Edyta Sitar – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

January 12, 2016January 12, 2016

Projects Going Well – Blog is Late!

Good morning to all. I hope that your New Year is going well and that projects are coming along as you have planned. I was going to try to Blog each Friday – but oops, missed that goal! It is good ole’ Cedar Season here in South Texas and I wish they Cedar trees would just go away, but not that lucky! I am scheduled to be checked for Asthma on the 25th as the inhaler really has made me feel a lot better and more energy. If that is what has taken some of my stamina away the last 2 years it will be a blessing to find out and correct the problem!

I am happy with my progress on E. Sitar’s Basket of Flowers. I have completed 350- 2″ four patches (think about 50 too many but gives me more selection when making the baskets)! They are easy and fun to make. Sometimes mindless sewing is good for the brain to relax and no pressure. The pattern directions state to cut the strips at 1 1/4″ x 21″ but I always add 1/8″ or 1/16″ to the width when cutting in order to have some extra fabric to square my blocks and the shorter strips keep the strip sets even and less waste. Each 21′ strip makes 8 Four Patches.

Strip Sets for Basket 4 Patch — Strip Sets 1 3/8″ x 21″

Next step is to cut the strip sets in the same width (1 3/8″ or add a 1/16″). I am keeping the four patches in individual bags (plastic snack bags) for 2 reasons – control clutter on my cutting table and allow me to work on other projects. Since I tend to work with “controlled” scrappy projects it also makes it easier to work with the selection of colors for each basket. I “accidentally” purchased the bags and thought I would take them back, but then realized I could use them for small projects like this one.

Lots of 4 Patches — Bags of Four Patches

I wanted to see how my colors would look for the baskets – not sure how the “scrappy” will take shape, but here is a sample. (without the pedistal).

I finished the 2nd Christmas place mat. Hopefully I will be able to finish the preparation work for the Table Runner. It is a quick needleturn applique project. Heck – should be able to have this one completed by Thanksgiving if I work faster (LOL).

I have one diamond block completed for E. Sitar’s Flower Garden and the remaining 5 cut out and ready to sew to the hexagon paper pieces. There are a total of 6 diamonds for the quilt center of the quilt. I am using Betty Cutchian’s Eliza’s Indigo. I ordered a few fat quarters and then ordered the “bundle” This has worked out great because I can use the same fabric but different colors for the hexagon stars.

Flower Garden Medallion B1 — Flower Garden Hexagon Diamond

A note on the Farmer’s Wife 1930 Sampler. Laurie Hird contacted me this week and advised that there are 4 more corrections coming from her publisher. They are for the diagrams only. I am glad that I brought the issue to her attention because she was unaware that a problem existed. She is working on her third book and is appreciative that I advised her about the problem and is instituting safeguards that this will not happen to her again. It must be so frustrating to send one’s work to a publisher only to have them make mistakes when publishing the book. I admire Laurie for checking into the issue for me – I am beginning to feel now that I may just work on this project later in the year.

Today will be trimming the remaining Four patches and hopefully cutting out the pedestals. I would also like to finish up preparing the Xmas table runner and bring out Segment 3 of Stonefields. Have a great sewing day. Enjoy Life.

January 1, 2016January 5, 2016

Happy New Year – Still Working on the Old and Bringing in the New for 2016

Happy New Year! We arrived home in Texas on Christmas Day. We made a mad dash for home with the El Paso Blizzard following us. We left Whetstone, Arizona on Christmas Eve and spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was cold! We left at 8AM and we were scheduled to spend the night in Fort Stockton, Texas on Christmas night and head for home on Saturday. But when we realized that we would arrive by noon and just sit there until Saturday morning, we kept on going and arrived at home at 7:20PM – a 651 mile trip pulling a 36 foot 5th Wheel that was probably overloaded.

We were very blessed on this trip home because when we went to unload some things out of the 5th wheel on Saturday morning we had a flat on the Dually! No wonder the truck acted like it was dying on the last 50 miles! Now a week later, we are now back to our normal routine. The weather here in our area is dark and dreary and raining. For me I love the weather like this – Cold, Wet, and 100% quilting weather!

I have made myself a promise now that we are settled back into our normal life that I will Blog each week with updates on my projects. Since my last post I have finished Segment 2 of Stonefields and started a Christmas Table Runner and Placements – YUP – bought that pattern and fabric 2 years ago so now it will be ready for Christmas 2016…. why be in a hurry? If I finish this in the next 2 weeks it will be the first time I will have a nice table runner and place mats for Christmas!

We had a wonderful trip, but will not go back to Arizona for the winter again. We have been doing this trip for 15 years and it is time for a change. We have decided to do shorter trips during the year and stay put for winter time in Texas. I can hardly wait to go to Durant, OK for a good gambling trip!

Here are the blocks for Stonefields, Segment 2:

The top two blocks were really difficult to achieve perfection – so I did them twice. The second time I used my EQ7 software and redid the block pattern. They came out perfect the second time. The original pattern was not drawn to scale and it caused the stars to be off-center. The lower left blocks with the little flowers were fun to make, although when I realized the hexies were 3/8″ I thought they would be the most difficult to do, but they turned out to be the most fun! Here are the blocks close up.

Blue Hexie Flower Block — Blue Hexie 3/8″ Flower Block

Christmas Placemat — Christmas Place Mat

I purchased the pattern in Durant, OK in 2013 on the way to Arizona. The Table Runner has 5 candles with the Christmas Balls and has a shadow fabric for the back of the candle which is really neat. When I finish that I will provide the pattern information. Fun and easy project for Christmas 2016!

I have an impossible list of projects for 2016 – none of which will be on-line BOMs. They served their purpose for me last year, but that was then and this is now! Here is my list (hum…..) wonder which one’s will be finished this year?

1. Civil War Bride (There are 3 (maybe 4) Ladies who will be doing 2 blocks a month starting in February or March and I will be posting the progress of all each month! If you have the pattern and would like to join, let me know). There are no set rules or time constraints with this project.

2. Brinton Hall (Quiltmania Project)
3. Flower Garden (Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps Book)
4. Baskets of Scraps (Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps Book)
5. Dear Jane (Brenda’s)
6. Stonefields
7. Stars and Sprigs (Kim McLean)
8. Sweet Surrender – Australian pattern (waiting for the mail impatiently)

There is a “maybe” project – 9. Farmers’ Wife 1930 (There is a BIG maybe on this one – there are issues with the .pdf files). As I previously posted, I purchased the book and all the fabric, so I have already invested a lot of $ for this project. My friend Cathy sent me 3 books on 1930’s fabrics for Christmas and they are great reads. They will be a great help if I decide to use the fabric on another quilt.

I also would love to start on Di Ford’s 2013 Mystery Quilt but of course who knows. I realize that there is no way to complete all, but I am going to at least get started on all of them and do not think I will get bored. This will be the first time I will run projects concurrently – should be fun or I will slide into oblivion world of “ex-quilters”.

My friend Jaydee, sent me a piece of fabric of Peacocks. She was working on The Morrell Quilt and had a couple of the birds left over. When I received them I immediately could see a Medallion coming down the road… The birds are so pretty.

Have a wonderful 2016 and remember, Life is short, Friends are Few, and God loves us!

September 18, 2014

Sentimental Scraps Project – August 2014

I started a post on 11 August 2014 – Where has the time gone? I was under the weather (as they say) for about a month, then here came the Dentist and the 6 month checkup’s and the Austin Quilt Guild Show! WOW. I am so looking forward to next Tuesday (23 September) as I will be through with Doctor visits (not the Dentist yet). At least I will have an opportunity to become BORED? One thing I will not miss is all those wonderful trips to San Antonio and having to rush and leave by 8AM! Reminds me of going to work! The longer I am retired, the less I enjoy having to be somewhere at a certain time. Of course the exception to this rule is when there is a Quilt Show to attend!

So let me see if I can remember who I was, where I was and what I have accomplished. Until I read the draft of 11 August, I did not realize that 5 weeks since I finished putting 230 each – Three Inch (3″) 9 Patches for my Sentimental Scraps. At that time I put all in a box for a later date to finish. I will wait until things have settled down before I put the quilt together as it may end up in a Quilt Show and I do not want to mess it up! I still have quite a few of the 1 1/2″ x 5″ strips left over. Might make a scrappy rail fence – any ideas?

Having a Blog is really neat as it is a great way to document and share our progress on projects. I enjoyed working on this project, although my friend Jaydee finished hers first and I hope mine is not still in the box at Christmas……Speaking of Christmas… I certainly hope I can make at least one Christmas project before December 25, 2014. This was a goal in January 2014, but things do happen that we cannot control, so maybe I will finish a Christmas project by January 2015 and say – “wow, am I ever ahead this year”. LOL

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014

Sentimental Scraps Coming Along

Life has been a little hectic, but calming down some. I have been working on my Sentimental Scraps project. Thought I would take a few pictures to show that I am getting some projects going.

A Bucket of Strips — This is my “Bucket of Strips” getting smaller

The Light Strips are thinning out – Need more!

Here are the “Future 9 Patches” – Ready to be put together

I was going to cut out some additional fabrics, but decided to just continue with the process and use up all the 5″ strips I have already cut. I did pull some of the lights I had selected as I did not like the way there were turning out. So now I get to cut some more strips. The pattern calls for 130 3 inch 9 patches, but I am going to make a larger quilt, so I am “assuming” that if I make a total of 230 or 260 that the quilt would turn out to cover part of the California King bed! Now if I find that I just cannot continue on with this “fun” project, it will be what it will be.

I have started quilting my BAS block and hope to have it complete next week. It needs to get in the mail by next Friday ….. Humm.

Here is an idea I had for my last border on Rosemary Youngs Happy Scrappy project. I originally decided to do the last border in the Chedder crackle with the hexie flowers on each corner, then last night I thought I might add more…. Boy those 5/8″ hexies are tough to do, but it might look better with more than one on each corner…..We will see what I end up with!

Scrappy Happy Last Border — Happy Scrappy Medallion – Last Border

I have received my patterns from Australia – They are neat. I ordered Auntie Green’s Garden, Mosaics, and Tulipa from the original Irene Blanck the Designer. Nice future projects. Her website is focusonquilts.com.au. The postage may be high, but the patterns are in wonderful condition. Clear and easy to trace for applique. They will be a challange and are on my Bucket List!

I hope all have a great week-end and keep on quilting! Until next week…. hopefully I will have finished some projects by then – or at least caught up with BOMs.

July 8, 2014

Where Does the Time Go?

Anyone who is still in the active workforce knows that time passes so s-l-o-w… Well, let me tell you – Retirement times passes so FAST that even when one wakes up at 4:30 thinking that they will be in their Studio quilting by 9:30 AM has another thought coming! How can a quick run to the store, bank, and pick up tacos at a drive in window take over an hour and a half? Especially when one lives about 5 miles from a small town! Well believe me it does and it threw my schedule off about 3 hours. So my dream of being in the Studio cutting out a new quilt today has not really gone as planned. I guess I knew that it was not a “good brain day” after I had pressed my block for Baltimore Applique Society (BAS) donation, cut the batting and backing, then realized – OH do I have to add a BORDER???? Well, needless to say, back to the cutting table….. At least I did not mess up the block! Whew!

I did finish the border on my for the Baltimore Applique Society donation quilt without anymore stupid things happening and it is now ready for quilting. This particular block is from the Elizabeth MacCullough Hervey Quilt Pattern, Block D3. BAS is such a great group to be a part of. They are located in an area where they go to the Museums and actually copy the Baltimore quilt pattern from the original quilt. I really regret that when I lived in the Northern Virginia area that I was not a quilter. I had always wanted to learn how to quilt since the 1970’s, but there was not time with a full-time career. So I jumped into the quilting world two years after I retired. The first technique I tried was needleturn applique and I feel in love with the it! This was before glue! (I am a Traditional needle turn appliquer.)

BAS will be hosting a “Bits of Baltimore Online Auction” to be held October 1st through the 15th and October 20th – November 3rd. I will post more information on the Auction in another post. Now on to the hand quilting. I am pleased with the outcome. At first I had some issues with the fabric I had selected, but things began to take hold and now it is finished (oops except the quilting!)

I have decided that I will continue to save the Austen Family Quilt BOW, but will not be working on it this year. I am going to complete the Globetrotting, Threads of Memory, and Happy Scrappy Quilt. I have received my fabrics that I was lucky enough to find to add to my stash for Happy Scrappy. The fabric line is Ruby’s Flower Garden and Summers Basket of Flowers! So it is now time for me to get serious on getting things done. I have also decided to do Sentimental Scraps by Edyta Sitar for Laundry Basket Quilts. The pattern is in the Quiltmania magazine Number 99, page 81. My friend Jaydee has already completed her quilt and she did a wonderful job. I hope mine comes out as pretty. I purchased the border fabric along with some other pieces from the Hope Chest Collection. Here is a picture of Jaydee’s beautiful Sentimental Scraps quilt.

Jaydee Quilt Mania Scrappy Quilt — Jaydee’s Sentimental Scraps

I will be posting my progress as I go along with Happy Scrappy and Sentimental Scraps. SS has 130 3″ nine patches and I will have to make more as this will go on a California King Bed…… Oh boy – more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Have a blessed day – Enjoy!