I had a long 3-day weekend, but I didn't get any sewing done. What a shame! Took a quick road trip on Saturday to see some property my husband and I recently purchased in Sallisaw, OK. Long drive...but we are making some plans on what we want to do with it....it's 20 acres in the middle of nowhere....perfectly quiet....yummmmm....
Sunday, I sat around and did a whole lot of nothing. I did play with some fabrics - I never did finish Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery in December - I got Steps 1 through 7 done and lost interest. I got the pieces I had finished out and played around with the layout. Not sure when I will actually get back to doing anything on it...
Monday, my husband and I ran a few errands, ate at a Chinese buffet, and went fabric shopping - OK, I went fabric shopping and he wandered aimlessly around the store. Bought a few solids for the various BOMs I am participating in. I made this block last weekend and my husband really liked the colors....I'm thinking I'll do more blocks in those colors for him a quilt.
This is the January block in the Oklahoma City Modern Quilt Guild 2013 Block of the Month. I am really happy with it. Speaking of the OKCMQG, it was announced today on the blog that the Red Cross quilt is complete and chances to win it are being sold - not sold actually, make a donation of $10 to the Red Cross or Empire State Relief Fund and get a chance to win. You can get all of the details on the blog.
I got another BOM block made last weekend. This is the January Sugar Block Club block. I messed it up a bit, but in the long run it came out OK. She uses odd measurements, and they threw me off. The center 9-patch was supposed to be 7 5/8". Mine was 7 3/4", but I got confused on my ruler and thought it was too small - when it was actually too big. Sheesh! I ended up stretching the flying geese to fit - by the time I figured out I should have cut down the 9-patch, I had already trimmed the geese. If I had ripped it apart and tried to fix, it would have been too small. I told myself I would be the only who knew....now a few more people know....LOL!
These are the fabrics I've chosen for the year. Rather than going out and buying a fat quarter bundle, I remembered I had gotten a bunch of FQs last year in a birthday swap - so I went through those, picked 17-18 I liked and chose the brown for the background. I think it will be interesting, and I feel good about working from the stash vs more shopping...
The next row of the Bee in my Bonnet Row Along came out - twinkly winter stars. I did get some of my fabrics cut, but I did not get them all cut nor did I get any sewn. Oh well....que sara sara! Whatever will be, will be....I will eventually get there....
I still have pictures to share....see you next week - have a good one!
Bri
I don't make New Year's Resolutions - mainly because I know I will fail! A resolution usually requires a huge behavioral change, and I know that's something I am not good at. However, I do have a goal for this year. We recently had a conversation on the About.com quilt forum about those special fabrics that we've had for a long time and just cannot bring ourselves to cut into. I have only one of those, and it's a beaut!
I have two yards of it, and best I can recall - I bought it in either 2009 or 2010. I've initially chosen it for a mystery quilt a couple of times, but I have always chickened out at the last minute and went a different direction...So my goal for 2013 is to find a pattern for this beautiful piece of fabric. Wish me luck!
Back to the things I worked on during the Christmas holiday...I have some pictures...
I finished the leaves quilt. If you recall, all I had left to do was put the binding on. And YAY! It's done. I machine stitched to the front and hand sewed to the back. I had been machine stitching to the back the last few, but I wasn't really happy with the way they were turning out. This took quite a bit longer and made my hands hurt for a little while, but I think it was well worth the effort.
I made a few heart blocks from 30s fabrics for a friend who has been sick. Another friend is putting all of the heart blocks together that she has gathered from several to make her a quilt. Such a lovely thing to do...
Just in time for the next row of the Bee in my Bonnet row along, I got the mittens row completed. It went together quicker than I had anticipated. Wonder what will be next - next clue comes out this Wednesday. Not too late to join in....
One more picture...This is a small quilt I put together for another friend who is not feeling well. She is going to get showered with mini quilts over the next few weeks. I can only imagine how that would make a quilter feel --- to get quilts from friends all over the country when things are looking bleak. I really hope it brightens her day.
I had made these little 3" blocks in December 2011 when the Temecula Quilt Company hosted a block a day - 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. The block for Day 1 had one piece, the block for Day 2 had two pieces, etc. I had also framed them back then to make them 5" so they went together very quickly. Used a fat quarter for the backing, used scraps to make a scrappy binding, and just a few hours later - a mini quilt was born!
I am not only proud of the quilt, but the fact I was able to put it together so quickly with things that were already made. That is my goal as a quilter - to be able to put something together to brighten someone's day without a lot of fuss. Now I know why I do all of these block of the day, block of the month, etc. It's not only the camaraderie of doing something with a group, but it's also having a variety of things on hand that can be tossed together quickly.
Have a good week! I have a few more pictures for next week.
Bri
