Three of a Kind is a flimsy

I finished it, the top that is.... yippee and woohoo.... with just hours to spare in the May deadline!

 It used up tons of my 1 1/2 inch strips. Unfortunately, about halfway through, I ran out of pieces long enough to make the blocks, so I ended up having to cut more. So I'm not too sure now, whether my pile actually got smaller or bigger. This quilt ended up being 92 inches square. I started this one back in January of this year, which isn't bad... five months, start to finish. It now gets to be added to the growing list of tops waiting to be quilted.

 It's from a book by Judy Martin called Scraps. This is the second quilt I've done from this book, and I have a third in progress that will probably become June's UFO to work on. I'm linking up to May's Lovely Year of Finishes party.

Work in Progress Wednesday.....

It's been a while since I've done an update on the various projects I'm working on. I have 2 major ones on the go right now. I'm finishing up the piecing in Three of a Kind.
The center is all together. All that is left are the borders. I have some piecing left to do on one of them, but it shouldn't take too much longer to get this done. It's my UFO assignment for May, so I'm cutting it rather close.
The other thing I'm working on is the quilting for In Full Bloom, a design by McKenna Ryan.

 The tension on these has been giving me issues. I love these quilts, and the detail possible because of the fusible applique. My quilting machine, on the other hand, doesn't like them anywhere near as much. There are tension issues. Thankfully, although I can feel them, they aren't all that visible, and since this will be a wall hanging, I'm going to live with the tension blips.

It's almost halfway done. Other than the aggravating tension problems, this has been a lot of fun to quilt. I've discovered that if I loosen the top tension and the bobbin tension about as loose as they can go, and use a much bigger needle than recommended, it reduces the problems, somewhat. The bigger needle leaves nasty looking holes in the fused pieces, but my research says that spritzing it with water will close the holes. I tried it, and it works. I'm linking up with Canada's The Needle and Thread Network and also with Lee's Work in Progress Wednesday. I am really hoping to have both of the projects done by the end of the month. So, with that goal in mind, I'm off to sew.

Design Wall Monday, May 5, 2014

Three of a Kind, a design by Judy Martin remains up on the wall today. It is slowly growing. There are four of the main squares left to sew up, and 26 of the single border units to make up. After that, it's time to put it all together. I'm really enjoying the depth the optical illusion develops in some of the blocks. All of my other deadline projects are done, with the exception of some hand stitching on my A Road Runs Through It..... challenge piece for the guild. So, this project here has moved to the top of my getting it done challenge for the month. The only other things I have that need to be finished by a certain date are Avery's birthday gifts. His Thomas the Tank Engine pillow case is done.

 And his pajamas are all cut out and ready to put together, probably on the weekend. I have enough of the pillow case fabric left to do a topper for the window in his room, as well. I just need to remember to get the measurement for it. There, I just texted Laurie asking for the measurement., so now I don't need to remember to do that any more.
I'm going to Link up to Judy's Design Wall Monday and also to the goal setting party for A Lovely Year of Finishes. Then, I'm going to work on doing some more Three of a Kind blocks. I would love to have this finished way before the end of the month.

Design wall Monday, April 28, 2014

 I've got Judy Martin's Three of a Kind up on the wall. I'm six blocks away from having all of the center ones done. I still need 34 of the outer squares, but I have most of them cut and ready to go. A few more weeks, and this one will be added to my done list. This is going to my May UFO, and I'll link this post up to the May goal setting party at The Lovely Year of Finishes when it goes live.

 My main focus for the past week, however, is getting this sampler quilt done. It isn't going to be displayed to anyone except us, since it is full of trials of new techniques for me. This one to the left is a trial of a background fill.

 And to the right are some more background fill trials.

 I started off doing these large green triangles with curved crass hatching. I finally figured out how to get the ruler orientated properly in order to get the curves to cross properly. So, I thought I'd try some other fills in the last two. This one to the left is interwoven triangles.

And this one has some curves and straight lines and interwoven triangles all in the same place. I've gotten to the point where this quilt needed to come off the machine and be turned to make it easier to do the other 2 sides. It's going to be set aside for a while, so I can get back to doing some of the customer quilts I have waiting in line. I had scheduled this one of mine in, so I'm not too far behind. I'm linking this post up to Judy's Design Wall Monday.
After I post this, I have a round robin to work on. There are four of us working on projects from each other. We are taking pictures of the projects as they come to us and again when we are done with them. We are going to get together sometime in June, I think, for a reveal party to each other. After that, each of us will share our final results, and a little bit about each others' on our blogs. I'm working on Jacqui's this month. Last month I had Gail's and next month I get Christine's. So, I'd better get this posted and get to work on Jacqui's project, if it is going to be done before the next guild meeting.

Slow going...

I'm working away at a couple of things right now. I'm back at Three of a Kind, a pattern from Judy Martin's book Scraps.

 I have 26 of these blocks done, so only 10 more to go, plus all the single square units that go around the outer edge.
The other thing I'm working on is the quilting on my sampler quilt. I'm using this one as a learning tool for all kinds of things, tight background fills around applique being one of them.

I've decided I'm not a fan of McTavishing, although maybe this wasn't a good piece to try it on. From what I've seen, that technique requires larger open spaces than what I have here. But I do like the look of that back and forth "C" shape. It has the added bonus, when done near the applique, of filling the background and outlining the applique at the same time. It took me doing half of the center appliqued area before I discovered this. This could be a very good thing to know when it comes to quilting both Cactus Rose and In Full Bloom. I've also added those three in one bubbles to my repertoire, and I am trying very hard to master curved cross hatching. Who would have thought it was so hard making sure the ruler was turned the right way? So far, I have one out of the four sections that I've done that are done correctly.

This one is right.                                                                         This one is wrong.

                  

Because I've decided this is a learning piece, and not a show piece, there will be no ripping. It will be a graphic lesson in how not to do it. I'm trying new techniques inside the sampler squares, as well.

The royal blue background in all the sampler squares are testing other very dense fills. I like the way it is making the pieced portions of the blocks stand out. But, it is all very time consuming. I'm giving myself to the end of the week to finish this. If it's not done, I'll take it off, and work on the quilts I have waiting for customers.
 I think I'll spend the rest of this evening working on more Three of a Kind squares, and then later on, some knitting.

Design Wall Monday, Feb. 10, 2014

I've put Three of a Kind back up on the wall. I have a few of the border units pieced now. I'm using components of the blocks as leaders and enders for the piecing here, and when they run out, I use the border units, so that I'm constantly using something in this quilt as the start and stop process, rather than constantly clipping long threads. The blocks also go together much faster this way. Twenty four blocks done, twelve more to go. Then I can begin the process of putting this one together. The more I see of it, the more I like it. In the final product, there is a 6 inch border of the Kona Ash in between the body of the quilt and the border blocks. They all eventually look like they are floating. I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday, and then I think there might be some knitting for the rest of the evening.

Progress Report

I did it!! I made my goal of getting my Thanksgiving Leaves quilt finished for the end of January. It was this month's UFO, and it is done!!  I really wish I could get a better picture of it. But with the weather still so cold and windy, there is no way to take it outside for a photo shoot. This time, rather than hanging it from the upstairs landing, I tried Matt and Becca's kitchen floor. It's a pattern by Judy Martin, found in her book Patchwork Among Friends. I'm linking this finish up to A Lovely Year of Finishes. I already have a good idea of how I want to quilt this, so it might end up the next one of mine to get loaded, when I get a spot open for it.

 I had to take a break from working on Three of a Kind, a pattern also by Judy Martin, found in her book Scraps, in order to get that UFO for January finished. I can now go back to working on it for the last couple of days of the month, before I decide which UFO is going to get pulled out for February.

I need 36 of these blocks for the queen sized quilt, so I'm halfway there. I'm going to keep working on this one until it is done. That's my bargain with myself. A UFO finished each month, and any new starts have to be finished, unless they are block of the month type, of course. I'm linking up to the Canadian Needle and Thread Network for their Work in Progress Wednesday. There is lots of fun stuff to see there, and it's great that they are Canadian. And while I'm at it, I'll link up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday as well, where there is even more stuff to see from all over the world.

Mid-week Progress report.

 Well, my well laid plan from Monday didn't survive. But I have a good reason for it, really I do. It's this quilt, pictured to the right here. It's my Lazy Sunday quilt, Bonnie Hunter's mystery from Quiltmaker magazine last summer. It came off the machine on Monday, and got really pushy. You know how these things can get, demanding to get their bindings made and put on right away, rather than get put aside and forgotten. I decided to listen to it, and do what it wanted, because otherwise it would have gotten put aside and forgotten. It has 2 1/2 sides finished now, but my shoulders started to give out on me, so I'll finish it tomorrow.

My Three of a Kind, from Judy Martin's book Scraps has grown by one block since Monday. It now counts as half done, before doing the borders, with 18 out of 36 blocks done. It is going to get set aside, for now, while I concentrate on finishing my January UFO. It's coming up to the end of the month, so it's time to move it to priority status. It would be cool to be able to join some of the Friday finish parties with a fully finished quilt, and a finished flimsy. Right now, I'm going to link up to a Canadian group, which I found through someone else's blog a couple of weeks ago, called The Needle and Thread Network. It's been fun reading though some Canadian blogs today.

Design Wall Monday, Jan. 20, 2014

I still have Three of a Kind, on my wall. I think it's increased in size by 2 blocks since this time last week. Other commitments in the past week took away from sewing time. That, and getting carried away with the knitting, since I was, and still am, getting very excited about the way my sweater is looking. I just couldn't stop.
One more block on this, though, and they will be half done.
What I really have to concentrate on for the next 10 days is getting this month's UFO done. Two borders on it are done, two more to go.
I did get the quilting on my Lazy Sunday Mystery finished today. It is off the machine and trimmed and waiting for binding to be made. I'll get a picture of it when it is done.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday, and then, I think I'll figure out something to eat, and then see if I can get a couple more of these blocks sewn up. Oh, wait, I said I was going to work on the UFO, didn't I? OK, here's what I'm gonna do - this one today, UFO tomorrow, this one Wednesday, UFO Thursday, that way each one gets even time. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.... nothing to do with procrastination..... not a thing.

Design Wall Monday, Jan. 13, 2014

I'm a little late posting today. I had meant to earlier, but then got involved in knitting and watching movies, and lost all track of time. I have Three of a Kind still on my wall, a pattern by Judy Martin, from her book Scraps. I'm up to 15 blocks now, out of the 36 that I need. I got quite a few cut out tonight, but, due to the knitting and the movies, didn't get any further. However, my sweater got a lot done, so, tomorrow I'll spend more time sewing than knitting.
I'm linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday, after which, I'm going back to my knitting.

Design Wall Monday Jan. 6, 2014

Here it is, the first Monday of the New Year, and I have a new project up on the wall. This is my celebrate the New Year by starting something new project. These are the first ten blocks of Three of a Kind, a pattern from Judy Martin's book Scraps, and it is indeed using up scraps, lots and lots of 1 1/2 inch strip scraps. Anything that is 22 inches long, or has enough to get a combined amount of that amount, can go into this one. I'm not grouping colour families, or anything like that in these. I'm just looking for contrast, with the darkest fabric at the back of the block to give some depth to the illusion of the quilt, with the colours crossing behind each other. I'm using Kona Ash as the background, and I really like how it it acting as a showcase for the rest of the colours. These are easy blocks to sew together, once I have them laid out on a design board beside my chair, so that I can pick them up and sew them in the correct order. The plan is to continue with this until it is finished, rather than letting it get to an Unfinished Object. I'm working on my UFO of the month, at the same time as this. The UFO that I chose for this month is my Thanksgiving quilt, also a pattern by Judy Martin. I still have leaves to finish for the borders, and I'm using the leaf pieces as leaders and enders for the Three of a Kind blocks. A great way to work on 2 quilts at the same time. I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday where there are lots and lots of fun, inspirational, tempting projects on other design walls to see. I am going to stick to my goal of finishing before starting, but it sure is going to be hard.

Happy New Year...

I've decided this year that I need to get back into setting some goals for myself for getting some projects finished. I have more UFO's around here than I care to count, and I really don't want to know just how many there really are. I've listed 10 on my side bar that I would like to get finished, at least to the flimsy stage, this year, and hopefully to the quilted and bound stage. I am finding that, as a long arm quilter for other people, my own projects get shunted to the side. So, this year, I am going to actually book in my own quilts. I'm going to make a loose schedule of which quilts get done when, and add my own in.
For January, my finish it goal is this poor neglected quilt. It is a Judy Martin design called Thanksgiving, from her book Patchwork Among Friends. It has been hanging like this on my design wall since the November sew-in day for the guild. I would like to get this quilt finished to at least the flimsy stage by the end of the month. There are 60 more leaf blocks needed to finish the borders. I think I have about 20 of them done, so getting it to the flimsy stage is do-able.

And I did make my goal of starting a new project for the new year, a January Newfo.

These are the first five blocks for the quilt Three of a Kind, a pattern by Judy Martin in her book Scraps. This is actually the third quilt I've started from this book. One of them is finished, the other is on my UFO list for finishing this year. I'm going to continue on this for the rest of today, using parts of the leaf blocks as leaders and enders when needed. I think I am going to set myself another goal, that before I start another Newfo, I finish the first one I started. The exception to that is going to be in the Soscrappy rainbow scrap challenge I'm thinking of adding a couple more scrap using projects that get done a bit at a time, in order to meet another of my goals for this year, which is using up my overflowing boxes of scraps. I started last year on these blocks and I am going to continue with these blocks. But they end up not really using scraps, but have to be cut from fat quarters. So, I think I am going to do some churn dash blocks, that will finish at 6 inches, and some bow tie blocks in 2 sizes, 3 inch finished and six inch finished. I've seen a couple of quilts made from these units in one of my books, and doing them just a few at a time, shouldn't be that bad. I still have to figure out how many of each colour I will need in order to end the year with finished tops. And that's it.... my goals for this month, and the coming year. I'm linking up to the goal setting party for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I'm hoping this will give me the added oomph I need to get this done.

Design Wall Monday, Dec. 30, 2013

Once again, I don't have anything new on my wall. But I have plans...... oh boy, do I have plans. I've finally decided on the project that I'm going to celebrate the New Year by starting. In fact, I might start it tomorrow, and celebrate the end of the old and the beginning of the new with a new quilt.

 This is the project, It's in a book by.... can you guess....
Judy Martin, and the book is called Scraps. I have tons of 1 1/2 inch strips left over from various projects that will work in this quilt. I'll be using Kona Ash as the background, which is what these strips below are draped over.
This should get me well on the way to using up some of the overflowing bins of scraps I have hanging around here. The picture of the quilt shown here is only 52 by 52. I will, of course, be doing a bigger version, probably the queen sized. This might end up belonging to Matt and Becca, since they painted their bedroom grey not long ago, and have dark grey curtains in there, as well.

But as for the rest of today, this darling little boy is visiting us. He's down for a nap right now, which is why I have the time to write this. But once he wakes up, we'll be heading out to an indoor play place.
I'm hoping, by this time next week, there will actually be something to show on one very neglected design wall.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday