Yo-Yo Quilt Uodate

Here are all the corner blocks finished, t was really hard to pick out fabric I liked and I thought would look good with fabric for borders I hadn't picked out yet. 

Here I am previewing all the fabrics I will use for the Yo-Yos.

On May 1st I was able to go into my favorite quilt shop for a private shopping spree. Kathy the owner and I had a great time finding fabric for my borders. It was a lot of fun.

Here are the results of that shopping trip. 

I won't tell you how many bolts of fabric we previewed but it was a lot.

Three of the Yo-Yo's on the border blocks are sewed down and all 12 are tacked on. 

Close up of border fabric.

I put this away for a while because I have wanted to do other things. 

Until next time Happy stitching!

Yo-Yo Quilt Update

I don't think I ever mentioned the full name of the quilt or the designer. Let me fix that. It is Welcome Wagon Yo-Yo Quilt by Kim Diehl from her book, Simple Graces. I can't find her website. 

There are a lot of websites that carry her books and patterns. 

This how the quilt looks like in the book. I found this picture on the web, I tried taking a picture from the book but you couldn't see the whole quilt. 

When I am working on a quilt I frequently design it 

in Electric Quilt software for designing quilts. 

Originally I had visions of a purple border like the one below. 

Then I thought maybe lighter would work. I usually prefer

 a darker resting border with a darker binding. 

When I looked at the book again and saw the red border, 

it started to grow on me. 

Just as I was sewing the last row on I notice a mistake in the last three blocks on the last two rows. If you look hard enough you can see it. It is supposed to be light to dark triangles and I have light to light and dark to dark instead. 

And yes it would have bugged me if I hadn't fixed it. 

On April 25th all the rows were connected and the center was constructed and I started previewing fabric I had in my stash. None of my stash fabric is big enough to do the job, so I have to wait until the quilt shop is open again to buy my fabric. I won't buy it online because it is too hard to determine the color. 

Above are the two purple samples I have and then I found a red I really like. Let me say there aren't many reds I like. But I like this one below and the picture doesn't do it justice. 

Since I was dragging out fabric, I started looking for 12 fabrics to make the corner blocks. My room still hasn't recovered from that adventure. Here are the winners.

And these were the ones I had chosen but were eliminated 

as I found others I like better. 

Previewing the corner fabrics. I am happy with these. 

Previewing borders and corners together and yes it is on my floor. 

I can't decide I will just have to wait for my favorite quilt shop to open again. 

Happy Stitching!

Yo-Yo Quilt Update And Masks for Cornona Virus

I know it has been a while since I have posted any progress on my Yo-Yo quilt. I finally made some progress since I had my sewing machine up to make masks for my family and nurse friends. 

But here is what you really want to see.  First I connect four rows of blocks together. 

Then I sewed two rows together. They are in the middle. I was thinking I can't wait to preview border fabric but my favorite quilt shop is closed for because of the Corona Virus! So, I have to wait. 

Feels good to be making progress!

This is just a small sample of masks I made.

Here I am styling with a mask on. Yes, I did make a quilt out of this fabric. 

And with a different mask on. 

Happy Stitching!

Yo-Yo Quilt Blocks

Remember the Yo-Yo Quilt, that I have been working on forever, well almost forever.

On Saturday March 23, 2019 at 1:38 PM,

 I put the last stitch in the last Yo-yo in the last block. 

Yeah!!! What a great feeling.

So here it is on the design wall with all the blocks. 

I did change some of the Yo-yos on some of the blocks, too much yellow or orange. I am not a big fan of yellow or orange but I know you need a little to help make a quilt colorful.

Next step of sewing the rows together will be happening soon.

Happy Stitching!

Yo-Yo Quilt Update

I had a Facebook memory popup this morning on my feed of my first picture of my Yo-Yo quilt, taken five years ago today.

So I thought, yes let's see how much progress I have made in five years. Here is that picture. Just six little blocks and three with centers appliqued down.

I understand why I haven't made as much progress as I would like.  Something about other projects to do and kids. 

Here is the link to my last progress up date. 

I had 37 blocks done and 44 to go. 

I now have 38 and a half blocks done, since August of 2013.  But I have made a lot of yo-yo.  I have 17 blocks with the centers appliqued down and 25 centers just tacked on to the blocks.  I have a total of 81 center blocks to make and four corner ones, which the backgrounds aren't even made. They will have the opposite coloring of the center blocks. So I am still a tag short of the half way mark.  

Here is block 39, the half completed one, and the Yo-Yo's I have made on the last three car trips we have taken as a family.  I like doing this while driving it helps make the drive go faster. 

I guess I need to start doing some of this when I watch TV with Richard after the girls go to bed.  I find it too hard to work on their stockings that late in the day.

Here is my container with all the blocks except the one above. 

The baggies have sets of 10 in them, 

so I don't have to keep recounting them.

The pile on the left are the Yo-Yos I have made during the last three car trips.  The pile on the right are the ones I have made since my last update, August 2013. 

I think it is time to start sewing Yo-Yos unto blocks!

Happy Stitching!!

Dear Jane Borders

Well I have been busy sewing between being busy with other stuff, like kids, homework, playing chauffeur, and spending time with Mr. B. who took some time off from works.  So we went on a date to breakfast and a movie. We had two birthday celebrations for Little Bit who turn 10.  I took in a movie with the girls. Plus I taught a four hour class, my Stick Witch class.  Gosh I am making myself tired just listing all this out. 

So now all four borders are constructed, minus the four triangles that are missing.  See the white spots below. 

I found out that I last worked on these triangles in 2005, so it has only been 10 years since I last worked on the quilt, instead 12 years. 

It was really fun to go though all the fabrics I had put aside for the plain triangles. Some of the fabrics are Millennium fabrics, I included them, since that was my original plan.  Since these fabrics have been tucked away for ten years, I also cut a small square from each of the fabrics to make Yo-Yos for my Yo-Yo quilt.  See the side bar, Yo-Yo to see old post on the progress of the quilt. 

Close up of the top half of the triangles.

Close up of the bottom half of the triangles. 

Now to go make four triangles and two corners.  I am hoping now that the borders are almost completed I will have more momentum or at least not loose any.

I know why I put it away, I got intimidated by those last four triangles I had to make as well as putting on those borders. 

It feels good to be getting to this point. I want to finish this!

What's Happening

At my place.  Well it has been a little bit of everything.

 

All the flower buttons have been sewn on my little Baby Steps. I have add leaves to less than two sides.  I can see a light at the end of the tunnel on this one.  Yeah!  Some of my friends at the quilt shop yesterday thought I should frame it.  I have never framed one of my little quilts.  I am not sure.  I will have to think on it some more.  I would love to see some little quilts framed to see how it looks.

 

 

 

Several months ago when I taught a Twister Tool class I was showing the students the pattern of this quilt and noticed it had a spider on it.  I had to check out my quilt and it did not have a spider.  Well it has now been added!  It looks more complete now.  Every Witch's hat needs a hanging spider.

 

Close up of the spider.

 

 

On July 9th we took the girls on a little trip to Disney California Adventure Park.  We had a great time.  One of them took a picture of my hubby and I while we waited in line for the Race Car ride in Cars Land.  Last year we forgot to take pictures of hubby and me, so I was determined to get a couple. 

The next day we went to the beach.  This is what happens when you let a 10 year old take your picture up close and personal.  I kind of like the picture. Unfortunately, she dropped my camera with the lens cover open right in the sand after taking this picture.

 

The lens cover doesn't open all the way, as you can see by the back shadow on the picture below. I think I fixed as you can see in the last picture.

 

Above is my tin with my Yo-Yos supplies.  I made more Yo-Yos while we drove back and forth from Arizona to California.  I also listened to a book on CD, Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.  A very good story which really makes me glad I live now and I am a regular person and not royalty.  

Above on the left are the new Yo-Yos I made to add to the collection on the right.  I made 40 on our trip.  I don't know how many more I need and I don't want to know.  Once I get tired of making Yo-Yos I will start sewing them on some more blocks.  Right now I want to finish that vine for Baby Steps.

 

Well that's all folks.

Take Care and Happy Doings!

 

Catch-Up Post

This post is a major Catch up with what has going on around here.  Yes, I have been busy and in-between busy I have worked on a few things.  So here you go! 

 

Two years ago I craved a Funkin, here you can see how it looked.   Well this year when I unpacked it there was a little accident and the middle part broke off.  There was too much detail.  So anyway we decided it looked like a monster's mouth and we decided it needed a tongue and some eyes.  How do you like the new look?  I just used paper for the tongue and eyes. 

 

We purchased some new inside decoration and one is on loan to us. All at half price, my 2nd favorite price.

 

This is my other new decoration!  Isn't it great!

 

The outside is also all decked out!

 

 

I have done some tying of Mr. B's quilt but I most admit I am not loving this.  I need to get it done for Christmas or before because he needs it and has been very patiently waiting for this.  I was going to give it to him last Christmas.  But life happened.

 

It is also uncomfortable to stand at my frame and do this.  I am working from the back to tie it and it a reach and I can only do about one row at a time.  I must make time for this.  The sacrifices we make for our love ones.

I felt like doing some piecing. 
I really wanted to make the Twister Jack-O-Lantern but I couldn't find the pattern at any of my favorite places.   Here is a link to the pattern. So I decided to make this little snowman that I was going to make last year and didn't.  This is made from a charm pack.  I found the squares hard to cut in half with the little pointy edges.  Better done than perfect.  It still needs some embellishments before it is sandwiched and quilted.       

I also took two quilting classes.  This is my piece from the walking foot class.  Yes I have taken classes before and I have done most of my own quilting, except on three quilts.  One of my goals for my retirement was to become a better quilter and so I took a couple of classes, this one was the walking foot class, the second one was the free motion class.  I learned a lot from both of them. 

The best part is I learned some new ideas for quilting so maybe I will get out of my same old same rut.  I didn't take a picture of the free motion sample yet so I'll save it for another post.  I took the classes from Sandy Davis at A Quilter's Oasis.


And last but not least I am still making more Yo-Yos for my Yo-Yo quilt.  From this post in
August you can see I have a
few more yo-yos, but not a lot.             

 

If you click on this link, it will take you to my Genealogy Blog and you can see the Family History Scrapbooking pages I have made. I am loving how they have turned out.  

 

Have fun whatever you are doing!!