Design Wall Monday 1/20/2014

Haven't been able to do a lot of sewing. I am back to the routine of blocks for Sylvia's. I did 7 of them for class this month. If we keep up at this pace we will finally be done with this quilt in August. I am so excited.

The first 6 rows sewn together. It is laying side ways . This is such a long quilt. 

The seven blocks done for this month. I skipped one in the row since it is curves or applique for me. Saving it for Feb. class.

For more DW pretty's head on over to Judy's

Michelle

Design Wall Monday 10/7/13

I have been working on a lot of everything so it seems like I get nothing done. I am still stuck on Loyal Union Sampler. It is like potato chips I can just make one. I had to force myself to put it up so I could get my Sylvia's done for this month. I only have 3 more to go plus the 4 extra ones then I can get back to some other projects.

Sylvia's

 

 

 

Loyal Union Sampler

Hopefully with hubby back to work today, no thanks to the shutdown,  I can get some major sewing in.

For more eye candy head on over to Judy's.

Michelle

Normalcy Returns?

I have spent the last 3 or so weeks with company coming and going. Add school and sports activities and I can't tell which end is up most of the time.

This last week has finally been a week at home so I was able to get back on track.

So, of course it was Sylvia's Bridal Sampler time....figured I better get them done since class is this Saturday.

Dresden Plate. I English Paper pieced this one then appliqued onto the background.

Tennessee - Not my best work but after doing twice I refused to do it again.

Crow's Foot - pretty nice to have an easy one

 

Lady of the Lake - for some reason I had to do this one twice couldn't get the triangle units to come out right and after multiple seam rips I ripped the fabric.  Doesn't make for one happy quilter.

Crossed Canoes - another easy one

 

 

So far I have done 69 out of 144. Seems like I have done more oh well.  Will keep on trucking along. I am really wanting to start the Union Quilt Sampler that just came out but I have restrained myself so far...

 

 

Have a great weekend. I will be back soon with more things I have been working on.

 

 

Michelle

Design Wall Monday 8/12/13

Still chugging along. I did a couple more blocks yesterday before stopping watch my niece. I then went up and knitted and knitted and knitted.  I will get it done come hell or high water that's for sure.

I have 16 blocks of my Short Story Schnibble's done. I am hoping between today and tomorrow to finish them up and then I can get the top done.

Still need to come up with a name for this one. Pink lemonade, Tequila sunrise. Who knows.

I am off most of this week but have chauffeur duty.  Soccer tryouts every night and football practice every night. It is back to cooking dinner and piling in the fridge until they come home and ravage it. I always feel weird cooking dinner at home alone then shoving it in the fridge but what else can you do.

I did get my next batch of Sylvia's blocks done too..still not liking those set in seams.

Churn Dash

54-40 or Fight

Bride's Bouquet

Glorified Nine Patch (applique style)

Farmers Daughter

 

Making progress slowly but surely. I have 64 out of 140 done and 2 of the applique blocks in progress. Good news is I am really not getting tired of this one yet. Unlike Dear Jane. 

 

 

For more inspiration head on over to Judy's.

 

Michelle

Syvlia's Bridal Sampler - July

 I finished my 5 blocks for July's class. I am thinking I might go ahead and start on August's. I won't have a lot of time next month with Camp Loopy giving my a tall order to fill...800 yards is a lot.

So here are last months.

G4 - Chimneys and Cornerstones

 

H3 - Sarah's Choice

H4 - Dove in the Window

 

I3 - Dutchman's Puzzle

 

I4 - Anvil

 

I am working on some of the appliqued blocks now so maybe I can be a little bit ahead. I just keep getting side tracked by new projects.  Why is starting something new so much better than finishing something else?

 

 

Michelle

 

Design Wall Monday 6/24/13

My DW isn't anything exciting this week. I have 5 more blocks done for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler and that is about it.

Bears Paw

Bow Tie

Mother's Delight

Old Maids Puzzle

Rambler

 

I have 2 columns of Sylvia's done but I will be frogging those as well. I don't like the sashing so I am going to redo it. Another thing to add to my to do list.

I have to get 9 more blocks done for my Dear Jane and I am finished..just have to put the last little bit together. Unfortunately I have to do some frogging first. I had almost all 4 borders done but realized I totally messed up the color order so now they all have to come apart. I already finished one side only three left and then 18 blocks to sew into rows and add the borders and the Dear Jane will be completed.  I can so totally not wait.

I haven't been sewing much and other than have to get done's I probably won't be. I can't seem to sew a lot and also Camp Loopy a lot. So I will be camping much more than sewing this summer.

For more Design Walls head on over to Judy's.

Michelle

Design Wall Monday 2/18/2013

I just realized this is my first design wall of the new year. With the move and all I have just been very busy. But, alas my new design wall is put up.  It only took about 5 hours to do. It would have been a very easy task it I would have had dry wall up. Since I only have foundation walls down here in the basement on the outside walls it took along time, drilling into concrete is not a fun task, just ask my husband. But, the design wall is up in the hallway and is done. I do have to use pins to hold the blocks up, mainly because it is a hallway and with a teenager, a pre-teen, husband, cat and dog it is the easiest way to make sure my hard work does not move.

The new design wall.  This is 4 sections of sheathing/insulation, each section is 4x7. I thought it would be plenty big but....

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, it is so long I put the first blocks on the ceiling.  Hubby thought it was quit interesting. There are more blocks hidden behind the bow tie blocks.

Dear Jane is starting to come together. It has been a bad word around here for quit a few months. I am just ready for it to be done. We have about 50 blocks left. So by the time we are done it will have been a little over 2 years that we have been working on it.  The scary thing....I am seriously considering doing another one....am I crazy or what.

I finally finished my bow tie blocks that I had been working on as leaders and enders. I know Bonnie Hunter and the crew finished awhile ago and moved onto spools but I just had too many left to do. But now these are ready to be sewn together and I already have started another leader and ender project. More on that later.

I tried to get the complete picture here but with the hallway not cooperating this was the best I could go. I sewed these into 9 patches and now have to sew them together. It is going to be a 9x7 setting I think or something crazy like that.

 

 

Now, I need an opinion. Should I find a border to put on it or just bind it. I am thinking of just binding it but then what color should I bind it. I don't have anymore of the cheddar. I thought about black and I also thought about scrappy.  What do you think?

 

Well that is what is on my Design Wall for this week and very well what will be up there for a while to come.  For more ideas head on over to Judy's.

 

Have a great day everyone,

Michelle

Design Wall Monday 11/26/2012

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Now, the chaos reigns until Christmas.  I hate the extra traffic and the crazy people but what can you do.

I actually had the whole weekend off and didn't really get to sew except Saturday and Sunday but that was better than not being able to at all. I have to work the next three days and then a 3 day breather until my 7 work day stretch. I don't think I will be getting a lot of sewing in that time but who knows.

I finally finished my first two rows of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler so I put those puppies together. It is kind of weird looking up the stairs now and seing this quilt instead of Dear Jane. No, I am not done with it but I only have a few rows left so it is easier to see laying across the quilt frame. Well, actually the real reason is I was tired of have Sylvia's blocks all over the place and needed a place to put them.

The top half.

Wonky picture, but the only way to view all of the blocks.  The blocks are longer than my design wall so the last row hangs down.

 

The top half.

 

The bottom half.

 

 

I think I may have to get a new design wall soon. My flannel is shredding to pieces on these inexpensive table cloths I bought. Maybe I will just wait until after we move next year.



 

 

For other wall candy go on over to Judy's.

Have a great day everyone,

Michelle

 

 

Applique with help

As most of you know I am working on Dear Jane and have been for 18 months now.  I also started Sylvia's Bridal Sampler in September and sometimes I wonder what the heck I was thinking.  Not to mention I start A Year of Schnibbles in January.  Yes, that ends up being 3 classes a month I teach or facilitate as I like to say.

I have tons of applique blocks and I am just running around crazy trying to get them done.  I am really slow at it and am still not patient enough to get them to come out awesome.  Which leads me to these awesome blocks. 

 

My lovely co-worker Mrs. A volunteered to help me with some of them.  These are the three I picked for her to do (after looking at some of the others I have to do I should have given her more..lol).

 

 

She loves handwork and does awesome applique.  Needless to say a big thank you went out to Anita and I now have 3 more to add to my finish pile.

 

 

Michelle

I Finally Did It

I finally did it...I finished a block completely by hand.  Will I do it again? Not unless I absolutely have to...this technique is not for me..that is for sure.

I have been working on this block for a long, long, long time - well procrastinating with it for a great length of time..at least since the beginning of summer.

 

It is by no means perfect but it is good enough for me.

The block on the left is the hand pieced the block on the right was my machine pieced.  It really doesn't look that bad in the photo but let me tell you it is rough...oh well lesson learned.

 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Michelle

A Slight Little Problem

I was sewing along at an awesome rate.  Just busting through these Sylvia's blocks..no house cleaning, no cooking...nothing because I was on a roll...and then this happened.

Here is the block in all of its glory...its beautiful...well ignore the spare strings... and then the brain started working....

These blocks are 6.5 unfinished.

Can you see the problem?...that ruler is 6.5 and it is sure as heck not the same size as the block.  I have no clue what I did or how I did it but I will most definitely need to redo this block.  Honestly the only thing I can think of is I cut way wrong but I redrafted the block in EQ and the measurements matched the book so that was all good.

I guess I will have to put this example in the orphan block bucket and label this experience as the quilting fairies were messing with my head.

Off to work and sew have a great day.

Michelle



Design Wall Monday 5/28/12

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend. I actually ended up with a 4 day weekend. I am off thru Tuesday and so far I have not done as much sewing as I thought.

We ended up chopping one tree down...turned out easier than I thought..of course I wasn't the one crouched down with the chain saw either.

I did end up finishing up the applique for my last DJ block..just need to sew it together and I am finally done with DJ for this month...a little over a week early to boot.  I then did another row of knitting...of course the rows take forever since there is 414 stitches.

Sunday..my normal sew day was spent putting bedding on the clothes line and we spent most of the day at the flea market..it was nice but I ended up getting a little sun burnt.

I picked up the first few blocks of our new block of the month at the store..I get to do the sample which I am super excited about. So I spent the early evening hours finishing up month 1...(Mama B if you are reading this change the directions in your book to include cutting the red 2 7/8 squares in half diagonally book doesn't tell you to do that)...so that is what is on my design table..

Birds Eye View BOM with Kansas Troubles fabric.

Month 1 - Hummingbirds.

I did make progress this week on Sylvias as well...I now have 20/140 completed.  I'm gonna try and get Birds Eye done asap and then get back to Sylvias and Dear Jane.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. For more design walls head on over to Judys

Michelle

Sylvias Progress etc..

I was off yesterday so I spent the day in the sewing room. I was hoping to get a lot more done but some progress is made.  Do you ever think that you will be able to get twice as much done as you actually do? It happens to me all the time.

I started by finishing another block for DJ..now I only have one left to applique then sew together and i am done....almost a week early too.hmm wonder if I can do that next month to..doubt it.

I then spent the rest of the day working on my Sylvia's. I thought I would lots done but these blocks were a little more intricate than I thought.  I had a lot of set in seams which means, for me anyway, drawing lines and points and sewing really slow to get everything matched up. I also redrafted a block in EQ so that I did not have to deal with more set in seams. I would rather have HST or stitch and flip corners than to have to do those SIS (set in seams), so that is what I did. I figure it is my quilt and I can do what I want.  I will also be able to teach the block using either method.  I bet most of the students won't want to do the seams either.

The middle one and the one on the right had those pesky set in seams and the middle one had enough bulk behind the center for sure. I trimmed and used that wonderful method of smash and push and sqush.

The middle block is the one I changed.

Two of the easier ones. You can see the Sweet Treats pattern I printed off from Patchwork Times..that is on my list soon.

I also have a block that I need to redo by hand. I tried and couldn't get it done for love or money..as seen below..why do I keep forcing myself to try and get it all to fit when I know it is going to look like crap anyway...clueless!

I get a 4 day weekend coming up and Saturday we will spend working in the yard. Here is the updated pictures after the bushes came out.  We will work on chopping those 2 trees down by the front yard and then the limbs picked up and the spreading of the dirt and such.  Hopefully by August we will have the rock and grass in and be done with it.

Then between all of the starkness there was this...love them..

I work today then I am off tomorrow. I have the garage door repairmen coming but I am hoping to get lots more done on the sewing front.

Hopefully my handwork will get caught up and done soon too.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Michelle