Stars and Stripes

 Well, not exactly stars, but close enough.  

My Five Fat Quarter Fun that I had gotten this far with yesterday... well, before noon today, it had it's borders on and the label, binding AND backing were done, too.  Everything is on a hanger waiting for me to load it onto Mo'e - which won't be for awhile.  I probably should assign it a number lol.  Oh I forgot to take a pic of the completed top.  You'll just have to imagine a solid dark blue 3" border.

After noon, I began working on the project that I had started at our guild's last sew in.  I was going to save it and only work on it at sew ins, but after looking over the directions again, I knew I'd be better off doing it where there aren't so many distractions.  A larger space to lay all the strips out would have been nice, but I made do with what I had.

Here's the pattern.....

Eight strips in each section - A, B, C... I didn't have letters to pin on so used numbers... still worked. And then there was the seven sashing strips - can't forget those.

Here's where I stopped for dinner... just two sets short... and border, of course.  I'm going to try and get at least the sets done tonight... the borders can wait until either in the morning or Friday ( grocery shopping tomorrow and that wipes me out!).

While all this was going on, Mr Prissy was getting a little frustrated with me because I kept covering up his seating places with fabrics or I'd tell him he couldn't be on the ladder because I needed to get up (and down) on it.  I hadn't heard the a/c kick on and it was getting pretty warm in my sewing room what with iron behind me, ott light and sewing machine in front of me and overhead light on so I could see better so I got up and opened the window almost as far as I could.  The next time Mr Prissy decided it was his turn to sit on the ladder, I took him over to my cabinet sewing machine that sits in front of the now open window and set him down on it.  He thought that was a pretty good idea.

Ok, back to my sewing room ... get those last two sets done.

DONE!!  Well, except borders :)

Take care...
ttyl........

Five Fat Quarter Fun

 This is what I grabbed from next to my sewing table and started on Saturday afternoon....  the finished size is only about 36" x 36", smaller than I wanted - and since there was enough fabric in each of the fat quarters, I cut double and used four of  the fqs for the blocks, the fifth one for the centers of the stars and the sashing blocks then grabbed a sixth block out of the 8 fq set I had and used it for the center star.

First block... yeah, I like it :)

Then, some of the teenaged grandkids came to visit and, after they left, I was in a rush to finish up the second block while dinner was cooking.  That was NOT a good idea.

The block in the middle was the second one... I noticed it yesterday as I was working on the remaining blocks and just knew 'something wasn't right'..  it took me awhile to find the photo with the mistake, too... Of course, I had to take the block apart and re-do it.  In fact, I think I had to re-do another block for the same reason.  SIGH... what should have been a pretty easy quilt to construct just seemed to be fraught with one bad thing or another.... at one point, my sewing machine quit working - what's up with that!?!??!  I'm thinking... oh yeah, I'm going to have to take it into the shop and they'll probably tell me that I fried the computer components or something that would result in them trying to sell me a new machine.

I checked the outlet the machine was plugged into... guess what!... that was the problem, the plug was coming out of the socket - I must have bumped it somehow.  The usual 'problems' that crept up on me was ... running out of bobbin thread but not noticing until I 'finished' sewing the sashing on.... and, of course, it wasn't the short sashing between each block... noooooo, I had to run out while sewing the long sashing between two rows... thankfully, I had somehow missed taking out pins, though, so I didn't have to refit and re-pin.

Here it is - almost done... I want to add a blue border, but got sidetracked after I took a break for lunch.

I started cleaning - well, re-arranging - some of the things in my 'stash room' so that I could take the totes full of projects waiting their turn and put them in the 'stash room'.  They've been in the family room for at least two years.  There's still stuff to be moved, but I got the majority of it out.  I'll have to move some more things around in the 'stash room' so that I can get to the bookshelf and move things on it to make room for the boxes of patterns that I also need to get out of the family room.

  It didn't get this way overnight and it won't be cleared out overnight either. 

Ok, well, I left some things just outside the 'stash room' and they need to get put back in there before hubby thinks I want them thrown out (silly man)...

take care...
ttyl.......

Quick Catch Up

I haven't been posting but I have been busy.... still puttering around at cleaning/organizing my quilting supplies,... and replenishing some fabrics.  Hey!  A quilting friend is closing her brick and mortar quilt shop and I'm just helping her out by buying fabrics that she won't have to lug back home.  And, instead of me buying a couple of yards for this project and another yard for that one, I'm able to buy all the fabrics I need for several projects on my 'to do' list.  Oh, and I scored Kona  white cotton online for $4.99 a yard ... I couldn't pass that up!!!  I'm always running out of whites and apparently my friend was running out, too, because she didn't have it and I ended up buying a soft yellow instead.

Anyway, while going through some things in my room, I found a pattern for two blue jays sitting on a branch... I looked it over and realized that I could do it using just scraps... I soon found that the tracing patterns for pieces did not exactly match the drawing that she provided for piece placement and I had a bit of a problem here and there, but I got everything fused down and then simply stitched with straight line stitching around the edge of all the pieces.  Then I just did simple meandering in the background - not the best - I'm a little rusty at quilting on my domestic.  Had more than enough of the background fabric to make binding and hanger corners... used another scrap for the backing.  

 I think it finished somewhere around 14" x 14".  While we were at Walmart this morning, I purchased a dowel, came home and cut it to size so the ends would fit into the rectangles in the upper corners.  Hubby took it down to one of our neighbors when he took Buddy for another walk.  She came down a little while later ( she wasn't home when he left it with her sister) to thank me for it and to tell me she's going to hang it on their front door for everyone to see as they drive by.

 Once I finished with the blue jay wall/door hanging, I decided to get to work using up the Tootsie Roll print charm squares left over from the Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt A Long that ended last week.  Doing some figuring, I decided I had enough to make a bag if I used some blank white or black squares, too.

I've used this pattern several times and should know it by heart.  Well, I don't.  And I don't think it was the pattern itself that was giving me such a hard time... I just wasn't paying as close attention as I should.  I had found some old movies and tv shows ( December bride) on youtube.   In the photo below, you can see my hand inside what is supposed to be the inside pocket of the bag... I sewed it in upside down... the opening was at the bottom of the bag.... and the lining was all sewn together and the corners boxed - I wasn't about to risk messing it up worse by taking out a side and bottom seam so that I could restitch the pocket in.  I just took the pocket off and left it off ( actually, I made a 'hot pad' out of it).

There were some other problems - oh yeah... the lining again... I stitched the wrong end of the lining closed, too.. and boxed those corners... so the print is upside down... but it's IN the bag and most people won't see it so, at this point, I don't care....

 Here it is... finished.

 There were two print charm squares left and I thought, OK, I can use them for the bellies of the paper pieced kitties I want to do again... well, you can see from the photo below, that I messed up again....  Oh, and the brown strips are there because I was using the same fabric for the bottom of the kitty's belly and the background.... argh.

 It worked out.  Next time, I'll try and remember not to use white on the cat's body.  The fabric I'm using is from a pre-cut set of squares ( larger than 5" but smaller than 10") that were cut from one corner to the opposite one.  I bought them YEARS ago.. so long ago that I can't remember where I bought them - but probably online.  Anyway, it's time for them to be used.

Ok, that's it, I think... if there's more, I can't remember.

take care...
ttyl....

Making progress...

and a few other things :).  Yesterday was NOT a good day -- well, I've had worse but this is pretty high up there.  A bolt of paper back fusible that was sitting on a pile on my sewing machine table decided to do a nose dive to the floor and knocked over an almost full bottle of Diet Pepsi in the process... luckily, most of it went onto the carpeted floor and my chair cushion.  I decided that I can take a hint as well as the next person and once I finished what I was working on, I started cleaning some of the area around my machine.  The offending bolt is back up there, but at an angle that will prevent it from knocking any more bottles over.  I didn't do a whole lot of cleaning but I made a little progress.

This morning, bright and early, I decided that today I was going to use up two dresden plate blocks that I experimented on before deciding that I didn't like them.  I had already found some blue fabric that was sturdier than quilting cotton but maybe not heavy enough for home decor...  - heavy enough for a tote bag.

First, I put each block onto some scrap warm and natural batting and did straight stitching in the ditches with my walking foot.  Then I realized that I wanted to have the bag lined, so grabbed some other scrap fabric and cut two pieces to fit on the backs of each of the two blocks and, again, went around here and there with stitch in the ditch and basted the three layers together.

Then I cut strips 3" wide and the length of the blocks... put two strips wrong sides together and chose a small zigzag stitch ( too lazy to mess with re-threading my serger) to sew them to one side of a block.  See how nice and neat it is....  Wait for it....

See the light colored fabric at the top?  Well that's the strip that I just stitched on ( with the tiny zigzag)... I stitched it with the wrong side out!!!..... Ripping it out wasn't all that hard and didn't take all that long, but it didn't look as nice as the first photo, that's for sure.

Luckily, that was the worst... oh wait, when I placed the blue strip and neutral strip together for the bottom of the bag... I forgot to lay the neutral right side up... Oh well, it's on the inside... I'm not changing it.

So here is the bag.... 

and here's the other side....   

Maybe not my best work, but it's really not all that bad...

So, yesterday when the bolt knocked over the Diet Pepsi, I was working on appliqued mug rugs to go with a table runner I had done the top on a couple days ago.  The tops were done but I still had to sandwich and quilt them....

After I finished the bag, that's what I did.... either the photo is a little fuzzy or my eyes are worse than I thought ( darned allergies)....

I think the photographer is a little fuzzy along with the photo...  I'd take another one but this is Tuesday night and AGT is on - and I've got a couple other things to do before I can watch.  Maybe tomorrow... oh wait, hubby has dr. appointment, then we have to get groceries, and then I'm going to visitation for the great grandmother of one of my grandsons.  Ok, maybe Thursday.

Oh!  Got an email from our gas/electric supplier yesterday.... said we've used more electricity in the past two weeks than we did the entire previous month.  Well, no duh Sherlock!... It's been HOT here and the a/c seems to be running almost constantly during daytime hours.  We're OLD; we can't handle the heat.

On that note...

take care....

stay COOL....

ttyl

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt A Long

 I was so excited when Julie Cefalu announced her plan to have a quick quilt a long using the disappearing nine patch block(s).  I had three packs of cute Tootsie Pop/Roll themed 5" squares that I could use.. and, knowing that was what I was going to use them for, I quickly ordered three packs of solid white 5" squares ( charm squares!... couldn't think of the 'proper' name lol).

I've been wanting to do this block for quite awhile; just never got to it for some reason.  Here it is on my design wall... and it looks ok to me....

This is the background I found for it.... PERFECT!  I didn't think ahead far enough when ordering it, though... I didn't allow for adding borders to the quilt top so when it came time, I couldn't add borders because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough of the backing.  I certainly didn't want to 'spoil' it by adding some random other fabric to the backing so it would be big enough to allow borders.  And, this is the size I wanted it to finish at.

I pondered a couple of days as to what to quilt and finally realized that I just needed to do an edge to edge with something curvy. 

 The next question was, what color of thread... For at least the past year, I have been strictly using only Glide threads and magnaglide bobbins - my machine likes it and I like it.  A few weeks ago, in an attempt to 'clean up' my area around my 'long' arm, I gave almost all of my cotton threads away to my friend, Katie.  I kept a few including two varigated cones.... and one of them was perfect for this quilt! - all the right colors.  I did just a HUGE meander ... and then backtracked on it so that it looks more like a huge ribbon that curls in and out around the blocks.

Here's a photo taken, with help from my hubby, from our deck...

And, here's a close up...

As I'm looking at it today, I'm beginning to think that I might have turned some of the blocks the wrong way as some of the sets of smaller black blocks go from upper left to lower right while others go from lower left to upper right.  I think I have a OOPS! here... but, you know what?  I love it just as it is and I think whichever family member of mine receives it won't even notice.

I'll tell you a little 'funny' about the thread used in this quilt.... when I tried the cotton varigated, I continued to use a magnaglide bobbin and I had absolutely no problems whatsoever.  There was no thread breakage, no bobbin thread peeking up from underneath... absolute quilter's heaven.  So, I thought "ok, let's use this varigated again on this next quilt".... The only thing I did different was oil the machine in two places because it needed it and I changed bobbin colors.  What a nightmare it was .... every time I just got my rhythm going to make a feather, the top thread would break.  I'm trying to remember; I think about half way through the small quilt, I did try changing the needle... no difference, the top thread kept breaking.  I refused to quit... finally got it done and it doesn't look bad... I think it looks pretty good, although some feathers are a little less feathery looking.  

FRONT

BACK

I'm linking up with https://thecraftyquilter.com/2019/07/disappearing-9-patch-qal-week-5-link-up/

take care....

ttyl...

Almost too hot to move

let alone quilt... but I've stayed in the air conditioning as much as possible and have been able to get a few things done... starting with these two cute little mug rugs using up some scrap fabrics.

Then I found these two fabrics for the quilt in the pics below in my 'stash' room they've been waiting for at least four years... got them out and found a baby quilt batting and loaded them all onto Mo'e with the plans to use the same top thread that I used on the previous quilt ( which I haven't shown yet).  I had experimented with using 100% cotton thread on top with magnaglide bobbin: I know others have done this successfully but I was afraid to since cotton threads seemed to give me such fits.  I was shocked at how easily it worked... Mo'e loved it... didn't give me a bit of problem... until I loaded the quilt in the photo below.  I oiled Mo'e in a couple spots because he needed it and then I switched from a gray bobbin to a cream one... the ONLY things I did different.

What a nightmare!!!.... The top thread kept breaking every time I just got into my rhythm.  ARGHHH!!   Since the quilt was small... maybe 36" x 40", I just kept going after trying to figure out what was different....Finally got it done... and it looks 'ok'... not my best work - hard to do your 'perfect' feathers and echoing when  the thread is causing fits.

The bottom photo is the top... it has Tinkerbelle and some of her fellow pixie/fairy friends... the backing fabric is meandering with hearts and circles.  I didn't make a label for this one... just signed it in a bottom corner.

This is what's going to be loaded onto Mo'e next... backing fabric... hey!  it's Christmas in July somewhere.  I ran a line of stitching around three sides very close to the edge because I wanted to wash it - just in case it shrunk and/or bled.  I put my last two color catchers in the washer with it... they came out pink.. I probably could have used a couple more catchers... the stitching around the edges helped curtail the fraying - I didn't do the fourth side because it still has selvage on it. 

Checked my threads ( Glide) and have a small cone of the perfect red - but no bobbins... off I went to QuiltedJoy.com to order some.  That was another problem... usually I can just order and pay through my amazon.com account - nope, not this time... after several attempts, I finally charged it to my paypal.  The threads should come on Saturday while I'm at a quilt show.  Once it's loaded, I'll share a pic of the top.


On my way back from the post office today, I had to stop at Walmart to pick up another script for hubby along with a couple over the counter meds. - and, more importantly, I needed CHOCOLATE!... While traveling from the grocery aisle towards the pharmacy, I spotted some cute little cactus plants and put two in my cart - then went right past the pharmacy to lawn and garden where I picked up two more cacti.  They were just so cute and, at less than $4 each, I figured I could treat myself.  This isn't a very good pic of them on our deck table, but it was HOT  (91F) and I didn't want to move anymore than I had to.

I'm going to see if I can find some pots that are a little bit larger so they'll have some room to grow.

Here's the plants that I bought back in the Spring and kept shuffling from outside to indoors every time the weather changed.  The coleus (sp?) looked like it had died, but I can see that it's coming back just beautifully.

I need to get a better picture of this one, too.

So, anyway... I guess that's it until this weekend when I'll be able to show the quilt that I finished for the Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Along hosted by Julie Cefalu.

Take care....
Stay Cool....
ttyl...........

Pink Pink Pink

I think I mentioned in my last post that I was going to work on my RSC yesterday.  Well, I did, but it wasn't until evening.  I started the day off by loading the Disappearing 9 Patch QAL onto Mo'e and had decided that I wanted to try and quilt it using the Baptist Fan pattern.  I watched a couple three (or four) youtube videos on how to do it either with a specific tool - or with circle templates.  I have the specific tool, but it's a real pain so when I watched the youtube video with Lisa Calle using acrylic circle templates, I thought "Hey, I can do that!".... WRONG... mine aren't exactly the same ones that she used and were different sizes... I tried to do a couple and they looked just a little wonky and, with the second one, I couldn't figure out where to place my marks so that the next arch would be the same width from point A to point B.  Sooooo, I ripped them out and went back to youtube and some of my quilting pattern books... leaning towards doing swirls, but they scare me to death... there must be SOMETHING else that I could do other than a simple, big ol' meander.

Anyway, after dinner I went into my sewing room and grabbed the pink scrap tote and, as I'm sorting through for pieces big enough to cut into 3" squares, I noticed a lot of strings - A LOT!... Well, no sense in sticking them back in the tote so that I have to paw through them to find what I need.  I grabbed some phone book pages and squared them up and started sewing strings onto the pages.  By the time I finished, I had six blocks done and not a whole lot of eligible string material left.

Yes, I said I made six blocks, but I'm only showing five.... because when I was laying one of the blocks onto the mat to trim to 6.5" squares, I didn't realize that I picked up two until I had cut through three sides.  That one went into the trash - I didn't even want  to mess with it long enough to tear off the papers and put it into the recycling  fabric bag.

This morning, I went back to cutting out 3" squares and then stitched them together... variety was a little slim but they'll work.  Here they are by themselves up on my design wall.

 Here's the pattern I'm working on.... I'm not sure if I've shown it before or not...

and here's a photo of Jan-July blocks.... I've also been working on the leaves and flowers.

somehow I had it figured out that I need 5 blocks a month for 12 months to get what I need.  The pattern doesn't call for that many, but I wanted mine larger than the pattern makes. 

And while all this was going on this morning, besides doing laundry and helping daughter in Texas pick out a rotary cutter and blades and whatever else she might need for a church project she's working on, hubby somehow managed to 'wound' our vacuum cleaner.  He didn't kill this one ( yet), but I think the belt either broke or came off whatever it's supposed to wrap around.  I could probably fix it myself, but he'd be standing over me wanting to do it himself or at least help (read that as backseat driving).  I told him that I'll take it in to the shop on Monday to have them look at it.  Less stressful for me that way. 

Time to get another load out of the washer and in to the dryer....

take care....
ttyl......

WooHoo!! Tootsie Rolls/Tootsie Pops

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?  I don't know, but I just love the Tootsie Roll/Pop print fabric in this quilt top. This is for the Disappearing 9 Patch quilt along that Julie Cefalu is hosting over on her blog, The Crafty Quilter.  If I've done a disappearing 9 patch before, it would have only been one block... I know I've done an entire quilt with disappearing 4 patches, but not with 9 patches - until today. 

Not only is the top done, but I also prepped black cotton for the binding, made the label AND measured, cut and stitched the backing fabric.  It's all ready to be loaded onto Moe's frame tomorrow.  I just have to figure out what  threads to use.. the backing has a black background with little tootsie roll characters dancing around.  I don't want to use black on the top when it's main color appears to be white.... and yet, I don't want white on the back either... hmmm....I may end up using a silver gray for both.  I'll audition it tomorrow to see how I like it.  I don't even know HOW I'm going to quilt it... guess I'll try and do an edge to edge... something I say just about every time but then find myself custom quilting.... that shouldn't be a problem here... nothing that I want to stand out or emphasize.

Tomorrow, I also want to do my RSC for this month... PINK!  I think I have enough of that color in my scrap bin.  Then, I think the next new thing I want to work on (other than Mo'e) is the table runner that I bought yardage for when I visited Cassie's shop earlier this week.  I've had the charm pack that goes with the yardage for I don't know how long - which is a good reason to use it.  If I remember right, it won't use all of the charm squares, but I might be able to use the rest in a bag like the ones I was making last year.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble....

take care....
ttyl.....

And another one bites the dust....

Well, not quite, but I did finish another top... so excited to be able to say that.

Isn't this just the cutest little quilt?  Not really little... I don't remember what it finished at but it's bigger than 36 x 36".  The label is made so all I have left to do is make binding and find a backing.  I may even get it quilted this week.  YAY!

Yesterday, I went down to a friend's quilt shop to check it out.  She's been there since last fall but I just couldn't seem to find time to get down there... and now she's closing :(.  I did manage to make a little dent in her vast yardage/bolts of fabrics but certainly not enough to really help her out.  I'm hoping that she's going to vend at the quilt show that's coming up in just over a week.. if she does, I can pick up some more fabrics :).  Yes, I know I shouldn't, but I do have a couple of patterns that I need fabrics for... and at 40% off, who am I to say no?

These are the fabrics I bought and the pattern I bought them for.  I really did not care for her choice of fabrics.    The print on the bottom of my stack is what I used for focus fabric to select the other fabrics... I substituted orange for red... and purple just wasn't going to work so I substituted a darker green for it.    The pattern is from a craftsy/bluprint class I signed up for - then lost for awhile... now that I've found it again, I want to get at it and get it made.  There's also a table runner in this class and yesterday I found a great yardage for the charm square packet I already had.   But I'm not going to start on these until I finish the binding (and maybe backing) for the turtle quilt AND get the Hidden 9 patch quilt top finished... all I have to do is press the remainder of the blocks and then cut them and rearrange them on my design wall - then sew them all back together.... hope to be able to have it done by this time tomorrow.... HOPE!   We'll see.

Ok dinner is almost ready...

take care....

ttyl.......

And, good luck to everyone who is having problems with facebook and instagram today/tonight.