Leo’s Mane Sew Along

Monday 16 January 2012

Design Wall Monday Jan 16


Well, I must say that was an interesting, not in a good way, morning. I had to be at the city courthouse bright and early this morning, at 9 AM. Not a good start for me, not being a morning person, to begin with. Then through the courthouse security, body scan with those  hand wand thingies, and metal detector, and purse search. Good thing I didn't take my knitting, since that would have counted as "sharp objects" Upstairs to the 14th floor to a very crowded courtroom. Have I mentioned before I don't do well with crowds, let alone crowds where I don't know a single person? Then they brought in the people being put on trial, suffice to say a violent one, although not murder, and read off all the charges, and they all pleaded "not guilty" Then, we were all broken into groups of 20, and sent off to wait in small jury rooms to wait, and wait, and wait.......... Then, finally called into the courtroom, put up into the witness box, in front of all kinds of people to answer the lawyers' one question. I guess I flunked, because they sent me home, at about 12:30. That has to have been one of the creepiest experiences of my life. Really, really glad that is done.
So, I came home and decided to do a little fun sewing, and made up another Dresden Plate for the Scrappy Dresden Plate quilt along and  now I have 2, and I'm liking what I'm seeing, so far.


The other thing that I'm supposed to be working on is my UFO for January. It is a quilt pattern called Endless Chain. A number of years ago I found a really good series of books by Emilie Richards. If you've never read her stuff, I recommend it highly. The Shenandoah Series follows a group of friends in  small community, and, of course, quilting figures strongly in the books. All of the books in this series are named after quilts. One of them, named "Endless Chain", caught my eye, and it got added to the list of quilts I have fallen in love with, and had to make. So, I sent away for the instruction book, and got to work. The quilt in the book uses a stripe fabric in the wedges, and I really liked the effect, but didn't want to use a stripe, so I decided to make my own by piecing the wedges. Whenever I feel like sewing, but without thinking about it, I pull out my odds and ends scraps and piece up a bunch of wedges, on paper, kind of like string piecing, or crumb piecing, but with a regulated shape and size. I'm getting close now to having enough of the wedges pieced, and am ready to start sewing it together. I had originally planned on just starting to take the blocks off the wall and start sewing them together. But when I thought about it, I realized that if I did that, I'd be sewing all the center circles on when it is really large, and difficult to maneuver under the machine. So, I think the next step is going to be adding the center appliqued circles to each of the hexagons, and then I can start sewing it together. So, that is what I am going to start to do today. 
I'm linking up to the Design wall Monday linky at Patchwork Times. And, I don't know why, but the type size in this post keeps changing. Very strange......

4 comments:

  1. I love Emilie Richards books too - and Jennifer Chiaverini's and... No wonder I don't get as much quilting done as I'd like - I spend too much time reading! (It must be an occupational hazard - I'm the church librarian, and I try to read a fair bit of what I buy...).
    I'm sure that you're going to enjoy NOT being a juror, although when you mentioned that you had to go today, I immediately thought about the Tori Stafford case, but they won't be choosing the jury for a few weeks yet.
    I'd better quit reading blogs, and get back to MY Dresden Plate for the quilt along - you talked me into it!

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  2. Your day at court is a regular day for my job...only I usually am on the stand for many questions :) It's not so bad once you get used to it I guess!
    Good thing there is quilting to come home to!
    I just love your "endless chain" quilt...it's very dramatic!

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  3. Gracious -- what a way to spend your morning! I think you were quite right to balance the day by spending the afternoon sewing. I'm going to have to google your Dresden Plate ruler. I love your blocks!! I'm also going to have to look up the books by Emilie Richards. I don't think I've ever read anything by her before. I'll have to see if I can find something of hers for the Kindle. Hugs!! :)

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I love reading all your comments, and am grateful for each one. I try very hard to answer them all, but lately I haven’t quite been able to answer all of them.