UFO Project finished

A year or more ago I had taken a work shop led by Karen Stone.......finished the I started in class during teh actual workshop. But that's where it stayed until yesterday. Had intended to make 3 more blocks to go with this one...........but after all the headaches of taking the paper out (it's paper-pieced) I decided it was time for a change in plans. Ended up setting the completed block on point (after repairing it that is) and used coordinating fabric for the setting triangles. Used more of the rickrack as an edge treatment in the binding. Added a hanging sleeve to the back and got the binding on late last nite. Got everything sewn down today. Haven't decided what i'm doing with this one....will decide that some where down the road.

Gratitudes:
1. Got a great price on an Ott Floor lamp. =)
2. Making progress on the commissioned sewing that I've been working on.

Empty tote!

As I've been going thru things here in the house I've been working to condense, get rid of or use up things that I moved this last time....now that doesn't mean I'm trying to get rid of my stash - but it does mean that i'm working on using what I have without adding a lot to it. This weekend is UFO weekend on one of my groups, so yesterday I emptied a small tote that had a set of 6 UFO blocks that had been sent to me a yr or so back if I rememeber right.

Finished off the satin stitching on the flowers and made the alternate blocks from the fabric that had been sent with the blocks. Only fabric I had to add to make the quilt was the wow that I used to frame the alternate blocks and then the two borders. Nice to have this done and outta my to-do pile. =) This quilt top will be going to American Heros eventually.

Gratitudes:
1. Time to quilt =)
2. Summer break.

Been a while..........

It's been a while since I posted, mainly because I was going nuts with school and all that I had going on with it, and with working 20 or so hrs a week on top of school. Have been doing a lot of sewing for others (well for one person at any rate) for pay as well - am thanful for the extra income. Needless to say there has not been a lot of time to actually quilt and sew for pleasure the last couple of months.

Did manage to finish off a couple of UFOs - the patriotic double wedding ring that I had in the works for American Heroes. The rings were paper-pieced out of pre-cut squares I'd already trimmed down from scraps. The rings are machine appliqued (buttonhole stitched) to background squares of various WOW's. the finished quilt top is about 60" square if I remember right. It has already been sent off to American Heros with 6 other quilt tops to be quilted and then given to a wounded military vet. the second UFO finished off was made using patriotic snowball blocks and sashing. Some of the leftover triangle blocks made from the snowballs were used as setting triangles for the quilt.

This past week I've been busy making a lot of scrub tops for the same gal I've been doing sewing for the last several months. Took a break from them (still have 2 more to do before Wed) to put together a quilt top last nite. The pic on the left shows the fabric I started with. the fabric is was one of the current dress fabrics that has the elastic gathering at the top of it (remember those dresses from yrs ago?). I took out all of the elastic thread that made the gathers (chain stitched). then soaked the fabric with the elastic had been so that the holes would disappear and ironed it dry. What started out as a 27" piece of fabric at the top ended up being 48" wide. =) The pic on the right shows the top as it is right now. I love how the colors shade from yellow to fuschia. Still need to figure out what i'm going to do for the final border. Will go 'shopping' in my stash for that.

I've got one more piece that is blues to purple to do something along the same lines with. Am thinking i'll use a WOW for sashing on it instead of black though. Might do a snowball block and sashing type of quilt.....or not.....lol.

Now back to the remaining 2 of 11 scrub tops so that I can have them all ready to deliver on Wed morning this week.....

Gratitudes:
1. Extra income from sewing
2. My quilt frame is together and working!

Mixed feelings...

Mixed feelings here....need to go see one of the docs or PA's at the school health center 'cause I have a place on my leg that just won't go away. It's not an allergic reaction to something because the antihistamines I've been taking for my allergies here haven't affected it. I know my mom has had to have some places removed that have been pre-trouble spots, so i now i need to be concerned esp. since it fits some of the rules for skin cancer. Time will tell what it is....meanwhile I'm thankful to have the med. center at school since i can see the docs there for free and have insurance to help with any tests needed. Gratitudes: 1. Have health insurance unlike the past 3 yrs when I didn't. 2. Only 3 more weeks left in this semester!

National Quilt Day

Got a little bit of quilting done today in honor of National Quilt day.....when I worked on finishing up a UFO. I had made the center block more than a yr ago as a test block before making a commissioned double wedding ring quilt. And like so many of my projects, it then sat around aging as I worked on other things. Unlike most DWR quilts, the only way I'll make one is to paper-piece that arcs and then applique them onto a solid background square. First one I did was hand appliqued, this one is machine appliqued.

Finally decided on a layout yesterday, and made the extra rings that I needed....but like a space case, miscounted and made 4 arcs too many. oops.....So rather than just have them lay around, I'm going to put them on the corner triangles. Once those are finished and on the quilt, I plan on putting a triple border on - either gold-blue-red(outer) or blue-gold-red layout....haven't pulled fabrics other than knowing what gold i plan on using....lol.....When finished this quilt will be going to American Heros at some point.

Gratitudes:
1. it's warming up here and the heating bill is going down!
2. Have the blessing of some commissioned sewing that will bring in the equivalent to one extra paycheck.

Civil War BOM Blocks To Date

I was tempted into doing the Civil War Block of the Week by Barbara Brackman by a good friend of mind. And so far I've managed to stay up-to-date on this BOM....but that is only because I made 3 blocks last weekend, and the last 2 this weekend.....lol. You'd think that it wouldn't be hard to make one block a week....but these blocks are only 8 inches finished in size and a 9-patch block just doesn't do that number evenly so there are lots of fiddly cuts and odd numbers. These are coming out 1 block a week, so there are 42 more blocks to make before I really think about setting them in some way.

I'm using up bits and pieces of CW fabrics that I've had leftover from two CW block swaps in the blocks. And then filling in with fabrics from FQ's where I need to. I like how the blocks have turned out so far...except for onef the first ones (middle block, left column). And that one I like the block...but not fond of the fabrics that I choose because they were too close in value so the pattern is lost. Haven't decided to redo or not. And there was one block that ended up about a 1/4" too big despite my best efforts....but I think I've figured out how to set these so that I can still use that block and not have to remake it.

Gratitudes:
1. Great grades on the latest two tests
2. Heating bill should go down now that the other two apts in this house are occupied.