Dancing down Easy Street!!

A great day to sew. Cold, windy and snow is coming. And until I saw the first clue for Bonnie Hunter's newest Mystery called Easy Street, I had not decided on my color scheme.
I knew I had yardage of these two fabrics. Of course it was buried. It was in a long plastic container about half way down the stack. The stack was topped off with more loose stacks of fabrics. Did I want to move it all? Not really but I wanted those two fabrics.
So I spent a productive hour unstacking and fondling fabrics and pulled these two fabrics out. They are major old fabrics. And the funny thing is that I bought them twice. Yes...different sacks of them in the container proved that I must have really loved them enough to buy them twice.
This was long before I discovered scrap quilting. So an 8 yard purchase was normal for me. Don't want to run out!!!!

I started sewing on my main machine. Then got a backache and took a nap. I woke up cold so I finished the strip sewing back in the cutting room. Cozy and warm there. A bit crowded but I started out my quilt sewing life back in that room. And my little Janome 3160QDC needed to be sewn on. She was getting lonely.
So now my two colorways are all in "twosies". Who knows if I will be able to sew tomorrow.
But as I was cutting them down into 2" segments I was marveling at how nice the fabrics went together. Each pairing was my favorite until I picked up the next strip!

As I was waiting for the Easy Street mystery to start I did some sewing therapy. I made 240 2 1/2" HST just because I could. I bought a smaller EZ Angle ruler. It seems much better for the smaller size units I like. The larger one works great too. But I am really enjoying the smaller ruler.

And a couple more Moth in the Window blocks were also born.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Fingerless gloves & shirtings

DD#1 casually asked me if I could make her some fingerless gloves. So I just started making some crocheted ribbing and look at the results!!!!

Way too cool!!! I am making another pair in a much softer yarn and a softer color....pastel pink. They will be great Christmas presents!!!

I am thinking I may use my Civil War fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery. I knew I had three bolts of conversation prints buried at the back of the cutting table. Found 'em...tore  a few yards from each bolt and pressed them.
Aren't they sweet??

My black and white fabrics for the Quiltville swap were pressed today too.

 And I have about 20 fat quarters of conversation prints too. There is no need to get those out yet since we do not have the first clues yet. They are starting the day after Thanksgiving.
This gal does NOT shop on that day. This gal will be sewing!!!!
XOXOXO Subee

My Log Cabin quilt is on my bed!!!!!!

Sunny day.
Clean sheets.
Curious cat (MaggieMae).
I am so glad I have my Log Cabin quilt on my bed. I made very scrappy binding from all the neutrals in the quilt.
Hubby really likes the size of this monster. 144" X 115"
We only have a queen size bed. It has plenty of room for two humans and four cats. When we are all under there is still quilt hanging over. Perfect!!!!

I actually gave myself two quilts this month. And both are designs by Edtya Sitar of http://www.laundrybasketquilts.com

I really love her color choices...browns...tans...creams...yummmmmmm

I used Minkee for the backing on the smaller quilt. I cannot wait to snuggle under it while hand piecing. The kitties have not found it yet. I have it over the back of a wooden rocking chair. One area they cannot balance on. HA!

Must sew...must sew on something...so I made 100 4 1/2" paper pieced blocks. I also made some border blocks. More like a piano key border. I just wanted to see what they looked and felt like.  (They are in the last photo in this post.)
I like them so will make a bagillion more.
I was saying to DH that even after making 100+ blocks my string supply did not look to have went down at all. He said that is a good thing. My supply is never ending!!! What an understanding Hubby!

All ready to begin sewing. Baskets, papers, lights and strings!

A new quilting t-shirt. Gosh this is so true!!!!

And I just had to try a couple Moth in the Window blocks designed by Our Bonnie Hunter. (http://www.quiltville.com)
I used shirts from my dear departed mother-in-law and son-in-law. They look perfect together. I will make a bunch more and use them to make a baby quilt for DGD who is pregnant and due in June. I have time....but they all keep making babies!!!!!! I am not going to be able to keep up someday!

Here are the border blocks on the left. They are 4 1/2" high and not all the same length. I did try to add some larger pieces on the edges so that when joining them I can adjust the seam to make the border fit better.

XOXOXOXO Subee

A new bass guitar!!!!!!!!!

My debut playing and singing did not go as well as I dreamed hoped.
The guitar strap was too long for me. (DH is 6'2" I am 5'6")
Okay...small adjustment.
Then the guitar was not coming through the speakers.
Okay... plug was not inserted all the way after fixing the strap length.
I am so nervous that I will forget the words.
Okay...words went fine it was the chords that I had issues with.
I sounded strained, distracted and lousy.
So sorry DH...you are the talent. I am the background.
Note to self...you are the background, you are the background, you are the background, you are the background..........

 James bought an electric bass guitar a couple weeks ago. Way too heavy for me.
James bought this acoustic bass today.
I LOVE IT!!!
And so does MaggieMae. She sat next to me the whole time I was practicing.
Bass guitar is background...yes it is...whoohooo!!!!!!

James is so talented. He keeps the yard and garden blooming all summer. This is a Gerber Daisy he bought for me in March (BD present). We wanted it in the house but not to let these bad kitties chew on it. So he made a plant hanger. He is soooo talented!!!!

Macy on a baby afghan.

It is too big to fit back in the plastic bag and Macy took advantage of the clean yarn. Sigh! I am nearly done with this mini-ripple. Not so mini I guess. There is nearly 16 oz. of yarn in it!!!!!!

My Pieced Hexie templates arrived this week.  Another gadget for sewing!!!
Thanks Mickey Depre!!!!!!!!! Talented artist designer friend!!!!

Quilt for Leslie's baby boy!

I found some baseball blocks made in the Yellow Brick Road pattern. They were leftovers from a gifted quilt eons ago. My niece, Leslie, is awaiting the arrival of her first child. It is a baby boy. And I thought these blocks would be perfect for her. I also had these two pillow panels. So I combined them to make a nice sized (65" square) quilt.

I simply did some diagonal quilting across the entire body of the quilt.
Blue star flannel as backing. (I pre-washed it since flannel shrinks so much)

I also used Quilters' Dream Puff for the first time. I love it's silkiness and the loft is nice and even across the batting. I can see an entire roll of this batting in my near future. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Macy and Bess just had to test drive the flannel I used on the back. They promise to not leave any cat fur on the quilt. Ya...right...you two BAD kitties. I also used the flannel for the binding. So with the combination of Puff loft batting, flannel on the back and flannel binding, it was a bear to get the binding on. But I did. The corners turned nicely. And the fold of binding is full of batting!!!!!

Tulip Fields is all done!

All done. Labeled,quilted and bound.
It took me three days to machine quilt it. It is only 64" square. But there are many seams and I wanted to make sure the string piecing had plenty of quilting to keep it intact. DD#1 washes her quilts a lot! This will be her Christmas present.

I cannot thank Our Bonnie Hunter (www.quiltville.com) enough for this beautiful pattern. It can be found in her newest book entitled String Fling.

Our Macy Gray is a sleeping spot stealer. She intimidates through glances and getting way too close for comfort. If she would just lay down next to her victims she could gather their heat too. But no.....

She wants it all!!!!

Poor MaggieMae.

She no longer has her heavy fur coat.

And my gigantic Log Cabin quilt is back from the long arm quilter and is all bound. I am waiting to put it on my bed. I want to take it to the next guild meeting for Show & Tell.

290 blocks should be enough!

OKAY...I see I have the wrong date on my slip of paper. But I was blown away when I did a final count on the Roman stripe blocks. 290 of these beauties!!! I must have forgotten to double the quantities when I cut them in half.
I hang my head in shame. But they are all pinned into groups of ten per Our Bonnie Hunter. I will decide what I am making with them some time in the future.
Meanwhile....

My Log Cabin quilt came home yesterday. Lisa Olinger did a magnificent job quilting feathers in both the light and the dark areas. The feathers go in opposite directions too. Lisa also told me that this was the largest quilt she has ever done. It measures 144" X 115". And I also have the correct amount of Log Cabin blocks to make another one equally as big. I know I am an overachiever.

I have a bunch of that black popcorn. It is called Black Pearl I think. Anyway...I do not care for it and have 4 bags in the freezer. DH used his air popper and we filled these three bags. I assumed the squirrels and birds would like air popped popcorn. No fats...no salt...
No one wants it. A few squirrels have nibbled on it. The Blue Jays lit and then flew away. The Sparrows just stare at me through the window...geezzz...maybe when the snow is a foot deep they will learn to like it.
They are spoiled with raw peanuts and black oil sunflower seeds.

We could not have wished for better weather for the final open stage at New Haven's Schnelker Park Gazebo. It was 78 and sunny. But the wind was really strong. We had a fair turnout. There were two hot food trucks there. And face painting and toss games for the children.
Part of me is giddy with joy of not having to be there every week. And another part of me is sad because I really enjoyed the time spent with James.
I will really miss this beautiful tree...I will have to come and visit it at the park.

XOXOXOXOX Subee