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



Design Wall Monday - 5/21/12

I was busy yesterday...I really was..it just doesn't seem like I accomplished very much.

I did make a temporary design wall for my Sylvia's... I really did not want to move my DJ that would be a really big hassle.

I finished a couple more blocks for Jane, these are kind of a pain. I appliqued  two blocks so they are done. I even hand pieced the center for one..I hope it looks better after ironing than it does now because I really don't want to have to re-do it. I have one more to applique then I am done for the June blocks.

I finished a couple blocks for Sylvia's..I have 2 to applique and a couple difficult blocks coming up soon. I say difficult because I hate partial seams and Y- seams.  I can not seem to find a simple way to do these and I get frustrated. I guess I will just start hand piecing those sections because it is easier that way for me for some reason.

I only work every other day this week and I get a 4 day weekend so hopefully I will be able to get a lot done this week.  Even though we have some major yardwork to do this Saturday..yuck.

I hope to finish this block this afternoon.  More set in seams..yuck.

My temporary DW for Sylvia's.

My next QOV.

Close up..I have had this top waiting to be quilted for at least 2 years.  Yep..I'm kind of slow.

Maybe some progress will be made this week.

For more DW head on over to Judy's.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

Michelle

Stash Report Week 21 - 5/20/2012

Well I did get a finish this week. It is not a lot of fabric but it was used none the less.

I finished Raspberry Swirl for Jo's club and it used a total of 2.5. I did use most of my stash but bought backing fabric for it and then Vintage Modern precuts came in so I had to scoop up a couple of those. So with the jelly roll and 2 charm packs I ended up bringing in 6.25. Still one step forward and ten back with me but oh well.

I also finished most of my DJ blocks for this month. I still have 3 to do one to hand piece and 2 to applique so hopefully I can finish those this week. I am now going to ..hopefully...load a quilt on the frame and then get busy working on Sylvia's.

Raspberry Swirl

Vintage Modern..waiting for the yardage so I can figure out what I want to do with them.

Dear Jane for June...only 3 more to go.

Used this Week: 2.5 yards
Used year to Date: 101.29  yards
Added this Week: 6.25 yards
Added Year to Date: 127.59 yards
Net Used for 2012: -26.3 yards


Maybe I can actually get some stuff done this week and my numbers will improve.  I have a ton to quilt..I really should take the time to count how many but that may be a little bit scary. I also still have Orca Bay that needs the binding done as well.

Off to sew. I have a few more peaceful moments by myself...the clan went to the movies to see Battleship.

Have a great day.

Michelle

Raspberry Swirl is Done

I did it! I have a finished quilt top. I even finished the binding and have it sewn down.  I didn't get a whole lot else done but I beat the deadline.  I finished it last night so it is already for class tomorrow. I will then bring it home wash and dry it and hang it up on my Jo's wall.

Now granted it wasn't a big quilt but hey these days anything is better than nothing. I spent 4 hours yesterday on two blocks for DJ and didn't get either of them finished. I was at the point that I needed to just step away before everything was flying out of the window. So hopefully by Sunday I will be ready to tackle them again. I did finish the applique last night on two other DJ so I am not too far behind yet. I still have until the first Wed. of the month.

It really feels nice to get something completely done and it really felt nice to work on something different for a change. Now off to celebrate my middles one's 13th birthday, hubby coming home and all of the fun weekend stuff...like cleaning, laundry etc.  I hope Sunday will be a day to sew...



Have a stitchin' fun weekend everyone.

Michelle

Design Wall Monday 5/14/2012

Yesterday was Mother's Day so I took a day for me, well sorta.  I did not work on Sylvia's or Dear Jane. 

I didn't wanna..instead I worked on Raspberry Swirl which is a Jo's Club quilt.  I am am part of the club but I am always working or working on another quilt so I haven't made any of them this year or part of last year for that matter. I am going to be teaching that class this Saturday since the normal teacher had a family emergency so I figured what the heck..I will spend the day doing something different.

So out comes the Jo fabric and sorting and deciding began.  I ended up using pinks because I had 9 different ones and I wanted each block to be different and I also had enough for the outside border.  I really wanted to do it in the poison greens but I didn't have anything for the border. So off I went.  I realized I will need to check out work tomorrow for something for the sashings. I have a fabric that will work but I am not too happy with it.  So I am hoping to find something get the top all finished and then quilted and bound (GULP) by Saturday morning.

I might just do it since I don't have a hubsters here this week, but I also have tons of blocks to get crack a lackin on for Sylvia's....does it ever end? I don't think so.

Here is the partial blocks that I was working on. I was chain piecing three at a time and was down to my last three..which would mean I had already done six...well

Does this look off to you? Why after doing so many do I decide that I need to do some creative sewing..not on all of the pieces mind you just some.  So out comes the seam ripper and off I go.

Here is a close up of one of the finished blocks. I keep looking at it and personally I think the "spikes" are off in size compared to the rest but the block does come out right.

If I had a lighter background I would have used it but this was all out of my stash and it was the only shirting I had that didn't have blue or black in it or "something just not right".  I think it will grow on me.

I only have two quilts up on my Jo's club area so this will be a nice addition.  Oh...well now that I remember I do have another quilt top that is Jo's that just needs quilting...hmmm maybe I can find time in the next 100 years to get some of these tops done....well dreaming is allowed right?

For more design walls head on over to Judy's.

I have to work this morning but then that is it.  We will have leftovers tonight so I can sew, sew, sew, the night away. Well, unless work kicks my bum.

Have a blessed day everyone.

Michelle