One Last Finish in 2009

One last finish for my husband, Joe. I finally sewed the binding on. I don't know if he wants it to hang on his office wall or not, so I may still need to sew a sleeve on if he does.

Back...and Happy New Year!

This is some of the dyeing I did before I went to California. They are half-yard pieces mostly. I have some that I also dyed in the purple range. I'll iron and get those up later. I have 3 long-sleeved t-shirts I also dyed for Joe, but I don't have pictures yet. I have to launder them, then I'll get some and post them.

I gave away two quilts at Christmas, I dyed a length of 4 yards of fabric purple to make a shirt (I think) or maybe it will be a quilt back. I haven't done much sewing...yesterday I sewed up eight bags for wine for gifts for the new year. I have a bunch of unquilted tops (as you can see to the right) that I want to get done before I do too many more tops. I have a bag I want to make...I pulled the fabric but haven't cut into it yet. Some part of me feels that I should put it away and work on the quilting that I want to get done. I don't need another bag right now, so it might go back in the closet for the moment.

I wish for you all a happy, healthy and fulfilling year in 2010.

Zip It is Done

The top is done, and ready to be quilted. I will surely have it done by February. I'm going to bring the top and backing to California with me so my niece can look it over and see if it is OK for the gift she wants.

I was going to try to finish the quilting on another top, but don't know if I'll be able to get it done before tomorrow morning. We're leaving at 3AM--so to bed early.

I don't know if I'll be posting much, so, Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful one.

Design Wall

Here is what I'm working on. It's a very easy pattern and it needs to be done by February. I hope to have the top done before I got to California next Monday. I may have the backing pinned on as well, but I don't know that for sure. I've been very distracted...made 4 kinds of hand dipped chocolates, very yummy, and toffee, and peppermint bark, and 4 kinds of cookies and caramel corn.

I hope dye a couple of t-shirts for my husband for Christmas, but time is getting short so I don't know if that will get done.

To see more design walls, check out Judy's blog.

Snow Day Quilting

The outside view...

The inside view.

Disappearing 9-Patch swap top done

I decided on a simple white border and I'll make the binding a scrappy one from the left-over aqua fabric I have. I didn't have enough to make a border, but I think it will be a nice touch as the binding. I don't know what backing I'm going to use, I think a fleece (but not sure what color) but this time a fabric binding instead of self-binding.

I like it more than I thought I would when I first got the blocks in the mail. I don't have a recipient yet, but I'll figure something out...or should I say someone.

New Addition

Thanks to Kathie at http://threadlines.blogspot.com I now have this very cool works in progress section on the right sidebar of my blog. She had one on her blog, so I sent an email, and she looked and found it for me. The code and instructions can be found here if you're interested. I put all the tops and parts I had on a spreadsheet over there. I figure if the top is done and waiting to be quilted it's at 75%. If I see them every time I am going to post something, I'm more likely to work on them, rather than choose a new project.

So thanks Kathie!

What's on My Design Wall 12-7

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the borders. I have some aqua left, so maybe a thin white border (like the sashing) and then some different aqua fabrics. I don't have enough of any one fabric to do the whole quilt...but maybe I should just use that fabric for the binding. I don't have any red left, so that's out. Well, I'll think of something.

Yesterday I made some Christmas goodies for gifts. A batch of English toffee, a batch of peppermint bark, 6 quarts of caramel corn and then last night I made some "Bordeaux" chocolates. I tasted the centers, and they taste more like the brown sugar squares you can get as Sees. I haven't tried one of the the chocolates yet, but they look pretty!

If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's blog.

Some Dyeing

Here are the fabrics I dyed on Sunday. The rainbow piece is about 2 1/2 yards long. The others are half yard pieces and were just afterthoughts...I had extra dye so decided to throw some more fabric in. I don't know that I love them, but it was fun. I have no plans for any of them at the moment, but I'll think of something. The colors aren't quite right. It's still dark outside this morning. I'll try to see if I can get some outdoor pictures later today. They colors of the T-shirt are pretty close to accurate, but the fabrics above are actually brighter.

The t-shirt is for my husband. He is a bright color kind of a guy. He usually prefers blues and purples, but I spilled the dye and this is what was left. I actually had a bit of the fuchsia and all of the fire red. I mixed up more of the deep yellow to finish it up. I had fun doing this (even with the mess I made) and am happy with the depth of color. I've had the dye powder for at least 7 years and I guess I had it in optimum storage conditions because I think the colors are plenty bright. The rainbow fabric was a pdf cotton I bought from Dharma at about the same time I got the dye powders. The flowered piece was a pdf from Lunn studios when they were still selling pdf fabric. The other two were just 1/2 yards of quilting fabric I grabbed, threw in the soda ash solution and poured dye over.

Because the house is cool most of the time, I put all the fabrics (wrapped in plastic) in a food cooler, put a heating pad on low on top of them all and closed the lid. I left them for about 24 hours. I think that may have helped the dye bond with the fabrics.

All in all a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Design Wall Monday 11-30-09

The top three rows are all sewn together. I decided to put cornerstones in the sashing, so I have small aqua fabric squares there. If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's blog.

Yesterday I did some dyeing. I haven't for a long time, but I had the need...a t-shirt for my husband, 3 yards of fabric (in a rainbow I hope) and 3- 1/2 yard pieces with the left over dye. I made a huge mess, and then put the fabrics in the cooler you see in the bottom left hand side of the picture. My house is quite cool, so I put it in with a heating pad on low. I remember reading that somewhere so I hope it stayed warm enough to batch properly.

I've had the dyes for a loooooong time, so I probably won't get deep or bright colors, but the dyes have been stored in a cool dry place, so maybe they have survived. I'll show the results after I wash the fabric later today.

Decorating (not quilting)

It just feels a lot like Christmas this year. I don't usually have the tree up this early, but somehow it just feels right. It's so much fun going through the ornaments and remembering where we got them or who gave them to us. We don't have a "themed" tree, but it is beautiful. We used to live in Pasadena, and there is a store there called Stats Floral. We bought the garland at the after Christmas sale before we moved to Colorado so before 1993, and it is real silver. It is amazingly reflective and gives the tree a beautiful shine. I love the lights and have wonderfully fond memories of lights shining through the pebbled glass in the bathroom window when I was little.

Disappearing 9-Patch layout

Here is the layout I'm going to use. I will use white sashing, but I don't know if I'm going to use cornerstones. I have red and aqua both. If I had a red-aqua print I would probably use it. I'll have to do some shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Design Wall Monday 11-23-09

I've sewn together 4 of the blocks in the first row. I think I'm going to have a narrow sashing between blocks, maybe 1 inch. It's interesting to see the variety of quarter inch seams in the blocks. Some of them are as small as 1/8" in places, but almost none of them are more than 1/4". I'm not going to work at matching seams within the blocks, but I am going to try to match the edges, so some easing will have to take place. It's also interesting to see that some other quilters press their seams open, as I do.

If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's post, and you might think about joining in, it does provide a reason to get something done so you can post something new.

Snowman Angel

Here is my most recent project. I had some fun with it. We're having a "Bowling Ball" at work for our Christmas get together...at a bowling alley. So, inside this fluffy guy is a bowling pin. It's a contest so we'll see what the other folks have to offer. I had fun working on it.

Buddy's Gone

He had lung cancer--didn't know, so we said goodbye to him today. He was a great cat, and we'll miss him.

What's on My Design Wall 11-16

I didn't realize it's been a week since I last posted. The quilt above is from a swap I entered. Red and aqua. There were more blocks with red centers than aqua, so the bottom left corner isn't quite right. I still have some fabric left over from the blocks I did, so I might make a couple more to fit in the top. I don't know if I'm going to leave it this way, or maybe add some white sashing between the larger blocks. This is just the first layout that came out.

I also have this one up (well, my wall is small, so it was actually on top of the disappearing 9-patch). I've finished the top, now I need to figure out how I am going to quilt it, and who it is going to go to. It was fun to do, and not nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be.

What's on My Design Wall 11-9

Well, here is the top, half the columns are sewn together, the other half are still waiting. I am going to put a 1/8" or so of orange piping as the first "border". Then a dark blue I think. I don't have that yet. I've been playing in Paint, and I might pick a dark green instead of blue.

Check out what other people have on their design walls on Judy's blog.

One Block Wonder-Help

Does this look designed, or just messy? Looking at it on the wall I think it looks a bit boring, looking at it in a picture it looks kind of messy, what do you think? Do I need to do some more stuff to it? I have the first column on the left sewn together, so those first blocks over there probably aren't going to move, but I could move some others around.

Thank you all for you comments. I'm going to leave it as is. I just needed a little positive input to trust that it didn't look like a bunch of blocks thrown on the wall. Lindi suggested I put in some of the complement, I may do that with beads or something like that. I tried it with some fabric, and it jumped out at me too much. Perhaps I can find some fabric for the border that has bits of a burnt orange in it, then add some small dashes in the quilt. This one might need some more work when it is all together, but I don't want to over-think it.

What's on My Design Wall 11-2

Here is what I have on my design wall. I have been wanting to make one of these for a while, but have been trying to get my tops quilted. I've finished a number of them, and wanted to start something new, so I've started this. I like it so far, and it's not very hard. I was expecting it to be a big production, and it's not, yay!

What a goof I am. I forgot to label the second picture, that is the fabric I cut the blocks from. I cut 3 3/4" strips, then cut the 60 degree triangles from the strip. Because I had just watched a video on line about cutting triangles for hexagons, I moved the template up, so the tip of the triangle template hangs over the top of the strip by 1/4". This leaves the top flat, so it's much easier to match the sides. I sew from the wide edge up to the tip for each half hexagon, and it goes very quickly. I also have a wallpaper seam roller I use to 'press' open the seams. I've attached a link so you can see what I mean. I always press my seams open, and because I'm using this tool, I don't have to use the iron, which saves time too.

More Snow

Another use for a quilting ruler. Sometimes you just have to measure stuff around the house, or outside the house!

A Bit of Snow

Here is the current view out my front door. No, there isn't dust on the lens, that's snow. The temperature is actually skewed upwards because that thermometer sits on the chimney, and the flue for the heat goes through the chimney. The high today is supposed to be 17, we have about 12 inches of snow and it's still falling.

I don't think I'm going to be able to get to work today. The high in the Springs is supposed to be about 24, but when I look at the traffic cams, there isn't much accumulation of snow, probably just icy.

We did get a new 2-stage snow blower, but the problem is (with a forecast of possible 3-7 more inches) I don't think I'd be able to get back in my driveway. If there was some convenient place to park the car, then walk up and use the snow blower I could probably do that, but there just isn't. Maybe it will stop and I'll just get to work late.

Here is one more picture, I looked out the window and saw this on top of the light. Why did it pile up that particular way, and how does it stay? It must be because of the friction of the snow flakes that it can be in that shape and relatively stable.

Have a wonderful autumn day!

Quilts for Kids

Here is the backing that was provided and the top. The quilt should be done in a couple of days. I have some batting that I can use, and the quilt is small, so won't take long to finish.

What's on My Design Wall 10-26

I read a number of blogs, and I saw a link for Quilts for Kids on one. I decided to send away for a kit. It came very quick...I have the borders and then quilting on this one, so I should be done. You can request a kit yourself. It comes to you pre-cut, and includes the backing fabric. They ask that you quilt it and send it back with one you make yourself. If you want to request a kit, here is the link.

If you want to see what is on other folks design wall this Monday, check Judy's site.