Lots of Friday Stuff

I had a fantastic day in the studio! So many projects and so little time! The day just flashed by in an instant. Next Friday seems a long ways away. Since I have so much to share I thought I would also post this as an "Off the Wall Friday" posting.

In no particular order, here are some of the things I did today:

Appliqued block #4 is out for the Jingle Belle quilt. I sewed the stems onto the background square and will be working on the individual pieces next.

Jaye (Artquiltmaker) must be thinking about me again. Every time she does, I work on the border strips. I got all the white flowers done for the top border today. Those flowers are each just a little larger than a quarter. I satin stitch around each one as well as stitching in the centers of each.

Those red parts are strawberries...or at least they will be when I am done with them!

On the design wall I have some fabric cut out and ready to sew together for a charity quilt I will be making. I was gifted the fabric and I think it will make an adorable quilt for a boy.

I put together an apron for the holidays. It has two pockets on it. It was in a pile of fabric given to me. The apron was cut out, as well as the two pockets. There were two strips that I made into the apron strings. I had to wing it for the rest of it. I ended up putting some binding tape around the whole thing to finish the edges. I also backed the pockets before sewing them on. It turned out pretty cute!

All week I've been working on the second border of the My Tweets quilt. You can see my progress from the top part of the picture, where I started at down to the bottom part where I left off at last night.

I have been neglecting my creative prompts. I actually had this one done several months ago. Posting photos is an ordeal for me, so I often procrastinate and don't post as often as I could.

This is CPP #156 - Rose and #158 - Bird

I don't know why there are three jets or a hot sun or the odd bug. I often look back on drawings and can't recall why I drew what I did.  Sometimes I see how much work I put into a particular drawing and marvel at how much work or effort I must have put into it! Other times I get aggravated because I can't make a picture look like it looks in my brain. I still keep on doing them though. 

So that's the latest from here. 

Happy Sewing!

Three Times the Charm!

I finally did it, I made pieced-block number three!

I really struggled with this one too. Of course the first thing I did wrong was to cut three of the pieces a quarter inch too big...reading four and a quarter inches square as four and a half inches square. I thought I could just trim them down a smidgen and all would be fine. Wrong! It turned out almost exactly a quarter inch short, all the way around!

I adjusted, and sewed, and ripped apart, those blasted borders at least five or six times!!! I was sure the directions were wrong and questioned the group I am in that is also making the block, as well as the pattern maker. I think I started working on this block on Monday...THREE days for a 9.5" block! Triangles will get you every time. So will sloppy reading of directions or not sewing a true quarter inch seam allowance!

After getting confirmation from several others, that the cutting directions were devoid of errors, I started working out to find where my error was. I still am not 100% sure what I did wrong. I finally made the two outside green-print corner triangles a little bigger and trimmed them back to size. Here is a photo showing the left side already trimmed and the right side not yet trimmed:

Thank goodness I have a 6.5" square ruler in my studio. 

It made it a lot easier to correctly cut these border strips to be 2" by 6.5".

Once they were cut to size, I put them on either side of the center red/yellow star block:

To be sure this was correct, I also measured the block from top to bottom and it came out at exactly 9.5" long....perfect!!!

The two side borders had yellow squares on either end. Before attaching them, I made sure the middle parts were also 2" by 6.5". They were! I sewed on the yellow squares and added these last two sides. I now have a nearly perfect Jingle Belle Pieced Block #3.

Hallelujah!

Spring and Winter

It is spring time and I finished one of the four borders 

for the My Tweets quilt project:

One forth of the way done!
The green vine and leaves above to the right
 is the second border that I am just starting on.

The holiday themed wintertime block has not been so successful. For the past three days I have been struggling with a block that has quarter square triangles in it. I have just about given up making it work right. The block made by the pattern designer looks like this:

I have made the center red and yellow part and it measures just right! I have not been able to make the outer borders work yet. They are either too long or too narrow or points disappear. I am not sure if I am doing it wrong or if the directions are wrong. I have emailed the pattern maker and am awaiting her reply. I am not the only one having issues either. I am sure we will figure it out eventually!

That is it for quilty stuff! It has been a busy week and I haven't had much time to play in the studio. Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to get some serious work/play done!

Of Bikes and Baskets

As I mentioned a post or so ago, one of my Mother's Day gifts was a new dress form. Here it is with one of my shirts on it:

I have already been putting it to good use in altering a few dresses and sizing a sweater jacket!

Today we went for our first family bike ride at a local trail. I was surprised at how much we enjoyed it! We plan to do this again, real soon!

My 12 yr old son on the trail

Hubby with a cooler of cold drinks strapped on his bike

Me in my favorite tie-dyed shirt

Here is the latest block in the Jingle Belle block of the month. 

I have rarely had fabrics bleed because I tend to prewash everything. I had won some fabric in a drawing though, and either I did not prewash or it just decided to run anyway. I was not pleased and am not sure what, if anything, I will do about it. Funny thing is though, other areas where this same fabric was used, did not run. What the heck???

That's it for today. I have an easy supper planned and hope to spend part of the late afternoon working on some hand stitching.

Happy Sewing!

It might have snowed in May, but it is still spring time!

Not much to share but if I wait till I have all the creative photos, you might forget I even exist out here! Not that I have THAT many readers. For those who do drop by today though, I will share some photos of spring, starting with this one:

This is a peony bush. My mom had several around her home. I have not had one for many years. I think this is the third year for these and this year they blossomed a LOT more than in the past. In the close-up below there is a lady bug on the petals. Click on the photo to see a larger image:

Next up is the yellow rose bush. For some reason, it too, exploded in blooms this spring!

 

Of course I got a close-up shot of this one too:

At the farmer's market a lady had a hanging basket of these blossoms. I am not sure what they are, but they love living in my large metal cauldron planter! I hope they bloom all summer.

Last up is a very different flower. I have redone these blooms several times and I am finally giving up and going with the first photo on the left as my final version. This is appliqué block #2 from the Jingle Belle BOM.

I am almost done with appliqué block #3 in the series. It has a cardinal on it. My mom would have loved a Christmas quilt with all these cardinals on it....about as much as she loved peonies! :)

Happy Sewing y'all!