I'm back...so sorry for the delays in postings

Things have been so out of the ordinary here. Some very happy things and some very sad things.
Sad thing is the passing of my young 39 year old nephew. Much too young and sweet to have been taken so early. Another sad thing was the return home of my brother Michael for the funeral. He spent a week here and it was so sad to see him leave. He has always lived away from the rest of us. Out of 8 children he always had the itchy feet. The rest of us stayed around close to each other if not too close in our daily lives. And my hubby also lost his oldest sister. He also comes from a family of 8 children. But he is at the other end of the eight kids than me. I was first in my family. He has two younger sisters but he is the youngest boy.

One really good thing is DH is almost back to his normal wonderfully charming self. He credits pharmaceuticals. And says he has a new appreciation for being "normal" again. He is doing really sweet things...

• like driving home with two chocolate dipped ice cream cones on a 95 degree day.

They were melted but it was the thought that counted!!!

• We are going out and playing music again. What a joy. What fun! I even clipped off all my fingernails and he put new Martin Marquis strings on my guitar. My fingers remember the chord positions but boy do my finger tips hurt!!!!

• And he also surprised me with this great old sewing box: 

 It is sooo cute and I do not see a single nail in it. 

It matches my oak roll top desk.

 And more shirts arrived from my deceased son-in-law. (former SIL)
These are much better to work with than that t-shirt quilt I made this Spring. I think I can squeeze a few quilts from the stack and one will go to his current widow. The others will go to his children...blood and step...no distinction in loving them.
I have always wanted to make a Carpenter's Star quilt. Here are some blocks made already. This is a fun block to make!!!!

•  And some kitty pics for you all

It is very rare for my cats to be together in one place for very long. DH says look three on the bed so I ran in and took a picture. Then the battery died in my camera. Figures...at least I did get one picture.

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I have been singing and sewing my heart out!

Those of you who know my Husband and I personally know that we met through our love of music. We used to play out nearly every night in our much younger years. Well, we have now gone and played at three open stages in as many weeks. What joy! What fun! I so love singing with my husband. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can continue to do this together. But can you imagine what the audience thinks when this fat old lady gets up on stage and starts belting out notes????
I hope I impress the h%^& out of them!!! And do NOT embarrass myself!

One of the first swaps I ever played in was an I Spy swap on Yahoo. And I am sure that it must have been 15 years ago I played with these squares that each represent a letter of the alphabet. I put the sewn units away for another day and my Grand daughters went and grew up! Now I am making these quilts for their children, my great grand children!!!
It sure is a good thing that fabrics don't spoil. They are like fine wine. They just get better with age!!!!

 Since Theo's favorite color is orange, I used my Kona Cheddar as the background for this first of many I Spy quilts I plan on making. I have some orange Gelato Minkee for the back! He is going to love this quilt. And his big brother, Drew, can teach him his letters!!!!

 I have these templates in two sizes. This is the 5" size. And $15.99 15 years ago means I am sure they cost more now!!!!!

 I am helping out one of my quilting buddies. Gladys is so very busy that she never seems to find the time to sew for her own grand children. I said I would help her out. This was/is my first attempt at machine applique'. I used freezer paper for the templates. Let me tell you that points are hard to get sharp!!!

 So far this is what I have done. I need to make a few more blocks so I can go around the entire quilt body one more time to continue the zigzag effect. Gladys says to do whatever my heart desires. She is so very easy to please!!!

 I have a confession to make. I sometimes buy a quilt kit just to get the fabric not to make the intended quilt. But this kit was bought for my Grand daughter, Zoey. She loves purple. She loves cats. And it came with purple Minkee for the back and she loves that stuff too. The kit cost way too much. Well...started the cutting. Sure enough, they shorted me on three of the fabrics. GRRRR! This is one major reason I do not make the quilts from kits. I had to add some happy fabrics from my stash. The only thing they did NOT short me on was the border fabric. Thank goodness for that, as it was a mitered border and I needed the extra length. All I need to do now is pin it up and quilt it. But oh!!! Another shortage from the kit. The backing is 60" X 90". The quilt is 72" X 84". GRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I do have a deep purple Minkee left over from another project and I hope I can piece it in so it looks as if I PLANNED on it. I promise to never make a quilt from a kit again!!! This is the second one this year that has bit me!!!

 In between  sewing on larger stuff I have been making some 3 1/2" 9 patch blocks. I am thinking I am going to make Bonnie Hunter's Tumalo Trail pattern. That one needs 210 9 patch blocks. I have 154 done!!! WHOOHOOO!

 I am saving all the shirting like prints for another project. I do not know what yet.

And after a hard day at the sewing machine I reward myself with a bit of crocheting. I love this pattern. I think this is the fifth one I have made. I changed the hook size from a G6 to an E4 and the "popcorns" are much nicer. The whole afghan seems nice and tighter too.
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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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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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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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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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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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