Loving Spring/Summer!

I am still here.  I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather at this time of year.  Love to be outside in the spring!  Mowing the lawn, planting my garden, 

pulling weeds, going for hikes, 

bird watching, 

enjoying the flowers 

and a trip to the zoo 

all take me away from sewing.  I'm fine with that.  

I'm glad I took a photo of my peonies a couple of days ago because today they are getting washed away in the rain.

I'm very excited the poppy I planted last year came back again!

The last time I was working on my quilt I was very excited about almost finishing.  I only had the 10" borders left to add.  So I kept working late into the night trying to finish the piecing.  I really need a door on my sewing room so I can lock it at a certain time of night.  Seriously, when I work too late I always make a mistake.  Usually just something silly and corrected with a rip of some stitches.  This time it was a little trickier to fix.  Instead of cutting my miter at 45 degrees I cut one of them with the 60 degree measure.  

Now I could have easily patched in a piece to fill the gap, and I considered that option.  But, it seems to me I've put a lot of time and fabric into this quilt and didn't want to have a patch where there shouldn't be one.

I decided to order more fabric.  After a week I received an email notifying me they didn't have enough of this fabric left.  I was glad I had used so many fabrics in the quilt all along.  Using something different for part of border isn't even noticeable.  I think the fabric I ordered looks good. 

 It finally came last Friday but haven't had a chance to work on it until today.  Today is raining so a perfect day to sew.  All four mitered corners look perfect now, well except for needing a good pressing.

Off to work on my Jinny Beyer quilt and the red work quilt for the afternoon.  Hope you are enjoying your day.

Have a creative day

Janet

Progress!

Slow and steady, wins the race or at least it gets the quilt finished.  I am working slowly on this quilt but I really don't want to rush.  I get sloppy when I rush, I'll be the first to admit it, my seams get a little wonky.  I limited myself to four a day.  I am a half square over halfway now!  36 out of 71 finished.  

With my limit it gives me time to play with other quilts as well. 

 I am almost finished piecing all the hexagons for my One Block Wonder quilt.  

I even had a chance to make one cube.

I have more incentive to finish the wedding ring now so I can get the one block wonder up on my design wall and play with the arrangement and make some more cubes.

I didn't forget my Craftsy Block of the Month with Jinny Beyer.  I think I'm improving.

Have a creative day

Janet

Piecing, and planning!

Here is the final arrangement.  I decided to have the joins blend in with the rest of the rings.  I like all the rich color.

I was encouraged, when I pieced the first block, it laid flat!

Here are the first four blocks.  I decided if I do four each day I should be finished piecing by the end of the month.

I have eight finished now and am getting better with each one.  I should be a pro by the end of the month.

If you follow my blog you know I can't be tied to one quilt at a time, and usually have several going all at once.  Well, my distractible mind came across this gem of a quilt the other day.  I saw it on Facebook but Liz wrote a blogpost about her quilt and you can see it here.  I ordered several prints of a panel so I can try this.  She also told me there is a group on Facebook for people who make One Block Wonder quilts.  So I joined!?!  Wow, there are some beauties on that site.  Looking through all the photos reminded me I wanted to try and make one with blocks in the design, such as this.  Of course I have a UFO that will fill this need perfectly.  

I bought this fabric soon after I pieced my One Block Wonder

I cut it out and started looking at the design and decided maybe it wasn't the best fabric for this type of quilt.  (Small design) so I set it aside until I could decide what to do with it.  I pulled it out yesterday and started sewing the pieces together. (After I finished my four blocks for the wedding ring quilt, priorities in the chaos). 

This is about a fourth of the hexagon's.  These quilts go together very fast.  I needed something I could actually see completing before I turn 70.

Now to find some fabrics for the blocks, I want to add a little M. C. Escher in this quilt.  

Have a creative day

Janet 

Who's counting?

Me!  I'm counting!  I don't think I have ever made a quilt with this many pieces.  I finished all the flying geese for my Judy Niemeyer quilt, Flowers for my Wedding Ring.  There are 780 pieces in the flying geese plus another 20 for the four corners.  800 so far

Yeah.  March goal complete, on to my April goal.  I need to decide how to arrange the rings and what fabric to use for the joins and begin putting it all together.  There are 8 pieces of fabric in each A unit of the rings.  There are 71 A units making the total 568.

There are 10 pieces of fabric in each B unit.  71 B units add up to another 710 pieces.  I haven't added the ends yet as they are the "joining" pieces for the rings.  I can't quite decide whether to have them blend in or stand out.  Way to many decisions involved in this quilt for someone who is normally not inclined to be decisive.

142 center pieces

71 melon pieces

26 quarter square triangles

4 10" border pieces.

Grand total so far 2,321.  I haven't even started the flowers yet.  But, who's counting!

My first thought for arranging was by color, but once I tried to fit the blueberry in, well it just didn't work.

So now I am trying a melting pot of colors.  I think I like this better. I am going to pin it all on and hang it up so I can look at the whole quilt.

I am stuck right now trying to decide on what to use for the joins.  Might have to hang it up for a few days while I work on my Craftsy BOM.  Sometimes if I walk by it enough times it suddenly becomes clear what would work.

I did finish my second redwork block for my Christmas Twitterings quilt.  Trying to get one block a month done.

And finally here is a picture of my son in his new chef's coat.  

Have a creative day!

Janet

Another new adventure!

Lately I have been working hard trying to keep making the flying geese units for the border of Flowers for my Wedding ring. I am enjoying making this quilt but 26 of the same unit can get a little tedious. Until I get past the midpoint there is every possibility this quilt will go back to my UFO pile until I am ready to work on it again. I have 16 finished now though so I think I am safe. 

I did give myself a new challenge today. Refreshes the soul to have a different experience!  I made a new chef coat for my son. He wanted it two colors.  Sorry, I only have a female dress form.

 All done except for the buttons (10 of them, all black) and buttonholes. I could have bought one easily but it just seemed like a fun thing to try. And it was!

Have a creative day

Janet

Perfectly precise piecing!

Paper Piecing makes me look good!  I love the precision of the piecing.  I started making the flying geese for Judy Niemeyer's quilt, Flowers for my wedding ring.  I only have one unit complete so far.  I have to admit one cup of coffee was not enough to get my head on straight this morning and I had to re-do the first seam three times.  I had a second cup of coffee and things like, what is the right side of the fabric became clear!  

I finished cutting all the curved pieces yesterday.

I also cut the big triangles.

I don't have all the triangles cut yet for the flying geese but I'm getting closer.  Exciting to almost have all the pieces cut.  I only need 25 more flying geese units.  Maybe I will finish them this month!

I have a pile of mending to finish this afternoon, so I'd better get busy.  

I also need to sew some embellishment on the dress I have been making for my daughter.  The longer she leaves it in my care, the more I add.  She was here for a few minutes the other day, so I got the approval to add this to the shoulder.  (I also bought a few swavorski crystals). Is it starting to look quilt like yet?  I haven't added the crystals yet, but just a few would look nice, don't you think?

We went to the ice caves last Sunday and it was amazing.  So glad I did this even though my feet made it difficult to walk for a few days after.  Definitely worth it! I'm seeing an ice cave quilt somewhere in my future.

Have a creative day

Janet

Still scattered, and loving every minute!

I do enjoy moving from one project to another.  I always work on multiple projects, it's so nice to have choices each and every day.  How blessed I am.

I cut 270 triangles for the flying geese border on the Judy Niemeyer quilt, Flowers for My Wedding Ring.  I have twice that many to cut from the background fabric.  Next up paper piecing the geese.

Today I worked on my Block of the Month for the Craftsy quilt taught by Jinny Beyer.  This one will have flowers added to it in May.  For now I had to be satisfied appliqueing the handle for the cherry basket.

Not my best piecing but I think I will leave it.  It is the correct size overall, and that is good.  The newest basket is on the far right.

I traced my next redwork pattern so I can work on that in my down time this month.  I'm trying to do the largest blocks first. This one is 8" x 10".  I don't think I posted the first one I did last month.  I'm hoping to have it finished by next Christmas.  It is called Christmas Twitterings. The link will open a new window with the entire quilt from e-patterns.

My son is working on becoming a chef.  He would like more chef coats as they have to be washed after each shift.  We were going to buy them but he has always had his own style and is thinking some custom coats might be fun.  I need to research where to get some sturdy fabric for this but I'm considering making him some coats.  Anyone know where to get fabric for a chef coat?  He just changed jobs and all his old coats have the logo from the place he used to work.  He is excited about cooking new foods and no more dishes!

My husband had a birthday this week.  He is now 40!  At least I was told, 60 is the new 40!  He prefers a birthday pie instead of cake.  His favorite is strawberry rhubarb but it's the wrong season so I went with Apple.

We are going to try and go to the ice caves on Apostle Island this weekend. The pictures are amazing.   It is really warming up here fast though so they may shut down.  You walk across part of Lake Superior to get to the caves.  First time I haven't wanted warmer weather in a long time.

Have a creative day

Janet