Traveling and Quilting Do Go Together

Last Sunday the 15th I left my home to go travel for a week to work at a go-live.  I was in a little town in Colorado. I was able to get a lot of hand sewing done.  Since I wasn't here for two weeks like I was two years I didn't borrow a sewing machine.  Here is what I did two years ago when I was in Colorado.

Ready to hand sew

That is my traveling Yo-Yo making kit.  And my cell phone to keep me up to date on email and Facebook.

What I finished in a week

I also worked on Dear Jane Blue Work.  Above are all the Yo-Yos I tacked on or appliqued on.  I made a lot of progress.  See what happens when I don't have a computer. 

In case you didn't notice I learned how to add one of my own pictures to my blogger background.  That is a picture of my Boo Swap Dear Jane.  I like showing off my work this way, and it will be different than any other blog. 

Happy Stitching!

Another Setting for Blue Work & Dutch Treat

Setting #2

Well I have been thinking on this on & off all day.  This is another setting I thought of a couple of years ago for the Dutch Treat blocks.  I had to redraw the block because some how I had lost the original file.  I did rearrange the blocks a little and I like this setting so far.  It also means I would do less Dutch Treat blocks.

I copied the idea from the quilt on the cover of the book The Art of Machine Piecing by Sally Collins.



Setting #3

Here is a variation of the setting!

Planning Ahead

Yesterday I decided to lay out my Dear Jane Blue Work blocks I have done and to combined them with my Dutch Treat blocks I have done.  I like the look of the two kinds of blocks mixed together.  My first setting that came to mind was a Storm of Sea setting. 

Believe me when I say this looks a lot better in EQ7 then it looks here.  I think this also looks better in my mind's eye then in EQ7.  So I am not sure now what I want to do but since I have 7 more Dutch Treat blocks to make I don't have to decide today. 

I mostly played in EQ7 this week in preparation for my class I am teaching on Saturday the 14th.  I did make more Yo-Yos but no real progress to report.

I have added a new feature to my blog on the right hand side bar you can now follow by blog by email.  When you sign up for this you will receive an email stating the blog has been updated.

More Yo-Yos and a Finish

Making Progress

I have made some progress on my Yo-Yo quilt.   I basted down the Yo-Yos on these two blocks and began the hand applique of the Yo-Yos.  You might see the needle on the block on the right.  Last week, I only had the Yo-Yos pinned to the design wall.

   

My traveling Tin

Mr. B. and I took a little anniversary trip to Safford, AZ and Benson, AZ.  I took my projects with me in a plastic container.  When I came home I found this fun tin and thought this would work great for storing my blocks and Yo-Yos as I work on them. 

While we were driving to Safford, I finished the binding on my little flag quilt. 

C-9 DJ Blue work

I was also able to do some work

on my Blue Work Dear Jane Blocks.  While riding in the car.  I am not sure how many of these I am going to make.  I will have do a mock up in EQ7.  I have nine done now and I am working on number 10. 



A-13 DJ Blue Work





These blocks look so much better in person. If you think you are seeing cat hair on them you are. My all black cat loves to sit in my lap when I do hand sewing.


Happy Stitching!


Quilting Update

It seems my habit of posting on Sunday night with what I have accomplished in the last week has kind of gotten lost in shuffle over the last couple of months.  Part of the problem is I am not doing a lot of sewing, I have been working on Genealogy. 

After some more playing and rearranging, this is as much as I have on my design wall of my "Yellow Brick Wall".   I still have lots more playing and rearranging to do.  It just isn't trilling me.  I was even thinking of putting it away for awhile.

This is the other sewing I have finished this week.  One more Blue Work Dear Jane block.  I do this when I want some thing mindless to work on. 

My machine is still in the sewing machine hospital.  They can not find a mother board for it. I am sad about that.  He did get it work again, but can't  guarantee how long it will last.  It might work for a week or two years.  I am praying for two years.  I did go look at machine today but I don't know what I want.

What??

It has been 24 days since my last post????
Where did the time go and what have I been doing?  I know I have been busy with lots of actives.  It seems I have been busy at least 3 or 4 nights a week.  Plus work, plus sewing, plus having fun with my new phone, plus trying to decide what storage stuff I want for my sewing closet, plus reading 3 books, plus a big church food storage activity, plus celebrating a birthday, plus surviving my annual review at work and all that involves, plus going back to the gym and weight watchers.  And last but not least a new laptop to replace both my dead laptop and my dying desk top. 



Sewing room closet



Let me start with the sewing room.  This is my closet, and that is my dresser in the closet.  All the drawers are full of fabric.  It has severed me well but it was only supposed to be temporary.  When my in-laws gave up their home we inherited their bedroom set which had a king size bed.  I had a new bedroom set and I didn't want to give it up but we didn't have room for the dresser, so in my sewing room closet it went.  Well now that all the kids are gone, I want to have a guest room but first I must have a place to put the fabric. 

I have looked at the Elfa system at the Container store, but they have open baskets, and I live in AZ and have an indoor cat, so dust is a problem and so are open baskets.  I found a similar idea at Ikea  that had solid drawers with lids on them but the sales man thought the fabric would get too heavy.  So I am still thinking about what to do.  I am leaning towards the Ikea product.  I know I do not want to lift one container to the get to the one under it. 



Deciding on border design



Here I have been practicing on my Plexiglas for a boarder design.  I did quilt it the way I drew it. 

Here is another picture of my little charm quilt on the frame.  I had a design all worked out for the blocks, but it didn't work.  I don't have enough space to do what I had thought up.  So now I have another design worked up but I need to do a little more practicing on my Plexiglas to make it flow.



Mistake #3



Well this is the quilt that is driving me nuts.  My first mistake was I started it at quilt camp in September.  I didn't read the instructions close enough and I cut too much and sewed up to many pieces.  Second mistake I sewed up too many of the next set up strips, luckily I caught it before I cut more.  Here on my design wall you can my third mistake.  I sewed all these sections together and had to rip them out again. 

Here is the progress I have made once I realized my mistake.  Not much but it is a start and I will have to redesign the quilt to fit my fabric as it is cut.  Goes to prove you need to read instructions, measure twice and cut once. 

I have been doing some hand sewing when I have a few minutes and want to relax and watch TV but want to do something with my hands.                                       

So as you can see I have been busy!

Quilting Update

Somehow I ran out of time to post last Sunday and the rest of the week was just as bad.  Also having a cold didn't help. Thanks Heavens my cold is getting better.  But I am wondering how I will survive work all day tomorrow after taking a nap everyday for 5 days.  Today I took sometime to update my side bar and slide show at the bottom of my page. 

Last weekend I finished my Moon Santa and he safe away until next year.  I am not posting another picture.  So far this year I finished two small quilts.

On the side bar you will find one box with the Quilts I hope to finish this year or finish the tops.  In another box I have the quilts listed I have finished this year, so far.  I am not making big plans for quilting since Genealogy is still taking up a lot of my time as well as that full time job. 

Since I was home and taking it slow I have been doing some hand work.  I finished 3 more Blue Work Dear Jane blocks, for a total of 6.  The blocks were already prepared to embroider on them.  It was nice to get some more done.  I now have to prep some more.  I have no idea how many I am going to do, I am doing them until I am sick of doing them. 

I really have been wanting to quilt something on my frame.  I don't have a quilt ready to place on the frame so I finished this little wall hanging.  I just had  this st had to add the outside polka dot fabric.  The backing is all pressed and maybe one night this week if I am not too tired I will load it on the frame.  The only thing I know I want to do is small e shape into the valleys between the prairie points.  I am trying to think of some kind of design for each block.  Stuff to think about for another day. 

Well it is that bewitching hour, time to go to bed since I work tomorrow. 

Look Who Has Been Busy



Cardinals

  I have had a busy week in more than sewing.  On Wednesday I had to take my cat Rosie in for surgery, she is doing fine, but it is never a fun thing to take a person or a pet in for surgery. 
That was my day off then I was three days over on West side of town for work.  Luckily I have a very nice quilting friend I stay with.  I finished the binding on this first two projects at her house. 

The Cardinals I started at Quilt camp.  Those are pine cone buttons in the middle. 




Painted Desert



This beautiful 15" square batiks and fairy frost is called Painted Desert, it was in the Fall 2004 for the Love of Quilting by Fons & Porter.  Those pieces are very small, and this picture doesn't do it justice.  I kept the quilting simple, just in the ditch, I didn't want to detract from the stars.  There are 13 stars.  Yesterday I decided I would enter it in the Arizona Quilters Guild Show in March of 2011.                                                                                                                                     

Mystical Horses

Today I did some more quilting on my Mystical Horses.  I think I am about to the half way point.  See it doesn't touch the floor any more! I need to have it finished by Saturday morning.  One of my friends wants me to quilt a medium size quilt for her so she can sell it at a Boutique.  Anyway I am happy with the quilting so far. 



DJ Blue Work

When I was on vacation I had

lunch with a friend I meet in Blogland.  Lorene and I visited for a while before lunch and I admired lots of her stuff.  Well she showed me her Dear Jane blocks she is doing in red work.  And let me tell you I fell in love with them.  I have never been drawn to red work, but these just grabbed me.  So I went to the quilt shop to buy my red thread and they didn't have any, so I went with my favorite color, blue.  The work up really fast and they are perfect for those evenings I don't feel like sitting at my machine.  They are mindless and relaxing.  I am not going to make them all and I might mix them with some Dutch Treat blocks I have and do an unusual setting.  Time will tell.  When I get tired of them I'll stop.

Well even though I am not tired now, it is time for me to go to bed.  Monday morning work day will come very fast now. 

Happy Stitching!!