Friday Nite Sew In

I can't believe it is that time of the month again!! (wow!  it's been a long time since I've said that -VBG-).

If you want to get in some serious sewing time and then have a bunch of cool blogs to peruse afterwards, hop on over to FNSI and sign up.

I've had a stressful week and I want nothing more that to hunker down in Studio Q and get some business taken care of.

Believe it or not, I have more HSTs to trim and I have two little quilts (made with HSTs, of course) to bind and one BIG quilt to finish binding.  I'll be doing that by machine so the list is pretty doable.

Sign up and have fun with the rest of us.

BLOCK-LOC

Last year at Road to California I found a marvelous ruler. The Block _Loc ruler made by USAUS is designed specifically to trim HSTs. There is a diagonal groove that snuggles over the seam leaving the ruler rock - steady so you get a great cut.   If you like using HSTs as much as I do,it's a good investment. 

CHRIS

More from the phone!

 

 Here is what I was left with after my mad day of trimming.  See the black tray on the right?  It was HEAPED with pressed squares when I got started.  I had no actual memory of having that tray full of squares till I uncovered it while cleaning off a small area to the right of where I sew. 

Finding things like that is scary.  I'm never sure if it means I am starting to have dementia or if my life is just too chaotic to keep track of every little thing I do.  Do you ever have that experience?  As soon as I saw the tray, I remembered that I had sewn and pressed them all.  They were gathered over the course of several months - even I don't think I could have forgotten the marathon that would have been necessary to produce all of those - so that is why I might have forgotten them.  I am choosing to go with the busy life explanation for my forgetfulness.

Changing the subject.  I am THRILLED that I can post things from my phone.  There have been so many funny things I wanted to blog about but they inevitably happen when I am not near my computer.  My phone is rarely more than a foot from me (hazard of my profession) so I think I will be able to capture more of the rather comical (at least to me) things that happen to me all the time.

More of the HSTs later.  I've been collecting ideas for quilts that will use a bunch of them.

I want to make some Christmas presents for non-quilting family members but I am feeling fresh out of ideas.  I thought the trimming marathon would recharge me but so far...nothin'.  Any ideas??

Design Wall Monday

Here is what I got done today: about 350 trimmed half-square triangles!


I tried posting this from my phone and it worked!  If you read the original version, though, I didn't actually have any text with the photo.  I wasn't sure how it would work so I only sent the photo.

Again, not sure how it works, I sent two separate photos which made two separate posts.


I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  Check into the next post to see what else is on my design "table."

Fabric Swaps

I love fabric swaps.  I used to participate in them frequently when I was making my Dear Jane.  It was the best way to get a big variety of fabric.  Since I have a great love of very scrappy quilts, I've gotten involved in swapping fabric with the Quiltville Swap group.

The theme this round is black and white.  They are also having an additional red swap.  I signed up for 10 sets of Black and White and 5 sets of Red.  That means I send in 10 sets of ten different strips of B&W and 5 sets of ten different Reds.  I will get back 100 different B & W strips and 50 different Red strips.  YAY!!

Have you ever participated in a fabric swap?

Variety is the very spice of life that gives it all its flavour.

-- William Cowper

Fallen Soldier Blocks

I'm not sure if I ever posted about this, if so, forgive the duplicate.
A few weeks ago I read about a quilter who put out a request for star blocks to make quilts for the fallen soldiers in her almost-son-in-law's unit.  He was killed recently, a week before he was to return home to her daughter and his family and two weeks before he was to be married.

My heart aches for them and for all the people who have lost loved ones in a war.

These are the two blocks I sent.  If you feel so inclined, she is still collecting blocks until November 30.  Go read the whole story and look at photos of the amazing blocks quilters have sent her.  The blog is The Scrappy Appleyard.  If you decide to read her posts about it plan to have tissues nearby.

America's fighting men and women sacrifice much

to ensure that our great nation stays free. 

We owe a debt of gratitude to the soldiers 

that have paid the ultimate price for this cause, 

as well as for those who are blessed enough 

to return from the battlefield unscathed.

                                                                                               - Allen Boyd

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've been playing along with Impera Magna's Jacob's ladder QAL.  These are my leader/ender project so it's taken me a while to finally have enough blocks to post.  I made all of these before I realized I had switched the placement of background and focus fabrics. It makes it different but I am going to live with it. I like the way it makes that small square withing the larger square with the florals.

It is turning out very....bright.  Gotta love that cheddar!

GO see what others have posted on Judy's Design Wall.

Chinese Auction

18" X 24" by Patti Brown

 Once again I was co-chair of one of my guild's annual fundraisers, The Chinese Auction. 

If anyone knows another name for this type of event, please let me know.  I would love to change the name as I am not a fan of this one.  Here's how it works:
               Donated items are numbered and set out with correspondingly numbered bags.  Participants buy tickets and put as many tickets as they choose into the bag of an item they would like to win.  At the end of the "bidding" time, bags are collected.  One ticket is drawn from the bag for each item and the owner of the drawn ticket wins the item. 

There is usually a lot of hilarity involved as the "auctioneer" makes funny comments about the item or the winner or both.  My very patient husband has allowed himself to be volunteered for this position the last two times I have been chair.  His comments are hysterical because he is particularly ignorant of all things quilty.  He will be handed a basket full of quilting notions and have NO IDEA how to describe them. The women just hoot over his ad libbing.

One year, my 19-year-old son helped by being a "runner."  His job was to bring the prize to its new owner.  A good friend of mine, someone who has known him for years, stuffed dollar bills in the waistband of his pants every time he ran past her.  I thought the room would collapse in laughter.

One innovation I instituted was the addition of a silent auction.  We pick several quilts from those donated and place them on the stage with a sign-up list for each individual quilt.  Those who want the quilt will write down their bid and add their name.  If someone wants it more, she will add a higher bid and her name. This goes on until time is called.  We usually get about $60 per quilt which I think is way too low but better than winning it for a dollar ticket.

1/4 of the "Sock Quilt" by the Meows small group.  quilt is approximately 72" X  90"

The two quilts in this post are just two of the dozens of quilts we've had donated by members of our guild.

I've had fun chairing it for three years but I am certain, really certain, that I will not chair it again.  It's a fun event and this year has been a real pleasure.  In large part because my fellow co-chair has been a dream to work with and a pleasure to get to know.  But, it's time to let someone else have the fun next year.

How does your guild raise money??

YEAH!! I finished another one!

I am so happy to have finished this quilt.  I love, love it but it has hung, unfinished for more than five years.  I just lacked confidence in my quilting ability to finish it.  Judy's UFO challenge, though, has pushed me to just pull up my big-girl pants and get things done!  This isn't a large quilt at all.  I struggled with adding some borders to make it bigger but decided, finally, to donate it to the VA for use by veterans in wheel chairs.  I'm hoping it's not too wide because I thinks it will appeal to a man.

I just photographed this yesterday in my back yard.  The grass is really a lot greener than it appears int he photo.  I just added this information so those of you who just got slammed on the east coast can be a little jealous of us on the west coast with our good weather.  I am constantly jealous of all your gorgeous spring and summer flowers so it is fair that you can be jealous of our mild winter. 

Everything has its plusses and minuses, though. For instance, our mild winters lead to a problem most of the cold US might not consider:  We have FLEAS in San Diego.  Lots of them.  In fact, the first Spanish or Portuguese explorers labeled San Diego the Flea Capital of the world.  Fleas never die off here because it doesn't get cold enough to kill the eggs.  I would guess that Southern California can single-handedly keep Advantage in business.  I'm getting itchy just typing this.