The Goal Is In Sight

Frolicking along, still LOL.  This last tidbit of construction is a doozy, taking a good amount of time.  Today I will work on half blocks.  I think I have used my seam ripper more with this quilt than all others combined!

Working towards a finish:

• sew half blocks
• sew sashings
• sew sashings to blocks
• sew blocks together
• sew 2 half blocks to row of blocks
• sew sashings to other sashings
• attach sashings to row
• And repeat many many times

Last week I had this laid out on the floor

And then I had a corner!

And then I had another row with the sashing unattached.

And then I have two halves, which happened after I snapped this photo.  I am getting excited as I progress.  The quilt is saying cheese.  Interesting color combination I have, probably not the best, but I used up my stash and am happy with the black as it gives it an old timey feel.  I like eclectic and old timey.

I am seeing, as I progress, the saturation of the pinks and the blues/purples be so close together they get washed out.  But my quilt is not the only quilt affected.  I noticed some of Bonnie’s blocks are like that.  So, I am deeming it ok and am putting those blocks on the left.

I am told when looking at a quilt, you read it like a book starting very briefly on the left, but mostly you look at it dead center and your eyes carry you to the right.  So all the “ugly” blocks are staying on the left.  The next one I make, I will make sure that does not happen.  I have more “wisdom” now.  Each mystery teaches me something, this one especially.

I noticed when I joined 3 block row with 5 block row, one of my sashings was turned.  NOT FIXING IT.  I am feeling amish at the moment LOL.  The old saying goes the amish would purposely put a mistake in a quilt because they know god is perfect and man is not.  After watching “Oh God, you Devil” with George Burns playing God years and years ago, I formed my own opinion, God is probably closer to human.  George Burns pointed out several animals with the knee caps on backwards:  cows, horses, cats, dogs, etcetera.  That line always cracks me up and does make you wonder.  So I am going AMISH STYLE with this one.  If I catch the mistake before it is sewn into a row, I will fix it.  If I don’t, it will be perfectly imperfect!  These things used to bother me, but I let it go.  I so enjoy the process differently than years ago.

I have not worked on anything else since last Friday at my sewing table.  I do look forward to moving on!

Agenda for today is making Shake N Bake chicken drumsticks from scratch for supper.  Interested in the recipe?  It is offered free on my other blog thecookbookproject.wordpress.com. 

Click here for the shake and bake mix recipe.

….oh and of course I will be sewing too!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

 

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Frolic is coming together!

#Frolicquilt by Bonnie Hunter is starting to resemble a quilt.  I got all the pinwheel blocks sewn.  This was marathon sewing Sat and Sun in between cooking and laundry and vacuuming.  Then this evening I had 7 to go, two of which lost parts LOL.  So I went through the scraps created and matched up and got those checked off the list.  The pastel part of the quilt I am really not liking, but, I am in love with the black aspect.  It really makes the secondary block pop.  I am liking the ease of this going together so well.  And I may just do this scrappy colorway for each block and revisit this again with a better color scheme.

I am manic to get this done as it is taking up so much work space I cannot work the 365 blocks and am a few days behind.  Do you ever have creative episodes of manic sewing?  I am sew focused and enjoy those days when I am enabled!

The optical illusion of the central block with the chain-link white and black fabric has a neat looking floating out of block experience!

Sashing neutrals cut, tomorrow will be working towards cutting the blue squares.

That last reveal clue was a doozy.  Those of you sewing along, it is gonna take some time to get it done.

In social media I have read up on this quilt and lots of ladies have just dropped out because they did not follow instructions.  The key instruction is explained by putting the raspberry on top of the blue when cutting pieces for the flying geese wings and the central pinwheels.  If you failed to follow instructions this would not go together correctly, and it would not be a matter of just ripping and resewing, it would be getting all new strips of fabric and starting over.  I did struggle with remembering to place the raspberry strip on top right side down.  If you worked this in batiks, it would not be a problem, nor with solids or homespuns.  And on another note, the instructions were clear but took me several reads to comprehend, because I did not mark my clues by their number and I did not use the assigned color, it confused the situation that much more.

Perhaps this weekend will showcase a few rows of completion.  That is the goal I am aiming for.

TTFN (TA TA for Now!) and thanks for reading my blog!

Orange Dream Big!

A lot has been accomplished in the quilting dept this week.  I have kept up my 365 blocks.  I am certainly enjoying petting fabrics and taking my time trying to figure out what dark dark, goes with a medium dark, or a medium light LOL.  Continuing to crank one of these out per day.

I am even taking pleasure in spinning those seams!  Not all blocks end up with this, but it sure is enjoyable to see if you can make it pretty on the back too!

Here are a lot of the 365 block a day blocks together.  I looking forward to start sewing these together, but I have heard that does not occur until sometime in April.

This is kind of sparkling, and as simple as some of these are, they are magnificent when paired with other blocks.  It is looking a bit more complicated, but if you just take it one piece at a time, and then one block at a time you do not get overwhelmed.

And Frolic was finally revealed yesterday.  I posted this two weeks ago, and I guessed right!

With as much going on at the eye of my needle, I just had to get one of these stitched up, made a couple actually.  I worried about my quilt looking like an easter egg and being really washed out with pale colors.  Turns out my worry was for nothin’!

These go together so easy.  I still have a bit of cutting to do.  These will work themselves into blocks in the coming weeks.  I can’t wait to get this to top status!

Thursday, I was in a funk.  I was in a fowl mood, and no matter my thoughts they were negative.  I chose to not talk much to coworkers and decided before the morning was even halfway that I needed a good does of quilting at the big machine.  I made those arrangements and got going.  I had not a plan, and my improv free motion quilting, was just that FREEEEEE.  I felt so free doing this.  It made my mood improve.  Gosh, I just need to do this as much as possible.  A good dose of color each day is good for a quilters soul and keeps the blahs away!

Fire flapping, fish scales stacking, flower swirls, feathers, lines, leafy vines, and a tad of meander, I just really needed this.  It has been three weeks since I stood at the machine.  I got the top half of the flower almost done.

And today I brought home 3 large bags of fabric!  FREEEEEEE!!!!  My bosses wife decided that the pile she thought she would get to, years have passed and the children are now older and it is just sitting there not getting used.  Gifted to me, I need to make her something, any of you have ideas?  More than a mug rug, less than a quilt.

So I have some lovely large pieces of fabric added to freshen up the old stash.

Truth be told, I would have loved to receive this before frolic, but it looks like now, I will not have to buy backing fabric.  I will be trying to work this into the stash drawers and totes over the weekend.  I had just worked the stash down to where I could rummage through without making a disaster area.  Back to the fabric disaster status, always ongoing LOL.  I’ll take it!

And sweet goodness has arrived, the weekend!  Batteries charging……

May your weekend be ever so charged!  Thank you for reading my blog!

Clue 8, are we done yet?

As no surprise, clue 8 of the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt, Frolic was released Friday.  It took me many reads of the instructions to ensure I was proceeding correctly.  This years mystery of sewing part of clue 4 with clue 7, then pairing with clue 8 and combining sets with some sewing is very confusing.  Gosh I hope I did it right.  I suspect the reveal will be next Friday.  I am ready to get this over with.  I only anticipated to be sewing through new years day.

Here are the 25 bundles of pinwheels and matched sets.  I am not showing my other 16 pairs un-sewn sets.  I suspect we will be using our neutrals and cutting large triangles to inset for the on point placement of these blocks.  We shall see if I have quilters intuition.

What I have been doing everyday except for the one day a week that I sew the Frolic mystery clues, I am enjoying doing the 365 quilt block challenge, sewing those seems.  Right now it is nothing too complex.  Easy 4 patches and just squares.  I went ahead (or should I say back) and have been enjoying the harder blocks too.

These blocks are all 3 1/2 inch unfinished.  Fun to play with value and fabrics with the advice of the BOM or bill of materials.  When you don’t have a gob of fabric to choose from, you have to get creative.  I am loving the chandelier fabric!

And then there is this INSANE block of flying geese, or as some say a very political block.  You have the right wing, the left wing, and the majority!  HA!

The flying geese measure 7/8 by 1 1/4 inches…..Notice how wonky they are!  This block is so small that I deem this acceptable.  Do I wish it was better, yeah.  But, as I work through these blocks, I will figure out a thing or too as I go.  The back side, the way I pressed, you have a 1/4 inch seam, a 1/4 inch gap, and then another 1/4 inch seam….ridiculous!  I am enjoying the challenge!

No quilting happened at the big machine this week.  My intentions were to go on Thursday.  Thursday, my alarm clock of 28 years decided to die, and leave me an hour late to work.  I made up my time, rushed home, cooked.  By the time everything settled down it was 7:30.  I had been on my feet all day.  I caved in to just prop my feet up on the couch and rest a bit.

You know, Thursday, it was almost 70 degrees.  The next minute there were tornado watches, and today the front came through (which I thought would be more thunderstorms).  But I will be danged, it snowed and sleeted this morning.  Been a good while since we have seen the white stuff here.  It was nice while it lasted, a minor inconvenience to drivers/conditions.

Perhaps I will get to quilt later today.  The garage will be extremely cold, so the heaters will have to fire up.  We shall see what the day brings.

There is not enough time in my days since I went back to work, work is such a succubus of time!  Every time I turn around, I have to rush to the next task at home before something gets hosed up.  If I didn’t have hungry mouths to feed, my evenings would be much easier.  Too many demands, not enough arms and legs.

Well, I am off to put my keister up to the fireplace.  I am cold in my drafty old house.  Stay warm and dry, readers, and thanks for reading my blog!

 

Playing with Frolic

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are any good at math, you can somewhat deduct what fabrics go with what sets in this Frolic mystery quilt.

I have played with the ones that are divisible by 41.  This is what I have ended up with.  I am hoping that this block only lacks neutral (blacks) with just squares to go and then we will be done.  This quilt will probably have an amazing border or other blocks.

I have stacks and stacks of blocks.

I have laid out other blocks, my colors are very muted up close.  Perhaps when everything is sewn together and gazed upon across the room it will be visible.

I had not planned a mid-week post.  But I got so darn excited with the frolic layout, I just had to SHARE!

And humming right along on the 365 challenge.  Each day this week, I have sewn the required block plus added one in that I downloaded back in Dec.  Glad I did that as the 3 1/2 inch blocks are very easy and do not take long.

 

Hopefully this weekend I will have either a short youtube video uploaded or another dream big panel quilted.  I can’t wait to start on this one, it is orange!

Look for my next post this weekend, and thanks for reading my blog!

Two quilts at a time

I have never done this before, it is uncharted territory for me.  I am currently working Bonnie Hunter’s Frolic mystery quilt as well as another completely different quilting (massive) project.  Clue 5, 6 and 7 from the mystery have all been released in the last 7 days.  This is a gob of cutting and sewing.  Now that I am back to work, my plan is to sew like the dickens.

Clue 5 is done and in the shoebox.  Which, I had to start another, it all just will not fit.

And then I added Clue 6 which I got done after midnight on new years, yup I rang in the new year, listening to townsfolk (rednecks) shoot their guns and fireworks whilst pressing my foot on the pedal making my sewing machine hum through the fabric.

And here is clue 7, in work.  I have much to go and will enjoy catching this up over the weekend.

Yeah my expensive wooly mat is scorched.  It was not me.  It was an unsupervised adult, perler beads, my good iron, and my daughter.  I reckon it was accidental, but boy I sure was mad.  Enough time has lapsed that I really don’t think about it, until I snap a photo and it glares at me through the lens.  It still works well and this is on the edge.  Cosmetically damaged, yes.  Utilitarian-ly unaffected.

I have just these pinwheels done.  My pinks and blues are diminshed to the point of worrying while cutting specifics matching, that I will not have enough.

All the while this is all going down, I am working the 365 quilt block challenge.  These blocks are fun, and I have enjoyed most of them so far.

This little tree block brought me great pleasure to sew.  As small as these pieces are, it ended up being accurate!  No trimming!  Yay!

This is a dark 3 inch block.  Let’s think about that for a moment shall we?  Let us count the pieces.  28 pieces…….I am thinking of a song.  Patsy Cline anyone?

 

This is extreme piecing!  It is almost like an olympic event for us quilters.  To get to the finish line, it is quite the celebration to complete/compete with yourself!

These were easy, not sure about these darks.  I can omit or redo if I so choose.  In the grand scheme of things, tbd….to be determined.

This block I ran out of the solid, and had to improvise.  It is only supposed to be two colors.  But I used up some scraps, and ultimately, that is IDEAL!

And I saved the Buggar for last!  Let’s count the pieces in this one…..41 pieces in a 6 inch block.  Let’s count the y seams……TWENTY.  I am not gonna lie.  This was started on completely different fabric.  I ruined much.  I kept ripping (the good thing about small pieces….doesn’t take long to rip).  And I realized no matter how many times I was going to sew it, it would not turn out.  I had made a cutting error.  And then on top of that error, an error in cutting the next pieces.  So, I ran out of those scraps to keep it cohesive.  I re-started with completely different fabrics.  I still struggled with this one, but it went together better.  Guess how long this 6 inch block took?  SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS!  Do I regret it?  No.  This was actually the final block for the 365 challenge.  I believe the difficulty level you work up to, and for me, I just dove in.  Not the best, but I did cross the finish line…er…well sort of.  Does it look finished to you?

The last 4 y seams where the stripes meet the neutral on the outer border, one on each side, is left unstitched.  I pressed it where it should be sewn.  I cannot grasp how to make this seam.  So I will probably hand stitch it.  It won’t take me long.  I bet I could get away with no stitching, the pieces are small enough that catching it with the seam of the patchwork when sewn all together will relieve the issue.  If any of you have heard of 365 block challenge horror stories, this will be one of them.

Do not let this scare you away.  The harder blocks, she usually gives an alternative.  This is why it is called a challenge.  It challenged me, a seasoned quilter.  It will continue to challenge me.  I will grow because of this and perhaps learn something new, all by myself with no help.  THAT is sometimes the best way to learn, the hard way!

It is certain that the weekend will fly by.  No doubt that time will become the harasser again.  One of these days, time will be on my side.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my blog!