Switching it Up

I did manage to get one row sewn together before I got distracted again. And I do have all but four blocks partially sewn together. Well it is pretty hard to stay at it when I have seen so many versions of the quilt on the web and even a couple in the flesh (or cloth) I  should say. 

  

So a break was needed cleaning - shopping - the weekend - Table of Grace on Monday.  

We made Chicken Spaghetti and everyone really enjoyed it.  I used elements of the Pioneer Woman recipe and the chicken tetrazzini recipe our UMW use for our casserole sale.

We have a wonderful group of helpers.  One couple treats us to lunch from a local pizza place and another of our newer helpers brings a fabulous dessert.  Many hands makes light work and we have time to relax and enjoy each others company when our meal is in the ovens.  I was at the beach last month so it was good to catch up with friends.

Tuesday after TOG is rest and relax day. 

 I pulled out this project that had been tucked away before Thanksgiving.

To be truthful - I came across it when I was looking for something else.

I made a few more of the quarter circle segments.  I think I have enough for 12 blocks.

They will be 16 inch blocks - so that would make a 48 x 64 inch center.  

I visited a new (to me) quilt shop in Greenville with a friend last week. 

I found a blue floral that I liked in a color similar to a couple of small  pieces I had at home.

The border here is a leftover from a backing and that's all I have of it.

I have ordered another similar fabric online but my plan is to use various florals in the blue background.  

It is a scrap quilt after all.

Tomorrow is sewing  fun with C&S .

SPRING

The weather has been so warm here that most of our winter has resembled early spring weather.

The lawn guy mowed this week.  And I'm the queue to get the yard cleaned up and new pine straw 

etc.  

More Mystery

I made a few more mystery blocks Thursday when my friends C & S came for a sew day.  

Late Sunday afternoon I sewed a few of the sashing units and wanted to see how they related to the block.

I decided then and there to put my quilt together in sashed and bordered blocks.  That way I wouldn't 

have to deal with long skinny sashing strips.  I do this a lot when I have this type of pattern.

I make a copy  of my printed pattern and mark off my area into segments and label them.  Then I label each segment as I finish it.  This saves so much time when sewing the segments together.

Here I have sewn on the first of the outer border on this segment (B1-R1).

Now I have the First Block in the First Row all complete with all the borders added. 

It's 27" square - only 15 more blocks to go. But when I sew them together my quilt top will be finished - no borders to sew around a large quilt.

What in the world is this?
I bought it at Target Friday for $4.99.
A silicone Iron Mat.
The price is great - saw one somewhere in a quilting catalogue for much, much  more
I pinned it to the end of my ironing board so that when I was ironing something big  - fabric or quilt top - I could flip it off the ironing board and still be able to find it when I needed it again.

My Oliso  Iron got some kind of intestinal problem and spit up all over a quilt block I was pressing. 

I didn't bother sending it to the hospital....................

So this is the stand in - so used to not standing the iron  - glad I happened to see the silicone mat.  

Have to think if I want to invest in another high dollar iron.

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I should have said cogitate instead of think.

as I just finished reading "Maud's Line" by Margaret Verble set in Eastern Oklahoma in 1928.

Mystery Quilt / Quilting Tree

Listening to A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash in the sewing room, 

I managed to get one block of the 16 needed for the BH Mystery made today.  

This may take longer than I expected. I can see that I could have made better choices of some of my fabrics.   Mystery Quilts are definitely not my forte.

I went down to my quilting room for the first time in a couple of months the other day.  The weather has been great and it would have been a great time to start on a quilt but I was getting ready to go to the beach so I just cleaned up a bit and left the tops to languish awhile longer.

I use the old, old coat tree from John's Mom to hold most of my quilts in waiting.
There is a small closet in the bedroom and I do have one or two in there.  But for the most part they go on the quilting tree.

 It's really sturdy. it has to be when I am so remiss about getting to the quilting of all these projects.

I store and cut my battings on the bed.  I love having these rolls as it seems like I don't end up with quite so many odds and ends of batting as I did when I used individual packages.

Don't know if I will get any time to quilt any this month.  Time will tell.

Listening to A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash.  

Another Blue and White Quilt

I downloaded a pattern for this quilt awhile back and  while I had all kinds of blue fabrics out to cut it was convenient to cut for this quilt also. Each blocks needs 8 flying geese segments - 24 little geese.

I made a kit from these to take to the beach and trim too.

However they seem more tedious and not to many got trimmed.

Guess I'll take them to the weekly sit and sew to work on there.

I did make one block - it will be hard for me but I'm going to try to use the same background fabric for the whole quilt.  That is, if I have enough of it.

This redbud was my welcome home. 

 This very early spring has been so unusual- down at the beach the carolina jasmine was all over the place - pretty bursts of yellow as we traveled from her to there.

The weather man offers up the possibility of snow Sunday and temps in the 20's - may be winter still has a wild card or two up his sleeve.

Sewing Again

I am trying to get back on track with the BH Mystery quilt. 

 One of my friends has her's quilted and bound already.

So it's sew, sew - Press, press etc.

These quarter square units were a bit of a challenge for me and I was pleasantly surprised when I only had to toss out a couple of units that were too small.

I took them to the beach last week and trimmed off all the dog ears.

Now that I have all the units done, I can think about beginning to sew them together.

 My project will be really full when I add the trimmed quarter square units.  I'm right in the middle of sewing another set of blocks together so will put this back on the shelf (literally and figuratively) for awhile.