I have finally finished sewing the last seam on my RRCB tonight. What a huge relief to have it finished. I hope to put the top on the machine this week and get it quilted. I did take a couple of pictures and I will wait to post them after I take my course next week.
If Bonnie has another mystery next year I do not think I will join in. I have enough large quilts right now and no beds to put them on. I did the Carolina Christmas quilt and was not terribly thrilled with the outcome and I was really on the fence with the RRCB so I really think I need a break. It is a lot of work to keep up and I have had enough self imposed stress the past few years. Time to take a break from stress. I have to use up all of my scraps on charity quilts this year before I start something new anyway. The exception will be wall hangings for my living room and hallway. If I need fabric for those I will buy it but I will shop the stash first. I want to use up my batiks.
On a personal note, my back is killing me today. I guess from either sitting with poor posture at my machine for so many days straight or from the great lunk of a dog sleeping with me all night. Why I let him I do not know.
We had so much snow today. I could barely see further than the basketball hoops and the far end of the park was invisible. It took Fred ages to snow blow and the roads were horrible to drive on. It is a good thing we have a great system for snow plowing in this city so tomorrow we will be all back to normal.
Happy quilting,
Lynne
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Plugging away.
Another cold morning. They have started carving the snow sculptures in St. Boniface so it should start to warm up now.
On Friday I finished sewing the string blocks and pressed and cut them in half. Yeah! Yesterday, I finished sewing them in twos and fours so I am ready to arrange all of the blocks on my design wall and see how they look. I am anxious now to see it put together. I think this will be the first of all of my quilt tops to be quilted. I haven't decided how I am going to quilt it yet. I think because there is so much play in each block I am going to custom quilt the top. I know I will run into trouble if I try to use a panto and I really don't have anything that would work for this quilt. The pattern has to be curvy because there are so many angles to the blocks. I have a bit of time to think about this. I am really starting to like the quilt. When Step 7 was up I was a little disappointed but once I saw my blocks with my fabric choices I felt a little better. Then when Step 8 was revealed I was happy, the border makes the quilt. It makes all of the colours pop. I think I will use the constant blue fabric as my inner border strip. I cut too many for the hsts so they are cut and ready for me. I will audition them first.
Last night, instead of putting the RRCB blocks on the design board I pulled out my bonus hsts from Carolina Christmas and finished pressing them open and then I am squaring them up. Not all of them square up to unfinished two inches so I am squaring them to 1 7/8". This will be fine since I am going to make a wall hanging with just those units so it doesn't matter. I nosed around in the quilter's cache site and found a block that should work out fine. I may make a few more units up with a different neutral for some interest. We will see.
I can hardly wait to take the photography course so that I can upload photos of my blocks and quilts into my blog.
Happy quilting,
Lynne
On Friday I finished sewing the string blocks and pressed and cut them in half. Yeah! Yesterday, I finished sewing them in twos and fours so I am ready to arrange all of the blocks on my design wall and see how they look. I am anxious now to see it put together. I think this will be the first of all of my quilt tops to be quilted. I haven't decided how I am going to quilt it yet. I think because there is so much play in each block I am going to custom quilt the top. I know I will run into trouble if I try to use a panto and I really don't have anything that would work for this quilt. The pattern has to be curvy because there are so many angles to the blocks. I have a bit of time to think about this. I am really starting to like the quilt. When Step 7 was up I was a little disappointed but once I saw my blocks with my fabric choices I felt a little better. Then when Step 8 was revealed I was happy, the border makes the quilt. It makes all of the colours pop. I think I will use the constant blue fabric as my inner border strip. I cut too many for the hsts so they are cut and ready for me. I will audition them first.
Last night, instead of putting the RRCB blocks on the design board I pulled out my bonus hsts from Carolina Christmas and finished pressing them open and then I am squaring them up. Not all of them square up to unfinished two inches so I am squaring them to 1 7/8". This will be fine since I am going to make a wall hanging with just those units so it doesn't matter. I nosed around in the quilter's cache site and found a block that should work out fine. I may make a few more units up with a different neutral for some interest. We will see.
I can hardly wait to take the photography course so that I can upload photos of my blocks and quilts into my blog.
Happy quilting,
Lynne
Thursday, January 20, 2011
One of the coldest days of the year.
Good morning. The temperature this morning is -26C and with the windchill the temp will reach -38C. BRRR! Charlie doesn't want to go out this morning. Go figure.
I have been slogging away at my string blocks for the RRCB quilt and am determined to finish the top before I start any more projects. I am going to make the quilt smaller than Bonnie's pattern calls for, just using four prickly pear blocks by five down with the string blocks between. I had pieced enough of everything (except for the string blocks) for the full sized quilt but I will use the leftovers somewhere else. I am thinking of making pillow shams or cases using the seminole border strips as borders on the sham. Why waste fabric.
I have been reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and she had pictures of miniatures of her patterns. That inspired me to make up something with bonus hst units that I have kicking around for one of the hallway wallhangings I want to do. I pulled out the "Combing through your Scraps" book and there are some great ideas there. The quilts all use split nine patch blocks so I think I will sort through my scraps and make up a leader and ender kit.
I have pinned my last customer quilt (for the winter) on the rollers yesterday and will go down and start quilting today. The customer just wants something simple and light so I have a few ideas. The top is for her grandson who is legally blind so the colours are quite bright and cheery, nice to work on during this cold spell in January. The basement is freezing at this time of year so I will be working in small spurts. My hands and legs go numb.
I am looking forward to the photography class so that I can learn to post pictures in my blog.
Well off to my day.
Happy stitching.
I have been slogging away at my string blocks for the RRCB quilt and am determined to finish the top before I start any more projects. I am going to make the quilt smaller than Bonnie's pattern calls for, just using four prickly pear blocks by five down with the string blocks between. I had pieced enough of everything (except for the string blocks) for the full sized quilt but I will use the leftovers somewhere else. I am thinking of making pillow shams or cases using the seminole border strips as borders on the sham. Why waste fabric.
I have been reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and she had pictures of miniatures of her patterns. That inspired me to make up something with bonus hst units that I have kicking around for one of the hallway wallhangings I want to do. I pulled out the "Combing through your Scraps" book and there are some great ideas there. The quilts all use split nine patch blocks so I think I will sort through my scraps and make up a leader and ender kit.
I have pinned my last customer quilt (for the winter) on the rollers yesterday and will go down and start quilting today. The customer just wants something simple and light so I have a few ideas. The top is for her grandson who is legally blind so the colours are quite bright and cheery, nice to work on during this cold spell in January. The basement is freezing at this time of year so I will be working in small spurts. My hands and legs go numb.
I am looking forward to the photography class so that I can learn to post pictures in my blog.
Well off to my day.
Happy stitching.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Up early to view the final mystery clue.
I just looked at the Quiltville blog for the last clue and border treatment. It does bring the quilt together. I know it will be fussy work, especially the corners. The quilt does look good but I still have not decided if I will make the whole quilt as is or my own version of it. Too soon to tell. I am still feeling groddy this morning so I will not make any decisions.
Once I figure out how to use this blog properly, I will start to list my projects in categories for my own records. I have so many UFO's to complete and RRCB is now another one. I am making a vow now not to join the mystery if there is one next year. I have enough quilts on the go. No one in the family is getting married and if they were most likely would not want a quilt anyway. So NO MORE LARGE QUILTS for me. I have a list of wallhangings and tablerunners I want to do so once I get my UFO's ready to quilt I will start on them. The hallway hanging is the most important next project right now.
Once I figure out how to use this blog properly, I will start to list my projects in categories for my own records. I have so many UFO's to complete and RRCB is now another one. I am making a vow now not to join the mystery if there is one next year. I have enough quilts on the go. No one in the family is getting married and if they were most likely would not want a quilt anyway. So NO MORE LARGE QUILTS for me. I have a list of wallhangings and tablerunners I want to do so once I get my UFO's ready to quilt I will start on them. The hallway hanging is the most important next project right now.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Another cold day in Manitoba
It is -22C this morning and the dog will not be walked until this afternoon. I have a cold starting that my DS and DDIL have been so kind to share. They were both sick over the holidays.
I have managed to get all of my 600 hst units for the Roll Roll Cotton Bowl mystery quilt sewn into groups of five for Step 6 yesterday. That took forever as I ended up unsewing several because they did not line up properly and quite a few needed to be trimmed. But I did get it done. I also pieced one of the reverse prickly pear blocks together to see how it would look. I am very happy that I chose a dark teal blue for my constant. I think I will be happier with the finished project. Red was just not doing anything for me or the other colours of fabrics. I do not think I will make the full size quilt as designed by Bonnie Hunter. I like my string blocks but I don't like them with the RPP block. I am looking forward to seeing Step 7 tomorrow which should show the border treatment.
I also started cleaning up the basement yesterday and packed up two large boxes of old electronic equipment to take to the depot. Why were we keeping all of that junk? I have some old suitcases that I am packing up with items we no longer need or want to send to charity. They will have a truck down our street next week, so all of it will be gone. I don't know if I will tackle anymore today because I am starting to feel rotten, but I may sort through a bunch of fabric to take to MCC. I will never be able to use all of that fabric for charity quilts myself unless I live to be 200 and sew 24/7. It will be going to a good cause. That group of ladies have it down to a science and just can crank the charity quilts out.
Well off to start my day and get something done. Have a good one.
I have managed to get all of my 600 hst units for the Roll Roll Cotton Bowl mystery quilt sewn into groups of five for Step 6 yesterday. That took forever as I ended up unsewing several because they did not line up properly and quite a few needed to be trimmed. But I did get it done. I also pieced one of the reverse prickly pear blocks together to see how it would look. I am very happy that I chose a dark teal blue for my constant. I think I will be happier with the finished project. Red was just not doing anything for me or the other colours of fabrics. I do not think I will make the full size quilt as designed by Bonnie Hunter. I like my string blocks but I don't like them with the RPP block. I am looking forward to seeing Step 7 tomorrow which should show the border treatment.
I also started cleaning up the basement yesterday and packed up two large boxes of old electronic equipment to take to the depot. Why were we keeping all of that junk? I have some old suitcases that I am packing up with items we no longer need or want to send to charity. They will have a truck down our street next week, so all of it will be gone. I don't know if I will tackle anymore today because I am starting to feel rotten, but I may sort through a bunch of fabric to take to MCC. I will never be able to use all of that fabric for charity quilts myself unless I live to be 200 and sew 24/7. It will be going to a good cause. That group of ladies have it down to a science and just can crank the charity quilts out.
Well off to start my day and get something done. Have a good one.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
My First Blog
This is my first blog post ever. I have no idea how to post pictures or add buttons. I am sure that I will learn as I go. I have not much to say yet but I am sure this blog will be a great diary of all of my quilting adventures.
I am currently working on a mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville Quips and Snips. I am sewing the 600 hst units together into sets of five right not. What a tedious job. I am sure I will have that part finished within the next couple of days. It only took a couple of hours to sew them into twosies. I really like the reverse hole in the barn door blocks but I will have to see how the string blocks look together. I might change the setting once I have that part of step 7 done. I don't think I will make it as big as Bonnie calls for either.
About me. I have been married for 31 years, have a married son, and a dog named Charlie. Charlie has taken over the household and is boss. We need Cesar here to teach us how to be pack leaders.
I have a Gammill Classic longarm machine and quilt for others. I am currently on a sabbatical to catch up on my own work. I was overwhelmed taking in customer quilts and needed a break. I hope to go to MQX in the spring and get excited about quilting again. I am suffering from burnout so that might be the catalist to get me going again.
I am enjoying using up my stash. I have a lot of UFO's and plan to spend this winter finishing the tops and getting my own quilts quilted. In a future blog I will list all of the projects I have on the go and use this as a record of getting them done. I do not want to purchase any more fabric to complete a project and will try my hardest to use only fabric from the stash. I say that now, but I will most likely breakdown and buy sashing fabric. I think I will work hard at making only pieced borders. That should use up alot.
Happy quilting
I am currently working on a mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville Quips and Snips. I am sewing the 600 hst units together into sets of five right not. What a tedious job. I am sure I will have that part finished within the next couple of days. It only took a couple of hours to sew them into twosies. I really like the reverse hole in the barn door blocks but I will have to see how the string blocks look together. I might change the setting once I have that part of step 7 done. I don't think I will make it as big as Bonnie calls for either.
About me. I have been married for 31 years, have a married son, and a dog named Charlie. Charlie has taken over the household and is boss. We need Cesar here to teach us how to be pack leaders.
I have a Gammill Classic longarm machine and quilt for others. I am currently on a sabbatical to catch up on my own work. I was overwhelmed taking in customer quilts and needed a break. I hope to go to MQX in the spring and get excited about quilting again. I am suffering from burnout so that might be the catalist to get me going again.
I am enjoying using up my stash. I have a lot of UFO's and plan to spend this winter finishing the tops and getting my own quilts quilted. In a future blog I will list all of the projects I have on the go and use this as a record of getting them done. I do not want to purchase any more fabric to complete a project and will try my hardest to use only fabric from the stash. I say that now, but I will most likely breakdown and buy sashing fabric. I think I will work hard at making only pieced borders. That should use up alot.
Happy quilting
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