So Many Projects!!!

I thought I'd share a few of the projects that are getting the lion's share of my attention lately.  I've got so many quilting irons in the fire right now!  But I think I really work best when I have a lot going on.  It keeps me energized and inspired to have lots of different projects to choose from on any given day.  There's always something in the works that trips my trigger and makes me want to play in the studio!!!

Blue Collection is one of my Dinosaur UFO's - it's been in process since 2008!!!  It's my focus project for this year, and I've been steadily plugging along on it.  I'm happy to say that I've finally added the 3D tree in the center!  This tree has been a stumbling block for me from the beginning.  I've been dreading it!  But it got to the point that I couldn't add other elements until the tree was stitched down, so I finally bit the bullet and went for it!

The tree is made from three tapered bias strips of brown fabrics that are braided together and then loosely arranged on the quilt center, with lots of little branches and leaves sprouting out from it.  (Rocky felt that this particular strip should be his - we had a little bit of a disagreement about it, but happily I finally won ☺)

I had to piece together the blocks in the center section of the quilt with their blue-and-white checkerboard sashing before I could begin to make the tree.

When I appliqued that bottom pot, I left a section open so that I could slip the tree limbs down inside ....

I'm doing hand-stitched applique on this quilt, and it's pretty difficult work handling this large center section to stitch down the tree and all those little remaining leaves, but there was just no way around it.  Of course, this little guy with his curious little nose in everything I'm doing doesn't help LOL!!!  This picture was taken just seconds before he snatched the whole piece off my lap and tried to run for it!

There are quite a few wonderful little details stitched into this quilt ....

And lots of stitching remaining to be done!  But I can't tell you how excited I am to have gotten this far on my Blue Collection project!  I will try my best to post about my progress more often :*)

I usually try to have at least one project all set up and ready to stitch at the machine, so that when I have a spare few minutes I can use it stitching.  This is a paper-pieced project in progress called Diamonds Are Forever from a class I took at guild several years ago.

Lots and lots of scrap strips are going into this fun quilt, and it is amazing how quickly these blocks add up!

Happily, I also have an almost finish to show you!!!  Notice Rocky photo-bombing in the top right?  Believe me, he's not going to miss a quilt-on-the-floor opportunity!!!

Calypso is a kit My Guy bought for me quite a few years ago at a local quilt shop that is no longer in business.  I made the quilt top and then put it on my flimsy shelf to be quilted - and it has remained there for way too long.  I decided to put it on my Guild UFO Challenge list, and it's number came up for this month.  My friend Joanne let me use her long-arm machine so I could git 'er done ...

This will be a feel-good finish for me - I love whittling down that flimsy shelf!

Tomorrow my plan is to quilt and bind my little 14" Fractured Seahorse.  The fabric on the bottom is my backing fabric, and I'm thinking to use a scrappy hot pink binding.  This one is going to go in my stand-up frame in the living room for the summer!

After all the sewing I've been doing on my Janome 6600P, it was finally time to send it off to the spa for a good cleaning and to check the timing, etc.  While it was gone, Rocky found a new favorite place to sit and watch me as I putter around the studio ....

He's such a fun little guy, and I love how he keeps us smiling and laughing!

I'll be linking up with lots of fun parties this week:

Slow Sunday Stitching

Design Wall Monday
Main Crush Monday 

Oh Scrap!

I May Have a Scrap Problem

Linky Tuesday Party
WIPs Be Gone 

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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From NewFO to UFO .... and hopefully soon Done!

It's SOOOOO nice to be home again after traveling for well over a week!  Thanksgiving with our family was amazing - it always is!  But My Guy and I both brought home a pretty nasty cold, so we've been taking it pretty easy since we got home.  This is my medicine of choice....

Picked this up yesterday at Tuesday Mornings - I love it!!!!!

So, I'm taking it a little easy on the sewing front.  Just a little light prepping and stitching as I feel like it.  I came across an old UFO yesterday - looking for something else of course! - This was a NewFO Challenge project linking up with Cat Patches waaaaaayyyyyyy back in October 2012!

The pattern is from Pearl P Pereira's Baltimore Christmas - Partridge in a Pear Tree.

A local quilt shop, The Quilter's Path, featured this cute little block as a standalone quilt, using that wonderful pear fabric above for the pears - and it turns out SO cute!!!  Well, it did for her anyway.  I haven't touched it since then :(  I consider this one of my Dinosaur UFO's, even though it's not listed over there in the sidebar - I had actually forgotten it, that's how neglected it was!!!

I decided it needed to be worked up quickly and displayed this Christmas on my hanging Ackfeld Wire table stand frame.

Somehow, the Cottontail Bunny quilt seems a little out of season LOL!!!  I think my little partridge has waited in the "wings" long enough - like that pun, did you?

I love using my scraps for applique - all those small pieces of lovely leftovers are simply perfect for this type of project!  I pulled out my greens and chose a nice range for the leaves.

Then I took quite some time choosing the right gray-browns for the partridge.  I don't believe I've ever seen one in real life, and I had to pull up some pictures from the web.  Apparently they come in all kinds of colors - from grays to browns and everything in between.

I decided these were the most common coloring.  The example in PPP's cover is very gray with no stripes on the wing, but I felt these pictures indicate some brown in there and a definite striping design in the wings, so finally I pulled these fabrics ....

The soft brown is a scrap that I think will be perfect for the body, and I still need to choose between the two striped ones for wings.  Of course that little black scrap in the upper right from my crumb jar is perfect for the black stripe on it's face.  On the left is the fat quarter of dark brown I pulled for the tree stems.

All the pieces are drawn on fusible, so I just need to spend this evening finishing up with the fusing, cutting and placement.  I doubt I'll actually get to stitch them down tonight, but hopefully it will be done by the weekend.  Like I said, I'm taking things a little slow :*)

I'll be linking up with SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week - we have Angela's full permission to play with whatever color scraps we like this month - woohoo!!!!

And as promised, I am steadily working on my other RSC project - Hooties!!!

These are all getting their feathers stitched down so I can begin letting them nest comfortably on their limbs :)  Come back in a few days to see my progress!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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A New Week.....

Life is beginning to get back to what passes for "normal" around here, 

and I want to say a heartfelt THANKS to all of YOU!!! 

Your outpouring of love and comfort and prayers  

has meant the world to me, and I love you all!!! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Sorry - it's a little blurry :(
But it makes up for it with COLOR, right????

This is my NewFO Challenge project for February ......

Diamonds are Forever

I had the pleasure of taking part in a class given at our Music City Guild this past week and completed one large block, which looks like this.....



It is actually 4 small 6-inch string blocks put together into a larger 12-inch block.  The string blocks started out like this....

These were so much fun, and I loved the play of these colors together so much, that I came home and put together a few more of these little string blocks so I could get that lovely diamond effect to begin shining through as each block was added to the sides of the first large block - YUM!!!

I can see that I seem to have some of my colors running together, but I don't think that will matter once the entire quilt is assembled.  This quilt is from the below book by Virginia (Ginger) Baker & Barbara (Bobbie) Sanders - and these lovely ladies also taught the class :)

Amazon Link HERE

I'll also link up with Sharon at Vrooman Quilts for her Let's Book It party with this project :*)

I love actually using my quilt books for a change LOL!!!

As you can see from the cover photo, the authors made their quilt with black as the neutral star points in the background, and civil war prints for the colorful strings.  I've seen this quilt made with black and jewel colored fabrics - and let me tell you.... it was just simply FABULOUS!!!!  However, I've done quite a lot of quilt projects lately using that color palette, so I really wanted to do something different.

My first decision had to be what I wanted to use for the background - the star points - and black was not allowed as an option.  And then, what colors would be brought out to play with it?  These are the fabrics I ended up with......

My first thought was to use the same fabric for the background star points throughout for continuity.  But I am really short of large chunks of fabrics that would work as a neutral.  See that lime solid in the upper left background?  I had about 5 yards of that, which would have been plenty for the star points as well as a nice outer border.  But lime?  Wow!!!  You all know I love color, but I had to be sure it was "beautiful" colorful, not "circus clowns" colorful LOL!!!  I gave quite a lot of thought to whether I really wanted to use lime, but then I got the bright idea to use the print you see at the very top as a tool for pulling other colors to play with the lime.  Of course, this was easy to do because they turned out to be some of my favorites!  Fuscia! Violet! Blue! Aqua! Purple!

After I had it all together, I was disappointed to realize that the solid lime looked too tame with all that sparkle, kind of flat - which of course led to the choice of using lots of different limes to get variety and sparkle!  Why should the strips be the only ones to shine, right?

Even after I had it all laid out though, I was still not quite sure it was going to work together okay.  How could I be sure before I cut all that fabric and invested so much time and effort?  I decided to tackle my EQ7 to see if I had progressed enough in my lessons to be able to draft this quilt and then try out some color plans before I did any cutting .....

       ..........  I think I did okay - what do you think?????

This is my favorite colorway!

I have to tell you - I am HOOKED!!!  

EQ7 is serious FUN!!!

And all that power can go to a girl's head, you know what I mean?

Here are a few more colorways I played with  ....

Of course, I loved the next few, but the black background was not allowed ...... maybe someday?

So that is what is on my Design Wall today - in addition to my February Dinosaur UFO which is getting some serious work done to it in the next few days!

Amish Beauties - center done and awaiting border treatments

I'll share more about this one when it is finished.  I'm hoping to get it to the flimsy stage by Tuesday :*)  I'm also slowly stitching on the March Bertie's Year BOM, which will probably not get done by March 1....

Most of the pieces are now appliqued down and I'm ready to make the half-square triangles for the border.  Next will be the embroidery embellishments - my favorite part of these little quilts!!!  Well, except for enjoying them once they are finished, of course :*)  

I'm a little late, but linking up with Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching party anyway.

Also linking up with Connie's Tuesday Linky Party and What a Hoot's BOM's Away!

Come join in on the fun - link up your projects too!!!

Hope everyone has a lovely week!  We are expecting gorgeous weather until the weekend, when it is supposed to turn cold again.  But I'm not going to complain about that .... no indeed!  I'm just thrilled that we've been given this current reprieve, and that SPRING is finally on it's way - woohoo!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Design Wall Monday - 2/10/14

Today, let me show you a few things that are NOT on my Design Wall ....   because they are FINISHED!!!!

The First Noel

29" X 29"

Gotta LOVE classic blue and white!!!  This was a Guild Mystery quilt a few years ago, designed by Melissa Gann of the Doodlehead Stitches blog.  She gave us instructions for both a large and small wall quilt - of course I chose the small :)  This has been a pieced flimsy for several years now, and I'm delighted to have it finished!!!

Our Guild started a new UFO Challenge this year.  We were to make a list of twelve UFO projects we wanted to accomplish this year.  Then the VP calls out a number each month, and we are to complete the item listed on that number.  The thing I really like about this challenge is that you don't have to list an entire quilt project.  We could list, "finish 5 blocks" on a UFO, or "apply borders" to another - which is much easier than "finish my Dear Jane!"  Getting The First Noel quilted was my #5 for February.

I did a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch around the blocks because I liked the design a lot!  Then I used a Lori Kennedy (Inbox Jaunt blog) snowflake motif around the tree in an iridescent metallic thread - I really liked that effect, although the thread gave me fits!!!

Below is a look at the back which gives a good view of the quilting.  It was draped over the back of a chair, so it's not laying flat :)

The next finish is probably one of my oldest Dinosaur UFO's.....

Indian Summer

Trimming it up for the binding :*)

This was one of the first quilts I ever lusted after LOL!!!  

In my first year of quilting - really in the first few months - one of the ladies in my sit-n-sew group who lived near me asked if I wanted to go with her to The Quilters Attic, a quilt shop in Goodlettsville.  Of course I said yes!!!   This quilt shop is located in an old building with a lovely upstairs display room.  Their Indian Summer was hung up really high, overlooking the room, and it simply took my breath away!  I just stood there, mouth agape, and stared at it!  I told myself if I ever made a quilt that beautiful, I would then consider myself a "real quilter"!!!

So, I suppose I am now a "real quilter" LOL!!!  Within the year I had purchased the Judy Niemeyer pattern and some lovely batiks to make it.  But I couldn't start right away because I had not yet learned how to paper-piece.  Soon after, a lady in my Guild offered to teach us how to paper-piece during one of our scheduled sit-n-sews.  Paper-piecing was love at first stitch for me!

This was my first true paper-piecing project, and it is still one of my favorite quilts!  However, the finished quilt top sat again - for years! - waiting for me to grow my FMQ skills.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Joanne let me know that I could have a day on her longarm if I wanted it - did I ever!!!!  I had this quilt and backing already in a bag, ready to go.....

And now it's a finished quilt!!!!

Well, okay..... it's all trimmed up and the binding strips are cut - I'll have it bound and done by the end of the week :*)  GOSH!!!  Isn't it nice to have FINISHES?  This Dinosaur UFO is now extinct and has been marked off my list.

What's on your Design Wall?  

Check out all the great projects at Judy's Patchwork Times!!!

Also linking up with:
Freemotion by the River - Tuesday Linky Party
Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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KISSing the Dinosaurs

I've decided that my motto, or "word" if you like, for 2014 is..........

My plan is SIMPLE (couldn't resist that pun!) - I want to SIMPLIFY every area I can in my life - pare back, sell off, streamline, clean up, eliminate piles of stuff, stop collecting, stop buying more, use up what I have, slow down, take a breath, enjoy my gifts ..... well, I'm sure you get the picture! =^..^=

I've already started working on targeted areas in my house and my life.  For instance, the other day I sat down with my pile of CD's and went through them, pulling out the ones I no longer care about or haven't listened to in ages.  Those are now in a box ready to go to Goodwill.  Yippee - I feel lighter already!   I'm going through my books - two boxes went to Goodwill a couple weeks ago.  Cleaning out drawers, one at a time.  Giving away extras.  Asking myself before a purchase, "Where in the world am I going to put this????"

My Quilting world is also going under the microscope!  I've been doing a major clean-up/organization in my studio, and the pile of stuff to giveaway or sell has grown like a mountain :*)  I even bagged up three UFO's and sold them at a recent Guild yard sale.  (And I may do it again soon!)  I'm going to pass on most of the QAL's and blog hops - but there are a couple of blog events that I can't pass up, like the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the NewFO Challenge :*)  My one BOM will be Berie's Year - and really, who could resist Bertie?  I'm just sayin'....  

I'm sure you've all heard of KISS - which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid..... except that I've learned not to call myself ugly names, so for me it will stand for Keep It Simple Silly! ♥)  Well, in order to get my quilting life back into some kind of order, this year I'm going to be KISS-ing a lot of very ugly, nasty Dinosaurs!!!  I explained in THIS post what I call a Dinosaur - a UFO that is older than the dirt Adam walked on!!!  I'm going to work on these old Dinosaurs until they are Extinct!!!

I've listed my 12 Dinosaur UFOs for this year on my side bar.  And to avoid complications (keeping it SIMPLE!), I think I'll join A year of Lovely Finishes in 2014 to keep me on track with working these UFOs each month.  I always do better when there is some form of accountability.

 

Right now, these projects are not listed in any kind of order because I want to be flexible enough to be able to choose a small project in short months (like this one) and then choose a large project in months where I have much more time to devote to it.

Since January is going to be a short month for me, I've decided to do the Rag Circle Flower quilt for my UFO this month instead of The Blue Collection, which was my first choice for January.  There's no way I could finish TBC this month, and the RCF blocks are going to be used for a doll quilt for my granddaughter, so it won't take too very long to finish up :)  That's the kind of flexibility I need to have in order for this to work for me.  I'll be sharing pictures of this project soon!

I'm really excited about this because several of you have indicated that you plan to join me in making your old Dinosaurs extinct!  Projects are always much more fun when we work together :*)  I'm looking forward to hearing how you all do with making your Dinosaurs extinct this year!!!!

So that's my New Year's goal!  I'm concentrating on making some Dinosaurs EXTINCT and my quilting life SIMPLIFIED!!!  Most of all, I'm looking forward to expanding good relationships and valuing the wonderful people in my life!  I'm hoping to make new bloggy friends and deepen my friendships with so many of you who are already friends :*)  Come along, let's support each other & have an amazing 2014!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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