Birthday Block Swap

I participated in birthday block swap this year with my online group Blockswappers. I finally took the time to take pictures of the blocks I have received. There were 21 of us involved so I should be receiving 20 eventually. I don't know what I am going to do with them, but they will go really nice with the blocks I have been swapping the last year with another of my online groups Quilted With Love. I now have an abundance of 12" star blocks that are going to sit and simmer until I figure out what to do and I find time to do it.

The blocks may look a little wonky but they aren't.  I just took pictures as I took them out of their envelopes before ironing.

Thanks to everyone that participated.

Michelle

Jo's Club Finish 1

I have been participating in our LQS's Jo's Club.  This is a monthly club that uses patterns and fabric from Jo Morton.  I finally finished my first quilt which was due this month.  It is really tiny and went together quick.  I actually had the top done the middle of June but it took me until this week to get the binding done.  It was the first time I have ever done single fold binding and I don't like doing it that way. I think I will stick with my normal double fold binding but just make it smaller when doing these quilts.  I guess if you don't try something new you won't know if you like it, now I know.

I have next months done already as well I just have to take some time to do the binding.  For some reason that is one of the hardest things for me to do.

Well I am off to work on another Christmas project and since I only have 3 weeks until my next batch of DJ blocks are due I better get started on those as well. Guess I will be sewing away in between hanging loads of laundry on the line.  It is already hot here, it's days like these I wish I had air conditioning.

I even put a label on...rare occurrence as well.

I hope everyone gets a chance to sew today.

Michelle

Christmas in July - Project 1

Since I decided to take a break from DJ for the week I figured I would do some Christmas in July projects.  I have 3 that I plan to do right now.  I have about 10 Christmas themed projects but that is another story in itself.

 I figured I would just start with a simple one at first, well they are all really simple and use charm squares, layer cakes or jelly rolls.  I use to live on the pre-cuts but I kind of took a break from them for awhile.  I am now back working on projects with them as I have time.

I call this on Jovial Christmas since it is made with the Jovial fabric line from Basic Grey (one of my fav's of all times--I just love all of her lines).  I found the pattern at Moda Bake Shop, started cutting and had the top completed in one day. It is a disappearing 9 patch so that made it even easier. Now when I get it quilted will be another story.

It looks kinda wonky on the design wall, but the wall didn't want to lay flat since the fan was blowing like crazy,  it's really hot here.

I am now off to another adventure, waiting on some fabric to arrive for the next 2 projects.  I had to go to two different places to get what I needed. Received on package waiting on the other.

Enjoy the day and sew a little,

Michelle

Dear Jane

I started teaching a Dear Jane class at my LQS.  We started last month and we are scheduled to meet once a month.  I had originally planned to do 10 blocks a month but figured out that would take me over 2 years.  I mean Dear Jane (DJ) has 225 blocks (including the triangles).  So, since I want to stay a month ahead of the class in blocks I did 16 last month, but they wanted all 16. This month (August anyway) I have to do at least 14. I took a break this week to work on other projects but it is back to the grind stone next week.  My goal is to get the top completed by the end of December.  That means I have to do at least 40 blocks a month, right now I think that is a little bit ambitious since there are so many applique blocks but we shall see.  I might just have to push it out one year and have it done by next June.  That would still be long but may be more workable.

I originally planned on doing the complete quilt by hand but then changed my mind, it was a little to daunting for me.  Since I am not a die hard traditionalist I am going to machine sew, paper piece, applique, reverse applique and hand piece depending on what each block needs.  To me easier is better most of the time.

I am doing my DJ in pinks and browns.  This is the Hot for Chocolate Line from Blue Hill Fabrics.

A5 - Cathie's Campfire

A6 Uncle Homer

A8 Florence Nightingale

B4 Chris's Soccer Field

B13 Four Corner Press

C1 Trooper Green's Badge

C3 Rayelle's Fence

C12 Family Reunion

D6 Challenge

D7 Meeting Place

H13 Farm Fields

I1 Ralph and Nelda's Wedding

I2 Kaye's Courtyard

I3 Family Album

J4 Adelaine's Apron Strings

M5 Mother's Point

I still don't feel like I have completed enough, but I guess 16 is better than none.  I only have 209 to go..guess I better go put the pedal to the medal.

Sew long for now,

Michelle

Updated Sewing Room

I have taken some new pictures of the sewing room.  It is still kind of messy but I am in the middle of a ton of projects and honestly did not feel like cleaning up to take the pictures.  At least this way you can see the way I work.

The design wall was separated but don't like it that way so a waiting for hubby to move it over and connect them all.

Still need to make some fabric door for the shelves, of course that is just another thing on my to do list.

Go cutting station with some baskets that I have not put up yet (they were 80% off at Hobby Lobby, couldn't pass that up. I also have my scraps to cut, these are just the ones that have been ironed.

Originally this basket was supposed to hold scraps but I have way too many, need to get them all done so that this basket will be my only scrap holder. Someday soon I hope. I have only been working on taming the scraps for 2 years now and still don't see the end.

I also received for mothers day and my birthday a frame and machine. I haven't had time to work on it although it is almost completely set up.  I am hoping to be ahead on project by the end of this month so that I can take some time to figure it out.  I have a bunch of flimsies waiting to be done and some of them I have had for years.  Oh if only there was more time in the day.

Adding the quilting frame has left me with less room and you can't really see the beautiful floor but that is OK.  I am blessed to be able to have an area devoted to quilting and still have room to walk around.  The bright side is that there is very little floor to keep clean and clean up is now easier.  I love just running a dust mop over the floor to pick up the stray threads instead of clogging up the vacuum.

Sew long for today,

Michelle

Design Wall

I finally have a design wall. After I took this picture I realized it still wasn't big enough so I have since added another section.  I went to Joann's and bought the biggest flannel backed table cloths I could find.  Good news is that they were 60% off so it turned out to be really inexpensive.  My original goal was to buy some type of design wall that I could hide ( I did find one but didn't want to pay the money for the size) but since that didn't work, up this one went. I don't like that it is out in the open all the time but I like even better the fact that I don't have to crawl around on the floor now it is just up and down the step stool and my knees are thanking me already.

Here is a picture with my blocks from my Quiltville on line swap last year, Chunky Churndashes.   I am just loving how they look. I have decided not to add a border and I have already sewn the top into another flimsie.  I just need to decide on a backing and what to use as the binding.

Enjoy the day and sew some,

Michelle

I'm Back....

I'm back.  I have been really busy, there is so much going on I don't even know where to begin. So I will start at the beginning...makes sense huh?

We or should I say I decided to put hardwood floors down in the quilt room.  It turned out to be a lot more difficult and time consuming than I thought.  You don't realize how much stuff you have until you have to find somewhere else to put.  Now emptying a dining/living room area is no small task.  I ended up with stuff in the basement, garage, game room, spare bedroom, bedroom, and family room. I still don't have everything put back yet, but it is on my to do list (which by the way is miles long).

The project took longer than planned since it was a do it yourself thing, we saved a lot of money but I don't think I will ever do something like that again.

We had to remove all the carpet, scrape the floor, figure out how to install flooring, cut flooring, install flooring, install new baseboards, and oh year I repainted all but the red wall that I originally painted in December.  Good news was there were no broken bones this time.

So we finally finished that.  Yay.....Next time I will post the pictures of the room with all the stuff back in there.  Unfortunately you can't really see the floor once all my stuff is back in there.  Oh well.

Sew long for today,

Michelle