Scraps managed

As you can see,I have won the battle of the scraps. My basket is empty and now holds all my civil war repro fabric which I hope to whittle down as I make my Barbara Brackman blocks. My goal is to make 5 blocks in February. And speaking of goals, I've made a list of goals for February. I don't know if they will all get done but I hope by writing them down there will be some accountability.
Sewww, here we go!

1. Make 5 civil war blocks;
2. Make sampler block (yep, I joined another block of the month);
3. Finish happy villages wall hanging (which has been "hanging" around for about 4 years);
4. Quilt the turquoise log cabin quilt (it is loaded on the frame which is 1/2 the battle);
5. Cut and sew mastectomy pillows (my guild's ongoing community project);
6. Cut pieces for 2 projects to take with me on my April retreat. I want to bring 4 projects to piece on that weekend. I have picked a top from "stack the deck" and one from M'liss Rae Hawley fat quarter quilts called roman stripes.

I know it is an ambitious list but February has an extra day so I should be ok. LOL

Although I was away for six months on a blogging sabbatical, I did finish a few things. This is a Round Robin I did with a few gals in my guild. It doesn't have a name yet (hence no label) but it is hanging in my sewing room. Any suggestions for a name would be welcomed.

What's a Girl Gotta do to Fondle some Fabric??!??

Like every quilter, I am always trying to fit fabric fondling into my daily schedule.  For a while, I was getting up at the buttcrack of dawn, making a cup of coffee, and spending some time in the sewing room before I hit the showers for work.  But now the buttcrack of dawn has been alloted to the gym or a spin class.  Not that I mind, sometimes that's the highlight of my day! But where to fit in the fondling??? Hmmmmm.  In trying to keep some of my New Year's resolutions, I have decided a little multitasking might work. I know that I can't do any serious sewing after dinner. That has been tried and proved disasterous. (read lots of unsewing).  Seww,  I thought that perhaps a little stash management and TV watching with hubby might work.

I am hoping that THIS MESS

 might turn into something a bit more organized.  I have pulled this scrap basket down to the TV room with my ironing board, cutting mat and rotary cutter. While watching mindless TV, I hope to fill the bucket below with strips for string blocks.

 and the bigger stuff will be cut to go into my scrap drawers ala Bonnie Hunter. 

Once this project is done, I plan on trying to do some simple sewing, like mastectomy pillows for my community project, string blocks and maybe precut some new projects to work on.  Will see where this goes!! 

Wish me luck!

I'M BACKKKK experimenting with ipad blogging

Yes, I have been away for quite some time. But I am hoping that with my new toy I will catch the blogging bug again. Any of you out there that are blogging from your ipad, let me know what app you are using ,if you like it and which to avoid. I am using a free one now but would buy one that is good and works with Blogger.
Just got back from our annual January quilt retreat which was very fun.
Lots to share if this works out. Til then

QUILT TIL YOU WILT (and no running with your rotary cutter!) :)

This little piggy went to Florida, now the quilt is going too!

This little pig was sent to Florida with my sister back in June to give to my great-niece, Bella. FYI, this little pig had been living in my fabric closet for a few years and when I reorganized, I found her buried in a bag of leftover batting.  Now you know that my stash closet was a true pig sty. LOL!

The quilt top was made over a year ago earmarked for Bella's 2nd birthday. Well, she just turned 3!!! 

Olivia's dress(that's the piggy's name) was made from the scraps of the quilt top as a peace offering until this quilt which I promised her in her 3rd birthday card was delivered!

I put the top on my frame just after my sister's visit and it has been waiting patiently,(and doubling as a kitty hammock) for a couple of weeks. Well, I finally set aside an afternoon and got 'er done. 

 I did a quick meander over the center and inspired by Debra did squiggly lines down the borders.
Don't know why I waited soo long.  

I had hoped to put another quilt on the frame to be done before my vacation but that didn't happen. So, this is my quilty contribution to my blog til I get back from California. We are going to visit Alex and Yosemite National Park as well as see a SF Giants baseball game. We figure since the BoSox are #1 in the East, we should check out the #1 competition in the West.



I'll be back soon with vacation pics. Til then, Quilt til you Wilt!!!

Bag Lady

Since last I blogged, I spent a great weekend with my sis who was visiting from Florida at the Vermont Quilt Show. It was 4.5 hours to get there from Connecticut so it was a first and last time visit for me! The show was celebrating its 30 anniversary. This year I have been to about 5 different shows and this one was quite traditional but great fun.  I also spent some time with my other sibs celebrating my mom's 75th birthday.

Here are the five of us with our dear mom!  The skinny one on the end is my sis from Florida. We all hate her for her damn skinniness!!

While at the Vermont show, I fell victim to another bag pattern.  I say, ANOTHER, as I'm known as somewhat of a bag lady in my group of acquaintances. Not that I have lots of bags but that I have lots of bag PATTERNS!  I have thought of just sewing the patterns together and making a bag cause I have sooo many of them.  But this time, I actually made the bag!!  I wanted to make a beach bag for my NJ friend, Susie, to give to her when we visited over the 4th of July weekend.  I had the fabric set aside for some time just for her bag.  This pattern is called the Chubby Charmer bag.  It uses 48 charm squares. I substituted the striped fabric for a couple of the charm rows.  It is a HUGE bag with pockets inside and it went together pretty quickly. We all know that some pattern designers are not blessed with great instruction writing skills but this one was really well written and I had no problems at all.  I followed the instructions precisely but next time round would make a couple of changes. I would add a loop and button to close it and I would add a couple of skinny pockets inside for sunglasses and sunscreen.

Here is a pic of the bag which sadly is now living in NJ. ( I almost didnt' give it to her cause I loved it sooo much!!)

  And here is a  pic of the bag and the other sad bag patterns that are waiting anxiously to be made.

Paint chip challenge - Rush Hour

 We had our guild's end of the year picnic on Tuesday and the paint chip challenges were revealed.  I had posted my paint chips and fabric in an earlier post and had shown you how much fun it was making the layered waves background. 

My entry is called RUSH HOUR.  I made the little fishies using texture magic to get that scrunchy look and then just cut them and stitched them on with a tiny zig-zag.

This was a top early Tuesday morning and was completed at 5:30 pm just an hour before the picnic. 

Talk about Flames to my fanny!  and I even added the label!!  I still have to add a hanging sleeve but it's done! 

Next year's challenge was given out. It's called Odd or Even - A Song in your Heart.

Choose a song and make a quilt. If you are an "even" quilter, it can be a traditional quilt. If you are an "odd", then your piece should be anything BUT a traditional quilt. 

Guess which one I am??



Spring Cleaning

I have been on a spring cleaning kick for the last couple of weekends.  It has been far too long since mi casa has been cleaned "old school", you know, how your mom and grandma did it back in the day when women stayed home and well, cleaned.  Last weekend, it was the upstairs, ceiling to floor, all the curtains down and washed, all the screens and windows washed, all the carpets beaten (well thoroughly vacuumed) and all the walls and woodwork washed.  Wheww!!

The last room was my sewing room which I thought about bypassing but then decided needed a good once over as well.
 Here's the BEFORE (yikes!!).....

and the AFTER.... Once I started, it turned into a total reorganization.  Things were moved around, fabric was piled up for donation, etc. etc.  The only thing not done was the closet which houses the STASH.  That is a whole separate project which shall be attended to in the very near future.  But, a tidy space is a space that you really want to work in and since the overhaul, I have been getting bits of this and that done which is great. 

The nice thing about this is now I know where everything is. I also have a pile of books, patterns and stuff that I'm ready to part with and I'm thinking about setting up a swap page for those who might be interested later in the month. Sewww, stay tuned.

You may remember that Debra sent me her practice piece from her longarm which I finally cut up and made into mastectomy pillows. They really came out nice! Thanks Debra for your generosity!!!

Work on the paint chip challenge continues.  The reveal date is June 14th so I need to get a move on! More on that later !

Ask and you shall receive

Recently I have been surfing the blogosphere looking for some new blogs to follow. I have a core group of blog friends but I add and subtract on a regular basis. And as you know, you can go from link to link to link checking out who is reading who, etc. Well, this blog came onto my radar recently. It's a group of 13 (there's a lucky number!) fiber artists that are challenging each other to make pieces based on a theme. From there, I started checking out each gal's individual blog and fell upon this talented lady.


Well, when I saw this necklace, it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. I immediately searched to see if Sandy had an Etsy store cause I was wanting that necklace. As it turned out, she did not so I decided to leave her a comment about how gorgeous it was and how I would have scooped it up if for sale. Of course,this was the day that BLOGGER decided to be contrary and would not allow me to leave a comment no matter how hard I tried. But I was not to be deterred, I sent Sandy an email telling her about the comment problem and told her how much I loved the necklace.

Next day, I got an email from Sandy. She asked if I would like the necklace and that we could do a swap.. DID I WANT THE NECKLACE???? !!!! Heck, yeah I did!!

And so, a swap was done.

The necklace arrived today. It is sooo beautiful and I am totally in love with it. Sandy, thank you, thank you! This is the highlight of my weekl I love, love, love it. Your box went into the mail this morning.

I've been trying all weekend to upload a picture but BLOGGER is not being cooperative at all!  Any one else having problems??

Hopefully, I can get a picture up later in the week of me and my beautiful necklace!!
Hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend.


Woohoo!! I tried uploading my picture from work and that worked!!! Guess I need to check out my computer at home and see what's not working right! 

Paint chip Challenge

Before I get started, I wanted to post the pics of my pincushions that I received from the Pincushion Swap. I've done many swaps over the years - blocks, fabric, pay it forward, etc., and LOVE them. It is so nice to get a squishy envelope in the mail from another quilter far away and to make something for someone that you know will appreciate your time.
   So here they are...   In addition, I received a luscious Lindtz chocolate bar that sadly never made it to the picture :))

The owl and the rabbit have been confiscated by my cat, Mr. B. He likes to cart them around to different places in the house and sleeps with the owl on occasion.  The little finger pin cushion is my favorite and I use it LOTS~~~.

In addition to loving swaps, I LOVE challenges!!  My guild does one every year. We receive it either at the Xmas party or at the annual picnic in June and they are to be ready for the next picnic which comes up in three weeks!!  When I think of my "best" quilts, they are the ones that I did for the challenges.  The nice thing about the challenge is the IDEA is already done. I just have to work within  the perimeters.  The challenge has always taken me outside of my comfort zone and gets me to explore new techniques and ideas. It really gets my quilting mojo in high gear!!

This year, it is a paint chip challenge. We were each given an envelope and told to make anything but you could only use the colors on the paintchips and you could add one more color. 

Here are my colors...  Blues and oranges. 

Here are my fabrics..... I know these blues look really dark but acutally they aren't. The other thing a few of us like to do is try to "push the envelope" of the challenge so to speak. For me, I am adding white but not as my other color. For me, white is the "absence of all color".  We'll see how that flys on the flagpole. LOL~

and here is Round one.  I decided to go with  a pieced background and then applique on top.  I've used Ricky Tims' convergence concept before so thought I would start with that. Although the piece came out ok,  I was not in love with it. The last one I did the fabric had more pattern to it so it didn;t appear so static and flat.  This one has been relegated to the orphan box for another project.

I wanted something more flowing.  I've had Karen Eckmier's book Layered Waves for some time and actually am taking a class with her in July. But once I took a look at the cover, I knew that was what the bacground had to be. If you have never tried this, it is ADDICTING!! You cut, sew and add waves. If you don't like something, you take it off. You tweak as you go. It takes on a life of its own. Very organitc~ I was at it for hours and it felt like 5 minutes.  

This is the piece I have so far. I am absolutely in love with it~  I'm going to add a bit more to it and then will move on to the borders.   Hopefully that will be done by the end of next week. 

But this will be pushed aside for a few days so I can get my greatniece's quilt quilted and sent to her for her 3rd birthday. Check back for pics of this one mid week. Till then , 

 QUILT TIL YOU WILT!

A busy non-quilty month

I know I've been MIA the last few weeks but life (in a good way) got in the way.  The only quilty thing I did prior to this Monday was make this and send it off as part of the Pincushion swap.  I received mine but haven't taken pictures yet.



The guy pictured below is one of the things that got in my way of quilting.  Here's my DH on his 59th Bday.  He wanted to go to NYC to see a show so we headed in on a rainy Wednesday and stood in line to get discount tickets to see Memphis.  It was sooo worth it.  A great musical about the move of black music onto mainstream radio back in the early sixties.  This picture was taken at lunchtime in our favorite Irish bar where we go whenever we are in NYC.  Notice how his paws are wrapped around that beer glass!

This is the other place we always go when in the Big Apple.  It's a little shop called Crumbs and their specialty is cupcakes.  We always stop for a Six pack before heading back home.  They make the classic 2 inch cupcakes as well as the SUPER sized ones. My favorite is, of course, Irish Creme.  We tried the Elvis ths time as part of the Memphis theme which was delicious.  PB and chocolate, YUM!!

My DH took this picture and sent it to our trainer at the gym.  He likes to torture the poor kid.  I brought him back the Squiggle which if you are from the Northeast is the classic Hostess cupcake.  Chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting with the white squiggle on the top.  Needless to say, Mr. Trainer did not say no to the cupcake.  

Lastly, we spent Mother's Day at Fenway Park, courtesy of my son. He sent the tickets to us. He knows how much his mom loves her some Red Sox. It turned out to be a lovely day with great seats and a win! Yeah!

Now I'm back to the grind.  This week I spent some time cleaning up some little projects.  The shams for my Fall quilt are done and ready for September.  I hemmed three pairs of pants, finished a wool pillow that I started months ago and cleared the deck for my Paint chip challenge which has been started.  I'll have pics of my progress on Sunday!

Til then, QUILT TIL YOU WILT!

MQX Kitties

As everyone knows, quilters are not only fabric lovers but animal lovers.  So it is inevitable that our pets and animals end up not only ON our quilts but IN our quilts.I, myself, came to cats later in life. We always had dogs.  At MQX there were lots of animals in quilts. I gravitated to the kitties.  This post is dedicated to The Calico Cat.  Dandylion, I was thinking of you when I took these. 

This is Denim and Calico made by Janet Fogg of Oregon. This was a HUGE quilt. Take a look at the size of the yo-yos.

\

 This is Alikins Alley Cat made by Jodi Scaltreto of Hillsboro NH.  This was tread painted about 14 x 21 inches.

 Look out for Scout by PennySander of Arlington MA.

This is another by Penny Sander called Where's Buddy?. This was the result of a guild challenge to use only black, white and one other color. This has over 2000 rectangles.  Take  a look at the close up.

And finally, Fall Frolic by Barbara Beaumont of Massachusetts.

 And there are your kitty qui;tsphotos for the day!  Hope everyone has a lovely Easter. Spring is finally here!!