how i spent my weekend

i was sick of looking at my four walls, so i took off south to the FIL's...it was needed, i was stale and needed some fresh country air.

i packed up the featherweight, the dogs, and off we went.

i set my sewing station in the big bay window. let me tell you, it was N.I.C.E. i sew in a 'basement' and i have a tiny window that doesn't let in much light. look at all that natural sunshine! i could barely tell if my featherweight's light was on or not. it did get hot sitting in the sun, but it was a perfect trade. plus it was an excuse to use my christmas present!

here's the view from the window.

the goats have had their kids, so watching them play was nice....watching a baby goat figure out it can hop and run will put a smile on my face in a heartbeat

check out that one's hairdo...pygmy goats have huge personalities...

i got my blocks for the swap done. (there's still time to play)

just wait- all those blocks are going to be different! 30s repro goodness!

this is going to be one super duper quilt! i have a feeling some will wished they had joined...i already know how i'm going to quilt it!

i helped turn a tree in the front yard into a nice pile of firewood. i didn't swing the axe or wield the chainsaw, but i did my part and my back is still sore from chucking all that wood :)

during a break, lucky hung out with me and this picture has become my favorite cherished picture. i have tones of pictures of the dogs, but i'm never in them.

here's a picture of the stump. i really like the ring's wavy lines...such an odd growth pattern.

i only wish i knew someone who could of turned me a wooden bowl from it.

as soon as we got home, the dogs crashed. i guess running around like two banshees sniffing and peeing on everything is tiresome :)

i love it when lucky's ear sticks out like that...

funny story from the weekend:
FIL started a fire in the fireplace and went out to get more wood and came back in and wanted me to go see if i heard the weird sound in the garage. i went out and i did indead hear a noise but i knew instantly what it was. lucky was snoring. i had put the dogs in their crates and zipped up the covers and they were snoozing hard...

so that's how i spent my much needed weekend va-stay...

making do

i saw this quilt on Flying Bird's blog and i instantly feel in love with the back ground fabric. (image source here)

i went to ikea's website and it's not available for online purchase (guess they really don't want my money) and i'm just not going to drive to downtown atlanta to get it...our ikea is not easy to find.

but i do have this fabric in my stash (penny for scale)....it will basically give the same effect- a very large scale B&W. plus i won't have to worry about keeping it directional

win win!

i apologize, lord watch over the starving pigmies in new guinea

i want to apologize to edie. i was gently reminded that i did not post her christmas quilts she made, and  i was reminded in a tone that suggested i get right on that *giggle* in my defense, this computer is getting quite cranky when asked to anything...
she was quite busy...so here goes:

she made another poodle quilt like this one

a beautiful floral quilt

 i quilted a leaf meander with yellow thread.

 a double helix for her daughter (technically quilted after christmas, but who's writing a book here right?  :) )

i quilted something i don't normally quilt on customer quilts- a pebble filler, but this quilt screamed that it was what it wanted, so i obliged.

here's the back which really shows the helix design of the quilt.

she also made two quilts with a military theme and i seem to have missed taking their picture...




and since i'm posting pictures and my computer and blogger are play nice together, i'll carry on.....

there's betty's space rocket quilt made for her grandson....i was with her when she bought the kit

 

i quilted elliptical swirls in orange thread. really cute

melanie's quilt she made for herself at christmas. she proudly told me, "i'm keeping this one!" 

sue's vintage hand pieced 9patch. i love this quilt and have tried to make her promise to let me use it when she's finished with it.

 quilted with my signature E2E i call cotton candy, which if i may say, is perfect for this quilt.

also, out of all the vintage tops i've quilted- this one was perfect! it wasn't perfectly 'square' but it was flat....



here's a couple of my favorite fabrics...

she blogged about it here


that's all right now...i'll be back later with a couple of  MY quilts i finished to share....i'm keeping busy!

already, again??

that pesky birthday thing is back :)  today marks the 35th time the earth went around the sun since i started breathing- 35....not too shabby. i did notice the other day that i have a little patch of grey hair *shrug* i've had a grey eyebrow hair for a couple years now, so i knew the grey head hair was going to be setting up shop soon...

i had a fun day sewing with friends at lisa's house. i worked on my 30s swap blocks and ate chocolate cake.

i found out this weekend that i share my birthday with the wonderful Bonnie Hunter. very cool....a fellow 123 baby. i wonder who else shares my birthday

*goggling that*  here's a list if your interested....i recognize some names...i see a princess...hello! where's my name????

also of note- today is chinese new year, the year of the dragon...新年快樂

weekend in stitches

what's the point of having a LA if you never quilt your own quilts?

so, i quilted one of mine today! it might look familiar to some- its the spring block swap from 2010!

i quilted a new to me design. i've seen this design floating around and i figured it was time to actually give it a go and stitch it out. it's a leaf echo fill. i'm calling it 'forest floor'.

i ran to Tiny Stitches while i was out getting lunch (and i had to get lucky some food) and found this great fabric for the binding. it's a green ombre and i pieced it to where the color change continues across the seam. i think it'll look awesome. i plan on sewing it to the edge as soon as i publish this post.

doesn't it look like a pile of lettuce?

and i decided what i was going to do with those hand dyed fat quarters from last post...

i cut them up last night for the HST idea.... i really liked bonnie hunter's quilt with the cheddar yellow and the florals and i have a stash of floral fabrics....so i'll save the jacob's ladder idea for those...

i cut (12) 4 7/8inch squares from 13 FQs...should give me a nice large throw sized quilt.  

i already know how i'm going to quilt it- FEATHERS (as if there were any doubt :) )

i couldn't sleep last night, so i pieced this small wall hanging from the leftovers from cutting up the FQs.

so that's what i did last night and today. the weather was perfect for staying in and sewing!

now what...?

i am very proud of myself! i have fiished a couple of UFOs and will reward myself by starting something new!

so i want to ask your opinion:

i have these fat quarters and the 'black' batik that have been sitting on a shelf and i have decided that it's their turn to be a quilt.

so do i make a quilt like this using the humble HST (image source here)

Or do i go a little more 'fancy' and make a jacob's ladder a la bonnie hunter, but use the black where the yellow is? (image source here)

either way, what i like is that with the hand dye 'solid' look of the fabrics, that the quilt will have an Amish feel to it- a contemporary Amish quilt.

so which would you vote for?

the eyes have it

working on getting the SAL all pretty for yall....i'm thinking i'll start it the first-ish of February, so check back for it.


"i'm ready for my close up"

barney hasn't has his picture here in a while....and you can't post without a picture...

barney was on his bed and the sun was coming thru the window just right. i love that his eyes are the same color as he is...he's such a spoiled pooch.

Sew-A-Long 2012 intro

i did it!! i finally got my idea for this year's BOM out of my head and committed to graph paper. i'm not going to call it a BOM, cause it's not; it's more of a sew-a-long, so that what i'm calling it. all related posts will have the SAL 2012 as a tag label for easy reference later.

the quilt will be 75inches by 90inches pieced. the measurements do not include any borders, i'll leave that up to you. i have dreams of a pieced border, but we'll have to see when it's done.

here's some thought points:

• i designed this with a scrap purge in mind. meaning, that there will be no need to go buy any fabric! you could, but it will be hard to figure out what would go where as i'm not writing the directions that way. if i choose an orange for a block and i don't have enough of that specific orange scrap, i'll cut into another to make the block....cool, huh? i do have some fat quarters sitting around that i will use for the 'larger' blocks.

• there won't be a definite posting date. i will post the next step as i go. i will be making this along with you guys, so it could be every couple of weeks, or once a month *shrug* we'll just have to see. all steps will be available throughout the year.

• there will be five different block sizes (so far). some times you'll make X number of this size block and X number of this size block. at the end of the year, i'll show you how it all magically fits together. it might also take a bit longer than a year, but i'll try to keep it within a year, but no promises...after the last two years of BOMs here, i want something a little bit more relaxed and not have the stress of getting something posted by a specific date.

this is meant to be fun and burn through some scraps. so, you wanna play?

are you feeling lucky?

happy friday the 13th!

BOM star

Roxane picked up her quilt this week. It is a BOM from the LQS. i just realized it was my first customer finish for 2012!

After putting around 50 hours into a show quilt around christmas, this was a nice break. i'll share pictures after it's debut *promise*

there was a sliver of sunlight coming thru the window and i tried to be all artsy with the photo....

my favorite- feathers in the border....

i died and went to heaven

i died...i mean dyed and went to fabric heaven

long time ago, i tried my first fabric dying experiments and well, they were my first, so not exactly the prettiest. so i cut up all my rejects into 4 1/2" squares, sewed them into 9patches. i made a couple, then lost interest. since i'm trying to finish some of my UFOs, this one was in the pile.

i finished making the required 9patches and dyed some yardage for the borders and sashing. i cheated tho, i bought liquid RIT dye......in navy blue. guess someone at the factory is color blind. it came out purple....*shrug* oh well....

i realized during the piecing that i had a good tip to share. it's how i get my seams to line up across the sashing without having to use cornerstones.

sew a strip between your blocks as normal, then just like when attaching a border, measure your length for the long sash and pin mark the centers. sew and press towards the sashing. on the wrong side of the sashing, use a ruler to mark the seam of the sash between the blocks on the raw edge of the long sash piece..

Line the lines of the ruler to the seams to keep everything straight.

i use a chalk pencil to mark the lines.

line the chalk lines to the pieced seams of the rows of blocks with sashing strips. pin really good so the fabric won't shift.

ta-dah, the sashing lines up across the long sashing without having to piece in cornerstones and it's nice and square.

i'll be back later with some quilting to share!

January 2012 block swap

okay here's the link (link disabled) for the .pdf directions. i included all the answers to all the questions i got asked and included all the info for ones who have never participated in a block swap.... *i think* 

there is no 'sign-up list' just make the blocks and mail them to me...open to all who want to play.

DEADLINE- they must be at my house by March 31st, 2012. 
i hope to get them swapped and the squishies released back into the wild before tax day (april 15th)

any questions- let me know. email addie over --->

this will be one gorgeous quilt, and i think many will be sorry they didn't do it when they see the finished top, just saying....

happy stitching!

ETA:  just a real quick tip: when you sew the corner units to the "PLUS" units, the seam from the flip and sew white corner will not line up to the plus fabric and white seam on the raw edge of the pieces. they will match up however 1/4inch in from the raw edge. this is important to keep from losing points....i meant to add this to the instructions, but forgot.

how 'bout a block swap

i was thinking the other day that i'm ready, if yall are, to host another block swap.

i was thinking we haven't used 30s reproductions yet, so that will be this one's fabric theme along with Kona white.. i haven't sit down and done the math for yardage yet, just putting out some feelers to see the response.

here's the block....it finishes at 12 1/2 inches and i'm thinking 30 blocks for a 62 1/2 inch by 73 1/2 inch top without any borders.


so the block will be 6 fabrics: Kona white for the background, the dark gray '+' in the center, and four different fabrics in the corners. clear as mud?

here's the quilt mock up (i design in grey scale) as you can see, i think this design looks true to a vintage 30s quilt and will also require no additional setting- just sew the blocks together and border ifinyawanna.

i'll work on the yardage math tonight and get some instructions started...i'm thinking of have a mailing date about the first of march....

wanna play?

boo to you and BOM housekeeping

i sent my halloween quilt to Linda to be quilted and i can say that it is a finished quilt. here's pictures straight from the dryer.*crinkly quilt goodness*

there is nothing better in the chill of winter than to wrap up in a fresh-from-the-dryer quilt. it's the seond best type of hug.

i've decided to call it 'boo to you'

here's the great stripe i used for the binding, cut on the bias of course.

here's the back. i am in love with that lime green buzzard.

BOM housekeeping:
at the end of january i will be removing all the posts that pertain to 2011's BOM. i will also be removing all the block pdfs from my Etsy store. double check that you have saved or printed all the pdfs. once they are gone- they are gone *period*

i'm currently working on 2012's BOM and i think you'll like it too. it going to be scrap friendly, but i'll get into that later!