UFO night

Last night I attended my February UFO workshop. I worked on my Valentine's quilt. I sewed the big blocks together, and sewed on the first border. I have a strip pieced border to sew together, then one more strip of the red and the top will be done. It is difficult to see in the picture, but the center block is pink and white. I ended up with two pink and white blocks, but I used only one and placed it in the middle.

Everyone was working on different projects. One lady was working on a darling Mary Engelbreit quilt. Another lady had one ME quilt done and brought it in to share. There were blocks on the design wall that another quilter was putting together. She put them up on the design wall, and moved them around until she found a design she liked, then she sewed them together last night. I sat next to Terri Thayer, the author of Wild Goose Chase and Old Maid's Puzzle. She told me the third book in this series should be coming out in April of this year. I can't wait to see what happens to Dewey and Buster in the next installment.

One quilter was working on a quilt for the Quilts of Valor project. Another quilter was sewing on a Victorian style sewing bag. It had beautiful french ribbon embroidery on it. So many busy ladies working on so many projects. Many ladies were laughing because they brought so many projects to work on thinking they would get them all done last night. I usually take one project and hope I can get it near completion. After all, it is Friday night, after a busy work week. My energy level is at a low ebb by that time of the day even on a Monday! But I was very pleased that I progressed as far as I did. Two more borders and I will have my Valentine's quilt top done, ready for quilting.

I bought some fabric (surprised?), a book, a pattern, and some thread. I bought Jan Krentz new book, Quick Star Quilts and Beyond. It has many quilts with "radial designs with 45 degree angled seams crossing through a central axis". Got it? I think that means diamond shaped piecing. At least that is what I see in the quilt examples in the book, and the patterns at the end of the book. There is also a set of rulers corresponding to the patterns in the book as well. I want to teach some diamond piecing for Quilting 101 with my quilt guild so I thought this was a prudent purchase. I have not done much piecing with diamond shapes. I am sure I have done one or two star blocks that includes diamond shapes in the star. I am also sure I did not do a super duper job on them either! Diamond shapes have bias edges, which (for me) can be difficult to piece accurately. This type of piecing usually involves set-in seams (yuck). I have seen a few ideas on making a strata from strips, then cutting a 45 degree angle, then cutting the diamond shapes from the strata. This idea appeals to me a lot. We will see what I can come up with that is simple and easy (ha-ha). Any ideas anyone wants to share on diamond piecing (not the ring kind, either)?

Well, ladies, I must get busy making some HSTs for JudyL's Quilt Along project. I don't want to get behind this early in the game!

Happy Quilting

Quilting 101 class

Sunday is almost over. What happened to the weekend? Well, Saturday I taught our Quilting 101 class at LAFS. There were five ladies there. We covered basic triangle blocks: half square, quarter square, and flying geese. A lady from a LQS came in and talked about different style rulers and their uses that are available now in the shops. She also brought and demonstrated different paper piecing products. Almost everyone who was at LAFS came over to hear her lecture. It was a very good meeting.

One of the ladies there had the center blocks sewn together from the mystery class. There were two quilt tops at Show and Tell at the last quilt meeting, also. It is so fun to see these quilts coming together.

The only sewing I managed to complete was a flying geese block using the No Waste Method for sewing flying geese units. With this method, you make four units at a time, and there are no triangles to cut off. Although, I like those little triangles. I sew them up and have a box of little half square triangle units that I will someday (?) use on a quilt, or tote bag, or something fun.

The photo is the set of fabrics I plan to use making a quilt with JudyL and her Quilt Along project. We'll see how far along I can get. I hope I can keep up with the group.

Hope you all have a good week. Stay warm, stay healthy, and stay happy.

Happy Quilting

Mystery Borders

Last evening I cut and sewed borders on my mystery quilt. When I went back to the store a few weeks ago to see what they had in the Maypole line, there were only two pieces left. I bought the green for a small inner border with the purple floral for the outer border. I am wondering if I should have used the green only as the border. It seems very busy to me with the purple floral, but after all, it is purple! How could I not use the purple? I wanted to use the Maypole fabrics for the entire quilt, but now I dunno.

Hubby is holding up the quilt again. It is hard to get a good picture because I could not get far enough away to get the whole quilt in the photo with the light we have today. It is raining, so I did not want to go outside and get wet. I am getting wet running in and out of the garage to get to the washer and dryer today. I try to rush in between downpours, but my timing is not too good sometimes. I want to get some clean clothes for the next week.

My co-worker called me today and she has the stomach flu. I told her to stay home tomorrow since I will be going in (I hope). I don't know if my principal will be back yet. She has been sick also. My intent was to get more things accomplished today, but with the rain and cold, I decided to stay in and stay warm and almost dry. I need to go to the store, but I guess we won't starve if I don't get there today.

Have a good week, stay warm and stay healthy.

Happy Quilting

Bushfire Blocks

It took me two days, but I did finally finished four blocks from Kim's star block tutorial. I am sending them, with a quilt top, to Tracey for quilts for victims of the bushfires in Australia. Kim had mentioned in her blog of making her star blocks and sending a bunch to Australia for a quilt. It would be great to have a whole quilt (or more) of these star blocks made by quilters in the USA. Tracey is asking for blocks for quilts to be sewn for the victims of the terrible bushfires in Australia. I am sure she would appreciate anything, fabric, batting, tops, blocks, etc. to help in this project. It is quite a task she has taken upon herself. I wish her luck. Check out Tracey's blog. Email her if you can help with some blocks or anything.

Yes, I am somewhat functioning again, finally. I actually went out of the house yesterday, but not today. It is raining more today, and I have no reason to be out in it today, maybe tomorrow. I want to get back to work on Tuesday if I can. I am still very congested, and so very tired. I stopped at a LQS yesterday to get a piece of fabric for the borders on my Valentine's quilt. One of the ladies there said her daughter and husband both had this virus. Her daughter had it for five weeks, and her husband had it for six weeks. Bummer! I could have this yucky stuff for two or three more weeks. Oh well, life goes on!

I do not believe I will go to quilt class Tuesday night, especially if it is raining. I do not think I am contagious now, but I know I will be tired from working all day.

The rain is such a blessing right now as our area really needs the water. We do not have our average rainfall yet, so this will help a lot. But of course, it also causes problems on the roads with landslides and uprooted trees, etc. The skiers love it since it is also snowing in the mountains north of here.

Hope you all have a warm and dry Presidents' Day tomorrow. I hope I will be able to see two more episodes of Perry Mason, and maybe a quilt show if I am lucky.

Happy Quilting

Sneeze, Blow, Cough

Yuk! I am sick, AGAIN! It seems lately that I cannot stay well. I was sick with a cold/flu during Christmas. I got over that, then here comes an abscess in my gum. Took antibiotics for that. Just recovered from that and boom, another cold/flu. Sneeze, cough, sneeze, cough, cough, blow, blow, blow (and I don't mean my clarinet)! Congested sinuses, sore throat, etc. etc. etc. I was just at the doctors last Monday for a follow up visit. The Monday before that I thought I was having an episode of some kind when I arrived at work. My heart was pounding (for no apparent reason), I became light headed (thought I was going to faint, and I am NOT the fainting kind), and nausea. Sneeze!

I called my husband to come to my work and pick me up and take me to emergency. They checked me out, admitted me to a room, and I was there for about four hours while they observed me. The ER doctor could not say what exactly had happened, or why, but they did eliminate a heart attack (which is what I thought it was going toward). After all my vitals settled down to somewhat normal, they sent me home with instructions to book a follow up appointment with my regular physician (which I finally did a week later). Now congestion again. I cannot seem to win lately. Oh well, life goes on.

While I was sitting in my chair trying to recuperate, I thought I should do something with my time, so I finished the binding on the quilt that I have pictured in this post. I am not sure if I posted a picture of this quilt yet, or not. But it is finally bound and ready for show and tell. I want to take it to my Tuesday night class and share it. It was a mystery quilt from a couple of years ago. I had it quilted last summer, and now I actually finished the binding. No label yet, though. I am not good at applying labels. I just never get around to that, unless it is a gift for someone, then it gets a label. Sneeze!

I am missing a guild quilt class today. I signed up for it, but I do not feel well enough to attend. I called the Vice President last night and begged off. I hate to do that. If I commit to a class, I try very hard to make it there. I truly enjoy taking classes. I always learn something from the teacher and other students. My husband cannot believe that I am actually missing a quilt class. I have missed a couple of my evening quilt classes since I have not been feeling well, also.

I have a three day weekend this weekend, and next, for Presidents' holidays. I am really glad that I do not need to go back to work on Monday. I hope I feel well enough to go back to work on Tuesday, and quilt class Tuesday evening. I missed work Thursday and Friday of this week. I am glad I stayed home since I was so miserable, but I hate having someone else at my desk when I am gone. I am so possessive of my space, it is terrible.

I had such great plans for this weekend, but I guess they will wait until next weekend. Poor hubby is sick now, too. He did make chicken noodle soup for me before he became sick. He makes the best chicken noodle soup.

Well, my eyes are so watery that the computer screen is blurry, so I guess I should sign off for now. I feel like a nap is in the near future. I really would like to get some sewing done today, but maybe tomorrow. Sneeze, cough, cough!

Happy (sneeze) Quilting

P.S. You can barely see the top of hubby's bald head above the quilt in the picture. I thought he was holding it up high enough, but evidently not. At least I did not include his bare feet as well. Sneeze, sneeze, cough, blow!

Super Sew Bowl Sunday

Another weekend gone, but not forgotten. Saturday DH and I went to our baby boy's in law's house for his 30th birthday celebration. It was lots of fun seeing his old friends from high school and seeing how they have changed. Of course, it is always fun to see our own three children interacting as adults. I still see the little kids in their faces occasionally. Great fun was had by all.

Today, I went to a local quilt shop and sewed all afternoon. The owner had a Super Sew Bowl today for the football widows whose husband's are engrossed in the Super Bowl. I signed up to go since I love to get together with other quilters and sew and chat and eat. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies this morning and took them. There was also a sew-in all day yesterday, too. A couple of the ladies were there today who sewed yesterday.

I wanted to do a scrappy twist quilt with Bonnie Hunter and the crew today. I ended up doing a sort of scrappy twist. I used a jelly roll with a valentine's theme from Moda, Candy Kisses. I did get all the strips sewn together to cut the blocks, and completed eight blocks this afternoon. This is the same design that I did in my mystery class with my quilt guild. I really like that pattern.

The two pictures are of the eight blocks I finished. One setting is with little pinwheels in the center. The other setting is with little hour glass blocks in the center. There is also the setting that Bonnie uses in her Scrap Twist alternating the two diagonal blocks that I posted in a previous post. Which one do you like the best?

This coming week is a five day work week, then we have two three-day weekends due to two President's holidays. Whoopee! I love three day weekends. Maybe DH and I can get a trip to Monterrey/Pacific Grove one of those weekends. I have not been to the beach for a while. I need my batteries charged. A trip to the beach usually does the trick. In the meantime.....

Happy Quilting