My Own Sew-In

It was a dark and stormy night....
oh wait, that is another entire story......

It was a quiet and peaceful Friday night here at "Mi Casa". Youngest was winging her way to London for a long weekend with boyfriend. Hubby was off at a hockey game. Just me and the 4-legged creatures. It was a perfect night to sew!! I had joined my favorite comrade-in-crime last week for a class she taught at the shop. The class used a jelly roll pattern by a new- to- me pattern company- Whistlepig Creek . If you take a look around, go to their jelly roll patterns for Stars on Point . It is just the most fun, and extremely easy to put together. I have 4 more blocks to go before it can be set together! I am feeling very proud of myself; this is going to be a Christmas gift for a family member who right now will remain nameless. I shopped the stash (Imagine!) and chose a jelly roll of Madeira by Blackbird Designs. I am loving how it looks. I have another Blackbird jelly roll in the stash- Harvest Home, and yardage to go with it, so I see another star project on the horizon. This time for me! Of course I said that about this project- at least until it began to take shape- and then got hit by the idea of gifting my labor of love.
I'd show you pictures of the finished blocks, but my camera also took a vacation to London, so I'll just have to let you wonder for a few days.
I hope you all have a productive, happy weekend! I need to do some general housekeeping and then I am rewarding myself with another date with my sewing machine.
I love this!!

Friday Night Sew In for October

As I mentioned in my earlier post, tonight was the October Friday Night Sew In.
I was excited to continue working on my stalled Civil War Tribute blocks. I am way - very way- behind! Tonight I intended to make at least one of these:



I need 4 of them in total!

Here is how the night began:

5:30pm- leave work

6:00pm- arrive home to pick up the DH for dinner at our favorite neighborhood pub.

6:30pm- order is in, Youngest Child is pulling into the parking lot. We catch up on each others day over yummy-ness.

7:30pm- return home. Check mail, love on the dog a bit (it's been a long day), have a cup of coffee.

8:00pm- finish cutting the last of the 300 triangles needed for blocks. Yes, you read that number right- at my calculation, it will take a total of 300 triangle units to complete all 4 blocks:



8:30pm- begin construction of the 3" (unfinished) half-square triangle units:



10:00pm- begin squaring up the half-square triangles. Tendinitis is setting in!

10:30 take a break from squaring up and construct the beginning of the 4 needed blocks using these instructions:



and get this far- 4 square in a square units, addition of Flying Geese units to two sides (x 4):



11pm- call it a night- these blocks can be a bear and definitely need fresh eyes and a clear head. Besides, I have a class at the shop tomorrow at 10am sharp!

At least I got something done this time around!

Oh yes, and forgive the quality of the photos- it is late after all, and shadows are just bound to happen. I know y'all will get the essence of the blocks!

And another Friday Night Sew In comes to a close for this girl-
I can't wait to see what some of the more productive gals got done.

Good Night all!

October Sew -In

It is time for another sew-in night! you can read all about it over at Heidi's blog

here

This time around I hope that I can actually get myself into my sewing room and participate. Always have the project, don't always have the time. Tonight I will continue working on my Civil War Tribute blocks. They aren't easy! Very time consuming blocks here, tons of cutting and even more piecing- multiple blocks with many construction techniques that can test one's patience. I'll carry on. I love this project. If I'm too tired to think about precision I am sure there is lots of applique that needs to be done!
It is a rainy, gloomy day and it isn't supposed to clear up anytime soon. A sew-in is just the thing for this evening, I think.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

Another rainy day- will it ever stop? Managed to get some fabric cut for month 2 of my Civil War Tribute Quilt, but no sewing done last night. My evenings rush by way too quickly!! Since there is nothing new to show today, I thought I'd share this with you:
I would love to spend the day doing this...and I think I have a perfect companion. Oh wait! I'll be in MA that day, and my perfect companion is in Chicago. Ah well, maybe another time. There is always the Ghosts of Albany Tour or Haunted History. Maybe I can make one of those walks!!
In the meantime, I'll just hope for a day in the near future to catch up on some stitching.

Postscript:

The rain stopped! Just around noon today the skies turned a lovely shade of blue between the fast moving puffy clouds. I could kick myself for not having my camera in hand. Not for the clouds, but for a photo to answer this question: what do you get when you mix a big mud puddle and a 16 month old little boy?? Bad Nana for forgetting to get that one on record!! Let's just say I had to get said little boy naked right there on the front porch before we went in for an afternoon nap!
Happy night, everyone...I know I'll fall asleep with a smile on my face tonight.

Hiding behind the Fabric Piles

I have signed up to participate in a local Quilter's Treasure sale. I have way too much fabric. I have way too many books and patterns. I have come to the tough conclusion that I do NOT have the time to ever be able to make, read, dream about it all! I have always lived by the adage: one man's trash is another man's treasure, so off it is going to go- hopefully to a new home where things will get read, used, quilted, loved.
Now I have to deal with the aftermath of tearing things apart- the reorganizing. Urgh. I thought giving things up was hard, this stage of the plan is worse. I still have "too much" and feel as if I should take a tougher stand on several keepers. It's hard. Very hard. But things have to get done, and I'll make the tough decisions, or at least will attempt to!
I did decide to reacquaint myself with my sewing room and sat at the machine last night. I am 9 months behind (how did that happen??) on my Civil War Tribute block of the month from my local quilt shop. Actually, I made the 18" and the 12" blocks for month one some time ago with disastrous results. Both blocks ended up a full inch larger than they should have been. How I did that I have no clue! At the time, I decided to just trim them down, and then was immediately sorry as I would now lose all those points I carefully made. Darn!!
What would you do in a case like that? Are you comfortable in leaving it as is, or (like me) would you decide to seek out replacement fabrics and remake the blocks??
I finally got the final 2 fabrics I needed last Tuesday night, so I decided that I would organize a tad and then treat myself to remaking the 18" sized block #1 again. Success!
I am pleased too say this one came out 99% perfect. I think there will be one iffy point connection when constructing the entire top. I also think it will be barely noticeable, and for an 11pm construction point, I am more than pleased. I think Miss Molly is too- she is quite quick to give her opinions, but I keep her around anyway. Here she is sitting in front of the finished block:



and here is a block close up:




Doesn't look too bad after all. For tonight, the 12 incher is a go.
Happy Stitching.....