New Handwork Project

Our Quilt Club’s August program included a presentation and workshop led by Mickey Depre, author of Pieced Hexies.  She is a great teacher:  very relaxed and entertaining.  I still feel like I’m all thumbs making these, so it’s a good thing these are large hexagons (1 ½ inches per side); and the jury is still out as to whether I will enjoy making them enough to complete a whole project with them.  For the time being I’m between applique projects.  So this will stand in as my handwork project, especially on Sundays when I try to devote some sewing time away from the machine and cutting table.  

I’m late doing so, but I’m linking into Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching post.

Bliss Filled Quilty Day

If I were to draft out a bliss filled day it might include:

An outing with quilting friends

to a nearby city;

Where we spend several hours enjoying the workmanship of gifted quilters;

I love purple and green.  I apologize for not being able to give credit to the quilter.

Run into even more friends;

Enjoy lunch together;

Go to a quilt store that is having a really good sale;

The fat quarter was free.  The rest (backing and binding) averaged $6 per yard.

Come home to a husband who is preparing to grill dinner;

During which we enjoy an unexpected shower that dumps 4/10 inches into our yard gauge;

That is followed by a rainbow.

And it really did happen Friday.

After the storm.

Losing the Cutting Table Again...and That's Not All Bad

This afternoon a large box arrived for Bob, and I knew he would want to start working on repairing one of his model planes.  This was the motivation I needed to finish the cutting I had started so he could use the cutting table as a work surface.  I guess sometimes we all need a little encouragement to get past the parts of the process that are our least favorite.

Here is the pile of trimmings that proves I’ve been at work.

Here is my Boxed Squares kit, ready for a day of sewing with friends tomorrow.  It's a very easy pattern that should showcase the pretty French General fabrics.  The colors look faded in this photograph because they are folded with the wrong side of the fabric visible.

And here is my collection of cut sashings for my Jane Stickle quilt.  I am using a tutorial that is available on Doreen’s blog, Aunt Reen's Place.  The strips are one inch wide, which will yield a very narrow finished sashing.

I am borrowing a suggestion from Wanda at Exuberant Color for keeping my Jane Stickle blocks in order.  

It occurs to me that the fabric (won in a giveaway at LA Quilter), the pattern and the techniques for cutting and organizing my sashing and blocks all came from the generosity of blog friends online.  

Table Reclaimed

Cutting is not my favorite part of the quilting process, but at least I've been able to reclaim the cutting table for the moment.  I am embarking on a project that is super simple and, hopefully, super relaxing.  I will be using the fat quarter bundle I won in a giveaway several weeks ago and a free pattern from MaryQuilts.com.  

This is what the cutting table (and the dining room table) looked like a week ago.  Bob kindly freed it up for me until he needs to repair or build another radio controlled model airplane.  I really don't mind sharing the air conditioned space with his projects during the dog days of summer.

Progress

I finished the applique handwork and added the final borders on the Jill Finley quilt.  It is now a flimsy hanging in the closet and waiting its turn for quilting.

Cutting continues on the sashings for the Jane Stickle quilt and I will probably start stitching them next week.  I’m not sure why I've dragged me feet on this unless it’s because I’m nervous to see what the blocks will look like together.

We will be celebrating a grandson’s belated birthday Sunday.  I spent the morning making chocolate chip cookies.  I have it on good authority that he doesn't like chocolate chip cookies, he loves them.  It has been a long time since I baked cookies and the house smells wonderful.

Slow Sunday Stitching

It’s Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts and for me that means a return to the handwork on the Jill Finley quilt that I started in April.  It’s a good thing I quilt for pleasure and not to race.  This is the last border and all that’s left in applique on it are the blooms.  I finished the stems and leaves last night while Bob and I watched an old movie on the DVR.  I hope to have the blooms finished this week, if not by bedtime tonight.

Staying Inside This Weekend

So far this weekend, I've completed the 10 anti-ouch pouches I committed to make this month for the Quilt Club.  

Work on the cul-de-sac is complete, but traffic is blocked off while the concrete cures.

The noise of road construction equipment has been replaced by the roar of power boats drag racing.  This is the weekend of the annual Lake Fest in our community.  Even though we are several blocks from the water, our windows are closed, and the ac is running, the roar of the biggest boats can be clearly heard inside.  The inn keepers, restaurant owners and other merchants are ecstatic.  The rest of us, at least those of us not into boat racing, have learned to cope with noise, street closures and inaccessible parks. 

Truth be known, here’s the real reason I’m pretty much staying inside these days.  If the yard chores and doggy walks don’t happen early, they usually won’t happen at all.  This is altogether a great time to be indoors sewing and fall can't be that far away.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Today’s Slow Sunday Stitching project is a return to the Jill Finley quilt.  I am working on the last stretch of applique and really want to wrap it up.  I have to be careful and pace myself on it as sometimes my wrist protests if I push too hard on handwork.  Gotta take care of our hands!

Things have been a little noisy at our house since last Thursday and this is the view when you look outside our front door.  This area was repaved in March, 2012, but the turning radius on the cul-de-sac is so tight that it did not hold up to the stress from heavy equipment.  The city is now replacing it with concrete.  

Split Nine Patch is Bound-Labeled-Done!

It’s been a while since I posted a finish.  I put the last stitch in the label last night.  

I also had a pleasant surprise this morning.  I was finally filing the Jane Stickle triangles that I completed in July into a binder and expecting to find one more triangle block needed.  I was wrong; it was already done.  So, unless my spreadsheet has another error in it, I have finished all the blocks except for the four corner kites.  I may wait on those until I have cut out all the sashings and alternate triangles just to be sure I have enough fabric.  I included extra yardage for the corners, but, if necessary, I can always use a different background for them.