Boomerang 6.0 blocks received - Set 2

from Jami P

Air Castle from Mindy

from Alisha K

from Barbara M

from Linda H

from Linda M

from Sarah L

from Joan L

Catching up

Wow - I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted.  I've been busy, though.  From December  5 until the 22nd, Don and I were on a trip in our trailer.  We went to Arizona and New Mexico, doing some sight-seeing and visiting our son and his fiancé in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  (Kenny's stationed at Holloman Air Force Base right outside Alamogordo). I took my cross stitch basket with me and occasionally worked on a calendar-type SAL I obtained from Maryse Dupont.

Once we returned, I settled into a nice routine:  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I spend my morning swimming laps and taking a water aerobics class at Loma Linda University. Then I either come home or run errands, and then spend the afternoon sewing.   Tuesday, Thursday, and weekends, I either sew most of the day, or Don and I go for a walk or do something together. 

Right before New Year's Day, Don and I decided to take our extra bedroom and convert it to a sewing studio.  Up until now, about 85% of my sewing stuff, including the desk and almost all of the fabric, has been taking up a huge corner of our living room.  It's been okay as far as companionship goes - I could sew while he watched TV - but it was cramped and messy.  So first we rearranged some furniture, got rid of a bed, and moved all the sewing stuff into that room.  I then contacted my friend Patrick, to whom I'd lent my drafting table while I was out of the classroom, and asked if I could have it back. He's taken my place as the president of the teachers' union, so he doesn't need it now. Don and I went to the high school and picked it up Tuesday morning.

I now have a large sewing space, with room for all my fabric, a desk for the sewing area, and a huge drafting table large enough for the cutting board,  a large ironing board, my printer, and extra work area. I've gotten a lot done, too!

Here's what I've accomplished so far in 2012:

- Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery - the top - done in green, brown, blue, and neutral
- a set of placemats for Kenny and Robin
- a block for a swap
- two Modern Monday blocks
- two Traditional Tuesday blocks
- two Bloggers' BOM blocks (November and December)

I've also received numerous blocks for Boomerang (they'll have their own post), as well as one for the monthly bee on the Quilters' Message Board.

Bloggers' BOM - November

Bloggers' BOM - December

I'm also doing the cheddar bow ties along with Bonnie Hunter - I cut about 1/2 a yard of some fabric that I had into 2" squares- it has little flowers on it, but it's primarily cheddar - and will use all of it for the bow ties with various scraps.  I'm doing these as leaders and enders, but already have 9 completed.

Bow ties

Below are the placemats I made for Kenny and Robin.

This green on the reverse side coordinates with the black on the front.

Crumb Quilt Finished!

This is the completed quilt I started as part of Jo's Crumb-Along. I got it back from the longarm quilter  (Lynette Harlan) the other day, and sewed a red binding on it.  

This is the pieced back. The red fabric was a bargain - 2 yards for $2 at our guild's Sew What room. Then I had to add more to make it wider and longer, so I threw in some of my string blocks and sewed together a bunch of my extra 9-patches.

I showed it at the guild meeting today, and everyone loved it!

100-Patch Quilt - top finished

I use as much of my fabric as I can - down to the smallest scraps possible. My reason? Even the smallest scraps cost $ ___ (fill in the blank) a yard.  One of the sizes I cut the small ones into is 1.5".  That's the smallest square I will work with. I've been using them as leaders and enders for almost a year, and have been sewing them together into 9-patch blocks.  I pin them together in sets of ten, and last week realized that I had over a thousand 9-patch blocks. For some reason, I had it stuck in my head that I was limited to making something with 9-patch blocks, and have been searching for some decent patterns.

But last week on Stashbusters, one of my Yahoo Groups, Deanna posted that she had done this quilt. Deanna made hers with 2" squares, so mine's a little smaller. It has 1824 1.5" squares in it.

12 blocks, 100 squares inside the white border and 52 on the outside.

The finished top

I'm looking forward to showing this at Guild next meeting. I'm now known as the scrappy lady.

Many thanks, Deanna, for a wonderful pattern!!

Crumb Quilt top finished ... almost

This is the top created as part of Jo's Crumb-Along.  It's got a bunch of the blocks she suggested we make, along with orphan blocks that I received in swaps or donations, or made as tried new techniques. (Example:  the wonky log cabins at the bottom.)

I'm going to have to sit down tonight and do some frogging. The whole left side - the one with the numbers - is messed up. I couldn't figure out until I took the picture why it was ruffly. Turns out I measured something wrong, and had forced it to fit. If I just take out one piece it'll fit perfectly.

But here it is!  Voilá!

(The English teacher in me wants to point out that it's NOT "walla" or "wa la."  It's voilá.  It's French.)

Once I get that side sewn on correctly, I'll sandwich it and probably hand tie it. I'm going to be house-sitting for a friend for two weeks beginning November 10, and can take that with me to have something to do while I watch TV. 

Evidence of a busy weekend

Except for a few breaks to eat lunch, I had two busy days at the sewing machine.

This is the beginnings of my Crumb-Along quilt. Today I made the entire alphabet - it's stacked on top of everything.  I sewed them into "words" of 4 or 3 - and found myself singing my ABCs all day!  In addition to the blocks I made following Jo's directions, I've added about a dozen "orphan" blocks from the orphan basket. Not in the photo are several dozen small stars from which I'll make a couple more rows.  Then I'll add a red border like Jo did, then the alphabet and any other stars needed to fill in the blanks.  I should have a flimsy completed by Tuesday!

This is the October blocks for the Bloggers' Block of the Month.  This one comes from Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber. The process was a bit different - no HSTs to cut, and therefore a bit of waste. But I put all the waste HSTs in my HST bag (which is getting stuffed - another project to do!)

These are the 68 5.5" string blocks I made earlier in the week, waiting to be trimmed.

Done.  Trimmed to 5.5" and ready to be used in yet another project.

Tomorrow:  Water aerobics, then lunch, then work on my Crumb-Along quilt.

Boomerang 6.0 blocks received - Set 1

I'm really impressed with the blocks coming back.  I deliberately chose a multi-colored fabric, and so far everyone has done a great job with the coordinating colors.

from Donna S - love that orange!

from Judy Bo - I love all the wonky strips! 

from Judy Br - isn't that a wild yellow print?!

from Lisa T - definitely a unique block. It's called a Snowball 9-patch

from Peggy R - love that red spiral!

from Florence M - I love this star in a star!

from Kristin G - the pink is even more vibrant in person!

from Jennifer B - lovely bright blue

from Kathy S - that "pink" is really a red

from Donna B - and while it looks blue, it's really purple!

Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday, Blocks 6

I've just noticed that I haven't done the blocks for week 5 yet, so I'll do those tomorrow.  These are the Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday blocks that I'm doing along with Jenifer.  These are called Mosaics.

I've been making liberated blocks for several months now, so this one was easy peasy.  I don't like the top middle square, though.  But that's just the way it's going to be!

Now that I'm looking at this one, I"m wondering what happened to the bottom right square.

Citrus Belt Quilt Guild - Quilt Show

My guild held its quilt show two weekends ago - I am just now getting around to posting about it. (Retirement keeps you busy...) It was held at the Yucaipa Community Center, which has a huge gymnasium that served as a wonderful location for our show. I joined the guild too late to be one of the in-show volunteers, but was able to do some service by helping with the dismantling on Sunday.

On Saturday I showed up just as it opened so I could take photos and see all the quilts. I deliberately left my wallet in the car - I knew that if I saw something I wanted, I could go home and think about it overnight, and go back on Sunday to get it.  As it turned out, I was able to resist the call, and bought nothing.

Below are my favorites:

These were all the "wearables," including the antique pink dress at far right.

"Goose Tracks Rainbow" by Mary Aslanis

"Magritte & Me" by Laura West King. This one is made of thousands of little torn pieces.

"Liz's Baskets" by Liz Kennedy

"Amore Italia" by Mary Aslanis

"New Zealand Memories" by Mary Aslanis

"Tangled Threads" by Sharon Bergh

"Trail's End" by Phyllis Whitlock

"Memory Handkerchief Quilt" by Barbara Khacherian

"Doug's Ties #1" by Cindy Chrisler

"Betsy's Closet" by Phyllis Green

"Pick Up Sticks" by Donna Gaston

"Redlands Ties that Bind" by Nelda Stuck

"Country Fair" by Phyllis Green