Quilt History Block for January--Double X done and Some Fabric...

I fell in love with these fabrics and had to have them. Shh, I didn't tell Kathy I ordered them! I got a yard of each and may put them into three crib size quilts--a big block type style that is easy to make and cute but not sure yet. I fell in love with the owls mainly! It is from the Forrest Fun line by Kauffman.
This little cut came free with my order. So adorable! I am sure some of these will wind up in the I Syp quilts I make.

I borrowed this next picture from Denyse Schmidt's website...this is her Patchwork Promenade cheater cloth. I think it is cool and want a chunk of it! I decided when I get my first check from my second job I am splurging and getting a few panels--all this extra working should go for more than bills, right?

Here is my stitching that I just finished up today....

I put it into the Double X Block for my Quilt History class already too! Looks pretty good to me and I am excited to do all the blocks and have a complete quilt top by the end of the year! The block was designed by Marie D. Webster and published in her "Quilts: Their STory and How to Make Them book in 1915. It is Brackman Block #2179.

First Colonial History Block Done and a Sewing Bee Prize!

Sewing bee prize from Jennifer came in the mail yesterday. Cute fat quarter with thread on it...Thanks!

I finished the first Colonial History Bluework Block! I really enjoyed doing it and hope to gain some skill at making the stitches. I am good at counted cross stitch, but the holes are there for you and with this I have to learn to find the holes that make it look like a line which isn't the easiest thing to do!

I am currently working on the center of another block in bluework which is the first block for the 2009 Colonial History Quilt.

my nephew Ben is staying overnight here tomorrow. He is one and adorable. First time he has stayed here with me. Usually I have to share him with lots of doting people....will be fun to have him more to myself! He is an early riser though so I imagine on Sunday I will be up before the sun! I am going to teach him more signs!

Cardinals in the Superbowl in Sunday...GO CARDINALS!

Two More Little Finishes!

Sunday was apparently a day of little finishes! I finally sewed this little pincusion closed and added some fun buttons. One of the dogs found it before I finished it so one corner was a bit chewed...I did some repair and will still use the pincusion just for fun! Darn dogs! They don't usually chew anything up (one likes the remote if you leave it down and are gone a long time so we hide those) but this reminded them of their little stuffed doggie toys I suspect!

Happily sewed the binding on A is for Adiminaby! It is perfectly square but I love it anyway. The colors make me smile, the little stripe on the border makes me smile and I will be hanging it up soon. I got the next magazine (Australian one) and discovered I missed one! The one I got has C is for something or other and now I want to know what B is! I will keep my eye out for that one, but darn it! I do have two Quilter's Home that I have extra copies of I would be willing to trade for the Aussie one I need if anyone wants them!

Not sure if I mentioned I am now working a part time interpreting job on Mondays and Wednesdays...so I am SO tired on Tues and Thurs mornings. I leave my house at 6:30 AM and get home at 10:30 on Mon and Wed. I am insane, but I need more fabric money and so I bit the bullet and took the hours. The pay is great...may go back to that next year and give up teaching at the high school since I am thinking I am not as good at managing high school kids as I would like to be. I try, but it is not exactly what I was hoping it would be!

Still no more progress on DD....I did get started on the bluework one night, but need to pick it up again.

A Few More Finishes!

Remember this little cross stitch ornament? I finally got it stuffed and the bottom closed (don't look too closely it is homey stitching lol) but it is done! I love it!

Randy was bummed yesterday because he had car issues and it is costing him 1100 bucks to get his car fixed. So he is not floating in the money and it is his granddaughter's birthday. I offered to use some leftover fabric in my stash to whip her up a little purse/bag and stuff it with some odds and ends I have in my gift cupboard. He is at work now, but hopefully when he gets home he will be cheered. She is six and I am sure she will be happy with it and not notice he didn't spend 50 dollars. He spoiled her and her siblings at Christmas so hopefully she will like this.

While I was at it I made a second one for the cupboard. Kathy's niece will most likely wind up with it next November when she turns six!

The pattern was from "Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson. It is called "simple bag" on page 40 and is the first pattern I have used from this book! I am thinking about making some of the bird ornaments or Peanut, the wee elephant too! Go here http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Peanut+the+wee+elephant&gbv=2 to see some cute images of that elephant! Maybe I can make one of those for Ben for Easter to remind him always of Reba the elephant!

Other than that I did some bluework on the "One Penny" panel and have laundry going...and did some house cleaning. The weather is gorgeous, doors and windows are open and the sun is shining. Have I mentioned how much I love Arizona in January?

My Fun Tablerunner is DONE! Quilt History, Bluework and Blocks

This morning I got the binding made and machine sewn on!

Then tonight while watching "A Lesson Before Dying" which I have seen before and read the book...(still sobbed, sigh) I handsewed the binding down. I love the crazy lemon backing! It is already under my laptop while I type and the cat is laying on one end of it. Yay for one done UFO!

I also got the binding made and machine sewed on the A is for Adiminaby...so soon I will hand sew that too. So relaxing while sitting in front of the telly. (I have always wanted to use that word, lol).

Randy and I made a run out to JoAnn's where I picked up some blue DMC floss and pearl cotton thread for bluework...one of the gals at the quilt history group told me to get #412 (or at least that is what I wrote down) but upon getting to the store I saw that there wasn't a 412 slot much less thread! So then I wasn't sure what to get and there were no books I could find to tell me and the staff didn't even know what bluework or redwork was! So I took a chance and got 412 (which I most likely already have upstairs!) in case I just didn't have the number right. Then I saw Perle cotton--the only blue one was 823 so I got that too...it is WAY too dark. A navy really but I am sure I will find a use for it. Meanwhile I just did some quick internet research and discovered that bluework is 797 (dark blue) or 813 (light blue) according to at least one source, while other sources listed them and 798, 312, 824 and 311 Perle cotton and in case you want to know for redwork DMC 498 (turkey red) or 321, 304 and 817. Now you may be curious just what bluework I suddenly am undertaking...my quilt history group is planning to do a few of these Colonial History blocks each month since Roberta (fabulous quilt historian in our group) has a quilt with them on it. She is drafting up patterns for us though some are hard to see on her quilt and even in this picture I found online. I can't make it much bigger without a lot of distortion so...the first block she is having us do is the third row down, second block in.

It says "One Penny" on it. I am not sure what the significance of that is, it looks like a coat or arms or emblem but google didn't tell me much. It will be fun to learn more about colonial history while stitching these up (if I like it lol). I was thinking that Mackenzie (my 16 year old son) might appreciate the end product which maybe wil be done in time for his graduation in 2.5 years. He is a son of the American Revolution on his dad's side and loves history so I think of anyone he would enjoy this quilt. Ruby Short McKim was the designer of all this redwork and apparently her granddaughter is recreating and redistributing her patterns but hasn't gotten to this one yet. http://www.mckimstudios.com/04treasures/quiltspecial/quiltspecial.shtml

I have it all traced out here.

I also got the block together for next month's quilt history class as much as I can since I am supposed to do some stitching in the center "Zoe's Trunk Quilt History" and a design picture. I am thinking about leaving out the pictures and enlarging the words. I don't want to get too crazy, lol. The block is called "Double X" and was designed by Marie D. Webster, Brackman Block Number 2179. Here it is on the design wall...will straighten it out when it gets sewn together!

And we voted and decided that there would be all three of these choices every month (a pieced, a bluework or two and then the ladies). I am not real experienced with applique as we all know but decide to give this one a try. Not sure I will do one each month for two reasons...1) I am not sure I will be great at applique and I have other applique stuff to do and 2) I have no idea who this one would go to when it is done. Not my daughter's tastes, nor mine or anyone I can think of! Some of the gals were really smitten with doing this one though! Well if you stayed with me all the way to the end of this post you are a true friend! Happy quilting!

Accounting for my UFOs

Someone else posted a picture with lots of boxes of quilts in progress and asked us about how many project we had going on. So I thought I would take stock of things and post some pictures in case you didn't read my blog when I started these projects!

These are my star blocks from my online group's star block of the month challenge. I truly enjoyed the challenge, but find getting all these different size blocks to work together an even bigger challenge! I need to just bite the bullet and buy some black fabric and just put them together. I really want to use the blocks, not just have blocks, but I am a pattern girl...I follow the pattern better than I do my own thing. Funny because that isn't how I live my life in other areas!
This tablerunner is just waiting for me to find and make binding and get it on there. I quilted it on my machine already though this picture isn't current. This one is for me for under my laptop...right now there is a flag tablerunner, lol. This is from this past fall but it got pushed to the back of the pile while I was doing Christmas presents and then I just sort of forgot to do it! I plan to get moving on this one this weekend.


Bargello Seaons, this is from my Quilt University class last Spring. I love all four of these and planned to put them into either four wallhanging that I can change with the seasons or one quilt that I can fold over with the current season showing for my quilting studio. They aren't exactly the same size and I got really stumped with how to combine them...so I think I will do wallhangings so this UFO gets done! Not sure if I am brave enough to quilt them myself though. See this is what holds me back!

Walk in the Park (Quilter's Home) is all set except I need to doing the sewing/applique on the gorgeous blocks and then put it all together. I love how this quilt looks so far and I am afraid to mess it up! I think this one is the oldest UFO I have...it is from December 2007!
And of course this is my most recent UFO, A is for Adiminaby. I have it all hand quilted with little x's now and yesterday I bought the binding fabric. So this weekend I plan to get that attached so when I have time I can hand sew the binding on this one too.

I guess I can consider this one a WIP and not really a UFO since I am actively working on this Double Delight Mystery from Bonnie's Quiltville site. I absolutely can't wait to see this one together. I picked up a few more light shirting materials and another pink at the quilt shop last night since I was running short to finish step 3!

I also have squares and hexagons for I Spy (still collecting) and Flea Market Fancy Squares but since nothing but the cutting is done I won't count those! I also have my daughter's slightly started cat wallhanging. She finally was interested in sewing so we got all the stuff for the project and just didn't get time to finish it. I am hoping she will come visit this summer and we can work on it together.

This means I have five (or eight if you could the Bargello separately) UFOs and one WIP to get moving on...two should be almost done by the end of the weekend. Thanks for challenging me to access what I have and think about getting them done. I don't like to have them lined up...I am a finisher! So how many UFOs or WIPs do YOU have going on?
Wish me luck because I have to take the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment test tomorrow! I have been studying for it all week and hope to pass the first time through!

Quilt History Class Block--Christmas Star

I finished this Christmas star block on Tuesday night and blogger was having issues so I couldn't post. First time that has happened to me! Last night I worked and then got a migraine (had been waiting to appear all day) and in the middle of the night it peaked. So I took my imitrex and called in sick to work so I am home today and finally feeling better. I just hope it lasts because sometimes when the imitrex wears off it comes back...I can't complain too much because they are so much better than they used to be, but I hate each migraine just the same!
So back to the block...this was a tough block for a few reasons. The one section in there had five pieces and was complicated for me to figure out. The directions the group gave me included mainly a picture and so I had to find the block in the same size online and print those directions which were very helpful http://www.quilterscache.com/C/ChristmasStarBlock.html this is not the site, but this is the same block although in opposite colors. The one I used had different mauve colors and that also confused me! I didn't cut enough of one color, had to use a different fabric, etc. It was confusing but I think I am growing better at figuring out these kind of blocks and so that is good. I also love the way the block looks though not real sure what I will do with it. I was thinking I should maybe put it in a small wallhanging with the words "patchwork heritage" and "Obama 2009" on it. Our new President used those words in his inauguration speech and it just spoke to me somehow! I don't know when I will find the time to do it, but I will type it here so maybe one day it will come to fruition! Otherwise I am not sure what I will do with this block and the one I did last month since now the quilt history group is moving on to the 1900's and a whole different look.

A Little Progress on Double Delight

So far the weekend has been busy and I have not sewn a whole lot. I managed to get 36 blocks done on clue three (the pink and white nine patches) but that is it! I went with Randy and saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last night. It was interesting, gave us some to talk about but was strange too. I don't really recommend it I guess. One thing that was amazing was the make up to age and unage them. It was INCREDIBLE! Other than that....

Also hit some thrift stores yesterday and got some amazing half price deals on bags of fabric. I figured I would pick some of it up to add to my scrap bins now that I am doing more scrappy quilts. Very cheap way to stock up. I even found two large pieces of Coca-Cola fabric which I thought could be used for backings or made into fat quarters for sewing bee prizes.

My sister has invited me over to her best friend Karen's house for Cardinal football party with the girls. I am all packed and ready to head out over there and most likely will spend the night too. So no sewing happening this afternoon.

Go Cardinals!

My Week, Back to Freelancing and Long Weekend Goals!

First off wanted to show you all the cool fabric and needle card I got as a sewing bee prize this week. Always fun to get something like this in the mail! Thanks Sharon!

Last Sunday we had Kathy's sister, brother in law, nephew and his gf over and played this mystery game. It was okay and I turned out to be the murderer! Can you believe that? Some of these mysteries are really fun. So far our favorite is "Bullets and BBQ" it was nice though to just relax all afternoon with company. We made hot beefs and some of us drank more than others. I won't name names...smile.

Last night Kathy, Randy and I went and saw Fiddler on the Roof. My second time I have seen this play and it was good and fun! So tired today though because I was a little later to bed than usual. My favorite scene was the dream scene where hubby makes up a dream to get his wife to agree to breaking off the oldest daughter's engagement. It was done really well and I could tell they had worked hard on that scene. It was opening night, so I am sure this play will get even better in the next two weeks.

I also went to one of the local colleges and got myself another job. I will be interpreting two nights a week this semester (4 to 10 pm) since I have bills to pay and want to be able to afford more fabric! Good thing I am used to working alot. I am excited to get back to interpreting, this is the longest break I have had since I started doing it (6 months!) and I have good skills and don't want them going anywhere. The other exciting thing is that I will get to work with a team...one team person is Sara who works with me at the high school (she interprets for my Deaf TA so she is often in my room 7th hour and is SO NICE!) and another is Hannah who is another ASL teacher in our district. Out of everyone I have met she is the friendliest and I think it will be fun to work with her in person. We have been sharing lesson plan stuff through email and now and then this will give us a chance to talk about what we are up to in the classroom too! So I am as excited as I can be. Economy here sucks right now, the three of us are each working two jobs! How insane is that? I can't imagine the days when hubby worked and the wife stayed home and there was money to go around. Way a thing of the past. My first check from freelancing I am treating myself to a trip to the quilt shop! Bills after that, smile.

Now on to the goals for this weekend....I am still stalled out on step three of the Double Delight mystery. I am going to get going on step three and start putting these blocks together. With any luck I will get at least half of them together this weekend..maybe more since my machine is back from getting the timing fixed (thanks, John) and I am off work on Monday for Martin Luther King day. I need to put together my quilt history block too since we meet soon. I also hope to get some scraps cut into strips and into the bin...I try to do that now and again and I need to do some more. Will be nice to get back to my "Change of Heart" audiobook too.

I am enjoying reading other people's blogs and especially seeing Bonnie's DD progress on other blogs. You people are SO talented! Smile!

Pay it Forward 2009, My First Join!

2009!
Amy at http://skattebo-skattebo.blogspot.com/2008/12/pay-it-forward-2009.html asked me to join the "Pay It Forward" fun with her so if any of you would like to join me, leave a comment to join. I am to find three more people to play.

This is how it works--The "Pay It Forward" rules
Three people will be chosen to participate when they leave a comment on this post asking to join. (The first three are chosen).
You are agreeing to post a similar announcement on your blog, and Pay It Forward to three more people, who will in turn agree to Pay It Forward to three other people, etc.
You will create a hand-made item for your three people sometime over the next 12 months.

THAT's IT! Here's how it'll work...Amy will send one hand-made item to the three people who have signed up with her (me and two others) I will send one hand-made item to the three people who sign up with the challenge via my blog; then the three people who sign up with me will send hand-made items to each of the three people who sign up with them. And so on....

This is the first challenge like this I have ever tried and I have no idea what I am going to make, but I have almost a year to get to it so I think I can manage that!

Comment away if you want to join--first three are in! (Amy, bettter late than never, smile!)

Bet You Can't Guess What I am up to....

Did them in sets of ten for a long while, then decided to just go to town so that I could trim them in front of a movie. By the time these get trimmed there won't be many more to go...I ran out of brown triangles, apparently Kathy and I can't count accurately! So exciting to finally be getting clue two accomplished! I have a feeling clue three will go much faster (and lots of strips are already cut and some together!)

A is for Adaminaby, Quilting Done

I quilted little cross stitches on here tonight. I worked on it a few other days and it was taking too long tying and cutting threads for every x. I finally decided the back looked like heck anyway, it is going on a wall and it is for me so I just ran the thread all over in the back so it finally got done! I won't show you the back, but I need to work on my technique! I don't care, I love the front! I need to put binding on it so I can handsew it in front of the next movie we watch.
Tomorrow everyone here but me is working, so hopefully I will be sewing on DD, clue 2!

Double Delight Clue One is Done, Clue Two is in Progress!

I was determined to finish up clue one tonight after reading all the blogs and posts of people's progress on Bonnie at Quiltville's Double Delight so I set to work! I got all done and realized that when I recounted I forgot to include the four up on the wall already so that is partly why I was short! I had a few wonky ones to fix and that was the other part of why I was short. So I now have an extra four blocks for part one...we will see if they are all there at the end though! I decided to quick whip up ten of clue two so I could feel progress...so I now have 10 pinned together, four on the wall and two that need trimming so I am at least started--read that 104 to go! I really do enjoy sewing them though so many at once is nuts! Kathy cut a few strips I had already sewed for part three so I may do a few of those here and there between sets of ten. Someone on our group mentioned that doing them in sets of ten (sewing then trimming and pinning) really helps with the wrist fatigue and such and so I thought I would try this set that way and change it up a bit. Smile. You know I was thinking that one day quilt historians will be able to date this quilt by saying there was this Bonnie at Quiltville Craze and many people all over the world made pattern x in year x. Seriously I wonder if there is any other quilt group this large and this spread out that makes the same quilt at roughly the same time as Bonnie Hunter's group? That seems like a story for a magazine to me! Mark Lipinski are you reading? LOL...just seems like one heck of a phenomenon...We have almost 3000 members now on the list and I am sure hundreds are sewing on this quilt. You can even go to http://www.zazzle.com/forestjane/gifts?cg=196611343877289267 to see the AWESOMIST quilt block replica of Double Delight and other Quiltville quilt blocks that Jane put together for us along with the new button on my sidebar...I put a few of the items on my Valentine's Day list..one is greater than the next. I loved Orange Crush, but I am thinking I might love this one more! Which is really a good thing because we gave away both Orange Crush quilts and I seriously mourned the loss of the second one (which has never happened to me before!) so I know I am keeping this Double Delight!

And I played around today trying to make some Andy Warhol prints of me for a challenge I am doing on the lgbtquilters list. Couldn't resist trying it out on Orange Crush too!

Kathy put both her NYE Mystery Quilt tops together (two crib sized) the other night too. She did a great job matching up all those seams! The back of these ones will have circus ticket fabric on it!

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