Gumdrops

Caturday

2009-03-14T15:25:00.000-05:00

Putty was on ironing duty this week. He needed to inspect a new black that I picked up. I think he approves.

Knitting progression

2009-03-11T15:32:00.006-05:00

This will be the last post in my flurry of posts. I'm still not caught up with the posts in my head, but I've definitely made progress.

Last Thursday, I took beginning knitting 2 at The Sow's Ear in Verona. The goal of the class is to learn how to use circular needles, double pointed needles and how to increase and decrease. The project we are making is a hat.

Here's a picture of my gauge sample. I felt bad about ripping this apart, so I took a picture of it for posterity. =)

I'm very happy to report that this project is going smoothly. I'm about 2 1/2" into the hat and I haven't had any major issues (yet?).

This weekend will be a very busy one. It's Canoecopia time again and I'll be wrapped up in that all weekend. I did schedule a Caturday to post, because Putty felt he hasn't been getting enough blog attention lately. Bauer will be visiting, so maybe I can get some good pictures of them together.

Star BOM 13

2009-03-11T14:40:00.006-05:00

It's the final countdown. Dant-da-dahhh-donnnn. Dant-da-dant-don-donnnnn.

=) Sorry about the 80's big hair flashback!
Ummmm, I'm not really sorry. -big grin!-

Back to business. This is the last Star in my Star Block of the Month that I've been participating in for a while now. There's still quite a bit left to do on it: sashing, setting blocks, borders, etc. But it feels like an accomplishment to get these 13 blocks done. I'm doing a little happy dance. Of course it's being done that fabulous music!

Here is a picture of all of my blocks together. Right now they are laid out according to the pattern, but I think I'm going to make a few adustments to their final position.

Dant-da-dahhh-donnnn. Dant-da-dant-don-donnnnn. Try getting that out of your head now! It's the Final Countdown...

My work here is done!

Star BOM 12

2009-03-11T14:30:00.003-05:00

Star BOM 12 is now done!

I used the golden batik fabric again in this block and just love, love, love it. At about the halfway point, I decided to use the same orange fabrics in each row. Scrappy, yet somewhat organized. Just like me! ;) Following that plan, I unfortunately only have 2 blocks using this fabric. I guess the bright side is that I still have a bit left and will hopefully be able to use it in another project.

One more Star BOM to go...

Star BOM 11

2009-03-11T14:17:00.003-05:00

I'm all caught up with my Star Blocks of the Month. I think I was a bit like a horse that sees the barn. I knew I had only 3 more blocks to go, so I chugged along and got them done in short order (well, once I started back up with them!).

Here is Block 11. It went together effortlessly. I love it when that happens. =)

The Tortoise and the Hare

2009-03-11T13:43:00.007-05:00

I've been like the Tortoise with my sewing lately, slow and steady. Just a little bit each day. Today, I'm going to be the Hare with blog posts. I've got so much stuff that I've wanted to post and today I'm going to go posting crazy! Weeeeeeeee. Here it goes.

Where to begin, where to begin?

On Saturday, I spent the day at my friend Kathy's house. She is borrowing her mother-in-law's sewing machine and I was there to help her learn how to use it, help her finish her messenger bag and work on some of my projects (especially big things that need space to lay out-- she has a LOT more space than I do.) She made lots of progress on her bag and just needs to put the strap on. Plus, she has a pretty good handle on how the machine works.

I was focused on trimming up some Heartstring blocks and putting them together into a top. The center is done and now it needs some borders.

Star BOM 10

2009-03-02T21:34:00.003-06:00

I had this cut out and on my design wall for aaaaages. Yesterday I bit the bullet and put the pieces together. It only took 30 minutes. I think I was paranoid that I didn't have good color placement, but it's fine. Now I need to get going on the last few. I want to be all caught up before Judy posts the sashing instructions.

Messenger bag = Done!

2009-03-02T20:57:00.006-06:00

Ayy, ay, ay, it's been too long since my last post! I keep composing posts in my head, but haven't gotten them onto the computer! And the longer I go without posting, the harder it is to get back into the swing of things. I have the best intentions-- really, I do.

Let's see... I'll try to pick up where I left off. Maybe I should try for shorter posts with less words? Would that lead to more consistent blogging? Who knows.

I finished my messenger bag! I love it and am using it all the time. It turned out fantastic!

Meanwhile, I packaged Kathy's bag parts up and put them in a shoe box. Everything is neat and tidy and ready to go. The other day, Putty had a vet appointment and I was having trouble finding him. It turns out he was helping out with Kathy's bag. Apparently there wasn't enough cat hair on it. This is where he was:

Crafty Saturday

2009-02-09T20:47:00.005-06:00

This past Saturday, my friend Kathy came over to my house and we were crafty-- or at least we tried to be! Kathy was inspired to make a tote bag by something she had seen at an art show. Our plan was to pick a pattern from one of the many that I had and then "shop my stash" for fabric. The pattern picking went easy. She loved this messenger bag pattern from All People Quilts. The stash fabric shopping wasn't quite as smooth. Not a problem, we had plenty of time, so we ran to the fabric store. Originally, I was just going to assist Kathy with creating her bag and maybe work on some of my other projects, but the allure of all of the fabrics at the store proved too much for me. The last thing I need is another bag! Oh well.

We both found some great home decor fabrics. Mine is mod and geometric:

And hers is posh and sophisticated:

We only got some of the cutting done on Saturday (and a tiny bit of the sewing), but the day was a smashing success, because it forced me to get my sewing room back to a functional state. I took some pictures while cleaning and organizing, but they didn't turn out very well. Plus, I still have a lot of sorting and purging to do to really feel that the room is done. But I'm just happy it's functional. Yesterday I picked up where we left off on Saturday and have my bag about 80% done and I'm thrilled that I can just walk into my room and create again. =)

Heartstrings Workshop

2009-02-06T13:51:00.006-06:00

In September, I volunteered to be the Community Service Project Chairperson for the Mad City Quilt Guild. I might have mentioned this in an earlier post, but I can't find it anywhere. My goal was to do something that the entire guild can participate in. The trick to doing a group project is to find a pattern that is forgiving, because a 1/4" seam isn't always universal.

I chose to use the Heartstrings pattern and spoke with the local Project Linus coordinator. She told me that the Dane County Foster Program requests bed sized quilts from Project Linus every year to give to the kids that turn 18 and are graduating out of the program. This seemed like a perfect match! So, in the fall, I explained the pattern to the guild and asked that people start making blocks. So far, I have received over 330 blocks from the members of our guild!

Last week, I organized two workdays for us to put the blocks together into tops. In those 2 days, we completed 2 twin sized tops,

have one set for borders

and made a bunch more blocks.

I was amazed at how much we accomplished! I've got 2 more workshop dates scheduled for February. I showed the tops off at our guild's meeting this week and sent the tops off with some members to be quilted or have borders added. We are having a lot of fun with this!

Update - Part 2

2009-01-30T08:21:00.006-06:00

While at my parent’s over the holidays, I found that I wanted to sit on the couch and knit more than I wanted to quilt in the basement on the longarm. Lazy vacation mentality? I made quite a bit of progress on my scarf, though! It’s been at a bit of a standstill lately and I would really like to get going on it again.

I joined my mom’s Monday night church sewing group when I was home. Here’s a picture of some of them basting a baby quilt

After arriving home from my time off, it looked like my sewing room was ransacked!

It was ransacked— by me in my wrapping presents/pack up sewing stuff/pre-Christmas frenzy. I still haven’t taken the time to clean it all up and it’s really holding me back right now. I thought this week it would get whipped into shape, but that wasn’t the case. =(

Charcoal has been using my ironing board more than I have. That stack of quilts next to him is what I need to bind. I’m in a bind over the binding! The Australian Open has been on the last 2 weeks and I got a little bit of it done while watching that, but I still have a ton to do.

Overdue Update

2009-01-29T16:30:00.007-06:00

Here is my looooong overdue update. Over the holidays I took an unexpected sabbatical from blogging. I was still getting some quilting done, but was busy with traveling and shopping and Christmas preparation that blogging went by the wayside. Unfortunately, this January my schedule has made it difficult for me to pick up where I left off. Starting in the New Year, I’ve added to my work schedule by doing phlebotomy during the daytime hours. To make matters worse, during my regular x-ray shifts, we’ve been working on a HUGE file room purge. Normally I get to do a lot of internet surfing (blog reading!) at work. I’ve even done some blog posts while at work, but right now, I don’t have a spare minute. I’m super behind on reading all of my favorite blogs, but the end of our file room project is in sight and I’ll be back to my old routine soon. Plus, the longer I’ve put off posting, the bigger the hurdle has become to write this return entry. Here’s a summary of what’s transpired since I’ve last been here.

While home at Christmas, I did a bit of quilting on the longarm. I had big aspirations because I had a lot of time off from work, but I’ve found that I work best under time pressure and without a deadline, my pace slooooows wayyyy downnnn. The first thing I tackled was the wallhanging my Aunt Nancy gave me for my birthday. It turned out ok, but now that it’s done, there are things I would have done differently. Every project seems to be a learning experience! The biggest take home lesson was that I put a complicated feather pattern in four big blocks, but because there was a busy floral pattern on the fabric, you can’t see the feathers at all. =( Oh well, it was good practice.

The other project I worked on was quilting Woodpile, a twin sized top that I’ve had done for a while (1 year?). It’s cool jewel tones and white and I’m keeping it for myself to use in my spare room. I bought a stencil that fit the triangular shape of the light/dark areas, but as I was quilting, I wasn’t thrilled with the way it was looking. After about 2/3 of the way through, I thought of a way that could have improved the results. Drat. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?? I didn’t finish the borders, so I left it at my parent’s house, to finish it later. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I realize that the quilting isn’t dense enough, so I might go back in and do some meandering around the stenciled shape. Maybe. It just needs more than what I’ve done so far.

More catching up later…

Caturday

2008-12-13T18:16:00.004-06:00

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a cat.

Fuzzy Wuzzy's hair's growing back.

Putty is recovering from his shave. After getting over the initial shock of what happened to him, he liks his haircut. He has a lot more zip in his step. The only problem is that he misses the warmth from his coat. For the first time ever, he is snuggling under covers. Poor guy.

I would say he no longer looks like a squirrel with a silky body and a fluffy tail. Instead, he kind looks like a teddy bear with a scruffy, fuzzy coat. Hopefully he'll be back to his full fluffiness soon.

Notice in this picture how he's "helping" me with my cutting. He's right on top of the ruler and the fabric. Thanks a lot, cat!

Star BOM 9

2008-12-11T15:24:00.003-06:00

I'm all caught up on Judy L.'s Star Block of the Month. She'll be giving us another block in 4 days and then we get a break until February. Then there are 3 more blocks and a series of borders. I'm on a roll and don't really want to stop, but I think it is going to be a good thing, because then I can focus on some other projects that have been falling by the wayside and maybe resume this project with gusto in the new year.

I'm having fun with it and really like this stage. I haven't been following the exact color placement for each block and have been using a somewhat scrappy look. So now it's neat to rearrange the blocks into what the final placement will be.

Here are blocks 1 through 9:

Winner!

2008-12-11T15:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the UFO Club at Mill House Quilts in Waunakee. We decided to have a potluck brunch to celebrate the season. Also special about our December meeting is that we drew a name from the completed projects jar to award a winner of a Mill House gift certificate. There was a new person attending, so we nominated her as an unbiased person to select the name. Lo and behold-- I won!! =) Hurrah! The project that I completed that won this was Emilie's baby quilt.

I brought my camera and intended to take pictures, but the morning got away from me. Instead, I will post a picture of what I brought to the potluck. Krumkake! :-P

Knitting progress

2008-12-08T20:47:00.003-06:00

Slooooooowly I have been making progress on my knitting. The problem is that I make mistakes frequently and don't know how to solve them. Then I stop and wait until I can beg a knitter to help me. Did you know there are knitters everywhere! Amazing!

Something has clicked recently, though. I knit at least 10 rows without making a mistake! Hurrah! Here is a picture. It is the beginnings of a scarf. The yarn is Peruvian and is 60% wool, 30% alpaca, 7% acrylic, 3% viscose.

Crafty at work!

2008-12-07T17:02:00.004-06:00

This was my weekend to work, so I didn't get anything crafty done at home. On Friday night the weather was lousy, so there weren't many patients at the clinic. After several hours of quiet, I was getting restless. The fluorescent lights were frying my brain and I needed something to do...lo and behold, there was a tiny tree in the lab (right next door to me in x-ray) that was crying out to be decorated! Somebody had started by sticking some plastic pipettes into the tree and I ran from there.

Michelle was working in lab and she was just as excited as I was to decorate. The first step was to take cotton balls and tuck them deep into the branches. They kind of look like snow. Then we both thought the blue, elastic tourniquets would make a great garland. Next I was off on a scavenger hunt around the clinic for items that would work in the tree. Everything seemed to be clear or white and the tree needed color and a topper.

I gathered a children's face mask and covered the base with it (it's got Disney characters and is colorful). The black plastic ear thingies that they stick in your ear are on a few branches. They weren't staying put very well. I found some big swabs and stuck them in near the top. Michelle decided to color them red (now they kind of look bloody!!-- gross!) I stuck some blood draw tube covers in the branches (reddish in color), made a base of bedpan basins. and put a couple of tongue depressors on top of them. At the bottom of the branches, I spelled 2008 with the stickers we used on x-ray file folders to mark the year.

The best part of it all is the topper...wait for it... a urine sample cup! =) All of the nurses have gotten a big kick out of our holiday spirit. It doesn't take much to amuse us!

Star BOM 8

2008-12-03T15:02:00.003-06:00

I'm progressing along with the Star Blocks of the Month. I spent a lot of time deliberating about the color placement on this block and changed my mind a few times. The pattern calls for the same color that forms the ring in the center to be the inner part of the star points. After cutting the triangles, it didn't look right to me:

So, I decided to use a dark black for the inner star points. I wasn't totally sure about it, but told myself to "just sew it, it looks fine!". I've been telling myself that a lot while working on these blocks, because I can dilly-dally forever while picking colors.

Here is my second color choice for the star points:

Unfortunately after sewing 2 sets of triangles together I decided I didn't like this fabric and didn't want it to be in the final quilt. It's definitely a lesser quality of fabric than what I'm using in the rest of the blocks and I'm worried that as the quilt ages, this one will fade and break down. I bought it at Joann's and feel it was a waste of money. The weave is loose and it took several rinses to remove excess dye. I'm not even sure if I got all the dye out! Grrr. Back to the drawing board. I picked another black and am pleased with the result.

One more block and I will be caught up. Maybe tomorrow? Here are the first 8 blocks, 5 more to go!

MCQG Holiday Party

2008-12-03T10:49:00.007-06:00

Today is a lovely winter snow day, with several inches of snow forecast and I'm so happy it's falling today and not yesterday. Because last night was the Mad City Quilt Guild Holiday Party and I was organizing the event. There were 64 people attending and if today's weather happened yesterday, we probably would have had to cancel. =\

It's a huge relief to have the party completed. Everything went well (except a small projector problem that got sorted out). The food was great (lots of compliments), the speaker was entertaining and my worst nightmare didn't come true-- I was worried that someone's reservation form would "fall through the cracks" and they would show up and I wouldn't have them on the list. But it was all good!

I brought my camera last night, but totally forgot to take pictures! Instead I'll post a picture of the door prizes (I won one!!! --big grin!--) and one of the favors.

One person per table got a poinsettia and each person got a handmade paper star ornament (made by our president).

I'm going to get crafty with my remaining snow day. Perhaps I'll post my progress later this afternoon?

Star BOM #7

2008-12-01T14:25:00.004-06:00

I've fallen a bit behind on Judy L.'s Star Block of the Month, but will hopefully catch up soon. I have the next one cut out, but I'm questioning one color placement, so I'm taking some time to mull it over.

One good thing is that I've worked ahead and cut out the background pieces for the remaining blocks, so that should save me a bit of time with the future blocks.

Caturday!

2008-11-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

I call this picture "Crazy Loomy". =) I was trying to figure out how to take a picture of a black cat without overexposing it. I tried many things: no flash, different speeds and finally figured out that I can set exposure levels on the camera and tell the flash what type of light the picture is.

This is the result of my adjustments. Loomy is looking less crazy and a bit more handsome:

Loomy belongs to my friends Kim and Peter. Thank you Loomy for being a guest on Caturday.

Snow!

2008-11-24T13:27:00.003-06:00

As soon as I posted about Ella and Emilie, I remembered that I wanted to show today's snowfall. I didn't realize that it was forecast to snow last night, so it was a big surprise to see snow on the tree outside my window when I woke up this morning.

The news on the radio said that we got between 1 and 2 inches of snow. Most of it on the pavement melted or turned slushy. The grass and trees clung to it, but it will be gone soon. The weather will hover around 40 degrees for the middle of the week.

I should take this as a warning and find all of my ice scrapers and gloves! I'm always unprepared for winter.

Emilie's quilt is complete!

2008-11-24T10:57:00.003-06:00

I've been calling this "Pink/Brown Baby Quilt" or "Emilie's Pink/Brown Baby Quilt", but those are really boring names. So I'm open to any suggestions on what to officially call this! I finished hand sewing the binding last week, just in time to take it to UFO club at Millhouse and put my name in the jar for finished projects. The drawing for a gift certificate is in December and I've been able to get my name in it quite a few times, so keep your fingers crossed that I win.

On Saturday I visited Kim and Peter and gave Ella and Emilie their quilts. As promised, here are pictures of the girls with their new quilts:

Cutie Pie Emilie

She even wore jammies that matched the quilt (notice the flower on the jammies looks similar to the quilting??!!)

Sweet Pea Ella

If you need proof that her favorite colors are green and pink, take a look at her bedroom walls!

I had all kinds of great pictures on my camera (more of Ella and Emilie, Jack and Owen at the children's museum last week, my knitting progress), but somehow I accidentally erased the entire memory card in my camera. =( I was goofing around with my camera while trying to figure out how to take a picture of a black cat without washing out/overexposing everything. Kim's cat Loomy is mostly black and I was determined to get a picture of him. The good news is that I figured it out. There is a setting for adjusting the exposure and one for choosing the lighting (daylight/fluorescent/tungsten, etc.). Between those and choosing the speed manually, I got some good pictures. Instead of resetting each option, I thought I could do a "reset all" step. Apparently reset all includes resetting your memory card. Grrrr. That was a life lesson. I re-took some pictures of Loomy and he might guest star on a Caturday in the future.

I've finished up/made progress on lots of my projects lately and will try to post about them separately. Unfortunately my Star BOM has fallen behind. I have 2 of those to catch up on and really, really, really hope to get to them this week.

Workshop with Bonnie

2008-11-16T11:02:00.005-06:00

I met Bonnie this week!

The first time was last Thursday at a talk she did for a guild in Delafield. She spoke about the fabric food chain. I thought I had a solid grasp on this, but I still learned a lot. It was great to see all of her quilts up close and personal. Photos and websites don't ever do justice.

While at the talk, I found out that there were openings in the Saturday workshop!! I had tried to register for this a while ago, but it was full. As it happened, they had room for me and my mom. The pattern being taught was Virginia Bound (seen in the background of the top picture) from her latest book, Scraps & Shirttails. I got my copy that day and this is probably my favorite pattern. The long diamonds really shine.

On Friday I shopped for more shirts at a pay by the pound thrift shop. I bought a bunch of shirts 2 years ago and cut up half of them, but never got around to using them. This is the perfect opportunity! My mom and I spent the rest of the day washing them, drying them and then "de-constructing". We had a great variety of darks/colors, but very few tan/white/neutrals. So instead of shirts, I decided to use tan scraps that were lying around. Perhaps I'll thrift store shop some more and find a few shirts to mix in. There are 79 blocks total and we only have 8 done, so there is plenty of time!

Here is our messy work area on Saturday:

And here is our first star (made from 4 blocks):

The pattern name is Virginia Bound, but because the workshop was held at North Prairie, I'm naming mine North Prairie Bound. =)

Flip Flops are done!

2008-11-12T10:00:00.001-06:00

Another finish! Another Hip-Hip-Hurray!

I just finished the binding on the Flip Flops Quilt. (This picture is taken prior to the hand stitching of the binding). This quilt is for my friend Kim's daughter Ella. She's 4 and is a lot of fun. Her favorite colors are green and pink, preferably together! The backing is pink, the binding is green and I quilted it with a variegated green thread.

I'll take a picture of Ella with the quilt when I give it to her. Before that happens, I need to finish the binding on the quilt for her baby sister. Soon!

Funky Boxes - Top done!!

2008-11-11T14:28:00.003-06:00

Hip-hip-HURRAY!

Today I finished the final seams needed to put the top together and then added a simple brown border. The quilt is uber-busy, so I think I can get away with just an inch of brown all around it. The timing is just right, because I am going to my parent's house this weekend and will hopefully be able to quilt it on the longarm. This might be the first baby quilt that I'll have completed prior to the baby being born. What a novelty!

In non-quilty news: I am taking a knitting class. As if I needed another hobby! I'm justifying this because knitting is very mobile and I can do it in situations where I can't quilt. The class is at a lovely yarn shop in Verona, The Sow's Ear.

This is my practice piece. DON'T LOOK TOO CLOSE!

They are having us start with practicing the knit and purl (pearl? perl?) stitches without a purpose of making anything with it. After we do that for a while (a week), we get to make a scarf. I've already purchased the yarn for it--it's gorgeous! (Mossy green, part alpaca, part wool--picture to follow).

I wish I could just wiggle my nose and have this whole thing figured out, because I have a lot of practing to do in order to be happy with the results.

Caturday

2008-11-08T14:16:00.006-06:00

Before:

It's been a rough week for Putty. In the spring, he started some medication for an overactive thyroid. The good news is that it's worked very well. Unfortunately one side effect of the medication is that he hasn't felt the need to groom himself very much. He has a lot of fluffy fur and it's been getting matted.

This week, I was attempting to trim some of the mats (they appear out of nowhere!) and accidentally cut him. The vet recommended stitches and because Putty wasn't being cooperative, he needed to be sedated. While sedated, they ended up shaving him! He is better off this way, but he wasn't a happy camper when I picked him up from the vet!

After:

Another busy week!

2008-11-05T10:48:00.005-06:00

Sew much going on! I've been like the tortoise this week-- Slow and steady. Nothing is 100% complete and I've added a few new things to my list of projects.

I'll start by showing off some shopping. I went to Hancock's last Friday and was able to use a Joann's coupon to get this sewing machine tote bag for 40% off. I've had my eye on the bag before, but wasn't sure if the dimensions were quite right for my machine. I still didn't know my machine base size, but figured if it wasn't right, I could return it. Good news-- it works! It's not a perfect match, but for $17 it is quite nice.

While there, they had Halloween fabric 75% off. I thought these skeletons were fabulous and would make a great scrub top that I could get away with year round. I'm an x-ray tech, so it doesn't get any better than this! Now if only my garment sewing skills could improve...

On the quilty front:

I finished piecing the In the Beginning wallhanging (mitered borders and all). Now it's in the queue to be quilted.

Funky Boxes are almost all together (I'll save a pic for when it's done). Bindings are on the quilts for Baby Emily and Big Sis Ella (again saving pics for later). Hopefully I can get the hand sewing done on the bindings in the next 2 weeks and register them as complete when I go to UFO club at Millhouse.

Last, but not least, Amy, Shelly and I got together Monday to sew and make some fun bags. Here are our results:

(left to right: Shelly, me, Amy)

Caturday

2008-11-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

Charcoal is feeling left out, because Putty got two Caturdays in a row. Is it my fault that Putty is more photogenic and a better helper in the sewing room? Honestly, I have such a hard time taking pictures of Charcoal. 1- He's not cooperative. 2- The camera doesn't like his dark, dark fur and always wants to overexpose with the flash.

Charcoal is my 1/2 cat. I always say that I have 1 1/2 cats, because he belongs to my neighbor who works out of town during the week. In order to make things easier, I suggested that Charcoal just stay at my house. Charcoal was once an outdoor stray and is still extremely skittish. When I would try to give him attention at his house, he would run away and hide. Now that he stays at my house, he is much more outgoing. He's still a little crazy, because I can pet him one minute and the next he runs away from me like I'm an axe murderer. Another reason that Charcoal is here, is because Putty likes him. Putty gets bored with me (a hooman) and likes to play in cat ways with Charcoal.

As long as I'm linking to LOLcats, I swear that this is Putty on the right and Charcoal in the middle.

Happy Caturday!

Life Lesson

2008-10-28T11:28:00.004-05:00

Irons are Hot!

Ask me how I know? I touched the metal cylinder part of this one with several fingers today.

Grrrrr. I've owned this iron for quite a while, but rarely have I used it. Normally, I want a lot of steam and don't need precision, so I just use my regular iron. Today, I started putting the blocks together of Funky Box Baby Quilt and realized that this is the perfect opportunity to use the little pen shaped iron. Here are the seams that I was trying to press open.

It's been 30 minutes since the "incident" and my hand is doing better. The ice was hurting just as much as the burn. I think I'm going to have a blister on the pad of my middle finger and the inside part of my thumb. ='( I think I'll make it.

On a brighter note: The funky boxes are looking cool and it's not taking very long to put them together. Right before the "incident", I remarked to myself, "Huh, it's only been about 45 minutes and I've gotten this much done?!?!!!". I have more done than this photo, but this section was feeling the most photogenic.

In other Wisconsin news, we had some prett strong flurries yesterday. I tried to capture them in a picture. The spots you see here are the flakes, not your eyes playing tricks on you.

My Christmas Cactus seems to be ready for winter, because it's already blooming!

One last quilty note: Instead of working on all the other projects I have going on right now, I decided to start the wallhanging Nancy gave me. It's pretty simple, but I still managed to make some boo-boos. Despite those (which will remain un-named) it's going together well. All I have left to do is one seam (top 1/3 to bottom 2/3) and the borders. It calls for mitered borders and I don't like those, so I'm dragging my feet a little bit.

Caturday!

2008-10-25T10:00:00.001-05:00

Putty has been very instrumental with the end of the funxy box blocks. Right here he is studying my design wall to make sure that the blocks are laid out in a good arrangement. His opinion? Purr-fect, of course! (sorry, I couldn't resist)

Squishy!

2008-10-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful surpise in the mail this week-- A Squishy from my Aunt Nancy in Seattle.

Rumor has it that it's my birthday this week (but I'm trying not to notice that I'm another year older). Anyway, Nancy is of the quilty persuasion. While visiting Seattle many moons ago, she took me to In The Beginning. I was brand new to quilting and had only shopped at Joann's. This place was totally overwhelming to me. Quilts were hanging everywhere, bolts and bolts of quilting fabric (no apparel fabric to confuse me), bins of fat quarters and a roomful of women taking a class with only Featherweights. Yeah-- I didn't know what fat quarters were., I had never seen a featherweight before and I had never been to a quilt show, so this was the biggest collection of quilts I had seen in one place.

Boy how things have changed! I swear by my featherweight, I have my share of fat quarters and I've visited lots of quilt shows and seen so many amazing quilts. What will the next 10 years bring?

Here is the contents of my squishy:

THANK YOU, NANCY!!

100% !!!

2008-10-23T12:57:00.003-05:00

All 157 of the blocks for "Funky Boxes" are done! Hurray! Yippee! Woot!

That's the good news--there is bad news. Somehow there is a problem with the C blocks. Yesterday I sewed the 2 largest blocks (F blocks) and was all set to trim them today, when I thought it would be a good idea to check what size they should be trimmed to. Why-oh-why didn't I do that for the C blocks? Hindsight.

I had some problems when I originally scanned the foundation templates from the book. The scan was enlarging the picture some crazy, non-logical amount and I did some calculations to re-size the scan and then print enough blocks out on the foundation papers. Well, the printouts weren't super precise and on occasion I had to trim the block a little (1/8th of an inch) different than the pattern. On the C blocks, I rounded down 1/8th inch on all sides and I really should have rounded up! So now they are off by 1/4 inch! Grrrrrr. There are 18 C blocks in all. The solution that I'm considering is to remove 2 of the outer edges and re-sew new strips and trim them to the correct size. Unfortunately, the seam ripping is going to be a bear, because I used teeny-tiny stitches to perforate the paper (that makes paper removal easier).

This isn't any fun, so I'm just going to focus on the good news right now. ALL BLOCKS ARE DONE!

Here is a picture of all the blocks stacked up next to my iron:

Star BOM #6

2008-10-20T23:16:00.003-05:00

Well, block 6 is done, but it was a bit of a struggle. I don't know what was going on today, but nothing was working out. My rotary cutter was well past due for a new blade and I swapped it out this morning. The new blade cut like a breeze, but I kept making mistakes with cutting for the BOM. Wrong size, swerved away from the ruler, not square/trim again/still not square/trim again...what's going on??!!?? With all the problems I had cutting my pieces, I was ready to put to old one back in!

It took ages, but I finally I had everything cut out. The sewing went fine and the block turned out ok-- not my best work, but ok. Maybe I'll join the group that is going to remake this block? Actually, I don't think I want to revisit that cutting twilight zone again. To quote the UFO Club, "Done is good."

So Sew Busy!

2008-10-19T22:24:00.011-05:00

I've had a million gazillion things going on this week that I didn't manage to find time to post as they were happening, so I'll do a re-cap of the last week (or so).

Last Tuesday was my monthly guild meeting. I'm chairing the community service project this year and I made a presentation about it. I'll post all about it another time.

Last Thursday I took pictures of the quilts that hung in the Mad City Quilt Guild's booth at Quilt Expo last month. The pictures are posted on our website. It was an all day affair, between photographing, cropping/resizing and then uploading them.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: work, work, work.

Monday- recuperate and continue with the blocks for Funky Boxes. I'm almost done with the blocks!!! Hurrah! I have all but 8 done and tonight I ripped all the paper off, so I can get to piecing the blocks together soon.

Tuesday I helped a little with Project Linus' Make a Blanket Day. The focus for the day was to make fleece throws and NICU flannel blankets. The group managed to make nearly 100 blankets that day! Amazing!

Wednesday was the monthly meeting of the UFO Club at Millhouse Quilts in Waunakee. I didn't have anything to register (nothing completed, nothing new), but took some of the funky boxes along and started tearing the paper off of them. Afterwards, I did a little shopping. For the first time ever, their sale room was open while I was there. It had lots of tempting things. My favorite was a shelf full of 'scrap packages'. When a bolt is done and there isn't a usable amount to sell as yardage, they save the scraps and sell them discounted. The top part of the picture is the package and the second is what was inside. Lots of great stuff! And I was able to use some of the bits in my funky boxes. The last picture is some cool fabric that I got at 30% off. It's very yummy.

Thursday: My day to volunteer at the children's hospital. It was a pretty quiet session. That's good for the kids because they aren't in the hospital, but not as much fun for the volunteers.

Non-quilty: Thursday was my final tennis match for the fall season and I'm very happy to report that I ended the season with a win!!! Just like George Costanza says, "End on a high note."

Friday/Saturday: I headed to my parent's house to use my mom's longarm and get some tops quilted. My time was limited. I managed to quilt two small baby/kid sized quilts. First up was my flip-flops quilt that I'm giving to my friend's daughter Ella. She just turned 4 a few months ago. I kept the quilting simple -- loop-de-loo's and the top finished quick.

Next up was the pink and brown baby quilt that I made for Ella's new sister, Emilie. I wanted to quick and simple quilting on this one, too, but it didn't go nearly as smooth as the flip-flops. =/

Normally, I practice and refine my design on muslin before I start the real deal. Because I thought this was a simple pattern, I went straight for the actual quilting. Yeah, I should have taken the time to load the muslin!! After 4 blocks, I realized that I hated my thread choice (dark brown) and design. It took forever to rip that area out. Even after I switched thread, I still wasn't totally happy with my second choice. I ended up using a pink variegated thread, but would rather have used a plain light pink. Overall, the quilt looks nice, but it made me realize how rusty my longarm skills got over the summer. I'll post final pictures of the quilts once I get the binding done.

Last, but not least, today was Jessica's baby shower! My friends Kimberly and Jean hosted and the theme was retro/50's era. Guests were encouraged to wear pearls and twinsets. I had fun with it and wore a scarf over my hair and under my chin when I arrived. I had an old apron for when I was in the kitchen and brought cucumber sandwiches and a dish of mixed nuts. If only I had some cat-eye glasses!! Drat. Of course for a present I'm giving her a baby quilt. For today, I gave her a shoe box full of the Funky Box blocks.

(L-R) Jean, Kimberly displaying a jello mold, Jessica and me

80 Percent!

2008-10-08T10:08:00.004-05:00

I've had my needle to the grindstone trying to make progress on the Funky Boxes. The official count is 82% of the blocks are done. According to the pattern, there are 157 blocks total. I'm starting to doubt the accuracy of the pattern, because I think it calls for more of the individual blocks than what I see that are left to do. But trying to count the blocks on the wall is dizzying! Thank goodness I've been keeping a running tally.

Block A measures 2": I have 60 done and need 8 more.
Block B measures 3.5": I have 48 done and need 10 more.
Block C measures 5": I have 14 done and need 4 more.
Block D measures 6.5": I have 6 done and need 3 more.
Block E measures 8": I have 2 done and need NO more!
Block F measures ?": I have 0 done and need 2 more.

Jessica's shower is on October 19th and it would be fantastic if I had the top put together, but right now, I'd be ok with a shoebox full of all the blocks. =)

Star BOM #5

2008-10-05T15:45:00.002-05:00

I finished my fifth Star Block of the Month today. It's a perfect day for sewing: rainy and cold! Overall, the block turned out great. I would have liked a different inner background color, but everything I auditioned didn't look right and I figured that it wouldn't hurt to use this fabric here, because it was in Block #1. It'll probably be fine when the entire quilt is done and I'm just being a little to picky right now.

Here is a picture of the corner trimmer that I've been using on this project. It has been a fantastic help lining the pieces up. Also in the picture is a little cutter tool that I got a few weeks ago at a fabric estate sale. It was brand new/in package and was only a quarter! It cuts the little snips off the corners a lot easier than the rotary cutter and I'm thrilled to have it in my toolbox.

Caturday!

2008-10-04T08:21:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of LOLcats, I'm posting a cat on Saturday = Caturday!

Here is my cat, Putty, helping out with the Funky Boxes. He's very paws on with sewing.

Enjoy!

Super-Duper, Awesome News!

2008-09-30T10:53:00.004-05:00

I won a giveaway on Bumble Beans blog today! Woo-hoo! What a fantastic way for me to start the morning.

Bumble Beans is written by V, who lives in Manhattan, but is originally from Minnesota-- not too far from me. Be sure to check out her blog, because she has all kinds of great stuff on it. She's awesome-- from quilting to tae kwon do to cooking to costume/garment sewing to raising a very cute daughter, she does it all. I wish I could wiggle my nose and spend the afternoon shopping for fabrics with her in the garment district. That would be phenomenal!

My treat includes super-cool, funky fabric that might make it's way into the Funky Boxes that I'm working on right now, adorable buttons, homemade soap (LOVE!), a book about The Tenney Quilt (coincidence that I live 1 block from Tenney Park?) and lots more fun things!

Thank you, V. You rock! =)

40%

2008-09-29T10:02:00.005-05:00

I've been chugging along on the Funky Boxes. One day last week, I completed 20 boxes (my record!). Right now I have 66 of the 157 blocks complete and I'm trying to keep the momentum going. Unfortunately work got in the way this weekend. Today I have another 20 lined up and ready to sew.

Here is the pile of blocks and trimmings from last week:

And here are today's little soldiers all lined up, waiting to be sewn:

New Addiction!

2008-09-21T07:55:00.003-05:00

This week I started on a baby quilt for my friend Jessica. They are having their first child (a girl) in December. I had bought a half yard of fun big polka dots on a brown background last spring at the Sun Prairie quilt show. When I started to brainstorm about what to make for Jessica, I thought this fabric matched her sense of style. It's bold and funky and a little bit mod/retro. When I asked her what colors or themes she was going to use in the baby's room, she said "no real theme" and mentioned some colors. I knew this fabric was right in line with what she was talking about and showed it to her. She agreed and the next step was a pattern.

Earlier I posted about the book Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fassett and how I was "gathering" fabrics at the Quilt Expo. Here is the book and my collection of fabrics that I'm going to use:

I started this week on the blocks and have found it EXTREMELY difficult to stop. They are super addictive. I've found myself saying, "I'll stop after this one. Just one more. One more piece." and on and on.

So far, I'm 25% done with the blocks and am have tons of fun doing them.

Star BOM #4

2008-09-17T01:07:00.008-05:00

This block went together nicely. The hardest part was which fabric to use in the checkerboard. I wanted to use the gold fabric and the ovally print, but the gold doesn't have enough contrast with the background for my taste.

And here are my first 4 Star Blocks. =)

Quilt Expo - Day 3: The End!

2008-09-14T22:11:00.006-05:00

Day 3 at the Quilt Expo! It was just as fun as the prior days. I picked up some fabric: more bright, funky stuff for Jessica's baby quilt, a fantastic soft black for my Star BOM and a lovely brown that I want an entire bolt of --it's that nice!

I met my mom and some of her friends there. My mom attended a lecture on how you can gadgets from the hardware store and other places to use as notions in your sewing room.

After lunch, I decided that I had spent enough time and $$ in the shopping area, so I could attend a lecture. I picked, "My Dear Jane Journey" by Sharlene Snellman. It was lovely.

But before my talk started, I had a little bit of extra time, so I participated in the sit and sew and donate. UW Health was promoting heart health at the expo and they (along with Nancy's Notions) sponsored a project where you can sew a block that will go into a quilt that will be auctioned off. The proceeds will go to The American Heart Association.

OK, back to the lecture-- The speaker brought her Dear Jane quilt (done in civil war repro fabrics) and wore a period dress. She talked about how she got started making this quilt (something she never thought she would do!) and everything she has learned along the way. She's been to a special retreat in Vermont where Jane Stickle lived and even had lunch in her house. The talk inspired me to start on this project sometime soon (January?).

All in all, this year's expo was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to next year. =)

Quilt Expo - Day 2: My Spoils

2008-09-11T19:09:00.008-05:00

Here is a pic of what I got today at the Quilt Expo. Several fat quarters. Some are for the funky baby quilt I'm making for my friend Jessica (lower right corner). Some are lime green Christmas fabric. I've got a few other FQ's in those colors and love them, but I don't have a plan for them-- yet! Inspiration will strike someday, but I know that I like that style today. =) Also in my shopping bag were a small William Morris notebook, a 12" add-a-quarter ruler, a yd of lime green dragonfly fabric, 1/2 yd of soft black for my BOM and this really big carabiner. It's designed to hold shopping bags or clip your purse to things. It has a spongy grip and worked great today. One use for it is to carry plastic shopping bags comfortably, but it can be used with anything (water bottle, purse, canvas bags, etc.)

This is a shot of the action as seen from my post at the Main Stage. I volunteered as an assistant there from 11.30 to 3. It was fun. Lots of things kept me on my toes (sound system troubles, a presenter was running late, figuring out the camera/projecter), so the time went relatively quickly. It was a good spot to be at, because I saw several people that I knew.

I'll be back on Saturday. The pace is nice this year. I can relax and take everything in slowly. In past years, it was much more frantic, trying to fit everything in one day.

Quilt Expo - Day 1

2008-09-10T19:59:00.003-05:00

Today I volunteered to help set up at Quilt Expo. It was totally fun! Work started at 7 am (I managed to get there close to 7-- very early for me!). There were about 15-20 volunteers and our job was to hang the quilts that were entered in the contest. This was a fantastic job, because we got to handle and admire the quilts up close. Normally I get de-sensitized to quilts hanging in quilt shows. Everything is amazing and after a while, I fall into sensory overload. But while hanging, we were distracted by the job at hand and it slowed me down enough to be able to appreciate all the wonderful quilts.

Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car. I wasn't sure if I would be doing a job that it would get in the way and I figured that I could always run out to get it. But then when you are in the middle of something, the parking lot seems too far away. Tomorrow I'll definitely take pictures. I'm volunteering at the "Main Stage" from 11-2.30 and it should be a great time.

Star BOM #3

2008-09-05T12:59:00.004-05:00

I finished my third Star Block of the Month. It turned out nice, but I ended up re-working the center. Originally, I choose black for the background of the pinwheel. After constructing it, I felt the dark tone was too much, especially compared to the first 2 blocks. So I swapped the black out for smoky grey. Another good thing about re-doing it was I somehow had my pinwheel spinning backwards on the first attempt. Oops! Now my pinwheel is conforming to the pattern.

Glorious Patchwork

2008-09-03T21:15:00.003-05:00

My order from Amazon.com arrived today (one day early!) that included Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fassett. I was eagerly anticipating this book and came across it by accident. While in a bathroom at a local quilt shop, I snapped a photo of a quilt on a poster. It was a whimsical pattern that might work for a baby quilt that I'm planning for a friend. In the photo, there was enough text that I could google and figure out the pattern name and designer. This book was originally published in 1997, and Amazon was selling the hardcover edition at a clearance price of $13! Hurrah!

I have gathered some fun, bright, funky fabrics to use for this quilt, but I'm planning on doing more gathering at the Wisconsin Quilt Expo next week. Last night I signed up to be a volunteer. I'll be helping set up on Wednesday and work as a stage assistant on Thursday. I also plan on attending Saturday with my mom, her friends and a friend from work. It should be fun!

Disappearing Nine-Patch

2008-08-30T10:30:00.006-05:00

I'm back in the swing of things sewing-wise. After goofing around with the string blocks, crumbs and paper-pieced little girls, I settled down to the most important project at hand. A baby quilt for a my friend's baby that's close to 4 months old. I started this in January, with plenty of time to finish it prior to her due date. I even picked a simple pattern that I could "whip together quickly" (Disappearing Nine-Patch). Well, other projects took precedence and then summer got underway and the poor quilt has been neglected.

This week I finished enough blocks to make it 50 x 60 inches. I'm not sure if I'm going to put a border on it. I'll definitely add sashing to the 2 edges (top and right in this picture), so it looks balanced. I like the simplicity of the pattern without borders and it's definitely big enough, but I worry that it will be too stretchy with all of those seams on the sides. Maybe I'll do a narrow (1"-2") light pink? just to stabilize it.

Addiction!

2008-08-27T14:40:00.003-05:00

Last night I found out how addicting crumb piecing can be. I kept saying I would stop "after the next one". Hours later I finally stopped. This picture shows 12 blocks, but today I did 3 more. They are very, very fun. I had wanted to try these for a while, ever since I read about them on Bonnie's Quiltville site. She has instructions on how to do them there.

In addition to the crumb piecing, I made 2 more little girls.

Sewing Trend...

2008-08-26T14:55:00.009-05:00

My summer sewing sabbatical has officially come to an end this past week. I started off by cleaning up my sewing room. It had turned into the pit of dispair over the summer. It's not perfect right now, but at least it's functional again.

With the room clean, I used Judy's Star Block of the Month to motivate me to get stitching. After picking my color scheme/fabrics and sewing the first 2 blocks, I was ready to start some other new things and hopefully get going on some other things that need finishing.

Last Wednesday was the monthly meeting of the UFO Club at Millhouse Quilts in Waunakee. I registered my new stars as a UFO. Unfortunately I wasn't able to check anything off as completed, even though I have 2 projects done, they are out of town. They are changing the rules and adding another gift card drawing. Before, they would draw a name from the jar of completed projects in June, but now it will be December and June. I need to get those 2 projects here! This is a photo of some of the members:

The highlight of the morning was the homemade raspberry almond bars. Yummy!

Thursday I was at the American Family Children's Hospital to volunteer. A small group of us from Mad City Quilters sew with the children twice a month. This week was a little frantic. I was late and 2 women weren't able to come and a 4th had to leave early. The activity coordinators made it easy on us and only brought a few kids to the room. In this picture, Beth, Debbie and I wore red, white and blue on the Fourth of July and WE DIDN'T PLAN IT!

Early this week, I should have been working on the pink/brown baby quilt for Baby Emilie (who is 3+ months old), but instead, I diddled with my scraps and made these things:

The first picture is 4 Heartstring blocks. The second two pictures are from a pattern I picked up last spring at the big Chicago quilt expo.

Star BOM #2

2008-08-20T00:19:00.001-05:00

Block #2 was a little trickier than #1. I chalk that up to the mitering. I toyed with putting the middle section on with the regular border method, but this is a good opportunity for me to push myself to do things I normally wouldn't. My mitering turned out ok, but there is room for improvement.

Other than that, the rest of it was easy. I'm using a new tool that I received from Quiltmaker Magazine. It's a Marti Michell triangle corner thingy and I think it made all the difference in the world. I used it on block #1, but I didn't get the hang of it until I was halfway through it. It's definitely something I will keep using.

I love, love, love the swirly orange that I used for the large star points. I've owned it for a few years and never felt like I had something that was worth cutting into.

Tomorrow I hope to shop for a few more smoky blacks. Those are hard to find and I know that I don't have enough yardage from my stash.

Star BOM #1

2008-08-19T23:47:00.002-05:00

The first block of the series went together quite well. Easy would be too understated, but it wasn't too difficult. After one or two cuts, I'm able to cut 1/16ths with confidence. The hardest part for me is committing to the placement of the colors. I deliberate forever!

Star Block of the Month

2008-08-19T22:52:00.002-05:00

Fashionably late, I'm joining a block of the month hosted by Judy at Patchwork Times.

The instructions for first block were posted on August 1st and a new block will be added every two weeks. One reason I got a late start, was picking my colors/fabrics. It was tough and I'm still not 100% set. The instructions call for 8 fabrics. Most everybody has posted nice layouts of their fabrics, with everything neatly folded and numbered. My approach is a little different:

More of a jumble! I knew that I wanted the multi-colored oval fabric to be featured and was drawing coordinating colored fabrics to go with it. Because I had a hard time picking 'just one' orange I'm going to do this semi-scrappy. I'll be using different medium oranges, blacks and golds throughout the blocks.

When all the blocks are done, I'll decide which colors are asking to be the featured color and will be used in the ribbon border and sashing.

Everything I picked is from my stash and I'm pushing myself with this, because I'm going to be using some fabrics that I've considered too nice to cut!

Mess-o-borders

2008-01-05T17:02:00.000-06:00

Prior to Christmas, I put my nose to the grindstone on the scrappy blue/green/purple checkerboard borders for the Woodpile quilt. The volume of squares seemed overwhelming, but I kept chipping away at them. I don't know if I have enough yet. My next step is to lay the quilt top out on the floor and arrange what I have around it so I can keep like fabrics apart. Progress came to a standstill around Christmas. As it turns out, I think it was good to take a break from it and get some perspective. When I took a look at it this week, I felt re-energized. Now all I need is some free time in my schedule to get back to work on it. Here is the last picture taken of my border mess. It's further along right now, but my camera isn't cooperating, so I can't give you a current picture.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T23:42:00.000-06:00

Ho, ho, ho! Santa brought me a stitch regulator for my mom's longarm machine. Funny how that works, huh?

It's quite nice. I got to use it today on Mr. Bunny, a small wallhanging that I had ready to quilt. My stitches wouldn't have been nearly as nice without the new gadget.

Here is a close up of the clouds:

Mr. Bunny Goes to Town is the full name of the piece and it is my first real attempt at hand applique. Now that the quilting is done, he just needs some buttons for his wheels, one for his eye, a binding and he's done!

Mr. Bunny went so fast, that I thought I would start another project, plus I wanted to use the stitch regulator more, so I loaded a baby quilt that has been around forever. Not just any baby quilt, but the second top that I have ever made! I've been procrastinating finishing it and it's day has come. I call it Birdy Nine Patch. Not too original. I'm having issues with thread choice and stencil application, but I don't want to dwell on those right now. Suffice to say that a yellow varigated thread is tooooo subtle (read: nearly invisible). I'm now using red!

Do you like my feets in that picture? Now guess which block has the yellow thread.

Tomorrow I hope to finish Birdy Nine Patch and move on to quilting the tote bag that I started last week (more details of the bag in a future post?)

I hope Santa has been good to you and that you have a Merry Christmas!

Shamtastic!

2007-12-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

There was one more project that I worked on last week-- Shams for my "Pinwheel Quilt". I've been dragging my feet with these little sham tops for a few months now. I started them once and thought they were done, but they weren't the ideal dimensions. All that matters is they are done now! Hurrah! One less project on my unfinished list!

This quilt is going to my friend, Kathy, who has a bedroom that's painted Granny Smith Apple green. The room is bright and sunny and will be a perfect home the pinwheels. Hopefully I will be able to quilt it this winter. We (Kathy and I) have been browsing wide backing fabrics and haven't found anything that seems to work. The backing fabrics are usually conservative and traditional looking and the pinwheels needs something whimsical.

I'm in the blogosphere!

2007-12-09T15:21:00.000-06:00

After lurking around the Quilt Mavericks blog ring for over a year, I've decided to join in the fun! Plus, I thought this would be good way to journal my progress on all of my quilts. Now that winter is officially in full force, I've been doing a lot of sewing. Just this week I've worked on:

Woodpile

This is a quilt that's been in the works for years. It's a group exchange that I participated in while taking a class through MATC. The exchanged strips had been sitting around for about 7 years before I had the inspiration to put them together into a twin sized quilt for the rollaway bed in my sewing room. Once I had that idea, I determined that I needed twice as many blocks as what I had. No problem! I whipped them up, laid them out and put them all together. Then it would be on to borders and the top was done. I started with a vision for the borders (scrappy 4 patches all in a row). After losing steam, I set this project down. Last week, I decided to open up the rollaway and check the size. Good thing! I need 2 more rows! What was I thinking before? So this week I added the requisite 2 rows and am back where I was before. Needing borders.

After fiddling around some, I am leaning toward making a scrappy checkerboard 4 wide (separated from the center by a 2" white strip). I like the checkerboard on it's own. I don't know if I like it with the woodpile. And I don't know if I like how much work it's going to be. =(

Leaders/Enders

Meanwhile, during all the woodpile extra 2 rows of block making, I turned my leader/enders into a center for a baby quilt. I have a baby in mind, but haven't 100% decided who the recipient is yet.

This picture isn't the most recent one. I have added white squares in between the nine patches. Again--I'm stuck at the border stage. I have a few ideas. One option is to do a piano key type rainbow. I have a bunch of strips already sewn together that I could use.

They don't look that wobbly in real life. It's gotta be the picture! =O

Benjamin Smiles Pillowcases

On Tuesday, I was able to finish a project that I started earlier this year (mid-summer?) with my friend, Amy. We have been working on making pillowcases for the Benjamin Smiles charity.

They are for travel size pillows and benefit the kids at the Ronald McDonald House. It was a lot of fun working together, picking out the fabrics and they were easy-peasy to sew. We have about 20 cases done, but only 12 pillows. They don't seem to stock these pillows in the store during this time of year. So, we'll drop the first 12 off soon and when I run across the pillows again, I'll get more and then we can deliver another shipment. I'm looking forward to taking them in and seeing the Ronald McDonald House.

Pincushions

Mixed in with all of my other sewing, I've been making pincushions. The pattern is from May Britt and I found it through Lucy's blog.

This is first one I made:

Not bad! I thought this was fun and might make a great kid's pillow, so I blew the pattern up and made a BIG one (sorry, I don't have a picture of that one right now--maybe later). Then I made one for my mom (no picture right now). I had been on a quest to find a loose wool batting to stuff it with and had no success. Instead, I experimented with cutting up the scraps from the wool batt I used for my Bear Paw Throw.

It work marvelously! The addiction is in full force now! The directions call for this to be pieced by hand, but so far, I was making them on the machine. For some reason, I felt motivated to try one out by hand. After some wonderful guidance from Dianne and the other ladies in the UFO club of Millhouse Quilts , I learned English paper piecing. This is an "in-progress" pic of it:

Right now, it's completely pieced and turned inside out. My handiwork won't be winning a blue ribbon at the fair, but I'm ready to do more English paper piecing. Maybe even start a Flower Garden Quilt??!!??

On Thursday I was going to sew with patients at the American Family Children's Hospital, but

because I was barely able to talk, I missed out. I felt well enough to go to lunch with the three other ladies that also volunteer. It was Debbie's birthday and wanted to give her a small present. Hmmmm. What could it be? A pincushion, of course! This one is my best, yet! Unfortunately, prior to this one I made a goof on one. Instead of matching the points of the top up with the points of the middle, I tucked the top points into the "innies" of the middle. It's still cute, just not star shaped. =O I'll take a pic of it soon.

Whew! I think that about wraps up my week. I got a lot done!