Cutting Wedges!

I cut ALL the wedges required for the Gardenvale quilt yesterday! This took almost all day. 560 wedges. 28 sets of 20. That's a LOT of wedges! The fabric makes it look like each wedge is pieced, but it's not. Now all I need to cut out for this quilt are the background squares. I'll save that for another day.

Last night I hand stitched on my new Curved Hexagon project. I ended up not changing out the gold bee fabric. I looked at the other fabrics and decided that this fabric was the best. I really want to keep this unit primarily gold. I do love the scallop the bee fabric is making around the center.

Dinner last night: roasted vegetables along with leftover turkey. Yum! These colors would make a pretty palette for a quilt, no?

We're expecting rain all day today. And that's a good thing - such a drought we've had! Today on my schedule is En Provence, which means I'll be making neutral four patches. Easy peasy! I already have lots of strips cut and ready to go.

Yesterday Hubby and I watched the first episode of Call the Midwife. I wasn't sure if it would be his cup of tea, but he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

Tomorrow I won't have time to blog. We have to get up and out super early to head to Montgomery. Hubby is having a bit of outpatient dermatological surgery. Nothing to worry about, but we'll be gone for a few hours. My UFO quilt is on the schedule for then, so I'll pack up a stack of basket blocks to take with me - I can appliqué the handles in the waiting room.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Summer on the Beach

I finished quilting Summer on the Beach yesterday! Yay! The quilting is not that great, though I do like the feathers I did using quilting rulers. I'm hoping it will look better once bound and washed.

I opted to fold the backing to the front for the binding. All it needs now it machine stitching the binding and it will be done. Can't decide what to do with this one - it may end up as a gift or as a donation quilt.

I wasn't in the mood to work on this yesterday, but I stuck to the schedule and I'm glad I did!

Today on the schedule is either New Bedford or Gardenvale. I now have the pattern for New Bedford and the correct ruler for Gardenvale. I think I'll work on cutting Gardenvale - should be fun work with a Christmas movie in the background.

We finally got rain! It's pouring here today. But that's no excuse to skip swimming. So off I go!

Have a nice day!

Rearrangement...and a Weenie Roast!

I played with these curved hexies Saturday and think I might like this arrangement a bit better. The gold bee fabric makes a scallop around the center. Still not sure though. I may want to switch that gold fabric to another fabric that has more contrast - I want these curves to show from a distance! 

 

Daughter 2 sent me a picture of her (FINISHED!) Christmas tree skirt last night. So cute! And she quilted it all by herself!

This is our idea of a weenie roast. Mickey is lounging by the fire - he loves the heat! 

We got Mom back to Augusta safely yesterday. She has lots of stories to tell her friends about her week here. I'm a bit tired after a busy week, but I'm raring to go this morning. First up - a trip to the pool. Hubby's playing golf with his friends this morning. 

And then I'm getting back on my quilting schedule. Today is for machine quilting! I'm planning to attack work on Summer on the Beach. I'm ready to get this one finished and ready to bind. Maybe I will accomplish that today. 

We are FINALLY getting some rain this week - it's been way too long! Yay! 

Okay then, what are you working on this week? Christmas presents? Or something for yourself? Wishing you a wonderful day!

Lots of Basting Done!

This curved hexie quilt is coming along! I've been so glad to have this at the ready to work on this week! I can sit and visit with family and stitch at the same time. This layout is not set in stone - I'm thinking I may twist things around a bit, or even swap out with different fabrics here and there. You might notice that I switched out the center hexagon - I wasn't happy with the previous one. 

Yesterday was a quiet day. Our pool trip didn't go quite as expected. Our heated pool - normally at a temperature of 92 degrees F - was COLD! Burr! The heater wasn't working. But we swam anyway. I let the facility know about the pool and hopefully they'll fix it soon!!!

I hit a hit a 'wall' in the afternoon and fell asleep on the sofa. A little nap did me lots of good.

And today? It's FOOTBALL day!!! And hexie hand sewing! And eating leftovers! 

Tomorrow we'll be taking Mom back home to Georgia. Next week I'll get back on my sewing schedule. I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

The Day After...

I hope you all (in the US) had a lovely Thanksgiving! We certainly did. Here's everyone gathered around the table. Starting from the left and going clockwise: SIL2 (Michael), Daughter 2 (Elizabeth), my mother, my brother-in-law, my mother-in-law, Daughter 1 (Emily), SIL1 (Tommy). Hubby and I didn't make it into the picture - someone had to hold the camera!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday these days - it's all about family without the worry over presents. We enjoyed lots of laughter and bonding. Mom will be with us until Sunday, but all the others have gone. The house seems quiet this morning!

I'm the primary cook for the Thanksgiving meal. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, green beans, sweet potato casserole, Autumn Roasted Vegetables with Apples and Pecans, cranberry sauce, pickled red onions, Honey Baked Ham (purchased by my mom), yeast risen pumpkin rolls (made by Daughter 2, iced tea (thanks to Daughter 1), and pumpkin pie and pecan pie (thanks to my MIL). Whew! It was all so good.

The Autumn Roasted Vegetables with Apples and Pecans was a new-to-me recipe that I found on Pinterest. You can find the recipe HERE. It includes fresh brussels sprouts, butternut squash, red onions, apples, pecans, and dried cranberries. SO DELICIOUS! I will start making this a regular on our Thanksgiving menu.

As you can see, Cooper has really bonded with Mom, though he keeps stealing tissues from her lap. Ha!

There will be no Black Friday shopping for us today! What will we do? Well, we haven't been swimming since Monday, so that first on the list this morning. We'll take Mom along to watch us. And then there will be a relaxing day ahead. Christmas movie, anyone?

The only sewing I've done is hexie basting, But I've done a good bit! In fact, I'm almost ready to sew the pieces together. I forgot to mention that while Daughter 2 and SIL2 were here, I helped her make a Christmas tree skirt. She did all the work. Yesterday morning she sewed the binding on by machine, and later in the day she started hand stitching the binding to the back side. She brought her sewing machine with her - I cleaned the lint from inside, changed the needle, and made sure it was running smoothly. She'll have the tree skirt done in no time - wish I'd taken a picture, but I didn't. Maybe she'll send me one once she has it around her tree.

I wish you all a happy Friday!

Fussy Cutting!!!

I knew this week would be busy! Not much time for sewing, but that's okay - this week is all about family. We drove to Augusta Sunday, picked up my mother, and brought her back here. She'll be here all week and then we'll take her back to her Assisted Living facility. I think she's enjoying her 'vacation.' Yesterday we took her to Walmart - she had a nice list and we took care of that. (Thanks to Daughter 1 and Hubby for helping!)

I've cooked TWO turkey breasts, made dressing and sweet potato casserole. I also made pickled red onions. Today I'll bake a cake with Mom's help! There's a bit of house cleaning on the schedule for today, too.

For the past several years I've been brining my turkey for a few days and then roasting it. This year I did something different! I cooked both turkey breasts (not at the same time!) in my slow cooker. I cooked them both overnight (on two consecutive nights). So easy and the turkey is so moist!  I simply added chicken broth and water, onion, celery, salt, pepper, and sage - easy peasy!

Yesterday afternoon Mom and I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie, during which time I did lots of fussy cutting for my new hexie quilt. All ready to hand baste! And some of that might happen today!

Tomorrow Daughter 2 and her hubby will arrive in town. And then on Thanksgiving Day my mother-in-law and brother-in-law will arrive. Tons of family fun this week!!! Yes, it's a big Thanksgiving gathering in our tiny cottage! The good news is the weather will be warm - warm enough for spreading out on the front porch and the screened porch.

I may be away from the blog a bit, but know I'm fine and having a good week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Curved Hexies Happened!!!

Yesterday hexies were on my schedule. I wasn't sure if that would happen. But it did happen last night during TV time! I started a new quilt...one that has been in my brain for months. But I wouldn't let myself start until I had finished patterning Bliss - by the way, I keep forgetting to mention that I did upload the rest of the Bliss pattern here - look under the Hexie Love tab at the top.

Excuse the blue tape - that's the one I'm stitching at the moment. So did you notice something? I'm doing this one all by hand! I felt I had to use glue basting and machine stitching on Bliss because of time constraints. But this quilt? No time constraints!!!!

Another change: my last two hexie quilts (Odyssey and Bliss) were done with a wide variety of fabrics, lots of colors, lots of manufacturers, etc. 

But I'm only using one line of fabric for this quilt. It's Bee Creative by Moda. I've had this fabric for almost a year - a half yard of each fabric. I've been hoarding saving it for this quilt.

And look at the bees on the selvage!!! I think this fabric was meant for a hexagon quilt. I'm super excited that I've finally started this quilt - it will progress every Friday and some weekends, too. No rush.

In other related news...the Curved Hexagon Ruler will soon be available to purchase again...in January....stay tuned. So many design possibilities with this ruler!!!

My cart runneth over. Yes, the BIG Thanksgiving shopping trip happened. Whew! AND I made four loaves of bread. Whew! Today I have a few things on my list, but it will be a slower day than yesterday. I planned it that way so I can sit, hand stitch, and watch football. 

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

A Few Baskets Complete...

I did get a few basket handles appliquéd down yesterday - not much, but every little bit helps, right? I think my problem is that I'm in full blown Thanksgiving mode!

Last night was our guild meeting - always a good time! As usual, I'm sharing some of my favorites from Show and Tell. Love this Oklahoma Crossroads, a Bonnie Hunter pattern.

...and this Tula Pink butterfly quilt by the same maker.

And this scrappy Triple Irish Chain made me smile. I'd love to make one some day!

I have a very long grocery list ---- today I'm running THAT errand. You know what I mean...the THANKSGIVING grocery list! It's probably my longest grocery list of the year.

And today I'm wishing Daughter 1 (Emily) a very happy birthday!!!

Later today I plan to make bread - we're almost out. And we can't have that, can we?

I wish you a wonderful day!

Stocking Are Hung????

This is shocking! I have always believed in one holiday at a time: no Christmas decorating until AFTER Thanksgiving! But we are having a big family Thanksgiving. We are not having a big family Christmas due to work and travel schedules of said family. So I thought it would be nice to have Christmas decorations up while everyone is here next week. This is our first Christmas in the cottage and it was fun to figure out where things should go. In our last house, the main room was so big that it took THREE large trees to sufficiently decorate. Here we're only using one four foot tree (not pictured) on an antique table. I put my favorite ornaments on it and put other cutsies out and I am DONE! The wreath (above on the coffee table) just needs to be hung on the front door as soon as the Command hook is set.

And what did I sew yesterday???? NOTHING, I'm afraid.... The day got away from me. But I'm glad we went to the storage unit to get Christmas stuff and I'm glad the house is decorated. Bring on Thanksgiving!

Today on my schedule is my UFO that has basket blocks and clamshells. BUT I haven't found the clamshells. I think I'll hand stitch down the basket handles to make some progress on this. And maybe, just maybe, I'll work on cutting out New Bedford.

The deer were very brave last night. They came around to our front yard and ate our potted pansies. Oh well. Glad they are full, I guess.

Have a great day!

One Swag Bag Complete!

Yesterday I had planned to cut out a quilt (more on that in a minute), but first I really wanted to finish this bag. And I did!

And I'm already using it - it's the perfect size for my Farmer's Daughter block-in-progress and all the sewing supplies needed.

So about that cutting. I pulled out the Gardenvale kit and my wedge ruler. I made the first long cuts in the fabric. Okay, let's cut some dresden wedges! I cut a few. And then I stopped. I learned that all wedge rulers are not the same! My wedge ruler is 9 degrees - I would need 40 wedges to make a circle. The pattern calls for a different wedge ruler that will make a circle with only 20 wedges. Okay. Back to square one. I got on Amazon and ordered the correct wedge ruler. It will arrive tomorrow.

I called the quilt shop that sold me the New Bedford quilt kit at Houston yesterday morning. They were so nice and offered to email the pattern so I could have it quickly. About the time I gave up on cutting Gardenvale, the New Bedford pattern arrived in my in-box. But by now the day was almost gone.

And so I didn't accomplish much in the way of quilting. But today is another day. En Provence is up on the schedule, but of course, this doesn't start until Black Friday. And so I will get to choose what to work on. Hmmm. Either I will cut out New Bedford...or I will start a new curved hexagon quilt.

I did make my Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole and froze it. So that's something.

I hope you have a productive day!





 

Successful Quilting Day!

And just like that, this Sue Spargo bag is almost done! It took a bit longer than expected to quilt it, primarily because I was unhappy with some of my work and had to take a 2 hour break to rip it out. Have you ever ripped out quilting on wool? Not fun...

The end result was a worth the effort though. I was able to use my Bernina Stitch Regulator which helped so much!!!!

So this little bag just needs a zipper inserted and side seams stitched. Then it will be in the FINISHED list and I can use it to stow my hand sewing supplies by my den chair. Woop!

Today is scheduled for New Bedford, but I still don't have that missing pattern...I plan to call them today. And so I think I'll substitute Gardenvale (the dresden plate kit). Today will be a cutting day. I plan to cut all the pieces at one time. Sounds like a good morning to watch a movie while I work!

But first...you know the drill...the pool! Have a wonderful day!

The MOON! And Feeding Deer...

Look what came in the mail! I got it just in time for the mystery quilt! Woohoo! I need to get out the instructions and review them this week - happy dance here!

Last night we took a golf cart ride around the neighborhood to view the Super Moon. My pictures certainly do not give it justice. WOW!

And then we stopped off at a spot in the woods to leave a pile of deer corn. We have so many deer around here - Friday Hubby saw 17 - and we love to leave them a spot of food. We'll go back and check it today and it will probably be all gone - they love it!

I finished the hand stitching on the Sue Spargo bag kit yesterday! And today (according to my schedule) is for machine quilting. I do believe I'll quilt this little bag first - and then I'll move on to work on Summer on the Beach.

I found the basket blocks I was looking for, but I still need to find a small clamshell piece. Or else I need to rethink the UFO I plan to put together. I also found my wedge rulers. AND I cut out another Farmer's Daughter's block. A good day!

Swimming is still happening. Yesterday I topped my personal best - 90 laps! It took me 54 minutes. My ultimate goal is to be able to swim for one hour straight and I'm almost there. One thing I've had trouble with is counting laps. I have been thinking, "15,15,15,15,16,16,16,16,17,17..." the entire time I swim. While I was in Houston Hubby bought me a little click counter. I now keep it on one end of the pool. With every lap down and back I click it twice. NO more counting in my head! You wouldn't believe what a difference this has made! I now can let my mind wander. I designed a quilt while swimming yesterday.

I hope you have a wonderful day! Go forth and quilt!

Houston, We Have a Slight Problem...

Yesterday I decided to gather all the projects on my new schedule to have them at the ready. I sat down to read through the directions for the New Bedford quilt kit I bought at Quilt Festival. Rut Roh. I have several identical pages of the fabric requirements. No pattern. I emailed the vendor. Lucky for me they have a brick and mortar store so I can call them Monday if I haven't heard from them. I'm sure they'll come through for me.

I finished the latest Farmer's Daughter block last night. Love the darker gray in the background! I need to cut out another one today.

I went through my Sue Spargo projects to pick one to work on some evenings. And look! I found this little bag project almost complete! I finished the bullions on the top left circle yesterday while watching football. I just have to bullion around the bottom circle and it will be ready to quilt and sew together. Woohoo!

Today I'll do more of the same. I'm looking for all the parts and pieces of my UFO with the baskets and clamshells. And I want to find my wedge ruler. Wish me luck!

I hope you have a sweet day!

Organized!

Here's the before.

And here's the after! BOOM! Done! See those three bins in the middle? I'll be putting them in a closet today. So lovely to be done and organized. You will also notice that we hung my little Ikea bucket thing to store scissors, marking tools, and miscellaneous small things.

Here what the fabric looked like before...

And here's the after, pressed and neatly folded. Yes, this is all Kaffe fabric. Yes, I have a lot of it (this is only a fraction...).

I think I have my new schedule ready. I've decided to relegate all hand work projects (except hexies) to afternoons and evenings. And so these items will not appear on the schedule. These hand projects include Farmer's Daughter, Lollypop Trees hand quilting, and a Sue Spargo project - I have a few Sue Spargo wool pieces in progress and want to get back to them.

Monday-  Machine Quilting (finish Summer on the Beach, then Allietare, then Bliss)
Tuesday- New Bedford (new kit from Festival)
Wednesday- En Provence (Bonnie Hunter mystery)
Thursday- UFO - this quilt has baskets, clamshells, etc - my own design
Friday- HEXIES! My new Curved Hexie quilt!

So this makes EIGHT projects I'll be working on at one time. OH MY! On weekends I'll work on whatever strikes my fancy as usual. We'll just see how this works for a bit.

Okay, I'm off to the pool. I skipped yesterday so I really need to go this morning. Have a wonderful day!!!

More Quilts...

Here are a two more quilts from Festival that caught my eye. You know I love an animal quilt!!!

And isn't this cat adorable???

So here's the mess I'm dealing with in the corner of my sewing room. I'm determined to go through the remaining bins, sorting, pressing, folding, and putting away. The pile on top of Mickey's crate? Those of works in progress. I think I may bring a small shelf unit from storage to put where the bins are now to keep these WIPs sorted neatly - it will be much easier to grab one.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday working on this. This morning I'm hitting it hard and hope to finish the sorting. I'm determined to have this all finished and my sewing room neat and organized by Thanksgiving.

The only sewing I did was hand stitching on the next Farmer's Daughter block. I'll finish this block over the weekend I think. I'm still working on my schedule - so many projects! I think I'll continue to set aside one day a week for machine quilting - I have one quilt in progress and two more tops waiting. I need to set aside one day a week for En Provence. I'll figure it out later today! Next week I'll be on the schedule, but the following week is Thanksgiving so the schedule will be out the window then. I'll be busy cooking and enjoying family!

Enjoy your Friday!

The Quilts!

The Quilts! That's what we really go to Houston to see, right? Lots of bloggers have been posting photos of quilts. I'm trying not to show the same quilts that have been seen over and over. I'm trying to share quilts that maybe you have not seen on-line....

Each quilt is followed here with a photo of the placard giving all the information as to the title, maker, etc. 

This quilt really caught my attention. I loved the color, the lines, the composition.

But I was surprised as I got closer to see how it was made. Raw edged strips of fabric layered and machine stitched on top of black fabric.

Wow. So effective. I could see that the quilt was made in 9 squares that were later stitched together.

Another wow.

Look at all the vertical hand stitches over every single small strip of fabric.

This quilt struck me because of the subject matter. At first I simply saw a flag.

But when I got closer, I saw the tessellating guns.

I am a certified math geek. Got to love a Pi quilt!!! Look at the borders...the number PI is machine quilted around the quilt.

So these are just a few random quilts that struck my fancy. I still have a few more to share.

Great news! I finished the Bliss pattern yesterday! I'll publish it later today here on the blog - it will be under the Hexie Love tab at the top of the page.

I worked on planning my new quilting schedule to go forward. I'm still tweaking it - so many projects I want to work on! And now that Bliss is behind me (except for quilting it!), I'm anxious to start a new hexie project. I have the fabric picked out already! AND I learned a new-to-me hexie trick at the Moda booth at Festival - I'll share it with you once I get my new hexie quilt started!

So, I'm off to the pool. And then I'll work on....well, I'm not exactly sure what I'll work on today. I guess I need to finalize my schedule. And I have a few more bins to sort through to get my sewing room in tip top shape. That sounds like a good plan to me!

Hope your day is splendid!