Orca Bay and Lazy Sunday

This is the unit that is slowing my progress on Orca Bay.  I have sewn everything else possible, well almost, for this quilt trying to avoid this step.  My "wings" don't fit against my string block correctly.  My string units seem too large.  Many of the components were donated to me premade so I am not sure what the issue is.  I am a "close enough" sewer so I am just mushing them together the best I can. 

I just finished trimming the last of the string blocks so I plan to start sewing wings onto them.  I have 70 more to go and know that I end up ripping some here and there as I don't always get my point quite right.  I'd LOVE to finish these so that I can play with the layout this weekend.  We will see.  Do you see this is just a very fancy "flying geese" unit?  Bonnie called them crabs.  See the white eyes?

Are you making Lazy Sunday?  This is currently running in Quiltmaker magazine as a mystery.  Step 2 brought us one of the blocks completed.  I was fortunate to have taken a class from Bonnie on Nrw Year's for this quilt.  We were sworn to secrecy though.  I am checking in with others working from the magazine to make sure that I don't overshare.  I am going to pick this up again and get all the units of the curernt magazine step made so that I can keep up with the others doing this mystery and then hope to be DONE for the big reveal in September.

Bonnie Washed

Bonnie Hunter that is.  I have two projects that she designed currently in progress.  First up is the second Orca Bay.  I finished piecing the string blocks and am trimming them to size.  Not sure how much of a fan I am of string blocks.  It isn't the string block making as much as it is how this unit is used in this quilt. More on that when I move back to that step.

Untrimmed....

Trimmed....

I was lucky enough to take a class with Bonnie on New Years for her mystery class which is currently running in QuiltMaker.  This is Lazy Sunday.  Here are the pictures of my step 1.  Step 2 was just published.  I am waiting for others to share their pics as I don't want to overshare.  I plan to get each step finished for this quilt between Orca Bay steps.  OB makes me frustrated as I seem to use my seam ripper a bit too much. 

Are you making Lazy Sunday?

Whole Lotta Love Sewing Going On

I am part of a group that makes love quilts for members of a yahoo group when a need arises.  The first one pictured here was topped yesterday and dropped in the mail to the quilter.  I was the recipient of one of these quilts and mine was in pinks and reds.  Not sure what prompted the rainbow color choice for this one but I LOVE it.

I deboned a Hawaiian shirt for the border a la Bonnie Hunter style.  It was a fun new experience for me.  I have to become more of a scapper before I venture into that process more.  I can see how it could be addictive though.

Sadly this second quilt was started because the one above got lost in the process for a really long time.  These blocks were made to replace the above quilt.  Since the first was recovered we now had the makings for another.  A recipient has been identified and is now in progress for that person.

If it were not for these love quilts I don't think I would be doing much quilting.  I have been pushing myself to work on a second Orca Bay but just can't seem to spark to it.  I think it is just too complex, at least in my mind, for me right now.  I am going to see if I can motivate myself to finish the string blocks on that one before I abandon it for now and move onto something else.

Hugs my friends!

Folding Stash

I have been looking for the "perfect" way to fold stash.  Finally accepting that doesn't exist I used Bonnie Hunter's method and have started folding.  I still have a long way to go but it will get done soon enough.  I have cubbies to the left of this cabinet and have been putting FQs there.  Third shelf down contains "kits" that I made myself. 

I decided to work on a second Orca Bay that was Bonnie Hunter's Mystery from 2011.  I was gifted all the parts and ended up with enough for two.  The first is a flimsy at the moment.

What Have I Been Up To?

Last year while I was out of my house I took a quilt from a co-worker and agreed to work on it.  She described it as having a few tears.  When I folded back a corner it did appear to have tears but just a little worse than she described.  I did not fully open the quilt and agreed to take on the job.

When I opened it fully this is what I found.  There were pieces completely missing.  At first I tried whip stitching some of the spots closed but soon realized what an enormous task this would be.  I decided to remove all the quilting and then fix the top.  I soon realized I would never finish the task.  I finally took the entire top apart down to the individual piece and squared everything up.  If you read back through my blog you will see where I built this quilt back up from square one.  Before I did all this work I made sure everything I did was ok with the owner.

Here is the final quilted object waiting for a good wash and "going over" before returning it to it's owner.

 

Glenna Said I had to blog....

So I did....

Wingspan Triangle 2

I started the second triangle of my Wingspan shawl.  This is a free pattern on ravelry.

Go checkout what everyone else has on their hooks and needles over at Patchworktimes.

Basting a King

I brought this king quilt with me to spread out on the hotel room floor and pin baste it.  I didn't have enough pins so I concentrated on the center portion for now and will get that quilted.  Then I will be moving pins to another section so I can concentrate on that.

This is the crochet version of the WingSpan shawl.  You can get the free pattern on ravelry.  I had a big section done but realized I was working the pattern incorrectly.  I was going to frog and redo it.  I forgot it at home and will do that later.  Luckily I had my second skein with me.  I went and bought a new hook and went to work.  It does seem to be going together a lot more quickly this time/

Look Mom! I Sewed Something.

I went to sew at the church last night with my buddies.  Since I found my corners for this quilt I decided I would get that quilt top going again.  I put a quick call into my friend to borrow her featherweight since mine hasn't been unearthed yet. 

Sewed on the corners then went about cutting the borders.  The fabric is a patterned stripe that runs lengthwise.  I looked and measured an fiddled a little bit.  Then I consulted with some of my sewing buddies and set to cutting.  I got all the borders cut and decided that I would sew them on later.  Well that got me into trouble the last time so I went ahead and attached them.  I have to press the borders and then miter the corners.  Everyone was packing up to leave at this point so that WILL have to be done later.  At least I know exactly where the iron and board is!



Is barefoot sewing universal?  Anyone recognize that other set of toes?

Spring Clover

I haven't been very productive in the sewing room but I have managed to make progress with a crochet project.  Does this remind you of the 80's?  Maybe that is because I bought the yarn all the way back then!  This is a combination of clusters and double crochet.

Go visit Judy L to see what everyone else has on their needles or in my case their hooks.

Look What I Found

My corners!!

I put them with the top and border fabric.  Then I put away some PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) and sorted out a few tools and some spools of thread.  Now I just have to carry my mojo in there and start working on it. 

Still No Sewing

Nor any pictures.

I have been gathering projects and fabric and all things quilty into a central location. There surely is a long way to go. I was so happy when I found my Bloomers top and the border fabric together. I decided I would get that topped next. While I was looking at the border fabric and getting ready to cut it I noticed that I had not sewn the corners onto the quilt. I went looking for previous posts about this top and sure enough, I mention that I have to sew the corners on. Sigh....Do I know where said corners are? Sure I do! They are in the garage (I think) somewhere.

I have decided that I am going to make a log cabin quilt from a box of strips a quiltvillechat friend gave me. I know where there is some thread. I have to find a bobbin. May just have to check the machine to see if one was left in it. Not sure when I'll get to it but I really am trying to sew something...anything!!

I now return to my regularly scheduled chaos.....

My UFOs and Judy's Challenge

Since I last posted I have been digging through boxes and trying to setup house. I have had friends over helping me with setup. I had things in their general location. With the help of friends we tweaked things to bring a little more organization to several areas.

In this process I have located many flimsies. I went to see which UFOs had been selected for Judy l's challenge. At this point I cannot licit two of them. I do have one UFO that needs borders and I luckily found that fabric with it. I will take that to the church sew-in to work on as the borders have to be cut length of fabric.

Yesterday I found a tote that had some PIGs in it and several jelly rolls. I also went on another hunt and located my power cord for my main sewing machine. Happiness!! I think the next steps are to get all my tools together and start locating the fabrics needed to work on my UFOs. Well, I know where they are, I just have to get to them!

Sorry for the lack of pics. I will make up for it next time.

Orca Bay Topped

Look what I finished!  It's just a top but that was my goal before I moved back to the house.  I move this weekend.

Design Wall Monday April 23 - ORCA Bay Borders

I pieced my borders for Orca Bay over the weekend.  I also cut my inner neutral border as well.  I plan to get these borders on this week before I move back home!


My daughter came home last weekend.  I had no idea she was coming back and I was completely surprised.  My apartment has a revolving door of all her friends and their entourages.  Hollie came to see us yesterday.  She mentioned to me that she wanted to learn to crochet as a stress reliever.  I told her I knew how to crochet and would be happy to teach her.  I went digging in my things and found a hook and some yarn and got her started.  I think this will be fun for her to do.


Head over to see Judy and what others have on their Design wall.

Co-Worker Quilt Top Done!!

I finished the top.  I have a quilting plan.  When I get back to the house I will quilt it.


I had an apartment full of teenagers but no volunteers to hold the quilt for me.  One of them had their three year old cousin with them.  She enthusiastically accepted the job and I think she did a fabulous job!


 

Corner Decision

I decided to stay with the original look of the quilt since I am supposedly only "fixing" it. I thought a total change was more of a tweak than I should do. I was out yesterday and bought a little more fabric and washed it as soon as I got home. I cut it up last night and started sewing. I should have acted this quickly on the rest of my stash!! LOL!

I am going to finish making the corners and have this round sewn onto the middle this weekend. I will then lay out the borders that were on it originally and see where I am at. I am very glad I took this apart down to the individual piece. It really is going together quite quickly!



Thanks to everyone that shared their ideas on how to finish the corners. I love options and was given lots to think about. I knew in my heart this was the way I should do the corners but my head wanted to see what else I could do!

Corner Options

With either option I have to buy more fabric. I could carry the diamonds from the side into the corners. Or I can make a square in a square and border it with the green. The green shown is not the one I would use.

Thoughts? Other suggestions? Scroll to the next post to see what the top looks like so far.

Design Wall Monday 4/9/2012

I got to sew more than usual this weekend. I sewed four hours Friday night and was able to get one of the side sections completely pieced and many components together for the other three side sections. I finished up the other three Sunday afternoon.

I thought this was a good stopping point since I have to decide what I want to do with the corners. I can continue into the corners with 4 more rust colored diamonds but I think I am going to sew a rust square in a square of the neutral. I will then border that with the green to add a little interest and carry the green a little more throughout the quilt.

What do you think?

Round Three

Didn't feel like sewing but I did make myself layout some pieces so that I could at least play with it in my mind to figure out how I was going to make it work. If you look at the original, the outter diamonds are larger but there was nothing done to make these strips fit properly. They were just smushed together. I will be making a coping strip around the green center to make it fit properly.

Design Wall 4/2/2012

My Design Wall (floor) was occupied all weekend. I did get the green row sewn onto my co-workers quilt. I will be playing with the next round starting tonight.