In the Works!

Since I was caught up on the Quiltmaker Mystery and school was taking all my energy, I needed something easy to work on.  I choose Two-Step from the book Scrap School by Lissa Alexander.   

I started with already cut squares in primary colors from the scrap users system.  Then I moved to the already cut strips.  Not until I had to did I cut from yardage.  I made a big batch of low volume 2-patches to get me started and that worked out well.

This was a good project to work on in dribs and drabs as I had bits of time.  I just kept sewing 4 patches without much of a plan.  I originally thought that an 8x8 layout would be good for a baby quilt, but that was too small.  Then I added turquoise to my mix and went to 10x10, but still not to my liking. 

Finally, I added lime green and went to 11x11.  I think this will work.  Also, I am ready to move on to another project.

Just a few more blocks to finish it up.

I am pleased with this project.  Just what I needed when I didn't have much brain power.  Super cute for a baby boy or girl.  I have to have the living room floor cleaned up by tonight, so that will force me to finish up the last blocks and get it at least webbed together.  I have something I think will work for the backing, so that puts it even closer to the finish line.

Design Wall Monday

Another hexagon on the wall.

The yellow one is the newest.

In between mending and some smaller projects I got another hexagon finished.  It looks like the newer blocks (on the right) are larger than the older blocks.  Hmmm.  I will have to check on that.

I only need 3 more whole hexies and 2 4/6 hexies.  I have them almost all cut, but I need more white triangles.  I think my goal of having each hexagon be a different color might work.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday

I finished another hexagon.  This one is from the pastel/baby grouping.  Four down, 4 4/6ths to go.

My designs are taking over my inspiration or is it the other way around!

I was thinking maybe I would aim for a different color for each hexie for this quilt.  Not an unreasonable challenge to myself.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Cowboy Quilt is Getting a Backing

A Design Table today.  I am trying to decide what backing for this quilt.

Cowboy Quilt 

There is not enough of the aqua with dots.  My next best choices are dark brown from the inner border or beige.

Dark brown or beige?

The beige is a lot darker than the cream, so I don't think it looks quite right.  Also,  this is likely to be a quilt for baby to play on the floor, so light isn't as practical.

So dark brown it will be.

Now - is there enough?  I will work on that today.

Linking up to Small Quilts & Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Hexagons on the Walls

I have been sewing enough that my Leader & Ender project has moved forward a bit.  I got another hexagon finished - the pink flamingo hexagon in the upper left.

Hexagons are encroaching upon the BOM blocks!

I stood on the chair so that I could reach to pin some up high and lay around with the layout a bit.  I think there is another yellow and another orange cut.  Then the last 4/6th block I will cut after I decide what color it should be.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday

I actually have something on the design wall this week.

A few more hexagons!

I added 2 blocks to the next hexagon quilt.  The pink in the upper right and the 4/6 yellow in the lower left.

I need 8 whole blocks and 2 4/6 blocks in total, so I am making progress.  Several of the colorful large triangle sections for the next hexagons are finished and I just need to add the last white little triangles, so I am getting closer.  I have been making these as my Leader & Ender project, so there is no rush.

Linking up to Small Quilts & Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 071618

The wall is clear and the floor is clear.  I got several odd sewing jobs done on Sunday afternoon, so Monday I could start with a clean slate.

Project #1 - Turned an old baby blanket with 2 monograms into 4 small loveys with monograms for 2 other sons.  Great idea for dividing a single blanket into a memory for several children.

My monogram font (bottom row) is different, but the client is still happy.

Project #2 - Monogrammed towel for College E's Bestie.  Since the machine was out, this was easy.

Same font - it's the only one I have, but it works!

Project #3 - Identifying scarf for Grown Up R's nervous dog.  I thought this was a great idea so people know what to expect when they approach her out on a walk.  This has potential as an item to make for the craft fair.

No doubts about this dog's personality!

So now I will take my clear conscience at getting these odd jobs done and use the clean floor to layer/sandwich the baby quilts that need to be quilted and get going on them since the sewing table top is clean as well.

Linking up to Small Quilts & Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

100 Reusable Wipes on the Wall, 100 Reusabel Wipes ...

I hit the 100 mark for making reusable flannel wipes.  Grown Up R had asked for them, then I made for College E, then I made for their Besties.  They are kind of addictive.

Some trimming left, but

I have an opportunity to sell at a "Market Fair" in October and since I am still unemployed (although I applied this morning for a substitute teaching position, which is a good Plan B) it seemed like I should take advantage of the opportunity.  Grown Up R has been waiting in the wings for me to decide to move forward on marketing my sewing so that side of things is covered.  I just have to sew - that's the best part anyways!!

Sets in various stages of completion.

With the recent interest in the reusable wipes it seemed like they would be a good product to stock up on. I just need to finish up a few sets today and then I will move on to mending for a friend (paid), finish 3 quilts that "just" need quilting, and then make some burp cloths.  I also need to get ready for the sewing class at the library on Wednesday.  Sewing definitely has the potential to keep me busy.  We will see where it leads.

Linking up to Small Quilts & Doll Quilts to show what we are working on today.

Design Wall Monday 062518

Hmm.  There is so much space to work in my sewing/project room that I hardly know where to start.  I have to keep reminding myself that starting something new is not an option.

These hexagons blocks have been my leader & ender project, but had taken over the design wall so much that I couldn't reach to put up any more. I thought I probably had enough to starting finishing it up.  But then when I looked better at the design I realized a 3 x 3 layout was not going to work because the blocks are offset from each other.

Testing the layout.

So I came at the problem from another direction and narrowed down the colors to red, yellow, blue, and green.  (I'll save the turquoise and oranges for another quilt.)  This "problem" of a layout actually worked out well.  Since the center hexagons for this project had been found in a bag of precuts I was working with what I had and sometimes I didn't have 6 of the same or coordinating hexagons.  Now that I need a group of only 4 for the sides I can use up even more.  There were enough in this narrowed down color scheme so I moved forward with the new plan.

Reading for setting triangles.

Since I was not leader & endering the last few went together quickly.  I will do the math on the triangles and hopefully get ths off the floor soon.  I am sure enjoying having my floor space back.

Linking up to smallquiltsanddollquilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 061818

My sister need a baby boy quilt.  She tried to find the Over the Moon fabric that she used for the big sister a few years ago, but it was no where to be found.  You can see that quilt HERE, HERE and HERE. So we went with Plan B - stash fabric.

Auditioning Fabrics

I wanted to try a large Carpenter's Star, but with something in the middle.  The pinwheel worked well even though the math was more than I had bargained for.  I just made the triangles in question larger than needed and then mathed my way done until they were right. 

Just before the triangle math got intense!

The inner border I had actually cut first since the neutral had a nice length that was perfect for what I knew my star would end up at.  It was nice to finish the center and move right on to the border.  Usually I have to audition more fabrics and think on it a bit.  This one I knew in advance exactly what I wanted.

First border is on!

Next up is wide border of the blue polka dots with small stars in the corners.

Linking up to small quilts & doll quilts to show what we are working on and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework's  Oh Scrap! to show something made with scraps..

Design Floor Monday 060418

I finally made a plan for the baby quilt for our new niece.  We didn't know the gender in advance so I had a good excuse for putting it off.

Isn't she sweet!

I had originally wanted to make something different but my level of concentration is not that great right now so I went with Bonnie Hunter's Little Monkey.  I had made these before and I knew that each block stands alone and doesn't have to be super matchy or coordinated. 

Almost final layout

I also wanted to use scraps I had bought back from my MIL last time we were in Guatemala and some of them were on the smallish side, so this actually ended up being perfect.  I just picked my basic color scheme and ran with it.  I was able to use some leftover HSTs and lots of bits of this and that.  I dug into my drawers of strips/squares and didn't have to cut anything at all from yardage.  Does that make it a FREE quilt?

The white sashing is a shirt from my FIL.  When he passed I asked my MIL for some of his dress shirts.  She sews and she understood.  Last summer I was able to use one of them in College E's college quilt.

Next step is sew it all togther.  I use Bonnie Hunter's webbing technique and it goes together easy peasy.

Then to decide on borders.  I have another shirt from my FIL that I think will be perfect for an inner border, but will require some careful math first.  There is no rush, since I don't know when we are going to get down to Guatemala to see the cutie.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Floor Monday 021918

I have working on re-configuring these blocks left from an old mystery.  Sundays on the drive to church I worked at un-sewing all the white triangles in each unit.  Then I replaced them with pink as leaders & enders.  I think there were 80 units in all.  Quite an undertaking, but doing it slowly it didn't seem overwhelming.

Ready to sew into blocks.

There was no deadline for this, so I just worked away at it slowly.  Until one day they were all ready to join together in blocks that looked like their 25 sister blocks.

Hoping for no repeats within a block.

Then came the dilemma.  There were already 25 blcoks like this.  I added 20 more.  45 is not a very good number for a nicely proportioned quilt.  Remove 3 for a 6x7 layout?  Or add 3 for a 6x8 layout?  Since I had enough leftover pieces and I didn't want any leftover blocks I went with add 3. 

So now there are 48 blocks ready to go.  I did all my math for sashings and picked out turquoise squares from the precut scrap drawer for setting stones.  But for now it is back in the drawer as a UFO.

I have to find something else to work on on the way to church.

Linking up to small quilts and doll quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 021218 Hand Prints

Our preschool art show is coming up.  Our class is working on assembling the hand print blocks the kids gave me for my birthday back in the fall.

Blocks numbered and ready to web.

At the last minute I had a brainstorm of how the kids (4- and 5-years old) could each have a turn to sew, but the blocks wouldn't get out of order.  Webbing is how I usually assemble blocks.  I realized that if I numbered the blocks in order and each child picked up the assigned number(s) it would work. 

Block #20 chosen to be next.

Sure enough.  It worked and was good math practice in the process.  They can count, but this was number recognition.  We also worked out the pattern - color plain color plain color plain.  A very good lesson before it is even the quilt that they can't wait to finish.

First step in webbing complete.

 Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 012218

Last week I had a big project I was working on for school and not much time to sew.  I made myself sew the bare minimum of 15 minutes a few nights and mostly worked on the leader & ender project because it was mindless and that is what I needed.  I was afraid that if I tried anything else I'd mess it up.

Red on the left is new this week.

Voila!  Another red hexagon.  I have about 15 more of these ready to go so doing one not by leader & endering is no big deal.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 011518

I had run out of Leader & Ender material so I took the time to prep more hexagons and in the process I found another bag of pre-cut hexies most of which had multiples.  Woo Hoo.

The red one is new this week.  The star is for the BOM challenge.

I think I have enough sets for over 20 large hexagons.  I don't want a king size quilt of child-friendly hexagons, so I am thinking to make 2 baby/kid quilts.  We'll see what happens when I get that far.  I may as well keep working on them though since the hexies are already cut and everything else is from the stash.

Three more hexagon sets ready to go.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Wall Monday 010818

It's a Design Floor for me.  With College E home lots of stuff got moved into my work area and I can't get to the wall.

I finished up a few odd small quilts and then pulled out a bag of someone's UFO that I had gotten at the thrift store.  All the muslin squares were cut but there were not very square so I straightened them up.  Only a few of the colored squares were cut, which was good since I had to square them up also.  Then I cut the remaining fabric the correct size.

I wasn't convinced on one of the fabrics that came in the bag, so I switched it for a brown from my stash right away.  Better, but still not quite right.

Layout #1

Then I switched out the beige with red blobs for more brown and did a little bit of rearranging.  I am hoping this will be a baby boy quilt to have on hand.  Those red blobs looked too much like roses and the color just wasn't working.  I like this much better.

Layout #2

I already got a few rows sewn together in Bonnie Hunter's webbing style.  I'll work at it this week as I get time.  I like a simple project without much thinking when I only have a little bit of time to sew in the evenings.  This is perfect.

Linking up to Small Quilts Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.

Design Floor Monday 122517

I didn't plan to even try to get my sewing room cleaned up until after Christmas, but I worked hard during little bits of time and actually started and was nearly finished by Christmas Day.  I lowered my decorating expectations and that worked out just fine.  No one even noticed and we had a really wonderful day anyways.

Green Carnival Quilt

I got enough cleaned up so that I could use the floor to lay out the carnival quilt when we got back from dinner with the extended family.  The teacher had suggested green and I went ahead and cut it all without testing.  But I think it works. It will have a white or black border next and then I have a pieced border left from another project that I think will work perfectly for this.


There are no glaring errors, so I will start sewing it leader & ender style around another project I am trying to finish.

Not linking up up with anyone since it is Christmas, but for my own sake here is what I'm working on.

Design Wall Monday - Carnival Quilt 2018

I actually have a design in the works.  For the past few years I have made one or two quilts to auction at Little S's elementary school each Spring.  You can check out all the past quilts:  2017 B, 2017 D, 2016 W, 2016 D, 2015 D, 2014 D.  That was a fun trip down memory lane going back and looking them up.

a paper plan

Anyways, Little S has now moved on to middle school, but the teacher who got me started is still at the elementary school, so I agreed to make another this year.

a few greens here

A few weeks ago I got the white squares back that the students had designed.  I am wanting to do something a bit different this year.

and a few more greens here

She suggested green and I have plenty of green since one of College E's college choices had green as their predominate color and I thought I was clever stocking up.  Check out this post to see what I ended up making for her that definitely was not green!

testing the design

My plan is a variation of the Missouri Star Quilt Company Two Step quilt for the main block.  I think I will only have one fabric instead of two around each of the white blocks.  Since it is a "signature" quilt I don't want to take too much attention away from the kids' squares.

Linking up to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what's in the works!

What I'm Working On 110617

This one was started at least a year ago.  Senor G asked for a baby quilt to take to Guatemala for a friend who had had a baby.  But we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl.  I grabbed the cute animal fabric and made the center of the quilt quickly.  Then found out that it was a girl.  So this one got put on hold.

Narrow brown inner border.

I had used up nearly every last bit of most of the fabrics so I was at a loss for how to finish it so it got put away indefinitely and didn't even come back out as a WIP.

Auditioning outer borders.

Fast forward...  All my fabrics got stirred up when I made the pillowcases for Houston.  I had just enough of the brown for an inner border.  The green polka dot was a sheet I had gotten for a backing.  I wish I had more of the turquoise for the cornerstones, but the yellow/print was the best I could do.  I do think if I can bind it with turquoise that will work really well.

So in a few bits of found time I have been working on moving this along.

Linking up to Jo's Country Junction to share UFO progress.

Design Wall Monday

Another hexagon got finished as a Leader & Ender while I was working on the Flower Baby Quilt.  I didn't have 6 of the same hexagons or even enough of the same greenish fabric, but I am the Queen of Make Do.  I had just 2 hexagons that were very similar in coloring and found a similar green print and I think it works just fine.

I still like it.

And I pulled out the red, white and blue fabrics to try again to make a backing for my red, white and blue star quilt.  This one has been waiting for a while.  Mostly because of the size.  I don't have anywhere to lay it out.

Red White & Blue

Middle E came home from college for the long weekend, so it got put on hold.  But for sure it is my next project.

Linking up with  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to show what we are working on.