Fuzzy math on Design Wall Monday

Oh I am sooooo close to being finished making these nine patch blocks....

I sewed and counted and pressed and was sure I had enough but when I went to put them on my design wall I came up 4 short. It was late and I was too tired to plug the sewing machine back in so here is where I left it. I have a "formula" I'm following for this pattern - oh it is a new one from Thimbleblossoms called Niner - you can see it here. Anyway my "formula' has me making some blocks with cool corners and some with hot corners. Then as I follow the layout I alternate the hot and cool blocks.

My "formula" calls yellow, orange, red, and pink hot colors. Blue, green, turquoise and purple are cool colors. A problem I encountered is that lots of these Westminster prints combine hot and cool colors in one print. So sometimes the squares I cut were both hot and cool. I blame this for my fuzzy math which had me miscounting how many blocks I needed. It has nothing to do with my math skills - LOL -- oh it has everything to do with my math skills. I can never get a quilt to come out with the correct number of blocks without a lot of fudging and finagling.

Here are a couple of my favorite nine patch blocks -

I should be able to get the four blocks I still need made today. Then I'll play around with the arrangement. I can see places where there are too many lights in one spot - gotta spread them around. And, instead of putting this together as big blocks made up of 12 nine patches like the pattern calls for, I'm going to put this together in diagonal rows. Also, I'm cutting the outside setting triangles so I get straight of grain on the outside edges. I can't wait to get this one all sewn together and off to the long arm quilter. It makes me HAPPY!

Here's wishing you a week of happy sewing!

carol fun

Thoughts on Thursday

1. Nine patch blocks are fun to sew...I made 50!

50 Nine Patch Blocks

2. The Thimbleblossoms  Niner quilt needs 108 nine patch blocks so I'm almost half way done - yippie!

3. Sewing nine patch blocks gives you lots of time to think.

4. Sometimes you think strange thoughts - like - am I making the equivalent of the polyester double knit string quilt of my teenage years?

5. Oh no - this block makes me think that perhaps I am... must push this thought out of of my head.

6. I love color so why is it so hard to decide what color paint I want in my new house? Right now I'm leaning toward beige with white wood work in the living room. I always said there is too much beige in the world, but now I think it would be a nice neutral background for all my quilts.

7. I have decided that the kitchen and my studio will be yellow. I'm happy with that decision.

8.  I need to sew more nine patch blocks and do some more thinking.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Dithering with Kaffe on Design Wall Monday

Remember last Monday when I said the week was filling up fast - well -  I totally underestimated how much there was to do. I ran around like the proverbial polka dot chicken with its head cut off - doctor's appointments, meetings with contractors, scouting trips to look at kitchen designs, shopping at IKEA, breakfast with friends, drop off quilts to Terry, drop Nick off at birthday party, pick Nick back up, etc, etc etc.  My first chance to do anything stitchy didn't happen until Saturday evening and I made the most of my time.

Here is my design wall for this Monday -

Design Wall 5/6/13

and you can see that I totally dithered around with Kaffe fabrics and had a hard time deciding which quilt I want to work on next.

First off are these 4 Scrappy Trip blocks -

Scrappy Trips

I'm thinking that this would benefit from more color order. I was able to get a ring of yellow fabrics, which was a total accident. But I think it would look better if I can get rings of the other colors too. I need to play with some graph paper to see if I can get this to work. I think it will because I'm doing a 7 x 7 square block, so I have 3 rows of fabric on each side of the dominant center row. Tune in later this week on this project.

And then there are these blocks -

Hourglass blocks

another version of the Hourglass quilt from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book. This time I've paired the Kaffee/Westminster fabrics with a lime green Basic Grey Grunge fabric from Moda. I'm really liking this one.


And then there is BIG block -

Niner by Thimbleblossoms

this is a new pattern from Thimbleblossoms called Niner.

I downloaded this pdf Saturday night and jumped right in. You can purchase the pattern by clicking here. I'm very happy with the hot and cool colors of the fabrics. And that dotty yellow as the background makes my heart sing! It has orange dots and is a clear mottled yellow -- perfect! Here's a close-up -

I decided that since it needs 108 blocks, I would go ahead and cut out nine 2 1/2" squares from 108 different Kaffe Fassett/Brandon Mably/Phillip Jacobs fabrics - 54 hot fabrics and 54 cool fabrics.

Approximately 972 squares!

I used my June Tailor Shape Cut Ruler and the cutting went quickly - much more quickly than folding the fabric and returning it to its plastic containment vessel!

So now I can sew together 9 patch blocks whenever I get a minute or two - here's hoping I get some minutes! LOL

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A Hat Trick and An Hourglass on Design Wall Monday

All in all I did get a lot done this last week. I was determined to get things sewn together and not just take the blocks off the design wall and put them in a ziploc bag where I knew they would languish for a long long time. I kept telling myself that if I got these two tops done I could play with my Kaffe fabrics with no guilt. And hopefully that will happen later this week.

PB&J Hat Trick

Okay this is my entry for the Vintage Schnibble parade. It is Hat Trick pattern and I used the Basic Grey PB&J collection from Moda. Now mine is square instead of the rectangle the pattern called for, but I always prefer square quilts, no matter what the size.

I love all the patterns in this collection and the colors. I used a brighter yellow Grunge fabric than the one in the collection and I think it coordinates well.

This border print is what really hooked me. I LOVE any fabric that has the alphabet on it. For me it combines two things I love - samplers and quilts. A perfect combination.

After dinner last night I got my butt in gear and got the border on my Hourglass quilt. This is the pattern on the cover of Kim Brackett's new book Scrap Basket Beauties.

I ended up using an olive Grunge for that inner border and the cornerstones, instead of the rust one I originally picked. The top measures about 74" square. I love how it ended up having a bit of an I Spy quality.

There is a bunny or two...

And a pink squirrel too!

And I love the birds and the little mushrooms that are in the border! Notice this quilt also features a border fabric with an alphabet. I told you I couldn't resist them - LOL!

So I should be able to sew with the Kaffe fabrics totally guilt free this week....if I actually have some sewing time.  College classes are over for this semester for my youngest son so I'm freed up from that schedule, but we are starting his "vacation" time off with an early morning appointment at the doctor, then breakfast, a trip to drop off his laptop to get rid of the virus it picked up, a noon appointment with a contractor and some grocery shopping and laundry. And Tuesday is looking just as busy. I'm looking forward to maybe Wednesday or Thursday being a free day for me. After I get my hair cut and drop off a load of quilts for a quilt show and take a top or two to get quilted.  Arrghh..... the days just fill up so fast.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Some slow stitching on a rainy Sunday

It is gray. It is rainy. It is a good day to stay indoors and stitch. And that is my plan! Last night I got another house finishes from my Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart.

That was a big house to "paint". It took longer than I expected (but then they all take longer than I expected - LOL) to fill in all the gray green. I changed the design a bit here and there. I only put in 3 birds - one for me and one for each of my boys. And since I don't have any family birthdays in this month. I left out the initials and added more hearts. I love hearts on a piece!

And then I started the first block on the LAST row!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that big pumpkin. It is going to be one of those white pumpkins - isnt' that cool? I'm hoping to get the house framed out today so I'll be left with the mindless fill in part for later in the week.

Here is a wide shot of the entire piece.

I feel like I'm in the home stretch. And right now I'm jazzed about getting this one DONE! I pawed through my stash of UFOs the other day and found several other BIG projects that I would like to release from their ziploc bag repositories. I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER run out of projects.....and I think that is a VERY GOOD thing!

Today is my youngest son's 23rd birthday - Happy Birthday Nick! He requested one of his favorite meals for dinner tonight. Marinated grilled chicken over penne pasta with alfredo -yummy! I got the chicken chilling and marinating and we have a cake all ready to go. Just gotta find the candles.

Hope there is some stitching in your Sunday!

carol fun

On, well actually off, the Needles Friday

Remember when I said I had lots of waiting around time in my week, well here is the proof. I got an entire pair of socks knit! These are another skein of Opal Antonia Hand Dyed. I think this is the most consistently pooling yarn I have ever knit. Every single skein I've knit (and I've done 4 now) has pooled spectacularly - I LOVE IT!

Opal Antonia Hand Dyed yarn

And this pair is also the most "matching" of the pooling yarns I've knit, which surprised me. I didn't do anything to manipulate the yarn. I started the second sock at the end of the yarn from the first sock. Same number of stitches on the leg as the foot. And yes that orange still reminds me of the double yellow line on a road. It almost glows! LOL

Right profile

Left profile

I hadn't planned to get both of these done but when I finished the first sock it was the only yarn I had with me. It is nice that I have another pair done. This is my 2nd pair for Judy L's Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge. I cast on the second sock for what will be my third entry for this challenge the other night. And I think that may be enough for now. I have some cool striping yarn that is calling my name. Again it will be plain stockinette socks but there is just something special about striping and pooling yarns that elevates this simple pattern -- in my humble opinion.

So do you have any plans for the weekend? I hope to sew a bit on my Hourglass Quilt and I need to fix a special birthday dinner for my youngest son. He will be 23. How did that happen??? I don't remember getting any older. However I do clearly remember that turning 40 was difficult for me, not because of the decade but because I was turning 40 and had a extremely active 2 year old. OMG-it was probably a good thing that I had some maturity with him or one of us might have been dead.

Have a great weekend- happy stitching and knitting and sewing and crafting!

carol fun

A Scrappy Trips Finish

I am so very  happy with this quilt! This is my second Scrappy Trips - I'm calling it Scrappy Trips 2.0.

Scrappy Trips 2.0

Lots and lots of dots and brights. This one is an 8 X 8 square block, so 64 squares per block. And the squares are bigger - they finished 2 1/2". The quilt is 84" square and I can't wait to sleep under it.

Lots of dots and brights!

Here's a close-up of the quilting. My friend, Terry Finnerty quilted this one. I talked her into purchasing variegated thread and she liked how it came out as much as I do. The pattern looks like a spring - and thought the curved lines were a nice complement to the all those squares.

Now I know I haven't shown the first Scrappy Trips I did, but I don't have it back from Cass yet. She's been very very busy. Stay tuned. I hope to get it next week
.

Okay I have a little sewing time today and then some important business to take care of.

Happy stitching-

carol fun