Carol's sampler wall hanging

My friend Carol from our Quilting Bee has been very busy.  I took the pictures a few weeks ago and forgot to post them. Sorry...

This is a small sampler wall hanging she made.  They are mini blocks done using paper piece method.  I am also sorry about the quality of the pictures.  I couldn't do anything about the lighting.  Just know that the colours are vibrant blues, green and fuchsia.  This first picture is the whole wall hanging.

The next few pictures are a close up of the blocks.  Great job Carol!  Way to go for finishes this year. You are really going to town on them!  Wish I could keep up.

This is a nice simple wall hanging to do to learn how to paper piece.  Carol did hers as a wall hanging, but if you wanted to you could use these blocks with others to make a large sampler quilt.

As for me, yesturday I went to my parents house and while staying with my dad I worked on my Tiny Town block.  I am almost done block number nine.  I will show you soon.

Progress on the Midnight Flight quilt

My container that sits beside my sewing machine is empty.  I have been making progress on the Midnight Flight quilt.  All the sections that contain the four-patch and half square triangles are now sewn together.  Both the blue and the green.  Only this part took me several hours.

I also have them sorted in the layout. They're ready to be sewn together.  These pieces are small so it takes a while to assemble them all.  The four patch individual squares finish at 1" square.  This full square finishes at 6". To make up the full top centre there are 84 green squares and 84 blue squares. So......needless to say there are still many hours of assembly ahead of me.

But for now I've cleaned up my space.  I have to put this stuff away, because I need to get started on the Tiny Town quilt.  I have to do block number eight.  It is due in two weeks, so I have to get cracking on it.

Progress on Tiny Town block number nine

Today I was able to finish two sections of block number nine.  Yay!!!  I only have one more section with had the schoolhouse.  This first one is the library.  It needs to be ironed, but you get the idea.  On Saturday I worked a bit on it.  I added the two left windows and the outlined details.  All that was left to do was the outline of the last two windows.  So, that is what I started with this morning while having my tea.

I started the swing section.  This block goes right beside the schoolhouse.  This one was pretty easy.  Even though easy it still took some time.  I finished around 2:00 pm and was working on both of them since 8:00 am.  Appliqué is not the type of quilt you want to choose when you have a deadline and want to have a quick finish.

I went to IKEA after dropping my daughter off at work later in the afternoon.  I picked up a drew thing on wheels for my quilt room.  I am going to attach my small ironing board to it for when I am sewing and need to press my blocks.  The one I have now is on a dinner tray, that is not very sturdy nor easy to move around when I need to get into my sewing machine table drawers.  I will have to show you when I am done.

It is getting late now and I am just waiting for the food on the BBQ to have dinner.  I bit late, so I don't think I will get anything else quilty wise done today.  I am glad for what I did get done.

Matching fabric and backing fabric

I just got back from running around for myself and my daughter.  I have about an hour before I have to go out again to drop her off with some friends to see a movie, so thought I would take the time to let you know what I have been up to.

First thing in the morning I am still trying to finish my block for Tiny Town.  We had the meeting today at 11:30 am.  Did get some done, but not all of it.  Now I have three weeks to catch up before the next meeting and complete the block for this month as well.  At least this months block is not big.

While at the quilt store after the meeting, we looked around.  I finally hit the jack pot.  I have been looking for a long time now for a match to replace the sashing for the old Dresden plate quilt I am reconstructing.  The sashing is in the picture below.

In this next picture you will see the fabric match that I found.  Not sure why the picture has lines in it, but the fabric does not.  They are both solid blue.  The old sashing is laying on top of the new fabric at the bottom of the picture.  In person, it is amazing just how close the colours are.  The old sashing is from a quilt dated from 1930-35.  I am very surprised that I found something this close.  I thought I would have to settle for something similar, so this is great.  Now I have a renewed interest in getting back to this quilt.

The reason that I am reconstructing the quilt is because the white background fabrics used were different flour sacks, that we're starting to disintegrate and because the person who put the quilt together did not match her sashings, the whole quilt is off kilter.  Don't you just love the half blocks in the bottom photo.  They must be for the quilt top row.  The row that gets tucked under the pillow.  No sense making a whole block if it is not going to be seen.  Waste not want not. This picture, is a picture, of a collage I made before I dismantled the quilt.

While I was looking around, I also found some more retro looking fabric to round off the ones that I have, to make the McCall's Retro Play quilt.  I will have to show them to you another time, as they are already in the wash.  Here is a picture of the fabric I found for the backing.  In person the white seems to show more than the black.  Must be the lighting.

Here was the picture of the fabrics I got last time.  I felt I needed some more orange, red, and pinks.  On top of those colours though I also found a few more blues and greens.  Can never have enough variety when making a scrappy quilt.

Now I am going to work some more on the blocks for Tiny Town.  Want to see how much I can get done before heading out again.  I think I will also work on it when I get back, before going to pick the girls up again from the theatres.

Enjoy!

Working on Tiny Town block number nine

I'm working on Tiny Town block number nine.  There are four parts to the whole block.  As I have been busy lately, I have only one section of the block done.  The smallest section.  

I keep telling myself that small progress is still progress and trying to be content with it.  At this time in my life I am being pulled in many directions with work, home renos, my children, my quilting passion and more so now ailing parents.

Until next post.....

Carol's twist quilt with yo-yos

When I went to the Quilting Bee on Wednesday I took some pictures of the quilts that were brought in finished.  My friend Carol brought in two.  This is one of them.

This quilt is about twin size.  The name of the quilt is twist ?? something.  I forgot already.  Sorry.  Carol did her quilting by hand on this one.  I like the soft colours.  I really like the border fabric she used.

This is a close up.  Here you can see the quilting better.  Carol did a flower in each hexagon shape and three leaves/loops in the side half square shape.  When she was done, she felt that the quilt was a bit plain and the fabric colour did not stand out enough, so she decided to add in the yo-yos. 

It's a different touch and when I look at the whole quilt picture above I can see what she meant.  It does add that finishing touch to the quilt.

Great job Carol!!  As usual.  Carol is particular about her work and it shows in the workmanship.  Carol has gotten quite a number if quilt projects done in the last couple of years.  She is on a mission to finish as much as she can and clear them off her list, or should I say add them to her list.  Carol doesn't have a list of projects she has to do, like me.  She feels there are too many to list, so instead she is writing them down as she finishes them.  Your doing great Carol!

Tiny Town block number seven is now done

I'm just getting to take a break now.  My son is off to bed, my daughter is getting ready for bed, as she works early tomorrow morning. Dishwasher is set to go on in the night, the washer and dryer are now hooked up, in position and working to catch up on the laundry, and the self cleaning oven is cleaning.  I have individual shepherds pie out of the oven cooling off to be wrapped and frozen for a quick lunch or dinner for the kids.

It took me most of the day to get the washer and dryer going, after three trips to Home Depot to get the correct pieces for the plumbing.  The first trip I also looked into track lighting for my quilting room and found some hall lights that are very similar to the ones I wanted from online.

Made a trip to my parent's place for a little visit.  Will be back there tomorrow to help my mom upholster a couple of chairs.  One is hers and one is mine.

I wanted to share with you what I did during the "me" time, on Friday.  I didn't do any work here, I really needed some time to zone out.  So, on Friday I started an audio book and did a lot of handwork.

Tiny Town block number seven is now done.  It took a while, but late is better than not at all.  I did this bird house block a little while ago, not sure if I showed it you.

This next one I had mostly done, but I needed to finish all the final stitch work.  I added the vine above the house and did the grids on all the house windows.  Doesn't look like much, but it did take some time to complete.

I worked on the fire house.  The firehouse was also mostly done.  I needed to finish the black stitching on the building and add the owl's wings, eyes and beak.

Once they were done I pressed all the blocks.  I measured and cut them to finished size.  I sewed the three blocks together and added the green strip at the bottom.  Now, block number seven is done.

I have a meeting for this class next week Saturday.  That is when we are to have block number nine and five completed.  Well, that won't be happening here.  I do have one and a half sections done of block number nine, that I also completed on Friday, but there is still a lot to be done to finish the whole block.  I will do what I can.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend everyone.

Floret number six for the bottom row is finished

Well, this week has been my vacation and it has defiantly been a busy one.  I started on Friday night after coming home from work with cleaning up my quilt room, attaching the binding for Flo's quilt and starting the quilting on my Daughter's quilt.

From morning until late at night on Saturday and Sunday, I was at my Mom's doing up four bushels of tomatoes into marinara sauce, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

On Monday we spent the day removing everything from the laundry room, including the laundry sink. We took out the two layers of flooring and subfloor, down to the builders subfloor.  I removed a portion of wall, all the baseboards and facings, and all the nails and staples. Plastered up the holes and finished of with a good vacuum.

Tuesday comes around and we are the first day back to school for the kids, so everyone up early and off they go.  I am off running around town trying to get all the supplies I will need.  Head to the flooring place to pick up my tiles and thresholds, to Home Depot for the cement board, screws and other miscellaneous things.  By the time I actually get home it is now 1:00 pm and I haven't had lunch yet.  By the time I start installing the cement boards it is 2:00 pm.  I work at it and finally get it done in time to still take the kids out for their school supplies that the teachers want them to have. Return home to clean up my work tools.

Wednesday, is poring rain.  I was not going to get deterred.  I set up the large umbrella right outside the laundry room door and set up my rain free working zone.  This day was for tiling.  Before my Daughter left for school she helped me with the caulk lines, so I was ready to go. I cut a bunch of half tiles for the first wall and started mixing cement.  I worked on it all day and finished the last tile at 5:10 pm.  Just in time to clean up all the tools, take a shower, have something to eat and off to my Quilting Bee meeting for 7:00 pm.

Thursday comes around, but this time I have to wait until 5:10 pm to do any work on the tiles because the cement needs 24 hrs to dry before grouting.  Instead I did some running around to pick up some other stuff that I ordered to do the bathroom.  Once I got home, I made a large batch of spaghetti sauce for dinner and for freezing, and really worked to get my kitchen back in order from all the cooks in the kitchen that don't clean up after themselves.  I went over to my friend Flo's place to show her how to attach the binding by hand.

Later, my Daughter called and wants to be picked up from school, and after dinner, dropped off at work for 6:00 pm.  By the time I get started on the floor again it is after six.  I set up my work station and started grouting.  It went pretty smoothly.  My husband getting home from taking our son to soccer practice at 8:30 pm, just in time to help me with the bucket duty.  Bucket duty is supplying me with a constant flow of clean water to clean up all the excess grout off the tiles.  By the time I finish the grouting and washing all of the floor it is 10:10 pm.  Now we wait for at least an hour to let the grout set, and wash the floor one more time to get the residue off of the tiles.  Job done!!!

I like how the floor turned out.  The grout will lighten up a bit once it dries fully and the tiles will look a bit better once I can give them a good cleaning.

Last night, while I was waiting to rinse the tiles the last time I took the hour to relax and did some handwork.  My handwork of choice was my mindless sewing on the florets.  So now, floret number six for the bottom row is finished.

I now only have one more floret to do for the bottom row, and I put them together.  They are coming along.  Slowly, but surely.

Today is a whole new day!!!  This day is for ME!!!  ALL FOR ME!!!  I think I deserve it!  Even my body thinks so.....lol.

Flo's baby quilt

It is now safe to show you my friend Flo's baby quilt.  This is her first finished quilts.  She has a few quilts on the go, but this is the first finished quilt.  She did a great job.  The quilt is so pretty.  This quilt is going to Flo's first grandchild, due sometime around the 19th.

All the blocks are appliquéd. And some of them even have 3D parts, like this bunnies dress collar.  With the stippling that I did, it helped the appliqué stand out more and the outline quilting around the bunny and her arms helped make the collar stand out a bit more.

I sewed on the binding by machine, so now Flo just needs to tack it down by hand.  The binding is the same colour as the sashings.  As the fabric was a plaid, I decided to make it a bias binding.  I like a plaid on the diagonal.  It adds movement.

Today I will take the quilt over to Flo's place and show her how to finish off the binding.  After that it is back to work on my laundry room floor.  Yesturday I finished laying down the tile, so today, anytime after 5:00 pm I can start grouting.  Yay!!!  I will have a major part of the room done.

Busy but not with quilting

I am still around. Busy getting things done, but most are not quilty.  I added the binding for Flo's baby quilt, but cannot share that yet.  I also started quilting my daughter's 16-patch pinwheel quilt.  Pictures for that will come later when I have it done. Otherwise busy with many other things.

This week I am on holidays. Started off my holidays at Mom's doing the tomatoes.  I bought four bushels.  Two were made into marinara sauce, which came to 84 (500ml) jars. One and a quarter was made into diced tomatoes, which came to 41 (1 litre) jars.  The last three quarters was made into tomato sauce, which only came to 12 (1 litre) jars.  Both days were full, but made easier with the help of my Mom, my children and my spouse.  Everyone pitching in made a huge difference in how long it took.  Because of all the help we finished in two days instead of three.

Today, the Monday of this Labour Day weekend, I did a lot of labour.  My husband, my son and I worked on the laundry room.  We started by emptying the room.  The washer and dryer are in the hall and the sink in my downstairs bathroom.  We managed to remove the two layers of flooring and the subfloor.  I took out a partial wall, an old milk box and duct tape closing off holes from previous dryer air vents.  I patched up ALL the holes.  There is plaster everywhere, but still looking better than all the holes.  I look forward to having the holes all plastered, primed and painted.

Tomorrow I work alone on installing the cement boards for the subfloor for the ceramic tiles that I will be put in the next day.

This week there will not be much quilt pictures, because I really need to get things done around here. I have to finish off some renovations.  They have been hanging over my head for too long.

Floret number five for the bottom row is done

Sorry if I disappoint anyone.  I told everyone in my last post that I would share with you a cute baby quilt made by one of my friends in our quilting bee, however I realized that I should not be showing anyone until the maker gets to see it.

Instead I will show you floret number five for the bottom row that is done.  I only have two more floret left to do, and I will be finished the whole bottom row.  Yippy!!!

They are coming along slowly, but surely.  I am making some headway on dismantling the diamonds too.  Once they are done I can sort them into bundles for an easy grab and go project.

Hope everyone is enjoying there summer.  It's coming to a close soon.  Went by way too fast as far as I'm concerned, but I do love fall.  The cooler temps and sleeping with the windows open, snuggled up under a light quilt.  I'm not wishing the summer away, truly, but I do also look forward to fall.