Thursday, July 26, 2012

Little Pyramids Table Topper by Edyta Sitar

Our guild is planning on doing a Friendship Triangle exchange as found in Edyta Sitar's book of the same title. Three of us are planning on getting the "fires" started by having a quilt made or at least begun to show what we want to do!!

 I had made all those Thangles a few weeks back with a common batik background and used every batik strip I had received in a Yahoo swap last year! I have the little center area all done. It only took one afternoon!!!

 I was a bit anal about my triangles...meaning NO REPEATS!!! And I had enough made that I just clipped one triangle off the Thangle unit and set that unit aside.
The end result is pretty but I need to make another one with more darks and less mediums. Do you all know that we quilters tend to buy mediums more than any other shade??? I really do try not to anymore. Another lesson learned from watching TV quilt shows.

 My work area stayed pretty neat while I worked. Yes, I hoard telephone books now. I really love making string blocks. And when I just want some mindless sewing to do, I make some string blocks. Just for fun!!!

 It made the assembly a bit slower but I trimmed the dogears off and removed the papers one HST at a time. Again, me being anal about where a fabric was going. The topper has eleven rows of eleven HST's. So I just did each row as I went. It worked for me.

 I quilted this little beauty after I finished quilting the Cinnamon Triangle quilt. This was another quilt inspired by Edyta Sitar.  It is 34" square.

 And here are the two tiny beauties together. Yes, there are string blocks in the corners. I am finding all kinds of places for my growing collections!

 Cinnamon Triangles is all done. It is quilted, labeled and bound.

 I am pretty sure I will be giving this to GD #1 for her November BD. But until I decide on that for sure I will just slip this one away for future determination.

21 baskets all waiting to be put into their envelopes and mailed back to the swappers. DH took me to the PO on Tuesday. I had four heavy canvas bags. He really made that trip so easy on me. Thanks James!!!
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Saturday, July 21, 2012

My big log cabin inspired by Edyta Sitar

Finally the log cabin inspired by Edyta Sitar is now a flimsy!!!
320 blocks
lots of browns and tans with batik pink centers.
115" X 144"
and...
 Pearl approved!!!
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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Log Cabin quilt with 1" strips

Here is my Edyta Sitar inspired Log Cabin quilt. I made this with 1" strips. So after both sides are sewn there is only 1/2" showing! The blocks in the corner are just some string pieced blocks. The border fabric was a leftover from eons ago. I found it in the bottom of a basket where it must have been waiting for 10+ years!

The quilt is a sweet 24" square. A perfect size for a kitty!

 I quilted each and every log. Despite it's small size it seemed to take forever to quilt it. But when I was done I was more than pleased with the end results.

 Pearl approved!!!

 A sewing machine cover???? front view
 A sewing machine cover? back view

  And here is the result of my Thangles journey. These are all batiks. I actually used every single pin in that pin cushion when prepping these for sewing!!!
I am now working on some Reproduction fabrics with varied backgrounds. After sewing just one line on the paper I am not too pleased with how these fabrics are behaving. They were pressed prior to sewing so there should be no stretching involved. Perhaps I had the stitch length too short. But the Batiks behaved well with that same setting.
I will let you all know the results of some tweaking the settings.

 I am the Hostess for the blue 2 1/2" swap on the Yahoo groups connected with Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville group. Here is the result of major pressing,cutting and packaging. A good collection of washed blue scraps and of course some blue strings for my collection!!!! WHOOHOOO!!

 I enjoy watching the Smithsonian channel. And so does MaggieMae. Honest, I found this show through the guide today. We have watched it maybe 3 or 4 times. As soon as I change the channel, here comes MaggieMae. She loves King Fishers! It must be their song on the soundtrack. She tries to get inside the TV!!! I pray that she does not knock the TV off the stand. I really like the fact that TVs are lighter. But it does make them much more of a tip danger for children and pets.

This is Macy's favorite place to nap. She has it sooooo rough!!!!

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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Pfeffernuese Inspired and Thangles

All done!!! My Pfefferneuse inspired quilt I am calling Cinnamon Triangles.
It is now 56" square and I am very pleased with the adventure and results.
My biggest thanks to Our Bonnie Hunter for this pattern. I loved the units!!

 Monday night was a planning meeting for our guild's next meeting year. Games, exchanges and ideas flowed like lightening! It was a very inspiring meeting. I always seem to leave more anxious to sew than before I came. Yet I do not see how I could love sewing any more than I already do. I am staying up later and later and have the machine humming everyday as it is!!!

We are going to be doing a triangle exchange every month. Inspired by the show where we went and listened to Edtya Sitar. And we all fell in love with her color sense. Her hubby does all the cooking and housework so she can sew. How to get mine to do the same??????
I had three different programs/methods for making these little gems.
(not counting my EZ Angle ruler)

The planning group have each picked a quilt to make to get the juices flowing for the other guild members. We want a lot of participation in this undertaking. Variety makes for a much more interesting quilt!!!
And being the over achiever I am I had to actually start on a quilt using what has yet to be exchanged!!! What's a gal to do?
Why use up those batik 2 1/2" strips to make some triangles with the Thangles method.


Chain piecing is the way to do these! I made 288 units in only one day of sewing.
I only stabbed/impaled myself a few times with pins before I changed the direction of those dangerous points. HA!
And you need to see where you are going. So I advise an open toed foot as opposed to your normal 1/4" foot. You need to see where the sewing line is at all times.
Such a satisfying photo. An endless line of units being fed through the machine.

 And of course I had to cut one to see how it looks.

We are going to use Autumn colors only for the exchange. I am not sure if we are going to ask for batiks only or ask to have a few batiks mixed in with the quilting cottons. They do play well together.
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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Pfefferneuse failure!!!!

There are times when the pieces of a planned quilt have a life all their own. And the best laid plans of mice and men  quilters must go with the flow.
I could not use Bonnie Hunter's layout from her newest book entitled String Fling. 


No matter how hard I tried the layout just did not sing to me. DH and I decided on this layout. And of course I now have lots of extra units leftover. There are lots of seams to sew over. I do not think my DSM can handle quilting this. I sure need a long arm quilting machine.

This smaller quilt is a sweet 43" square before the final borders.


Despite failing to make the actual Pfefferneuse quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter, I am very pleased with what I do have done.


And my huge Log Cabin quilt is still in sections. (on the left) I will get to it sometime. I have had a great weekend sewing. I sure lost 4+ days last weekend when we had no power and then doing the throw away of food. GRRRRR! I need to really make a big grocery run now that the power has been restored all around the area. It will take me months to get things built back up again. Sigh!
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Saturday, July 7, 2012

Pfefferneuse progress

Now comes the lazy part...removing the papers from the paper foundation pieced string blocks.
It took me only 2 days of sewing to make the neutral string blocks. I already had 100 8 1/2" neutral string blocks made but they did not have the widest strip down the center of the block as Bonnie instructed.
Since I totally love making the string blocks I did a marathon sewing session that lasted for two days. I made a total of 50 just because I like that number. The pattern calls for only 36.

 All my hourglass units are all made too. Once I get the papers off I can begin final assembly!! WHOOHOOO!!!!


 Look at that pile of trimmings!!! I was ruthless and threw the entire pile away.


And see how many strings I still have left?  Even making 50 blocks did not make a dent in that bag!!! The small white container has the larger triangles I used for the two corners on the blocks. I have been sorting my strings. It was a big job at the beginning but now it is so easy. And I truly love being able to just grab a bag in the color I want to work on!!


I had made the brown string blocks in a larger size because I did not know what size Our Bonnie would be using in the Pfefferneuse pattern. I had these trimmings left over from cutting those blocks down to 7 1/2". They look way too useful. I am going to save them as crumbs. I get to have a crumb class with Our Bonnie in September this year. WHOOHOO!!!


One result of having no power for 3 entire days was some organizing that really needed done. I was gathering up scraps to give to a high school friend who teaches sewing to young kids. Since I was lucky enough to be gifted with some scraps from Alaska, I felt I needed to pass it on. I offered my HS friend the same deal. She paid the postage and I gathered "good" scraps for her. I need to go to the PO to get a box. I quickly outgrew the medium size Priority Mail box. But with downtown being without power too I did not even try...
Another result of losing power is a super clean fridge and freezer. I have to look at the good side of the food loss.
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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Progress on Pfefferneuse by Bonnie Hunter


Not too many made but boy are they FUN to make!!!

 It is over 100 degrees outside. I love air conditioning!!! Ours is working very hard and at least the humidity is gone from the inside of the house. Since we had to throw out all the freezer contents, I did save the frozen blueberries. I am giving them to the birds yet the squirrels seem to really love their frozen berry treat!
Bess is laying in the bit of sunlight coming through the window. And I am sewing away!!!
 A bit of a longer view of my sewing area.

In anticipation of Bonnie Hunter's newest book I began a bit of pre-cutting. But not knowing the correct size of the patchwork did not stop me. It is easier to cut things down if they are too big. So I did cut into my 2 1/2" strips with the Companion Angle ruler by EZ Wrights. I am just sewing them down one side and then cutting them to the correct 2" size. I am saving the little dog ears in that small glass container. I know...OCD ME. And of course they are coming out sooooo cute!!!
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Happy 4th of July to all of you!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Portable sewing table bought

Watching what Our Bonnie Hunter (www.quiltville.com) uses for her away from home sewing has saved me a few $$$$.
I was going to get a Sew Easy table for retreats. But when she was on vacation in a cabin she had a photo of this table. I could see it was adjustable for height and was not too heavy.

 I found one at Walmart today! And it seems perfect!!!! And was only $35!


While being without power for three days, I did sort and straighten quilting related items. I did not have any children's quilt labels made up so I got them ready for sewing but with no power I could not press or sew anything!!!

 I posted this on Facebook:
I had the longest, warmest weekend. Our power went out on Friday morning due to a storm with violent winds. The newspaper says 91 mph!!!

My copy of String Fling made it to Indiana between the storms!!!
As a result of the wind more than 118,000 residents were without power. Luckily our power was restored last night around 8:00 p.m. Some residents will not get power back until the end of the week!!! We did take a look around the neighborhood and we were very lucky. Lots of roof damage from big trees (addition is called Tanglewood) telephone poles broke off and live wires everywhere. It was blissfully quiet for a few minutes and then the generator noises started. We do not have one. But several close neighbors do and they are LOUD!!!

There was much whooping and laughing with joy despite loosing my entire contents of the freezer and the 'fridge!!! It just tore my frugal heart out throwing the food away. But after 72 + hours in near 100 degree heat I trusted none of the foods. Some have mentioned doing an insurance claim for the contents but I am sure our deductible is as much as what was lost so it would be a no win situation. DH just kept saying it's no big deal...but I say...2 turkey breasts, a spiral ham, three roasts, three ham steaks, a whole bag of chicken breasts and 10#'s of lean meat market hamburger all add up. I keep my food stocked the same way I do my fabric and thread. geezzz....men!

AND!!!! Bonnie's newest book String Fling also arrived this weekend!!! And much frustration was the end result...no power for the sewing machine. No power for the iron, so I could not cut any fabric. It was too hot to do much anyway. I HATE BEING HOT!!!
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 This is behind the house directly across the street from me. Near the transformer is a big limb across the wires. It really made a bright flash when we saw it fall!!!

 We were so very lucky.  We had only a few limbs down.
The power came back on Sunday night!!!!

MaggieMae follows me from room to room. She just needs to be near me. And she is always so cute that I cannot resist taking a picture of her!!
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String Fling has arrived!!!

I am doing the happy dance here in storm damaged Indiana.
Our Bonnie's (www.quiltville.com) newest book arrived in the middle of a terrible storm.
The book was dry and safe.
But having no power was a total bummer.

So for three days I was able to read and reread it for hours on end.


And this is my first choice of the fabulous quilts to make:

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King of Green is done!!!


What a job! And what great results! It took so much longer to join, quilt and bind this monster than I expected. I am so glad it is done way ahead of time. I always seem to work better under pressure to finish a project in time

 MaggieMae approves of the border treatment. Each corner has a square from Aunt Margie's blouse. And a square from Grandma Iole's blouse. This makes it a memento for DD#1.

 Much too big for my queen size bed. I am sure Lisa will like how it fits on her king size bed.
 My sweet Pearl Piwacket. She always looks so relaxed.

 And the label of course!
And it took hours to sew the binding on!

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