12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 7

A little strippy block today.

Civil War BOW – Union Shield (53A)

Okay, I really didn’t like the other version – so I did another.  Not sure if I like this one either.

Civil War BOW– Union Shield (#53)

The last block – and it was a frustrating one!

12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 6

Much later today, but I got it in before midnight!

Point Of View – Day 1

Worked on this little wall hanging tonight.  I was auditioning a couple of other fabrics that can be seen in the photo.

12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 5

Already done with today’s little block!

12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 4

Today’s block was a cute little fast 4-patch block.

12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 3

A fun little block for Day 3.

12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt – Day 2

I’m doing the 12 Days Of Christmas Mystery Quilt through the Temecula Quilt Co. blog.  I didn’t get a chance to post a picture of Day 1, which was just a small square.  So here’s Day 1 and Day 2.

Civil War BOW – Christmas Star (52)

With all of the festivities on Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t get around to doing my block for the week until late this afternoon.  It’s a combination of a light and dark green, a red and two different shirtings – one more tan, the other a little more white.

Rice Bag Feet Warmers

As a last minute gift … I decided to make up seven Rice Bag feet warmers.  They were really quite simple.  I got the tutorial at the V and Co. blog.  (http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2009/02/tutorialrice-bag-feet-warmer.html)

Here are the fat quarters that I picked.  I’ll buy the rice at the store tomorrow.

Did I Ever Post This?

Our One-To-One Small Quilt Swap quilts were due on 12/15.  I sent a little pink & brown hourglass quilt to my partner (Mary F. of Connecticut).   I can’t find the pictures that I took when it was done.  (which is odd)  I did some simple straight line quilting on it, and then sewed on dark pink buttons at all of the intersections.  I also sent her a couple little goodies as Christmas presents.

She sent me a small cheddar and olive green pinwheel quilt, and a cute little Amish-style doll and two fat quarters.

Civil War BOW – New York (51)

Good gracious – only two more after this week!  I will really miss getting up every Saturday morning and checking my iPad for the new block.

Peppermint Pinwheels – Day 2

The top of this little quilt (17” x 17”) is now ready to quilt.  The red binding is hanging on the design wall next to it.  I posted a picture on Thursday night (early Friday a.m.) but didn’t really take the time to describe it. 

The pattern was a gift from Kathleen Tracy to the group members of SmallQuiltTalk, a Yahoo group.  I love Kathy’s books, that’s how I found her group on the ‘net.  I started out with her book The Civil War Sewing Circle, and have now done five of the projects from it.  I recently bought her book Remembering Adelia, but haven’t done any of the projects in it yet.  I asked Santa for her other two books, Prairie Children And Their Quilts and American Doll Quilts, so we’ll see what he brings down the chimney for me.  (Two boxes from Amazon.com have arrived in my husband’s name in the last couple days – so there’s a chance that at least one of them may show up under the tree!)

Anyway, when Kathy gave the pattern to the group members, I printed it out and took it into the quilt room.  With the holidays here, I didn’t think I’d have a chance to do it – oh well, another project for NEXT Christmas.  But, then we were down in Columbus doing some Christmas shopping and getting my block-of-the-month stuff from a couple of shops.  One of the shops (which was having a 20% off coupon day) had just started offering THREE NEW JO MORTON bundles.  (Woo Hoo!!!!!)  Of course I bought all three to add to my growing Civil War repro collection.  It wasn’t until a day or so later that I remembered the Peppermint Pinwheels pattern from Kathy, and I immediately knew what I was going to do with the red & white bundle!

Earlier I mentioned the SmallQuiltTalk group – please look into joining if you enjoy making small quilts.  We just got done doing a partner swap of small quilts (I got a really cute little quilt from my assigned partner.  And we did a 4-Patch Challenge earlier in the month too, which was fun!  (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/)

Peppermint Pinwheels – Day 1

Kathleen Tracy designed an adorable little Christmas piece … I started it late tonight.

Mariner’s Compass – Day 1

Needed to make a present for someone, and this is what I’ve got so far.  I started it Sunday morning.  I probably would have finished it completely but we HAD to get the Christmas tree up in the living room or pretty soon there’ll be no point!  So that took an hour or so.  Had to take more time out to make supper of course, and hubby needed a casserole to take to his Christmas party at work – which they hold on Sunday nights at 9 p.m.  (yuck!)  So I made two casseroles at once – I cooked one for dinner, and I stuck the other one in the fridge for a couple of hours.  When I was ready, I made up the topping and baked it so he could take it to the party.  He had fun, I think and he brought home an empty dish – so it must have gone over well.

Civil War BOW – Grapes of Wrath (50)

Got this week’s block done a little earlier!

Small Quilt Challenge (Simple Four-Patch) 12/08/11

Finished my small quilt challenge quilt this morning.  I hand quilted it with wool thread using the “big stitch” style.

Civil War BOW – Yankee Puzzle (49)

Better late than never – here’s this week’s block!

Small Endearment Quilt – Day 1

Got the top for this little quilt done this evening.   The photo looks like it is upside down, but that’s the way it’s displayed on the front of the pattern.  The pattern was done by Good Wives Co. of Marion, OH, inspired by an original late 19th. century quilt.  They were offering the pattern and fabric kits.  The background is the aged muslin that many stores are offering right now.   (it measures approx. 22” x 15”)

Scrap Squares Doll Quilt – Day 1

Couldn’t resist buying another kit from the Kathleen Tracy book The Civil War Sewing Circle.   And I couldn’t wait to get started on it …

The top is assembled.  The kit didn’t come with binding fabric, so I’ll have to pick something from my stash tomorrow.  I think I’ll quilt this little piece on the HQ-16 so that I can do some feathered wreaths in the large squares.  (maybe)

Civil War BOW – West Virginia (48)

Feeling a little tired today, but got this week’s block done.

Day after Thanksgiving …

Whew ... that was a looonnnngggg day. I left the house at about 8:45 this morning to head to the local Pandora store to get the special bead that they were offering today. Then headed to a quilt shop about 45 minutes west of here (devoted to mainly Civil War repro stuff). They were having a 40% off fabric sale, along with a buy-one-get-one-50% off sale on books. And their Christmas housewares (decorative primitives mostly) were 25% off. I came away with five yards of fabric, three kits, six books, three FQ's and some assorted doo-dads and notions. Got back to town and stopped at Mom's house to go shopping with my Mom, Dad, and my sister and her two little boys. (Her hubby had to work all weekend, so she's spending some time in town with Mom & Dad) We hit some tried and true local shops that aren't quite as busy the day after turkey day, but have some neat stuff. Then it was back to Mom & Dad's for pizza, and by this time my hubby was off work so he was able to join us. Got home about 9:30. Had a lot of fun, spent way too much $$, and am exhausted! (but it was a good day!)

Two bindings done

Finished binding two little quilts Sunday night.

Oh how I wish there was a Black Friday for quilters …

We were out this morning for an early breakfast at Bob Evans and our weekly stops at CVS and Walgreens … and of course there are signs all over the place for the big Black Friday events coming at the end of the week.  I’ve kind of been thinking about this topic all week … why can’t there be a Black Friday for quilters????

Wouldn’t it be FANTABULOUS to be able to go to a shop and get 75% off a new sewing machine or that new cutting table?  Can you imagine fabric for $2.00/yard?  What about batting for $5.00?  What about needles and rotary blades and thimbles for $1.00 each??? 

Okay, we better open our eyes, the dream is over … it was nice to think about for a little while, but it’s back to reality now.

When I first got back into quilting, I actually went out on a Black Friday by myself to hit Wal-Mart and JoAnn Fabrics.  I started at JoAnn’s … and the line went from the registers all the way to the back of the store (literally – I’m not making that up).  And for all of the grumblers out there, let me tell you – it was sort of fun.  There were ladies behind me talking about their crafting projects and why they were buying this item or that item.  In front of me were two women talking about all of the places they had already been that morning.  They were up at the crack of dawn and in line at the door at Sears at 5:00 a.m. that morning to get some sort of gift certificate.  I think it was around 9:30 or so by the time I was talking to them, so they were ready for lunch already now that they’d been out shopping for over 4 hours!  It was kind of neat to hear about all of the stuff they’d done … and it made the time standing in line go by faster.  Oh yes, I was still in that line for quite awhile … but for a relatively new quilter looking to add to her collection of stuff – it was a good deal!

I made it to Wal-Mart about 10:30 or so, and by that time the crowd had died down a little.  It was still a busy place though, and the remnants of the tornado of customers having blown through were evident.  There was stuff on the floor, a few displays knocked over, some torn advertisements scattered about.  I was there to buy a new sewing machine.  I needed a new one, but wasn’t ready to commit to one of the expensive ones at the quilt stores yet.  (As it turned out, I think I only used that machine from that day in late November to around mid-April when I got my Bernina Aurora 440QEE.)  But it was kind of fun to be out in the hustle and bustle … to see the $19 VCR’s and the VHS tapes in bins selling for $1.00 each, the shirts selling for $5 each, and the purses for $10.  And with the Christmas music and a different Santa Claus around every corner, it really did put me in the spirit of the season that year.

Mini Triangle Quilt – Day 1

Decided to move stuff around in the kitchen this afternoon, a long overdue task.  When I moved the bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that were setting on the counter by the coffee maker, it suddenly left an ugly blank spot on the wall.  For a quick fix I decided to make this little triangle quilt.  Will turn and finish the binding on Sunday …

Civil War BOW–Dixie Tea (47)

Was able to get my block done during the OSU game.  Now I better get downstairs and get supper on the table!

4-Patch Challenge (Did I Actually Make a Decision?)

Okay, the 4-patch challenge email has been setting on my desk for weeks now.  I even had a copy of it in the quilt room.  But I couldn’t make up my mind.  I wanted to do something really, really simple.  I see quilt projects in magazines hanging on walls, and lots of times they are such simple little projects.  But because they’re finished in such a cute way – it looks fantastic.  (one of those – Well I Could Do THAT! moments)

The little 4-patch units had been up on my design wall for several days – I had about three different layouts going.  But finally it hit me – why not just do a basic little 4-patch quilt, do some big-stitch quilting on it by hand, and display it on one of those cute hangers that I’ve got in my quilt room?

So here’s where things stand …

I’ve got the small mini-quilt made of basic 4-patch units in Civil War repros and shirtings.  And to the right you’ll see the hanger that I’m hoping to use.

Fave Friday #1 – Flying Geese No Math Ruler

Okay, I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile now – but just haven’t done it.  There are so many products that I just absolutely love, that I thought I’d share a little about them each week.

This week I tried a product called the FLYING GEESE RULER NO MATH RULER by Lazy Girl Designs.  With this ruler you will create FOUR flying geese units at a time.  you cut ONE LARGE square (the body of your geese) and FOUR SMALL squares (the wings of the geese units).

The instructions are pretty great, but here’s my quick version.

The ruler has two different sets of lines.  In one corner there are a series of solid lines and measurements.  Those lines give you your cutting lines for your large square.  If you need flying geese units that are 5½” wide for example, you would use the lines marked with the letter I.

 

Then get your other fabric ready and use the markings on the other corner of the ruler to cut your “wing” pieces.

On the back of your small squares, draw one diagonal line from corner to corner on each of the four squares.

Lay two of the squares on top of your large square (right sides together) with the lines on the back of the small squares lined up from corner to corner.

Move to your sewing machine with your 1/4” foot and stitch a line on each side of your drawn lines.  (1/4” to the right and 1/4” to the left)

After both lines of stitching are complete, cut the unit in half on the solid line.

Move to the ironing board and press the “wings” open on each unit.

Take your third small square and position it at the bottom of one of the two units you’ve just sewn.  As before, sew 1/4” lines on each side of the drawn line.  Repeat this step with the fourth square and the other sewn and pressed unit.

You’ll end up with four flying geese units.  One of the “wings” will already be pressed open, the other side will not.  Take a moment to press the other wing open.

Now you’ll have four neat flying geese units.   Trim the corners and the little ears at the top of the unit. 

Repeat with other colors.

Flying Geese On A Hanger – Day 1

Started this project late this evening.

Caleb’s Choice – Day 2

Finished up this wall hanging on Sunday night, but the bad thunderstorms blew through here and I had the computers shut down for the evening.  Yesterday was my weekly grocery shopping day.  Was going to take the picture and get it posted last night – but I hurt my thumb right before starting dinner and it was throbbing in pain all night.  I posted details about where I got this kit and the designer info. in an earlier post.

Fabric Flip Flop @ ConnectedThreadz.com

A fabric flip flop has been started at ConnectedThreadz.com.  If you’re a member – click on EVENTS along the top link bar and look for the link to the Flip Flop.  If you’re not a member – consider joining in the fun.  ConnectedThreadz.com is kind of like a Facebook for quilters and fiber artists.

Caleb’s Choice – Day 1

Decided to use this little kit as my ConnectedThreadz.com Sew-In project today.  I got this kit up at Anna Louisa’s in Louisville, OH.  The pattern was designed by Susan D. Pierce.

Yes the picture was taken from an angle, so the perspective is a bit wonky!

Oh, and if you haven’t discovered it yet – we quilters have our own social arena (kind of like Facebook) called ConnectedThreadz.com.  (https://www.connectedthreadz.com)  Check it out.

Civil War BOW–Apple Tree Block (46)

Finished up this week’s block this afternoon.

I also got my fresh turkey and the bulk sausage for the stuffing ordered for Thanksgiving!  It’s just around the corner you know!!!

A Friday shopping trip …

Headed up to Anna Louisa’s Needle Arts in Louisville, Ohio today.  We had visited that shop a few months ago during a shop hop – and they had some fantastic Civil War repro stuff.  We headed out around 9:15 this morning, and made it up there before 11:00.  We probably spent a little too much time there, but it was nice to be able to go.  And I got a lot of neat stuff …

I picked up seven small kits, and a bunch of fat quarters – shirtings and regular prints. 

After we left there, we made what was SUPPOSED to be a quick stop for a sandwich at Burger King.  Unfortunately after waiting 8 minutes for our food, they had only made one sandwich.  So then we had to wait almost another 10 minutes for my husband’s sandwich to come out.  They were apologetic and offered us free desserts for our trouble. 

By this time we were soooooo late getting back on the road.  We were supposed to be at my sister’s house by 1:00 or 1:30.  We had an hour’s worth of travel to do and only about 35 minutes to do it.  So we didn’t get there until 1:45 and stayed there until about 5:45.  We had a delicious dinner at Longhorn before heading back home!  I’m pretty tired!

Enough with the bad language!

Okay, I’m getting sick of reading and hearing bad language all over the place.  It drives me crazy.  We don’t use bad language … didn’t use it growing up, don’t use it now and I’m about to turn 41.  My Grandpa used a lot of bad language, and my parents explained to me that he didn’t know any better.  One time when I was about 6 or 7, I asked my Mom what “Hell” meant, and she threatened to wash my mouth out with soap just for uttering the word.  So I learned from an early age that we did NOT use that type of language.  My Dad spent all of his working years in a factory, so he probably heard his fair share of bad words – but he never brought it home.  Not only does using that language show a lack of class and a lack of education, but a good man should NEVER speak that way in front of his wife and daughters.  (You can tell how much I respect my Dad)  Now everyone gets to post whatever they want on Facebook and Twitter and their blogs, and I’m sick of the bad language that I’m assaulted with all of the time.  And some of those people are college educated – and one was an English major so I think she should know some other words to use!  I know they have the RIGHT to say things – but can I ask for a little intelligence in deciding how best to express that message?

Okay … I’ll calm down now and go back to the quilt room!

Civil War BOW–Port And Starboard (45)

Woke up with a headache today.  It’s nearly 3 p.m. and I’ve been fighting the headache all day long.  Uggh!  But I was able to spend some time in the quilt room finishing up this week’s block.  (early this time)  This is another bad photo – this one is taken with my older Fuji A303.  Had to do a lot of color adjustment in order to get this to look decent.  (It’s still pretty dark though – sorry!)  The colors are cheddar, olive green, tan and off-white.

Civil War BOW – Union (44)

I’m REALLY late this week in getting my block done.  I just haven’t had the energy I guess.  I’ve been in quite a funk!  The picture isn’t very good – it was taken late at night, in bad lighting with my iPad2. 

Madeira Log Cabin–Quilting done

Realized last night that I had never posted a picture of the quilting.

Need to turn the binding on this one and then it will be done!

Civil War BOW–Right Hand of Friendship (43)

Wow – I can hardly believe that this is week 43 of the Civil War block-of-the-week … eeek!

Halloween Triangle Pillow–Day 2

Here’s the pillow all finished up (12” x 16”). 

We were gone most of the day – traveling down to Columbus to stop at a few places.  Our main target was QuiltTrends for me to order the frame upgrade for my HQ-16.  Well, that’s what we STARTED OUT going there for.  By the time all was said and done, and the credit card got pulled out, I ended up getting not just the frame upgrade, but also the track upgrade too.  Dear hubby was actually encouraging me to go with the Studio Frame upgrade – but that would have been another $500, and the fact of the matter is – my existing table suits me just fine!   While I was there I got some additional lights for my handlebars, two bobbins (wanted more but they only had two left), and a panel that looks like an Ohio postage stamp. 

After QuiltTrends we headed to Glass Thimble for their 32nd. Anniversary sale (32% off almost everything in the store).  Unfortunately I was just down there at their 21% sale a couple of weeks ago – so I got a bunch of things then.  And there were several things that I was *hoping* to buy, but they were out of … like batting for example.  They had only three packages of batting left in the store!  (eeek)  So all in all it could have been a more productive visit.  I was a bit bummed …

We were hoping to head down to a shop in Grove City (OH) to a quilt shop that is going out of business.  But, we spent so much time at QuiltTrends that we ended up not having time to get down there.  The sale was supposedly a good one (40% off everything left), but who knows how picked over it is at this point – and was it worth us fighting near rush hour traffic to get there in time?  Probably not.  I decided that we could head over to Red Rooster in Dublin (OH) to get some additional quilt hangers, but the clock was ticking away and we were just running out of time.  (uggh) 

So we headed up to the Polaris mall area and went to dinner at Max & Erma’s.  It was a great meal, we hadn’t been there in quite awhile.  I ADORE their cheese skewers (appetizer) … and they were delicious as always.  Hubby and I both got the steak fajitas … rare that we would both get the same meal at any restaurant.  It was yummy.  Despite having to fight through rush hour traffic on Polaris Parkway, we still managed to get to Max & Erma’s at a decent time – and were seated right away.  (woo hoo!)

After dinner we made a quick trip over to the Pandora store at the Polaris mall, and then over to Catherine’s for me to find a new winter jacket, which I DESPERATELY needed.   Actually I should have gotten a new one LAST year, but I made it work for a season longer than it really should have … So now I’m prepared.  I also picked up three pairs of trouser socks and a new pair of pajamas.  Yeah!

Long day!