Month: January 2018

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Progress on Stonefields

Good morning – back to shorts and T-Shirt!  Nice break, but drizzling and overcast for the day – Maybe some sun tomorrow.  This is a very short post which is unusual for me, but I forgot to add my SLOW work on Stonefields in my previous post!

There were 4 blocks in this Segment that I did not care for and replaced them with Mini-Dresden’s.  I like the Fusions fabric and pleased with the way they turned out.  I machine sewed the Mini’s and then hand appliqued them to the background squares.

 

I am still not in the mood to do a lot of handwork in the evenings maybe the desire will come back as I progress through the maze of Flu and SI joint problems.   Today I will be working on the remainder of Stonefields as we watch the football playoffs as I am so far behind on my applique projects.  Tomorrow my Kaufman Premium Cotton will arrive and I can then begin on preparing Aunt Bea’s Parlor embroidery project  I enlarged the pattern just to make sure I would not mess it up.  Then that means adjustment to the entire quilt when adding the corners – good challenge for me!

Have a great Sunday, hoping that winter is not over with yet here in South Texas.

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A 2018 Flimsy Finish – My Rainbow Regatta!

Good afternoon from Muggy South Texas!  Yup from freezing to the 70’s.  Tomorrow will be shorts!  I THINK I am back to normal other than the nagging Flu cough and getting over Sciatica!   When my house cleaner quit 2 weeks ago I just was not in the mood to worry about it – and lo and behold – I put a small ad in our small paper and I now have a new house cleaner – Starts on 1 Feb!  Good things coming my way!

This week I wanted to work on Regatta (one of my January goals) and I did so.   I am not sure, but I think this quilt top qualifies as a  Modern quilt, something I never thought I would make.  But I needed something to get me back to my passion and this was an easy one to do and yet feel the sense of accomplishment!   I have been looking at the Regatta quilts being made and I thought, hum, I did not want to make one with the same color family, so I went through my stash and found some Aurora Lights RJR fabric from 2003.  I remember so well when I purchased these.  We were visiting friends in Georgia, and my friend and I went to a great quilt store and fell in love with  the fabrics.  At that time I was beginning to applique more and more and wanted to use the gradation fabric for flowers.  But alas, the fabrics have been patiently waiting for that to happen and it did not.  I moved on to different things such as batiks and now reproduction fabrics.

So here is my first finish for 2018 – something to get me started for my 1 February 2018 New Years Day.

My Rainbow Regatta

I cut 2 1/2″ strips of the Aurora Lights and used Nancy Crow by Henry Glass (another one of the fabrics I fell in love with) because I do not purchase a lot of jelly rolls.  The original color I had selected did not appear to work out as I had planned.  I am so thrilled that I went to my older stash and found the Aurora Lights.   I did not want to cut the fabric like the pattern stated and have a lot of waste, so I auditioned each of the 8 pieces of fabric I had in the Aurora’s and selected the border fabric based on the fact that it has all the colors that are in the quilt!

I think this quilt would also fall under an RSC Challenge quilt!

I am now a Happy Quilter!!!!  Have a great week-end.

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Poor Aunt Bea’s Parlor and My Little Quilting Fairy

Welcome to the deep freeze in South Texas.  I am enjoying this winter and so glad to be retired!!!! So far the month is going fairly well (as soon as I quit coughing) and the only unforeseen requirement that came up was a phone call from my house cleaner who quit for a full-time job!  Yesterday Clay and I took care of this week’s work.  Think I am going to continue to find a replacement!  Wish I were 55 again!!!

My goal has been for the last two months was to have all of Aunt Bea’s Parlor blocks traced and ready to work on this month!  Well, I have met that goal yesterday only to have to start over because AGAIN because I did not listen to that stupid Little Quilt Fairy in my head who was telling me that I had selected (again) the wrong background fabric for this quilt.  So after finishing the tracing all 20 blocks yesterday I looked at them and had a sinking feeling that I should have listed to the Little Quilt Fairy!   In order to prove her correct and me wrong, I took a piece of the background fabric, put the needle and thread test to it and knew immediately that I, AGAIN, have screwed up!

This is why I am NOT starting anything of importance until 1 February 2018!  This is when my quilting New Year will begin.  I attribute the last 7 months as a learning curve for anyone over the age of 70!  Do not have hand surgery EVER if you are a quilter over that age, and DO NOT get the H3N2 Flu!  You will become one extremely frustrated quilter!!!

Now to the fix.  As I tracing each pattern, I realized that the blocks at 5″ were not going to be fun to embroidery and this project may die on the vine.  So I spent the time to call Canon to seek advice on how to enlarge pattern through the software.  (I was advised that the one I purchased last year is a cheap model – no wonder I miss my Canon 480 and 490 printers).  The young man was very helpful and I learned a lot from him in a short time!  Great support.

This afternoon I have scanned in all the blocks, resized them, printed out paper copies, and copies onto my pre-cut freezer paper.  YEA! Ready to go, but wait which background fabric will I use (I asked myself) I had already purchased 7 yards of the “wrong” background fabric (it will be used in other projects) specifically for this project and I do not have a lot of plain ‘white’ background fabric – plenty of muslin – but I did not want to use that!  So it was between ordering white Bella Solid, Kona Cotton White, or  Kona Premium Cotton White.  At this point in life I did not feel like taking the time to shop for the best price  for the fabric so I called the Fat Quarter Shop and ordered a bolt of it!  In the future, if I need a good plain white for background for my embroidery projects I have plenty of Beige, White, and Snow of Kona Cotton fabric!  Heck, I am becoming a regular fabric store!  LOL.

Tomorrow I will take the time to work on my 2018 projects and UFO’s from 2017 and try to become more organized (if my body will cooperate).   I hope my brain will be up to all that hard work!  I have joined a few QALs –  Squared Away BOM,  a new one Stars Over Baltimore , to assist me in attaining some of my goals for 2018  I am using One Monthly Goal and 6 & 6 in 2018, and the APQ 2018 UFO Challenge!  Good luck to me huh?

I am still going to try to meet January goals of ‘looking’ at Mountmellick (do not trust myself to start this one yet), finishing the 42 Mini Dresden’s, complete tracing for Aunt Bea’s Parlor, and Regatta.  I have a neat idea going for the Regatta, but the way things are going it may not turn out but worth the time to play with it, after all I have 2 full weeks – 14 days to finish SOMETHING!

Have a wonderful evening and enjoy stitching!

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A Few Finishes!

I have finished 15 more Mini Dresden’s from the pattern Dresden Heaven .  Out of the 105 Mini Dresden’s that I need to make for this quilt I have completed a total of 62.  I think I must have been in la la Land to think I could make 43 more of the puppies by the end of this week!  Of course I did not count on my sacroiliac joint going bonkers on me so now I am doing stretches as much as I can and lay off the walking until (maybe) next week.  At least today (almost one month to the day) my cough is getting less and less.  I am sure that the Cedar is off the charts but not taking a chance by breathing any outside air in!

Here are the latest plates I have finished.  I tried to get the colors more true but the iPhone camera has a mind of its own, so this is the best I can do for now.

15 More Mini Dresden’s

I think it is time for me go find my comfy chair and do some hand work – and this time I mean it!  I have developed a bad habit of not even touching my applique, knitting, or embroidery projects after supper!  This must change.

Have a great week-end and I am hoping that things will turn around for the remainder of 2018!!!

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APQ 2017 Completions

We all know by now that 2017 was just not my year for accomplishing quilting goals.  Nanette’s 2017 Goals    Well, here is what I completed for 2017 and of course I did not fare well last year! (I lost almost 6 months in quilting).  You can see by my 2017 goals that I missed the mark but good!

Small Jane Quilt, Circa 2016 Modified, and Pat Sloan’s Sewing Machine project Completed
Oh Glory

 

Belinda’s Quilt

 

Bobby’s Eagle Quilt

 

RSC 2016
Stonefield Blocks – Sections 1-4

 

3 1/2″ Churn Dash Completed in 2017 – Still a WIP
3 1/2″ Stars Completed in 2017 – Still a WIP
First Applique Quilt (2003) – Quilted – Needs binding
Nesting Block
Nesting Block
Mountmellick Center – 3 Parts Completed
Sweet Stitches – January thru April Blocks – May is completed and June almost completed
The Failed Robin’s Nest – Just too many problems – sold the pattern

I guess I completed more little projects than I thought I had.  For 2 hand surgeries and 21 days of the Flu…. I need to quit complaining but this has really be a slow quilting year for me.  I normally produce so much more.   Robin’s Nest was such a disappointment to me so I sold the pattern and I also sold Ms Billings as I just did not want to get into another pattern that had issues.  I believe that I had a post about this project earlier in the year.  It is just so heart breaking to spend 3 weeks of our time only to find out the pattern has a flaw that cannot be fixed!

Have a great day ! Next Post will be my 2018 Projects List AND my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January.  To stay positive, I no longer set goals for the day, I set ‘DESIRES’.  This way I am not disappointed if I cannot attain the goal!   (Mind games)  Have a great evening!

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Squared Away and RSC 2018

Well, today is the first day of my New Year so I decided since RSC 2018 is providing a pattern each that I will participate.  This month is blue.  I am going to make 3 blocks each month of the colors provided.  Today I have Block already completed.  YEA for me, and it was fun to do something bigger than  a 3 1/2″ blocks.  I have a drawer full of Hoffman fat quarter batiks and really need to start using them.  I have 3 different blues that I will be using for the contrasting cross in the middle.  The blocks are 10 1/2″ unfinished and a 10″ finished.

Blue Block 1

 

Fabric for Block 2
Fabric for Block 3

I think I will enjoy RSC 2018  and  Squared Away   because it is only 3 blocks a month and they appear to be very easy and can be made quickly.

Have a great week-end

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OMG – Mini Dresdens, Aunt Bea’s Parlor, and Regatta Quilt

Happy New Year and hope all is going well for everyone.  I plan on starting my New Year tomorrow (Saturday 6 Jan 2018).  After losing another 3 weeks to the Flu (still coughing) now 2 days of R&R from the RF treatment yesterday (they cauterised the nerves in my back).  Everything went well and I am hoping that I will begin to have more energy soon.  I am getting so sick of R&R that I am surprised that my Recliner really lets me get out of it anymore.  This is going to really be a big push tomorrow to start my walking again, but I am bound and determined to get back to where I was before the Flu got me!  So my main goal for this month is to get healthy, lose some weight (10 pounds would be nice), and walk my 1.5 mile each morning!!!!!  Hopefully by the end of the month I will be doing a lot better!

I worked on my Mini-Dresden’s earlier in the week and have 47 finished.   I  rechecked the pattern and I will be making 105 of the little mini’s and 16 of the larger Dresden’s.  So this is now a January OMG project.  I hope to complete the 105 in the next week and then there will be 105 Mini’s to hand appliqué to the background fabrics!  I think I can make this goal of having the Mini’s sewn, but not appliquéd (that would be a miracle).  I now have a process going when sewing them and can usually roll out about 5 to 6 a day!  Doesn’t sound like much, but when you add in the stitching, trimming, and then pressing before one can be put together, I will be happy to have them completed by the 13th.  This is what I accomplished this week on them.  They are 3 1/2″.

Mini’s Finished this week
Mini’s made in 2017

I also am working on preparing Aunt Bea’s Parlor blocks – I cut out 20 each 10″ squares of muslin for the backing and 2 are ready for embroidery work.  (Along with the other hand projects that are yelling at me to get with the program).  For some reason (couldn’t be the 2 hand surgeries and the Flu) I just am worn out and do not feel like doing any hand work in the evening!  This just has to change or I will just need to give up!

Sometimes we need to have a “mindless sewing project” and I have found one that Gretchen and Peggy are working on called Regatta designed by Block M Quilts.  Very very simple quilt and Gretchen made hers in 2 days and Peggy has selected the fabrics.  Since this one is made for a jelly roll, etc, I checked my stash and found some batik Bali Pops that did not have a home – so this is the fabric for my Regatta Quilt.

I plan to start working on this Saturday!  If I can get these 3 things completed I will be a happy camper.  I must get myself back on a stricter routine or I will never achieve any goal that I set.  So tomorrow my 2018 will start – and my main resolution is to set goals and achieve them and totally ignore any UFR (Unforeseen Requirements) that will try to cause me to stray!

Have a great week-end.

Linking up with OMG