Those darn quilting elves

they have let me down again.  They were in charge of watching dinner while I was playing a bit in EQ.  Well my baked spaghetti parmesan – you know how the cheese should be nice and melty on top — yeah, well it was  like cardboard and about the color of it too.  LOL.  I had to peel off the rubberized cheese to get to the spaghetti.  Edible, but not a great meal and the rest will hit the garbage.    Which really makes me wish I had picked up something chocolatey good at the store but no – I refrained.

I was trying to figure out what the next Stitchin with Justquiltin project will be in July.  Unfortunately I got severely sidetracked with some other designs and never did figure out what the next one will be.   I can tell you I plan to post it on July 28 — my birthday!   Also, the next Strictly for the Birds pattern – Heads or Tails – has been rescheduled from June 9 to June 23 so look for it then.

Now as to those patterns I was playing with that made my dinner taste like shoe leather — here’s what they were.    I love the look of tumbling block quilts.  I love everything about this one, especially the fabric combination, except for the fact that it would be a royal pain to piece that top diamond.  But they are still fun to play with.

And even more fun to see what happens when you switch every block in that same tumbling block layout to the same pieced block which is what the second image shows.

The last image is based on this block set into a tumbling block arrangement.

And I love the loopy kaleidoscope ones — no don’t get hung up on the fact that some of the fabrics make it a bit too blendy – I was working on an enlarged version which looked fine because it also showed me all the outlines of the pieces and things stood out more but transferring it to an image to print makes things look more blended.  It’s the quilt design I’m interested in, not the fabrics.   It’s not like I would use those fabrics but then again it’s  not like I would be crazy enough to piece  that design either.     

Many of the ones I really like but wouldn’t want to piece I print on blank cards.  They are great to send to quilty friends and family and I’ve made sets of them to give as gifts too.  So one way or another they get used.

Now back to some serious searching in the EQ files to find a July design.

Lazy day

Today is definitely a lazy day.  I was going to run an errand and still may though I may get rained on.  Dreary and gray  will rule the day today I think.  In the meantime I’ve been doing a bit of tidying of my sewing mess and my kitchen mess and going though videotapes and dvds making a pile of movies I don’t want to keep so that maybe the ones I do want to keep will fit on the bookshelves.

There’s more ladybug blocks to make but I think watching a movie and some knitting might take place first.  After sitting and sewing for so long yesterday I think some shopping for a new chair for my sewing room is definitely in order.  This one is NOT comfortable.  I’ll have to put that on  my list of things to shop for — finding one that is adjustable high enough is always a challenge.

Rainy days are great for baking chocolatey things — darn the quilting elves apparently had me shut in the sewing room so they could eat everything chocolatey that was here.   Yes – I may need to take a change of getting rained on and add something chocolatey to my shopping list.

Memorial Weekend Pattern

For those looking for the free pattern I said would be available this weekend who may not have already found it, it was released early and you’ll find it on the May 21 blog post.  Remember it is only available for download through the holiday weekend .

Being held hostage by the quilting elves!

Okay not really but is it a good thing to get a second wind about 1 a.m.?   I was digging through some quilt tops to decide what I want to layer first to quilt on.  Then decided I’d figure out if I really had enough of the fabrics I had pulled for the ladybug quilt.  Didn’t, so resized the quilt a bit to work with the fabrics I had.  Then decided maybe I’d just cut some of the pieces out.  Well you know that led to maybe I’ll sew just one block of each style…….. but two blocks of each style would give me a better idea of how I like it.  ROFLOL  It’s 4 a.m. – the quilting elves have fallen asleep so I can escape from the sewing room as soon as I finish this post.

I like them – it will be a really cute quilt.   I may end up making the larger size version I originally had later — it think the same blocks would look nice out of that stack of oriental style fabrics I have.

But that’s enough ladybug sewing for tonight — my sewing chair needs to be turned in for something more comfortable!

I also make great progress on Dad’s scarf earlier this evening (or yesterday as the case may be).  Here it is with one ball of yarn knit into it.  The colors in the photo look just a bit brighter than reality from the flash.  But I love the color combination.

On The Needles Friday – May 24, 2013

 What’s on the Needles this week — well there’s been several different scarfs on and off the needles because I just couldn’t settle on a color combination I liked.  But then found this yarn and this is what I’m sticking with.  I wanted something with lots of different colors since the scarf will be my Dad’s birthday gift next month.  They’re moving back to the Midwest from Arizona after about 15 years there so I’m not even sure if he still has a winter coat so I wanted something that would work with whatever he might have or get.  I found this yesterday out shopping and here’s what I’ve got done so far.   The yarn is Amazing in the Arcadia colorway.

 

The other yarn I found there that jumped into my hands and would not let me out of the store without it was the Three Irish Girls Wexford Merino Silk.   You know anything with 60% silk in it has to feel absolutely wonderful and has a pretty sheen to it.

Mom would love this color – shades of aqua to gray – so it will probably be something for her birthday.  So with Dad’s birthday, Mom’s birthday, Father’s Day (perhaps a hat for Dad to match his scarf) and Camp Loopy’s first project all due in June – I’ll be busy.  But with a bit of a reprieve since I’ll just hold the birthday presents hostage until after they move in July so I can give them in person.

Things are hoppin this morning….

Well except for that maid or the quilting elves  -  one of them forgot to make the banana muffins this morning.  How rude! LOL    I stopped for a coffee break (and realized I was hungry because it was lunch time and I hadn’t had any breakfast yet)  and had to make the muffins first.  So the pan of muffins just came out of the oven  and there’s a loaf of banana bread still baking.  I’ve finally rid the freezer of the glut of bananas that would slide out at me whenever I moved anything in the freezer.  And remembered to take the ground beef out to defrost for the stuffed mushroom caps I want to make for dinner – so hopefully I won’t be eating dinner at 9 p.m. like last night — time slipped away from me by the time I finally left the sewing room in search of food.

Now to try to patiently wait for the muffins to cool just a little.

So what else is hoppin?  Laundry is going, dishwasher loaded and running (let’s see – what else can I turn on to do work for me while I do something else) LOL   – nothing, but I’ve been busy in the sewing room and finally seeing progress.  In addition to drawing up the ladybug quilt design this morning, my little featherweight has been humming along.

  All the Cobbled Path blocks are stitched and now up on the design wall – I moved them to the larger design wall so I could get them all up there.    And  I also finished sewing the rows together on the graduation music quilt.  Since I was moving that to the smaller design wall, decided to quickly stitch the last rows so now I can figure the borders for that one.

 

 

 

And then I had one of those light bulb moments (as I was trying to figure out how I’d get the two quilts I want to quilt for the fundraiser done in time).    Hanging on the wall in my sewing room is one of the quilts I had decided a long time ago I would use for the fund raiser.  Hidden in plain sight!

Frozen Delights has been done and waiting.  I kept looking at the pile of finished quilts and wall hangings thinking I already had at least one done I had planned to donate but it just didn’t seem to be in that stack — and that was my problem – I had taken it out of the pile to hang on the sewing room wall for a while.

I still want to make and finish the ladybug quilt for donation and I think the cobblestone path quilt can linger a bit on the design wall and when done it will go into my charity quilt pile to go to a different cause.  So deadline issues solved.  If I really like the ladybugs I may keep them — there’s several smaller quilts in the charity stack that I could use instead of the ladybugs too so I’m no longer feeling like I’m really rushed.

I may go find a small table runner or small wall hanging in my “to be quilted” heaps (yes heaps – tidy folded ones but heaps nonetheless).  I want to try out the new free motion foot I ordered and try the Sulky invisible thread to see if I like it or if I need to place an order for a brand I used to buy, which I found on line.  So again the cracker jack store clerk who told  me that brand was no longer made was incorrect – the store just doesn’t carry it anymore.

Time for that muffin and then a quick tidy of the sewing table so I can move on to the next project.

 

Ladybug quilt

Today’s first up — the Cobbled Path blocks.  I just have one final seam to sew in all the blocks after I do some pressing so hope to get all the blocks up on the design wall a bit later.

Second – make a quilt with the ladybug fabric I posted.  I’m thinking this

with the ladybugs of course I those big pink snowball blocks.  Now I just need to figure out if I have enough fabric to do this since I was just pulling stuff from the stash to go with it.

 

 

 

So easily distracted

Yep that’s me.  Usually when I plan a vacation and plan lots of sewing time, that’s what I do.  Sit for hours on end and sew.  But this time I’m easily distracted — maybe because there are too many things I want to do or maybe because I keep making stupid mistakes on the things I’m working on.  Or maybe I clearly didn’t plan ahead well — had to order batting and wait for that to arrive; today it was a thread issue.  So this afternoon’s distraction…. I decided to head to a little strip mall not far from me in search of the thread I wanted.  I had something I needed to pick up to make the dinner too so thought I might check out the new Hyvee store that just opened near the little mall.

Well, first stop in the strip mall was Wisconsin Craft Market which redid their yarn department a while ago and for a not huge store, they have an extraordinarily nice selection of brands I usually order on line.   I did find a color changing yarn that I like much better for the scarf I’m making Dad so will set aside (and probably rip out) the other one I was doing and use this.  Lots of different colors in it and since I don’t know what color his winter coat is (or if he even has a winter coat anymore), I wanted something with colors that would go with anything.  So, that must be about start number 5 or 6 on that scarf. LOL (yes apparently even yarn has been distracting too).

They also had Three Irish Girls yarn in the store which I truly love.  Now the bad thing (really it’s a good thing) they only had one sock weight hank of that yarn and it was in a color I already had so I didn’t feel compelled to buy it.  BUT they had DK weight and in a blend I hadn’t seen before — Wexford Merino Silk – 60% silk 40% merino wool.  I can’t even tell you how wonderful that feels.  Now the dilemma is do I keep it or make Mom’s birthday present out of it.  I was going to make my Camp Loopy project for her but this yarn just happens to be her favorite color and a color she looks really good in.  I will have to see what patterns I can find for this weight yarn and the yardage I’ve got and see what plan I can come up with.  I’ll have to take a picture of it tomorrow.

Next stop Hancock Fabrics – I was searching for invisible thread and they apparently stopped carrying the brand that I liked – or at least that was what I was told.  I was pointed towards some but a not so helpful clerk who, when I asked if that was the only brand they carried, told me yes.  Hmmm…  walked to the other side of the thread racks and found two other kinds — neither the ones I was looking for but I got some to try.  Anyone have a good invisible thread they use?  I’ll have to see if I can find the one I used to use on line.   Then, Rocky’s pizza parlor is right there and the minute you walk into that mall you smell pizza.  Well it was 1:30 and I hadn’t had breakfast or lunch so I went to visit Rocky.   Never did make it to check out the new Hyvee – I wasn’t in the mood for wandering a large grocery store — so grabbed what I needed at Walgreens and then caught the bus home.

Meanwhile I realized the women’s golf outing that I always make quilts for is fast approaching and has really snuck up on me.   I do have some smaller quilted wall hangings I can donate but I normally like to have a larger – at least large lap size quilt – added into the mix if not something larger.    The Cobbled Path quilt will probably end up being used for this and I also previously bought this too cute pink ladybug fabric with the intention of using it for the golf outing since the pink is appropriate since it’s a fund raiser for the Komen Fund.

I love that ladybug print – I have just a fat quarter of the same print in different colors in the stash too.   I started pulling some fabrics from the stash to go with it.  I need to see what else I can find.  Don’t know what sort of design I’ll use — something super simple I’m sure since I need to get it done in record time but I also don’t want to really cut up the lady bugs much.  It may just be a simple snowball block alternating with 9 patches but I’ll think on that some more tomorrow.  Time to shut down the sewing room and go knit for a while.

Sale!!!

 

Yep – a Memorial Day Weekend Sale at EQ Boutique.   You can see my designs for sale at that  link – or get to the many many other block collections and quilt patterns by the other wonderful EQ Boutique designers.

And if you haven’t tried it yet – it’s simple to do.  Just register yourself for an account, and then “buy” one of the FREE patterns to see what it’s like.  Yes, you need a Windows-based computer or a Mac that runs a parallel program (which I don’t understand since I don’t have a Mac but requirements are listed on the EQ Boutique info pages).  Once you “buy” the free pattern, it’s a simple download.

You can also see  a slide show of  quilt patterns and block collections plus some “inspiration quilts” using the block collections by clicking the My EQ Boutique button in my blog sidebar.  “Block collections” are just blocks; “quilt patterns” have full assembly instructions so you need to read the descriptions of what you are ordering.

A bit more Cobbled Path

I got a second wind last night and headed back into the sewing room and stitched pieces until I ran out of one particular section that I knew I hadn’t cut all of them for yet.

 so  a dozen more blocks were finished.  I’m going to have to move this one to the larger design wall – I need to add one more row in the width and I’m out of space.  But on that wall at the moment are the blocks to the graduation quilt.

So I’ll probably switch gears today and first get the graduation quilt rows set together before I pull it off that design wall – or at least move it over so I can move the other quilt there.

 

 

And I’m now well stocked if I ever get to clearing off the table to layer some quilts.  Delivered yesterday along with a new free motion foot to try on my machine.

I’m glad I didn’t really have anything planned to do outside this vacation.  I think there was one really nice day so far and the rest it has been rainy and gray and wet.   Today is  no exception.