And Another Clue Done, Another Clue Done, Another One Bites the Dust...

I had several songs running through my head today while endlessly sewing Orca Bay clue five! The first one you may recall from Miss Sherri and Lambchop I made a few word substitutions but it goes like this "this is the clue that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend...some people started sewing it not knowing what it was and now they sew forever just because this is

the clue that never ends...." that little ditty is hard to get out of your head and since I sewed at Ros' today with her and BJ they didn't really want to sing it along with me...

I managed to sew several of these babies incorrectly and some even made it past my first quality control and got another black triangle sewn to them before they were discovered (nine of those to be exact) so I had to do a bit of unsewing and then I came home and resewed and cut thirty more triangles (counting is apparently not my strong suit, I had too many hst's and not enough triangles!) and whipped those babies together. So the next song that came to me was "Another One Bites the Dust!" that at least got the other one out of my head! Clue five is done WHOOT WHOOT WHOOT WHOOT. That is seriously one long clue (made longer by

the fact that I sewed 102 of them to the clue seven light triangle as I went along).

When I arrived home I was excited to see that my prize from the SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show. It is a really pretty quilty Christmas ornament from http://www.quiltedinclay.com/
It is the limited edition 2011 ornament which sold out, but they have some really neat looking stuff.

The above picture is from their website so you can see the detail, it is very sweet! Anyway, after finishing off clue five with not a whole lot of help from DJ and Bug (we were watching Hangover Two)...
I decided to lay out the pieces so I could get a sense of what this quilt will look like. I am thinking I am going to want to put yellow centers in the dark blocks as some others have done. I like it though!

I managed to sew up eight more light colored stars, press and trim them before packing it in. We are watching a few more movies this evening and chilling.

DJ made us French Onion soup (so good!) and I whipped up two drawstring bags for my knitting. I looked online and for 20 bucks I could buy one but for fifteen minutes of my time I could make one! I didn't like the size of the first one for my sock stuff so I hacked off the bottom for number two and it is perfect. I will be making more of these because I know Hannah is going to want one in purple. It makes a nice gift for a knitter. Been thinking about joining that Christmas all year group...this may be my first project for that. :)
So Orca Bay update: Clues 1-5 are done, clue six is in progress (10 total blocks done, all parts cut), clue 7-102 blocs done, 127 flying geese to go....it is getting there! WHOOT WHOOT, again, I can't help it!

First UFO and Orca Bay Coming Up for Air

I am happy to report my first UFO has become a flimsy! Really that was easy since I only had to add two more rows and a border to make it so. DJ needs another quilt top for her niece's belated Christmas gift so that is what this will become. Hopefully we will get it basted and I will attempt to quilt it soon! I still have some leftover blocks in this pattern so I may put together another flimsy too so I can get it off my UFO list. (Oh, I realized tonight that I have a thirteenth UFO if I count the NYE Mystery which is waiting to be sewing into rows and get some borders).
I also made some binding for the Full House Around the Block Schnibble that I have packed up for Ros. Sorry my ironing board cover has already seen better days!
I also finished and pressed 100 (well somehow there are 102) of these babies from clue 6 I think it is. I have four of the other half done to attach to the green triangles...so LOTS left to go on that. I think that step gets pretty boring. I also finally sneak peaked a look at one each of the blocks to help me feel like this quilt is getting somewhere! I like them!
And here is the whole mess of it all packed up to go to Ros' and sew. I need to deliver a quilt top and miss the gang. June, you are welcome to come with me Saturday if you are reading this! So I had a nice night of sewing tonight. Tomorrow I work late and Friday I have to prep, prep, prep so I may not get much done til Saturday but I cherish every minute of it! Oh, I used my new travelling machine (the Brother) tonight and sewed like a top for me!

2012 UFO Challenge

I have never done a UFO challenge mostly because I am a finisher and don't have many UFO's. Really what I have is more WIP's sometimes I take a long break before getting back to them but I would be hard pressed to find 12. I decided to inventory what I have going on and low and behold I have twelve! So before they take over my world I guess I will try to get to some of them! Judy over at Patwork Times is issuing the challenge again this year.
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012-ufo-challenge/

1. First up of course is ORCA BAY/Long Lake! I will be working on this until it is done anyway so hopefully it isn't up right away, this baby takes time.

2. My sister's CROWN QUILT. This one is not even all cut out yet, but I would love to have it done in time to give her for her birthday in August.

3. This is my CHRISTMAS TREE SKIRT that is a flimsy. I just didn't have time to get it done before Christmas as I had hoped, but I got my daughter's matching one done and she loved it. This will be a quicker finish than most!

4. This is TWIST OF FATE which is cut out and barely started (not sure where the pic is for that) and really I just was doing this at quilt camp as a filler. I am not as excited about this one as I was when I had to have it. I think the pattern is so cool but I wasn't too keen on it all by the time I got going on it. I seem to recall lots of hst's and if I could see the future I would say of all of these UFO's this is the one most likely to not get done this year...I hope this number is drawn anytime soon.

5. These are the 9 PATCH AND SNOWBALL blocks I did each month in a different color several years ago. I think I even put some into rows but I have a whole bin of them I need to just make a top or two out of it and get quilted. I may need to make more blocks in various colors to bring it to completion. Apparently the first number drawn was five so this is the one I will start with. I randomly put the pictures in here but I am glad this easier one came up!

6. RANDY'S SMITH MOUNTAIN MORNING quilt is about this far. I want this one done by November to give him for his birthday and I was planning to get back to it once Orca Bay is done, as this one also takes some time.
7. MY QUILT HISTORY BLOCKS need to be put in a top and sent off to Ros for quilting. I have these blocks and several extras of my own since not everyone did her trade as promised. So I need to figure out what to do with this one and just get it done!

8. I SPY SQUARES QUILT is in tub and I occasionally add to it or so on it, but I may as well go ahead and make another one of these since I have it started.

9. MAC's BLUEWORK BLOCKS...I have several of these bluework blocks done and somewhere lost the motivation to keep on doing them. I need to either complete some more blocks or get the top together and be done with it! This project may take all year!

10. PINEAPPLE BLOSSOM BLOCKS...I was doing some of these whenever I was at June's house and got tired of what I had brought along or finished up what I had going so this is as many blocks as I have. I need to turn it into a top already! Looks like I may need to make another block or two too.

11. MY BROKEN CROCKERY this one is a flimsy which I love and didn't want to wreck by quilting it myself. I need to either bite the bullet and do it by machine or by hand or just see if Ros can do a tiny one for me.

12. MY SEASONS BARGELLO quilt is a flimsy but Ros and I decided it wasn't great like this and we should just take it apart and do it as little quilts for my wall or something. I know I will be happier with that but unsewing really sucks so I just stuck in the drawer. LOL.

So there you have it. I dug deep and discovered twelve projects I can sort of call UFO's...serioulsy, there aren't anymore. It will be nice to get them down to three or four managable works in progress though. I don't want the UFO ship to set sail on me as it has so many other, LOL! Are you doing Judy's UFO challenge?

Something Fun for Me

After work today I played with my leftover strips from the Schnibbles I sewed and using the black face mask as a sort of pattern and looking over the directions from my Amy Butler pattern I whipped up a fun eye mask. I hate it when there is any light when I have a migraine so I wear this little black one alot. Sometimes I can't find it so two will be nice.
I also cut out the triangles for Orca Bay with my Easy Angle ruler. I know Bonnie LOVES this ruler, but most of the time I get Kathy to do my cutting with it because it takes me forever to get the hang of flipping it correctly to cut. I sometimes am SO unvisual I wonder how I am a sign language interpreter!

I also sewed ten more of clue 5 and then couldn't resist sewing the white triangles to ten of them. One teeny, tiny step at a time I will get this done. I spent quite a bit of time today at work (on hold on the phone) reading blogs and drooling over all the nice Ocra Bay quilts that are coming together far quicker than mine. While that is very motivating to see and gives me a good kick in the pants I just can't seem to make much progress. Sometimes I just like a small project that gives me quick satisfaction!

Can you see the way my thread is skipping or something? I was really getting frustrated with my Viking tonight. I would have gone on to do more but I had to resew quite a few seams. I changed thread (it was almost out so I thought the weight of it was messing up the machine), I rethreaded bobbin and top thread, I pulled out all underneath and cleaned out all the lint, I spoke nicely and not so nicely to it and it just was sometimes doing this. I have had trouble with the machine ever since I got it "fixed" and it is driving me nuts. Any suggestions out there for this?

Working all day tomorrow but will be thinking on Orca Bay....and dreaming that is is done so that I can get back to Smith Mountain Morning which is waiting in the wings!

Oh I did sew four little cheddary challenge leaders and enders too. Those make me smile!

Full House Around the Neighborhood Schnibbles Flimsy Done!

I worked all day (and it was a crazy busy day!) and came home and sewed all night. I really need to get to prepping for next semester's classes, but Kathy was supposed to come over for NYE Mystery sewing (she cancelled again) so that is my excuse for sewing anyway. Smile. First I trimmed up the house blocks.

Then I sewed a checkerboard together like Carrie has in her pillow even though this one is full size. It looks really cute in her pink pillow but I can see that is was just TOO busy for this top.

I decided to do some ripping and make nine patches to surround in white for the corners. I would like to point out that I am a pattern follower and I was largely on my own trying to figure this out since I wanted the full size and not the mini version (the houses match the Schnibbles pattern but I had to figure the rest). This is way out of my element but I am happy I did it.

I am trying to decide if I should add the blue polka dotted sky as a border all around the whole quilt, or just bind it in that to frame it out. I am tickled I got the first Schnibbles done and have something for Ros to quilt for me :)

A Brand New Day, A Brand New Year of Schnibbles!

Two years ago I was a dedicated participant in the first "Year of Schnibbles" and with it I discovered the fun of making small quilts. I made one each month and gave away several but kept at least half of them because they were too cute to pass on! Carrie over at http://www.missrosiesquiltco.com/ is the designer and though she lives in my neck of the woods I haven't met her--yet! I stole this picture from her blog to show you how sweet she was to thank all of us in her latest book:I think I only made one quilt for last year's fun. They expanded to other small quilts and I was not as motivated to complete the quilts. I bought a few patterns, and even picked out fabric once or twice. But it is a new day, a new year and a brand new year of Schnibbles and I needed something to get me out of the funk I have been in for two days. (I will blame constant migraine pain and the meds I have to take to to function). So this evening after reading Sheri and Sinta's blogs I decided that I had always wanted to make the new Schnibble and away I went! I already had the pattern for Full House since I belong to the Fat Quarter Shop's "Miss Rosie's Quilt Pattern Company Pattern Club" http://www.fatquartershop.com/store/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?sid=994512052239945&Store_id=499&page_id=23&Item_ID=54842&Parent_Ids= if you love them as much as I do!

I decided to use A Breath of Avignon and after taking this photo I realized I had leftover yardage in this line too which came in handy since I only had one charm pack. Isn't this little house ADORABLE?
And this one? The cutting went fast!
Then I auditioned a few different "sky" fabrics with DJ's help.


This last one won out, since it looks like sky.
The sewing went quick! DJ helped with the ironing. I didn't do as scant a seam allowance on the house parts as I should have but my measurement is right...I need to cut down the roof sections and they will be perfect...
I really like the lay out that Simone http://simonedeklerk.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-bow-wow-wow-bag.html has for her Full House pattern which Carrie later made in miniature and turned into a pillow. I want the full size version though so we will see if I can manage it! Here is how it will look in part. I can put a checkerboard in the middle, or a solid piece and a small checkerboard border around it.
Thought about using the green since it looks kind of like grass...this green isn't from the line but matches well.

I have to work all day tomorrow and Kathy (who ditched me today, lol) is supposed to come over to finish up our NYE mystery quilts in the evening. When I get that done I may work on this a bit.

The other sewing I did today was finishing up clue one of Orca Bay (FINALLY, can I get an AMEN) and getting all the squares cut for clue five I think it was.

This Schnibble really made my day better. Thanks Sinta and Sherri and Carrie! If you need to join check out http://www.aquiltinglife.com/2012/01/january.html and the links there for more information. It is guaranteed to bring smiles to you too!

Completed Quilts 2011

These are most of the completed quilts of 2011 and where they went. One picture accidentally made it in twice and a few didn't make it in, but all in all alot was sewn and finished in 2011.

1. 121 Carolina Crossroads June 2011, 2. 123 NYE Mystery 2010, given to DJ's niece Bella 3. Lil' Twister Christmas, mine 4. 145 Hannah's Christmas Tree Skirt ,Hannah has 5. 142 Baby Boy Quilt, given to DJ's nephew Cody 6. 141 Baby Girl Quilt, given to DJ's niece Gabby 7. Lil' Twister Halloween, mine 8. Mom and Dad's Christmas Quilt, given to Toni and Gary Hirn 9. 135 Baby Quilt, 10. 131 Downy Quilts for Kids Donation Quilt, 11. 130 Downy Quilts for Kids Donation Quilt, given to Hannah's good friend Jolie's baby 12. 113 Quilt of Valor, given to my nephew Christopher Simons 13. 93 Slide Show , given to Mackenzie Daniels for his graduation from high school 14. 127 Streak of Sunshine for Kelly's Baby Xavier, 15. in there twice 16. 148 Karen's Lil' Twister, 17. 151 Hannah's Broken Crockery, 18. 151 Hannah's Broken Crockery back, Hannah's 19. 143 144 Tablerunners,given to DJ's sisters, mom, gma 20. 129 Simple Quilt for Lily