Getting it Done in March

Well I didn't do so good in March with my goals - only got one done and that was: Start my DGD's quilt now that I found a pattern. Begun!  You can see my progress here.

For the other two - I have just set them aside for now as I really, really need to quilt a few charity quilts for St. Anne's.
 
So here are my April Getting it Done goals:
1. Quilt some St. Anne's quilts before the 11th. (Technically these are ufos as they've been sitting around for a couple of month and will be my entry for the April Nothing but UFOs challenge)
2. Start the Whimsical Garden Quilt - complete at least one block.
3. Make the block lotto block for April.
 
How did you do?  Go on over and see how others did at Judy's Patchwork Times.

March NewFO

It's amazing what 2 hours of uninterrupted sewing time can do. I was able to do the first step for all 20 pinwheel blocks, sew three of them together and size, cut and place into sets the 160 squares I need for the 17 remaining d9ps:

Here's the pinwheel blocks, the stack of 5"sets, and the sections done with the next one to assemble.



I learned two things doing these.  1.  Making the pinwheels from 5" squares, I could true these up to  5 1/2" pinwheel, saved a second truing up, and cut the squares 5 1/2" instead of 5" and had a bigger quilt.  2.  I'm going to not assemble the d9p's 4 parts until the end so that I can more evenly distribute the colors.

I'm linking to Barb's NewFO Challenge as this is my new project started in March, and Judy's Patchwork Times, as well as Lyn's BOMs Away.  Go see all the projects coming along.  

Stash Report 3/31/13

This will be short as we are off to Easter dinner to celebrate the Resurrection.

Used .6 yard for the blocks for DGD's quilt - had to pull some more checks and plaids from the stash.
Nothing in!  Here are my numbers:
 in 0.0 yds.; out 0.6 yds.
Stash YTD: in 3.0 yds., out 24.73 yds.
Donated this week: 0.0 yds; YTD: 8.09 yds
Net for 2013: out 21.73 yds.
 
I am linking to Judy's Patchwork Times. See you there.  Happy Easter.

Alleluia

Alleluia!  The Risen Christ commands us to love one another as we live in the light of the Spirit.

May we always dwell together in the Spirit
following the way of Christ, who is our life.

Applique Thursday 3/28/13

Vroom - that's how the week went, and here we are at Thursday again.  And no applique to show for it but this:

Cut out the pieces to form my placement pattern. Next is to trace all those pieces onto steam a seam 2 that will be fused to the back of the fabrics I choose.
Here is the one block I was able to make for my DGD's quilt - 19 to go. So I have officially reached one of my goals for March - starting this quilt.  I'm going to count this as a finish at Crazy Mom Quilts considering what a crazy month March was for me as far as quilting.
 
And now for the giveaway. Our winner for last week was Sue Dario.  Congratulations, Sue! Random.org picked your number. I've sent Sue an email.
 
 
This coming week's giveaway is again an applique book.  I've just reached the end of my bug days:
 


To win this copy, all you need to do is comment or link to have a chance for it to be yours. Or do both and have two chances. And for extra chances, tell your friends about this giveaway. If they comment or link and mention you in their comment, you'll automatically get another entry in this giveaway. Submissions end Wednesday night. Use the blue link below. And remember, it doesn't have to be applique (that you share that is) - all sorts of eye candy is eligible and very welcome - even projects you finish a while ago - it'll all be new to me.

I'm linking over to Pat Sloan's blog for Show and Tell .  Her posts are always so interesting.
And I'm also  linking over at Carrie's A Passion for Applique as I did reach one goal this month even though it wasn't a finish - sigh.

Design Wall Monday 3/25/13

First, giveaway still open. See last Thursday's post.  Next, posting early again as I have an all day date with Alan tomorrow and Tuesday. Here are some sample blocks I made to test the technique for making pinwheels for DGD's quilt.  This will be a D9P called Pinwheel Twist.  I saw it on Madame Samm's Sew Quilt by guest blogger, Jennie, of Clover & Violet.  It's a pretty neat trick.  You put two squares right sides together, then sew a 1/4" seam on all four sides.  Then you cut the unit diagonally twice and assemble your pinwheel.  Here are my two sample blocks (won't go in the quilt - off to orphan block pile) and some of the squares and fabric for her quilt.
 
What are you working on?  This will be my NewFO for March.  I'm linking over to Judy's Patchwork Times and Lyn's BOMs Away!  

Stash Report 3/24/13


I used 5 yards to make the back of my Riverside BOM quilt last week.  This week I'm way behind; only started on row 2 after a big glitch. Have decided to take a break and start on my DGD's quilt. Pulled a 1/2 yard of white for that.  Here are my numbers: 
  in 0.0 yds.; out 0.5 yds.
Stash YTD: in 3.0 yds., out 24.13 yds.
Donated this week: 0.0 yds; YTD: 8.09 yds
Net for 2013: out 21.13 yds.


 
I hope I can mover farther along next week.  We'll see.  In the meantime I am linking to Judy's Patchwork Times.  I'm sure others over there had done a lot better than I.  Worth a visit. And Applique Thursday's giveaway is still open.  Go back to last Thursday post to see the book I'm giving away.

 

Weekend Favorite

Here's our sweetie, Alan, at Infant school.  I can't believe all the progress he has made since September.  He couldn't walk then and look at him now!

 
Auntie Jaime, I love my hat!
 


Applique Thursday 3/21/13

Sigh - didn't get very far at all this week - couldn't decide on a green for my morning glory leaves, reached a hiccup on my BOM, so just made the copy I will use for templates of Anna's Garden block 6:
 Now to choose fabric.  And while I didn't get much done on the applique, I can report and show the tote I finished from the Lisa Coulombe workshop.  I even did some quilting on it.
And I found time to scan another giveaway book:
This is a classic - Mary Ellen is so thorough in this book.  Have so many versions of this pattern now that I feel I can give this one away.  To win this copy, all you need to do is comment or link to have a chance for it to be yours. Or do both and have two chances. And for extra chances, tell your friends about this giveaway. If they comment or link and mention you in their comment, you'll automatically get another entry in this giveaway. Submissions end Wednesday night. Use the blue link below. And remember, it doesn't have to be applique (that you share that is) - all sorts of eye candy is eligible and very welcome - even projects you finish a while ago - it'll all be new to me.
 
I'm linking over to Pat Sloan's Show and Tell  and Amanda Jean's Finish it up Fridays. Do visit. 

Fabric Tuesday - Wow

Well the first row is quilted.  I will do the sashing between them and below the first row after I add the second row.  Here on the right, you see it pinned ready to be sewn. 
Once that's done, I'll repin-baste the new row so that I don't have any wrinkles on the back.  It's back to the floor to do that.  I'll have to look into getting a table to do the basting as Cindy Needham recommends in her Craftsy class.

What's your fabric story - Wow this week?  I'm linking to Connie's Free Motion by the River and Esther's WOW.  See you there!

Design Wall Monday 3/18/13

I'm babysitting tomorrow -all day, so I'm posting this early.  Up on my design wall is the next row of the BOM quilt waiting to be attached to the QAYG sandwich - no joining strips on this one and a solid backing. Here's what I did Sunday:
I took the sandwich part to the machine.  Here it is as I got ready to start earlier today.  As you can see I don't have a lot of quilt around the machine.  It's amazing how less there is to push around with only have of the batting in the way.  I decided to echo quilt a few times around the cross and quilt cloud shapes in the sky.  Since our Mt. Robidoux is rocky, I made large pebbles on the mountain.
Here you see that finished block and the next one I have to work on.  I decided to make wavy lines on the sky to denote wind and straight lines with an occasional plant in the beige areas to represent our semi-desert terrain around Riverside.  The diagonal element is the Gage canal that runs through the region and brought water to the Riverside orange groves.  Last to do is the Navel orange - first grown in Riverside.

What's on your design wall?  Go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times and Lyn's BOMs Away and see what others are working on. 

Stash Report 3/17/13

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I have a good number to report.  I used 5 yards for the back of my BOM quilt - 150% more than the average I need per week to meet my goal at year's end.  Here are my numbers: 
This week:  in 0.0 yds.; out   5.00 yds.
Stash YTD: in 3.0 yds., out 23.63 yds.
Donated this week: 0.0 yds; YTD: 8.09 yds
Net for 2013: out 20.63 yds.

I'm moving along! 

And now what I got done yesterday.   You saw the back I made on the last post.  Here is the start of my QAYG for this quilt:
 First, I measured and calculated how big my batting had to be based on the back I had just made. To lessen the bulk of this quilt so I can more easily quilt it, I cut the batting in half horizontally.  Then I laid down the back which I had ironed and smoothed the top half of the batting on the top half of the back. I then pin basted the back and batting to the carpet so that it would be smooth.  Next I finger pressed the center of the first row that has the first sashing row attached to it. I then placed it on the center mark of the batting making sure it was the 10" all across the top to allow for the borders I will add later(plus 2" extra of batting and back). I then pin basted the row to the sandwich.  Here it is all basted with the back showing at the bottom.  Ready to quilt!
 

Happy Quilting on this InterNtnl Quilting Day!

After two intense weeks of activity, am happy to report I have the whole Saturday I can devote to quilting - yeah! - and it's Worldwide Quilting Day.  I love babysitting the DGKs, and working with my St. Anne's group and dining with DH and friends, and volunteering at the library, but gotta' have my quilting. Today, after straightening up a bit and having some healthy oatmeal ( enhanced by Splenda, walnuts, cranberries and cinnamon) I started working on my Guild's BOM quilt again that is my lovely finish for March.  Back is now done.  Here it is on my queen size bed.

Uh - it's a lot bigger than I visualized. Yes, I knew the size, but I'm bad at picturing how big that will be.  So today I'm going to challenge myself to put it together as a QAYG project with a solid back.
I've made several, but only one other one with a solid back.  Better go find on my quilt bookshelf Marti Michell's Machine Quilting by Sections book.  This is the go-to book if you're making a big quilt on a domestic sewing machine.  Click here to see her video on this book.

I'm linking to SewCalGal's Virtual Sew-cial today.  Go on over and meet some quilters from all over the world.  

I Won

Imagine my surprise to get a message from Carrie at A Passion for Applique that I won this great eBook: Step by Step Portrait Art Quilts by Margaret Bucklew.  Woo-hoo, I've always wanted to do this, and now I have a comprehensive book to work from.  I'm scheduling trying one this summer when things are a bit slower.  Thank you Carrie for the giveaway and Margaret for all the fab info during the book tour.  I like that it is an eBook - I got it right away!

Mid-Month Check-In for

A Lovely Year of Finishes
....I am way, way behind.  But the only thing to do is start up again and move forward.  I'm working on the back:
How are you doing?  Join us at the linky on Melissa's blog.

Applique Thursday Not..... Again

Sigh - the siege of "things to do" is over and I'm pooped!  Hardly any quilting done, too tired.  After my 2 hour nap after getting back from St. Anne's, I went outside and found solace in plants starting to bloom. 

 Here is my yellow Lady Banks bursting into bloom.

And the geraniums are starting to blossom too!
 
So restful.  Dinner is steak, mash potatoes and sautéed brussel sprouts.  Yumm.  Maybe tomorrow I'll feel quilt energized again.  What are you up to? 

Another WOW!

I had 7 days of 4 grandkids in the last 9 days  - 3 of those 24/7! so this was the last thing I've done. Do go over the Esther's blog for this week's WOW and see the fabulous flower blocks she and others have made for the Forget Me Not BOM that is coming to a close.


PS: The telephone repairman said it was a wonder we had any telephone and internet service from the mess that was in the junction box. He worked two hours on it - even put a new wire from the pole to the house.  I do believe my NET is faster - woo hoo!

Design Wall Monday 3/11/13

This has to be quick - I'm having phone line problems and it only lets me on for a couple of minutes when I catch it behaving.  Telephone lineman is coming tomorrow in the afternoon.  I still can't show you what's on my design wall as guild members read the post, so here's a photo of a quilt I fell in love with at a quilt show I attended in February and the accompanying info.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times and Lyn's BOMs Away site. Go check them out.

Stash Report 3/10/13

Very busy babysitting - two twelve hour days and then this weekend all four of them for three days -makes for very little quilting but lots of fun.  And for three days I was able to do a lot toward piecing my BOM quilt.  I used 1/4 yard to make handles for my tote and .61 yards toward the white outer border for all the 12 blocks plus 1 yard for inner sashing, 2/3 yards for first border and 2 yards for outer border - I have to cut the last border on the length.  Here are my numbers:

This week:  in 0.0 yds.; out   4.53 yds.
Stash YTD: in 3.0 yds., out 18.63 yds.
Donated this week: 0.0 yds; YTD: 8.09 yds

Net for 2013: out 15.63 yds.

Here are my two two-year-olds playing together in January.  Lily is 7 months older than Alan.  I'm linking over to Judy's Patchwork Times and Lyn's BOMs Away.  Check out all those links.

Applique Thursday Winner


Here's our cool Alan ready to announce the winner for this week's giveaway:  Happy Cottage Quilter !  I've sent her a message and look forward to sending her the book.

Not much piecing happening but I did get my 15 a day done.

Taking a break from giving away as I have too much going on otherwise to be on the computer much.  Tomorrow is another day.  I did make a tiny bit of progress on my morning glory block.  I  fused the pieces I had made to the correct background. Big leaves next.

Leave me a comment and I'll come over and see your eye candy when I have a minute on the NET.  Look forward to hearing from you!

Design Wall Monday 3/4/13

I can't show you my tote or quilt yet that are my design wall, so in their place here are two more of my DH's cactus in  bloom.                                               

The one on the right forms the most colorful fruits on the top of the plant - they're a bright red and elongated.  I'll see if I can find an old picture of them.

I'm linking over at Judy's Patchwork Times and Lyn's BOMs Away.  Go on over and see the great eye candy.

Stash Report 3/3/13

My husband's cactus garden is starting to bloom again.

Don't know how much I'll get done this week as I have two 12 hour babysitting days coming up.  Last week I only used 1/2 yard for the lining of my tote, but nothing came in, so net total is slightly higher.
Here are my numbers:
This week:  in 0.0 yds.; out 0.5 yds.
Stash YTD: in 3.0 yds., out 14.1 yds.
Donated this week: .34 yds; YTD: 8.09 yds

Net for 2013: out 11.1 yds.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times.  Go see how much better others did with their stash busting.  And the giveaway from last Thursday is still ongoing.  See what book you could win by going back to that post.

Golden Quilters Awards

I couldn't wait. I went on over to Sew Cal Gal's blog and discovered who the winners are for this year.  And Padsworth has done a very fine video to announce them.  Hop on over to see it!

Congratulations to all the winners!

Future March Finish

My March finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes will be my Memories of Riverside quilt. All the blocks are made. So I have to get busy on it.  To the left is just one of the 12 blocks.

Have you picked one UFO for a finish?  I like that I only have to finish one goal each month - doesn't even have to be a complete quilt - just whatever I decide to keep me moving forward. That way if life gets in the way and I can't finish all three at Judy's blog, I at least have one done.  Click on the button to go see the one project others are going to do.
A Lovely Year of Finishes

SAHRR Round 5 and 6

  Ready to show rounds 5 and 6. Actually, the prompt for 5 was make 4 of something. So I chose four patch, and actually since that made my q...