September already?

Can't believe it is already September and Labor Day is past. Despite forcasts of rain, we had a clear day here that was on the cool side.

Starting to put the One Block Wonder quilt together. When it is done, I will donate it to Quilts for Kids. After the hexes are put together in 2 parts. The center seam isn't sewn yet so you have to be very careful when you lay it out and start sewing it together. The 1/2 hexes are sewn together in rows or columns and then the rows/columns are joined together. The picture above is the columns/rows before they are sewn together and the one to the right is when they are attached.

A cute block

Posted on a group was a star block made from strings. As you can see, strings are small slivers of fabric sewn together to make a bigger piece. I really like the way this star looks.

I did a little piecing for the Winding Roads quilt last night. There are a lot of blocks in this one, but since most of the alternating blocks are single pieces of fabric, it goes fairly quickly. I just have to finish the other one before I can really get into this one.

January Update

The EPP project is moving right along. I have finished 1/2 the blocks. When they are done I will add a 3 or 4 inch border. I've never done that with this method. Seems like that part might be a little boring, but we will see. I'm already getting anxious to start the next project. That is our dog Brandy admiring the quilt.

I will be starting on assembling the blocks to the QOV quilt tomorrow, and will post more pictures of that process soon.

EPP Update

I have 1/4 of the blocks done. Amazing how fast it goes when your pieces are bigger. Scared myself adding the 4th row. Had the original section turned around and the pieces on the last row weren't matching. Thought I'd put them together in the wrong row. Imagine how happy I was that all I had to do was turn the joined section around found that everything matched perfectly. This is smallest project I have worked on with EPP. I'm using the same lt tan and dk blue throughout, with the pinwheels scrappy and randomly done.

December update

Like most of you, can't believe Christmas is almost here. I am never ready, but then I work best when under a deadline. Next week will be a busy one.

Working on the backing to the hex quilt. Hope to have it done early next month so I can get the project to the quilter. Still thinking about how I want to bind it.

New EPP project is coming along nicely. I now have 1/8 of it done. I am doing it in 4 sections so it won't be too big to work on comfortably until I put the sections together. I am really liking how it is coming together. The background and center of each block will be the same throughout, but the pinwheels will be scrappy.

Merry Christmas to all. Have a joyous and safe holiday and a wonderful New Year.

New Bag

Made a new bag from materials designed by Mark Lipinski that I really like and have been getting a little at a time. It is a winter design with snowflake type pattern. I also made a purse organizer. I followed the instructions for it, but if I make it again, I probably would make it a little deeper.

Beautiful October

I so love this time of year with all the fall colors and cooler temps. It is also the season of cider mills and donuts. Delicious, but bad for the waist band. This is a bag that I put together this morning for Halloween, another fun part of this season. Can't really tell from the picture, but there are spiders climbing on the handles. The lining is multi-colored spider webs.

I've been really busy working on my hex quilt, and hope to have the piecing finished by early November. We will see. All depends on how much life gets in the way.

Possibilities

Out of the Scrap-Basket Surprises book that I did the ribbon quilt, is another one that I might try sometime in the future. It is called Belize. All the quilts in the book are jelly roll friendly, using 2.5" strips. What do you think of this one? As always, there are more projects that I would like to do than time to do them in.

Ribbon Quilt

This is the pattern Christmas Ribbons done in batiks. It is a very easy pattern. It only took me 7 days working approx. 1 hour a day. This one is a small one measuring 47 x 31.5. It would be beautiful in lots of reds and greens for Christmas. As you can see, it is a great scrappy quilt. I'm thinking it would also be a great 2 or 3 color quilt. Now I have to move on to a baby quilt that I need in 3 weeks.

Scrappy w/ 3 cuts

Here are the instructions for the block I picked up info on yesterday. Start with assorted dark fabric squares 8.5 square. Make a cut 3.5 x 8" and the second cut 5.5 square leaving a strip 3.5 x 5.5. Sew them together so that you have a different fabric in each segment. Do the same with assorted light fabric squares.

Second step is to put a lt and dk assembled square right sides together, making sure the 5.5 squares are together. Draw a line diagonally across the light square, and sew 1/4" on each side of line. Cut on the drawn line, and you will have 2 half square triangles. One side darks and the other side lights. Assemble as desired. The quilt at the shop was assembled in such a way that there were light and dark diagonal strips.



This would be a great way to use up your stash.

I hate summer

I hate the hot humid days of summer. Unlike most people, I very seldom complain about winter. Spring and Fall are my favorites.

This kind of weather makes it hard to do hand piecing. The thimble gets really tight when it is like this. Looking forward to weather in the 80's next week.

This picture is a piece that I did from a design my daughter did for a college design class. I gave it to her for Christmas 2007 and she and her partner got it framed and hung it in her home. I really liked the lines of the design.

The picture in my heading is my beloved Taz. We lost him New Year's Day 2000. I often called him Tazman.

I love it when it is cool enough to have windows open. Yesterday was in the high 80's or higher. Didn't hear final temps. However it was about 85 indoors which is way to hot for me. Definitely put on the air as soon as we returned to the lake in the evening. I can't sleep at night unless it is in the low 70's. Prefer the 60's.

Won't have a lot a time for quilting today. Saw a new pattern yesterday that I will be drawing up in my EQ7 program. It is a Cozy Quilt Designs pattern called Butterfly Blooms.

Next Project

This is a picture of my next major project. I had to tape together parts of 9 pages to get it all together. It will be done by paper piecing 1/2" pieces. Yup, I'm crazy.

I'm better than half way done with my current project.