WIPS Be Gone, Finish and Giveaway

The Giveaway is still on and so is the Grow Your Blog.  I'm finding some really nice blogs at Vicki's event.  Here's the book I'm giving away:
Just go to the previous post and you'll see the various ways you can enter to win it.  Ends Feb 14th. And don't forget to go to Grow Your Blog - you will have lots of fun there.

Now for my WIPs Be Gone!  I'm happy to say, I do have some progress.  Here's the first section of a border I'm  adding to my WIP #1:
 The prairie points aren't that hard. You can see a tutorial for these peiced points in my previous post.
It's just finding the time to do them.  I've been creating another B3quilt for my guild and in the process made 4 more (some for St. Anne's).  LOL - I couldn't stop!

How did you do with your WIP progress? I'd so like to see what you did - even if it was only a little bit.  Linky below.  It ends Monday, midnight.  So looking forward to seeing your steps forward.



Here's my finish for the week.  One of those 4 I mentioned.  Now how can a quilt top be a finish?  That's my part of the process for St. Anne's .  I make quilt tops; others sandwich, tie and bind.  Sometimes I will quilt a top, but most are tied.
I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday, Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Julie's Pet Project Show.  See you there!

Giveaway and Pieced Prairie Points

The Grow Your Blog event is ongoing! While I didn't get to join this year, I want to encourage you to go find new blogs over at Vicki's and meet a lot of wonderful bloggers there.
Many of the participants have giveaways!  And it's so much fun making new friends out there in the quilting world.  In honor of this annual event, I'm giving away a book about machine applique.
Beth shows you in detail how to machine applique.  It includes 9 lovely projects plus templates. There are several ways to win this book.  Leave a comment telling me of a new blog I should visit from the hundreds at the Grow Your Blog event for a chance.   Or visit Linda here and leave a comment for her on her Ghost Quilting for another chance. Then tell me you visited and what the pin cushion is used for and have a third chance!  Good luck!  The giveaway will end same time as the Grow your Blog - I will ship anywhere.

Now I want to tell you how I make pieced prairie points.  They're for a border I'm making for one of my WIPs.
Here we go.
 1. For every 4 prairie points I needed one 3 1/2" background square and one 3 1/2" (PP) prairie point fabric.  I also needed two 3" squares of background fabric. You can change the dimension as needed for the size of your prairie points you want.  I wanted my units to finish at 2".
 2.  I took the two 3 1/2" squares and drew the diagonal on the back of the PP fabric. I then sewed a scant 1/4" to the right of the diagonal on both sides.  I then cut it on the diagonal.  I sewed all the pairs I needed at this step to take advantage of chain piecing.
3. I then lightly pressed one seam allowance toward the PP fabric and one toward the background , then trued them up to 3" hsts.
 4.  I then took my 3" background squares and paired them with the trim hsts I had made - two at a time at this point.
5.  Next I placed my ruler with it's diagonal line on the left side of the block as pictured and cut the paired pieces on the diagonal formed by the edge of the ruler. I did this to both pairs.
6.  Here's what they looked like.
7.   I then sewed them together using a scant 1/4" seam. I cut these in pairs from the chain piecing to keep them together.  I then pressed firmly to be sure one of the short triangle seams went toward the light and one toward the dark fabric.
8.  Now the units are ready for their second truing up. The ruler's diagonal is on the long diagonal seam, and I center the lines for a 2 1/2" square so that there is some fabric to trim from all four sides. This keeps my units from being lopsided at a side.
9.  When I turned the two paired units over I check that the seams will nestle when I go to sew them together with a scant 1/4".
 10.  Once the seam is sewn, I press the seam open to spread the bulkiness of the seam to each side.
And my two prairie point units are done, ready to be sewn to others to make my prairie point border.

I'm linking to Connie's Linky Tuesday party.  Hope to see you there.

This N That Week 4

First, the linky party to WIPs Be Gone where we share our progress is still open. Ends Monday, midnight. Would love to see how you're doing so we can root you on. It's the previous post to this one.

Second, it's time for the Grow Your Blog event! While I didn't get to join this year, I want to encourage you to go find new blogs over at Vicki's and meet a lot of wonderful bloggers there.
Many of the participants have giveaways!  And it's so much fun making new friends out there in the quilting world.  In honor of this annual event, I'm giving away a book about (what else) applique.
Beth shows you in detail how to machine applique.  It includes 9 lovely projects plus templates. There are several ways to win this book.  Leave a comment telling me of a new blog I should visit from the hundreds at the Grow Your Blog event for a chance.   Or visit Linda here and leave a comment for her on her Ghost Quilting for another chance. Then tell me you visited and what the pin cushion is used for and have a third chance!  Good luck!  The giveaway will end same time as the Grow your Blog - I will ship anywhere.

On the home front - I used another two yards in making another B3 quilt. That makes a total of 9.88 yards used for 2015.  These 30"quilts are so much fun! More on that Friday. I'm still working on my hexies. Here they are in a group shot - well most of them:

Six not shown and 10 to go!

And lastly there's something new on my design wall:
Two more pieces to finish the border on this charity quilt.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times, Lyn's BOMs Away, and Esther's WOW.  See you there!

WIPs Be Gone Week 4

Woohoo, I can officially say my WIP #2 is out of the WIP pile and into the WTBQ pile.  What is that you say?  Waiting to Be Quilted - LOL.  Actually, it is still a work in progress because it has to be quilted and bound before it is a finish, but at least it is onto another level of the quilting process.

I also totally finished my first B3quilt. And that is:  Baby's Big Block Quilt.  Yep, just one block to make a 30" baby quilt.
This is going to our regional hospital's Neonatal unit.  The block is the Baton Rouge Square block - an old traditional block.  It took me 4.5 hours to make it from cutting to binding.  I've written a pattern and you can find it under my free pattern tab.  The block requires three fabrics but I couldn't find three pieces the right size at first so I just went with four.  My second one just has three fabrics, but I'll wait til next Friday to show it to you when it's all done.

Did you work on a WIP?  Would love to see what you're been up to - a little or a lot of progress - either is fine. Linky below - it ends Monday, midnight.  Off to pull out another WIP to take the place of #2.



I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Fridays and Sarah's Can I have a Whoop, Whoop? because I have a finish! See you there.

This N That Week 3

Now let's see:  I added 2.48 yards to my orphan block quilt in borders and blocks. Made two charity tops for another 3.3 yards. That includes one back.  Made some of my border for WIP #1 for another .10 yard for a grand total of 5.88 yards - that's a lot for me. So my total YTD is 7.88 yards, nothing in and nothing donated yet.

Nothing has changed on my design wall as I was quilting a different charity quilt - one for St. Anne's.
This is quilted around all the major elements of the panel and the straight lines of the blocks and strips.  The pins you see is where another member will tie it using orange yarn to the back, so all one will see is the stitch on the right side. I used warm and natural which can be quilted up to 10 inches apart.  With the ties it will be more like 5 inches apart.






Here's a closeup of the
pternanodon.



My part is done with this quilt.  I then started another one.  This one is a panel I deconstructed and put back together again.  I showed it before.  Here it is getting quilted by Ms. Juki.  Center is almost all done - then to the border.  It measures 36" square.  I hope to be done with it by Friday.


Alas no applique but I did cut some 1" hexagons from my scraps.  I don't know why I didn't think of using some of my scraps to make hexagons for a scrappy quilt before.  I have now and last night I cut out 14 as I worked my way through a pile of scraps.  I'm cutting them ala the Bonnie Hunter method. I filled a basket full of the sizes Bonnie recommends.  She has given so much to the quilting world!

So how goes it at your quilting studio?  Leave me a comment and I'll come over to see your eye candy.  I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times, Esther's WOW and Connie's Linky Tuesday Party.  Lots of goodies there!

WIPs Be Gone Week 3

Hey, I have been working on that hexie flower quilt all last year so that makes it a WIP - hehe.  So that's WIP #3.

Here's the latest flower on the right. Made it during the four hours I spent at the doctor's doing some of those annual things they always want us to do.  And I figured out a border for WIP #1.  I have to make 72 of those little sections - it will take me a while.

WIP #2 is one I also started in 2014 - My Happy Scrappy Orphan Block Quilt by Rosemary Young. She made two gorgeous ones!
  I need to vary what I work on so that's why I pulled this out, plus it's mostly using orphan blocks and making a left side to this top. So I hope to be done very soon. Rosemary's is a lot bigger - I don't want mine so big.  Also I'm running out of blocks and I wanted to get rid of blocks, not make more.

How are you doing on your WIP?  Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish - even a little progress is great.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows your WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. I finished a flower so I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?  Lots of eye candy there.


This n That Week 2

In my efforts to reduce computer time and have more time for other things, I'm combining Stash Report, Design Wall Monday and Applique Tuesday into one post.  I'm calling it This and That.

First off, I used 3 yards last week in putting together a B3Quilt.   B3 stands for Baby's Big Block.  In 2013 Quiltmaker had a Big Block Baby quilt in each issue for that year and I was very intrigued with the idea.  Go here to read more about them.  I even made one (mine has one large square in the middle):
  At first I called this my ugly quilt, but then I found the blue for the border and dropped that title. I like it now. I'm renaming it Feline Mug Shots. It's 30" square and will be given to the neonatal unit for which our guild does community service.  Here's the back:
Since, besides WIPs, I planned to again make charity quilts this year - I think I will work on making a "Bcubed" quilt each month.  I'll even write out directions and share them.  All part of my making my quilting my own. Thanks QM for inspiring me. You can go here to buy their patterns.

Jan 8th we met at my friend Torre's house and held our annual St. Anne's Sewdality Potluck brunch.  We always have a White Elephant exchange.  Here's what I got by chance:
Isn't she cute?!  She's pretty banged up and probably not worth much, but will make a great decoration to my sewing room.  I'm thrilled with it.

So my stash report is now 3 yards out, nothing in.  A good way to start the year.  My design wall hasn't changed.  I've figured out a border for my WIP, but no real progress to show yet. As far as applique - alas, none to report.

I'm linking to Judy's Fabric Report, Lyn's BOMs Away (I did make a few units for that border), Connie's Linky Tuesday and Esther's WOW.
Have fun this week and let's make those WIPs be gone!

Blessings!

WIPs Be Gone Week 2

My first week is over of making WIPs Be Gone. And I am happy to report I have some progress to show you.  After moving the blocks on my Design Wall all over the place, I came up with a design I liked, cut one block down to fit, and made one block I needed to fill it all in. So here is the center of Two WIPs in One:
Measures 34" square.  Now I have to figure out a border - think 2 more borders will do it.  Can you figure out which block I cut down? You'll have to look at last Monday's post for clues.  First one to comment with the right answer gets enough 3/4" hexagon papers to make 5 hexagon flowers.

How did you do with your WIP progress? I'd so like to see what you did - even if it was only a little bit.  Linky below.  It ends Monday, midnight.  So looking forward to seeing your steps forward.


I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? See you there.
On one last thing.  To see my Hexie progress or summary (actually) go here.

Design Wall Monday

For my first WIP Be Gone I put these blocks from two different BOMs on my design wall. One was the Just Takes Two BOM of 4 years ago and my local guild's BOM from last year.  Both I got in over my head with all the rest I had to do. I'll be taking what I made and combining them to get to Done.

Question is will I count this as two WIPs done or one?

I'm linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday, Lyn's BOMs Away, and Esther's WOW (See sidebar, right). Don't miss them.

WIPS Be Gone

WIPs Be GoneA Recap:  Looking back on posts for 2014, I found more and more, quilting was interrupted by life's demands. Certainly, my mother's recent health issues were a wake up call. I need to spend more time with family and less on the computer. It can be such a pit of sedentary activity. So change is coming to this blog. I want to take this opportunity to thank every one who ever linked to Hexie Weekend. My plans were to work on hexies during the week and show them off on the weekend. More and more that didn't happen, and I kept finding other lovely bloggers who also had linky parties for hexies. So much eye candy there! I will still be doing hexies, but I'll be linking over at the more dedicated hexagon bloggers.

 I still would like to see what you are doing. It is very inspiring and educational to see what quilters are creating. My goal for 2015 is to make it the Year of the WIP. I have so many - do you? So starting this week, Hexie Weekend has morphed to WIPs Be Gone. I'll be hosting a linky party each Friday for your WIP projects, either a blog post or additions to your photostream. If you have neither you can also tell me about your WIP progress in a comment.  Be sure you're not a "no reply on Blogger" so I can answer back.  I hope you will share with me and the other readers. It's so much fun to see what you're bringing to life. Who knows I may even have a giveaway now and then.

I made a button.  If you'd like to put it on your blog as a reminder to come by on Fridays, that would be so nice.  You'll find the code on the right sidebar.



Lastly, I'll be listing my finished WIPs.  Let's see how many I can do in 2015. You can check the tab above by the same name for any finishes.

Hexie Weekend Farewell - Welcome WIPs Be Gone!

Hello, here we are at the start of a new year.  Looking back on posts for 2014, I found more and more, quilting was interrupted by life's demands. Certainly my mother's recent health issues were a wake up call.  I need to spend more time with family and less on the computer. It can be such a pit of sedentary activity.  So change is coming to this blog.  I want to take this opportunity to thank every one who has linked to Hexie Weekend.  My plans were to work on hexies during the week and show them off on the weekend.  More and more that didn't happen,  and I kept finding other lovely bloggers who also had linky parties for hexies. So much eye candy there! I will still be doing hexies, but I'll be linking over at the more dedicated hexagon bloggers.

I still would like to see what you are doing. It is very inspiring and educational to see what quilters are creating.  My goal for 2015 is to make it the Year of the WIP.  I have so many - do you?  So starting this week, I'll be hosting a linky party for your WIP projects or additions to your photostream.  I hope you will share with me and the other readers. It's so much fun to see what you're bringing to life.

For this week, I do have a hexie to show besides the ones earlier in the week. Having been at my mother's for the last two weeks, I'm pleased to announce I got 10 more hexie flowers done.  Here's the one I'm working on now:
Only two petals sewn to the center so far.  And that's a Christmas table runner it's sitting on - not the eventual background. Maybe I can finish it for Slow Sunday Stitching. I'm so happy to report Mom has gotten a clean bill of heath and will most likely not need any other type of medical intervention for her breast cancer.  Praise God!!

The other reason I didn't get more hexies done is I started to hand quilt my bed quilt again. Got one more block done:
Have two more to go and then I can start on the sashing and borders of this queen size quilt.  This has been 24 years in the making - yep, 24.  See why I've started on those WIPs.

Lastly, I do have a finish - the last one for 2014.  I finished it yesterday waiting for the New Year.
This was a project a friend gave me. She got it at a estate sale.  There are some projects that should be finished and others that should not.  This for me, after I finally finished it, was one that was a should not. The blocks were made with that really airy and puffy batting of the 50s, 60s. Oh the trouble it caused.  Every seam had to be basted to be sure it worked out right. Seven blocks were already done - I wasn't about to take them apart! Much  of the fabric was polyester/cotton - stretchy and thin - oh my.  The stitching was falling apart in places. The sizes of the QAYG blocks ranged from 14" to 11".  While it is not my best work, it is done.  Here's the back:

I had to make two blocks and patch one - the blue one was already made.

So what are you working on?  Linky below. Ends Monday, Midnight. I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?


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...