Design Wall Monday #6

What's on the design wall today?

...still the mystery quilt from Quiltville last year. It was on the design wall in my January 11th blogpost - click here. I wasn't able to make any progress but now that I have finally figured out why, I'm ready to move on.

What was the problem, you ask? I just don't like my pointsettia stars and my ducks and geese blocks together in the same quilt. I really tried to make it work together and auditioned probably hundreds of combinations of sashings and borders and layouts, but I just didn't like it.

I finally reached the conclusion that I do like the 4 fox and geese blocks together as the "Christmas star" and so I went ahead and sewed them together.

Then I went back to trying to find a way to put them together with the Pointsettia blocks again and it was so frustrating !

Final answer... they are going to have to be in 2 separate quilts and I can take a big deep breath and move on! It's so strange when your quilt refuses to co-operate and has such a mind of it's own!

What's on the stove today? 

Leftover Iowa Chowder which I made for the Superbowl festivities this weekend. It was a big hit with my family, although it doesn't look very appetizing in this photo! You can get the recipe on Judy's Lime Green Kitchen blog - click here.

What's on the sewing machine today? 

I am quilting my 7 shirts quilt...nothing fancy, just stitch in the ditch. 

Saturday Sampler #6

My sampler quilt block for this week is finally finished. I must admit that I found this one to be challenging, and since I've been quilting for almost 20 years, that tells you something about this block!
It doesn't look that trickey, but it had me ripping out a few times and miscalculating and making too many pieces for some parts and not enough for others :(
I really enjoyed using their technique for "fast flying geese" and I had seen it described on many websites - click here to see one - but I hadn't tried it yet. I briefly thought to myself I'll just change the measurements and use the method I always do for sewing flying geese, but then I remembered how I make my kids eat new foods every week saying "it's good to try new things" and I guilted myself into trying the new way! 
Just look at these beauties all lined up ready to cut off the dog ears to put into my jar! The blocks turned out the correct size and I was happy with them, but it totally confused me in terms of how many squares it takes to complete one block. I ended up with about 8 extra geese, but I'll look for another pattern where I can use them.
And here is my new 12 1/2" Saturday Sampler block, which has 81 pieces!

Block Name: Blazing Star 

Designer:  Deanne Eisenman

Pattern: Quiltmaker 100 Blocks magazine (block #64)

Quirky Quilter?

I am thinking about quirkyness today. It started with reading an article in our local paper about a YouTube video featuring how Canadians drink milk from bags. Who knew this daily activity was news worthy? I did not know that this was weird to most people around the world because, well, because I spend a lot of time in my basement quilting so I don't know what's going on in the world! LOL! If you want to see the video on how we purchase and drink milk, click here.
Darlene from Quilting Daze wrote an interesting post about quirks on her blog - click here and scroll down to january 16th to see her stitchery blocks, read her post and then read all the comments from her readers...too funny!

This morning I went to Thelma's blog to see her finished quilt top and she is celebrating her 100th blogpost with a quilt giveaway...yes a beautiful quilt! If you leave a comment and tell something quirky about yourself, you are entered in the draw - click here to enter. I had no trouble coming up with lists of quirky things about myself.
Which leads me to today's blog post...the top 5 quirky quilty things about me:
1) I never throw out any fabric scraps when I'm quilting. I keep even the smallest useable pieces and keep the really small bits like dog ears in jars, which I call my "Quilter's Jelly". I haven't posted a quilt made of my mini bits in a while (here is an old one to see) but I always have one on the go. And I am always collecting bits...here are a few of my jelly jars on the window ledge.

2) Yep...I collect the thread bits too! I am only tempted to throw out beige thread snips...everything else goes in this great jar given to me by my friend Louise.
3) I listen to CBC radio podcasts when I am quilting. I download the podcasts and listen to them when I have time to quilt. My favorites are "The Vinyl Cafe" with Stuart McLean,  "DNTO" with Sook-Yin Lee, and "The Next Chapter" with Shelagh Rogers.
4) Oh yah...did I mention I save everything?!? Including all the ends of my binding strips!  Here is my binding bits basket! (Don't say anything about the aging UFO under the basket...I'm working on it!)
5) I take my "quilt vitamin" everyday so I can stay healthy and sane. I sew everyday. Some days it is handwork like embroidery, beading or binding, and sometimes it is piecing or quilting at the machine.
Are you a quirky quilter?!? Should we start a club?!?

Another BeAttitudes block done

I started my BeAttitudes quilt in the summer of 2008 when it was a block of the month at Reichard's. I completed 2 of the blocks fairly quickly, which to me means I sewed them in the same year as I got the fabric! But then I got distracted by other quilts, and the project box got pushed farther and farther into the closet.
Now it is on my UFO wish list and I'm determined to work on it.
This week I stitched the ant's legs and finished Block #3...."Be Positive".
I am happier with the size of my buttonhole stitch as compared to the stitches I used in block #2 , especially around the angel's head which were too big. And I am getting quicker at buttonhole stitching around the letters.

Ta da - here are my first 3 blocks finished. I'm already 1/4 of the way there :)

Did you get a chance to listen to Bonnie Hunter interviewed on Pat Sloan's radio show? It was really interesting and I was inspired to get my stash into a more workable state...another thing for me to work on in 2010! You can download the podcasts of Pat's Creative Talk Radio here. The most recent podcast is an interview with Heidi Kaisand focusing on machine quilting. I just love listening to people talk about quilting while I'm quilting...do you think I'm a quiltaholic?!?

UFO Wish List

As I visited some quilty blogs this weekend, I found myself leaving a few comments that said "Great job on your finished quilt! I have a UFO somewhere in my cupboards that looks something like it... I still really love that pattern".
Then I was wondering to myself "where the heck is that quilt"?!?
I wish some of my projects wouldn't become UFO's, especially quilts I really liked.
I was thinking about this last year when I wrote this post. At that time I made a secret list of my top 5 projects to finish and when I went back to review the list I was happy to see that I had finished 3 of the 5. That's pretty good!
1. Quilted Garden -  DONE!

2. Carolina Crossroads - needs a backing purchased

3. Double Delight - DONE!
4. Kaleidoscope - backing has been purchased but I still can't find it!

5. Triangles - DONE!

So, I am being really brave and posting a 2010 UFO Wish List on the right side of my blog with a link to the last mention of the project. Now don't go looking them up...some of them are sooo old that it's embarrasing! And some of them I've never mentioned because they are older than my blog!
I am going to try to be more disciplined about starting new projects willy nilly, and instead I plan to dig up these old things and make a plan to attack them at retreat this year (which is in 3 weeks!). I am going to figure out what each quilt needs to be finished and make a list.
Or if I decide that the quilt became a UFO because it's unfinishable for me, I'll put it up for adoption!
On my design wall today is the backing for my plaid shirts quilt.  I sewed the backing and the binding at the same time using this pile of scraps . It was a bit of a challenge for me to get enough fabric from my 7 shirts and there are only small scraps and pockets left. Now I am ready to baste and quilt!
Last week on Judy's blog there were over 70 design walls to peak at! Take a look this week and see what's going on in quilt blogland - click here.

Saturday Sampler #5

As I wrote in this post, my friend Louise visited last weekend and she brought a few of her quilting books for me to enjoy looking at in between piecing my plaid blocks and while chatting up a storm!
One of her books was Thimbleberries "Big Book of Quilt Blocks" by Lynette Jensen. There are a ton of block patterns in this book and in all the years I have been quilting, I don't think I've ever made anything from Thimbleberries...some people will think that is a terrible oversight I'm sure :)
I decided to pick one 12" block pattern from this book to make for my 2010 Saturday Sampler quilt, and eventually settled on "Painted Daisy". Here are the 65 pieces that I cut to start out with.
My favorite parts of this block are the fussy cut corner blocks, which took me forever to settle on (the previous 6 fabrics I auditioned for the corners were rejected), and the plain centre square that I spiced up by more adding connecting corners. I will never admit how many hours went into the fabric selection, cutting, and sewing of this block, and then changing my mind, re-cutting and re-sewing!! Never mind that some of you would have made entire quilt tops given the same amount of time!

Name: Painted Daisy
Designer: Lynette Jensen
Pattern: Big Book of Quilt Blocks

Hand Quilting Day

You will not believe what I am working on this week! My first "quilt-in-a-day" project that I started 18 years ago! All I have left to quilt are the bars on the outside border...so close to finishing. Yep...I think it's about time to finish up this UFO...it's ready now!
I have laboured over this quilting for years, bringing it out to work on a little bit every winter. Then I got interested in hand stitching and hand beading and I lost interest in hand quilting for a while. I still love the way it feels and the way it makes a quilt look, so I will always be doing a hand quilting project, even if it is a little at a time.
So today I am on call at work, and if there is no violence against women in my community today, I get to stay at home with my pager, and luxuriate (is that a word?) with my hand quilting, while I listen to Bonnie Hunter's interview with Pat Sloan on podcast - click here to listen when you have time to enjoy some hand work.