Fieflies and color

I finished cutting the fireflys for fancy forest quilt. I am using cotton and steel fabric.

I like the way Elizabeth Hartman wrote the pattern. There is a big cut in the beginning of the pattern and then a subcut for each animal. If I had to do the whole thing in one sitting, I would not have finished in this century.  I stand to cut and I can sit to trim. My older back complains about cutting. I try not to listen but... How do you prefer to cut?

The firefly is the last critter in the forest - so close, and then, we see if they will play well together. I used the accuquilt to cut for my green hourglass swap. This is for the leader ender challenge at Quiltville

I mentioned our guest speaker at Kokomo Piecemakers Guild was Mary Huey from Ohio ( quilting through rose colored trifocals ). She had wonderful quilts to show us. Her presentation was about color, and I learned so much more about how color choices can improve a quilt. 

I realized that I tend to consider mediums as darks and they really aren't. That may make my choices a little messier looking and without much contrast. My Fancy Forest Quilt is my example. I was trying to use more modern up to date fabrics, but I don't like it. I think I didn't pay enough attention to contrast.

I left the meeting wanting to quilt more, better. Have you had speakers at your guild that are so persnickety about quilting and you leave thinking I can never measure up? This was just the opposite. Mary had the talent and the accuracy, but she was very genuine. And just enough funny.

 

Note to self : encourage helpers to be the same tall.

 

And hexie love

I am linking to:

TGIFF

and

Whoop Whoop

and

finished or not Friday

and 

Fort Worth Fabric studio

and finish it up friday 

Therapy for Overactive Thoughts

Our Guild had Mary Huey from Quilting through rose colored trifocals as a speaker. She was a great teacher and resource. I attended her kaleidoscope workshop which I thoroughly enjoyed. But my brain was a little fried, and I had to talk myself into just doing something in my "studio". So I found solace in the mundane.
I sewed a few corner pieces for my dotty bow ties....

chain piecing starts to mend the brain. I ironed and took pictures of my Thistles for forest friends quilt.....

I cut 300 pairs of black and neutral 1/2 square triangles for  Bonnie Hunter midnight Flight....

I used up 4 scrap size pieces of black and 6 scrap size pieces of neutrals until this was all that was left.......

Calm was again restored, and I could go to sleep without visions of kaleidoscope pieces dancing around in my head.

I am linking to:
Fabric, thread, and yarn
and
Needle and thread thursday
and
oh scrap

Garden and strings

We felt that we needed to move our strawberries before frost. We had them in a tier that had finally broken down. The strawberries were not happy there anyway. I built the boxes earlier this year. Jeff had read about filling in the space of the box with limbs and sticks before adding the soil. That way the box needs less soil and the tree composts itself and the soil is richer. It sounds reasonable.

While we were working, we heard something in the tree nearby. It looks like a downy woodpecker is making a nest. That will be a fun adventure to watch.

I've made some string blocks on my treadle. I will be throwing a few strings outside for our new bird family.

I'm linking to Fabric Tuesday
and
sew cute Tuesday
and
Fiber Tuesday

Fall Festival Time

There is something magical about festivals in the fall. The skies are a different brilliant blue, and the colors of fall seem to shine. Mums and pumpkins, leaves and candy corn, and Indian corn and gourds. And all the food... so yum. We visited two festivals over the weekend. The Atlanta New Earth Festival takes over the whole little community. Garage sales and booths up and down streets, fields of tents, every yard full of something interesting. Mom and pops selling water and soda for 50 cents a can. I have been attending the festival since before I was married, over 40 years ago. I even had a craft booth for 10 years in a row, selling country jumpers and clothing. We set up on the grounds of the public library. Some years, I would wear mittens and a winter coat, and the crowds would come. Other years it would rain every day and every minute, and we would throw hay on the ground, and the crowd would come.
Atlanta and I have changed over the years, homemade crafts are replaced with imported stuff, more food vendors and bigger people attend. And I can't really enjoy the crowds anymore. But it still calls every September, and I go.

Another fun stop was Horton's little festival in Tipton, Indiana. It is a landmark hardware store that has been restored and the owners have added a craft section. Four times a year, they invite outside crafters to set up tents and, it is a taste of fall in September.

Horton's makes great fudge - they sell it all year - in the hardware store.

I bought this witch's hat to go in a pumpkin -when I have a pumpkin. Growing pumpkin is an every year discussion. I like them but they grow all over the place and then the area can't be mowed. We didn't grow any this year.

These two quilt tops are my big excitement for the festival. They are both hand pieced and just lovely. Then begins the debate in my head, of finishing them or not and am I ruining them if I machine quilt them. Both are in such great shape and the fabrics are so wonderful. The dresden plate is at least twin if not full size. The nine patch is lap size.

I like her pastel center, then dark strips and pastels. Especially, the dark in the pastels. And the patches are not all the same size. What fun.

I'm linking to:
Patchwork TImes
Making Monday
Moving Forward Monday
Main crush Monday

I love being a Grandma

Today is my youngest Grandchild's first birthday. I am celebrating. I have 8 Grandchildren - all of them have made my life so much richer. I am this little guy's paternal Grandmother. I have six Grandsons and two Granddaughters. His Father is my oldest child's fifth. They have their hands full. And I have my arms full.

I was thinking about my Grandparents. This is my Dad in the center and my Paternal Grandfather. I didn't know him. He died before I was born. My two brothers and one of my sisters is in the photo.  Everyone in this photo is gone. One of the draw backs of being the youngest, is being the one that is left for a time.

I worked all evening on appliqueing ( I've not done much of it) the leaves for happy birds by Jen Kingwell and will continue that for my slow stitching Sunday

 Stash report

Fabric Used this Week: bits and pieces

Fabric Used year to Date: 22 1/2 yards

Fabric Added this Week: 4 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 108.75 yards

Net Fabric for 2016: 86.75 yards in the hole

and I think I need to add shirts I buy to take apart for fabric. I added 0
for total of 5

My fabric added was charm squares. Doing the math, I noticed each charm pack isn't alot of fabric, perhaps 25 inches. No wonder a charm pack doesn't go very far. But I bought 6 charm packs so that adds up.

I'm linking  to
Patchwork times stash report 
Slow Sunday stitching
Sharing Sunday

Inching Forward

Sometimes, the best we can expect is just a little bit of progress.
In our small group, I put the nine blocks together for Every Which Way quilt. It was great, not many seams to match.

I cut out the pieces for a new jelly roll quilt. The strips were not 2 1/2. -that was a surprise.

I have so many jelly rolls and charm packs that I need to use them. However, opening them seems wrong. They are so pretty just the way they are. And with all the scrap quilts, I never use the good stuff.

I started adding the yellow tumblers to my tumbler quilt, in preparation for the borders. I am so excited.

But, there are so many......
I made neutral hourglass blocks for my swap- so now both pink and the first round of neutral are finished. I am using an accuquilt die to cut them and I like that there are no dog ears to trim.

I'm linking to
Show off Saturday
Fort Worth Fabric Studio

Project bag

My daughter and I made vinyl project bags by way of the internet. We followed a really great tutorial on Thimbleanna

It went together really well. And it was done in less than an hour. It was smaller than I had in my head.

I've added the next ring to my hexie

I'm linking to
TGIFF
and
Finished or Not Fridays
and Whoop Whoop

Confessions in the studio

Somebody needs a time out ...

I read a great blog post by Karen Kahle.
She is a rug hooking artist I greatly admire. And I was so glad to read this

2. Chaos ensues.
No matter how good your intentions may be, even if you start with a big table to work on you end up having about one foot of usable work space. I actually first read this on a fellow crafter’s blog, and I get it! In the heat of the moment, with fiber flying and ideas morphing, the scissors and cup of tea disappear under some gorgeous tidal wave of inspiration, and the there you have it: C H A O S. And so what do I do? I end up working on the kitchen counter, then the living room floor, etc.

I had to laugh and confess I get it too

I have been putting basket blocks together. I need to start trimming, but the messy cutting table doesn't have enough room :) so I need to take time out to clean. Where's the fun in that?

I'm linking to
fabric, thread and yarn
and oh scrap

needle and thread thursdays

A little bit hexie

I have let my big hexie quilt take a time out, as I try to figure out what I want to do next. I still am not sure, but I picked up a hexie, picked a place for it on the mother ship, and chose a color from my civil war fabrics, and basted, and sewed.
There is always something soothing and inspiring about hand piecing and English Paper piecing.
I am reminded that not everything is hurry hurry. That somethings percolate for awhile. That I can get too uptight, and worried that I will not possibly live long enough to finish all I want to do. Last night hexies helped me to relax and enjoy the process. I am so blessed and grateful..... and my hexie is really cool, too.  This center hexie came from Geraldine as part of the inchy hexagon swap.

I have been working on preparing my pink hourglass blocks for the Bonnie Hunter leader/ender challenge for a swap.  Anything pink is being cut.-and neutrals

And, as I was browsing through my books

I realized, I can't find this quilt. Where is it? I know I cut it and had it partially pieced awhile ago, but it is not in my project area. What did I do this time? If you find it send it home:)

I am linking to Jo's Country Junction
a complete rundown on her progress on her challenge
WOW
You have to check out Esther's wedding dress - it's incredible and it was finished on time.
Let's Bee social

Progress and smiles

I had a a productive day in my sewing room. My daughter and I used google hangouts to sew together in the afternoon. She lives in Utah, and I live in Indiana, so this is how we have to spend time together. She was working on quarter square triangles that she, Lucy, and I will swap for the leader/ ender challenge. I was working on thistles from fancy forest. I have discovered that I am anti - dyslexic. I can't mirror image without a few rip outs and trying again.  Good thing I am persistent.

I made kits for my dotty bow ties

I made my daily wild and goosey block, but this time, there were four, and I could make the whole block. So exciting to see another finished block. This is block 46. I think I need 48. So I am getting close.

But, the best part of the day, is the sweet voice of my grandson, in the background, singing to himself songs he is learning in kindergarten.

At one point, he was so energetic, that I giggled, and I heard him ask why are you laughing Grandma. And I told him, his singing had made me very happy so much so that it came out as a giggle.
I am still smiling.

I am linking to
Fabric Tuesday
Fiber Tuesday
Sew Cute Tuesday
Free motion by the river