Blind Quilter

What an inspiration!
XOXOXOXO Subee

Icicles and EQ 7's block challenge

The sun is shining. Clear weather means the temperature will drop. But first the snow will melt a bit. This is my upward view from my quilting chair. Beautiful yet so deadly. With below zero as a low tonight the roads and sidewalks will be deadly for walkers and drivers.

I found and bought a hot pink/purple 3" binder. I am slowly finding all my printed patterns from Bonnie and adding them to the notebook.

 Beautiful book...beautiful patterns...I love office supplies!

 I brought out my Singer embroidery machine to do a small item for my friend Gladys. I need to get this done before she heads out on her next trip! I delivered the Deer quilt last night. And our long arm quilt guild member assurred Gladys that her frame can handle the 120" X 120" quilt! WHOOHOO!

 I joined a group of EQ7 users (maybe all EQ users). They are doing a block a month. I joined yesterday but still have time to display my January block and ....

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1000005253725

 I also got the February block finished. Do the scraps look familiar? The bag keeps on yeilding more usable pieces. These blocks are 6" finished. I did not paper piece them I used the rotary cutting instructions. Of course I changed them so I could use my Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers!



http://www.doyoueq.com/blog/?p=1993

the above link should take you to EQ's blog. Then just follow the tabs for the block challenges.

Scraps & Shirttails II is here!

The poor postal workers are really battling the snow here. They have to walk in the streets and up the drives to deliver the mail. I bet it doubles their walking distance easily.

My Scraps & Shirttails II arrived today. Also Word Play Quilts, Schnibbles times two, Scrap Basket Sensations, my new Quiltmaker magazine and some notecards. Whew! I have a lot of reading to do!
In the Scrap Basket book there is a quilt by my friend Mary Flynn (Quilt Hollow) It is a sweet quilt called Blessing from the Hollow and I am going to make it using my newest FQ bundle called Faith by Moda.



Here is my wonderful hubby cleaning off my truck. He has a great system of keeping our drive clear. We park the trucks all the way to one side so he has a straight area to snow blow. He then moves the trucks to the road and cleans them off. He goes back to where they had been parked and cleans that area. He then moves the trucks back in and cleans off the road too. Then he walks down the street and does a few other neighbors' drives. They are older and need this bit of neighborly help.

 We got a total of 12" of snow from Monday night through Wednesday morning. I baked a turkey and made homemade bread. I had candles burning. All in all we had a great time during the storm. Our power stayed on and I really was quite productive in the quilting department.
I managed to get three (3) Strip Twist quilts from my strips of black & whites! I have them all bordered and ready for quilting. I also added the last border of Log Cabin blocks to the Deer quilt I am making for my friend Gladys. I still need to made the binding for it and see if I can squeeze a couple of pillow cases from the scraps I have left.

 Today we have another 5" of snow that has fallen! A winter wonderland. The bushes are buried deep in snow. The birdies poke their little heds up to eat bread from underneath the branches. The hawks are really patrolling the area. They need to eat too!

This is one of my TAME squirrels. She takes peanuts from my hand.

 She learned this from her grandmother, Stubbie.

I am pretty sure this female is just a year old.

She came from Stubbie's spring litter.

She then had one litter late this last summer.

I watched her carry the three babies in her mouth.

She brought them from down the road a ways.

I feel honored that she deposited them here for the winter.

They are still afraid of humans.

I will have them tame by summer!

Life sure is good!

XOXOXOOXO Subee

Strip Twist in black & white

My "funk" seems to be over. I am a winter weather lover. I love the cold and staying inside. I just was not myself since I fell three weeks ago. The scab finally fell off and the knee seem ok!!!! WHOOHOOO!

I woke up at 2:30 this morning to watch the snow and to sew. I cut a bunch of black/white fabric strips and dug out my Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern for a fast and satisfying little quilt to make. As I was sewing I decided I need to make two of these for my two dear grand daughter's whose birthdays fall this March. (one is on MY birthday!) So I just cut a bunch more strips and made twice as many sets as I needed. The block quarters are not sewn together yet. I could not resist throwing them up on the design wall to see the "action" in these easy yet graphic blocks.

Below is my Pineapple quilt with it's borders added and the backing is the tan hanging behind it. I am mailing this to my friend at Quilt Hollow for some fantastic quilting magic. I will wait for the snow storm to abate before mailing.

And here is the progress on the Deer Quilt. It is now a nice 96" X 96". I still need to add 12" Log Cabin blocks around the edge. This will make it 120"X 120". Tell me...is that too large for a King size quilt????????????

Blizzard 2011 as they are calling it now. Somehow we have been lucky and the ice has stayed south of us. We have 4" on the ground that came from round #1 of the storm this morning. Round#2 is in full blast  now this afternoon...with a forecast of 5-12" tonight with blowing snow. We have tons of groceries ( I am making a turkey tomorrow!) batteries and candles and of course quilts to keep us warm if the power goes out.
I am hoping the power stays on since the power company really took out many trees in this neighborhood. So sad...I will miss the shade and my squirrels lost some of their nesting spots. Yet if the ice does come the limbs that would have dropped on the power lines are GONE!



Lots of sewing not much blogging

I seem to be in a "funk" I cannot explain. I am getting lots of sewing done yet feel like being a hermit and not sharing. What is going on with me? I do not think I am depressed just withdrawn....but I still love you all!

I keep working with these scraps and more and more items are getting made! And I still have more scraps! I made a sample Log Cabin block before cutting into Gladys' fabric. We want Log Cabin blocks all around the border on her Deer Quilt. As a result I ended up making four blocks and they became place mats! WHOOHOOO!

 I joined another swap of neutral 2 1/2" strips. This swap is connected to Bonnie Hunter's Yahoo group "Quiltvilleswap". I have swapped with them many times. I cut up and bagged these strips in record time. I will get them in the mail on Friday. It is so exciting to get the return packages back. I get so much variety in my scrappy fabrics swapping this way!

 I am the Hostess on the Yahoo group called "Postage Stamp Swap". We/I swap 1 1/2" squares of fabrics that we call Postage Stamps. I am hostessing neutral swaps and Everything But the Kitchen Sink" swaps on alternating months. This keeps me on my toes and on a first name basis with my Post Office workers!

 And here they are just before I left for the Post Office. I love these pink crates. So girlie and yet so functional. And I just remembered I neglected to take a picture of my newest purchase for organization. I found a hot pink/purple 3 ring binder and spent the day punching holes in all of my Bonnie papers. I will have all her wonderful patterns and tricks in one great location! Pictures to follow.

 I LOVE MY BREAD MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at this perfect loaf. Yummy too!

 Here is one of the 48 Log Cabin blocks I have made for the Deer Quilt. I added two small framing borders to the quilt today. Now I need to add more fabrics to the outsides to make them accept the Log Cabin blocks. I am thinking this quilt will be a BIG 112"X120"! Gladys said she wanted it BIG!

A basket of strips that made the Log Cabin blocks.

When work for a friend is NOT work.

 I am sewing up a quilt for a friend of mine,Gladys. We met when I first joined my quilt guild. I cannot say enough about her. We clicked even though we are as different as night and day. Fast forward a few years and go back to last April's guild retreat. Gladys and I went shopping before we arrived at the retreat. She bought a twin size quilt kit plus extra fabric to make it into a King size quilt. After the holidays she asked me if I would sew it for her. I gladly accepted. A gift of myself for a friend who needs help.

The quilt center is now 60" X 80". I will begin to make the log cabin blocks that we agreed on to make the quilt much bigger. I hope Gladys checks out my blog to see the progress I have made. It was like putting a puzzle together when you use panels. Thank goodness, so far, all the measurements have played well together.

 Front of my RRCB block. Loved the sewing process of this mystery!

Someone asked how my back of the block looked with the seams all pressed open. Here it is. I learned a long time ago that Bonnie's quilts have many seams and pressing open makes them easier to quilt. IMOO

 MaggieMae's second haircut.

She turns into a whole other kitty when she is not weighed down with all that fur!

 A quilt for Project Linus.

 Another quilt for Project Linus.

This Saturday our guild is having a sew-in. We have cut and kitted up 30 some quilts to donate to the local Project Linus. It was really fun ironing and cutting up MASSIVE amounts of fabrics. And when Sara and I kitted them up we were actually short on strips! We made enough kits to hold us for the sew-in day.

 My daughter, Lisa, always finds the nicest gifts for me. This incense burner is so cool! First you spread the powder into the spirals (a very relaxing movement) then light the end. If you need to stop the burner, you simply move the powder from the flames passage. It burns for 6 hours. Love it!

The above is a picture of the organized chaos of swapping out the Postage Stamp Swap.

Waste Triangles are "GOLD"!

 I made two Pink Smokey Mountain Stars  quilts from Bonnie Hunter's website. It is a free pattern and a breeze to make because Bonnie has a way of breaking down steps to be totally doable no matter how large a quilt is.
I double sewed all the corners and saved these Waste Triangles.

These are my Clue#5 triangles. I used 44 different neutrals.

I kept them in stacks and will distribute them evenly in the Mystery Quilt, Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.

 I added some sashings to the "Odds & Ends" topper. I will keep this small and it will be one of the Kittie's quilt. As you can see the black/white one is still on the design wall. Hubby and I cannot agree on the borders. I respect his decisions but there are times I do NOT agree. So this quilt will have to sit and be analyzed until I decide what is needed. I do have a nice container FULL of black/white waste triangles. I can almost see them dancing around the quilt.

 Another loaf of bread was a total success! I found vital wheat gluten and milled flax seed in the baking aisle. I added these to the basic bread recipe and this loaf was so big I was afraid it would open the lid of the bread machine. And I did not even use the biggest recipe.
I made french toast with this loaf and also made garlic bread with it. The loaf is way too big for hubby and I to consume. So today I am trying a smaller loaf. But as I keep peeking into the machine the loaf does not seem to be working as great as this loaf did. I hate cooking but was beginning to feel excited about successes. These failures are depressing me!
Success with the bread! It rose high and beautiful and is the right size for us! I did the smallest loaf size and it is still quite large. I have another loaf baking. I will give one to each of my two daughters tomorrow on Christmas Eve. We lost our (mother-in-law) their Grandma a year ago this November. Iole made bread every week. Being Italian and a fantastic cook, I could never replicate her bread making. I know there will be tears when I gift these two loaves. But they will be good tears.
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Some of the triangles need to be sliver trimmed.

A process I detest and have been so spoiled when I use the Easy Angle Ruler.

Sliver Trimming is never needed.