What's Next?

Tomorrow is the big day that the next number in Connie's game is picked!  I'm so excited, what's next?  Startitis is coming upon me, so it's a good thing I'll be starting another UFO tomorrow.

I've been inspired by Sarah at Quilter's Quandary to get back to wrapping my fabrics.  So I've been working on that, plus cutting up some of the yardage that I'm not so fond of anymore.  It will work great in my scrap quilts.  Since I'm getting so many strips, I did pull out Bonnie Hunter's book, "Adventures with Leaders & Enders" and looked through it to decide which quilt will be the next leader and ender quilt.  I think I have just about every pattern marked as one I would like to make.  I'm leaning towards "Rick Rack Nines".

What I love about Bonnie's quilts are all the different fabrics and "little" pieces that really don't start out "little".  Even my husband commented on the "little" pieces in my Easy Street quilt.  Tricks of the Trade are so fun!

As Promised

I finished putting all the blocks together for Easy Street!  As promised, I have a picture for you.

It's not he whole quilt, as my husband's arms don't have that kind of span. 

It was a great day to get a picture.  And I love how this came out.  All the fabrics came from my stash except for the dark brown I used in the making of the 4 patch blocks.  I bought that new.  It will also be the inside border.  My outside border is going to be fabric I have in my stash.  Now to decide if I want to add a third border (or more) so it will work on my king size bed. Or I may just leave it the size it is and use it on another bed.

Another Fun, Quilty Weekend

It's been another fun, quilty weekend.  I had Thursday and Friday off as snow days.  Which to be truthful, should not have been.  We didn't get near the snow that the weather people were hyping.  Took me a while to block that hype out and settle down to sewing on those days.

Saturday was a very fun day.  The local 4-H groups met to for the second time to finish up Quilts Of Valor quilts.  To see all of the pictures, check out Quilts From The Bluffs blog.  The girls had so much fun and were so happy to finish up these quilts.  One girl even tried to talk her mom into stopping for fabric on the way home so she could make a quilt for herself.  The quilt bug has bit her!

I'm almost done putting my Easy Street blocks together.  Learned a lot about borders yesterday as we were teaching the girls how to measure and attach.  Now to apply it to my quilt.

A little section of my Easy Street quilt, just to tease you.  Sorry for the darkness.  Indoor shot with a dark dreary day outside.  Makes for bad pictures.

It's Finished

My February UFO for Connie's game is finished!  I love how this came out.  The only thing that was tricky was the binding.  I'm going to research how to do corners that are not 90 degree angles.  Mine are OK, but not the crisp look I really want.

This is a class I took on November 8, 2012 with Jean.  To make one star block, you started with 2 pieces of different fabric and sliced the first angle.  Sewed a narrow strip of fabric (my white) to half of one piece and half to the other piece. It's a convergence quilt of sorts.  Check out the images on Google.  I want to try to make another one.  Love the way it looks so hard, but felt easy to do.

 I have a snow day today, even though it's not snowing.  Yet.  By noon, Storm Q is to be moving through the area and we should get about an inch of snow an hour.  So in the mean time, I have 7 more days to work on another project until the next number is pulled.    Decisions, decisions.

Binding

I'm working on the binding for my February UFO for Connie's Game.  Hope to have it all sewn down so I can take it to Quilt Guild tomorrow night.  I will show you how the quilting came out.  It shows up best on the back of the topper.

The front

The back.

The triangle block.  I used half a snowflake for it.  Still has some pattern paper caught on the stitches.

Off to get the binding sewn down, I'm doing that by hand.  Hope to have a picture of the whole topper for you soon.

Something Different

I'm trying something different with my quilting this time.  I'm working on my table topper and I wanted a snowflake in the center block.  So I printed a free pattern from online...

..and stitiched it to my topper.

I'm very happy with the results. 

Bouncing

I've been bouncing all over this morning, I can't seem to settle down.  This past week I worked on more origami bags.  Made 5 total in the golf fabric.  These go together so fast which makes them a great gift.

This morning I started working on my February UFO for Connie's Game.  It's my Christmas table topper.  It's been going OK, but I feel like calling the quilting "wonky stitch in the ditch." You would think that stitching in the ditch would be easy.  I've seen the wonderful new foot for Bernina sewing machines, just haven't decided I would use it that much.  Seriously considered getting  it to use on this project.  But decided to wing it.  Or is that wonky it?????

Success!

Success!  I finished my B blocks for Easy Street.

Yesterday I took a personal day from work.  We had been planning to go to MN to see the grands, but the weather is going to be yucky for the trip home, so we didn't go.  I'm really sad not to see those cute little faces.  Especially since my grandson had lost his first tooth.  The 2 bottom teeth were almost in, but that's OK.  He's getting so big!

So since I was at home yesterday, I finished up the B blocks and then pulled out a bag of fat quarters and the pattern for Origami bags.  I had them already matched up, so all I needed to do was match thread and sew.   And I did.

I head out for Quilt Day today.  So I'll stop on my way home to pick up ribbon for the ties.   Fun little bags to make.

Little Bit

I worked on my Easy Street blocks for a little bit Sunday and Monday.

Sunday I was really feeling kind of down.  It was a choice, but I didn't go fabric shopping like I have for the last few years.  (Read 10+)  I already have tons of fabric, but it was still sad to see an end to that tradition.  It isn't all about the buying fabric, I missed being with friends and my sister.  Sharing what's going on in our lives while driving/riding to the next shop.  Ohhing and Ahhing over great deals or beautiful fabric. Being silly and generally just having fun.

The generally having fun is what makes quilting so fun!  A tradition that has been passed down from our grandmothers, mothers or others.  It feels nice to be a part of such a greater tradition.

Thanks for listening, I feel better now....

Super Sew!

What a Super Sewing weekend.

On Friday Country Threads Quilt Shop posted the number for Connie's game.  I was hoping it would be one of my smaller projects and I lucked out!  Number 6 is up next, which is my Christmas table topper.  I took the class in November, I think.  I went back and I can't find where I blogged about it.  Kind of surprising since I try to tell you about all the new things I try or learn.  It needs to be quilted and needs a binding.  

On Saturday my friend Rachel came over and we sewed all day.  She made 2 Swing bags and 2 pillow cases.  

Rachel's Swing Bag

I worked on my Easy Street blocks.  I only have 3 more B Blocks to make and then I can start setting the quilt.  Deb was going to come over too, but she wasn't feeling well.  She's feeling better today.  

With all the sewing yesterday, I had to get some cleaning and laundry done today.  I did find time to work a little on an Easy Street block.  Every little bit gets me closer to another quilt.