DWM 1/7/13

I was gifted a bunch of red/white/black half-square triangles.  They sat and sat, not enough for a quilt but they didn't really go with anything in my stash.  I was out on an innocent trip to the LQS with a friend and several red and white fat quarters jumped into my hand and whispered that they'd play well with the HSTs.  I still may do some rearranging but I'm pretty happy and plan to make this a Linus Quilt.

Go see what others are up to at Judy's blog.

Chris

Birthday Gift

It was my birthday a few weeks ago.  Yea me!!  My very good friend Patti gave me this super sweet quilt that she made especially for me.  It is about 18" X 24" made from "bonus triangles" and all hand-quilted.  I love love it. 

I've spent the last several years convincing my guild members that they can make really nice little quilts from the triangles you cut off when making flying geese or snowball blocks.  For the last few years they've just been giving the bonus triangles to me - thank you very much!!  Lately, however, I've been seeing some cute quilts made from these leftovers.  I can't wait to show it off at the next guild meeting.

What do you do with those triangles?

I love these little quilts

This is the little quilt I was binding for FNSI.  It measures almost 12" square and I can hardly stand how cute it is.  LOL - I crack myself up.

I made this with the cut-off corners of snowball blocks from this quilt that I made in a Mystery Quilt Weekend Retreat in Palm Springs. 

There were 10 of us in the same group and most of them gave me their "bonus" triangles so I should have many more tiny quilts to post before the next retreat.

I've been busy

We had some rain over the weekend and I took the opportunity to be very busy in my sewing room.
I made binding for a quilt that's needed binding for about two months.

I sewed a bunch of my red and white blocks into 'foursies.'  It may not look like much but I pinned stacks of them onto my design wall.  I got so sick of having them on my sewing table.  I need 56 'foursies.'  So far I have 40 done!!  Yay!

Next, I started pressing open a bunch of bonus triangles that were given to me at the last retreat I attended in August.

Here is how little they are even before trimming.

 

Not sure what I'll do with them yet but you can be sure I'll post something when I decide.

I also did a bit of cooking on Sunday.  I made two meatloaves - don't laugh, I love meatloaf and DH requested it!! I also made a Moroccan Meatball Stew.  It smelled good but we probably won't eat it till tonight or tomorrow night.  I like cooking ahead because I get home from work so late that being able to get a good dinner on the table in 15 minutes makes a few hours of weekend cooking worth the effort.

I hope your week is going well so far.

“It pays to plan ahead. 

It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

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!

Design Wall Monday

I had WAY too much fun today.  A friend gifted me her cut off triangles from a bunch of snowball blocks she was making.  I pressed and trimmed and started playing.  My DH thinks it looks "Halloweeny" but I think it looks fun.  UH OH! I see a triangle turned the wrong way and a few pairs missing on the left.  I'm hoping to have more of it to show on next week's wall.  Oh, did I mention that the 1/2 square tris finish at 1"?  I told you -- TOO MUCH FUN!

Hop on over to Judy's and see what everyone lse is designing.

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Design Wall Monday

There are just a bunch of bits on my wall this week.  Well, that and that darn Myna Bird Quilt that is still hanging around waiting for inspiration.  Here is one of the bits that I am getting excited about:

I took Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty class at Road to California earlier this year.  In between my regular projects, I have been plugging away at the 224 blocks I need to finish this quilt.  No, this is NOT all I have completed.  I think I have about 80 completed blocks, all of the 1/2 square triangles, and almost all of the 4-patches.

It is going to be for our king-size bed because DH has started to grumble that "everyone has a quilt but us."

 Here is a reminder of Bonnie's quilt:

 (Posted sideways because blogger refuses to leave my photos rotated even though they are rotated in my album.  GRRRR)










You all have a great day.

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April UFO DONE

I finished this little quilt instead of my assigned quilt because I couldn't find it!!  I did finally find it and I will complete it before the end of the year.  I will.  Really.  Stop doubting me.

This little cutie top was made with the 1/2 square triangles that my guild friend, Audrey gave me a few years ago. Check out Judy's blog to see what other people are doing to clean up their UFOs.

You all go out there and finish something!

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My UFO List

Oh the Shame. I'm not sure which is worse - that I have so many UFOs or that I could put my hands on 12 of them and take photos in fewer than 5 minutes!  These are just the ones that I've had hanging in plain sight for the last year few months so that I would be inspired to finish them.  It didn't work.  I am taking the leap with Judy Laquidara and committing to finishing these in the next year.
Here goes.

#1.  These are several BOMs that I won at my guild meeting at LEAST two years ago. They are so adorable, I have no idea why I have not put them together.






 #2.  This is a pattern I fell in love with in Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home magazine (while he was still editor).  I cut it out, made several blocks, even prepared some of the applique and then it stalled.  It's the applique holding me up.  I hate the A word and I don't know what made me think that I would enjoy making this quilt.  BUT, I shall overcome my prejudices and finish this because I think it is SO DARN ADORABLE.


#3 SIGH.  I saw this YEARS ago in a book.  I spent a considerable amount of time collecting fabrics.  I put together a few blocks and I really don't like it.  So, I will make it into a lap quilt and call it done.

#4.  I hand pieced this center medallion on a fun family vacation about 5 years ago.  I would like to figure out some borders and get it finished.

#5 This is the start of a charity string quilt I made based on the String-X pattern from Quiltville.  It needs borders, backing, quilting, and binding.  Not much.


 #6. I have absolutely NO IDEA where this UFO came from.  I don't know where I got the inspirations, when I made it, nothing!  How scary is that?  I think it only needs to be sandwiched, quilted, and bound to be done.

#7.  I love this little quilt. It is so old that once again I have forgotten its genesis. I think it needs borders and the rest to make it a real quilt.  Maybe by next Christmas....




#8.  This little scrap quilt came to be by a bit of a circuitous route.  The scraps are from a memorial quilt I was commissioned to make (and DID make) a year ago.  I learned the quick block from some Los Angeles quilters I met at a retreat in Temecula, CA.  I want to finish it and give it to the woman who commissioned the original memorial quilts.  It needs to be quilted and bound.

. #

#9.  Blogger wants this to be horizontal.  It doesn't make a lot of difference in either case.  The photo looks more jumbled than the quilt actually is because it is folded over a hanger.  I have the inner border picked out and cut (the black strip) I need to decide on an outer border and backing then get the thing quilted and bound.  Yeah, not too much!!



#10.  This is another charity string quilt.  I abandoned it when I couldn't figure out what to use for borders.  I auditioned EVERYTHING in my stash.  My artist sister came over one day and I explained my problem.  She walked over to my stash, picked up a fabric I would NEVER have considered and, of course, it was perfect. Needs to be bordered, quilted, bound.

#11. I learned the Split nine-patch block in a class I took from Karen Combs many years ago.  It is my go-to Leader and Ender project when I don't have anything else in the works. I have seen this setting online many times.  Some call it Chicklets.  Sorry, it's been so long that I no longer remember the websites.  It is put together in rows.  I need to put the rows together, pick a border and get it quilted and bound.



  #12.  And finally, this gem.  It is one of my favorites and I don't think I'll be able to part with it when it is finished.  Like so many of our quilts, it has a story. In my guild, I have a reputation for liking to make scrap quilts with a special affinity for 1/2-square triangles.  One day, a very elderly quilter brought me a ream-of-paper sized box carefully stacked with completed 1/2-square triangles in every color and pattern imaginable.  Her eyesight no longer allowed her to quilt and she hoped I could use the little blocks.  Heck yeah! I figured I could make something out of them.  Well, I have made lots of little quilts from her box of  treasures.  This is the largest.  I trimmed them up to a uniform size and worked really hard to pull matching squares that would look good as stars.  I sashed it and there it sat waiting for border inspiration.  Audrey passed away a few weeks ago and I am kicking myself that she never got to see this quilt.  I plan to keep it so I will always remember her.

Thanks, Judy, for this fun challenge.  I think it will make 2011 very productive for me.

Ponder this:

              Nothing that we do is so important that it can't wait
               so we can spend time with family and friends.

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