Goodnight Irene!!

I've seen this pattern before, but never knew it's name, Goodnight Irene!  I love it!  What fun!



















A few weeks ago, I had an a-ha moment and knew this was the pattern I would use with the leader/ender 4 patch brights I've been accumulating for ages.  Immediately, I started putting the 4 patches together into 16 patches. I had several yards of different solids in my stash. After a bit of auditioning, I selected a bright royal-y blue.

This weekend, I was able to start on the 'X' Blocks.  It took some experimenting with scraps to find out the X-blocks are made using the same size square as my 4 patch!  Did I mention I'm not using a pattern?  For some reason, I thought I would need to add 1/8 of an inch to the corner pieces (like when making 1/2 square triangles).  Nope!  This is a big win, because I bought a Go Baby! cutter specifically to make cutting 2" squares easier. 

This cutter is fantastic and it makes cutting up my scraps a breeze!  It's been a little while since I've cut my scraps into squares, so I spent some time making squares yesterday.  It's super fun!  I would never say that about cutting with a ruler!

Terry is doing a QAL for Goodnight Irene. I'm just a tad bit late to the party. Fashionably late!!

Also, I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday with Judy at Patchwork Times. I'm hoping to have many more X's for next week's link up.  

Winner, winner!

You know all those giveaways in the blogosphere?  You know how 5 million people leave comments and the chance of winning seems tiny?  Well-- I was a winner this week!  Hooray!

Details?  I won this new book:  Quilting with a Modern Slant by  Rachel May

Big, big thanks to Jeni Baker of In Color Order for the giveaway and to Storey Publishing for their generous donation.  I can't wait to read it!

Sew many things!

I was fortunate to be able to spend some time sewing yesterday and last Saturday.  Fortunate?-- I (once again) postponed many chores (haircut, grocery shopping, housecleaning, etc) to quilt.  Who needs a stocked pantry, clean bedroom or trimmed hair?  But my hair is getting out of control!

Last Saturday, I did a bit of garment sewing and made flannel jammie pants.  My limited experience sewing clothes hasn't been enjoyable, but my friend Amy was a fantastic tutor!  They turned out pretty good!  One modification that I'll be making is to add a drawstring to the waistband.  The elastic isn't quite snug enough.

Yesterday, I worked on a lot of things I wanted to have finished for last Thursday's Mad Mod meeting.  I had grand ambitions to enter 4 blocks for the block lotto and didn't have time to get them done.  Now I'm wondering if I should consider this a new project and make enough for an entire quilt?  I kinda like the pattern and color scheme...  So far, I have 3 blocks complete and the fourth is just waiting for 1 more half square triangle.

One of the charity blocks Mad Mod is working on is a wonky log cabin super hero block.  They are about 14" blocks (huge!). Many people had theirs complete for this week's meeting.  Mine will have to wait for next month.

My 2 blocks:

Here are the guild's charity blocks at last Thursday's meeting:

 

Exciting news--

(well, not that exciting) I have decided on a setting for the leader/ender 4 patches that I've been accumulating for ages.  I've seen this pattern before, but the light bulb clicked when I saw Tanya in Colorado's version.  I'm 99% certain that the backgroud is going to be a royal-ish blue. Very vibrant!  I've been focusing on sewing my 4 patches into 16 patches.  I can't wait to cut some of the blue and see how it will work together!

 

Here's a picture of my entire design wall.  It's looking a little (ok, A LOT) ADD right now.

To wrap up, I'll share a little stash acquisition I did when I was at Stitcher's Crossing for the Mad Mod Meeting and link up with the Fabulous Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash:

 

 

xoxo

An Evening with Nancy!

In Wisconsin, we are fortunate to have many, many talented quilters.  I think its the long, cold winters?  And this winter is killing me!! There was another winter weather advisory this morning: wind chills as low as -30!  Yuck!

Back to the talented people from Wisonsin part...Nancy Zieman of Sewing with Nancy and Nancy's Notions and Quilt Expo has written an autobiography, "Seams Unlikely".  Tonight, she was speaking at the Lodi Library.  Several of us from the Mad Mod Quilt Guild drove the 30 minutes north to see her.  

Her story was amazing!  She felt the need to tell it after stumbling across common google searches on 'Nancy Zieman stroke', 'Nancy Zieman crooked face', etc.  Clearly people wanted to know more about her.  She shared with us many stories of her childhood in rural Wisconsin and introduction to sewing in 4-H.  She then described the beginnings of her business and where things are today.  It is an incredible journey!  

After the talk, she signed books.  I could have talked for ages!

Quilty Weekend

I've had a pretty good quilty weekend!  It started right after work on Friday night.  Gael from Mad Mod is generously letting members use her luxe longarm to quilt charity quilts.  I was a little nervous about using a different machine and of all the negative space on the quilt, so I decided to do a panto.  Good call, because I didn't have to invest much mental energy into the design.  It turned out v. cute (if I do say so myself!).

On Saturday morning I attended a board meeting for the Mad City Quilt Guild.  I'm very thankful to be involved with such wonderful people.  They are respectful, open to new ideas, intelligent and very generous with their time. Until I had a conversation with somebody recently, I took this for granted.  Go, Mad City Quilters!  You rock!

After the meeting, I swung by Stitcher's Crossing.  I requested them to carry Essex Linen in 'Steel' and they called me on Friday to let me know it came in.  Woot!!!  I have no idea what I'm going to use it for, but I can't wait!  I went on a bit of a shopping spree... 2 yds Essex Linen in Steel, 1 yd in Taupe, a bunch of fat quarters and other bolt ends.

My plans were to go home and fire up my machine.  Unfortunately, I was wiped out and couldn't muster much energy.  A napped fixed that!  But then I spent 2 hours trying to understand my new camera-- I'm getting there!  I managed to make the quadrants for the last 2 cartwheel blocks and pull some fabrics for February Block Lotto blocks.

All in all, a great quilty weekend!

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash!