the freezer this coming year, one batch at a time......

 It is SO GOOD!  

  

  

To All.....

Myspace Graphics, Christmas Graphics at WishAFriend.com

See you after Christmas!!!

Another Project for 2012

Some people in my quilting group has decided to try this pattern...

It was published in 2001 and still popular today.   I would have never picked this one to try on my own.  There are so many pieces to work with and so many matching corners!  Hopefully there won't be too many extra valleys in the mountains....

 That's why I like interacting with other people. They can be such a help and encouragement...

The book comes with a template to use.  The first thing I noticed about the layout of the book is how the instructions are not crowded on the page.  I will be able to see where I am most of the time.

I am going to do one thing before I start, however...I am taking it down to an office supply store and put binding rings (is that what you call them?) on the side so the book will lay flat and I don't have to worry about creasing the binding or it coming apart.

I have decided to start simple with this design...doing the wall hanging, with  2 fabrics and a 

fussy-cut center instead of the center shown here

So now I am up to 5(?) new projects for 2012..... Let's see, that's a little over 2 months per project....

Busy, busy, busy....

Untitled ---or--- What Can I Say????

As all can see on the side, I have started another quilt top.  I am using 36 squares of the Layer Cake package I bought a while back.

The pattern calls for several angle cuts and mixing up the different fabrics to end up with blocks that are a little wonky. 

They are.

More so than the pattern shows.

An explanation is in order......

No, I shouldn't call it an explanation.....that would insinuate there was something to explain..

 

A Lesson of  Positive Piecing in Progress instead.....

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Things I have Learned During This Construction:

1)  When cutting 9 (yes, it called for NINE) layers, a new blade is in order

2) Keep track of where you are in the pattern

3) Keep going as if you know what you are doing

4) Believe in yourself

5) Remember, all quilts are unique

6)  Artistic design is in the eyes of the beholder

7)  All patterns need a little "tweeking"

8) Never assume you are on a roll....you can't see where you are going if you are rolling....

9)  If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all....but you can sure look

10)  If it turns out great,  "It was planned that way...."

11) Repeats:

11a) One repeat in a block is a problem

11b)  Two repeats are a oops

11c)  Three repeats = see #10

12) If  #11 is relevant:  Remember,

It's only fabric.