between challenges

When I joined in the fun for the Project Quilting challenges, I wasn't sure how much I would get done - quilt-wise - between project prompts.  It's pretty intense for some of these to get them done and I thought maybe I'd want some down time between them.  (There's a week to make, then a week to vote...)

Apparently I'm not needing the down time!

I'd been working on some of the Left-Handed Sampler Quilt 2 blocks here and there.  I was planning to make 25, but was skipping around, not making all of the set she'd chosen.  But there was a first quilt along that had 99 blocks - these 25 came from the original 99 - so I knew I could go there and pick and choose a few more.

Friday was the day - I needed 10 more blocks...can I do it?

Yes I can!

But...I made a numbered list - numbering every 5th line - to keep track of what I had made.  You see, these were all numbered and named from the first quilt along, and I wanted to make sure, since they weren't being done in order, that I didn't make the same block twice.

Well.

I was making that numbered blank list quickly while my hubby was yammering on about something.  And I forgot how to count.  So when I had made only 9 blocks Friday night, I was at #25.  I was done!

Wrong.

Saturday afternoon, after work, I realized my error and quickly pieced an actual 25th block.  But that was annoying.  I forgot how to count!

Since I had to work a good part of Saturday, I only got the blocks into a pleasing layout and sewn into rows before bedtime...

At that point, I needed to think about using cornerstones or not.  With all the colors going on, I wasn't sure what color to use, worrying that any color would take away from the blocks.  Or using multiples would result in a disaster of trying to choose a color that was different from all four blocks it touched.  So I decided I would do no cornerstones, but carefully line up rows as I went.

This afternoon (morning brought chores and a trip out for a delicious lunch with the hubby), I got to sew the rows!

The original pattern is set on point with lots of extra setting blocks and such.  I decided a while ago that this quilt, with 1" sashings and 25 blocks, would make a great donation for Jack's Basket.  I have about 4 other quilts in various stages of unfinished-ness for them, but I hope to get them all quilted up soon and sent off.  I think the bright happy colors and lots of dots will be enjoyable for a little one.

But this block, as I was constructing it, made me giggle...

This looks like Mickey Mouse ears to me!

This was actually the third thing I've finished this week, but nobody said my blog had to go in order, right?

I've also been creating pinwheels with leftover lost corners from a quilt called Garden Variety (that apparently I have not blogged about the actual quilted and bound finish...).  There were a lot and I can't stand to throw that much fabric away, so I tucked them in a bag with the remaining fabrics (it was a kit), figuring I'd get to them someday.  Well, the pinwheels as leader-enders part of the project ended a while ago and I thought a totebag would be a cute way to use up a bunch of them.

Easier said than done.

I borrowed a pattern from a friend - a pattern that used charm squares - thinking my pinwheels would be the right size.  Well.  Charm squares are 5".  My pinwheels were 4.5" unfinished.  Ugh.

So I scratched my head some, added some fabrics and used the pattern as a rough guide instead of full pattern.  Which was okay.

This is one side.  The other is identical.  (And I'm a little annoyed with myself for the few pinwheels that spin the wrong way - I was being so careful!)

I just quilted it with diagonals through the points that did not have 50 billion seams.  Easy peasy.  And without my walking foot  peg leg again.  That thing is a disaster.  This went so fast.

Don't know what a peg leg is?  This video will explain...

It's a bit long, but well worth the watch.  And the look on his face when he gets it...

Anyways, back to MY sewing adventures.

The bag went together fairly quickly and I even found some fusible fleece I didn't know I had that I was able to use instead of trying to spray baste batting in place.

It's pretty girly, but I plan to donate it to a church bazaar that sells handmade/homemade items.  I hope someone will like it!

On the inside, I used more of the pinwheels to make pockets.  Truth be told, I wish I'd put them lower, as instructed, but it felt like they were going to be too low.  Ah well...they're not poking out the top, so it's all good.  (And if I don't tell anyone, they won't know it's wrong!)

But I STILL had pinwheels left over.  What?

How about a dolly quilt?

Oh, I have JUST enough for a 4x5 layout, which will be a perfect doll quilt size!

You can't see it too well here because I piled the binding on top of it.  That binding is left over from the Garden Variety quilt.  I cut far too much and had enough plus about 10" for this dolly quilt.  Perfect!

I still have to hand-sew down the binding to the dolly quilt, but that will go fast.  (I just have to convince myself to sit down long enough to do that...)

But today wraps back around to the announcement of a new Project Quilting prompt.  This one needs to be inspired by the alphabet.  So now I'll be spending a chunk of my remaining afternoon thinking about that...and probably other things...like cats...

Because this is Freddie...

...helping.  Obviously.

And this is Lexie...

...hungry.  She mashes her head into whatever human body part she can find when she is hungry.  Lovingly.  In the fashion of "please please please pet poor little me."  My hand/arm/elbow while I am sewing is NOT a good idea, but being deaf, she can't hear me telling her no.  (I think she knows, though...)

Off to think about the alphabet.  (Good thing it's not numbers, since I've proven I'm a failure at that earlier in this post...)

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS  My unicorn took 4th in the Viewer's Choice vote!  (Almost forgot!)  Thanks to all who voted.  I'm really excited to have done so well.  And even more excited to have a unicorn.

more sewing!

After I sewed the first eight blocks from the Left-Handed Quilt Along, I went to bed, feeling caught up.  Planning my next adventure to work on between new blocks being posted.

I woke up and found out there was ANOTHER block posted.  Well, technically two, but again, they were really close, so I opted to make just one.

Just a simple 9-patch, but in keeping with the 9-patch layout/theme, this one should definitely be in there.  So it only took a short bit to make it.  And I made a tiny star as leader-ender, too!

And then the lost corner half-square triangles from the heart quilt were hollering pretty loud at me.  So I had decided to make them into log cabins.  Raid my stash of strings and use what I could from there of red and pink.  Use the remaining white.  Supplement where necessary from the stash.

Off to a fun start!  My strings turned out to be a bit disappointing.  Many were too skinny (I'd decided for the sake of my desire for order, they needed to all be the same size).  So I cut from the stash earlier than anticipated.  But it's okay.  That is helping reduce those piles a little bit more.  The heart quilt didn't seem to make much of a dent, and this one probably won't do much either, but I know it's progress!

After I had the first four (I'm working in batches of four), I put them on the floor to see...

The final quilt will be a 5x5 layout (because I have 50 half square triangles, so I'm going to use half - one of each set - to do this quilt) and finish 36x36".  So this layout will not be the final one, as it needs an even number of blocks.

Keep sewing!

Last night at bedtime, I had 16 made.  I'm not sure this will be the final layout, and again sewing in batches of four, they just get set on the floor that way.  Eventually I will have to play with the layout and decide what I want to do.  Something that is pleasing to the eye might be a bit more of a chore than an even number would be, but making an additional 11 blocks is not really something I want to do.  (And I have an idea for the remaining 25 pieces...)

Monday, as I was doing morning chores, I decided I needed an apple cake.  I don't know why.  It just sounded good.  So I made an apple cake.

Not without help.

Freddie thinks he should be on the kitchen counters all the time.  You put him down, he jumps back up.  If I'm cooking, I'll wash my hands before I go back to that.  Before I even get the tap turned on, he's back on the counter.  So I've learned, much like I did with Emma-No, that sometimes it's just easier to let them be...work around and with them and do your best to keep the cat hair (extra fiber!) out of what you're making.  (But let's be honest here...cat hair is probably a staple in my diet!)

He was investigating the flour in the bowl and, well, he WAS an all-black cat!  He was not nearly as interested in the cup of sliced apples you see there to the right.  (Perhaps he'd already checked those out as they sat in their sugar bath for an hour while I took a shower?)

And here's the (slightly used) final cake.  Not the prettiest thing you'll ever see, but it has sliced fresh apples in there, making it really moist.  And a caramel glaze that goes over top for an extra bit of sweetness.  If it wasn't almost lunchtime (and the hubby bringing me Jimmy John's - the best subs on the planet), I might go have a slice!  Dessert?!

Soon it's off to the longarm.  The hubby has the whole day off (dentist appointment, so he figured why not?), so I've got to do something to make it look like I don't just sit around and snuggle cats all day, right?  HA!

Happy quilting,
Katie

please vote...and I drank the Kool-Aid

In my last post, I shared with you the saga of the "Bigger than a Breadbox" project.  That is WAAAY bigger than a breadbox...

...72x72" big.

Now the voting has begun!  Head over to Persimmon Dreams blog to choose your favorite 10 projects!  (A vote for me would be appreciated, but there are, again, a LOT of beauties there!)

After this was finished late Friday and I worked Saturday (and spent the evening with the hubby - after blogging, of course!), I dove into the next project on Sunday.  I couldn't help myself.  After figuring out the dot problem quilt idea, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I know I have a weakness for fabrics with dots on them.  I tend towards them for many projects and have a good stash of leftovers.  And for years, I'd thought about making a quilt with all the dot fabrics.  But until this project came along, I didn't know WHAT I was going to make.

And then A Left-Handed Quilter decided to do her Left-Handed Sampler Quilt-Along again.  The blocks finish 6", so they're perfect for those smaller scraps, but large enough to not be TOO much of a nuisance.  (And after doing the Christmas blocks, some of which had over 70 pieces, but also finished 6", these, so far, have been cake!)

So yesterday I made an effort to catch up.

The first four.  Well, most of the first four.  Some of the designs are fairly similar and I didn't want to have too many that looked too alike.  Maybe I'll add some in later, but we'll see how things go.

To make them, I'm using the grey dot as a background (a fabric I found TWO 2.5 yard cuts of in my stash...I'd bought the same fabric twice and didn't even know it until I tidied up my sewing room a while back!) and going to the stash and pulling the first fabric with dots from that stack, down the line...red, then orange, then yellow...and back around again when I get to the end of the line.  The fabrics I've pulled are going into a bin for later use because I'm sure I won't have enough to not repeat.  Then again...I'm still not sure how many blocks I'll make!

While I was working on these, Freddie was entertaining himself.

I toss my trimmings into this bucket and, when full, tie up the bag to donate for paper-making.  I replaced the bag and Freddie heard the noise and came looking.  This was early...he wrestled the bag out completely, took that elsewhere, dumped the bucket over while climbing in it and then sat halfway in the upended bucket for a while.

(He usually looks blurry - here it seems too - because he won't. sit. still.)

I took a break for dinner, but things were going so well, why not keep going?

The last four of the ones she has done that I will also do.  Notice that these are kinda grouped as far as similar construction/pieces.  Kinda cool to see how just a little tweaking can really change a block.  (Colors help, too!)

During this stretch, Freddie was chasing a fly around my sewing room.  Now, there's about 2" of snow on the ground that all came down while I was sewing.  The temperatures outside are below freezing.  Where a FLY came from is beyond me.  But with help from mom, he killed, found and ate the "sky raisin".  And then tried to cute-mew it back again because he, obviously, doesn't understand that once you eat something, it's gone forever and he wanted to chase it up and over and through everything in my sewing room some more.  (Thankfully he's still pretty small and very light on his feet, or things might have been much uglier!)

As leader-enders, I pulled out the tiny stars again!

It was nice that their construction was working at a 1:1 ratio with the other blocks, so I was finishing two different blocks at a time.  So not too many more in the grand scheme of things (needing 1,080), but progress!  And fun to sew with my mom's stash this round.

Time now to take care of a few more chores and then maybe I'll power up the longarm and quilt one of the tops I constructed last week?  (Or start that new project with lost corners produced from my Project Quilting latest endeavor!)

Happy quilting,

Katie