More monkey wrench blocks

While I was working on my main work, the purple stars quilt, I managed to get a couple of monkey wrench blocks done.  I still have a little pile sitting beside my sewing machine to be used as leader/enders.  These are with some of the older fabrics a friend gave me from her strips and scraps.

I am really liking how they are coming together, with lots of variety.  I have a few friends that don't care to make scrappy quilts or are just paring down.  When I combine some fabrics from each of them, I feel that I am making a group quilt.  It's almost like a block swap, except I am the one making all the blocks, but with their fabrics and mine combined.

There is so much variety.  It always amazes me, how even with so many different fabrics it can still combine to make a beautiful quilt.  I personally like scrappy quilts the best.  But if you have been reading my posts, you already know that.

So far I have seventeen blocks.  I am not sure how many I will need, but I will just keep making them until I feel it is enough.  That will take a long time, as so far, I am still trying to only use a fabric once.  So far I haven't even touched my scraps to make any of these.

Working on the brown half square triangles

My quilt room has become unmanageable, again.  Bits and pieces of things here and there.  This happens when I start to use too many things as leaders and enders or when I can't make up my mind what I really want to work on.

I usually can't make up my mind when I find myself with very little time.  I don't want to get into something big, when I know I won't finish it, so I tend to pick little odds and ends things, that can be completed in the time that I have.  Unfortunately, many times I under estimate the length of time a task will take and end up with parts everywhere.

Yesturday, I felt I had to do something to take control of my quilting space.  Earlier in the evening I completed my labels for the units under my longarm quilting table, I put things away, and I sewed up all the remaining brown half square triangles (HST).

I finished all of them.  When I started, I had about a quarter of them done.  These are the HSTs for the Brown Bear Paws quilt.  There are 25 large blocks needed, with four paw blocks in each, which makes 100 small blocks.  In each small block there are 4 HSTs, which means I just finished a total of 400 HSTs.  Wow, all done!

I even started to put a few sets together, while working on another block.  Now I can put this aside to work on the stuff on my list.  I have a somewhat clean quilting room again and I am ready to tackle another quilt to the finish line.

Non-quilting related:

Yesturday during one of the doggie washroom breaks, I was admiring a corner of my garden.  I have created a bit of an oasis in this little corner, with the help of the neighbours backdrop.  All the greenery in the upper half of the photo, except for my little maple tree, are bushes from the backyard neighbour.

This little area has changed already three times this spring with the different focal points.  Last week the bush on the right that is seen behind the green umbrella was cover in white blooms, as well as the one on the far left.  Prior to that, on my side, to the right and behind the chairs, the abundant red and pink tulips were in full bloom.  Now, it is the backyard neighbours purple lilac bush, with there blooms so full the branches are sagging from their weight, the side neighbours small young white lilac bush, that is seen beside the red Japanese maple, and beside the one chair, on the left, under the red Japanese maple, is a large bleeding heart plant in full bloom, surrounded by other plants waiting for their turn to shine.

The constant in this garden are the side neighbours pyramid emerald green cedars, behind the chair on the left is a globe yew, in the far corner is a columnar yew, and behind the waist high rod iron fence is the yellow rimmed leaf euonymus bushes.  All of these I see year round.

I love it!!!  Yes, I see the imperfections too, like how the added waist height fence needs to be painted and the Muskoka chairs also waiting to be painted a vibrant turquoise blue, the new grass round the patio bricks struggling to stay alive, and some weeds I haven't yet pulled from between the tulip leaves.  

But you know what.......one has to look for the beauty in things and I choose to see the beauty in this, my little oasis.

Enjoy this day.   Take the time to smell the roses.  Otherwise, life will pass you by without your experiencing the whole show.

More monkey wrench blocks

I have been fairly busy lately with my day time work, quilting business work, gardening work and working at my mom's place, not to mention trying to keep the house going.  I haven't had time to just sew some pieces together.  So....when an opportunity came to steal some time for myself, I had to wipe up these little monkey wrench blocks.

These little things are sitting beside my machine waiting to be leader/enders.  They don't take much time to make and I enjoy seeing all the variety of colour combinations.  Can you see the difference between the bottom red block and the other two.  They are the same block, but depending on colour placement, sometimes they look so different from one another.

This time of year, it gets kind of hectic around here.  I'm not complaining, just commenting on it.  I especially notice with the lack of posts I haven't been writing.  I have been working on various quilts trying to get things done, but most of what I have been doing is repeats and I don't want to bore anyone with the same old stuff.

I was able to do some quilting this past weekend, as it was a long weekend.  I will show that stuff once I get the pictures.

What is on my design wall this month? (May/2017)

I haven't posted this topic in a long time.  Thought I would take a picture of the design wall, just after I cleaned it up and removed half of what was on it.  I am starting to feel overwhelmed and decided to clean out my quilting room.

What did I keep on the wall?  Well.......
1. I kept my purple stars quilt up, as I am making good progress on it.
2. I left the monkey wrench blocks, just because I like looking at them.
3. The hexagon quilt stayed on the wall, because I really don't have any other place to put it, plus I like when I can add some florets and watch it grow.
4. Lastly, I left the completed bears paw block.  This is my scrappy quilt that I work on when even I need a break from other things.

Also, sitting in front of the design wall, on my chair, is my cousin's Dresden plate quilt.  It is sitting there for the times I can sit and do some handwork.  Like today, after I write this post, I am going to take it easy and bind.

Enjoy your evening everyone.

Making more progress on my purple stars quilt

Last week I worked some more on my purple stars quilt.  I finished another block and put sashing on the top two and a half rows.  Only four more blocks to go.

I have also been working on binding Dresden plate quilt too.

Bits and pieces of this and that between lifes distractions.  Still aiming high.

I snuck in a hexagon floret

I have been concentrating on my list for a while now.  I've been trying to get curtain quilts completed, so that I can have a more manageable amount of quilts to work on.  My problem is, I want to do them all.  Just because I already have a bunch started, doesn't stop me from looking at others that I also want to do.  My brain never seems to rest with the ideas.

Anyways, one of the quilts that got put aside, was my grab and go project, my hexagon quilt.  I have been itching to get back at it, but because it is not on my immediate list of "to do", I have to wait.

Well.....that was until Tuesday, when we had to bring my daughter to a dental consultation.  I was tired of working on the labels, as I had just finished two of them, one for a gifted quilt and one for my cousin's quilt.  I decided to give myself permission to stray away from the list this time.

I started making this hexagon at the dental office, but the wait time was minimal, so I also took it with me when I went to have my oil changed.  That went fairly quickly too, so as I figured, I could not leave it half way completed, I finished it up when I got home.

It is so relaxing working on hexagons.  One patty at a time, slip stitching them together to make different shapes or designs.  They are also very addictive.  You just cannot stop at making one.

I am looking forward to working on this one more regularly, but first, I have to finish my Dresden plate handwork, and I can add this one to the list.

Our Saturday spur of the moment excursion

Last week Saturday, started out like every other Saturday.  My daughter went off to work for 6:00 am, I got up for the dog, my husband drove our daughter to work and comes home with a newspaper. 

We generally take it easy, easing into our day with our tea, some reading, him his paper, me on my tablet.  This day was no different.  Until......

My daughter gets home from work with a tea for her and a tea for me.  We sit in my quilting room, together with our tea, talking about this and that.  Again not much different from any other Saturday, but.....all of a sudden she brings up the topic of missing our various small traveling trips.  It didn't take me two seconds, to pick up the queue and suggest we get up and go.  I was desperately missing them myself too. 

I told her I needed to go to Woodstock, an hour and a half away, to deliver my Great Grandmother's treadle to be fixed up at a sewing machine repair shop and the wood worker.  We now had our excuse for the excursion.  A destination that didn't require much thought or planning, and just like that, we are up and running.

Everyone knows that when you go for a road trip, you have to make the best of it and take advantage of the free time.  Take in the sights, travel down some deserted gravel roads on our way to the next destination.  You better believe, that I cased out all the places we could go, on my GPS for along our way.

After the repair shop our first stop was Country Patchworks, also located in Woodstock.  That is where I picked up a few shop hop passports, for the shop hop happening in July.  You have the full month of July to visit all 15 participating quilt shops.  You get your passport stamped and get entered into the various draws for prizes.  It's actually entertaining when you go with a group of people.  It's a chance to get out with like minded people, have some fun, and some lunch, while sharing some comradery. 

While at the Country Patchworks shop, I picked up a few pieces of Canada fabrics for my Canadian Northwind quilt.  I also picked up a cute little package containing the supplies to make a pincushion.

As we left the shop, my daughter and I decided to make a surprise visit to my Mom's place.  We were already heading that way, making our way home, so why not.  

Along the way, next stop was The Quilt Place, in Shakespeare.  This shop was currently part of a weekend shop hop with three other shops in the area.  At this shop I picked up four fat quarters of fabric with sewing related themes.  One was different coloured spools of thread, another was different coloured soft sewing measuring tapes and so forth.  As the store was having a shop hop, their gift to each customer was a fat quarter.  

We had time for just one more stop before the stores closed for the day and reaching my Mom's place.  Unfortunately, the store we went to visit was closed, but not only for the day, they were closed for business completely.  Another quilt shop did not make it.  So sad.

On a more cheerful note... Something to look forward to in July.  The July shop hop, also runs at the same time, as the whole summer long Row by row shop event.  This event takes place all across the USA and Canada.  Each store will come up with a pattern that will make up a row of a quilt.  You collect as many as you want, and make a quilt using all the different row patterns you collected.

Each store also has specially printed swatches of fabric designed as a license plate, with a play on words, related to the quilting theme.  Below are a couple of examples.  While I was at the fist shop I also picked up a meter of the license plate fabric, show in the picture below.  It is cute.  Enlarge the picture and check out what some of the license plates say.  As I said, cute.

This weekend will be sparse for quilting.  I am heading to my sister's to help her lay some interlocking brick patios.  But I may get a chance in the mornings before going, to share some of the things I have been working on during the past week. 

Goal setting

I am sharing this picture/quote curtesy of Bonnie Hunter of Quiltvilla.com.  I have to say that I totally agree with her quote of the day (from Feb 6/2017 post).

I am a list maker.  I make lists for almost everything.  The lists that actually have a chance of success/completion, are the ones where I set parameters (ie deadlines).  Example would be my top 12 list for 2017.

I've said it once and I will say it again, I love all my UFOs (UnFinished Objects).  All 38 of them (now).  I don't have a problem with starting quilts and abandoning them.  My problem is my attention span or the abundant distractions, in life's events.  I love them all and I will finish them all.  However, without defined goals or deadlines, things just don't move along.

I started the top 12 list for 2017, in hopes that I could reduce the amount of UFOs that I have, to a more reasonable amount.  I was hoping to finish one quilt per month.  So far I have achieved this goal (due to the deadline).  The deadline pushes me to strive for a little bit more.  After I finish my required quilt/wall hanging, I can play with what ever tickles my fancy.

Don't look at the goals/deadlines, as a "do or die" kind of thing.  You still have to enjoy the process, along the way.  

I was realistic when choosing what would be on my top 12 list.  I chose a variety if items, in various stages of completion and in various categories.  Quilting-for a quick finish, main work-for a long term project, handwork-for sit down relaxation, paper piece-for the precision and technique, and lastly a leader/ender-for progress on tedious parts and units while working on other things.  There is something that I can do, for any mood that I may be in.

We are now May 3rd and I already have my quilt for this month complete.  I could choose to play, but instead, as I know that the next few quilts will take quite some time to complete, I have made a mini goal/deadline to try and finish two this month.  My goal is set, my deadline is set and I am ready for the challenge!!  The challenge motivates me, gets me excited to try and achieve it.  It pushes me forward.

Here is my current progress on my top 12 list for 2017:

2. Quilting-Sabryna's yellow nine patch quilt (family)....still trying to figure out what design to quilt

4. Main work-Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)....

9. Main work-Purple star quilt (my own)....only 5 blocks left to assemble

10. Main work-Grey, black & bright quilt (charity)....

5. Handwork-Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)....only 7 blocks left to appliqué

6. Paper pieces-Xmas pineapple blossom quilt (my own)....

8. Leader/ender-Bonnie's mystery quilt (my own)....moving along nicely

Total number of quilts completed - 5
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 7

Completed quilts:

3. Spools quilt (my own)

12. Purple & blue squares quilt from Carol (charity)

11. Log cabin quilt from Sharon (charity) 

7. Mini pumpkin wall hanging (my own)

1. Lise's Dresden plate quilt (commissioned) 

Working on my purple stars

Wow!!!  I had most of Sunday to play in my sewing room.  While I washed the binding fabric for the Dresden plate, Split nine patch and another quilt, I continued to tackle little piles around the room.  Things are coming together and getting taken care of.

I was also making some headway on my Purple stars quilt.  I have all the fabrics bundled with the green apple corner units together, the purple strips, the dark green blocks and the black for the small stars.  Each one of these blocks takes a half hour to complete.  During the day I managed to complete ten full blocks.

The bonus, while making these blocks, is that for every block of the purple stars that I made, I was able to get one full block from my Xmas/Solstice star quilt done.  All my sub units for this block are done and bundled together too, ready to be assembled.  

When I do all that I can do with the purple star block, I use the units from this Xmas/Solstice star block as my leader/ender.  By the time the one is done the second one is also done.  It's a win win!!!

I now only need five more purple star quilt blocks, to finish all the blocks needed to complete the top of the quilt.  Yay!!!

Yesturday, I attached the binding by machine to the Dresden plate quilt.  Now it is ready for some sit down time to tack the binding down by hand.

I am a very happy camper!

My first bear paw block for my brown bear quilt

I needed a pattern that would use up my scrap stash of brown fabrics.  I usually don't use a lot of brown, but somehow, I ended up with a large pile of strings.  A lot of them were given to me and I did do a quilt recently for my sister, that used a hand full of browns/beiges.  

I was picking my brain, trying to come up with an idea for the browns, when it hit me.  I have always wanted to make a quilt using the bears paws block.  It was on my wish list for the longest time, but kept being pushed down the list.  Well, what better pattern is there for using up the brown scraps.

This is the block I am making, which also includes sashings.  All the browns are from my scraps, including the half square of the claws.  I even used the neutrals from my scrap bin for the other half of the claws, the solid black of the square-in-a-square cornerstones are from my scraps as well and the deep burgundy red comes from a small piece of fabric from my cupboard.  

So far the only fabrics I purchased are the burnt orange and the blue used to make the sashings in order to pull all the fabrics together.

I am really liking this block.  It was overcast here when I took the picture, so the colour in the picture looks a bit dull.  Add just a bit of brightness and you will have the true colour.

This is what I ended up playing with after I had a very productive sewing day yesturday.  That post I am saving for another day.

I realized, that there are a lot of quilts that I want to make.  Far too many to make in my lifetime, however I am going to make a very good effort at knocking off as many as I can until that time.  I had forgotten about the bear paw quilt, as an option.

I'm sure I posted at one time, my jars that I have, with tags inside.  One of the jars is called Quilt Want-to-be.  This is where I have tags, of the quilts that I want to make (they are like my wish list).  

Anyways,  I thought to myself, that I need to start a list.  This way I can refer to it when I have something I want to use up, that I can incorporate into one of the quilts I want to make.

Here is my current list:

***Quilt Wish List - Quilt Want-to-be

1. McCall's starring Retros......fabric collected

2. Quilt using summer flowers fat quarter bundle......fabric collected

3. Autumn leaves quilt......fabric collected

4. Ocean waves quilt in solids......fabric collected

5. Scrappy bento box quilt

6. Four patch argyle quilt

7. Nine patch strip quilt

8. Bee in my Bonnet, Granny squares quilt

9. Quilts using up scrappy strings......too many fabrics collected

10. Friendship star quilt using all the mini HST from purple stars quilt......fabric collected

11. Aunt Gracie appliqué quilt

12. Whimsical garden appliqué quilt

13. Postage stamp quilt

14. Jean quilt with coloured squares surrounding......Jean fabric collected and have some plaids

15. Quiltville playing with jacks....good for using up blacks, reds and pinks

16. Red & white puss in the corner quilt