A Miniature Work in Progress

My life has been ridiculously busy lately.... but things will be settling down by the middle of next week, I think. In the meantime, here is a set of miniature blocks I've completed. It will be a while before I get around to putting them together.. but at least the blocks are done. Each block will be 2.25 " square when sewn together, the logs are 1/4" wide. Log Cabin has always been my favourite block, I think it always will be... This is not the best photo colour-wise, but the best I could do tonight.
What's your favourite quilt block?

Piece!
Linda

Sometimes I think maybe I should do something besides sew... then I realize how silly I'm being, and go back to sewing.

Stitching Update

Here's a quick update on my little stitching project. You can see I've made fairly good progress since my last post here. All that's left now is filling in the background (sky and snow) and then all the beading. So it's coming along.. The background will take me a while...




Peace,
Linda

"The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary." ~ Mary Kurtz

Stringing Along!

Four of my finished string blocks

Do you find that sometimes you just want something "mindless" to work on? Something that doesn't take too much brain power, planning, calculations, etc.? String blocks fit the bill. They are a great way to use up leftover strips, strings and bits. The width can vary so no cutting/trimming required to bring them all to the same size! I do like mine to be straight/even, so sometimes I need to do a little trim here and there just to straighten an edge. After a Guild workday in late January when we made slab blocks for CQA's Big Quilt Bee project, I realized I had a large container of leftover strips and strings all in blues (imagine that! ME with a lot of blues!) Many of them were left over from this string quilt I did a few years ago. It was donated to the Veteran's Unit and I've always thought I'd like to do another. So... or should I say Sew...
As I mentioned above, sometimes you just need a "mindless" sewing project, for various reasons... your brain is just tired, you are stressing over something and need an "escape," whatever. Well I needed an escape for the month of February to take my mind off my worries. My brother, who has been healthy all his life, has had some serious health concerns in the last 8 months. The most recent was surgery to remove a foot of colon, and the days seemed endless while we worried and waited for 4 weeks for the pathology results. I am now very happy to say he is fine and no further treatment is necessary (Whew!) So this project was the perfect thing to work on as I worried and prayed... I guess in the back of my mind I was thinking if I got the blocks done, and we found out he needed chemo, I could quickly put it together for a warm and cozy flannel-backed lap quilt for him to take to treatments. Luckily it's not needed for that purpose so I will likely put it away for now, and finish it later. I have 18 blocks done so will need at least 2 more, and no doubt I'll go further than 20. We'll see. I'll keep an eye out for sashing fabric in the meantime.

So how are string blocks done? It's simply a matter of applying the strips to a "foundation." I use old phonebook pages as the paper is thin and so easy to remove. I cut a square from each page, about 1/4" larger than I need, apply the strips then trim the block to size, in this case I trimmed to 8.5" blocks, so I'll have finished blocks of 8". Because I work across the block diagonally, the strips need to be varying lengths. As you are working, it doesn't take long for your nice neat piles of strips to end up in a scrambled mess like this...

I found I was wasting a lot of time searching through the pile to find the correct length strip to add next. (I try to have as little waste as possible so I'm not just creating more shorter "bits" to use up.) So a trip to the local dollar store fixed that! I bought some trays (3 for $1.25 so not a huge expense) and labelled them from 3" to 13". Then I sorted my strips and strings by length into the appropriate trays. This made things so much faster to easily choose the strips and complete a block. (This would work well for log cabin strips too, or any block requiring strips of various lengths.) When done, the trays nest together and stack so they take up little space. A cheap and easy "organizing" solution!
Have you tried string piecing? It really IS fun (and doesn't take a lot of concentration!)

Piece!
Linda

What do you mean, quilting doesn't count as exercise? Next you'll be telling me fabric shopping isn't an aerobic activity!

A Little Sunday Stitchin'

Just a short post today to show you what I've been working on, stitching-wise. You've heard me say before how much I love the Mill Hill kits. They come with everything you need, except the scissors for snipping thread ends! Pattern, fabric or perforated paper, floss, beads, buttons and needle(s).

I picked this one up a while back, and started it a week or two ago. I haven't put a lot of hours into it yet, but here is my progress. Looks like I'm about half done. I do all the stitching first, and then go back and fill in the beading. There's a fair bit of beading on this one.

As my eyes get older (not that I am getting older, just my eyes!) I find it easier to make a "working copy" of my pattern. I enlarge it a bit and as I stitch, I shade in with pencil the sections I have completed. If it's a larger and more complex pattern I use coloured pencils. This really helps, when you have a number of floss colours which are very close, and only a few stitches with each colour in an area.
I'll make a little more progress tonight as I watch the Oscars. What are you stitching on these days?

Peace,
Linda

Stitching is the answer. I don't care what the question is.

Work in Slow Progress

Here's a look at a work in progress. It may look familiar... I have made this miniature quilt (Not Quite Civil) before,  but gave it to a dear friend, so now I'm making one for me!! You can read the story on it in previous posts here and here.  I told my friend Sandi I would give the first one to her if she provided me with more of her "trimmings" so I could make another for myself. So I've been slowly chipping away at #2 and now the blocks are done, yippee! It will likely be a while before I get back to this to put it all together, but at least the blocks are done!  They will measure 2.75" once they are sewn together. 49 pieces per block. Each block takes a few hours.... I wonder, would this count for the "slow stitching" movement...?

Piece!
Linda

"Some quit due to slow progress, never grasping the fact that slow progress... IS progress." ~ Rolsey

A Pressing Matter

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you are enjoying a day full of love and sweet moments! Being the chocolate lovers we are in this house, we'll be treating our sweet tooth (teeth?) with a chocolate dessert tonight, of course! It's all ready and chilling.. and supper is bubbling away on the stove (homemade turkey soup) so it's time to sit down and write a blog post.

I've been consumed by a new project the last few weeks. It involves a huge amount of cutting so it is not progressing as quickly as I'd like. I started cutting for it back in the summer here, then put it aside for a while. Each block has 96 pieces... and I have 20 blocks to make. Then the sashings, and sashing squares are pieced too, as is the inner border. Needless to say you won't be seeing it finished in  the next week or two, but I am slogging away, determined it will be finished this spring sometime...
It is not a difficult block at all, it is made from a very simple unit (a half square triangle sewn to a square); it just requires lots of seams. And this brings me to my point today - the importance of pressing. Pressing is a necessary skill for a quilter. I love teaching, and enjoy helping my students improve their skills. When I watch some students put together an entire block with never once touching an iron to it, until it is all together.. well, it's kinda like listening to fingernails scratching down a chalk board.. or rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way... it drives me crazy! I guess it was drilled into me by my Tailoring Prof..pressing is very important during construction if you expect a quality product in the end. Pressing each step as you go will just give you a better result, simple as that. Some don't know the difference between ironing and pressing - they are two different things! You might iron your fabrics if they are wrinkly, but when putting  block units together, you should be pressing, simply placing the iron on the seams and using the heat, steam and pressure to set the seam and press it to one side or the other. I always tell my students it's worth taking a minute or two to figure out the pressing direction for the seams in their block so that seams will butt or nest together and lie flat.

The blocks for this project I have underway are made solely of "broken dishes" units (2 HST's and 2 squares). My directions (from the wonderful Bonnie Hunter) tell me which way to press the seams and if each and every unit is pressed in this way, every seam in the block meets perfectly and nests together allowing for ease of assembly. If you pick out several stitches in the seam allowance right in the centre of the block, that allows you to "spin" the seams, reducing bulk at the centre point. So simple, and it makes such a  difference!! There. That's my rant for today. I feel better now!    :)

Piece!
Linda

The best way to get things done is to simply begin!

Input Please...

Here it is - my "Not Quite Civil Pineapple" miniature. Right now, it measures 8.75" square. The blocks finish at 2.75". I can't decide whether to add borders or not - what would you do? Would you just leave it as is, or add a border or two? Decisions, decisions... The next thing, of course will be how to quilt it? All suggestions and input welcomed....

Piece!
Linda

"Indecision may or may not be my problem." ~ Jimmy Buffett

Progress Report

Just a very short "progress report" on the current Miniature that's underway. My friend Sandi gave me a bag of strips last week,  left over from a project she's working on. Most were 1" wide, some a little less.  They were light neutrals and darks- a mixture of colors, but not my usual choices. They are not Civil War repro's, but close. Sandi calls them "not quite civil". Since the strips were quite narrow, I decided they'd be perfect for a Miniature, and after some consideration, I thought I'd try a Pineapple. So far I have 5 blocks done, hope to have a sixth done before beddy-bye tonight. There are 49 pieces per block, so they do take a little time... Here they are pinned up on my design wall. The blocks will finish at 2.75" sq. My original thought was 16 blocks, but now I'm thinkin' 9 might do... We'll see....
Sorry the photo is not the best.. taken indoors. The next one will be outside and better light/colour...
I think I'll call it my "Not Quite Civil Pineapple"....

Piece!
Linda

"He that can have patience can have what he will." ~ Benjamin Franklin

Sneak Peek...

Good Evening! Here's a little progress
report on my latest "little" project. This block is called Dove in the Window. It's one I've always liked and I thought I'd try it as a miniature, so here's where I am at this point. All 16 little "doves" are made.. the finished size will be 1.5".













Next step is to add the sashing strips (.5" finished width)  and join the "doves" in pairs.

Then the pairs are joined into blocks with sashing and a centre square. Cute, eh? The block is 3.5", finished size. I'm trying to decide whether to introduce one more color/fabric for the sashing that joins the blocks. Decisions, decisions....

Stay tuned....

Peace,
Linda

"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." ~ Napoleon Hill

We All Make Mistakes....

Or at least I do... Thank goodness for good friends. What would we do without them? I am especially grateful for good friends with sharp eyesight!! Did anyone else notice the mistake in my quilt?  Did you not see it, or were you just too kind to mention it to me? Look closely at the upper left corner- see that block right in the corner - it's turned the WRONG way!! I don't know how I missed that- I checked and double checked and triple checked the blocks as I laid out the rows, to be sure they were all oriented the correct way, that the print in each sashing strip wasn't nearby the same print in the neighbouring blocks and so on. (Yes, I'm a little anal. "Random" is not really my thing...) Obviously I just turned a block and sewed the sashing strip to the wrong side of the block as I was doing the last row- and yes it was the very last block. I can't believe I didn't notice it when it was all together... I guess it's true - when you've looked at something for so long, you don't see the details anymore...
So a HUGE Thank You to my friend Sandi Mac whose sharp eyes noticed it - she called me last night, not too long after the post went up and pointed out my boo-boo. She knows me well enough to know I would want to be told!! Aren't I lucky to have such a good friend? So thanks again, "eagle-eyes" Sandi!!
Hubby said to leave it, after all I am giving this away as a "charity" quilt, and would it even be noticed anyway? But I knew it was there and I just couldn't leave it. At least it was on a corner, so it was easy to "get at".. it could have been right smack in the middle, requiring even more ripping out... It took me 45-50 minutes to fix. My stitches were a little shorter than usual- great for security when you know a quilt will be laundered frequently, not so great when you have to pick them out... I turned the block, but also had to turn the sashing strip and the ninepatch because I had added an extra 1/8th of an inch all around the perimeter of the quilt to allow for the binding seam. (On a larger quilt, I like to sew the binding on with a 3/8th inch seam using my walking foot, so to keep the ninepatches on the perimeter looking right, I had added that extra 1/8th of an inch to the ninepatches and the outermost sashing strips.) By this time it was 11:15p.m. and I still had to piece the backing, square it up, give everything a final press and fold it up for delivery this morning to the long-armer. So, sorry, no new photo of the top...it was way too late for photography when I finally headed to bed. You'll just have to trust me, it is correct now...
So, dear readers, what would you have done? Would you have left it as it was, or fixed the mistake? And for the future.. if you are ever looking at a photo of one of my projects and you think something looks wrong.. please let me know. I will appreciate it and I'll offer my heartfelt thanks!!
And speaking of things being wrong, there's much blogger buzz today about a blog that is stealing posts and/or photos from others and posting them as their own.  My friend Karen, for one, has written about it here. If you EVER see any of my photos or writing anywhere else other than on this blog, please let me know. I do have a Copyright Notice at the top of my sidebar, but apparently it means nothing to some folks. I think I just might start putting my watermark across the centre of my photos. Sorry if you find it annoying,  but perhaps it will prevent photo theft.
 
Peace,
Linda

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?" ~ L.M. Montgomery

Whew! It's together!

It's done! I've been working diligently each day to get this together, and although it wasn't at all difficult, it DID take some time. There are a LOT of intersections and seams to be matched... I'm glad it's done, my back is a little tired... Tonight I'm piecing the backing ( a dark blue print) and it will be off tomorrow to be quilted. I'll get some better photos once it's quilted and bound. Now I'll get back to finishing the silk Carolina Lily miniature. I have some deadlines this month so they are pushing me to get things done... That's a good thing...

Peace,
Linda

"If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just to finish the race - it's up to you."  ~ Dave
Scott

Pedal to the Metal...

I almost forgot that I promised you a sneak peek at my progress. I should have taken a  photo earlier in the afternoon so the color would have been better. But, after all, it IS just a "sneak" peek, so here you go. It's not a great photo- just snapped quickly after I stuck a few blocks up on the design wall, but it gives you an idea what I'm doing. It's been another good day for sewing - that can also translate to  It's been another terrible weather day... ice pellets most of the day, a little freezing rain and now it's snowing like crazy. Looks like another blizzard out there.... Tomorrow is April 1st. April Fool's Day... I guess the joke is on us. Our front lawn has at least four feet of snow, other areas where it has drifted are five to six feet tall - a drift right outside our family room window is over six feet, for sure. It's beginning to block Ollie's view...he's not impressed (just like the rest of us...)

Peace,
Linda

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." ~ Carl Reiner

Of weather bombs and sewing progress...

Yes, I'm still here. We're not buried under a snow drift, although we're not too far from it. We survived Wednesday's "weather bomb/blizzicane" - the term given to the nasty blizzard with lots of precipitation and the high winds of a hurricane. It was downright nasty, no other words to describe it. Then it snowed all day Friday.. and now we're having yet another crappy day - you name it - snow, ice pellets, freezing rain.. all of the above. Snow all morning, ice pellets most of the afternoon with a little freezing rain thrown in there in between just for fun... Yuch. The driving conditions are very poor, so we have not ventured out today at all... I'm hibernating once again in my studio trying my best to ignore the weather although it's difficult when the ice pellets are pelting

the windows...
And the forecast says more of the same for tomorrow - freezing rain changing to ice pellets in the afternoon and then to snow in the evening. Everyone is sick and tired of this winter weather, after all it's supposed to be spring now, no? Guess Mother Nature hasn't received the memo... ahem.... Let's hope that this IS the last storm- March going out like a lion and all that... .Well, the lion is roaring, for sure. I do hope someone silences him SOON.
I'm working away at nine patches and sashing strips for this current blue quilt. The 35 blocks are all done and trimmed to size. I have a good
start on the sashing and nine patches but will soon have to  do a lot more cutting of strips. I'm loving the look of it, it's going to be tough to give it away...  I'm such a soft touch for anything done in blues.... I promise you a sneak peek tomorrow...
My cutting table is a mess of trimmed bits - it looks like we had an indoor weather bomb hit!!
Remember the mystery of the missing pots and pans a few weeks ago? I forgot to tell you we "solved the mystery".. . On further investigation, we discovered a few more things missing too - all had been in the same cupboard in Laura's Halifax apartment, so we've decided that when Dad made the final trip and did the last "sweep through", he missed that cupboard.... (At least we know it wasn't the leprechauns.)
Okay, back to the cutting table. I hope the weather is better where you are...


Peace,
Linda

"If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm." ~ Frank Lane

Singin' the Winter Blues...

We are battening down the hatches as we head into yet another nasty winter storm. Apparently Mother Nature never received the "It's Spring" memo... Our forecast has actually been downgraded slightly from the 50 cm. they were predicting a few days ago, but we're still going to get a wallop! Nova Scotia is feeling the brunt of it, Laura told me this morning they are to get 60 cm. - that's two feet for those of you not on the metric system! A blizzard with the strength of a  category 3 hurricane. Lovely. It has just begun here.. it's gone from nothing happening to nasty in about half an hour. The winds have picked up and the fine snow that's coming down right now is blowing about.... I'm sure the snowfall will get heavier before long. Soooo... I'm retiring to my studio to sew the day away. Or maybe I should say Sew the Snow away. If only I could. This storm brings a whole new meaning to "March Madness"....

I am making good progress on my bed quilt which will be given to our Guild's Community Projects team for a bed at the Veteran's Unit. I need 35 blocks and have 29 done. Only 6 more to go, they'll be done today for sure (unless we lose power.) I got my sashing fabric yesterday so will get that washed and cut today too, hopefully.
The blocks are string-pieced, a la Bonnie Hunter, using old phone book pages as the foundation, as Bonnie suggests. So quick and easy. And it's great for "using up leftovers"- scraps and bits. Mind you, my studio looks like a bomb went off as I've emptied some containers of scrap bits.... Oh well... I guess you could say I'm "sewing up a storm".. haha

I'm using all blues- true blues, purple-y blues, teal blues, turquoises, greyed blues, they all work together. For those of you who don't know what string piecing is, it's just using strips of all widths - "strings" - and sewing them randomly to a foundation. (The blocks still need their final trimming to size.) I'm not really planning each block, other than making sure I have a good variety of prints and lights/darks. My only other rule is not to put two that are very alike side by side. Pretty simple. Mindless almost. (Some would say I am mindless.. haha)  Anyway, I'm havin' fun. What else can a gal do on a stormy day? I'm singin' the Winter Blues....

Peace,
Linda

"What a severe yet master artist old Winter is... No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel." ~ John Burroughs, The Snow Walkers, 1866

A New Miniature Underway...

I started a new miniature quilt a few days ago. (I'm trying to ignore this never-ending winter weather by distracting myself  at the sewing machine.) I purchased the pattern and fabric while in Florida. It's a small Carolina Lily design by Cindi Edgerton. If you are familiar with her patterns for Minis, you know they are printed on tissue paper, which is your "foundation", so there's not much room for error. I guess I really like to challenge myself as I decided to try using Dupioni silks for this project. (Who can resist their luscious colors and luxurious shimmer?) I am using a cotton solid for the background, but all the other fabrics are silks. Don't ask me why I'm doing this... I guess I'm a little crazy. Certifiable, even.... or I might be by the time it's done...
The silks are a bit bulkier at seams than a cotton would be. Also of course the silk frays terribly so it can't take too much "handling". Because the pieces are so small. seams have to be trimmed down, and mine are about 1/8th inch or sometimes less. Yup, I'm crazy. The block is 3" finished and has 4 sections which go together, with a total of 37 pieces per block. Because there are stems and flowers, everything has to line up perfectly. This is definitely an exercise in patience and great care in handling and precision stitching.
I made a test block (always a good idea) using a hand-dyed pale green cotton as the background. Once I got that first block together, I could see that the color just wasn't just quite right for the project. Also, being a hand-dyed, there was variation in the color, more than I expected when I opened it up fully, so I set it aside and went looking through my stash for something more suitable. I finally found a pale yellow-green solid - perfect, except it is only a fat eighth, so the quilt will have to be smaller than the nine blocks I had originally planned. Right now I'm thinking four blocks might just do it! I have three done and have pieced half the border blocks and corner blocks so I'm well underway. The test block also showed me that I had to move a few seam lines just slightly to have everything line up perfectly (stems and blossoms). Being off 1/16th of an inch doesn't sound like much, but on this little block it was major.
I'll work away at it over the next few days and then I'll have to switch gears to get a start on a project for our Guild Community Projects workday this coming Saturday. Stay tuned....

Peace,
Linda

"Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small." ~ Donald Rumsfeld

Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.

Donald Rumsfeld

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/precision.html#pqooS4CLfFsFOFs3.99

Rainy Days and Mondays....

Today is dark and dreary, it's raining hard, and it's Monday. Ugh. I figure the only way to combat all that is to just hole up in my studio and sew, sew, sew!! Doesn't that sound like the perfect answer to such a  day?! Hubby is out now for the rest of the day, at his "Monday afternoon job", supper is planned and Oliver is napping (what else is new?) so I am going to spend a blissful afternoon at my machine. If I can get decent photos on this dark day, I'll be back a little later today with a tutorial for a quick and easy gift idea that you might like to try, so check back later. Until then - here's what I accomplished this weekend - well, mostly yesterday, as I taught a class on Saturday, so that pretty much shot the day.
I've been chipping away at making the many half square triangles I need for Jamestown Landing... I know, I know, I told you I have other projects I need to get to,  (they're still waiting...) but I just can't tear myself away from these beautiful (favourite) blues..... So I now have  57 Broken Dishes units together. Slow progress... but at least it is progress.... What does the tortoise say... Slow and steady wins the race...
Later today I hope to finish off the placemats I showed a few days ago, so you'll see them tomorrow, with my quick and easy method of finishing and turning.
And today is my oldest brother's birthday.. it's a big one.... you know - one of those that end in zero.... so I think I'll make him a batch of Nut Brittle... Happy Birthday Wayne!! Love you!!

Peace,
Linda

"Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

Sew Much Fun!

I had such fun yesterday, with more sewing!! Hubby has been away for a couple of days and I spent almost the entire day in my studio. Bliss! I mentioned in my last post that I have several small projects to cross off my list so here is the first one. A set of four placemats which will be donated at Guild for Meals on Wheels. Each year we do Christmas placemats for them for the meal trays on Christmas Day. I have been wanting to try out this pattern- "Take Four" placemats, a Something Sew Fine Quilt Design by Cary Flanagan. If you cannot find this pattern at your local Quilt Shop, you can purchase it online and download it here. This is a quick and easy project and I can certainly see myself making another set or two (or three) of these! The tops are made from four fat quarters, and the pattern gives complete directions for two variations, plus simple directions for three more variations. In my books that's good value!!

Here are my four fabrics- two Modas from Kate Spain's Joy collection (2012), a beautiful red from Essentials by Wilmington Prints and a lovely darker green print from an unknown source (sorry- no info on the selvage). These four fabrics are stacked, trimmed so they are all exactly the same size and then you cut strips of several different widths through all four layers. Then you shift a few in the stacks and sew each set of strips together. Next you cut several vertical strips off the sewn sets, shift a few in the stacks again and re-sew. Sounds confusing, but really VERY
simple as long as you pay attention and keep things "in order". Accurate consistent seam widths and careful pressing assures good matches at all the seam intersections. I totally meant to take a few progress photos along the way, but I was having sew much fun with the process, I was on the final step before I remembered the camera. Sorry! I promise next time I make them, I'll take some "in progress" shots. Anyway, here they are. Actually they are not totally finished at this point - these are just the "tops". I need to find backing fabric, then they'll be sandwiched and quilted. I'll show you a photo when they are totally done, I promise!

Peace,
Linda

My Doctor told me to get more fiber so I went to the quilt shop for more fabric...

Thanglin' along....

It's high time I got back to sewing. My machine has been feelin' neglected, I'm sure. Now that the dreary grey shorter days of November are here, I'm settling in to my studio and the pile of projects awaiting me there.  I have three more classes to teach this month and several projects I want to make some progress on... Today I'll show you the one I have been slowly chipping away at...
You may remember that last May I was lucky enough to take a class with renowned quilter Bonnie Hunter. She calls the quilt "Jamestown Landing" and the directions are in her book String Fling. I knew at the time that the project would be set aside for a while, and even now, I have other more pressing things to get to, but I have been chipping away at "components" for this quilt. It requires 840 half square triangles, and you know me - I love using Thangles. So I've been "Thangling".. lol   I think I have about 310 made- so only 530 more to go!! It's pretty mindless sewing, doesn't require extreme concentration so it's great when you've got lots going on and you can just take a break for short periods of time here and there, sit down and do some straightforward sewing. I usually chain 5 pairs of strips together at a time,  which yields 30 hst's.

Next the hst's are sewn together in pairs,

then two of these are joined to make the "Broken Dishes" unit. I need 210 BD units. Yes. I have a long. way. to. go.

I have about 40 Broken Dishes units made - so only 170 more to go..... sigh....

In my next "Jamestown Landing post", I'll show you the stars that are formed with these units. But I want to make lots more hst's first, as I want a good mix of fabrics before I start putting stars together, so it might be a while before you see more progress on this particular project. I do have several other smaller projects I'll be sharing first... Stay tuned. Are you sewing today?

Peace,
Linda

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”  ~ Winston Churchill

A little stitchin'...

It's been way too long since I've spent some time at the sewing machine. At this time of year, I seem to be concentrating on gardening and by evening I am too tired to sew. Between getting things planted flower-wise, and combatting the bugs, raccoon and a greedy fat little groundhog in my vegetable garden, I haven't enjoyed much "studio time". But last night I spent a few hours and got 120 half-square triangles done for the Jamestown Landing quilt I started in the Bonnie Hunter class a while back. That sounds like a lot, but considering I need 840 (!!) it's just the beginning. I had the strips already cut and pinned so just had to sew, cut apart and press.  You've heard me say before how I love the product Thangles (paper foundation strips for construction of HST's). Well I'm saying it again!! As long as you cut your strips accurately and pin carefully, keeping edges even, they are perfect.. and foolproof.. the finished HST's don't need to be trimmed or squared up. Well worth the investment I think... So, just wanted to let you know, even though my machine hasn't been used a lot lately, it's not for sale yet!!
Now where was I... 840 minus 120... Only 720 left to go!!!

Peace,
Linda

Slow and steady wins the race.

Out of the Box Challenge

It's time to show you my progress so far on my Guild Challenge piece, lest you think I should put my machine up for sale. There hasn't been much time for sewing lately but I did get this together this week. The challenge is for us to do something that's out of our normal comfort zone, to challenge
ourselves with a new technique or whatever... to stretch ourselves skill-wise. So I chose two "personal challenges". First was to do something with orange. I hate strongly dislike orange. All my quilting buddies know that I do not "do" orange. If we are doing a swap or exchange, or blocks for each other, they all know - no orange for Linda. So I figured it would be good
for me to force myself to do something tasetful with a color I find very DIStasteful. (I don't even eat oranges, but that's another story..) So I have pieced this base with many orange and black 

half square triangles. Like red, I discovered orange does not photograph that well. This photo is not a true representation of what I have (some here look a little too red)... so you'll just have to trust me on this one . There is a good variety of oranges- bright and dull oranges, yellowy oranges, rusty oranges, red-oranges, gold-oranges, coppery oranges.. okay, you get the picture- for a person who doesn't sew with orange, I found a darned good selection in my stash without having to buy any. (I did solicit a few from my friend Susan D - thanks darlin'). This square presently measures 24"- it will be a bit larger as there are two borders still to go on.
My second challenge is to add some appliqué. My first intention was to do some wool appliqué, but now I'm having second thoughts. I might try some hand appliqué with cottons instead. (I have never hand appliquéd, so don't be expecting great things!!) Still not 100% sure.. so you'll have to stay tuned to find out... What are you working on?

Peace,
Linda

If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.