Design Walls Monday

I'm missing my design wall... had to come down to sell the house. So I'm using a couple of panels of foam core board for the interim. Today I'm working on two quilts... who isn't.

Remember these? Two, count them - 2 gallon bags full of strips from my pal, Val. We swapped fabric a while back. I sent her some uncut I Spy fabrics and she sent me strips! So while we are packing I'm making....

some strip blocks. I got my hubby to cut me some 8.5" squares of paper - first I had to teach him how, but he does love to do homework for me on the quilts. Next I'm going to get him to cut off the excess fabric. (Tried this last night... Ouch! He cut off a corner. At least it was an easy fix. Some men are just not atuned to sewing. I was wise to prevent him from cutting out the Drunkard's Path pieces. They are cut on the line but not on the curves - and tracing they need seam allowances on the curves to be cut 1/4" away from the line... Oh well, we'll keep the homework simple for him so he feels like he's helping... afterall, his name goes on the quilt, so he should help.)

I'm just putting lights and darks next to each other. (Most blocks are going to be monochromatic.)

I have these done, so far. I'm thinking it will be called "You and Me" and if I can get it done in time I'll use it for a donation to H2H - Sarah Craig's Charity... see the side panel.

Below is a close up.

Oops - I've a basting thread showing....

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Now for the other quilt... the next Grandgirl Wedding quilt will be made of these Drunkard Path blocks but set in the Love Ring variation.

These are the most recent.

 

 

Haven't got enough made yet to finish one block of Love Ring ... but I love it already. Don't you?

Here are more settings of Drunkard's Path - one shows the Love Ring.

Out my window...

you might not see the lovely group of orange butterflies in my yard... centered above the Passionflower Vine on my fence. It grows from my neighbor's yard into mine. I think these butterflies rode in on those plants - they are very like a Julia butterfly, which only rows in Florida and Texas. I can't show you the picture in the book, it's packed - who knows where. We have maybe a dozen. I'm sure they helped us sell this place. My buyer is getting the best deal, buying my house... which after signing this morning, belongs to her now. (Sniff) We are renting for free until the truck comes on the 4th of November. (Crying)

 

I have to go now - take more pictures. I have to figure out how to have butterflies at my new house.

 

Have a lovely week.

Hugs,

Terri

New DP blocks and boxes

Newest blocks - made this week. Still not laid out in the layout of choice. There is a layout where the whites will make a "ring". Vickie Welch has a layout on her post today that looks like the one I have in mind that is called Wedding Ring. I saw that name somewhere. This is going to be another Granddaughter Wedding Quilt. I just hope the Grandgirls space out their weddings, so I can get their quilts done without stress. (That's usually not on their minds when choosing a date. I wonder why...LOL)

 
 

 

 

Above is how I do the curves - like a set in sleeve in dressmaking. Next I'll sew the seam by hand back stitch every stitch as tiny as I can get for strength.

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My house is a mess today - workmen are finishing off the two bathrooms where there was some water damage, and in termite country we have to fix it for the new owner... Seems a terrible waste of materials to me. She will be remodeling the bathrooms and kitchen to get the surfaces she prefers, and these new ones will go in the landfill.

 

There are also piles of boxes all around the house and in the garage.

Everywhere I look! These are just some of the quilting boxes, there are  some in the closet, too. Also probably 100 boxes in the garage of assorted things from other rooms. I still have packing up to do in the kitchen and bathrooms, garage and OMG! some pictures on the walls yet, etc. I really don't want to think about it all.

In the middle of all that, Halloween. It's usually our bit of madness for the year, but this year it's the bit of sanity. Everything is relative.

So not much sewing going on here. I did get out my strips from Val to maybe sew on the machine during the day, but I think that time is all taken up in packing boxes, and readying Halloween.

Hope you are having a sane weekend. This is my second to last at this house. (Sigh)

 

Hugs,

Terri

a mess of little plants for Trick or Treaters, DP blocks and fall colors

Our house did sell, and we have a very short time to get out, but Halloween is really fun at this house, so we negotiated staying until November 6 so we could have our special holiday. The new owner will come over to participate and see how it goes with an eye to maybe continuing the plant giving tradition. Can you believe it? We have so much in common - they came by a second time to see the place on Sunday. She's like a friend already and we've only met twice. She wanted to stay for the two weeks. Well, sure, if you want to work.

So here are the little plants for this year.

Above are butterfly bushes - lavender from my bush, and dark purple from our neighbor's. (With permission - of course.) (That's a box top inside a garbage bag so we can water without ruining the box and can carry the plants around.)

 

These above are lavender and an indoor plant I've never known the name. It's segments. I call it the Mimbilious Mimbilitonia, after Neville's plant.

Here's a wide assortment of my house plants and things from around the yard. There are Pigs' Ears, Wandering Jews, Creeping Charlies, Christmas Cacti, a couple of geraniums, spider plants, Lipstick vines and Morning Glory that bloom in a dark blue color.

And under the table are more little plants. I see some button ferns (I think) and Vinca Minor a ground cover ivy with shiny dark green leaves and blue flowers. The Osage Oranges that didn't go last year are being offered again. It's an easy to germinate plant that has an ugly fruit resembling an orange, but is not a citrus fruit. It's got a latex substance in it, so not to be eaten!

 

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Now for a little Fall Color - My (for a little while longer) Sweet Gums are gorgeous, and very faded in these pictures.

 These leaves have been this color for a month and have not fallen yet. Others on this tree have, but these are here to delight me.

From my kitchen window over the sink.

At another angle - same window.

 

 

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Now some quilting...

On the Design "Wall" (arm of the couch) the newest two Drunkard's Path blocks. I spent the sewing time cutting whites, so very little sewing done this weekend.

Sew have a lovely week of sewing - I'll be packing to move, and cleaning bathrooms, etc. You know how it goes.

Hugs,

 

Terri

15 DP blocks so far

So far I've got 15 Drunkard's Path blocks done.  (I'm enrolled in Vicki Welch's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along... see the button on the right side.) I'm hand sewing the curves and will machine the straight sides -
Here's a pic

I'm only cutting and sewing at night after packing to move and reading blogs, of course. We did make up 100 little plants for Halloween, but that will be another post.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Terri

Here's my new house

Some of you wanted to see the inside. Click here to see my new house on Zillow.

Hugs,

Terri

There and Back!

No, we didn't go to see the Hobbit.  We went to Washington - the state - and bought a new house. But first here is my Drunkard's Path quilt start.  I'm going to make the Wedding Ring setting... I'll show one in a day or two.

I made the pattern the night before we left on our house seeking trip. I got the pattern from www.mccallsquilting.com and I made the pieces 142% larger on my printer. Then I applied the pattern to template plastic and cut them out so the curve would be for hand sewing - traced line on the curve is the sewing line and on the straight lines is 1/4" seam allowance for using the sewing machine -  like I did on hundreds of smaller blocks ages ago. I thought I'd sewn a few more red & purple ones...  I started out trying the circle technique, but I don't like what happens when I clip so close and while manipulating a glued bunch the fabric shreds and there's very little seam allowance... see below.

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Now for some pictures of my new house....

The front yard is huge, so it  will fit my magnolia (I started from a seed).

 It's the corner house  of a cul-de-sac. We're going to get the old guy a riding mower, cause that's a lot of lot to mow at his age. It's on a quiet street, and seems like a nice neighborhood. The house is 3 bedrooms (2 are really small) and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is about 1/2 the size of my old one... Oh, well. Less to clean! Right?

On the way home I took this picture of Mt. Shasta... over 14,000 ft. Magical, I think.

 

So now the big work starts... finish packing, build a bunch of little plants for  Halloween (one of our last days here), coordinate everything and move. Wish me luck. I think we're going to need it.

 

Happy Monday,

Hugs,

Terri

Starting the Drunkard's Path Quilt Along

I've started a couple Quilt Alongs over the years...  I really haven't stuck with them. The Rainbow Scrap Challenge is one of those. This time it is Vicki Welch's Drunkard's Path QAL and the rules sound really easy... See the button in the sidebar.
I've always wanted to make a Drunkard's Path (here after called a DP). I've made some vests and other things of the small version. (2" squares - see below)

Believe it or not - this is a purse with a zipper and shoulder strap! Made from leftovers of a vest I made for my Mom.

 This time I'm going to try to use that new circle technique I showed a few blogs back and see if that works. It is sew easy.

So "Yes" I'm in Vicki....

As I was scanning through an old Quilter's Newsletter Magazine from the 80s I found a DP  listed as  Pumpkin Vine. (Lots of the old patterns have multiple names.) I hope I can find out that DP has another lovely name suitable for my Granddaughter's Wedding.

Sew I'm off - but you knew that. Going to the sewing room.

 

Having a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,

Terri

Only 4 months late

I'm happy to say I have a Friday Finish! The H2H quilt I should have finished for June 1 is finally done and being sent today! Hurray!  Here is:

Being held up by the ever Handy Hubby (see the head, hands and feet?).

 Those little red things are paper pieced ladybugs. (Close ups farther down.)

 Above shows the quilting pattern I just invented!  I call it "Bumps in the Night". Just go along for a ways quilting in the ditch, and then wobble a few bumps. It made the quilting go along so much faster - why is that? Probably because I wasn't afraid that I'd make a mistake... I could just make it into a bump. Try it, you'll like it. It's just right for the Jelly Roll kind of quilt.

More of the bumps...

Here's one of the ladybugs... (long ago pattern out of QuiltMaker Magazine)

This is a shot of the binding, and the other bits of quilting. I tried to quilt every strip with a different quilting pattern, but I couldn't think of enough different patterns that I could do, so I ended up making wobbles down the middle until I "thunk" up the bumps.

The other two ladybugs. See another quilting pattern I tried, Zig Zag. Lots of shifting the quilt around, and in my condition quite difficult.

So the quilt is done and off to Happy Chemo for the H2H challenge 2014. (I really should start the 2015 now, they take me so long.) I did make my granddaughter's wedding quilt in between. Now I have another granddaughter who is engaged... Anyway, finally a Friday Finish to link up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts, and maybe even A Creative Princess (see her button in the sidebar).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Terri