September is off to a great start!

I've spent a nice few days in the studio, playing and working and playing some more! I finished the ninth block-of-the-month for my night guild. It is supposed to be a school house block.

I think it needs something more. Perhaps a bell? Maybe I could make a flag pole and put a flag on it?

I don't know what I will do yet.

I finished Leafy Quilt!

It is my first log cabin quilt. I made it for my son. (He's up there on the right) I let him decide the layout. It looks great on his bed!

I worked on the October block-of-the-month:

Right after I did it, my ever-so-helpful-hubby asked me, "Didn't you mean for the darker colors to be in the bottom?" Sigh. I did. I messed up. I used photoshop to see if it would look better if I turned it upside down. The result is on the right, below:

I think I will keep it the way it is. I might add the jack-o-lantern face and vine spirals to it too; see my ideas on the left above.

That is the latest from the studio!
Happy Sewing Ya'll!!!

Timber!

I have finished the Celtic Solstice quilt. I am not happy with it. As I readied it for quilting, I found the edges were wonky and wavy:

I did the best I could do, blessing the quilt, as I stitched, with language not quite as colorful as the quilt.

If you click on the photo, you can see more detail. I mostly meandered on this one. The batting is a flannel sheet. I should have left the backing off completely! This thing is HEAVY!!! Oh well, it still makes for a nice utility quilt.

I just started quilting the Leaf on a Log quilt. I really thought I had stretched the backing correctly, but it is already puckering too. Grrrrr!!!

 

I am afraid to start quilting the My Tweets quilt. I do not want to ruin that one! I think I may try a quilt as you go method.

A new-to-us flower is blooming in our backyard. This is a mandevilla:

I plan to labor on Labor Day, and work on quilting the leafy quilt. Hope you are enjoying this first day of September! Happy Sewing!!!

Creative Prompts and Leaf Quilt

I have been in a more traditional artist mode in that I have been in the mood to draw more. I am not happy with this rendition however, of #140-Birthday:
I might bore you with more of these odd people as I try to create some type of cartoon-ish characters for illustrations on my other blog. I want more of my own original works instead of 'borrowing' photos or clip art online.

#139-Triangles turned out better. I really like this one. It is colored with both Prisma colored pencils and water colors. I just started drawing triangles and all of a sudden thought they looked like breaking glass. I am pleased that this turned out actually looking like I knew what I was doing!

I took down all the pieces that were on my design wall this morning and put up some of the blocks from my Leaf Quilt. I knew the contrast was going to be off. It is going to be made specifically for our California King bed though. One thing I learned from this was that I really do need to pay more attention to contrasts.
It will still be a neat quilt. I just wish I had seen the lack of contrast more. By the way, do you see the ghost in this? I am sure it is just a speck of dust floating by, but it could be a ghost too. Hopefully it is a friendly one!

That is it for the day! Happy Sewing!!!

Ahhhhh, Fabric Therapy Day!

I didn't spend much time in the studio, but made progress on several fronts. I used "Leaf Quilt" blocks to start and finish off chain-piecing:
I am going to SO love this quilt as a pretty utility quilt that is made for autumn viewing!

I finished the second basket block. I always make two blocks for the guild block of the month. I keep one and share one for the monthly drawings.

Here is a closer view of the second basket:

This will be the one I will keep.

I also realized I had not put up a photo of the second block completed in the "My Tweets" block of the month!

I am almost done with the third block too. I haven't decided how to finish the eyes of the birds yet though. I am already dreading the quilting of this quilt!!! It needs to be done really well!

That is it for today! Tomorrow is my guild meeting. I always look forward to going to it. Hope you are having a great weekend too!

Camping Weather?

I haven't seen this much snow around our RV since the snowstorm in Calaveras county back in 2006. It was mid-March and we were performing at a renaissance faire. You normally would not see that much snow that late in California unless you were maybe in the mountains!
It isn't normal for Arkansas either! I made good use of the time indoors. I have fabric cut out for about half the blocks for my Leaf Quilt. The rest of the fabric arrives Monday!
I got a lot of fussy cutting done for the borders on the U is for Unicorn quilt too. There are oodles of tiny flowers that have to be made!

There are little birdies and strawberries and leaves:

There are also big birds and dragons with pesky dragonflies!

I love being so productive. I am not changing my name though. I still am a lazy quilter! Kinda, sorta! hahaha

Now, go sew something too!

It was a Calm Storm

It has been quite the day here!
The snow started around 8:00 this morning.

By 3:00pm this afternoon, it had dumped a pretty good amount!

It looks to be over six inches.

In spite of the snow, or maybe because of it,
I went for a walk with my German Shepherd, Ziva.
She loves the snow!

Inside, I played too. I started sewing some of the blocks together on the 'Leafy Log' quilt. I also dug out the four border pieces for the U is for Unicorn quilt. I have a bunch of applique' to do on it.
I find I have to be careful because the "My Tweets" quilt is influencing me! They are both applique' type quilts but they are made, using very different methods! I need to mind the color choices too. It will all turn out ok, but I found it funny that I have such a bird (on the) brain.
I have homemade chili in the crock-pot for supper. Soon I will put the cornbread in the oven to bake. We are enjoying our winter day home!

Are YOU sewing something? No? Well then,
Go Sew Something!!!

So That Didn't Exactly Work Out!

For some reason, yesterday started well and turned into a disaster! First the good stuff! The block for the guild, turned out great! I even got all the directions done for it...AND...they make sense! It is just a simple single Irish chain block. I think it will be awesome done in all the different greens that the members use for their blocks!

Then I tried making the guild block for April. That one was to be a paper-pieced block. One thing that I forgot though, was that the pattern for it would not fit in the newsletter! I toyed with the idea of having them make several small blocks and joining them together into the large block. I quickly realized that most would not have a way to print out multiple copies. They might lack the patience and skills required to sew four paper-pieced blocks together. (I know I do!!!) I need lots of blocks turned in to make this work. I don't want to discourage anyone! I will have to try doing this in a different way.

Next I tried the tessellated block. I can't explain why it wasn't going to work, but it wasn't going to! I would have had to cut all 80 strips down in size. It would have taken all the fun out of making the quilt! I thought about it for a while and came up with the idea of making a log cabin quilt. I have never made one before! I even had the perfect red fabric to put in the center!

I think I have enough fabric to make 20 blocks, maybe more. I made one block to puzzle out the cutting and such. Of course I made it a little wrong. Believe it or not, there IS a difference! The lighter strips were supposed to be where the darker ones are and vice versa. Guess what? I am NOT going to rip this out and make it over again. I am going with this layout. So there!!! hahaha
I think this will be a pretty quilt and should even be done near next Autumn, when the leaves are falling again!

They are predicting yet another snow storm for central Arkansas this week. We think we will be snowed in again. At least we have all day tomorrow to prepare for it!

I am going to kick the 'boys' off the Wii and sit and watch some good TV and sew on my applique block. Have a nice evening, everyone!

Oh, and GO SEW SOMETHING!!!