Design Wall Monday

I love to play with leftover 1/2 square triangles.  This is 100 1.5" squares plus a small inner border.  It is so relaxing to me to see what designs I can come up with and then finish the whole thing in an evening.  This little gem still needs to be bound.  I have many more up my sleeve because the members of my guild have gifted me with baggies FULL of them!!  I doubt I will ever run out of little triangles to arrange and play with.


Hop over to Judy's to see what everyone else is up to.

September UFO DONE!!

TaDa!!

It was a challenge to get this finished this month because I have my boy here!!  More on that in the next post, I want to talk about this quilt today.  This quilt was begun as a leader/ender project about, I don't know, SIX years ago!  I began by using  2-inch squares of dark fabric and sewing them into 2-patches.

When I got a HUGE pile of those, I started L/E (leader/endering) pairs of 2-inch squares of muslin.

When I got a HUGE pile of those, I started L/E 1/2 square triangles.  I did this by pairing larger muslin and dark squares (about 3 inches each) and sewing on both sides of the center diagonal line then cutting them apart to make two 1/2 squares that I trimmed to 2 inches. 

When I got a  HUGE pile of those, I started sewing them to the two squares of muslin or two of the dark 2-patches to make strips of 3. 

When I had a HUGE pile of those, I sewed a single muslin square to two dark squares.

Soon (a relative term), I had three piles of strips of 3-patches that looked like this:

FINALLY, I started sewing these strips together into 9-patches.  I sewed and sewed and sewed until I had 192 of them.  I was finally ready to lay out a quilt top and the playing commenced.  I decided to sew them together into the blocks you see by sewing 4 of the 9-patches together.  I wanted a zig-zag effect so I sewed an extra bit onto the end of each column of six blocks.  Looking at it now, I would probably end each row with a half block. 

Those of you who are very clever will have figured out that I could have accomplished this same effect by sewing 4-patches into 16-patches and then adding the 1/2 square triangle thingy that looks like a flying goose.  OR, I could have sewn... well, there are many ways to skin a cat, this is how I did it because I wasn't sure about the final layout.

The thing I like about this block is that it can be used in MANY layouts as you would use a log cabin block.  The advantage, as I see it, is that I can make them easily as a L/E project while making other quilts.  I see L/E quilts as almost making themselves.  The blocks just get sewn together while I am making other quilts.  The only direct attention I spend on them is when it comes to putting all the blocks together into a top.

The other thing I LOVE about this quilt is that I consider it almost free.  The only fabric in it that I actually purchased is 1/2 of the backing.  I pieced the batting from leftovers of other quilts and all of the 2-inch squares are scraps from my other quilts but mostly from my quilt guild friends who know how I will use any tiny scrap that they don't want to be bothered with.

Big decision is where I will donate this quilt. 


Hop over to Patchwork Times and see the other FINISHED UFOs!

Back to Normal (Whatever that is)

We've been home from our vacation for almost two weeks and I've been back to work for one week.  I guess that represents a return to our normal routine.

Izzy was not thrilled to be a working dog again.  We take her to the office every day to keep her out of trouble at home.  What that means, of course, is that she gets into trouble at work.  Lately, she has discovered that our clients discard perfectly good, only slightly chewed gum in the trashcans.  She is not one to leave tidbits like that unenjoyed and has developed quite a bad gum habit.  As far as I can tell (and I don't really try to tell that closely) she doesn't swallow the gum.  I'll come around a corner and find her happily chewing away.  I can usually get her to give it up pretty easily.  Sometimes, I don't catch her in the act but I will find remnants of twice-chewed gum on the front carpet and in her fur.  ARGH.

On the quilting front, I am very pleased to admit that I have finished the first UFO assignment from Judy Laquidara's challenge.  TaDa.

This is the photo from my UFO list

And here is the completed quilt.  It is about 50" by 60".  I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and she had posted a picture of the quilt that was the inspiration for this one.  It is "Playing With Jacks."  Hop over to her website for her free tutorial and make yourself one.

 I wanted to add a couple more pictures from the RV adventure -- just to show some more of the good parts.  Here I am with my sons examining a plaque for a Rodin group-sculpture on the Stanford campus.  What a beautiful place.  It may be my favorite university campus.

This second photo was taken through the windshield of the RV as we were going over the Golden Gate bridge.  This is probably the last photo taken before the danged thing died.

Hope all is going well for you.



Here is something to chew on this weekend:

"Big changes in our lives are more or less a second chance."
                                                                   Harrison Ford.

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