WIP Wednesday

Well, I am getting better!! It's only been a week since my last post! LOL

And, I have some more pictures (same item so it might be a little boring!)

I have been plugging away on this quilt. . . trying to get 1 block per day quilted & I have been doing pretty good at that pace -- not perfect, but I am moving the project forward so I am happy.

Here is a closer view of the quilt blocks as they sit in my hoop ready for quilting:



There are two different blocks (one with a pink center & the other with a green center) and I am quilting them differently. One design of square in a square on the green centers since the stitches show better and a larger single square in the pink centers.

This is the back of the quilt -- I thought perhaps the stitching would show up better:


In this picture I think you can get a better look of the quilting in the green centers; I don't think the quilting in the pink center shows very well:


Yes, in case I hadn't mentioned it (and you weren't sure) I am hand quilting this one. It is very calming once the initial stitches are done. Once I get going I do not want to stop. . .but sleep has to be done at some point!

Since I have more than 40 blocks to go on this I am sure that you will be seeing it for at least a couple more weeks. . . but perhaps I will have time to throw in some other projects that I need to get busy on just to give you some other "eye candy".

Until next time. . . . .

In peace and pieces,

WIP Wednesday

In an attempt to be more productive I am going to try to blog more frequently so that everyone (including me) can see that I am actually working on something!! LOL

Here's a picture of a quilt that I originally started for a co-workers husband that was undergoing cancer treatments. Well, I had always wanted this to be a quilt for her but she wanted it for him so I prayed for both of them while I was working on this.

Unfortunately the hand quilting really kicked my butt & I wasn't able to complete it before he passed away.

Now I am slowly working towards getting this finished for her. I have about 1/2 - 2/3 of the quilt done.



I am hoping to have it completed by the end of this month. . . wish me luck!

In peace and pieces,

More block swap blocks finished

The last three blocks for the swaps I was in have been mailed out. Actually, one had been mailed a while ago, I just didn't have a chance to load the picture. The other two blocks went in the mail today.

Here are pictures:





I hand pieced the Drunkard's Path block because I cannot sew decent curves on my sewing machine. Actually, I have a hard enough time doing straight seams on the machine!!

The square in a square block took a lot of time. . . . not in the sewing, but in the planning. The fabric that I was sent was wild but there was only one strip of each fabric (and some of the strips were not full WOF) so trying to make up blocks that were 12 1/2" was a brain twister for me because the math wouldn't match up with the strip lengths. My nerves really came out when I got brave enough to do that cutting!!

But, now all the swap blocks have been completed and I can mark that off of my "need to do" list.

There are a couple more long term projects that I have in the works. . . .it will be nice when I can get them out of the way.

Until I have more things to show or say. . . . .

In peace and pieces,

Lots of discussion. . . . . .

There has been lots of discussion lately in blogland about ways of starting & stopping your sewing each time.

Bonnie Hunter has the "Leaders & Enders" thing (which is a variation of the method that I use --- but she gets something out of her excess thread). My method has always been to take a scrap piece of thread & run it through to make sure that the stitches looked good. Then, since I'm easily bored, I just kept using the same scrap pieces (well, there were 2 pieces really -- one to start with & one to end with).

By the time I was ready to "retire" my thread checker it was so thick and covered with thread that you could not tell what the original fabric was.

I'd show you a picture but I can't find my camera. . .thought it was on the kitchen table, but it's not. . .so I'll have to edit this once I get a picture.

I still find it hard to do Bonnie's technique with any regularity. . .it just doesn't work for me; but I use a thread catcher so that I don't get a "bird's nest" of thread on any of the blocks that I want to work with.

Do you use a thread catcher?


In peace and pieces,

I LOVE Craigslist!!!

Have you ever sold or purchased anything from craigslist.com?

I've known about craigslist.com for quite some time. . .but never had too much interest beyond looking for small items. I always felt more comfortable with eBay.com for both purchases and sales (if I couldn't find what I was looking for locally).

But last week I took the plunge & posted my DH's travel trailer for sale on craigslist. He didn't think that we would get any bites, since the trailer was 23 years old (but still in pretty good shape considering that it went through both his ex & me for many camping trips).

WOW!! Is all that I can say. . . .we sold it in a week. . . .for a very fair price.

There were people from several states that had enquired about it (which surprised me to no end) and the family that purchased it are long-time campers graduating from a pop-up to a travel trailer.

While my DH was a little sad to see the trailer go -- for the good memories of travelling with his daughter -- we were happy because I can now park back in the driveway. . . plus the memories of the problems with the ex will no longer be travelling with us.

Our new travel trailer was wonderful over the long weekend. . . .even with all the heat & humidity we had.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun 4th of July.



In peace and pieces,

Finally getting caught up. . . .

Several posts ago I mentioned that I was in desperate need of catching up with a couple of swaps that I am in. . . unfortunately that has taken me more time than I even thought possible.

I think part of my downfall was that two blocks required appliqued circles. . . and I'm not very good at the "A" word.

However, as of today I have mailed out 6 of the 9 block packets that I needed to get caught up with. . .here are pictures of the blocks:









I do have to admit. . . .I just don't "get" this fascination with "wonky". . . the fad doesn't seem to be going away & it is entirely possible that the remaining 3 packages will include more "wonky" blocks to be done so I'll have to deal with more of it.

While I love scrappy quilts I like to have the blocks as uniform as possible. . .and wonky just looks like a mish-mash to me.

I have seen quilts that look wonderful, but they just aren't my style. . . and I'll be happy if I never have to make another one after I get these obligations done.

In peace and pieces,

Back from Vacation!

Ok, so it's June 6th. . .and I'm back from a weeks vacation in lovely Williamsburg, Virginia.

Yup, spent a total of 9 days away from the house & I have the tan to prove it (not to mention the sunburn on my two arms that will make getting dressed for work tomorrow interesting!!).

This was the first trip with the new trailer & it was lovely. So much more room than the old one that came with DH. . . and the slide out living room provides even more room! yippee

We spent several days in Colonial Williamsburg, then a day each at Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory --- much more American history than I usually like to get involved in but DH was having a good time so it was fun.

But if only it hadn't been so darn hot & humid (there wasn't a day away that was less than 92 degrees. . . and this past Friday was at least 100 degrees (if not more)!!

I have pictures, I'm just too tired to look for the camera right now. . . will try to get to that tomorrow.



In peace and pieces,