Onward, upward and Joan Woodward

Sew, I took Mistress J in for a spa day to get rid of the squeaking. I am hand sewing the binding down on the BHP and plan to ship that out sometime this month. I have two or three UFOs I could work on, but that is no fun at all, especially when I picked up a new magazine at the craft store for a raw edge circle quilt. After I left Mistress J, I spent a nice long time at the fabric shop and left with a lighter wallet. In one weekend of Mistress J being out of the house, I have enough fabric for four new projects: two big people quilts, one little person quilt, and a new farmer’s market tote (which I am proud to say will be constructed entirely from fabric from my stash). Fabric is cut for my living room quilt, now titled “Life Goes On (Oh Bla Di)”, halfway cut for the second grown up one. Mistress J is due home tomorrow. Hope the excitement of new projects lasts long enough to actually sew a little bit.

Fabric for "Life Goes On"

Looks like it is going to be bigger than I expected (remember, I am spatially challenged. Finished dimensions don't mean much to me) given the amount of time it took me to cut 96 10" squares, 32 of those in to circles. But the circle ruler is super fun! Of course, the pattern is supposed to make use of layer cakes, but I already had the fabric for my living room quilt picked out and purchased. And I could not for the life of me find any retailer who sold layer cakes of just solid white squares, so I was stuck reducing 4 3/4 yards of "snow" to 10" squares. So it's raw edge applique, one colored circle appliqued to a white square for the A block and then the remaining "holey" fabric laid over a full white square for the white to show through for B block. Pictures forthcoming when Mistress J returns.

Farmer's Market Bag

I love, love, love these fabrics! I bought the blue flower print years ago, just waiting for the perfect project. The rest of the fabric is from my stash, most of which has been used in other projects. I love the continuity of using scraps from old projects in new ones. Reminds me of the love out there.

Don't Drink and Sew!

Sew… it’s been a while. About three months it looks like. I did give Beautiful Boy away to some very appreciative parents. :o) Took me a while to figure out the telescoping square quilting on the BHP (give me a break… I am spatially challenged and trying to work from a photo), but I finally finished the squares and the flower border. Last thing I made my squeaky machine (sounded like the shower scene in Psycho with every stitch) do was put the binding on. Enter Moral Lesson Of the Day: Don’t drink and sew kids. It never comes to a good end. I like to diagonally piece my bindings because that’s how some magazine told me to. I can’t blame the first misstep on the wine because I initially pieced all the strips stone sober. Instead of piecing each strip one at a time, I sewed two strips at a time, thinking I would save time. I had six strips to piece. After I trimmed seams and started pressing, I realized that the middle seam was backwards. $&#*%$& Ripped the seam out, whacked off the end and tried again. And again. And again. Could not wrap my head around the geometry. Threw the whole mess on the bed and left the room cursing, vowing not to return. Ever. Friday night, after a lovely dinner at home that included a glass of wine, I decided it was a good time to try again. Carried my glass with me to the sewing room and cleared my mind of any preconceived ideas of how this would work. Imagine, if you will, me standing in front of my ironing board taking deep cleansing breaths. Missed on the first try. Seam ripper and a swig from the glass. SUCCESS! The darn thing was finally right side out. HaHA! Plugged in the iron and proceeded to press the binding. Until, that is, I came to the next #($&@*&%^ seam. Yes. Backward. Seriously? How did I manage to do this AGAIN? Sheer stubbornness and wine induced single mindedness spurred me on to rip that seam out another 5 times before I got it right again. So kids, since I can’t be a good example, I will settle for being a horrible warning.

Telescoping Squares


Border... barely visible though the chalk helps