Jane Stickle Block Completions for December 2012

 

It’s time for my post showing the completed Jane Stickle blocks for December 2012.  I made 13 blocks, but one of them was a re-do of an earlier block that just didn’t look right.  I now have 115 center blocks of 169 completed.  I did not have time to work on any triangle blocks, and I am very much behind where I want to be.  However, I was able to work on it more than I expected in December, so overall I'm pleased. 

Colorwash I is Bound, Labeled, Done!

I wanted to be able to count this as a completion in 2012, and was happy to finish it yesterday.  I’ve added a hanging sleeve.  It will hang for a while in the area usually reserved for my seasonal quilts, until I can set up a hanger in my sewing room.  It's a good reminder of the colorwheel. 

 

Most of the information regarding this project has been covered in previous posts, but in summary:  This quilt is almost entirely comprised of fabrics that Wanda Hanson sold as kits last summer, all taken from her stash.  I substituted a few pieces as I was putting it together.  It measures about 29" square and has 196 different fabrics.  Both Wanda and Debbie helped me along with the process via comments and e-mails.  I quilted it by stitching in the ditch with lots of thread color changes.

I’ve named it Colorwash I... not a very original name, but it is optimistic as it assumes there will be a “II”  sometime down the road.

 

'Tis the Season

….to celebrate life’s benchmarks and families and friends, but not a whole lot of sewing is going on here.

We spent last weekend in San Antonio on the Riverwalk celebrating our 35^th anniversary.  Our room looked down on the street activity and when we were not out and about, we had fun watching the people.  The weather was very mild and it was a near perfect trip.  Here is a picture of the dessert the waiter brought me after overhearing our table chatter about our celebration.  It's called a mud ball and is made from a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream that is then rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs and covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  When I was in college these were occasionally served at our dormitory and were called  chocolate crumbly balls.  They are wonderful whatever you call them.

 

Now that we’re back, we have been seriously trying to get on track for the arrival of family later today.  So, very little has been (or will be) accomplished on the quilting front.  All I have to show since my last post are these Jane Stickle blocks that I appliqued.  The accent fabric in all but one of these blocks were fabric cuts that were generously gifted to me by other quilters including Wanda Hanson at Exuberant Color.  Three more blocks are in ready for hand applique and the colorwash quilt is ready for its binding and label.

 

Time to Check In Again

I needed a break from seasonal activities today and spent some time at my sewing machine.  I decided to limit quilting on my colorwash quilt to stitching in the ditch, a task I find both monotonous and relaxing.  It’s about two-thirds done and I hope to get it to the point of hand stitching the binding before company arrives next week.

 

The last front finally brought us cold temperatures, but the rain chance fizzled out before reaching us.  We have another chance this weekend. 

 

 

Weather Changes Coming

We are supposed to have a cold snap tomorrow night so I wanted to document that as of December 7, 2012, we still had roses blooming and green lawns.  A bee was hidden inside this bloom and did not seem particularly amused by my attention.  I’ve also been seeing lots of butterflies but couldn’t get to my camera fast enough.  We have a small, 30% chance, for rain when this front blows in, which we very badly need. 

Very Prolonged Birthday Celebration

November was my birthday month, and the last of my quilty birthday self-indulgences arrived in the mail today.  To summarize how I celebrated:

 

 

A new straight stitch throat plate for my 16 year old Pfaff.  When I purchased this machine, I was more interested in clothing construction than quilting, so the throat plate with the large opening that came with the machine was fine.  I was delighted to find that I could still find new throat plates of a machine that has been out of production as long as this one has.  I can already see an improvement in my piecing.

 

Stash enhancements.  One of my favorite quilt stores, about a 40 mile distance from here – has an annual fat quarter sale.  I sweet-talked Bob into making a day trip to the "Big City" and was able to score some hits in the batik section…more fodder for my Jane Stickle quilt.  I also lucked into an online sale and was able to get some half and quarter yard cuts there for a very good price.

 

New (to me) quilt books.  Finally, I made two quilt book purchases that had been on my Amazon wish list for months.  I figure if a book stays on my wish list six months or more, I must really want it.  I purchased these from used book vendors.  Not only did I get a more affordable price, I felt like I was helping out a couple of small business proprietors.  When we were preparing for our move back to Texas several years ago, I thinned out my library by selling used books on Amazon.  So, whenever possible, I like to help others out the same way.  There have been a couple of occasions when the books I received did not match the condition rating assigned to them by the seller, but this has been very rare, these arrived in excellent condition.

I finally felt good enough to get back to Sit ‘N Sew Tuesday, but was totally worn out by the end of the day.  Also, Bob took me out to dinner for a belated birthday celebration Tuesday night so I didn’t have to cook.  WooHoo! 

Monthly Jane Stickle Update

Here are the Jane Stickle blocks I completed in November.  In addition, I have five more prepped and ready for hand applique.  I intend to prep a few more blocks this weekend so that I will have a cache ready to pick up and work on whenever I have a chance.  We are anticipating a busier December than we have had in the past several years, and machine work will probably cease after this coming week.  I’m not complaining; I’m really looking forward to the season this year.

I have now completed 102 of 169 center blocks on this project.  There have been many times when I doubted that I would ever reach 100 blocks.