Scrappy Bargello Day

Here is a picture of my first Scrappy Bargello quilt. It is still a top. Since Bonnie Hunter (http://www.quiltville.com/) is having a Scrappy Bargello party on Superbowl Sunday, I thought I would pull it out and work on it. I may put a border on it, then I can baste it and quilt it. Are you going to join the party? I enjoyed piecing this top together. It is made from strips. I had a few strips cut, so I pulled them all out and just started sewing. I wanted to sew them together randomly, whatever came out of the bin, but you will notice that I did fudge on the purple sections. I put some purple strips together and made a couple different sections. Then I needed to decide where to put them "randomly" into the mix! I love scrap quilts, and this one worked up really easily. I never would have put some of these fabrics together, but when it was all done, it works okay. I like it.

Below is my second Scrappy Bargello. You will notice it is purple! The person I made it for told me her favorite color was purple. This was not a problem for me. This person is owned by a rescued Siamese cat. I looked in my stash and I found that I had only two purple cat fabrics, so they went into this quilt, too.

I had so much fun making these quilts. I think I could make Scrappy Bargello quilts forever. I like the random placement of the fabrics, as well as the scrappy look. They are so quick to piece when you have precut strips.

I have been practicing Bonnie's method of cutting up bits and pieces of leftover fabric from projects and putting them into bins. I often cut strips off new fabrics when I bring them into my sewing room. Right now I have a stack of fabrics with dots that I cut from the pieces I was using to make some exchange blocks. I haven't put these blocks together yet, but they are on my "To Do" list! Sunday Stash Report

No fabric (and/or related purchases) made this week. No new projects started. No old projects finished. I am still using stash fabric on my current feathered star wallhanging from quilt class (only a couple of yards). I am also still working on the Carolina Crossroads quilt. I have not felt very well this weekend, so I have not been doing much sewing. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Please leave a comment if you have time. Happy Quilting

Pictures Finally

Here is a picture (maybe) of my Mile a Minute (crumbs) top that I am donating to community quilts. I apologize for the bad photo, but it is my first attempt. My husband took the picture for me. I will get better next time! I need to find a place where I can put up quilts to get a better shot .

I was given this pattern for Mile a Minute blocks. I started making blocks, and could not stop. I kept thinking, just one more block before I stop, just one more block. Before I knew it, I had made 60 or more blocks. Next time I make these blocks, I think I will make them bigger, or else the sashing smaller. I like Patti's layout of putting all the blocks together without sashing.

Lisa, this next picture is of my shadow quilt (where all the green triangles do not match). I took this top to my quilt class last Tuesday evening, and took the picture there. I like this pattern. Too bad it is not in purple!

I finally did it! I have pictures in my blog. You don't know how I have fretted and stressed over how I was going to accomplish this. I have been waiting for my computer tech son to stop by for a visit again, but he has not been around this week. Well, there is no stopping me now!!!

It is cold and rainy here today, and I am catching a cold. I want to get some sewing done, after I get my wash started. I made a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies this morning, and I feel like I need a nap. I have been trying to talk my husband into making some of his chicken noodle soup. His soup always makes me feel better. But he would need to go to the store for the chicken, and he does not want to go out in the rainy weather any more than I do. So I guess it will be canned soup for me tonight!

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Happy Quilting

P.S. The photos are in the wrong order. When they posted, the crumbs quilt was second, so the shadow quilt is first. I do not know why that happened.

Conquering my applique slump

Thank you Tonya and Lisa for your comments. I made the shadow top a few years ago before I found out that you can break the rules and the quilt police do not come to your house to arrest you! Lisa - as soon as I can get some pictures, I will take one of the shadow quilt. I was thinking after I wrote my blog that I should have a picture of it to go with my story. I have to get organized and find the camera, and figure out how to do the picture and get it into my blog. I know it is not that difficult, but I have not taken the time to accomplish it. I thought that this weekend I could get some good pictures. I should have done that yesterday when the sun was shining. Today it is a little rainy (only sprinkles) and overcast, and cold. My youngest (the computer techee) just stopped by for a visit with his wife. They are such a darling couple. She is so sweet, and he is so sweet, it is hard not to hug them every minute. He came by at a good time. I had him check my computer since it has been working so slow. I need some more RAM, and a new processor, and something else I don't understand. When I purchased this computer (because the youngest married and moved out taking the computer with him!) I wanted to get EQ5 and install it and learn how to use it. Now there is EQ6 available. I saw EQ5 demonstrated on Alex Anderson's Simply Quilts show. But I think I would need more storage/working space on my computer to get the best use out of a program of this type. So Bud is going to help me get updated. Well, Bud also helped me find out on Blogger where I can edit my side bar. I have been wanting to add links, and I want some cute stuff there. I don't know how that can happen yet, but tiny steps, tiny steps. I need to get pictures going first. I also want to discover how to link a name in my blog to a website, or blog spot. I see links in blogs all the time. I like that. I can go to that blog/website and see what the blogger is talking about, then return to the blog and continue reading. There is so much about this computer stuff that I need to learn. It is fun learning, but it is frustrating when I want to do something I know can be done, but do not have the knowledge/skill to make it happen. I am not a patient person, and I want it all NOW! Last evening I went to a meeting of our chapter of The Applique Society. I have not been appliqueing much the last couple of years. I have 5 or 6 big applique quilts in progress. I want to get back to them and get them finished. I thought that if I joined TAS, then I would be around quilters who applique, and that would motivate me. I have attended four meetings, and have taken hand work with me to each meeting. I am hand sewing another charm quilt with the apple core design in red and green (not for Christmas). I have taken that project, or one of my embroidered Periwinkle Lane blocks, to the TAS meetings to work on. I decided last evening (about 30 minutes before the meeting) that I should take some applique to work on since it was, after all, an applique meeting. I started looking for one of my oldest projects to work on. I thought I knew where it was, but it was too much trouble to get to it in my crowded sewing room. I started looking around for something else to take. I finally found my Hearts and Flowers applique project. I made six of the twelve blocks year before last. I took it last evening and drew out the pattern for block seven. I feel like I have conquered my applique slump finally. If I am taking a class, I am more motivated to get the project done. I discovered last evening that there is applique fever abounding in the TAS group, and I have caught the fever again! If I think of it as a class, then maybe I can get a block a month done. In six months I will have finished the blocks and can work on the border. There were some beautiful projects displayed on the walls at the meeting. Today I am sewing up more blocks for the Carolina Crossroads mystery. Well, I think it is not a mystery anymore since the revealing has happened. It is a mystery to me why I did such a poor job on my nine patches. I am unsewing, then resewing nine patches so I can get the blocks done. I am anxious to get my top all together. Tomorrow is a holiday. This will give me another day to work on my sewing (or at least part of the day). Lisa and Tonya, I promise I will take a picture of it, and try to get it in my blog. Sunday Stash Busting Report No fabric, patterns, or other quilt related items purchased this week. I am still using fabric from my stash to sew my Hearts and Flowers blocks, as well as Bonnie's "no longer mystery" quilt. So, not much loss, but no gain either. Thanks for stopping by to visit. Have a quilty day.

TGIF!

Friday finally has arrived! I have waited for it all week! And this weekend is a three day weekend for me. Monday is a holiday! Yay!!! (Don't you just love exclamation points?!!) Thanks Monica for commenting on my blog. Have you started your blog yet? I am having such a good time with this one. It was so busy today at work. There was so much to be done today, and I did not get done with yesterday's workload yet. Now I have leftovers for Tuesday. Never a dull moment. But I would rather be busy than idle. Time goes so slowly when I am idle. I am not a patient person, and idling is not in my realm. No sewing has been accomplished yet today in my sewing room. But I did open my sewing room door and peek in. What a mess! I have noticed that some quilters are cleaning up their sewing rooms/spaces. I do not have a messy room, exactly. It is just that there is so much in there, that there is no place to move it to. Things get piled upon things, and fabrics get buried under magazines, and pieces of quilts get buried under fabric stacks, etc. I keep thinking that when we get the floor done in our other bedroom, that I will be able to spread out more and things will be neater. I remember reading in Judy Laquidara's blog that she kept moving to bigger houses and still did not have enough room. I have a fear that I will move into the bigger room, and just find more stuff!!! How do you maintain your space? Are you able to toss out those little scraps of fabric, those old magazines, those old patterns that you will never use? Can you give away (move it on to another quilter) that fabric that you are just never going to use? Can you turn your back on your UFOs and put them on the silent auction table at your quilt meeting? Can you toss it all into a bag and send it to the local charity? Well quilters, if you have not figured it out yet, I cannot!!! So many people bring me their bags of leftover fabrics/quilts/patterns. I gleefully accept them. I know that somewhere in there is that fabric that I have needed to complete a block. That one piece of a feathered star pattern that has eluded me. One time another quilter gave me a bag that had a quilt completely cut out, and partially sewn (someone else's UFO). It was a pattern that I had wanted to sew, so I happily accepted the bag. I put the bag under my sewing table for a while, but it kept nagging at me, and nagging at me. One day fate interceded. The bag fell out onto the floor when I was trying to stuff yet another bag under the table. So, I decided to work on this quilt, even though I had many other projects (UFOs) of my own to finish. I have found it is so much easier to work on another quilter's UFO than it is to get to work on one of mine. Well, I put this honey together, and what did I find? (I know, you are really sitting on the edge of your chair in suspense.) I found two triangles of green floral fabric were missing! I could not believe it. After all the time and effort I was putting into this UFO and it did not have all the fabric! This fabric was years old, so I knew I could not go to a quilt shop and find it. I took some to my next guild meeting and went up front and asked all the members in attendance if they had some of this particular green floral. I begged for any amount I could get, even a six inch square would work. The next couple of weeks, I received a few takers. But none of the fabric was really a match, just wannabees. I did finally get something that matched fairly well, and I put the top together. That was at least six years ago. The top is under my sewing table with 20 or so other tops that are awaiting quilting. I really do like the pattern. It is a shadow quilt with a variable star pattern. I should pull it out and get it quilted, and then post a picture! (After I figure out how to post pictures!!!) Folks, I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed posting it. Thanks for stopping by for a visit, and please post a comment if you have time. Happy Quilting

Seam Allowances

My husband took me to our favorite Wednesday night diner tonight. They make the best chicken and rice soup. It is our Wednesday night haunt. We know all the staff, and we go there weekly. Their chicken and rice soup is my favorite. They make a good minestrone soup also. After soup, I went to the Hallmark store there in the center and spent some money. Then we went to the grocery store. So I have had my comfort food, bought some chocolate brownies, and purchased two new Beanie Bears. I think I can say I have had a good evening. Last evening after my quilt class I went into my sewing room and sewed up two more blocks on the mystery quilt. I cannot understand why my seam allowances are not even. My nine patch blocks are a bit wonky, but my hour glass blocks are right on. I guess I need to pay more attention to my sewing instead of blindly sewing those long seams thinking they are even. In my quilt class our next project is a feathered star wallhanging. I have done feathered stars before, and they were not too hard. But at that time, I was not having problems with my 1/4 inch seam allowances. I must conquer my 1/4 inch seam allowance problem before I start sewing the feathers on the feathered star. These squares are only 1-1/2 inches, so I absolutely must be accurate. Thank goodness there is only one feathered star in this wallhanging, but there is a 12 inch variable star style block in the center of the feathers with five SMALL variable stars, so there are lots of points to make sharp. If I can remember to take the camera, I will get a picture of the class sample and post it in my blog. (There is a lot of IF in that last sentence.) Thanks for stopping by - Happy Quilting

Mondays

Mondays are always a challenge. Today was extra challenging. My co-worker went to Yosemite yesterday for a drive. She and her husband encountered detours, so they arrived later than they had anticipated. She called and said they were going to stay there overnight since the rates were so good for a Sunday night. Well, there were no substitutes available for her job today, so I worked the office by myself. I'm getting too old for this! It was a very busy day, so I am really pooped. I still want to get a couple blocks put together for the mystery quilt. I do not have my 16 done yet, nor the triangle units. There were no quilt magazines in the mailbox today. I especially like to arrive home to a new quilt magazine. I have a stack of them on my sewing table that I need to purge. I usually go through them a second or third time and find anything that I might even possibly think I might someday want to make. Then I cut them out and put them into a file. I went through my files a couple weeks ago, and found a few patterns that I have more than one copy saved of the same pattern. Sometimes I find I have a few patterns of a similar design, like 9 patches. I keep the pictures to remind me what I could do with a simple design like the 9 patch. Have you seen Judy Laquidara's latest Nine Patch book? Its great. When I looked through it, I was in awe of the number of ways a design can be adapted from a simple, single design. She says she only makes 9 patch designed quilts, but what designs! I have a stack of nine patch blocks that I received in a block exchange a while back. Some of the ladies have used their blocks and made quilts out of them. Me? I have spread them out on the bed (the largest flat space in our house) and arrange them this way. Then I arrange them that way. Then I move this one over here, and move that one over there. I generally make a mess of my original idea. I cannot remember which design I liked the best. One of my quilting teachers said to take photos of what you like. With the invention of digital cameras, it is easy and is such a good idea. You can print these out and then decide without moving all the blocks again, and again, and again trying to find that great design that you liked the best. Sometimes I put the blocks into a bag and just pull them out one by one and sew them in random order (I learned that from a Sharon Craig workshop). Then there are no weighty decisions to be made. For this reason, I really like sewing crumb blocks. I just grab a scrap of fabric, sew it to another scrap of fabric, and sew on and sew on, then before you know it you have enough of a fabric swatch to make a block. I cut a square out of that, use the left over pieces for the beginning of another fabric swatch, and continue from there. I found that the first time I made these blocks it can be addictive. I made 40 blocks before I stopped to count them. Bonnie Hunter has a crumbs tutorial on her Quiltville website that is very good. When I first learned to make this block, we called it a "Mile-A-Minute" block. I have a top made from crumbs blocks ready to be quilted. I made it for our quilt guild's Community Quilts group as a donation quilt. It was lots of fun, and very liberating. If you are at all uptight about sewing random pieces together, you should try this technique. It is good therapy. Therapy. That is how I view quilting. It is my therapy. It keeps me sane, and lets my creative spirit flow. I have discovered that it is okay if someone likes my quilts, or not. I make them because I like them. It is therapy for me and I know someone, somewhere will love this wonderful creation of mine. Sometimes it takes a while to find that someone, but they are out there! Well, it is time for me to sign off. My eyes can hardly read the computer screen they are so tired tonight. Before I go, I want to thank Bonnie Hunter for commenting on my blog. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to read it. Good night, sweet dreams, and thanks for stopping by to visit. Happy Quilting

The second post

Okay, I am not going to number every post, but I couldn't come up with anything more to the point. After all, this is my second post! Thank you Vicki for your comment. I was so excited when I looked at my blog today and saw that I had a comment. What a second hoot! As soon as I can figure out how to add pictures, and other information, this blog will be more colorful and informative. But until then, it will just be words. But I have so many words to share about my passion for quilting, that I sometimes get carried away. There must be a maximum on the number of words. I am sure I will find it when I get there! LOL! (I think that means "laugh out loud", but it also means "little old ladies") As I have been reading other blogs, I have been trying to figure out what the acronyms mean. Sometimes I think I may be correct. But leave it to me to put my foot in my mouth and get them wrong. Does DH mean the designated husband, or maybe the desperate husband? Could we have a designated, and a non-designated one? Well, some history. Bonnie Hunter and Judy Laquidara encouraged me to start blogging. I have been reading their blogs since last summer. I took a blogging class and here I am. Such fun so far. Of course, I have not figured out how to do everything yet, but I will perservere (I hope I spelled that correctly. I think having children has caused some of my gray cells to disappear, or it could be age, or all of the above.) I haven't figured out how to use Spell Check yet, either (LOL/ LOL). I guess that means "little old ladies laugh out loud"? I haven't done any sewing today. I am doing laundry, finally taking the ornaments from the Christmas tree, going out for a corn dog and ice cream (shush, don't tell my dietician), and getting a nice young man convinced to lay the floor in our last child's abandonded bedroom. I so do not like taking the ornaments off the Christmas tree. That really signals to me that Christmas is over. And to really make me feel old, the nice young man was a student at the school where I work. It wasn't that long ago that he was only in third grade! Am I getting old, or what? But his mother works at the school, also, so I am sure she is feeling the same feelings that I am. I did get three blocks sewn together around midnight last evening on Bonnie's mystery quilt, Carolina Crossroads, part 6. I find that my quarter inch seams are not the same on all the pieces. I have a piece of tape on my throatplate to mark where I should have my fabric aligned. I remeasured the tape, and moved it last week. I thought it might have worn down some. That is when my quarter inch seams took a hike! I know I had that quarter inch measurement down pat at one time. Something to work on, I guess. I must get my load of wet clothes into the dryer, and get ready for work tomorrow. YUK for this LOL (the little old lady one). I hope everyone had a good weekend, and will have a great week to come. If I don't get back here until next weekend, don't be surprised. It takes a lot of my energy (because I have fewer gray cells now) to get to work and stay there every day. But I really do enjoy my job. My husband is retired (and has been for 10 years!!!), and I am ready for that new experience too. Happy Quilting

My First Post

Today is the first day of my blogging experience. What a hoot! I am a passionate purple quilter - passionate about purple, and passionate about quilting. I am currently working on a mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website. I finished part five this morning about 1:00 a.m. and after this class on blogging, I am on to part 6, block assembly. I also have two baby quilts on the table (along with various other UFOs). It seems that I always want to make more quilts than I have time to finish, or maybe the energy to finish. I work a 40 hour a week job, so my quilting time is limited to evenings and weekends. Sometimes in the evenings I am too tired after working to sew, but I keep telling myself that if I just went into my sewing room and worked for even 15 minutes, I could accomplish wonders. Weekends are taken up with everyday chores that I do not get done during the week. I do try to take at least one day to sew, usually on Sundays. I am enrolled in a weekly quilt class at our local adult school. With the projects the teacher has for us to sew, and my own projects, I could be busy sewing 20 hours a day, which only leaves 4 hours for other stuff (like working, sleeping, etc.). So I have much more that I want to do than I have time to accomplish.