Design Wall Monday 08/29/16

I've been on a bit of a sewing hiatus lately.  Every once in a while I go through a dry spell where I have no desire to sew at all.  I've got tons of projects to work on, but no desire to do it.  I've been in one of these lately, but decided to just try out a little sewing this past weekend to see how it would go.  My goal was to make one chain block for my Crossroads quilt along project.  The quilt along ended recently and I stalled making the chain blocks.  I'm pulling all of the fabrics from my stash, and I wanted it to be really scrappy (within color families).  Therefore, making one block still meant that I had to do a lot of cutting and sewing to have scrappy components to choose from.  I'm happy to say that I met my goal of putting together one block.  I also have units pieced and cut and ready to assembly-line sew together.  It was a lot of work for only having one block made, but the rest should come together in no time.

Above are some of the stacks of units ready to go.  There are some more piles sitting outside of the picture.  I actually cut way too many red pieces, so I'll need to find a project later to use them up, which shouldn't be a problem.  If I figure out something now, I can use them as leaders and enders, between my chain piecing...

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Throw Back Thursday 08/04/16

Here's a quilt top that I had forgotten about!  I wonder where it is now...  I taught this quilt back in 2009 (see the original post here).  It was designed by Mary Johnson and she posted it on her blog.  She graciously gave permission for me to teach it and this is what I came up with.  I remember I was really happy that I found the background blue fabric because it had little circles on it that looked like bubbles.  However, I was not happy later, as it is really a very odd purple-blue and it is difficult to put other blues with it.  I haven't been able to use any of the scraps.  I pull them from the stash and then have to put them back because they don't play well with others!  I should try to find this quilt top and use it to practice machine quilting.  I could do some interesting things in those open spaces.

Throw Back Thursday 07/28/16

For today's TBT post I chose a wall hanging that I designed for a shop challenge back in 2008.  You can see the original post here.  We were given two fat quarters - the purple and the green floral print - to use in a quilted piece.  There were a lot of rules on size and fabric, etc., but I think I was the only one who followed them.  In the end the challenge was not a good experience for me, but I'm really happy with the piece that I made.  I really pushed myself to create a design I liked within the parameters given.  The flowers are folded fabric which I then hand appliqued onto the pieced backing. The vines were made with a 1/4" bias tape maker.  That was a challenge in itself!  It later hung in an exhibit at a local library.

It's fun revisiting these projects from the past!

Design Wall Monday 07/18/16

My sister came over to sew on Saturday, and she made the wall hanging shown above.  She had a pattern out of an old magazine, and so we raided my fabric stash and then she got right to work.  We even had time to run out to the fabric store to get the ric rac.  Very cute.  I haven't finished anything worth showing this week.  I spent my time on Saturday cutting pieces for the chain blocks in the Crossroads quilt along quilt.  There are 18 chain blocks so it will take a little time.  If I were using yardage or the kit, it would go much faster because you can strip piece the block parts, but I am using scraps, which take a lot longer to cut out.  It's not difficult, though, so once I get all of the pieces cut, I can go to town on the blocks.  I'm looking forward to having all of the blocks done.

I also got some embroidery floss so I can add the final touches to my Farm Girl Vintage quilt blocks.  I am noticing that embroidery is starting to get very popular again.  There are a lot of new patterns and sew alongs that involve embroidery.  Now that I finally have proper glasses, I can do some hand work much easier.

Hopefully next week I'll have at least one Crossroads chain block finished!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 07/11/16

I'm all caught up with the Crossroads quilt along!  I had a fun day of sewing on Saturday.  I finally just decided to get to it and it was wonderful.  Now I just need to wait until Friday for the next set of instructions to come out.  I believe all of the chain blocks are next.  I'll need to switch to scrappy reds for that.  I surely did not make a dent in my stash of blues.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll piece a bunch together for the backing.  We'll see.

I've turned into a starched fabric convert.  I started starching my fabric before i start cutting.  I press it dry and then cut my pieces out.  Wow what a difference this has made.  The last two blocks above were made that way and they came out just perfect and lay very flat.  It takes more time but not so much when using scraps and working on one block at a time.  It would probably take quite a bit more time if I were working with yardage.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall 07/05/16

Today is a Design Wall Tuesday (instead of Monday), as yesterday was a holiday and I didn't get around to logging into my computer.  I was sewing instead! I've been working on the Crossroads quilt along that is being run by the Fat Quarter Shop.  I have finally finished the first four months of blocks.  I have a little over a week to get the fifth month's blocks finished if I want to keep up with the sew along.  Next month will be the chain blocks, which I am going to make in scrappy reds.  I think the blocks should all come together nicely - it will be my scrappy Red, White, and Blue quilt.  I'd like to say that it is all coming from my stash, but I did recently purchase some fat eights of background prints so I would have more variety.

The other thing that I worked on over the long weekend was a fabric frame for one of my husband's co-workers.  I made one for my husband over 10 years ago and he's had it hanging up at work (a standard 4"x6" photo pops into the middle section - the center borders are actually flaps that hold in the photo).  I had almost forgotten about it, and then he asked me to make one for a co-worker's wedding shower gift.  I had him bring his home so I could study it - I really couldn't figure out how I had made it.  As a last resort, I went to my old (and very dusty) pattern box and lo & behold - I found the original pattern!  I must say my skills have greatly improved in the last 10-12 years, as the new one looks a lot nicer than the original!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social.

Throwback Thursday 06/30/16

Ready for another TBT post?  I'm slowly making my way back to my sewing machine, but I haven't sewn anything yet.  I've cleared off some old projects and I've been cutting up scraps with my die cutter, but no sewing as yet. So we're back to another Throw Back post.  Above is a picture of a quilt that I made for a co-worker's daughter back in 2008.  The story on that is here.  This was a sew along, and I was originally going to set the blocks in a straight set with sashings, but I saw someone else had set them in the tilted setting and I loved it!  By adding the strips around the blocks to make them tilt, the blocks end up getting bigger.  It was for a child, so I didn't want a huge quilt.  I had many more of the churn dash blocks already made, but decided not to use them.  They are still sitting in my sewing room and every once in a while I tell myself that I will make another quilt like this.  I really like how it turned out.

I went to a Kaffe Fassett exhibit at the local quilt museum yesterday and took a bunch of pictures.  I'll post those soon!

Throw Back Thursday 06/23/16

How about another TBT post?  I found this one on a blog post I made in 2007.  I remember it well.  It was a baby quilt for some friends of ours, and I really thought that these were the colors that they told me they were using for the baby's room.  I remember I thought it was an unusual combination of colors and I probably never would have chosen them to put together into a quilt, but I do like how the quilt turned out.  When I gifted them the quilt, I found out that the baby's room was actually only a couple of these colors (I can't remember which ones now).  It didn't really matter though.  They loved the quilt anyway.  I tied this one and used a high loft batting so it was nice and cuddly.  The pattern was from an old magazine that I had earmarked and put away for a future project. It is a variation on a Jacob's Ladder block.  There is a half-square triangle in two corners of each block which created a pinwheel when the blocks are put together. I used a bunch of fat quarters and I'm pretty sure that I'm still using up scraps from that quilt.

It's fun looking at all of these old quilts.  Lately I've been watching some of the Craftsy classes that I've been stockpiling, and I feel like I'm starting to get my quilting mojo back.  Hopefully I'll have some new projects to post soon!

TBT 06/16/16

I thought I'd try out a Throw Back Thursday post.  I've seen other people make TBT posts, and since I haven't had much to show that is new, I thought I'd go for old!  I found this picture of a wall hanging that I made as a gift.  I can't recall exactly what year I made it, but I believe it was around 2006 (judging by the other pictures it was with).  I really like this one and it was not difficult to make.  It was a paper foundation pieced pattern that went together fairly quickly being that there are only four blocks.  I was able to use up some pink scraps for the petals.  Looking at it now, I think I would change the proportion of the two borders if I made it again.  I remember seeing this pattern again in my pattern stash when we moved a couple of years ago.  Maybe I'll dig it out and make myself a quilt with it.

Design Wall Monday 06/13/16

There hasn't been much sewing going on lately, but I'm moving forward very slowly on the Crossroads quilt along. I'm making all of the monthly pieced blocks in blue scraps, and then I'll make the alternate/chain blocks in scrappy reds.  Above are two of the four "Family" blocks that are the blocks for this month. I have most of the pieces cut for the other two blocks - just need to sew them together.  Below are blocks from past months - three "Friendship" blocks:

And three "Diamond" blocks:

I didn't grab a picture of the four "House" blocks that I made first, but you can see them here.  As you can see, I still have my Farm Girl Vintage quilt taking up most of my design wall, so I have to squeeze these new blocks in on the side. I'm hoping to get a burst of motivation this summer while it's too hot to be outside.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls today.  Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 06/06/16

Wow.  How is it June already??  Crazy!

Above is my sister's completed Swoon block.  It came out great.  I believe it's about 24" square now.  Good wall hanging size.

I've been on a little quilting (and blogging) break.  Sometimes I need to step away from the sewing machine and do other things until my sewing mojo comes back.  My other love is gaming, so I've been playing Fallout 4 on the XBOX for the past few weeks.  I love those games a lot.  I finished the game, so I'll be back to sewing soon.  And now I get to play with my new Accuquilt Go Big system that I just got last week.  Very excited - I hope it works out this time. My Accuquilt Go Baby never worked properly, but I know that it did work for a lot of people.  I had purchased a lot of dies for it, so I'm hoping I'll finally be able to use them.  We'll see!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 05/16/16

Sorry for the absence last week - we had been on a mini vacation that week and I didn't get any sewing done!  We love to drive down to Paso Robles and go wine (and beer) tasting.  Now that we live in San Jose, it is only about a 2 1/2 hour drive from home.  Above is a pic of me at the vineyard where we stayed for two nights, Croad Vineyards.  Absolutely wonderful place and great wine too. The winemaker, Martin Croad, was around and we had some wonderful chats.

Because we were gone on Mother's Day weekend, my mom, sister and I moved our annual Mother's Day sewing day to this past weekend.  A good time was had by all, as usual.  I got quite a bit of cutting and marking done, so I literally have my work cut out for me now!  I can just sit and sew tonight which is wonderful. I'm really pleased with how much I got done.  I usually talk so much I don't get anything accomplished!  Above is my sister showing her Swoon block that she made yesterday.  Turned out so great!  Both of those prints have a little metallic touch to them, which you can't see in this picture.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 05/02/16

Where is the time going??  I can't believe it's already May.  I got a little sewing done over the weekend.  I've been playing around with blocks that use flying geese units.  The technique that I am teaching in the current quilt class session is the No Waste Flying Geese method.  The link is to a really good resource on how to do this method.  I decided to go with the Golden State Warriors colors (blue and yellow/gold) for these blocks.  The bottom block on the left is for the Crossroads quilt along.  I think it came out pretty good!  And it has flying geese units as well!

Above is a picture of my whole design wall as it is right now.  All Farm Girl Vintage blocks are present and accounted for!  I love looking at them on the wall.  It will look so empty when I finally put them together and I take them off the wall.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone has on their design walls today.  Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 04/25/16

I've done it!  I finally finished all of the blocks for the Farm Girl Vintage sampler quilt.  I kept putting off making the last block.  I think because I was trying to figure out what  color to make the sheep.  I just made the cat block in grey fabric, and I didn't want to have too much grey in the quilt.  I tried to decide which color would round out the quilt, and I finally decided on pink (even though I just made a pink pig block).  I'm happy with how it turned out and I don't know why I was so worried about it.  I just need to embroider the eyes and legs.  I'll probably do all of the embroidery next (before I sew the blocks together).  I'll get it all out of the way at one time.  Then I'll cut up my scraps for the sashing cornerstones.  I have plenty of those and will still have scraps leftover.  After that, I have a LOT of flying geese units to make for the inner border.

I meant to get a picture of the design wall this morning with all blocks, but I ran out of the house without getting the picture.  Big meeting first thing this morning, so my mind was elsewhere.

Next up, back to the Crossroads blocks so I don't get too far behind on those.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 04/18/16

One block completed!  This one of three that I need to make for last month's Crossroads Quilt Along.  The points aren't perfect, but I'm okay with that.  I've been working on projects with a lot of precision lately, and I'm not going to knock myself out on this one.  A lot of times when I just go for it, they come out pretty darn good anyway.  I got creative with how I pressed the pieces so they would lay as flat as possible.  I'm happy with it.  The other two blocks are all cut and marked, so I hope to have those finished tonight.  I accidentally cut one extra block - I thought there were four of these.  I'll hold on to those pieces in case I have trouble with any of the other blocks.  This month's blocks have already been released and I'm excited to get started on those.

Over the weekend I wrote a pattern for class, as well as made some demonstration pieces, so I accomplished more than I can show here.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 04/11/16

No change to my Design Wall today.  It has remained unchanged for two weeks now.  I hope to get some sewing done this week so I have something to share next week!  I managed to make four half-square triangle units, but couldn't manage to put together the block they were part of.  Oh well.  At least I can get inspired by other people's design walls!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also check out Quilt Story on Tuesday and Let's Bee Social on Wednesday.  Let's Bee Social is the link-up day on the Sew Fresh Quilts blog by Lorna McMahon. Lorna is a pattern designer, teacher and blogger.  I just love every pattern she designs.  I have purchased several of her patterns, but she also offers patterns/tutorials on her blog for free.  It's definitely worth a hop over there to check it out.

Design Wall Monday 03/28/16

I got two more Farm Girl Vintage blocks finished this week.  Just one more to go!!  Above is the Honey Bee block, which is a block pattern that I purchased separately from the book.  I just love it - I think it is one of my favorite blocks in the whole quilt.  The pattern had blue fabric instead of black for the bee's stripes.  I decided to go with black, although I was a little concerned because I don't have black anywhere else in the quilt.  I still love it and I think it will look fine.  There are little antennae that I'll embroider later.

I also finally finished the strawberry block!  Boy, when a block isn't going well, it ends up being difficult all the way to the end!  First I had trouble finding enough reds for the block.  Then I lost some pieces.  Then when I was sewing it together, the rows were coming out crooked and the wrong size.  It was a bear, but I think it looks great now.  I took the time to un-sew a few times to get it right - otherwise it would bother me forever.  It's funny because it is very similar to the pumpkin block, and that one went together like a dream.  Go figure.

This week I was able to grab a picture of my entire design wall.  Once I get the Farm Girl blocks sewn together with sashing and cornerstones, I still need to piece an inner border which consists of lots and lots of flying geese units.  I'll worry about those when I get to them!  Also on my wall are the four house blocks for the Crossroads quilt along.  I'm using scraps/stash for this project and all the blocks will be made with blue fabric and the alternate/chain blocks will be in reds.  The backgrounds will be scrappy as well, so I'm hoping I can get the entire quilt made from stash.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

Design Wall Monday 03/21/16

I finished another block for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt.  This is Barn Cat, which is a pattern that Lori Holt is selling separately from the book, but will work in the quilt.  This version finishes at 6" square.  I still need to embroider the face, but I'll do all of the embroidery on this quilt at the end.  Boy, there were some TINY pieces in this one.  There were several 3/4" squares that I needed to cut to make corner triangles (like at the bottom of the head and on the tail).  I usually throw pieces that small away!  They were too small to pin in place, and they kept shifting when I put them in the machine to sew, so I found that if I put the tiniest dab of fabric glue in the corner that gets trimmed away, it held perfectly while I sewed it.  This is the type I use.  What a revelation!  I only have three blocks to go, and I wish I had figured this out at the beginning of this project!!

My phone was dead this morning (I forgot to plug it in last night), so I couldn't get a photo of my entire design wall.  I have the Crossroads house blocks up as well. I'm working on the second set now.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Quilt Story and Let's Bee Social later this week.

500th Post & National Quilting Day

Welcome to my 500th blog post, just in time for National Quilting Day!  I used to post a lot more often, but I try to stick to at least one post a week.  Life gets in the way sometimes, but I always come back!  I've been blogging for nearly 10 years now (started in August 2006).  I was inspired by all of the blogs that I read every day and decided that I could do that too!  Sometimes it has been blogging that kept me quilting.  I needed something to blog about, so I would sew a little something.

I don't have many followers, but I want to thank each and every person who visits my blog.  I don't always have time to respond to comments, but I really appreciate you dropping in.

Blogging also serves as a journal for my quilting, and for my life in general.  I recently scrolled back through my first year of posts and had forgotten a lot of the things I had done back then.  And I have a picture of every Dear Jane block that I've made.  Which was very helpful when I started making them again.

But back to National Quilting Day...  It is observed on the third Saturday of March, and I try to take at least a few stitches that day each year.  The Quilt Show website is having a huge celebration this year.  For three days (March 18 - 20), they have opened up all episodes for free.  I've been a member since they started and have enjoyed their shows for years.  They also tons of prizes (including a Bernina sewing machine) for the event.  (I am not affiliated with them - I'm just a happy member and want to spread the word about their free shows this weekend).  Go to The Quilt Show to get more information.

Thanks again to everyone who stops by.  See you next post!

Design Wall Monday 03/14/16

I've been having trouble getting motivated to sew lately.  I decided to put my Farm Girl Vintage blocks back up on the wall.  Only four blocks to go!  I still need to make that darn strawberry block.  I found the pieces that I had already cut out for it, so I'll be working on that soon.  I also cut out all the pieces for the Barn Cat block, which is what I'll be working on in class tonight.  The next Crossroads block will be out tomorrow and then I'll be working on that one. Slowly but surely I'll start sewing again.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today. Also linking up with Let's Bee Social and Quilt Story later this week.