Whoop Whoop! 10/21/11 and Pattern

WHAT?  It's Friday?!  When I was a career woman, Friday could not sneak up on me.  In retirement, it's totally different.  Or, I should say, the same!  Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  So Whoop Whoop! Friday came unannounced.  But I do have something to be glad for -- I finished quilting a Christmas gift -- YAY!!!  And I typed up the instructions for it, as well.  One problem, though, is I can't seem to scan it in order to include the piecing diagram. So here are the directions, you'll have to look at the picture of the quilt to see how it's pieced.

 ANOTHER FIVE-YARD QUILT

60” Square

(takes five one-yard cuts of coordinating fabrics)

#1 - Large scale focus fabric

#2 - Small print that surrounds focus

#3 - Four-patches and binding

#4 - Four-patches and first small border

#5 - Medium scale focus for center of blocks and outer border

Plus 4 yards for backing.

BLOCK ONE

Fabric #1 - Cut 3 strips 6 ½” wide

Subcut into 18 ea 6 ½” squares

Fabric #2 - Cut 18 strips 1 ½” wide

Subcut into 36 ea 1 ½” x 6 ½” rectangles 

and 36 ea 1 ½” x 8 ½” rectangles

Sew 6 ½” strips on two opposite sides of the 6 ½” square.  Sew 8 ½” strips to the other two sides.

BLOCK TWO

Fabrics #3 and #4 - Cut 3 strips 4 ½” wide

Cut 3 strips 4 ½” wide

Sew a 4 ½” strip from each together.  You will have 3 strip sets that you will then subcut every 3”, this is Set 1.

Sew a 2” wide strip from each together.  You will have 3 strip sets that you will then subcut every 3”, this is Set 2. 

Fabric #5 - Cut 2 strips 3 ½” wide

Cut into 18 ea 3 ½” squares

Arrange and sew as in diagrams for Block A and Block B.  Then sew the top, alternating Blocks A and Block B in a 6 by 6 design. 

Add borders. 

BORDER 1

Fabric #4 - Cut 5 strips 2” wide

BORDER 2 

Fabric #5 - Cut 6 strips 4 ½” wide

BINDING

Fabric #3 - cut 6 strips 2 ½” wide

This quilt has been thoroughly belly-tested by my in-house quilt inspector, Annabella.  

Now, go to Sarah's website for more Whoop Whoop! :-D

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-lazy-week.html

Design Wall Monday 10/17/11

Another step done on the Christmas quilt, yay!  I just made some hst's to add for a border.  Unfortunately, they didn't come out the right size, so I'll have to do an "adjustment" border.  Do I need another outer border?

And I made several more blocks for the Fiesta! quilt.  These are just on the design wall for the picture, they're in no particular order.  Looks like it's going a little purple, need to add some other colors.  The photo really doesn't show the colors all that well.  Maybe next shot, when I add more :-)

Go to Judy's blog for more works in progress, designs on the wall, and great ideas! http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/10/17/design-wall-monday-9/

Beautiful weather on the Plateau right now, getting pretty warm today, about 79 degrees!!  But starting Wed night it will be in the 30s at night, and only in the 40s during the day.  After the front passes through, it will be sunny, which is perfect weather, as far as I'm concerned!

Whoop Whoop! 10/7/11

After I finished the "Flurry" top, I loaded this onto the Avante.  It's old fabric I purchased years ago from a vendor at the AQS Show in Nashville, one of those five 1-yard bundles.  Couldn't figure out what to do with them!  I mentioned it online somewhere, and a lady graciously sent me a hand-drawn copy of this pattern, which I really love!  Of course, the fabric was bundled with the pattern in the UFO closet for years and years.  Now I really love the quilt, I hope I can quilt it nicely enough for a Christmas gift :-)

Do you longarm quilters have your rulers and templates stored where  you can find them?  I had them stuffed in a drawer, and had to rummage around trying to find the one I needed.  (Except the Line Tamer, which has a permanent pocket in my quilting apron at all times!)  As I was in a resale shop the other day, I ran across this cute little CD holder.  Hmmmm.  Wonder if that would work?  Well, yes!  It works great!  Not for the larger circles, for example, but for the little ones that got hidden in the bottom of the pile, this works a charm.  I've asked my dear hubby (now called Captain B. Cool -- LOL!) to mount it on the wall in the Avante room.  Very handy, indeed!

To see other projects that have been completed this week, go see Sarah, here: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-two-down-one-to.html

Oh, for goodness sake...

It just would not go right!  Ever run across one of those patterns?  I checked twice to be sure I had the right fabrics and the right yardage.  But when I went to cut the strips, nooooooo.  Fortunately, I was using unbleached muslin, so I was able to borrow some from a friend.  Oh wait, I guess you don't really "borrow" fabric to use in a quilt, do you?  I studied it all, and the pattern was correct, but I had a bazillion extra parts, and not enough of others.  Guess my brain was not engaged!  You can see where I inserted a piece of fabric to make the borders long enough.  BTW, the border's not really crooked, there are pins underneath on the design wall.  But the top is done, and I'm ready to start quilting!  Guess I'll make mug rugs or tabletoppers from the extra bits.  Go over to Judy's blog here: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/10/03/design-wall-monday-october-3-2011/ to see dozens of other "design wall Monday" projects!

Our local airport had an open house on Saturday, and someone took a picture of my hubby in his Glasair II.  It was terribly windy, so he didn't fly it, but it drew lots of attention on the sidelines.  It was a great success, hooray!  Although it was quite chilly, it was much better than last year, when it was hot, hot, hot!

It was a great weekend!

Accomplishments!

I had a busy week, and got some things done!  Not like some of you overachievers, who manage to quilt four quilts, make seven tops, till the garden, do Fall cleaning -- no, I'm not a bit envious and I'm not trying to be snarky.  I'm just in awe of those who get so much done.  But the little bit I managed is happy for me :-)

I finished quilting a top for a friend who is making TWENTY quilts for a homeless shelter!  Now, she's one of those overachievers I mentioned.  I offered to quilt some, and so far have finished a grand total of TWO :-/  Oh well, here's the second one (back and front):

She sent me a low-loft batting, but it really puffed up to look like trapunto, so I didn't quilt anything in the green parts.

The tool apron!  This was what I'd call a prototype, which means I plan to make at least one more, right?  Well, if I do, there are a couple of things I'd tweak, but not much.  This may be just fine. It's loaded up with my Zune (the earbuds go through the back of the pocket and out through a hole in the top of the apron; here, they're draped around the strap), glasses, tweezers and seam ripper, tape measure, scissors (both large, in a pocket, and snips hooked onto the tab on top), etc.  That nasty looking bit on top is the piece of batting with threads I've snipped.

On Friday, a couple of us got together here for lunch and a bit of stitching. I'd wanted to try the "jelly roll races" quilt, which was enormously fun!!!  We gathered about 10 a.m., and finished around 2, with breaks for fixing lunch and eating.  So, I'd guess-timate it took me about 3 hours.  The first part took longest because I pressed seams open and snipped the triangles from the mitered joins.  This is a great project for a stitch-in, for making comfort quilts, or just mindless sewing!

I even started a new project!  I just stuck these on my design wall so I could take a picture.  It's going to have sashing between, and there will be more green and aqua boxes.  I think there will be 16, total.  Another fun pattern ("Flurry" by Kate Spain), very quick to put together.  I found some of her "falalalala" print that I may use for borders, but it's just green and red so might not go as well as I'd hoped.  We'll see.

And here's today's Annie sighting.  I had to put a new basket by my sewing machine -- the old one was too big and took up space on the sewing table.  This one fits perfectly on the top of the drawer section.  It looks too small for her, but believe me, she's been curled up small enough to fit into just half of that basket!  How convenient the designers of the basket left earholes so her hair wouldn't get that "bedhead" look :-D

Design Wall Monday 9/19

If you read blog on 8/29, I said I had settled on making a version of Cinco de Mayo.  I even pulled the fabrics for it.  Yeah, about that...  Instead of Cinco, I decided on Fiesta! by Possibilities.  Cinco is the same blocks throughout, just changing the fabrics.  With Fiesta!, there are six different blocks, and you make several versions of them.  I'm liking that idea a lot.  The picture shows each of the six, which makes an interesting variety.  So that's the direction I'm going.  At least, today :-)

While I was on blogging vacation (since the 29th!) I quilted a quilt for a friend, but since it was virtually the same as the last one, I didn't take a picture.  Simple meandering, which, of course, was perfect for fabric with a camo design!  

I have another comfort quilt loaded right now, but for some reason, the tension keeps getting quirky.  I've tried a few things, even called HQ (which has wonderful customer service -- the tech called me back within 10 minutes!) and it's better.  So I have to work on that this weekend.  There's another one just like it next in line, but I don't think I'll do as much quilting on it.  I'm doing a quilting pattern that Diane Gaudynski calls headbands, and it takes a long time!!  Hard to see, but the green parts look trapunto'd because I've stitched around the inside and outside of it.  Kinda cool!  

Annabella's favorite thing in the whole world is playing in quilts!  Not so much fun when the bed is completely made, with everything flat and smooth.  But when it's all bunched up from sleeping under, taking a nap, or, as here, undone to wash sheets,  Annie goes bonkers!  She gets her mousie and she leaps around, digs under, grabs for meese under the folds, and has lots of quilt to get a toe-hold in order to zoom around on the bed!!  She's so silly.

Apron for Quilting Tools

Isn't this a mess?!?!?  I have my measuring tape, scissors, eyeglasses, a piece of batting for cut threads and pins, and my Zune for listening to audiobooks.  You know those wires that turn into birds nests behind your computer or TV?  Well, I had that going on around my throat!!!  It was scary!!  Talk about a tangled web, well it was all that and more.  My ear buds would get yanked out of my ears when I'd pull my scissors.  And my glasses were always tangled in the cords.  I'd wind up yanking off the whole bunch, untangle it, and cuss. Plus, I'd always go rummaging around the sewing room for my Line Tamer ruler, tweezers, seam ripper, marking pen or pencil.  

So!  Voila!  A solution started emerging in my pea brain, a teeny-tiny little spark of an idea.  What if they were all right there, but separated from each other, so they couldn't wrestle and make knots of each other.  All the aprons I've looked at online, like the one Nancy V. Taylor wears, have big ole pockets, where you have to rummage around looking for your stuff.  So what if everything had its own pocket, kinda like a purse organizer?  

I set out everything I wanted to have within reach. Eyeglasses, tape measure, seam ripper, tweezers, regular scissors, marking pen and pencil, piece of batting for thread and pins, Line Tamer, Zune and scissors on a fob.  One of the worst problems with using the Zune is the cords for the earbuds.  So, what if I put the Zune into its own pocket, with a hole out the back for the cords for the ear buds to go behind the apron.  I've always used a piece of batting on my right shoulder-ish area for thread snippits, so that was a consideration.  So I drew out an apron shape on paper, drew pockets for all the parts, then finally traced the real tools and cut them out of paper and laid them out on a real piece of apron fabric.  Which, by the way, is a piece of light weight upholstery fabric that won't sag or rip easily.  I cut the pockets from a piece of home dec fabric, adding a seam allowance, turned under the edges, and sewed them onto the apron piece, and -- so far, so good!  Not sure what I want to use for the neck and apron strings.   Oh, I forgot to mention two other little things -- I like to keep my small scissors on a fob that retracts, and I've always hung it on my shirt neckline.  For the apron, I made a little double-folded tab on which the scissors can hang.  And slightly up and right from the tab is a little circle I stitched where I can pull the earbuds to the front, then up to my ears. And I left a space on my right shoulder to pin the piece of batting.

So, there you go!  I hope the idea helps someone else out there who is strangling with tools, or is forever searching for the parts they need!

Now, click the Whoop! button on the left to see some of the things people have accomplished this week, over on Sarah's blog: ConfessionsofaFabricAddict.blogspot.com