WIPs Be Gone

Argggghhh!  I don't like it.  Why didn't I stop and take a photo?  I was so into making diamonds, I didn't stop and see what I was creating.  And now it's all together and darn if I didn't lose my center circle and those blue ones make for odd shaped rosettes!

They have to come out.  I made some various hexies and tried them out and found a solution.  But it's going to take a while.  So far I've taken three out and what a chore that was with invisible thread! I learned:

  1. It's going to be tricky since I removed the papers from the hexagons. So the ones I use to reconstruct will have to have the papers, so that means new ones - not using the old ones I take off elsewhere as I first thought.
  2. In order to rip out the stitches (which are very hard to see) I must put the two hexies with the seam between them right sides together, sit where the lamp is shining over my shoulder to make the stitches appear. Then I can see to rip.
  3. It's a good thing I ties off at both ends of each small seam or the hexies would fall apart with this deconstruction
  4. Sew the three I am removing into a shape before I add them back.
Little by little....

What are you up to? Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.  Be sure to go to the linky party tab above to see where I'll be linking.  You might want to join us.  The NET is so big it is nice to hear from you this way, so I can visit.  Thanks!

Some of This, Some of That

As to stash, I used 2 yards for part of the front and all of the back of the latest baby quilt, and a 1/3rd yd to finish a preemie quilt top. My YTD total now stands at 4.34 yards destashed.

Here's the next to the last baby quilt with the top all finished.
If I made this pattern again, think I'd make the square in the center a square in a square so th it would be a solid block and show off the print more.  Now to sandwich and quilt. BTW:  this pattern is from Moda's Big Block 2  booklet.  It has some really nice 32" blocks. You can easily make a big lap quilt with four of these blocks.  I make one block for a neonatal quilt.

As to slow Sunday stitching, I'm happy to report I was able to do some every day of last week and today also.  So:
I only have one side of a diamond left to whip stitch to my large hexagon and I can show it to you.

What are you up to?  Would love to know.  Leave me a comment and I'll come by and see your work.

Blessings!

WIPs Be Gone

How did this happen??  I now have 6 baby quilts in the process of being completed!  I'm suppose to be reducing my WIPs not adding to them. Woe is me.  Here are the last two I added to my WTBQ pile:

 My RSC2016 challenge for January is met.  Now to get it quilted.

I found this panel and before I knew it I had it cut apart for a St. Anne's quilt.  26x42 is not conducive for a baby quilt - too narrow.  So I tried to square it up.  It's 35 x 36 - more baby friendly. Another for quilting.  The front is flannel.  Should I make the back flannel also?  If so, should it have batting then? So many decisions.

What are you up to? Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.

See the Linky Parties tab for where I link on Fridays. Enjoy!

Slow Sunday Stitching and Unstitching

I'm still stitching on my hexagon project and my old 2nd ever project. Finished all the block center motifs and have started on the sashing:
As can happen in 28 years, I've lost the template I chose for the sashing! I saw it not too long ago. Why didn't I grab it and put it with the quilt?  But I'm not going through those other 19 boxes looking for it.  There's something to be said for project boxes.  So I made a freezer paper template based on one of the sashings I'd already done on the quilt to test the lost template years ago.  It works great.

So once I've done one line of these, I'll work on today's unstitching task - lol.
I got ahead of myself and sewed the edge seam on this flannel rag quilt before basting it. Of course there are pleats here and there. Today's the day I will take out the seam - all four sides - and smooth out the quilt so that I can machine quilt it. Sigh.

What are you up to?  I also made one star block so my YTD total has gone up by a teeny .01 yard.  Now I have 2.01 yds out - LOL.Leave me a comment and let me know what you've been destashing.  And be sure to check the linky party tab under the header to see where I'm linking today. You can too.

RSC16

This is as far as I've gotten with the RSC16 challenge for this month.  As you can see I made 4 blocks in blue with purple accents.  Now what?  This will finish to a 30" square as a preemie quilt for our local NICU.  How are you doing?  I'd like to know.

Blessings!

WIPs Be Gone

I won't be showing you my WIPs this week.  Oh, I worked on them, but they're just a little farther along -  all three of them, so instead of boring you with the very similar photos of them, here's a little news for you.

First, I'd like to announce the winner of last week's mystery item.  It was a book and won by Marsha at Quilter in Motion.
This is the book I read and used to make my elephant quilt:

Now that I understand the concept, I thought I'd pass it along to another quilter. So as soon as I hear from Marsha, I'll be sending it. And no, Gretchen, I haven't forgotten that I need to send you the hexagons. I've just not had someone in the past week to go to the post office for me.  It's frustrating not being able to drive.

Secondly, as I browsed and found the Blenders book, I found a couple more books that I want to send to new homes.  These are free for the cost of shipping.  First one who is willing to pay the media mail shipping via PayPal gets it.  1/19 - these are taken. More later. I found some duplicates of others.
cost of shipping in US: $3.22


cost of shipping in US: $3.22

What are you up to? Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.


Some of this, Some of That



First, the mystery quilting gift giveaway is ongoing.  Just go to the previous post to this one and check it out.

Using 1.5 yards to make another preemie quilt.  I'm also using my RSC2016 blocks for it. YTD total for destashing is now 2.0 yards. 

One down and three to go.


Slow stitching this week was mainly on my old quilt top and my hexies.  I have 4 centers to go and then I'll start on the sashing.







Then I decided to do Shelly's  Studio Organizing, Week 1 challenge - organize your papers. That's what I did.  I have (had) a box with files folders in it for the 30 years I've been quilting.  Hadn't looked at them in years, so I went through them and got rid of 90% of those clippings - they don't appeal to me any more, learned those techniques, etc.
 Half that pile on the plastic bin was on this box. It made my entry into the room so narrow.

 I consolidated it to one expandable folder. It's going into my quilting bookshelf so I'll be tempted to look in it more often. And that box is gone! Only 19 more to go (but they don't have papers in them).
Now I have lots of room to go in with my walker and no squeezing around that box.  Little by little!


2nd WIPs Be Gone & Giveaway

Okay, went through my blog and identified what # WIP my Hexie project has become - #18.  I'm calling it hexies and more.  Here are the diamonds I've made so far for it.  Two more to go and I can start assembling the diamonds together.


Made another row for that baby quilt I started before the break.  I have to keep telling myself "
little by little".



I've been good and worked on my 28-year-old hand quilting project. Yes, 28 years.  It was the second quilt I started way back in 1988.  The top went together pretty quickly even though I didn't have a rotary cutter in those days.  I made the usual new quilter mistakes - picked a block with set-in seams and the quilt is queen size. LOL.  Plus I hadn't a clue how to actually quilt.  So I'm calling it WIP #19 and telling myself I'm doing something on it every day - little by little.
One of the things I didn't know then was that one is suppose to mark the quilt for quilting before it is sandwiched. Didn't do that.  I also learned last week that the freezer paper method (that I use when machine quilting) doesn't work when hand quilting because of all the manipulation one does when quilting in a hoop causes the freezer paper to easily come off.  So I just use it to iron it place on the square and trace around it with a marking pen and then quilt it.

And lastly, congrats to Gretchen of Gretchen's corner who won the 100 hexagon paper pieces!  I've commented on her blog and hope to send them out soon. I want to thank everyone who came by and gave me a chance to visit your blog.  I enjoy your eye candy.   Let's have another giveaway this week, too.  This time it's a mystery item - may be a book, or fabric, or a pattern, or even more hexie papers. Leave a comment or a link or both to win.  Linky below.

What are you up to?  Would love to hear about it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty.  Did the Magi bring you any gifts?  I got a lovely sewing tote and a great candle with holder.  Blessings!


I'm linking to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Esther's WOW. See you there. PS all the linky party buttons now have their own special tab at the top of the blog. Check them out!

Some of This, Some of That

Okay! used two fat quarters to make two 12" blocks and to start off my de-stashing for 2016. My YTD total is .5 yard.  Off to a positive start.

Today I'll still be working on those diamonds I'm making for my current Hexie Project - still doesn't have a WIP number - see my previous post for what they look like, and the giveway is still on there.  I'm sharing a few ornaments I made before Christmas as I sat on that recliner favoring my broken hip.  These have been gifted so I can show them to you:
The flowers were a Christmas gift from a friend.

These mittens were fun to make. I got to remember some embroidery stitches from long ago.

Th directions called for black thread blanket stitches for all the edges - I decided to use some of the leftover strands.

These mitten ornaments were a kit from Connecting Threads.  I gave them to my Nastursium Society sisters at our December 30th meeting. We've met for 37 years (meeting monthly). We use to be a babysitting co-op.

What are you slow stitching?  I'm off to see what Kathy is slow stitching this Sunday and link to her party.  You can find her button under my linky party tab.

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...