A Smorgasbord of Stuff

I'm still here....still sewing and trying to finish my projects for the quilt show.  Of course, lots of other stuff is going on as well, most of which is too boring to go into.  You know, all that day-to-day stuff we all have going on.  But that's not why you're here, is it?

Remember my Traveling Round Robin?  (If you missed the blog post about that, you can see it here and here.)  Well, my Robin has come home to roost!  This is all my blocks when I got them back.  Aren't they awesome?  Everyone did a great job on the blocks.  In fact, they were all almost the perfect size.  In about 10 days, I had them all put together into a quilt top.  It is currently being quilted.  I forgot to take a photo of the flimsy, so you'll have to settle for this photo for now.  Of course, I'll show the finished quilt when it's done!  I'm getting excited to see it!  

The first weekend of August - over a month ago now! Time flies! - my DH The Potter had one of his big art shows of the year.  Of course, it was blazing hot.  But we survived and sales were good.  This show is put on in a beautiful garden that I always enjoy visiting.  I got a  couple of photos that I want to share with you.

This garden is full of vignettes of fun yard art.  This guy enjoying the teeter-totter was right near where we were set up.  Isn't he fun?

And this is Mt. Rainier, photo taken across the neighboring farm's pastures.  The next day the smoke came in and you could barely see the mountain.  This is the least amount of snow we've seen on the mountain in the 8 years we've been here. There's snow up there now though!

Once I got "My Lucky Stars" to flimsy status (see previous post), I took a break from what I was supposed to be doing to get this little baby quilt put together to flimsy status.  I had inherited two of these columns of patchwork, and enough left-over bits to make the third column.  So I put them together and they looked pretty good.  I'm not quite sure why the ends all came out different lengths.  It should have worked out.  Oh well, the baby won't be a critic.  I found this yellow plaid and it worked pretty well.  Now all I have to do is get this quilted - someday.  It was a nice break from all the "have-to's".

Last month DS found a nest of baby bunnies in the yard.  We watched them for a week or so, and when they were big enough to venture out on their own, he caught one of them.  We petted him and talked to him and then we let him go.  He was so soft!  And very sweet.  I've never been that close to a wild bunny before, although they are in the yard a lot the last couple of years.  They're not very afraid of us.  That was fun - bunnies are some of my favorite animals.

If you've ever seen the movie "Field of Dreams", you'll recognize this take on the tag line for the movie.  This cracked me up!

Here is a harbinger of Autumn.  We've had some fairly cold weather lately (a high of 61* today) and some of the trees are already starting to show color.  It seems early to me this year.  Oh, and the wild geese are already heading south - actually, they have been for weeks now.  

a sneak peek!

"My Lucky Stars" is back from the quilter and is getting it's binding put on right now.  Photos soon!

Making Some Progress - and A Quilt!

What a slacker!  I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted!  I kept meaning to, but just never really got to it.  I composed lots of posts in my head, but never actually made it to the computer.  Hopefully I can break that trend.

Things are progressing around here!  The physical therapy that I'm doing is starting to pay off.  I'm finally off those darn crutches and am now using a cane.  (I should feel dapper, maybe, but I don't.)  And I am starting to wear a shoe - well, a sandal.  My ankle is still swollen and the shoe hurts, but I'm very tired of walking across parking lots and public restrooms in a mostly-bare foot.  (I still have to wear the brace)  The worst was the floor in the movie theatre - ick!  I'm starting to get around pretty well, and actually went to the grocery store by myself yesterday for the first time in 2 months!  Who knew that going to the grocery store would be something to celebrate?  hee hee!  It was a short trip, and I was pretty tired by the end, but I did it!  Just as an aside here - a cane and a shopping cart are an awkward combination, especially when the thing doesn't fit into one of those cute little carts.  The whole thing with this injury has been a lesson in patience, which I've never been known to have in abundance.  I think a little humility was thrown in there too.

"Vienna Melody"
53 x 74 inches

Here is a quilt that has actually been done for a while, but I don't think I've ever shown it here.  This was a charm square project.  I bought the charm squares and all the companion fabrics years ago, and finally got this finished.  The fabric was "Vienna Nights" by 3 Sisters for Moda, for those who might care.  Charm squares were a brand new thing then, just to give you an idea of how long ago it was!  

the quilting

It's not my favorite quilt.  It's lovely enough, and there's nothing wrong with it at all.  I just feel like it's got no "soul".  There was none of "me" put into this quilt, if you know what I mean.  No creativity. I made two quilts this way, and I learned my lesson.  (you'll get to see the other one as soon as I finish the binding!)  I don't think I'll ever make another quilt just from one line of fabric.  I guess I'm a scrap quilter at heart! 

I'm actually going to be trying to sell this quilt at the quilt show next month.  No one in the family is interested in it, I don't care, and maybe I can make some money to use towards a new computer.  (Mine is an XP, which is pretty much a dinosaur.)  I've never sold a quilt before.  Have you ever sold a quilt?   

"Leftover Lemons"
15 x 15 inches

I got my little "leftovers" quilt all quilted and bound now.  It feels good to have another finish!

I'm starting to put the finishing touches on my things for the quilt show.  Putting on bindings and labels, etc.  I have to have my quilts turned in by Oct. 1st, so the heat is on!

I thought I would share a little trick I use for putting on the binding:

After the binding is made, I do a fan fold with it.  Hopefully you can see what I mean from the photo.  I used to wind it onto a small ruler, but it always got all twisted up.  So I tried using the fan fold, which doesn't twist it at all.  My DH fan folds (instead of wrapping) all his electrical cords before he stores them, which gave me the idea.

Then, I take the fan folded binding and put it into a zip-lock baggie. I close the opening of the baggie except for a hole big enough to feed out the binding.  Then I drop the baggie onto the floor between my feet and start putting it on the quilt.  I've never had it hang up or twist on me, and it works a treat!  I don't know how others do it, but this is my way.  Anything that makes it easier to do is good to know.  Let me know if you try this and how it works for you.

It's been pretty warm here for the last few days, but I think that's just Indian Summer.  Leaves are starting to turn, and the nights are getting pretty chilly.  We were down in the 40's the other night.  The geese started flying north in mid-August this year, which to me seems really early.  Everything seems to be starting earlier this autumn, which to me says we just might be in for a bad winter this year.  I didn't seem to get enough summer this year, just because I couldn't get out and enjoy it so much after mid-July, when I had my accident. 

Hopefully I can post more often now.  I've got more to show you!

September, She Comes

Help!  Where did August go??  Can I have some of it back, please?

Seriously, August had to be the busiest month of this year!  Only one blog post??  What's up with that?  Obviously a failing on my part.  I can't believe how quickly it all passed.  We had glorious summer weather, and I loved it.   And too soon, it's on it's way out.  Look what I saw 2 days ago . . .

. . . . the first autumn leaf in the yard. Yikes!  It seems awfully early for this to be happening, but the weather is definitely changing.  Groups of Canadian Geese are coming and going from the pond, and the weather is cooler.  (Only got to 69*F today)  We've had 2 or 3 days of thunderstorms and buckets of rain.  Sad to say, I think summer is over.  We'll probably get some more summery days still, but no more real summer.

On the plus side is that, probably, hopefully, more time in the quilt studio will be happening now.

I have gotten some quilt-y stuff done.  I got 3 tops finished, backs made and all shipped off to my quilter, Shari.  The quilt show is happening in one month, and it finally dawned on me just what that means.  It's nearly Panic Time!  I found out yesterday that the patriotic panel I showed you in my last post has to be a FINISHED QUILT at the quilt show!  I haven't touched it since I showed it to you last month.  Holy cow, I'm running out of time very quickly!  I seriously don't know if I can make that deadline.  So, time to put the pedal to the metal and see what I can do.  I think I can finish the top, but I don't know about the quilting, not to mention the binding.  Wish me lots of luck!  I think I'm going to need it.

Speaking of luck, August was a very lucky month for me!  I was a winner twice!  First off, I won a giveaway over Big Lake Quilter.  Cathy was giving away this wonderful book.   I've already had a look through it a couple of times and have thought about trying a few of the projects.  Lots of inspiration in here!  Thank you, Cathy!

The other lucky event was I won the Block Lotto for August!  These blocks are the first six that I made.  My favorite one is the one with the wild polka dots.  It makes me smile.

And here are the other three.  I'll be receiving another 41 in the mail, for a total of 50.  These are wonky stars that will finish to 6 inches by 9 inches.  I've already gotten the first 5, and they're wonderful.  This is going to be a fun quilt!

I fell in love with Kelly's quilt she just finished over at Pinkadot Quilts.  Kelly links to the original tutorial so I had to go take a look.  Since I already had a pile of scraps out, I decided to try making a block.  I think it came out pretty good, and it was easy-peasy.  So, now this has been added to the list of quilts I want/need to make!    

I was asked to do a demo on the Double Disappearing 9 Patch for my quilt guild.  I found the tutorial at A Few Scraps blog, but had never tried it yet.  Of course, I had to make some samples etc. for my demo because, well, one just needs examples!  Here is my first DD9P block.  I started with 3 inch cut squares, and they made up into a 10 inch finished block.

After those demo pieces were made, I had to try the process in another size and color scheme.  I was having trouble imagining what the DD9P would look like in other colors and/or styles.  So, I decided to jump out of my box and go with some real traditional fabrics and make a dolly-sized quilt.  I really should have made 6 blocks instead of 4, but I was tired and running out of time.  So four blocks had to do.  This was my first layout, in the "traditional" setting.  I started with 2 inch cut blocks for this one, and ended up with a 5 1/4 inch finished block.  

Behind my little design board, you can kind of get an idea of what my cutting table currently looks like.  That will be my first order of business in the quilt studio - taming the chaos of fabric!

Here is the dolly quilt layout that I decided on.  I'm not completely certain it really does what I wanted it to do.  I was hoping for a more pronounced diagonal design, but DH says he really likes it.  He thinks it looks very complex.  (Here is where I saw the quilt that gave me this idea - you need to scroll about half way or a little more down the page)  (Oh, going back and looking at this, I figured out what I did wrong differently - no plain alternate blocks!) I flirted with the idea of ripping it out and re-doing it, but sat down until that feeling passed and I returned to my senses.  LOL  I don't think I'll do a border but will do a wider-than-usual binding in the dark brown and let that be enough border for it.  

I hope you're getting a chance to be creative this weekend!

p.s. Haven't seen Froggie for a few days.  He hung around all of August.  Wonder if he decided to go back to the pond?

Post-Turkey Report

I hope all my USA friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We sure had a good day here.  Had the whole family over and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  There's enough turkey left for one sandwich!  We had a great visit with my sister, who came the farthest and stayed until Saturday.  It feels like there's never enough time with her. 

We're getting real close to the end of Autumn around here - down below freezing at night with fog.  So I thought I'd better post my "autumn" photo pretty quick!  This is the gargoyle that lives in our back yard.  I thought he looked pretty cute with his jaunty leaf hat.  Grumpy, but cute.

can you spot the gargoyle?

While I was looking at the gargoyle, I noticed the Japanese Maple leaves on the fern.  Wow, what a great color combo! 

Lime green with a touch of orange-red - wouldn't that make a striking quilt?  Love it!  All the leaves are gone now.  Either raked up or gone brown.  Fleeting beauty - that's autumn, isn't it?

I've had a couple of good sessions with my Low Volume blocks since Thanksgiving.  I've now got 20 blocks done.  That is 1/4 of the quilt I'm planning.  (Sorry for the less-than-super photo.  It's hard to take a good photo at night.)

same blocks, different angle

The blocks finish at 8 inches.  I'm planning on setting them 8 across by 10 down, which would be 64 inches by 80 inches.  But don't hold me to that . . . things could change as I get further along.  

I'm really liking how these look!  I keep cutting more rectangles (cut 2 1/2 in. by 4 1/2 in.) to throw into the mix.  I've gone through most of the fat quarters, all of the scraps, and now I'm nibbling at the yardage.  It's getting to be addictive!  

Well, I think I'll go sew some more blocks!  Happy quilting, everyone!