Square in a Square

I feel like I have worked on this quilt all summer.  Hubby was off fishing last week so I had a staycation……..the things I can get done when I don’t have to stop and make meals. My pile of plaids has been greatly reduced I used all the fabric for the side triangles and had to find something else for the corners.  As I was trimming the blocks I noticed I could make a cross if I put the right corners together. I had everything laid out right on the design wall and somehow next to the sewing machine blocks got reorganized. I’m not ripping. It is what it is almost done. —Ann—

Square in a Square

 Sometimes I don’t want to make any decisions I just want some mindless sewing time. A basket of cut parts was sitting right where I left it months ago maybe as many as 24 months ago, the pandemic days were so monotonous they are a bit of a blur except that I did sew a lot and cut a pile of strips for more blissful days of sewing.  Sewing these square in a square blocks is mindless except that I need to center the square on each triangle, pinch a crease on each side……. Mindless sewing, off wanders my mind, how can I arrange these boring blocks so I don’t need so many of these boring-to-sew blocks?  Turn them on point and add some tri- rec stars, the math works. I’m starting to get excited about this quilt. —Ann—

Second verse same as the first

 

Here we go loop do loo

Here we go loop de li

Stitch in a butterfly

Watch them flutter by

And now my rhyme is through.

And so is my quilt. My butterflies improved greatly as I stitched more of them. Some of the first look more like moths like the last picture. Practice makes perfect….eventually.

Finished is better than perfect.  —Ann—

Loop de loo

 

Here we go loop de loo

Here we go loop de li

Stitch in a butterfly

Watch them flutter by.

Free motion machine quilting.  --Ann--

Flimsy done

I frittered away most of the day last Thursday then finally late afternoon I decided I needed to do something.....just one thing........I was going to sew just 2 columns of blocks together......one small goal.  That was easy and didn't take very long so I sewed the next column then the crosswise seams.  That was easy and it was only 4:45 I could sew the last two columns and be done!!!!!  And I was!!  Start a new stack of quilt tops to be basted and quilted.  I need to start setting goals again because otherwise I might spend the entire day reading or wasting away on the computer.  --Ann--

Something new on the design wall

 Something new on the design wall.......as I was gazing at my stacks of fabric I spied a magazine stuffed with fabrics! Some were even cut into the right size strips, half my decisions were made. Dig for a background fabric, do a little math to figure out if I have enough or need to use a couple different fabrics.  There was enough! Cut a little sew a little and cut some more, press a little, sew a little. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together with very little effort.  Cold, wind and rain a good day to sew. —Ann—

deja vu all over again

Its like deja vu all over again, to quote the late Yogi Berra I even had to google Yogi Berra quotes to find the spelling of deja vu.  Nothing I was trying was being recognized by spell check thats a bad speller but it is a foreign word.  Same pattern, same arrangement, same fabrics, same quilting design.

 A different fabric on the back with the same Alexander Henry Dick and Jane winter print.  I like that fabric so much I had to share it on 2 quilts.  and now I have had more time to think about how to quilt the pink and black quilt  --Ann--

deja vu

I was planning to machine quilt a pink and black and white quilt but all my bobbins were full of red thread so to the next Christmas quilt its deja vu.  Or maybe emptying a couple bobbins was like finishing dinner before I could eat the ice cream.  Same pattern, same arrangement, same fabrics, same quilting.  --Ann--

another ta tea da done

 I finished another Christmas quilt.  There has been a day or two of perfect summer days when the temps are not too high and the humidity is low and the wind is just a breeze to keep the bugs away, then there are the rest of the days; hot, humid and windy or no wind at all but not quite missing a snowy day in December.  More machine quilting to do in the coolness of my sewing room.  --Ann--

How do you sew blocks together?

How do you sew quilt blocks together?  A long time ago when I took my first quilting class the way to sew blocks together was to sew them all in rows and keep adding rows until all the blocks were connected by a thread. Then sew the horizontal rows, handling all 63 blocks for each seam.  It was  like dealing with 6 clotheslines full of clothes with all the gaps between the horizontal rows. It worked but the gaps would get caught on the corner of the table or the arm or the chair.  Very cumbersome.  Now I sew 2 or 3 rows of blocks together vertically then horizontally for this quilt it was 3  sections of 21 quilt blocks.  It was so much easier sewing a section of 21 to 21 to 21 so I wasn't handling all 63 blocks until the last seam. Look at that there is sunlight coming in the window!! but its still close to 0 outside.   --Ann--

quilt blocks

 January is always catch up month, finishing projects and putting away the Christmas decorations.  If I had my way the tree would be redecorated with snowmen and then hearts and I wouldn't take it down until the end of February.  I like the lights when the winter gets long and bleak.  It took me all week to take things down and arrange the puzzle of boxes in the storage closet.   The Santas on the fireplace ledge were replaced with the snowmen.  There were a few days last week when the temps were in the mid to upper 30's so I left my mess and went for a walk, fresh air that didn't hurt my face.  Then its back to real winter with cold, fresh snow and temps below 0 again and wind.  Its a great day to sew.  I finished sewing the courthouse step blocks now to trim.
Hope you are staying warm and dry.
--Ann--
Linking to Em's Scrapbag

Design Wall

It was nice to start the new year with a clean design wall and clear surfaces in the sewing room but the basket with this fabric was still sitting there so I cut the leftover 3 inch strips into tri rec stars most are miss matched then I had to cut a few more 3 inch strips for background pieces which are also mostly miss matched.  Its been a tedious job because I am bored with the fabrics and colors. Its time to take down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations.  I need to make sewing the courthouse steps a reward for putting things away but I'm not excited about the project anymore.  I want to work on some other color palette but I know if I put it away it will end up in the dead project box.  The reward will be starting something new when this is sewn together.  Like practicing the piano when I was a kid just get it done so I can do something else.  We still have snow here but yesterday was above freezing as in 34 degrees F.  That was a treat I even went for a walk with my snow boots because some people just don't shovel their sidewalks very well and it was slushy in the street.  A couple more days of warm temps then back to the deep freeze here on the prairie.  --Ann--  linking to Em's Scrapbag

quilt top finish

Another quilt top done and I think I have strips cut for 2 more quilt tops. Let me sew, let me sew,  let me sew!  --Ann--

finished blocks

  Fresh snow outside and very chilly temps made for cozy days in the sewing room last week.  There's nothing like the hum of a well oiled machine and Christmas music to make blocks fall into place.  More Christmas music this week will help with the tedious task of trimming all the blocks to exactly the same size.  --Ann--  Linking to Em's Scrapbag

adding the courthouse steps

It was a busy week last week.  Christmas decorations came out in spite of the unseasonably warm weather.  Sometimes you just have to enjoy the weather and go for a long walk because one of these days it will be cold and windy and probably snowy like later today and the rest of December.  I sewed a few courthouse steps to go between the tri rec stars.  I'm not a matchy matchy quilter so the dark strips will be a combination of green and red strips and if they happen to fall beside a red or green background star so be it.  I thought I would go with dark on three sides for the outside round of blocks for the impression of a border.   This week I should mix up cookies and sew a few more blocks.  Don't forget to enjoy the Christmas season.  --Ann--  Linking to Em's Scrapbag

tri rec stars and robo vac

 All the trip rec stars are cut and paired next to sew.  I like this low tech stuff, putting pieces on my design wall and moving them around then sewing.
I recently got one of those robotic vacuums that goes all by itself.  DD set it up for me while she was home because it needed an app and some other stuff that makes no sense to me.  Today I thought I would find out what it could do.  Oh I had to give it a name so I named it Sammi for my little shih tzu who had been gone for 7 years now.  There were never any crumbs on the floor when she was alive.  We will see if robo Sammi is as good as the original.  I pushed the button to start it up then I decided to  pick up and move chairs so it could do a thorough job,  I didn't get a couple things moved before it bumped into them so on its next sweep it went around the object that was no longer there and took a couple more sweeps before it got the job done.  It did the kitchen and part of the sun room then went into the living room it did part of the carpet then went back and finished the sun room then its battery was getting low so it wanted to go to its charger but I had put the chairs back so it couldn't find its way.  I finally carried it. Not unlike Sammi the dog.  She made 6 moves with us and each time the door opened opposite to the previous house so she would sit at the hinge side of the door waiting for it to open.  About the time she relearned the door thing we would move again and had to learn it all again.  I recharged it then took it to the bedroom pushed the button and walked out the door.  I found out it can be lazy.  It worked for a few minutes then said it was done so I moved it and pushed the button again, it worked for a few minutes and sent me a message that it was done again.  It didn't clean the whole room.   Its really only as smart as the operator.  If I had read all the instructions and watched the videos............I had it set to do a spot clean which is about a 5 x 7 foot area.  I needed to set it to house.  I'm sure I confused it because I was pushing the app on the phone which I had to carry around the house all day I was also pushing the button on the vacuum. Push once, push twice, hold down or slide and tap.  After moving the furniture I had to dust so much for me having fun while it worked.  I was impressed with the amount of dirt and dog hair it picked up and DS's dog was only in the house for a little while but she's a lab and they shed no matter what time of year it is. It can clean the rest of the house tomorrow with a fresh charge  since I know better how to make it work and I will go to my sewing room for some low tech fun.  --Ann--

tri rec stars

Just some doodling on paper to plan the next quilt.  I got so I could draw the star without lifting my pencil.  I have been cutting the star pieces and adding to the pile of 1 1/2 inch strips for courthouse step blocks.  I can be matchy matchy with color and value or I can be scrappy and random.  The star block parts will mostly match but the courthouse steps hmmmm we will see what happens.  --Ann--