Sunday Stash and Stitching

What an incredibly lazy day this has been today. It's cold and it's snowing, and I don't really feel like doing anything, or going anywhere. I've spent a lot of it so far just blog surfing. There really hasn't even been that much stitching done today. I finished sewing down the small heart, and that's it. I've been spending some of the day prepping the next set of pieces for My Tweets block nine. I forced myself to do the beak and the top knots while I was doing the rest of this bird, rather than putting them off until later like I usually do. I'm doing the tails of the birds differently in each of the blocks. At some point before doing block 10, which is safely several weeks away, at least, I am going to have to put them all on the wall and make sure I haven't got too much of any one colour going on in the tails. There's lots of other lovely hand stitching projects being shown over at Kathy's Quilts.
There was more stash out this week, although not a lot, and still none in. Four weeks into the new year, and I haven't bought fabric yet!

Used this week:                                           1.4 yards
Used this year:                                          11.4 yards
Added this week:                                          0 yards
Added this year:                                           0 yards
Balance:                                                    11.4 more yards out than in.
I'm linking up, as usual, to Judy's Stash Report.
And then just because Jo asked, I'm showing a picture of what quilts are  on our bed. I keep the bedroom really cool, helps with the night time hot

flashes, so there are several quilts on the bed. My very scrappy Endless Chain, from a pattern by Emilie Richards and the Double Duty, a pattern by Miss Rosie's quilts. Jo's opened a linky box here for anyone else who wants to show what's on their beds.

Endless Chain is finished

It's finished!! After checking back on earlier posts about this quilt - one of the many bonuses about blogging is being able to track progress on different projects - I discovered that I started this quilt in March of 2010, so it's been over 3 years in the making. This is a pattern that I originally saw on the front cover of a book by Emilie Richards, called Endless Chain. A number of years ago, at least 4 or 5, I found a series of books by Emilie Richards called the Shenandoah Album series,  5 books that follow a group of friends in a small community. Of course, quilts figure strongly in the books. If you have never read any of her books, I highly recommend them, by the way. All the books in the series are named after quilts, and when I saw the picture of this quilt on the cover,

I fell immediately in love with it, and sent away for the companion book to the novel that had the instructions for this quilt.  In the original quilt on the cover of the book, the coloured wedges were done with a striped fabric. I decided to make my own stripes, and string pieced all the wedges. I think this is one of the most challenging quilts I have ever made. The block units are all hexagons, so there were lots of set in "Y" seams. But I am so glad I persevered with it and got it done. This one is going to live on our bed.

I decided to keep going with the stripes theme on the backing, and pulled all the striped fat quarters I had for the backing. And them I used a diagonally printed stripe for the binding. All in all, a wonderfully satisfying feeling to have it done. And to make it better, I think this is my first finish for this year. I'll be linking up to Finish it up Friday and Can I get a Whoop Whoop for the first, but hopefully not the last time this year.

Endless Chain

I've been working on one of my very old UFO's the last couple of days. Endless Chain, which is my adaptation of a pattern by Emilie Richards. Here's what it looks like so far, just a close up, sneak peak tease. I'm doing some continuous curves and some figure 8's inside the individual wedges. The overall effect is starting to look like it will enhance the overall effect of the chain. The boundaries between the blocks, never very easy to find to begin with, are completely disappearing, which is exactly what I wanted. I'll just have to leave you with this tease, since it is 2 in the afternoon, and I have to leave for work in 30 minutes.

January UFO status........

I DID IT!!! Woohoo, yippee, hurrah...... With ten hours to spare before the end of January 31st, Endless Chain became a finished flimsy on Tuesday. And, if I do say so myself, she is beautiful.I think, of all the UFO's I had listed, this was the one that was both the most challenging, and the most work. So, in theory, all the rest should be a lot easier. This month's number is 1, which on my list, is Bonnie Hunter's Roll Roll Cotton Boll. There is still a lot to do on it, but, unlike Endless Chain, there will be no set in "Y" seams. Each and every one of the 81 hexagons in that quilt were done with set in seams. What on earth was I thinking? That makes finishing RRCB child's  play in comparison. I was going to substitute for an easier one, but on reconsidering, I thought it would be a good idea to get the intense ones out of the way before spring and summer, and spending lots of time outdoors, and going to various provincial parks. Although I have been known to take my sewing machine with me, on occasion, which causes my husband to just stand and shake his head at me. Anyway.......
Here's a close up of a section of the quilt, and a good shot of not only some of those "Y" seams, but also of the variety of the fabrics in this quilt. I love the little mouse face peeking out. It was a lot of fun to do, in spite of being so challenging. However, I don't think there will be another like it from me. According to past posts on my blog, this quilt was started in March of 2010, so it's taken 2 years to get it to this point. Granted, there was no work done it it during a large part of those 2 years. It feels so GOOD to have it done to this stage.
I'm linking up to Patchwork Times, and the linky party that Judy is hosting for those of us who met our goal of finishing our January UFOs. And this also means that I also have something to enter for the Finish it up Friday  hosted by AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Oh, one more thing, if anyone has any suggestions on how to quilt this thing, I would be very grateful because at the moment I am totally stumped.

Design Wall Monday Jan 30

There is nothing new on my wall. I am continuing to work on getting Endless Chain finished before the end of the month. There are 5 rows sewn together and pressed, with 4 more to go. I am hoping to have this thing done by tomorrow, which means I will meet my goal of having this UFO finished in January. If I do, there will be a picture of the finished quilt on the reveal for the January UFO projects that Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times will be hosting in a couple of days. Although, obviously, there is no way it will get quilted in that time. So it will go and join all its other friends on the growing mountain of unquilted tops. Since I have yet to come up with a plan for how to quilt it, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. And it sure won't be lonely on that mountain of quilts. Although the picture of the quilt is an older one, I do have some new, fun grandbaby pictures, of Avery eating Greek yogurt with bananas in it. He loved it. He couldn't get it fast enough. But his aim was a bit off. LOL!! He is very independant, and wants nothing to do with someone else putting that spoon in his mouth. He has to do it himself, and it sure is a whole lot of fun to watch. I'm linking up to Judy's Design wall Monday linky at Patchwork Times

Design Wall Monday Jan 23

My design wall has the same thing on it as it has the last week, or so. Endless Chain, by Emilie Richards. I've been working on this quilt, to the exclusion of all others for the past week. I really, really want to get it done by the end of the month, since I am so in love with it, and because it is January's UFO, and I would like to get it done in time to meet the challenge. This is actually the same picture I put up on Saturday, after the Friday night sew in. It needs 3 more rows to finish it, which means 23 more full hexagons, and 8 half hexagons. And that means I need to do about 98 more string pieced wedges to finish up all the pieces needed. I think, depending on what plans my husband has for the next few days, it just might be doable, even with a trip to see Noel and Laurie and Avery over the weekend, depending on the weather, of course. I am sticking to the not doing anything else until this one is done, even though there are dozens of quilts in my head, just screaming to get out. I found  another one today, while looking at Teaquilts design wall over  at Judy's Patchwork Times, from the Moda Bake Shop people called Flying in Squares. Whenever I get this quilt done, it just might advance to the head of my scrap quilts want to do list. And now, for my second cup of coffee, while browsing a few more design walls. Maybe I'll find some more for that want-to-do list. And of course, I'm linking up to the previously mentioned Patchwork times linky.

The day after the night before......

when I sewed my brains out, well, not quite. I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted. I received a call from a customer wanting to bring some quilts over for quilting today, at 1 pm. I said sure, no problem. Then I went upstairs and looked at the remaining mess in my sewing room, and decided it would be way to embarrassing to have her see it that way. So, the floor is now visible. all that remains is to clear off the table of the long arm, and the mess will be almost tamed.

But, I did get sewing time in, from 8 pm until midnight, 4 hours straight. I've used up all the string pieced wedges I had, and made over 15 more of the hexagon units for Endless Chain by Emilie Richards Three of the rows are actually sewn together, and the rest are just sitting there. I've arranged them so that the fabrics at the intersections have some contrast between them. The tricky part is not getting them mixed up once I take them down to sew. I've stated putting painters tape on the top of each block, with its number, so that I know where they go, and which is top and bottom of the hexagon. There are all kinds of fun fabrics in this quilt, and could make for a bit of an "I Spy" type. There are flip flops, and beach toys, and hockey equipments, fishing lures and all kinds of other fun stuff in it. I had a blast playing in last nights' sew along, but alas, fun has to end and real life intrude. I'm back to work, 3-11 both today and tomorrow. I might be able to get a few more string wedges done up, but not a lot more than that.

UFO progress report

I've spent part of the last couple of days working on my UFO for January, the Endless Chain, pattern by Emilie Richards. I have made some good progress on it, considering it is all inset seams. I tried, without success, to figure out a way to do it without the inset seams. It was a good thing that I let this sit for a while, since in the time between starting it, and now, I leaned the technique of using starch and no melt plastic templates to finish the edges of applique pieces. And that technique has made the circles that go in the centre of the hexagons so much easier to do. And rather than using a regular foot to sew the circles on, and starting and stopping as I try to go around the circles, I used my free motion foot, with the feed dogs lowered, which made that job ever so much easier and faster, not to mention much less frustrating. There are now 3 rows, all sewn together, although I still need to add the partial blocks to the top and bottom of the middle row. And I have enough hexagon units which still need the circles applied, to add a fourth row. And that is today's job. I am so enjoying working on this quilt. I love the colours, and the movement in it. I love the way the individual blocks completely vanish, and leave one wondering, how on earth is this put together, which was one of the things that caused me to order the pattern book for it in the first place. This one is definitely a keeper at my house.

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......

Design Wall Monday Week 1

I have given myself 4 assignments for today, well, actually 5. Number one is to write this post.
Number 2 is to dig out my UFO #5, get it on the wall, and maybe take a new pic of it.I have figured out that I have 24 of the hexagons finished, and I need a minimum of 75 to get it in the area of 80 inches by 90 inches. So, I need 51 more finished hexagon units, which will require 308 string pieced wedges. I have 125 wedges already pieced, so I need 183 more, at least. That should tame some of my scraps and crumbs.
Number 3 is to dig out what I have done so far on Orca Bay, and get some of it arranged the way it is supposed to be, on the wall. I am waiting on an order of fabric that has more blacks in it, in order to do the black background Ohio stars. I like it with these fabrics, though, so I don't need to order any special red for it.
Number 4 is to do something about cooking something for supper. Some beef is out of the freezer, and will probably get done into some Swiss Steak.
And number 5 is to start in on creating order out of chaos in my sewing room. The only possible way to do it is in sections, so, today I concentrate on my actual sewing table. And then, if I want to be able to actually cut some fabrics, so that I can work on something, I guess I'll have to do something about my cutting table too. The corner of the cutting board is just visible under that mess. Why, oh why do I ever let it get this bad? So, I guess I'd better get off the computer, go plug my ipod into its new dock that my wonderful husband got me for Christmas, once I find a place for it, that is, and begin the process of cleaning up. I'm linking this post up to Judy's Design wall Monday at Patchwork Times and also to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday linkup on her Quiltville blog.

Design wall Monday Oct 10

There are a few more crumb blocks up on my wall today, and I've arranged them all up there, and put them all together as if they were going to be sewn together. There are 24 of them up there, and it so far measures 36" x 24". Not really big enough to do much with, just yet. But, there are lots more crumbs left from where these came from. So, as soon as I can see better, I'll get back at them.

I went and visited my sewing machine last night, after we got home from our Thanksgiving weekend. She was looking rather lonely, so I decided to sit down and figure out what, if anything, I could do with her. I quickly found out
 that any kind of precision sewing would definitely
 not be happening. But then I remember a project
I started last year, using crumbs and scraps and
 stings to piece together some wedge shapes in order to get an Endless Chain quilt going. I can see well enough to know when a piece of fabric is big enough to cover the needed space, and well enough to aim for the black line to sew on. So I can play some with these when the sewing bug bites.  I need 336 of these wedges, and I have 247 of them done already. Trimming will obviously have to wait. But, the added bonus will be to help shrink the amount of stuff in my odd shapes and crumbs scrap drawer. I've been thinking I should sit down sometime and go through this drawer and sort of sort it out. Well, doing these wedges will do that. And, if I get these done, I might start one of Bonnie Hunter's quilts called Out on a String. I made one of these shortly after she published the pattern, and would like to do another.

And now, I'm going to link up to Judy's Patchwork times and then go out and do some knitting on the porch, and enjoy the fabulous, record breaking warm weather.

Design wall Monday March 29

How is it possible that it is Monday again already? Where did March go? The weather forecast for London is getting better. It should be up in the 70's by the end of the week. A great way to cure cabin fever. I should be able to get out into the garden by the end of the week. Yippee!! On my design wall is "Endless Chain", which is growing at quite a nice pace. So far, according to my rough estimate, I've used up almost 3 yards of scraps. The pile is starting to look smaller.. I had planned on working on a couple of customer quilts today, but have decided, since I worked this past weekend, to take today off and do some more work on this quilt, and do customer quilts tomorrow. How's that for a good excuse to procrastinate?

Design wall Monday March 15

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a quilt I'd started, designed by Emilie Richards, called Endless Chain. I've gotten enough of it done to put up on the wall, to get an idea of what it will look like. I'm string piecing all the multicoloured wedges. The original pattern used a stripe, but I wanted to be able to make it scrappier, hence the string piecing. So far, I've estimated I've used up almost 2 yards of my odd shaped, not usable for anything else, scraps. I must confess to being quite happy with the way it is looking so far. The open section at the centre of each block will be covered with an appliqued circle, the same as the navy background. It is going to be a longer term project. The size of quilt I want to do is going to take 336 of the pieced wedges, and I have 109 done. I'm not going to be getting much quilt sewing done this week. I've decided it is time to take out my half finished dress for my daughter's wedding, and get it to the point where I can see if it is going to work, or not. If it doesn't look the way I hope it will, I need to give myself some time to go out and buy one, not an experience I look forward to. The dresses in the stores seem to fit 2 categories, extremely close fitting, strapless, something most mothers could never wear, or shapeless, and frumpy, something most mothers would never want to wear.  (sigh)

"DogEar Star" done

I've finished my block for Shannon's BOM. It's called "DogEar Star" I think it's pretty, and plays well with all the others i've done up to now. I have spent my alloted time cutting fabric up from my scraps, though there are still a lot left. I think, though, rather than starting something new, I'm going to use some self discipline, and continue to work on the Endless Chain quilt. Here's a sneak peak. The holes in the centres of the squares will eventually be covered with circles of the navy fabric.

Pleasant surprise

I got up this morning, and, as usual, checked out the various blogs I follow, as well as checking out the comments on my own. Imagine my surprise to find that the author of the Endless Chain book had commented on my post. Wow!!! It's easy to forget just how far reaching this internet thing is. It has kind of given me some incentive to take it from a work on every now and then project, to a work on more consistently project. I'm now up to having 94 of the wedges pieced up. If I allow 15 inches of approximately 2 inch fabric for each wedge, it adds up to roughly 2 yards of fabric used up. So, why doesn't that pile look any smaller?  (sigh) I think the are fabric gremlins who come in the night and multiply fabric. Or, maybe rumpelstiltskin comes in and weaves straw into fabric, instead of gold. (giggle). I have a lot of a navy fabric here that I think might work for the wedges in between the wedges. I think I'll go and try it out, and will post a pic when done.

Endless Chain

A number of months 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 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 like 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. Today is one of that kind of days. It is going to be a long term project. The quilt needs approximately 336 on these wedges, and I have 67 done. I'm not sure, yet, what I'll use as the background colour of the rest of the blocks, but there is lots of time before I have to decide. I made a spider web quilt, once, using this technique, and one of Bonnie Hunter's, that ended up with 8 point stars, the points being made out of the string pieced units, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It is a great way to use up all the odd shaped leftovers that accumulate. Funny how the pile never seems to get smaller, though.  :)