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.