I’m still working on my January color palette challenge.  The finished design:

I’m working on my QST’s (quarter-square triangles), using the Triangulations software.  I really like the colors, and have to speed things up to be done this week!

–Sue

We had a “crafting” get-together in TX this past week with at least 26 ladies attending.  My plan was to make glasses cases (or iPod cases or phone cases) out of ready-made potholders.  They are so simple — one L-shaped seam and sew on a button and you’re done.

NOT SO FAST!!!  My machine down here isn’t as heavy duty as my machine at home, and goodness knows what size needles I had on hand, but they weren’t doing the job.  I figured it wouldn’t be fun for the ladies to sew with needles breaking every fourth potholder, so I stitched the L-shaped seam ahead of time and we sewed buttons on by hand as a group!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the 26 I stitched up for the get-together, but I didn’t, so here’s a picture of two I made for myself after the meeting:

I was able to get my rotary cutter in one and my Razr phone in the other (just barely).  Just search for potholders on line, and there are a lot of projects out there you can make from a ready-made potholder.

On a photography note, I joined the 365 Project, which is a web site where you take at least one photo a day and post it on their site.  It will make kind of a photo journal of my year.  Right now it’s all about the birds, but there are times of the year that I don’t see many birds, so I will be forced to branch out *shudder*.  I put a link on my left-hand side bar and would LOVE it if you visited.

Back to work!  I need to finish my blocks for my Color Palette Challenge with Judy Laquidara.  The end of the month is near!

–Sue

How NOT to Build a Quilt:  I bought fabrics without a pattern or project in mind.  What was I thinking?  Really…who does that?  I found a batik I fell in love with, and chose some coordinating fabrics, thinking that I would figure it out later.  So I have 3 yards of a border print, 2 1’2 yards of background, a couple of 1-yard cuts and a couple more 1/2-yard cuts.  Try finding a pattern to work with predetermined, semi-random fabric amounts!

I decided this was a good time to dust off EQ7 and design my own quilt.  Okay, that isn’t so easy either.  It took several sessions, but I finally came up with a plan I liked.  It’s easiest to work on EQ (I think) if you play around with alternating two blocks.  I like Irish Chain quilts, so I thought I could use the greens in the Irish Chain blocks, and decided on a star for the open spaces.  Not terribly original, but I like it:

Then I started figuring out the rotary cutting instructions.  The star block worked out great.  The Irish Chain block came out to 2 7/8 strips.  Ooops!  Guess I won’t be using my handy-dandy strip cutter!

Lesson Learned:   I was making 12″ finished blocks.  The star built on a 6×6 grid.  Worked out perfectly.  The Irish Chain block was a 5×5 block, and 12″ divided by 5 isn’t so neat and tidy.  I should have paid attention to the configuration of the blocks I was choosing to make sure they would all play nicely together.

Solution:  I decided I liked the look of the two blocks together.  I like that seams don’t all meet at the same place, reducing thick spots.  I like how the star nestles in and fills the space.  I even like that corners of the star block that become part of the chain are a little smaller.  If I do this one again, I might make them a different color.  So anyway, I cut 2 7/8″ strips.  I figured since that block only required strip sets, that it wasn’t a big deal.

Now that I have some preliminary blocks together, I know it will work.  *whew*

Don’t forget to stop over to JudyL’s blog and see other quilters’ design walls!

–Sue

Sandi Irish has a very cool tree pattern out, using templates for easy cutting.  I am making the 7-foot version for our Christmas tree.  My progress thus far is shown above.   I have about 1/4 of the strips on at this point.

For Sandi’s pattern info, click HERE.  “Tall Pines” is about 2/3 of the way down, on the right-hand side.  For the pattern cover picture, click HERE.

–Sue

PS:  I am going to Judy Laquidara’s retreat in February!!!  (Happy Birthday to ME)

Anybody else is going?  It’s sure to be three days of laughter, sewing, and fun!

I’ve been MIA for over a month!  I’ll blog more details in another post, but we spent three weeks on the Texas Gulf (forgot my camera cord for uploading pictures), a couple of fabulous days at the Houston quilt show with friends, then a few days at a retreat in Wisconsin with no Internet.    It’s surprising how quickly you get out of the habit of blogging.  (And I knew I was very delinquent when my new-found cousin Judy calls, my Winter Texan friend Eileen calls, and my Aunt Bertha e-mails and calls!  It’s nice to be missed…)

I have lots to share, but I will focus on one project today.  We bought a new bedroom set a few years back.  I just love it, but it has a problem.  I couldn’t figure out how to attach a bed skirt without covering up the wood side panels.   And even if I didn’t mind covering up the wood, the skirt would be way too short due to the height of the bed.

I store the dining-room table leaves under the bed, which you could see if you were seated at the dining-room table.  (We’re in a townhouse and the bedroom is off the living room.)

So with a little on-line inspiration from Heather Mulder Peterson’s tutorial, I made one.

Heather (Anka’s Treasures) makes a nice little faux pleat in her bed skirt.  I used a drapery panel so the bed skirt would match the drapes.  I was also able to take advantage of the finished edges for my side panels (I cut one bed skirt from each long side of the purchased (and lined) drapery panel.  I wasn’t able to make the center “pleat” that she shows using the drapery panel though, so mine are a straight, flat panel.

I then folded the top over twice and stitched non-adhesive, sew-on type Velcro (the soft half) to the RIGHT side of the panels.  Out of the center portion of the drapery panel, I made the bed skirt for the end of the bed.

Instead of using a hot glue gun  to attach the stiff part of the Velcro to the inside of the bed frame, I used a tacky glue and let it dry for 24 hours before attaching the bed skirt.

And the best part is, it will be a snap to switch to a different color.  I know my bed (queen size) will work up fine using a single full-length drapery panel.

–Sue

I’m waiting to show you a couple of quilt tops for UFO Thursday, but I do have a couple more projects to share today.  First is a baby quilt made from UFO scraps.

I had a lot of partial strip sets from that UFO.  I trimmed them to 4″ wide (the height of this tumbler template), and quickly cut out a bunch of tumblers.  I sewed them together kind of willy-nilly.  I have a wider blue border to put around this little baby quilt:

I saw these templates (scroll halfway down the linked page) at the Madison Quilt Expo, and I’m so glad I bought them.  I also bought the 8″ tumbler ruler, and I’m going to use that one to cut through a bunch of FQs that are in my “use up/get rid of/don’t want it any more” pile.

I also bought a Moda layer cake at an adorable quilt shop called Olive Juice in Onalaska, Wisconsin.  It was an impulse purchase, but the fabrics just called to me.  I didn’t know what to do with them until I saw Alice (at the retreat) working on a quilt called 10-Minute Blocks by Suzanne McNeill.  A mock-up of what a 17″ block will look like:

That’s it from me.  Check out other quilters’ progress at JudyL’s blog, Patchwork Times!

–Sue

I love the second block, The Farmer’s Daughter.  How many of you are farmer’s daughters? My dad farmed until I was 11 and we moved to the big city of Minneapolis.

The other 24 blocks can be seen by clicking on the FWS tab at the top of this page.

A couple of things have really sparked my enthusiasm to get back to work on these blocks:

• On the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Yahoo site, some saintly person has taken the time to create paper-pieced patterns for each block.  There are some blocks I just really don’t want to take the time or effort to figure out how to piece.
• Purchasing the Triangulations software so I can print out whatever half-square and quarter-square triangle paper I need, down to 1/8″ measurements.
• There’s now a companion CD (purchased mine on Amazon) that has rotary cutting instructions for all the blocks as well.

–Sue

This lap quilt is on the longarm right now.  I did an almost-acceptable feather in the brown end border (I only have borders at the top and bottom).  Then my plan was to do a combination custom quilting in the blocks and some all-over leaves in the open spaces.  Got about 1/3 of the way across, and … yuck! I was quilting it too densely.  I wanted a looser, softer feel to the quilt.

So I’ve been ripping stitches out.  Double yuck!

I am going to leave the feather on the border(s), stitch-in-the-ditch along the orange secondary border, and I’m undecided on the middle of the quilt.  I thought I might do a big-feather panto in the middle, but it is sure to not come out to a complete repeat when I reach the borders on the bottom of the quilt.  It’s been a long time since I cross-hatched a quilt, so maybe that will work.

I’m going to start a give-away tomorrow, so check back if you’re interested.  Theme:  Tea Party!

And be sure to pop over to Judy Laquidara’s blog to see what other quilters are up to this week.

–Sue

I actually had some quilty finishes this week!  This is more of a re-finish.  My drunkard’s path (Lily Pads at Sunset) had a bad spot about the size of a saucer where the bobbin tension must have gone bonkers, producing a lovely loopy fringed effect in the middle of the back.  Ripped it out.  Restitched.  Looks the same (without the offending “fringe”):

This bag is a Melly & Me pattern called “Meadow”.  I made a couple of bags from this pattern while in Texas this winter (which were gifted away), and I wanted to make some more.  They are a bit fussy to make, have some curved piecing and topstitching, but it makes a great bag.  Here is #3:

And I also finished a table topper that has been waiting for binding FOREVER!  I knew binding it was going to be a pain to do, and it didn’t disappoint.

What was I thinking when I made the scallops so deep???  A gentle curved edge would have been so much nicer to bind.  It was challenging, even using bias binding and making the binding a little more narrow.  Oh, well.  It’s D*O*N*E.

For this coming week,  I have a table runner on the Gammill, some pillowcases to finish up for four grandnieces and a grandnephew, and that navy-blue 9-patch that was been lurking in my closet forever (it will get quilted this week, and maybe even bound).

To check on other quilters’ progress, pop on over to Judy Laquidara’s blog and check them out!  Thanks for stopping by.

–Sue

I am plugging away on my Farmer’s Wife Sampler blocks.  I’ve found a better way to add photos to my “FWS” tab at the top of this blog.  When I added the thumbnail-sized photos one by one, they ended up all willy-nilly and not lining up at all.

New Plan:  I’m waiting until I have six blocks to add, then doing a collage with Picasa.  In fact, that’s my new goal:  Six new blocks a month.  I should really aim for six new blocks a week, but that isn’t going to happen!

An additional note on the Farmer’s Wife Sampler:  I am using fabrics I won on Vicky’s site (a tower of gorgeous civil war fabrics — 40 FQs!.)  I love them, but I think my blocks are getting a little “matchy-matchy” for my taste.  I am going to start introducing some fabrics that are similar but not in this line.  And a big THANK YOU again to Vicky for offering up these fabrics.  Winning them got me started on the FWS in the first place.

To-Do List (and this will take more than a week…):

• I need to get our Italy pictures (from OCTOBER already!!!) organized into a book through MyPublisher, while I can still remember what we saw and what we did and who we were with!
• Work on Judy L’s May challenge with Vicki W’s fabulous hand-dyed fabric in reds (from light rose to burgundy set in semi-black).
• I have a decorator coming today to help me with re-purposing a couple of areas of our house and coming up with a new arrangement/focal point for a third area.  Hmm, I should remember to take some “before” pictures.  I’ve always enjoyed doing my own decorating (such as it is), but with these three rooms I wanted to call in some extra planning help to avoid my making any costly mistakes.  I’ll still be making my own choices and doing my own “thing”.  She will make recommendations, but it’s up to me to choose what I want to do.
• I need to finish reading this month’s book club selection, “The Three Weissmanns of Westport” by Cathleen Schine.  Soon.  Real soon.  Cuz book club is tomorrow!
• Finish making a little evening bag out of one man’s tie.  It’s gonna be cute!

–Sue