Design Floor Monday - 12/21/15

Yes, I know it's only 3 days, 10 hours, 46 minutes and 4 seconds to Christmas.

I had minimal help from the quality control officers.
That meant I was on the right track...

I am sewwwwww behind this Christmas and it's really dragging me down, in addition to the non-holiday weather. I did make a lot of progress on a number of gifts and cookies over the weekend so that's good but the "big" gift isn't done yet and I'm ready to yank my hair out. I know my friends won't mind a late gift but a seven year old will...

I need to add one more row...top or bottom?

I started by making the 128 blocks suggested by the original pattern and then layed them out, aiming for an off center pattern. Unlike the original square layout I wanted something for Ryan's twin bed. I assumed (yeah, I know...) when I rearranged from square to rectangle it would just magically be the right size. Not quite. Has anyone payed attention to the weird proportions for a twin bed? Right, it's crazy.

I believe it's passed inspection!!

So I made some more blocks and layed them out and then made some more and layed those out too and then made some more. I think it's taken more time to make more blocks than it did to make the original blocks. I need 3 more 4patches and then it will be done. I've got the back and batting ready and already have a plan for the quilting. I've got no plans this week other than working and only a  half day on Thursday so I think there's time.

Next time I get a whim to make quilts for my two most favorite nephews, they will be lap quilts. Little lap quilts for little laps! I better hurry cuz these boys are growing like weeds...

Design Wall Monday - 12/14/15

Here we are again, mid-December and breaking more weather records!!! It's currently 67F (18C) and Rochester is supposed to be 70F. It's making it very hard to get into the holiday spirit. I went up to the city for some gift shopping on Friday and while the weather was perfect for driving so much, everything is just a brown/green mess :( People are still out trying to overdecorate to make up for the lack of snow but it's just not the same...

One of my co-workers, who's job is to plow the roads, is thrilled with the weather and has "promised" to bring a snow machine to fill my yard for Christmas in exchange for not having to plow any roads yet. Of course, it needs to be near freezing for that gift to work! Keep your fingers crossed as we are forecast to get less than an inch this Friday and then it will be back into the 50s for the rest of the year...

Anyways...after all day shopping in Rochester Friday, cleaning house and errands on Saturday and hosting a work Christmas party at my house yesterday I was able to squeeze in some machine sewing. I am seeeeeeewwwww far behind on this project for little Ryan that it's getting a little scary but I've set some daily goals and I think in the end it will be fine.

I just need to press 128 seams tonight and sew the twosies into foursies tonight. That means only 64 seams to press tomorrow. LOL.

I will admit, my annual holiday shopping trip involves a long side trip to a quilt store I visit every December. I found another new hexie fabric, a black and white and some choco fabrics I need for a February project.

I also came across what I thought was a stunning giraffe fabric. Giraffes are one of my 2 favorite animals. I knew I would use if for the backing on another dolly bed project but had no idea what pattern. I kept stalling and stalling the urge to search my pinterest board for ideas with getting ready for the party but I finally gave in last night and not only picked a pattern but also have 75% picked the fabrics. I am not sure there is enough of the cream so I might add in a bit of the olive green to make the pattern more my own. I'm not sharing the pattern pic just yet but I'll tell ya it uses 1.5" hexagons and 6-point diamonds. How's that for a tease??!! I am hoping picking the pattern and fabric will get the urge for a new project out of my system until next year, esp since I need to finish Christmas presents, but I will promise nothing...

Design Wall Monday - 11/30/15

I was going to pose a hypothetical photo question today but, it seems, tho I took, erased and re-took a photo of my half-snowball blocks, it's not on my camera. Phooey.

I was going to ask which was worse: pressing open and then pinwheeling 128 four-patches or drawing the line across squares, sewing them to bigger squares, pressing them open and then trimming for 128 half-snowball blocks? I vote for the snowballs...

Either way they are done and now I can begin assembling the top for Ryan's quilt.
25 days to finish it - I can do it!!

This is will be my new decoration for this year - the purples and white are torn into strips and tied to the lights to be hung in my quilt lab windows. I have a string between the dining and living rooms but it's in homespuns and not really my style any more - some day that fabric be replaced.

And finally, I joined the Secret Santa Sac Swap this year. My package arrived on Saturday!!!! We have not yet been told the date to open our sacs which are filled with 5 more (wrapped) gifts so I'll be in suspense for some time to come.

I did have an inspector to check out my sac, along with the bells. No worries tho as the sac has now been stashed - hopefully out of sight and out of mind for both the inspector and myself...

Design Wall Monday - 10/26/15

I think something's wrong with me...
A mere 17 weeks ago I would have stayed in bed as long as possible on "crisp" mornings and then ran for the couch and a thick afghan to veg in front of the tv with some hexies. In the evenings I would have been back under that afghan for more hexie time and warmth.  Now I almost jump out of bed and spend less time under the afghan. Take this morning. A quick check of the weather app while still under the covers told me it was just 32F. No problem, I can don long underwear under my sweats and add another t-shirt under the turtleneck and hoodie. After a beautiful walk (the stars are still out at 6:45 this time of the year and the sun is rising!!!), I figured I was already outside and might as well rake some leaves. Whoa! Leaves at 7:30 on a workday morning? See! There is definitely something wrong with me!!

Too bad I couldn't get a picture of my furry helper this morning since it was quite cute. Maybe another morning...

The parts for this rosette have been together since February but I set it aside to work on Value Proposition.
I've decided to hang these in the upstairs hall so I can see it come together as I add the monthly rosettes.
There isn't much sun up there so no need to worry about fading and they won't be wrinkled folded in my WIP pile downstairs. I'm clearly behind on the BOM schedule so I'll just ease back in and maybe pick a "small" month to feel like I'm making fast progress.

Anyway, I finally had to do something besides hexies yesterday. Ok, Well I finished the January rosette as shown above, but I needed to work on some *machine* work. And before one can take a project to the machine one must become a rotary cutting fiend. I spent hours this weekend cutting for lotsa projects.

These are the projects I remembered to take photos of. None of them are very far along as I was trying to make progress on too many projects at once.

Yipp. This has got to be the world's most boring picture. I am teaching a jelly roll race in a few weeks and I wanted to make another sample besides the sample at store. Yesterday I cut (36) 2.5" strips. This is all pale grays and then I will machine applique black cat silhouettes over it. I just wanted to give the girls fabric options. I've got the 2 hardest parts (sewing strips end to end and the first long seam) done so the rest should be a piece of cake - well other than finding cat silhouettes... Think Zorro and Squeaky will lie down so I can trace around them?

Christmas is coming and I thought it best to start working on Ryan's quilt. The design uses 4-patches and half-snowball blocks. Easy peasy. I've got probably a third of the 4-patches ready for pressing and I've got more green strips cut to make more. Ryan's color choice was "camo"  so I felt secure in pulling out all kinds of greens to mix in.

This is for another class. This will be the third year that I teach a simple class on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's always something on the simple side that can become a holiday gift or a charity quilt. Since this was the third year we finally decided the class needed a name. For lack of any inspiration we came up with Turkey Leftovers since most of my projects are scrappy and I think I'll invite the girls to bring turkey leftovers for lunch this year.

There are still a lot more machine projects that need to be worked on this week but considering that something is wrong with me, maybe that won't be much of a problem. LOL. It won't hurt that tax season is winding down a bit and my next hexie trunk show in December is to be much shorter so there is no need to rush to work on more hexie projects. Maybe I can get class samples and gifts finished on time. Oh yeah, and don't forget my first Christmas bazaar is in less than two weeks.

Maybe I should be sewing instead of raking leaves with a furry supervisor...