Brown Bag Challenge

Why do I let myself get into 'situations' that are more challenging than I'm comfortable with??  I know..... I won't 'grow' if I don't take steps to push myself to try new things.

 Some of our guild members are participating in a 'brown bag challenge'.  Each participating member was to put 5 fat quarters into a brown paper bag and put either the letter A or B  on the outside.  A means that whoever received the bag could only add one fabric of their choice to what's in the bag - B means that you can add as many fabrics as you want.  All the bags were placed on a table and then we were able to pick a bag.  We have no idea who the bag belongs to and we're not supposed to know who has ours ( I accidently saw my bag being selected so I do know who has mine).

Because I put a B on the outside of my bag and because this is my first time attempting something like this, I chose a bag with an A on it.  How was I to know that it contained FOUR PRINTS and the fifth one is a print, too, but can be read as a solid - just barely.  I am not a print person especially if stripes are involved... and that's whats in the bag... stripes, floral and what I would call geometrics. The prints are small - with the exception of the floral which is not HUGE, but is still pretty big.

With the help of one of the facebook groups that I belong to, I found a solid color in my stash that will work as the 'one from my stash'.  Now to find a pattern or idea that will be large/small enough (minimum outside measurement is 40"; I can't remember what the maximum is but it doesn't matter because I know I won't be exceeding it).  It HAS to be a quilt top - no tote bags, placemats, etc.

Yesterday afternoon, I tried a paper piecing pattern... it finishes at about 4" and I thought that I could make 9 of them to meet the minimum.  Well, after doing one in scrap fabrics, I decided that I didn't want to do multiples of it - too many itty bitty pieces.

Since I'm posting a pic of the tulip block I made, I need to include the following info.... Pattern Designed by Quilt Art Designs ,,,,, quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com

I do have one other paper pieced pattern that I might try - with larger and fewer pieces. If that doesn't work, I'll have to find something else.

Oh, and did I mention that the finished project is due four weeks from tonight?  argh

In the meantime, my San Antonio Star quilt is STILL on Mo'e waiting for me to get it quilted. There's no way I felt like working on it while trying to pass a kidney stone last week and this week I've been focusing on Christmas gifts and the Brown Bag Challenge while trying to get back to myself after apparently passing the stone.  I did get another pair of towels done the day before yesterday.  Two pair done, five pair to go.  

The borders on the San Antonio Star are the part that I haven't quite decided how I'm going to do.  They are made with dimensional flying geese... and to make it more 'interesting' there are two rows of geese - each flying in a different direction.  The pattern I choose to use must be able to stitch those geese 'wings' down so that they won't get caught on something ( like toes).  I'm thinking about waves, but I've also seen one that is like half a heart with a star in the 'middle' of the heart.  This one might work if I do four rows of stitching and switch the direction of the hearts for two of those rows... sounds confusing, right?

see how the rows of geese are flying in opposite directions?

Ok, I've stalled enough.... off to get started on SOMETHING.  :)

Catch Up

I guess I haven't posted since before my birthday last week... :( .  Part of the reason was my birthday... and part of the reason is that I received a late 'birthday gift' on Friday morning - my second kidney stone YUCK YUCK.  It took a week but I think it's finally gone.  It's the second one in 9 months and two days... hopefully they will be the only two in my life, but since both my mom and her dad suffered with kidney stones, along with at least one of my brothers, it will be beyond good luck if those are the only two I ever get.
While waiting for the kidney stone to pass, I had bad days with pain or discomfort and I had good days when I was actually able to function - even get a little sewing done.
I went to a local quilt show with my quilting pal, Vicki, on Saturday.  My left leg was giving me fits of pain off and on because I hadn't been taking my meds for it during the previous week, but I made it through the show... got some pics of outstanding quilts, a couple of yards of fabrics and one pattern for a cellphone holder ( kind of like a beanbag), and a fat quarter was given to me by Carolyn (The Hen House) to use and show her with the plan that the finished item ( quilt, whatever) will be on display at the shop once it's done.  It's a beautiful black on white print that I really really like and the plan right now is to get some more of it and use it in the black & white dresden plate quilt that I plan on starting after I get Christmas gifts done.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, that's what I've been working on... some I can share now, others, I can't.  Here's the one I did yesterday

 It's a reversible cape for our almost 4 yr old great grandson, Mason.  I think he's going to love 'flying' around with his cape flapping behind him.

This morning, I did the Rudolph towel... Santa was done probably about a month ago.

One set done and something like six more to go.  I plan on making them for all of the adult 'girls' in our family.  The pieces are almost ready for another pair and I hope to get them done today.

Because of my kidney stone, I had to postpone the Strings for Siren day this past Friday at our monthly sew in at the library.  Colette and Cindy made up blocks for me anyway and, hopefully, along with blocks made by other members, we'll have enough for two quilts when we start assembling them into quilt tops at the sew in next month.  

Ok, back to the sewing room.... catchcha later!

Labor Day Weekend

I decided on Saturday to start working on the tote that stepdaughter requested.  That night I managed to the background squares and some of the applique' circles.  I found out quickly that cutting perfect circles is not easy, even if I traced the circles onto paper backed fusible.
The next step was to applique' the circles on....which is how I found out how bad my circle cutting skills are.

I took several quick videos, but not sure if they are going to work.

Once I had all the circles appliqued on, it was time to cut the 12 inch squares into quarters and sewing them together in a new arrangement.

I decided that on the sides, I'd use white fabric and stitched with blue threads every two inches to resemble a baseball uniform.  Then I appliqued her first initial and last name on one side and the name of her favorite Detroit Tiger on the other side panel.

 I

Today seemed to be a test of my patience  --  it was like everything that could go wrong - did. The lining fabrics were cut too small -- it was one thing after another.  Because of all the mess ups, it took me most of the day to do what should have only taken a couple, three hours--- and the lining is piece mealed.  

Then came the aggravation of putting the top trim and straps on.  You'd have thought they were contorsionists the way they kept turning and twisting.  Finally got every thing straightened out and sewn down.... just one or maybe two more rows of stitching to go on the trim and I can call it done & pack it away until it's Christmas.  I'll do them in the morning and take a pic once it's totally done.

Hurrah!!!

I did it- i made my goal! This first one took me longer than i thought it should have...started it Tuesday but didn't finish it until this morning and until early afternoon to add binding and label.

It was a challenge, but also kind of fun.  I put in some feathers using a stencil and chalk powder, did outline stitching, small and large meander/stipple and even some curved cross hatching.
Had a few problems with wrinkles and seams until I was 3/4 done and I remembered that I should have raised the foot....after I did that, things went a lot smoother.

The second one went a lot faster since it was all large stippling/meandering and it's a lot smaller.  Had it all done by 3:30.

Can't wait to show/shock the gals (and guy) at the meeting tonight.