Category: Paper Piecing

Interesting Pattern

This is a pattern I tested for Denise at For the Love of Geese.  I believe she calls it “Twilight”.  I am far from a good paper piecer, however, I love the way this one turned out.  I think I will eventually get the hang of things.  It is mostly fabric I had.  The only thing I purchased was the dark blue grunge border.  I think it has a lot going on.  The blues I used was leftover from a fat quarter pack I think that I got 20 years ago.

20191226_202833I am getting the hang of the longarm.  I still struggle a bit with tension, but I used rulers this time and it came out pretty good.  I am happy with my quilting.  It is starting to look way better.

I do not know what I am going to do with this quilt, I have no plans at this time.  I might just look at it for a while.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

 

 

 

 

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My One Monthly Goal for January…Tada

All done, quilted and even hung up in the kitchen Nook.

So, My one monthly goal was to quilt and bind my jars.  Since my jars were pretty wonky I chose a bit of a different layout.  My daughter asked my they were not neatly spaced on the shelf.  uhhh  “This is our house, how does everything else look?”  Daughter:  “Oh ya…right.  actually neater than our pantry”.  So, it looks like it belongs in our house. It looks great hanging in the kitchen.

This “Ancient Alien” is now complete.

 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

 

An Ancient Alien—UFO

This is an ancient Alien.  Can you tell I am a Science nerd?  Yes, I have watched that show.  My daughter and I even have nick names for some of the people.  If you have ever watched it, you will know who Crazy Hair is.

I started this quilt about 20 years ago.  It was oddly a paper pieced project.  I obviously had no idea what I was doing.  I am not sure how a paper pieced project could have blocks so wonky.  I don’t think there are any 2 the same size.  I actually think I participated in a fabric swap for food fabric.  I still have a ton left, but I think it’s time to see if I can make a wall hanging that does not look too awful.  If it comes out, I have a spot in my kitchen across from my pantry for it.

This will be my One monthly Goal.  My plan is to complete it entirely.  We will see.  It may be to wonky to put together.  I also seemed to use a lot of starch back then.  weird.

If any of you need some pieces (maybe 5×7″) food fabric let me know.  I have a stack.  I was going to use them on the back, but just went with black.

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SISTER STORY

So, I have been having such a difficult time with the loss of my sweet sister Kellie.  It had affected me far more than I expected.  I know loss all to well, but this one is so very different for me.  Anyways….. I was coming home from the grocery store today…alone (very unusual) and thinking.  I had not dreamed about Kellie since she died. It bothers me a lot.  So, I talked to her and told her of my concerns.  I just wanted a dream, a sign, something.

I came home and put the groceries away.  I went to the family room and turned on the TV.  As I was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels, I noticed an odd flickering out of the corner of my eye.  I ignored it, thinking I was crazy.  It kept happening.  I turned and looked and one of a string of recessed lights was slowly going on and off.  It stopped, I looked away.  It started happening again.  I turned and looked at it and said “Is that you Kel?”  It blinked on and off quickly and then did not happen again.  I am not sure what I believe or if I am half way to crazy town.  Odd coincidence.  In the photo, Kellie is on the left and I am on the right.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

 

My Hand Quilt Along Progress

Yes, I have some progress.  I am equally surprised.  I have been making a bunch of these flowers.  I started to get bored making them, so I started to put them together.  I have a “Grandma’s Flower Garden” quilt from my grandmother.  Mine is quite a bit louder than hers.  My background is yellow, hers was white and very fragile these days.  They were very well used.  I remember them being on the beds at her house.  I loved how heavy they felt when I slept under them.

Please visit all the wonderful people participating in the Hand Quilt Along and see what wonderful things they are up to:

Kathy,  Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

Happy New Year to you all.  I wish you all the best for the new year,
I am hopeful that 2019 will be a positive change for me.  I am looking forward to closing 2018.  It was a rough one.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,
Happy Sewing
Happy Quilting
Treasure your Family

A Hand Quilt Along Miracle

I finally finished this runner for Kevin’s dresser.  It truly is a miracle.  This has been a good year in the making.  Funny thing, as I look at the photo, I realize that there is one extra row between the Ohio State dog bone and the black and pink dog bone.  I get that is what I get for winging it.  Never noticed it until I looked a the photo.

I actually even managed to quilt and bind this one (it is even on his dresser (finally).  I used a special ruler to quilt this one.  Why is it special?  I made my own dog bone ruler and it worked perfectly.  More on that later.  To see all the fabulous work by the rest of the ladies in the Hand quilt along please visit the following sites:

Kathy, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette, Sassy , Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

Happy Sewing
Happy Quilting
Treasure your family

I will give it a try….

So, I am going to try and participate in the One Monthly Goal. I have missed two months. I am not sure I am going to be successful in any way. This is the lightning bug block I turned into a baby quilt. Decided that I did not want to make 15 more of these. My goal is to get it quilted. Not sure if I can manage this goal or not, it just depends on what happens. I may need to quilt to keep my mind off of things. I will at least give it shot. I do wonder what color I should use for the quilting. I am thinking maybe a pale yellow, but I am not sure.

Sadly, My sister has taken a turn for the worse. She is currently in a coma and on life

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support. I spent 5 days in Cleveland and returned home yesterday. It was a heart wrenching time, sitting, waiting and thinking. The prognosis is not good. I now, just wait for my phone to ring and panic every time it does.

The picture is the day she got married to her wonderful and caring husband Matt. She is walking with my Dad, who I miss terribly, especially now. They are two of my most favorite people in the world. Dad is smiling and Kellie is so beautiful. I don’t want to lose my best friend, yet it is so hard watching her suffer. I want her to have peace, whatever that means. My sister has 2 children, they are 18 and 21. My heart hurts for them. Her husband, Matt, is so wonderful with her. He does not miss a day or a doctor. He keeps everything straight and knows every detail of what is going on. He has had to make some very hard decisions. He is a wonderful man.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

My Leaf Block for the Fall Quilt Along

So, I have some experience paper piecing.  For this block, there were 2 versions.  One for beginners and one for someone more advanced.  I set out to do the more advances one, but I could not get it to print correctly, so I ended up doing this one, which I actually like better.

So, I had difficulty with this block.  I struggled with paper piecing such large pieces.  Since I am using scraps (Thank you Nanette), I had to make them fit and found it extremely difficult with the larger pieces of the block.  My seam ripper and I became quite good friends.  I don’t need those type of friends.

I really do like the Fall quilt along, but have notices that my blocks vary quite a bit in size.  I have some that are 13.5 and this one finished at only 12 inches.  This will make it very interesting since I am attempting the Quilt as You go method.  We will be doing some creative trimming.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Firefly test block. Thoughts?

So, this is my firefly test block.  I am unsure if I like it or not.  I really liked the sample, but am unsure If I like mine.  I am trying very hard not to buy new fabric and use what I have.  My daughter says it looks like a bee.  There is a bee variation for this pattern, but that is not the patch I went down.  I explained to her that I would have a black stripe in the middle of the bee’s body.  “Ahhh No, Mom.  Still looks like a bee.”

So, you should try piecing that antenna section.  Virtually impossible.  I sewed several, all crazily wrong.  I finally resorted to paper piecing, just this section.  Then there was not problem.  This pattern which comes from Pattern drop, calls for 16 of these blocks.  Do I like it enough for sixteen blocks?  What do you think?  Should I change something?  Should I make it a bee and lose the light up part (teal print)? Decisions, Decisions.  Let me know what you think.  My blogging friends give the best advice.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One Monthly Goal Finish….

I would say it was a miracle that I completed my One Monthly Goal, but I have already used that headline…LOL. I finished my “Starry Starry Night” quilt.  This was a top that I paper pieced for Denise at For the Love of Geese as a pattern test (She does have some lovely patterns).   It came out not too bad, considering I don’t consider myself a very good paper piecer.

I had a lot of fun quilting this project.  I think that is because I like how the quilting cameWaterMark_2018-05-23-19-12-25 out.  I wish I had chosen a different thread for the front, because I wound up liking the back a lot.  I used a variable thread on the front, and all I see is the the light part of the thread, which shows any mistakes.  I do not have a long arm, so I am always using my domestic machine and I always want to get the “longarm” look on my WaterMark_2018-05-23-19-10-53domestic machine.  I know it takes a lot of practice to become proficient and I have been working on it.  However, I found these rulers (not sure why some are called rulers) at my local quilt shop.  I quilted this using the Star shape.  It made making beautiful stars on my 20180422_135918.jpgdomestic machine easy.  They come out nearly perfect.  I am still getting used to using them, so not every star is perfect, but I like it.  I think I will keep this quilt for one of my future grandchildren.

This is the last photo I have of my birds.  They have all flown the nest.  I see them in the yard, learning about life, trying to get food.  It was wonderful watching them hatch and grow each day.20180523_175037_resized

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

The good, The Bad and the Ugly…..

So, you know what really stinks?  When you finally get around to doing something and it is screwed up.  So, my one monthly goal is to quilt this quilt.  So, I spray basted it about a week ago.  I go to get it and it looks like this.  So, the border was totally jacked up.  It looked fine when I had it all laid out, but I like to wait until that spray basting is dry.  Ugh.  So, more finagling with the border.  I am trying to figure out what I did.  Did I stretch it out when I basted it?  Do I not know what square is?  Could be either, I have my moments.  Will have to figure out something. Open for suggestions.

WaterMark_2018-05-13-12-39-59So, on a more positive note.  My star quilting looks awesome.  I love this ruler, even though it is not really a ruler.  It makes it look like I WaterMark_2018-05-13-12-39-26am way better than I am.  It is hard to mess up.  Perfect stars.  This was my test piece, until I figure out what to do with my border.

Baby birds look about the same.  Getting more feathers though.  It rained a lot here yesterday, so I watched Mom andIMG_06261001 Dad collect worms for the babies.  So cute.  This morning when I left, it was sprinkling, and Mama was sitting on the nest, keeping the babies dry and warm.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting