Crazy About Quilts

Happy New Year!

2012-01-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

OMGosh! It has been a hectic holiday season! But I must admit, it was totally self-imposed. It appeared the shopping was all done quickly just after Thanksgiving and the quilt I was making for a dear friend was coming along nicely, so apparently it was necessary to stir up some stress. Soooo, I heaped a couple more projects onto the Christmas "make" list. This included a Mariner's Compass (which was already started) for my step-mother and a table runner for a friend. I forgot to take pictures of the table runner which is a bummer since I thought the colors and fabrics were so pretty. But I do have photos of the other 2 projects.

First is the front and back of a quilt I made for a good friend. We had been separated for several years and now we are friends again. I wanted to make her something special for her December birthday. She, like me, loves purple. I had purchased these stack and whack blocks from labfabrics.com and had every intention of making this for myself, but making it for Linda was a better idea!

This is the back of the quilt..

This is the small quilt I made for my step-mother. It's a little Mariner's Compass that I started in a class with my BFF in April. It was good to get another project crossed off the list! I think that's all of 3 including my Baby Jane. Perhaps 2012 will see me getting more projects done!

Here's what's currently on my design wall... and there are 2 other quilts besides this that I'm hoping to get done very soon!

Okay, that's it for now!
I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed 2012!

Giveaway! Give Away??

2011-12-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

Is it one word or 2? Who knows, but my BFF is have one of them over HERE and you MUST visit for a chance to win some great stuff!

I have stuff to show you, but no time. Come back after Christmas and I'll show you the projects I've been working on. Until then, I pray you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you God, for sending Him. We would all be in a pickle had he not come, taught and sacrificed his very life for us! Thank you Jesus!

What's Going on Around Here?

2011-11-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

Oh my, but we've been very busy! We painted the front of the house. And when I say "we," I mean mostly Pete. Here's a before picture...

I actually kind of liked that color, but it was really fading and oxidizing. Like my mother (who I am turning into), I love a pale yellow house. This color comes close, but once it was on the house, wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Oh well, by then we'd spent $200 on it and several hours of Pete's time. So we stuck with it and I can live with it.

I don't have a photo of it, but Pete has also done a great job of painting the garage door so that rusty stripe down the center is gone. And here's my festive porch.... with the new blue door that I completely love!

I also have been spending time cleaning up my plot at the church. This is a "before" picture.

I'm about 3/4 of the way done with clearing the weeds and dead stuff. As soon as that is done, then the fun part begins! I've seen deer up here, so will have to find some pretty stuff to put in that they won't eat. Any ideas out there?

While it hasn't been much, I'm grateful for the time I have been able to spend in the sewing room. The color is off in this photo, but this is what was dumped out of the trash can in there. I love running my fingers through this stuff!

and here is what some of that is turning into....

Plus, was able to get a Birthday present for a good friend started today. Did you think I was going to show a picture of that??? Hello??? Try again!! Oh and I made a little towel for another friend today too. Didn't take a photo of that. Maybe I should....

Looking forward to a sister weekend next week with my sister Betsy! Yay!
Off to another busy week...

Autumn Wreath

2011-10-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

My sisters and I had a crafting weekend last weekend. We try to get together once per quarter and usually sew when we do. This time, my sister, Betsy found these great autumn wreaths to make out of coffee filters of all things! They were pretty labor intensive, so I'm not sure I will do another one, but I did like the way they turned out!

The idea for these was not an original one! We don't really have original ideas, but we are pretty good at following directions! Luckily there were great directions here. Emily Jones is one talented lady! I could spend hours at her website. Pretty sure you will enjoy it too! So check it out!

The Finished Product!

2011-10-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well she is done! Only the signature block remains to be done. So without further ado, let me show you some photos of my very own Baby Jane....

Note the Cancer Ribbon she put on the lavender block as a nod to my experience!

My Baby Jane was heirloom machine quilted by Sue of Summit Creek Quilts. I highly recommend her! She did such a fantastic job! Each block has a different quilting motif on it. The tiny sashing has a beautiful chain quilted in and each scallop has a feather in it. I love it!

Now, here is a darling little pincushion made by my friend Rana! OMG this is soooo darling and look how little it is! I'm thinking how great this is for taking along with as I do applique on the go!

Here it is next to an actual acorn so you can see what it's size is. It's really not that much bigger than a real acorn. I love it. If you are interested in this or other creations from Rana please visit her website!

We are dog sitting again. At home, Lizzy is an outdoor doggy, so being clean and hugable is not so important. But when she visits here, I just cannot allow her to sleep outside. That just seems wrong. So we needed to get this ole girl cleaned up. Today she got a brush (several, actually) a bath, a clean collar and flea and tick meds! She was covered in fleas and had a tick stuck to her ear that was giant! Yucko!!! Now she's all clean, happy and flee-free and so are we! She smells good and is much nicer to pet! I just love this doggy!

It was a busy day and I need to go get sewing!!

The Last 2 DJ Blocks!

2011-10-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe these are the very last 2 blocks I have to show you! Just the finishing touches are left on my quilt and I have to say that I really love it! But I digress, here are the last 2:

First is M-11, Rickshaw which was paper pieced and has 31 pieces.

Last, is M-12 called Hopscotch is pieced and has 19 pieces!

I will follow with some photos of the finished quilt soon. As soon as I get the binding done and a wee bit of hand quilting...

Since finishing my baby Jane, I have finished a couple of other quilts. When you work so much on these tiny blocks with a zillion pieces, you forget how fast a regular block goes! Anyway, here's a couple photos of a recent finish.

This is a Lone Star quilt that I started in a Jan Krentz class. She was a great teacher and this was a fun quilt to make! I look forward to making more Lone Stars!

Here is a close up of one of the corners detailing the quilting...
This is the first time I've done the little swirls in the feathers. I'm pretty pleased with it!

Hope you are working on something wonderful and fun. Please leave a comment if you would like.
Come back soon because I'm going to share a darling new fall pattern from my bff. And you will love. it!

Melanie

A few more DJ blocks

2011-09-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Even though these were completed back in June, they've not yet been revealed here and each one of these babies is a gem, so I don't want to leave any out!

This first one was a real bugger, but only because the pieces were sooo small! This cutie is M-4, called Stepping Stones, has 49 pieces (in a 4.5 inch block...really) and was mostly paper pieced. Now that it's done, I think it's pretty cute and I'm so glad I don't have to make it again! Even at a normal size like 10", this would still have a lot of little pieces! Can you imagine making a quilt out of this???

This one is M-9, Fan Dance has 28 pieces and was paper pieced. I think it would be cuter with more contrast, but it's done!

I really like this next one a lot! It is M-8, Enchanted Square, has 31 pieces and was paper pieced.

Here are a couple of peaks at The Quilt. This one is taken as I was machining the binding on. Let me tell you, nothing goes quickly with this quilt. You just have to take your time! You can see a little bit of what an absolutely wonderful job Sue did quilting her! I think this part of the process took 2-3 hours.

And here's a teaser of the back....Isn't it the most wonderful quilt? I can't believe it's mine. Even more, I can't believe I am actually about to finish it!

Boy, there were times when I really wasn't sure this was ever going to be finished. At least not by me. I remember when I was first diagnosed with cancer, going down to my sewing room and staring at this quilt and wondering a) would there be enough time for me to finish this quilt, b) if my time was that short, did I really want to spend it in my sewing room quilting anyway (certainly there were more important things to be doing and people to be with!), c) if I wasn't going to get it done, who should I be leaving it to that would be blessed, not burdened by it. Oh boy, thank God, thank.the.Dear. Lord. He spared me. And the least of reasons was for this quilt. But when you tackle a long term project like this, I hope you can see that it is a measure for (of?) your life to some degree. As you are plodding through the process, you are also marking times of your life. Okay, well, I'm glad I've made this quilt and I'm equally glad the process is almost over! If tacking down this binding continues at the current pace, it will be done in about 6 hours. Really.

Think there's only 2 or 3 more blocks I haven't yet shared, but will do that soon!

It's Autumn!

2011-09-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love Fall! The colors and crispness in the air, sweaters, and is it me, or is there a smell that comes with Fall? I think there is! I mentioned something in my last post, but wanted to spend a bit more time on it.... My little friendship quilt group has just started a mystery quilt designed by one of our own. She is also posting it on her blog so that you, too, can join in on the fun! How cool is that? This quilt has a definite Autumn feel, so it's the perfect time to start! Here is my version of the first month's work...

The colors are completely wrong in this photo as those leaves are really green, but you get the idea anyway! Once you visit Rana's site, be sure to pick up a copy of her BOM button and add it to your blog! It will be so fun to have you along!

Now, here's a little picture of the front porch which is starting to transition into Fall itself!

While we're at it, say goodbye to those taupy-tan walls, because they are about to start turning yellow! And with any luck, by next weekend the front door will be a dark blue! Perfect!

Until next time!
Melanie

Catching Up

2011-09-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

I've been away from this blog so very much that I'm not sure it makes sense to keep going. However, I'm going to give it one more go and we'll see what happens. So, as you may know, this blog has been mostly dedicated to the making and sharing of my own Baby Jane along with other projects the come along the way. (DJ had quite a way of crowding out other projects!) The big news is that I finished my blocks and triangles for DJ around the middle or end of June and had the top together by the second week of July.

I need to edit the trash can out of that photo! Couldn't bear to part with it for a while so it must have taken me a good 2 weeks to get the outer muslin border on and the scallops marked. Finally I was able to part with her and send her off to be quilted in Utah at Sue's. I mailed her on a Saturday and she was there by Monday....amazing! Sue is a very talented quilter and I would highly recommend her! She is organized, professional and caring along with being a great quilter! I will show some photos of her quilting next time. For now, I am trying to sew the binding on by machine, which is really quite a job!
At this point I need to stop and make sure I like the way it will look when finished. As usual, this is something I should have done long ago before I got 2/3 of it on! Hopefully, I will be lucky and it will look acceptable, but the way I sew, it wouldn't surprise me if things needed to be redone. Seems like I rip out half of what I sew!

At any rate, it feels so good to have this baby almost done. Since shipping her off to be quilted, I've managed to squeek out a couple of other UFOs. My UFOs would be a great future topic here especially because I blame several of them on my BFF!

I never did finish showing the last dozen or so of my blocks as I was so intent on getting them done. So here are a few of them and I will follow with more soon! This first one is L-12, Sally's Pride, has teeny tiny paper pieced pieces totalling 27 (includes a bit of applique, as usual).

This next one is L-13, Harvest Moon, has 12 pieces and was mostly appliqued.

Finally for tonight is M-2, Duff's Buff, has 21 pieces and was paper pieced!

Before I close, let me just invite you to join a wonderful Fall BOM mystery quilt that my BFF has designed for our quilt group! You can find it over here

It's getting late for me, so I will try to continue to get caught up in the near future!

Absence and an Inability to Spell

2011-06-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a loooonnnggg time and as I tried to get started, I couldn't figure out how to spell the very first word I typed, "absence." My spelling just gets worse and worse. Is that an age thing?

Well now, I have been working on my Baby Jane even though I've not been blogging about it! So I'm going to get right to things and show you a few blocks that have been recently completed.

This first block is called Brandon's Star (K13) and has 22 pieces. I don't really remember making this one, but I'm pretty sure it was rotary cut an pieced.

This next one was harder than I had anticipated! If you look closely, you will find it to be quite wonky, but I'm just going to live with it! It is L3 called Reflections Abound, was mostly paper pieced and has 25 pieces.

Next in the block parade is L1, Widow's Pane, was paper pieced and has 20 pieces.

There's something about this next block that just never looks right. Every one I've seen looks just a bit wonky, as does mine! This is L4, St George's Cross, has 21 pieces and was mostly paper pieced (and STILL looks wonky!).

Lastly for tonight is L5, Chatanooga Charlie, L5, which was paper pieced and has 23 pieces.

I hope to be back soon as I already have several more blocks made that I would love to share with you!
Someone is encouraging me to do a giveaway soon, so check back to see what might be going on around here.
BTW, there's only 5+ blocks left undone in this quilt! The goal is to have her done by the end of this month! Yahoooooo!

Hope you are getting some stitching in too!
Melanie

DJ Block Countdown

2011-04-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hoping your Easter was blessed. Boy mine was. To have the King of the Universe die for MY sins. Wow! Just blows me away!

I've just visited my design wall and made an official count. My DJ needs only 16 blocks before she has all her parts! OMG, I could just squeal! Oh my.....The plan is to get those blocks all done by the end of May and spend June putting everything together (note the sashings on one side already!) and marking the scallops. Three plus years of work in the final stretch! So here are the most recent finishes:

This is K10, called Quandry, was paper pieced and has 39 pieces. This is not exactly like the drawing, but I can live with it!

This is K9, Scout's Honor, was paper and regular pieced and has 21 pieces.

Not sure how this next one, L8, slipped in while I've been working on the K row, but it did. I must have made the paper foundation on the same page. It is called box kite, was paper pieced and has 15 pieces.

Now, this one is from row K! It is K11, Columbine and is paper pieced. Just for the record, the pattern chops off the points! This cutie has 25 pieces.

The last one for tonight is L12, Doris' Dilemma, was paper pieced and has a mere 11 pieces! What a breeze!

I don't have a photo of L2 to show you yet, but it's done and it has 41 pieces. I still have Nan's Niad hanging over my head and I'm thinking about getting her done very soon here! And I see that M4 has 44 pieces. Perhaps this weekend I will tackle the hard ones! Would be very nice to have those done and sail into May with only easier blocks to complete! Wish me luck!
Melanie

The VERY Last Triangle

2011-04-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's good to have them all done, but progress has been terribly slow since finishing this up. My official count of blocks left to do is only 22. Can you believe it? But, not a stitch has been sewn on a new block for over 2 weeks. School is demanding and there have been other things steeling my attention.

Before I get off on too much of a tangent, here's the low-down on this triangle: It is BR5, called Gay's Glory, has 40 pieces and was paper pieced!

As I was saying, not much going on with my baby Jane lately. Just a bit of sashing and putting together a couple of blocks of blocks (?). I'm looking forward to some time spent with good friends sewing this weekend and to getting perhaps a few blocks done.

One of the distractions of late was a great class my BFF and I took with Jan Krentz this past weekend. Jan is known for her fabulous Lone Star quilts and we learned so much at her workshop! It is amazing to me how much there still is to learn after so many years of quilting! My BFF, Rana has already finished her quilt which is so very beautiful! You most stop over to her blog and take a gander!

Hope to show you some completed DJ blocks soon!
Melanie

Two of the Last Three Triangles

2011-04-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to hold out on you, I just can't find the picture I took of the very last triangle! In any case, here they are!

This was actually the very last one I made. It is BR13, called Argyle, has 19 pieces and was mostly paper pieced.

This one is BR4, called Candy Dish, was paper pieced and has 24 pieces!

Not sure what happened to my last photo, but I will be sure to put it up as soon as I can! Hope you have time to do some stitching today!
Melanie

Life in the Fast Lane

2011-03-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, compared to some people I know, my life is boring. But for me, who is happiest curled up on the couch next to my husband with a fire burning, this is a fast pace! Currently, I work full time and am attending school attempting to fulfill my science prerequisites in hopes of getting into nursing school in Fall 2013. Yes, 2013. Good grief that sounds like a long ways away! Especially at the age of 51. But, I believe this is a desire the Lord has placed in my heart and will continue on this path until He changes my direction or blocks me completely. At any rate, my one class is Anatomy right now and it takes up what seems like an enormous amount of time. I think if I could somehow stop with all the procrastinating I do, it might be a lot less though;-)

All this to say that, I was determined to get my last few triangles for my Jane quilt done this weekend. Only 3 were left and yesterday I did them all! I'm so happy. Now, it's just the last 25 blocks and the top assembly, which I'm working on a bit at a time. June is still the goal! Here are the triangles I did the last couple of weeks:

This first one is the one I had to remake because the first one I made went missing. As I've whined about before, this was my least favorite triangle. It is BR9, called, Sue's Garden, has 12 pieces and was pieced by me and appliqued by my bff, Rana. I think this is the only block in my quilt that has been worked on by someone other than me. That makes it special enough that I won't hate it anymore!

This next one is BR2, called Leigh's Woods, has 31 pieces and was paper pieced.

Lastly, this is BR12, called Jessie's Stained Glass, was paper pieced and appliqued and has 15 pieces.

I have 3 triangles left to show and tell, but no photos of them yet.
If you have any desire to start your own Dear Jane quilt or learn more about it, see the website dearjane.com.

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!
Melanie

Just a Quickie

2011-03-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but there's not much time for a post right now. Just wanted to show the darling little original creation my friend (designed and)gave me a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it the most darling little pincushion?? Check out Rana's website over here for more fabulous stuff!

There are more completed DJ blocks to share, but that will have to wait until next time!

Have a great day!
Melanie

Crazy and Obsessed

2011-03-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed the number of quilting blogs that have the word "crazy" in them? I think I've used that word several times for the titles of blog posts as well as in the title of my blog. My sister, who no longer blogs, used the word "obsessed" in her title. Today and for the past couple of months, I've felt both crazy and obsessed. About my baby jane. Have you noticed? I'm purposely shirking all other projects in a fairly focused (as much as that is possible for me) attempt to finish her up!

I began this journey in October of 2007 and of course, thought I could get it done much faster than I have. Of course, we never know what the Lord has in store for us. So that may have been my plan, but He had other plans for me. So, having cancer and going through those treatments sidelined me for a good 8 or 9 months from the project. It wasn't that I couldn't, it was more that the desire had been sucked right out of me. I really felt I needed to be on my knees before Him, rather than playing with fabric. Then, I've also taken breaks at Christmastime each year to make presents.

But now, I'm down to having only 25 blocks and 6 triangles left to make. How exciting is that? It makes me truly Crazy and Obsessed! Problem is, working full time and going to school part-time (Anatomy, which takes up easily 10 hours per week) really makes it tricky to get much done on this baby! I really wish I could finish her up in the next couple of weeks, but that is not possible, unfortunately! The goal is to have all blocks and triangles done by the end of May and take June to put it all together and get her sent off to the quilter's. OOOOH, I wish I could wave a wand and have this DONE!

So now that you know how I'm feeling....here are some photos of the latest progress. The blocks are all from row K. The first is K5, called Passing Through, is paper and regular pieced and has 14 pieces. I did the outer white sections with Y seams and have puckers, so these might need to be redone:/

This next one is one I've wanted to do for a long time! It's K7 and is called Rose of Sharing, has 8 pieces and was pieced and appliqued. You can see that I've started putting sashings on some of my blocks.

This next picture is of a block that was actually made years ago, but since I brought it out to sash, thought I'd take a photo of it for you. It is K8, called Springbrook Park, has 23 pieces and was paper pieced.

This next one is K1, called Crooked Creek, was rotary cut and pieced and has 24 pieces.

This one was made watching TV the other night (a rare occasion anymore). It is K6, Ann's Folly, was paper pieced and has 33 pieces. I love polka dots, don't you?

This is my last corner kite. It is the bottom right corner and has no name that I can find. It was paper pieced and appliqued and has 19 pieces the way I've done it. It's good to have the corners done. I'm thinking about just finishing all the triangles up next. What do you think???

Thanks for visiting my blog. I would love to read your comments, so please leave me one!

Happy stitching and good luck on your own crazy obsessions!
Melanie

Quilting Weather!

2011-02-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

You've got no idea how happy I am that right here in Central CA there is a chance (small as it is) that we could have a bit of snow this weekend. It'll definitely be cold and rainy! So in response, my sweet hubby and I have a plan. The videos are rented and the fireplace is lit! I don't mind him playing golf at all, but I am really looking forward to just rolling out of bed and onto the couch with him to sit and watch one movie after another. It doesn't hurt that the sewing machine is only a few steps away and when I need to stretch my legs, there it will be. This could be the most perfect weekend ever!

Since it has been a while since my last post, I do have a few blocks/triangle photos to share. I've not gotten as much done as I would have liked, but there has been some progress. This first one is K4, called Thea's Turn, it was paper pieced and has 17 pieces.

This triangle is BR3, called Attic Window, was paper pieced and has 20 pieces.

This next one is a block I've been dreading since I started working on this quilt 3 1/2 years ago. I finally decided to jump ahead and get it done! It's M3, called Fireweed Flower, was paper pieced and regular pieced with Y seams galore! It has 25 pieces and I am so glad it's DONE! And I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.

This last one is K3, called Seven Sisters and was entirely rotary cut and pieced and has 31 pieces. The pattern called for the outside boarders to be the background color, but I liked it with the focus fabric better, don't you?

Now, I believe I'm down to about 26 blocks left to do and 5 or 6 triangles left including that darn one that went missing about a month ago. I started working on redoing that one last night, ugh! So anyway, I've begun putting some chunks of the quilt together. How much fun is that? Okay, it's really not any fun until they come together and I can gaze upon this quilt and think I may actually be done with it some day!

Hope you have some wonderful quilting weather wherever you are this weekend!

My name is Melanie

2011-02-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

Melody is a fine name, a pretty name. Especially when you really think about the meaning of the word. Melody....But my name is Melanie. And when someone calls me Melody, it just sounds like they are trying to say my name, but have a very bad cold. So it's really unfortunate that I have come to really dislike the name Melody, or at least being called that. Don't you just hate it when people get their panties all in a bunch about silly, meaningless things? I know I do and yet here I am, annoyed at being called Melody!
So, forgive me, but please call me MELANIE.

Wow, it's been a long time!

2011-02-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Coming up for air here, if only for a moment! I see my last post was done the night before I went back to school. At 51 college is still fun, even if it is demanding. I still love it. Don't listen to me all those times I'm whining and complaining. Hmmm. Tonight I'm feeling relieved because the 3rd oral exam is done. It's always good to cross something off the list, even if there is so much more left undone. Wow, I've really strayed off the path here! Let's get back to stitching!

I have been able to find a few minutes here and there to do a little work on my baby Jane. This first block is called Grandpa's chickens. It is K-2, was completely machine pieced and has 40 pieces. The block in the original quilt has the borders done in the background color, but I like it this way!

I'm counting down to getting all of my triangles done and because the end is in sight, have been doing more of those than blocks. This one is BR7, was machine pieced with a little of the usual applique and has 27 pieces. I love this fabric!

I really like how this one turned out! This is BR6 called Frank's Ric Rac. This was mostly paper pieced and has 31 pieces.

Sorry, couldn't get this picture to rotate. This one nearly killed me. Seriously, a couple of these seams were ripped out up to 7 times! I just should have done this completely differently than I did, but oh well, it's done! This was also mostly paper pieced. It is BR10, called Nicholas' Diamond and has 25 pieces. Trying to get the hardest ones done first. I think there are only 6 triangles left to be tackled!

There are a couple more than this done, but the camera is on the fritz, so no pictures yet. Oh, and if you see this one, please let me know. It's gone missing. Happens this is probably my least favorite block of the bunch, so that's probably why it crawled off somewhere. Sure hope I don't have to remake it!

Hope you are all well out there in blogland. Will try to post more this weekend!

Melanie

It was a good weekend!

2011-01-17T21:07:00.000-08:00

Oh my, there's a lot that went on this weekend that I can't even begin to share here! My sisters and I range in age from 51 to 64 and most of the time we act like we are 12. Thankfully, that's only when we are together. Thing is, sadly, we act like 12 year old BOYS. Ugh. But do we laugh! And sew.

Unfortunately, my camera seems to be dead so I don't have any action shots to share. (You know you want to see some of those!) All I have are stills of my DJ progress. I'm getting so excited about this. I have prepped a triangle and my last corner kite for some applique and once those are done I only have 8 triangles and 30 blocks left. This is definitely the countdown. I can tell that nearly every post until this baby is done is going to not mention how many are done, but rather how many need to be done! You have no idea how much I'd like to have this done by June. NO IDEA!

Okay, here's the latest:
This is BR-9, called Sue's Garden, is all appliqued and has 10 pieces. It is easily one of my least favorite pieces in this quilt!

This is BLC, I don't know it's name if it has one, but I do know it has 75, yes 75 pieces and is paper pieced. I really like this one! I love this fabric!

I don't know why these are sideways, but I don't have the energy to fix them. I'm trying to do the hardest ones left, first. This one looked hard, but wouldn't have been if I was paying more attention to what I was doing. The pattern definitely didn't have the 2 little side pieces at the top, but they will disappear in the finished product. This one is BR-7, is called Cheryl's Clown and was paper pieced. It has 32 pieces, not including that little error at the top...
To me, this looks like a Southwest pattern. I'm not fond of it, but it's done and I will like it just fine in the quilt! Soon, I hope to get BR 10 done. It looks HARD!

It's the Weekend!

2011-01-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

Today I am heading south to Ventura County, where my sister, Priscilla lives. I have 3 sisters and we all sew, 3 of us activly quilt (and the 4th does on occasion). This weekend has become an annual sisters-sew-fest! We get together and sew our guts out!

If all goes well, I will be starting school this coming week. The goal there is to get a few science classes out of the way so that I can get into nursing school. So, my life will likely have a very different landscape by just next weekend! Thus, I am looking forward to my sewing weekend to get as much done on this Jane quilt as is physically possible! I'm down to having only 10 triangles plus the 2 bottom kites to finish (along with 30 blocks), so that is where my efforts will be focused this weekend. I can't wait!

I've completed BR9, called Sue's Garden (again, WHY?), it was completely appliqued and has 10 pieces. I must say, this is one of my least favorite blocks/triangles in the quilt! I will post a picture of it here shortly. And, I hope to be able to share several new finishes by the end of the weekend.

Hope you too are getting a chance to sew your guts out!

I really should be in bed, but...

2011-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

My quilty girlfriends kept me up tonight with all the creativity, laughs and food! So here I am.

Just a quick post here...to show you my latest triangle from Jane..
This is RS13, is my last one on that side(!), is called Marlene's Pirouette, is paper pieced and appliqued and has 14 pieces! Hope to do the bottom corner kites this weekend and maybe a couple more triangles. I'll keep you "posted!"

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

Don't know about you, but this year is shaping up to be VERY interesting! I have a lot planned and many goals and as usual, I'm just not too sure how it's all going to get done!! But isn't that what makes life interesting??

One of my goals is to finally finish my Baby Jane quilt. Of course, this was also one of last year's goals!! Feeling much more hopeful about it this year though. All that is left are 30 blocks, 11 triangles and 2 corner kites. Wow, that feels like it's almost done to me! The decision is final that this quilt is going to be heirloom machine quilted, so that is one part of this I won't have to worry about, other than the $400-$500 price tag, of course!!!

Here are my latest finishes....
The first one is a block that was done all except for the corner melons a while back and they turned out to be just too small to hand applique. I considered just leaving them off, but in the end I decided to machine applique them. This is the only time I have used machine applique on this entire quilt. I guess I can live with that! This one is J9, called Maury High School, was machine pieced and appliqued with 13 pieces.

This triangle is RS-12, called Linda's Church in the Valley, was paper pieced and regular pieced and has 29 pieces. To me this one looks more like a wedding cake than a church, but oh well!

Okay, this one looks wonky at the top, but it really isn't! This is RS-5, Geisha Girl, machine and regular pieced, with a bit of applique and has 29 pieces again. It is the only block in my quilt made of a solid color fabric. This is a triangle I made about a year and a half ago and somehow lost. I had hoped it would show up because it was made of the last bit of a cute polka dot fabric that I loved. Oh well. It feels great to have this one redone!

This one is RS 11 called Hills of Jerusalem, is paper and regular pieced and has 31 pieces. Don't you just want to know how they came up with these names????

This morning I put the final touches on RS13, the last one in that row! Unfortunately, my camera is on the blink, so I can't show it to you. Will save that for another post.

Thank you for visiting my posts. I wish you and yours a healthy and happy New Year!
Do tell, what are your goals for next year, sewing or otherwise????

I LOVE the rain!

2010-12-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Besides, aren't rainy days just the best days to hunker down in the sewing room and get to stitchin'? I think it's the perfect excuse to relax and hang out. It even keeps my husband off the golf course, which is a welcome change. Not that I'm complaining about his golf because that doesn't bother me at all. Just saying it's nice to have him home. We rented a couple of videos yesterday and hung out in front of the fire. Nice...

I suspect there's lots of this type of activity going on all over at least the West Coast of the US. We really need the rain, so it is a blessing in many ways!

So far this weekend, I've been able to finish up 3 DJ blocks that were in process. This first one, hot off the sewing machine, has been one that has stumbled me up for awhile and even kept me from even working on this project for awhile! It is I-12, called Fred's Square Fair, has 41 pieces and is paper and regular pieced. Not a bit of applique on this one for a change! Sooooo, happy to have this one done!

This one is J8, Anna's Anchor, has 22 pieces and was machine pieced with a bit of applique. These last 2 are finished, but definitely not perfect!

This last one was made from fabric recently given to me by my friend, Loris. It is called Pam's Bells, is paper and regular pieced with a bit of applique (shock)! I think it's a sweet little block and I will always think of my dear friend when I look at it! Oh, just for the record, it has 21 pieces.

Now it's time for just a bit of wine tasting. I'll tell you more about that later!

Have a great day!

Working on the final stitches of my Christmas quilt!

2010-12-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

These are the blocks that I made most of last year. They are Gail Pan's designs and the setting I stole from my BFF Rana. I'm mostly happy with it. Feel like I've been quilting this thing forever!

Once I make it through the holidays, it's back to getting some Jane blocks done!

2 Posts in 1 Day? This is worth it!!

2010-11-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

I had to share this video. They showed it in church this morning and it is so powerful! Watch and enjoy and know the power of Jesus!

Christmas is on it's way!

2010-11-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah Chorus!!

I can't figure out how to make music play on my blog when you open it. So, hit the link above when you get here. And if you know how I can do that on blogspot, please direct me to the directions if you would!

Anyway, Christmas is almost here and will be here before you know it! One of my goals for today is to take down the Fall decorations and get Christmas 'up'. The carols have already been playing for weeks in this house. Love it this year. I'm so much more in the mood this year...for obvious reasons. Last year I had my second to last chemo at the very beginning of December and the last one was on 12/23. I so wanted to get it over with! And now all that is behind me. Queue the Hallelujah Chorus again!

In terms of sewing, I've had a rather productive weekend. On Friday Loris and I got together for a sewing day. So great! I just love to sit with some of my favorite people and sew all day! Here's what's been going on in the sewing room for me....

First, is 2 completed pillow cases for a couple of my great-nieces. These are obviously for the Valentine's 'season.'

This little diddy is a Christmas gift for someone who doesn't read my blog. It measures about 19" across. So it's pretty small, but would be good on a small end table or similar.

I've worked on a few DJ blocks, but most of them seem to have applique on them. This is the only one I've completely finished so far. I really need to get back to doing a few triangles. I'm at a point now where I need to do a triangle for every couple of blocks.

Here is an update on my DJ design wall.... I chopped off the top (which is completely done), but you get the picture. The right side has 3 triangles undone as of now. Actually, it should only be 2, but one of them went missing! I kept hoping it would show up since it was easily a couple of hours of work, but it's been missing for over a year. Guess I just need to suck it up and remake it! Anyway, here's the pic...

I'm going to leave you with this picture I just found while looking through my files...It's my sister, Betsy, busy quilting in her sewing room. Isn't that a neat looking room?

By the way, can you find the little mistake in that cute quilt hanging behind her?

Okay, that's it for now. Must go get ready for church. Hope to quilt a holiday quilt made last year today too! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

My Second Finish This Year

2010-11-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

But a finish nonetheless! Sorry, the picture is a little blurry. I wish I could say I made this whole darling quilt, but would never take credit for the wonderful things my quilting friends did for me! This was my progressive quilt from last year made by my quilt group. I started with the Mariner's Compass in the center. I just think it came out so great and it's great to have this baby hanging in my living room finally!

This is the only DJ block I've finished in a while, but I'm hoping to do more this weekend. Again, blurry photo. (I'm sure it's the camera and not the operator!)

Currently, I'm working on Christmas presents. How fun these pillowcases are! I'm making these for my great nieces and nephews. It's so fun to make something that comes together so quickly!

Hope you are getting your Christmas gifts done too!

Some recent DJ blocks

2010-10-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been up to the past couple of weeks...

The first one is called Jacob's Windmill, was completely machine stitched (for a change) and has 13 pieces.

This next little one, took me a while to get done. It was just not a fun one for me to applique and has hung around undone for months, so it's very good to have her done! This is J10, Chieko's Calla Lily, was machine pieced and hand appliqued with 21 pieces.

This was a fun and easy one called Granny Weaver (J6), was completely machine stitched again and has 25 pieces.

This last one was also easy. It's J7, Chicken Tracks and has 40 pieces and once again is completely machine stitched. This row has quite a few easy ones. I think row M makes up for that! I have about 19 triangles and 35 blocks left to do, which surprisingly puts me at about 75% done with this quilt. I've been working on it off and on for almost exactly 3 years. Next time I'll show you the progress on the design wall....

I've got a few more blocks prepped to applique, but they are side-lined for the moment. The next project is hand stitching down the binding on a quilt that was otherwise just finished today. Then it's to work on a progressive project due a week from tomorrow. I love being able to sew! Just wish there was more time for it!

Finally, a Finish!

2010-08-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is the little table topper I showed you pieces of a couple of months ago. I finally got it done this last week and it is my first finish all year! It feels so good to get something done and it's got me motivated to keep up the good work! Yesterday I made a block for a quilt that my friendship group is making for an injured soldier.

Just a qualifier here, all I did was sew the pieces together. My friend Le did the dirty work of planning and cutting all the pieces. I can't wait to see what the quilt looks like when it's done!

Yesterday, I also worked on putting the rest of my French Country place mat tops together. Next, I will layer and quilt them, which should go quickly as these will be turned inside-out rather than binding, so that *should* make things go quickly!

Lastly, I started quilting this baby...

It has changed somewhat since this picture was taken in that I added corners to it. This was a progressive that was made by my friendship group (wouldn't you love to have friends like this?). I started with the center compass and all the rest was done by them! I really want to hang this pretty thing, so it really needs corners. Hopefully, soon I will be able to show you another finish! Oh boy, it feels good to be back in the sewing room!

Sewing with Good Friends!

2010-08-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've decided that one of the best ways to spend a day is sewing with friends. I have been fortunate to do just that the last 2 Saturdays! Last Saturday, I got to go visit at Loris' house and see her wonderful sewing set up! This girl is spoiled, but I think she is fully aware of that fact!! Here are pictures of Loris and Rana taken from that day.

Now, I KNOW that our Loris is shy, but I just had to share this photo of her modeling her recently crocheted hat. Isn't she darling?? And not just on the outside, but on the inside too!

Speaking of darling....here is a sweet photo of Rana! I was having such a difficult day that day and I just thank the Lord for these 2 wonderful friends of mine! They just got me through in a way that was just so healing. Thanks girls for everything! I love you both!

So yesterday, Rana and I got to sew together again at the Mariner's Compass workshop we attended at our guild. It was fun and we both got lots done on our own little blocks. Can't wait to share that with you@

I'm about to go hit the sewing room to do some actual quilting, but wanted to share a photo of this little embroidery project I recently finished. It is a pattern from Kathy Schmitz. These are such enjoyable stitcheries! It took me a while to complete, but I loved every minute I worked on it! I hope the person I gave it to loves it as much as I loved working on it.

Okay, I'm really going to go stitch now! Hope to have something to share soon!

Melanie

Happy Independence Day!!!

2010-07-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Every year on the 4th of July a local drilling company hoists this giant US flag into the air right along the freeway in our little town. My DH ran down this morning and shot this photo right after the fog cleared. What a gorgeous day! God Bless America and may America Bless God!

So, chores are done and I'm headed down to the sewing room for the first time in quite some time! Love it!

Melanie

Tiny New York Beauties!

2010-05-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is the project I worked on for a bit yesterday. In my little friendship group, we are each making our own little shnibbles quilt. It starts with the 4- 8.5" Churndash blocks you see here and then that's where the creativity begins! Since I chose a red, white and blue theme, I wasn't sure where to go with my setting blocks. Some options were embroidery or applique, but nothing came to mind for me. NYB blocks have been a real attraction for me lately, so I'm trying my hand at them. This was a free pattern I found online that was about 3 times the size, so I just shrunk it down and this is where it's going. I'm not at all sure at this point that it's going to work, but I sure hope it does since it has involved at least a couple of hours of ~~work~~ play.

Lot's to do in the sewing room today....!

Road Trip

2010-05-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, well not exactly. I shunned church today in favor of meeting with a nutritionist in Santa Barbara at noon. I was shocked when she offered a Sunday appointment, but it allowed me to meet with her without missing more work. Lord knows, I've missed plenty of that! So, I took the pleasant and scenic 1.75 hour trip down the beautiful central California coast at 8:00 am this morning. I met my sister, Priscilla, at Stearn's Wharf and we had a lovely Sunday breakfast at Moby Dick. We had a nice table at the back of the restaurant which was closest to the end of the wharf and so we were farther out in the ocean. Got to see some porpoise, sail boats, birds and saw lots of people out rowing in boats (the competition kind). It was nice. Then we eventually headed over to the nutritionist who enlightened me about a few things and has put me on a program. It's a very interesting one. Leave it to say that veggies and I are going to be getting to know one another much better!

So all that and no sewing today! That's okay. I hope to do more in the next few weeks. Here is a photo of the place mats I've been working on making with the French Provincial prints. Just a little something for you to look at...

As I'm sure you can tell, you take a large rectangle and cut it up and put 1" strips in between them. I got the idea from Quilter's World magazine. It's the second place mat idea I've used from that magazine. Why is it that I never just sit down and work on one project? If I did, these might be done by now. As it is, they still need batting, backing and a quick quilt! Soon I hope!

Hope you have a blessed week!
Melanie

Strings!!!

2010-05-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

I finally just got all my scraps sorted by color! I was surprised at just how long this took. And how many threads you begin to carry around on your clothes in the process! Now I need to decide on just what color to make my first string quilt! My little friendship group is going to get together a week from Monday to work on string quilts. I think it will be the first for many of us. The green pile is easily the largest. I'm contemplating either green/yellow or red/blue. What do you think??

Back in the Sewing Room and Loving it!

2010-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really long time. Frankly, I just didn't have much to share so haven't posted. I've been working mostly on embroidery items, one of which I've already shown you and another that I can't show you because it's for my BFF's birthday. Finally, this weekend, I got back to the sewing room and have been working on a few things. It's been so long and it felt so good to be back at it!

I recently joined my first swap. It's from Quilting Gallery and is an embroidery swap. Here's what mine looks like so far.

The dark outer border makes it look too dark, I think. I was trying to go for something lighter and springy, so I will probably change something here before I'm done. Luckily, I've got it mostly done well ahead of the May 25 deadline!

Also got a VERY easy DJ block done. Well, I just HAD to get SOMETHING done on this project. It's been positively ignored for a couple months. And to think at the beginning of the year I had grand plans to be done by June! I'll have to rethink my schedule for that. Still want to have it done and to the quilter by the end of the year. Anyhoo, here is the block:

I think it is J4, it has 7 pieces and was paper and regular pieced. Voila!

Here are 2 that are prepped for applique, but not yet done.

Lastly, I'll show you these French Provincial fabrics that I think are perfectly gorgeous! I am well aware that not all people are fond of these prints, but they really do something for me! I'll show you soon the project I'm making with them. It is fun and simple!

I sure hope this finds everyone out there in blogland happy and healthy, oh, and sewing up a storm!

Melanie

Trying to Pull Things Together

2010-03-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

Things are getting more organized here, but not quite enough for my liking! The positively excellent news is that the sewing room is more or less back in order. There are, of course, a few lingering items such as paint touch up and a new chair needed, but I can certainly get to work down there if I could only find the time!

The only thing I've worked on much in the past couple of weeks is this new project by Liberty Homestead that my sister and I picked up when we went to Road to California a couple of years ago. At the time, I purchased a fantastic book from them that was a compilation of some of their most popular patterns over their 25 years in business. I swear I could make every quilt in that book! It was worth every penny. Anyway, the project we are doing has 17 blocks of embroidery and felt applique, which is new to me. At first I thought I would applique in like colors and do the centers including the french knots all in yellow and here's what I got:

It's cute enough and I actually really liked it until I decided to use some contrasting threads instead. Here's what I got with that:

I think they sparkle with the contrast, don't you?

Sure hope to get more sewing done soon. But first are taxes and other boring paperwork and painting at the OFFICE!

Hope you are getting something creative squeezed into your life!

Melanie

Blocks from a Couple of Weeks Ago

2010-02-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

The sewing room is still not together. My sister and her hubby left around noon today. DH put the second coat of stain on my sewing room table this morning. Next will be to start putting on the clear coats, so I'm hoping to have the room done by next weekend. That's 3 weeks of not having a sewing room which puts me way behind in my schedule. It will be nice to have it all done though.

These 2 blocks are ones I did a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get them trimmed down until today. Got down on the floor where the cutting mat is and whacked away! The first one here is J3, called Rick's Volleyball. It is appliqued and paper pieced and has 14 pieces. In case you are wondering, the points of the inside square are intentionally chopped off per the pattern.

The next one is LS 13 called, Watermelon (why did i make that in yellow?), is paper pieced and appliqued. It has 22 pieces.

It's time to go sort out my office and see what progress I can make on that front. Feels like so much sorting, cleaning, tossing and such is going on around here. Just seems to dig up things I'm not sure what to do with!

Hope you are having a creative and enjoyable Sunday afternoon!

Melanie

Adjusting

2010-02-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

Life has been pretty hectic compared to sleeping in every day I wanted to and taking my time to do whatever I wanted. But that's not real life for most folks and it shouldn't be that way for me either! Even though I work at a desk job all day, it's suprising what a lack of energy I have in the evenings to do much of anything. I'd like to be able to blame that somehow on the cancer treatments, but I really can't. It's just life or at least my life.

The whole new-carpet thing was and continues to be quite an event. Some of that goes back to having to work and not having the desire to do much of anything when I get home. My DH has been working a lot on these projects. He had all the furniture back in place before I even got home the day the carpet was installed. It took me a week to go through all the decorations that had been taken down and packed away. Who wants to put up stuff that's gotten old and is not so cute anymore into a room that has been freshened up and somewhat modernized??? So all that had to be gone through, sorted and some thrown out. I'm kind of in the sort out mood these days. The living room and dining room were done by about last Saturday (10 days after the install!)

Then it was down to the sewing room.........I have a large walk-in closet in there that had been driving me nuts with its disorganization lately. So everything came out of there and was sorted out. Some stuff went to the garage sale pile, about 3-4 bags went to the garbage can and the rest was recycled paper and plastic. Now I'm waiting for my new table in there to be done. This is DH's job. He took it on without me even asking for some reason. Normally I'm the furniture refinisher, but I think he is taking a liking to it. My sweet friend, Rana, donated her old dining table to my sewing room. It is a very nice piece of furniture made of thick oak - nice quality stuff. We have stripped the top and will restain that (tonight) and the base we are just painting. A small twin bed has been removed (more credit to Rana) from the sewing room and a nice chair suitable for hand stitching will replace it, freeing up some floor space and allowing for a better arrangement of the furniture with the added benefit of a more comfortable place for my loved ones to stitch in that room. At the moment things are just piled on the floor, but I think by the end of the weekend, I should have pictures of the new room with new (recycled) carpet, new furniture and new arrangement! This is the kind of change I love!

Looks like the forecast is for rain this weekend with a break on Saturday. My sister, Betsy is coming to visit for the weekend and it looks like we might do just a bit of wine tasting and have a nice lunch in San Luis Obispo. Can't wait! Then the rest of the day will be stitching to our hearts content!
It's almost the weekend! Hope yours is great!

Melanie

And the Winner is.....

2010-02-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

AMY!!! She wrote:

"Just getting started! Would love some fabric to begin my DJ stash:-) Amy"

Well Amy, there are no more excuses for putting off starting your DJ as you are about to have a pile of fabrics to get it going! Please send me your address by email and I'll get these off to you. Congratulations! Thanks to the rest of you for participating in my drawing and for leaving all those lovely comments! I truly enjoyed reading them all!

As for me, things have been sort of wild around my place. We had the new carpeting put in and moved some of the old stuff from upstairs to my sewing room, including the walk-in closet. I wonder if you can begin to imagine the mess going on with regard to the sewing room. The only sewing that has gone on are a couple of DJ blocks I had prepared prior to the carpet fiasco. I hope to show them to you soon.

My friend, Rana has given me her old dining room table to use as my sewing table. I might paint it before putting it together, so I have no idea how long this disaster might last. Tonight I'm hoping to tackle cleaning out the shelves in the closet. THAT should take days. Ugh....But oh how happy I will be when things are sorted, folded, thrown out and organized!!

Melanie

Full Circle

2010-02-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back at work. It's been 5 1/2 months. When I think back to how I felt and all that was happening when I left work, I just thank God that I'm still here! There was so much unknown when I left. What was that growing in me? Was it malignant? What were my chances of survival? What was my life going to be like? What about my husband? Was he going to be okay?

Today, I'm happy to say that I'm done with my chemo and my prognosis is very good. I'm back at work and it's good to see my coworkers and my customers again! Lots of hugs all around! God is good!

I'm Back!

2010-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been 8 days since my last post! Sorry for the delay! I was supposed to get a picture of the fabric up for the 100th post giveaway. So without further ado...

This is a collection of 20s and 30s reproductions. Most are fat quarters and some are fat eighths. I'll leave this open until February 8. So just leave me a comment before then if you want your name put in the drawing! I'll announce next week. Your name is in the drawing already if you commented on my last post.

I have completed a couple of DJ blocks since my last post as well. This first one is called Coyote Chase, is paper pieced and appliqued and has 12 pieces.

This next one is quite similar in that the shapes are all the same, but they point in different directions. I have noticed that Jane Stickle did this a lot throughout the quilt. You can see very similar blocks in close proximity to each other in several places. Anyway, the method for making this one is different. This one is completely appliqued, has 6 pieces and is called Josepha's Jonquil.

I am still agonizing over a block in row I. It's I-12, Fred's Square Fair. It has tiny little pieces, but I'm not sure why this is causing me such trouble as it is very similar to the top right corner, which I don't remember struggling with at all! It seems funny to me that I can't recall working on some of these blocks at all. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me though between menopause and chemo brain so much seems to escape my memory these days!

Today, I hope to get my last triangle on the left side done. It looks fairly easy. Row J also looks to be very easy and after that, the whole quilt appears to get much more difficult! Yikes! Still heading for a June finish!

Until next time,

Melanie

100th Post Giveaway!

2010-01-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've had this blog for a couple of years I think, but haven't been actively posting until about the last year. It has been a lot of fun for me and serves as something of a journal. I've really enjoyed it! Now I am coming up on my 100th post which seems like a good time to do my FIRST giveaway! I don't have anything purchased yet, but hope to have something to show you by the end of the weekend. You can count on it being fabric-y! Just leave me a comment on this post and your name will be thrown in the drawing! Oh, how fun!! I'm really excited about this! Hope you spread the word too!

In the meantime, I'll show you my latest Dear Jane triangle. It is RS-10 called Grandma Nan's Bodice. It was paper and regular pieced as well as some applique and has 17 pieces. It's always good to get a triangle done!

We have a bit of demolition going on here this weekend. Next week, we are having new carpeting put in our living/dining and bedrooms. So this is our opportunity to get rid of a built in bookcase in the living room that we have not ever really liked since we moved in here. Pete has torn the case out and now I need to go patch up some spots on the wall to make it blend it. I am also going to paint the bedroom before the carpet goes in so I have no shortage of projects! Anyone want to come help???

Don't forget to leave me a comment! We'll see you soon!

Melanie

Productivity!

2010-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Another DJ block done! This one is a repeat of this block I did back in December. It just wasn't going to work the way it turned out the first time. It really needed to be paper pieced. And so it was! this is I-4, called Stability, is paper and regular pieced and has 25 pieces.

The flash wasn't working on my camera so it is a dull picture. The focus fabric is much brighter than this shows. (I tried and tried to get this photo to load so that the little girl in the center was upright, but no luck. Sometimes, computers are so uncooperative!)

Earlier in the week I finished a purse that I made for a new friend I met at chemo who is battling ovarian cancer. The morning before I went to my last chemo, I was looking at a charm pack and trying to figure out what to do with it. I decided then I would make it into a purse. The fabrics are from the Cause for a Cure for ovarian cancer. Then that day, Debbie and I spent the whole time we were there (about 5.5 hours) chatting away. She is so sweet and is only 43. Please pray for her! Anyway, this seemed like the perfect gift for her. I hope to deliver it to her next week.

These purses are so fun to make!! Plus they are a great way to use a charm pack.

Today I am working on my Schnibbles quilt, Madeline, made with 2 charm packs and some yardage. Hope to have this done quickly. Only one week left before I return to work, so projects are being worked on at a steady pace around here!!

It is hailing outside here in normally sunny beautiful Central California. But I love the rain and welcome it. It's a great time to sew! And I think it's still beautiful, even with the rain.

Until next time,

Melanie

Rainy Day...

2010-01-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, it is really raining out there! My poor dog is huddled down and shaking behind the bed. She would really like for the rain to stop pelting on the windows! I suppose this would be a great excuse to wander down to the sewing room and hang out down there for a while. I know Kali would really like that. I have plans to clean out my closet today too!

In the meantime I thought I would share the block with you that I made yesterday. It is easiest one in row I in my opinion. It is I-3 called Family Album. It has 17 pieces and was paper and regular pieced.

Today I may get the last block in row I done! Or I may work on a triangle. Not sure which. OR, I might start work on a Schnibbles quilt. So many choices!! I better get down there and figure it out!!

Melanie

A Few New Purchases

2010-01-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

I had a great sewing weekend with my three sisters! We gathered at my sister's home in Fillmore, CA. The weather was just perfect, hovering right around 65-70 and sunny. The hills were green and pretty! We walked, giggled, watched movies and rewound the funny parts so we could laugh even harder, ate and just generally had a good time. (Can you say "pants on the ground?)

On my way down there, I stopped at a little quilt store in Carpenteria, CA. The name escapes me at the moment. I bought these for my Dear Jane quilt.....

and these...

Then when I got home, I had these waiting for me in the mail...

I have had a 6 x 12 ruler for probably 10 years, but it's been warped for most of that time and I finally just thought "why am I dealing with this?" and bought a new one! That is the ruler I use the most so it makes so much sense to have one that isn't warped. I don't know why I let myself become adjusted to such things....Anyway, I'm about to go chuck the warped one.

It's very rainy and windy here, which makes for a perfect day to sew! That's where I'm off to!

Melanie

This Week's Triangle Done Early!

2010-01-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

So, I didn't wait until the last day to get this week's triangle done. Actually, my sisters and I are having a much overdue sewing/quilting weekend so I really had to get it done early. This is LS-11, called Megan's Cathedral. It is paper and regular pieced and has 22 pieces. It was easy and fun. I needed that after the last two!!

Hope you are having a great day!!

Melanie

Another Block!

2010-01-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

Wooohoo! Got my second block done for the week tonight! The 2 blocks I did this week were not easy, or at least not fast! This one was definitely not easy. It's not perfect, but it's done and I'm okay with it's flaws.

This little baby is I-10, called Iris's Medallion, was paper and regular pieced and has 25 pieces. This photo is on the yellow side. The focus fabric is a pretty bright pink. I don't think that really comes through here.

While sewing this block, I realized why these blocks are so addicting. It's that you just aren't sure you've got what it takes to make them (at least some of them), or you're not sure that the ones that are easier that you can make come out proportioned correctly or lined up correctly or any number of challenges. And then, at least most of the time, you look at your finished product and say, "Wow, I made a pretty darn good little block there! I think I need to make another!" And that's how it happens!

Have I already mentioned I've lost one of my triangles? Ugh, they take hours to make and one has gone AWOL. My sewing room is getting cleaner and cleaner as I search for that thing! My biggest fear is that I've quilted it into a quilt and it will never be found....Grrr!

Hope you are getting some stitching in!

Melanie

Today's Effort

2010-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

I managed a couple of hours in the sewing room today and produced this triangle, RS-6, called Tumbling Blocks. As mentioned previously, it entailed the use of set-in seams,which is a method that I do not do well. I survived, but the block is not great. I can live with it though. So this was paper and regular pieced and has 25 pieces. If the picture makes it look like it tips over at the top, it really doesn't.

Now I'm working on the other set-in seam block, I-10 and then I can move on to funner things. Hope you have time for a thread today!

Melanie

I-9 Chase a Myth

2010-01-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

I do wonder sometimes how these blocks got their names. This one is an interesting one! I put off doing this one for quite some time. I had cut out all the foundations and all the pieces of fabric and it made it look so daunting. The only thing that made me finally do the darned thing is that I couldn't stand having all those little pieces of paper and fabric falling off my table and generally just getting in the way of other projects. So this little guy as you might have gathered by now, was paper and regular pieced. It has 41 pieces, which I believe is one of the higher count blocks. If you aren't working on your own Baby Jane quilt (and even if you are), think about that for just a minute: 41 pieces in a 4.5 inch block. It really is crazy, don't you think?

I normally don't do this, but I have been looking at another person's site who shows front and back of her blocks and I think it's interesting. So here's the back of this one.

Perhaps it was working on this block that caused me to once again think about Jane Stickle as she designed and sewed each of her blocks back during the Civil War. She had no rotary cutter, mat or ELECTRICITY. She may or may not have used a machine (I don't know, but if she did it was a crank machine), or freezer paper and obviously she had no computer. To me it just seems so apparent that she was so distressed by the current events of her day that she designed the most outlandish (ooh, good word!) blocks that would distract her from the terror that was going on in this country. Come to think of it, I like it for the same reason! Well, maybe terror would be an extreme word for today, but the state of our country and world is certainly unsettling if you let yourself think about it for more than a few seconds.

You may be able to tell I'm working on Row I. I'm trying to get the hardest blocks done first. Next is I-10 with set-in seams and while I'm at it I'm also working on RS-6 which is the tumbling blocks one and also is full of set-in seams. It will feel really good to have these guys done!

I'll be back as soon as I have more to show you. Hopefully real soon! Until then, I hope you're finding time for a thread.

Melanie

Last Week's Triangle

2010-01-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here is the triangle I got done on Sunday, which is last week's. This is the first triangle I've done in months and boy did it kick my butt!! This little didy took me HOURS and lots of sewing and unsewing! There is just something about paper piecing that is so brain twisting for me! But done it is. This is LS12, is paper and regular pieced and has 24 pieces. There is actually a VERY small diamond that is supposed to go on top of the top diamond you see here, but it was literally about 1/4 inch in length and width. How do you turn over an edge with that small an area to turn into??? I think it looks fine without the crazy little diamond at the top and unless I told you, you wouldn't know!

I've been working since Sunday (off and on for a few minutes at a time. life is so busy!) on a block that is also paper pieced and am almost done with it. This little baby has LOTS of pieces. I think it is I-10. I should be able to finish it up and post it tomorrow. Then maybe I'll do an easier one for my second one this week. Or maybe I'll do a harder one and get it over with. I'm thinking about doing a triangle this week that I've been putting off for a while. It's on the right side of the quilt and has a tumbling block pattern. Anyone know which one I'm talking about? It might be RS6?? Oh well, you'll just have to come back to see what I ended up doing.

Until then....

Melanie

It's Back to Jane!!

2010-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I haven't been feeling well since about Monday. Nothing new or interesting, just the same old feel-bad-after-chemo stuff. Fortunately, this was my last one so things should be looking up from here. A couple of weeks ago I had prepped a few DJ blocks and finished all but one, which I stitched up last night. This is I6, has 9 pieces and was machine pieced and appliqued.

As I was talking to a friend this morning, we realized that if I go back to my schedule of doing 2 blocks and one triangle each week, I could have the top done by June. I'm seriously thinking of having Sue Baddley of Summit Creek Quilts long arm it when I'm done. She does a wonderful heirloom look and I'm not sure I'd ever get it hand quilted if I went that route. At any rate, the challenge is on for 2010! I better get to the sewing room!

Melanie

Last Post for This Year!

2009-12-31T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been quite a year! My husband and I will be glad to see this one tucked away into the history books. So much happened this year and lots of it wasn't good. Our government here in the US began to take away rights at an unparalleled pace and I got sick with Lymphoma to name only a couple of the rotten things that 2009 brought. I've been out of work since August, but will be heading back around 2/1/10. It's been weird for sure!

On a lighter note, I was able to do a little bit of stitching today despite feeling pretty crappy. First, I finished up a tiny little pillow I made for my sister.

This other project is something that I cut out from a free pattern that came with something I bought when I first started quilting at the beginning of the decade. It's been hanging around my sewing closet along with other stagnant projects so I decided to zip up a couple of them to make myself feel like I am getting something done.

After doing all these set-in seams, I think that pattern has been tossed already! What a pain! Why is it that no matter how careful one is with set-in seams they just don't cooperate?? I tried and tried, but this thing came out pretty darn wonky. Luckily, once it was together, it's hard to tell....It is hard to tell, right?

Tomorrow, if I feel okay, I'm going to try to make a thread catcher that has been in my sewing closet waiting to be made for 4 or 5 years. Hoping it won't take too long. Also working on another purse for a new friend who is battling ovarian cancer that I met at the infusion center. Hope to show those to you soon!

I hope each of you has a blessed new year and that it brings only good things for you!

Melanie

Merry Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T12:46:00.003-08:00

I've decided to finish up a few small projects that have been hanging out in my sewing room closet just taking up space and filling my mind every time I walk in there. It just feels like there are so many projects that need to be done. I'd like to be able to start over with new and fresh ones, but want to make what I've already bought before I don't like them any more. I'm sure you must have similar issues.

A couple years ago, I bought what turned out to be a really odd charm pack from Nancy's Notions. I have fiddled and fiddled with those fabrics to try to figure out what I could possibly do with them! Finally, I thought about the purse that one of my quilt group members, Linda B, made for me last year. I just love it! And it seemed to be a good project for these funky fabrics in the charm pack. So I dug into my stash for fabric for the handles and lining and here is what I put together.

I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to make these colors all go together in a cohesive way and look pretty and finally ended up with the cool-sided and warm-sided purse. I really like it. This might even be the start of something new for me. I normally go with much more muted colors, but I really liked this once it was done!

Hope you and your families have a save, happy and blessed Christmas. Rest, enjoy and give thanks to our Lord for the birth of his only child who came to save us! Amen!

Melanie

What I've Been Up to Lately...

2009-12-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a little bit of sewing these days. Mostly still working on some presents, but I do have a few things I can show you. First are the placemats I made for a couple of dear friends as birthday presents.

The pattern came from the December '09 Quilter's World. This is normally a magazine I'm not all that fond of, but this particular edition had some great gift ideas. I liked these placemats enough to make some for us too!

I've also been tinkering with my DJ quilt a bit. I've prepped a few blocks for applique and have recently made these two blocks. The first one is I4 and was rotary cut and pieced and appliqued. It has 25 pieces. The second one, I5 is completely appliqued and has only 6 pieces.

I think the first one is going to be redone. It's just too wonky. I'll keep the center part, but redo the outside sections and will paper piece them this time. That should fix it! Honestly, I didn't think this one would be that difficult, but I'm out of practice with these tiny little pieces. If you're off just a smidge, you'll pay the price with these babies! I'm happy with the second one and this is one that I had dreaded doing for a long time, but it was very easy!

Lastly, I'll show you the progress I've made on setting the Gail Pan Christmas quilt.

As you can probably see I still need to add the outermost border and then this one is ready to quilt! I'd like to get the quilting done before my next (and last!) chemo on Wednesday, but Christmas presents are more important right now. So we'll see!!

Hope you are having some time to enjoy the true meaning of this holiday season!

Melanie

A Finished Project

2009-12-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

It was small, but still a finish, which can be difficult at this time of the year! It is a panel a friend gave me a few years ago. I'm pretty proud of myself lately to be using up my stash and not really buying too much. Of course it helps that I can't really go into public places right now though either. That's my cute little doggy eyeing the quilt just laying there on the floor waiting for her to snuggle up on it. I had to tell her a couple of times it wasn't for her. I don't think she really understood do you?

Today I'm hoping to do a Dear Jane block or two and work on a Christmas wall hanging. Hope you are doing some stitching too today!

Christmas and Birthday Presents.....

2009-12-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

are being made around here, so I don't have any pictures I can show you without giving away some surprises. But a post without a picture is like a day without sunshine! So....take a look at this!

This was my favorite Christmas decoration as a kid. My mom bought it at some craft fair or church bazarre probably. It is a styrofoam base spray painted gold (which seems to flake off every time you touch it) and then has all these gold leaves and costume jewelry stuck in it and of course, the arch with the angel in it. My guess is that this piece is about 45 years old and I just love it. It makes me think of the simple days of being a child and the wonder and sparkle and joy of Christmas. Those were also really good times in our family before things got, well I'll just say complicated. So while you may not think beauty when YOU see this, I think about warm cozy Christmases with a fire burning, Johnny Mathis singing Christmas carols, a beautifully decorated home, candles, lots and lots of relatives all brought together with love and fudge. Nothin' better! I miss that...

As Christmas draws closer, I hope you are enjoying some of the traditions you and your family celebrate. Try not to get too tied up in the materialistic, unimportant stuff. Remember it's really the warmth and love that matters.

Hope you get in a few stitches today too!

Melanie

It's Officially Christmastime

2009-11-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

Now I just need to pull down all the fall decorations, my favorite, and bring out the Christmas decorations. Why is it that this seems like such a big task? Maybe it's because I have to haul out the empty boxes from the basement to store the fall stuff and then do the same with the Christmas decos. I need new Christmas decorations. I'm just not totally happy with what I've got. Plus some of the problem is that I just love the fall decorations so much! I'd love to have them up all year. It's sad to see them go!

DH and I woke up at the same time this morning just before 5:00am. What's up with that?? Just boom, wide awake....both of us!! Today, I have a friend coming over to sew for the day. I love these days. Hoping the need for a nap doesn't kick in until she leaves! Hopefully, I will have something completed to show you by the end of the day.

Hope you are having an enjoyable day as well and get a few stitches in before the day is over!

Melanie

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

I have so much to be thankful for! Just to name a few: Great family and friends, a God who loves me more than I can imagine, a beautiful place to live (California Central Coast), the best husband in the world and more, more, more!! I hope you are having a great Thanksgiving with those you love!

I haven't posted in a while and that is mainly because I've been busy working on Christmas and birthday gifts. I have to share this great fabric I recently purchased from the Rouenerries line by Moda. It is a linen/cotton blend. I plan on making some pillows for my couch. Pretty, huh??

Speaking of the Rouenerries line, my friend Vangie gave me 2 charm packs of it for my birthday. So I also bought some coordinating fabric and this Schnibbles pattern to make them up. This project will have to wait until after I've finished Christmas presents, but it should be a fun and quick project! Can't wait!

Again, happy Thanksgiving to you Americans. For the rest of you, I hope you get some stitching in today!

Melanie

DJ Design Wall Update

2009-11-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I like to show a picture of my DJ progress. I was just talking to one of my oncology nurses who is a new quilter about this project and told her I would post a picture. Just counted and I have 115 blocks done and 36 triangles done, counting the 2 corner kites. As you can see, I've started to do the whole thing in order, or at least row by row. That way I can make sure I don't get 2 blocks of the same color together. I do wish I had done this in Trip Around the World format, but oh well. I like it this way too. This photo does not show all the blocks and tris that are done, just the ones on the upper portion. There aren't many others, just sayin'...

Hope you are doing something fun and creative today!
Melanie

My progressive for this year

2009-11-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well, Monday night was the big reveal. Here's what my group produced for me.....

I had started with just the center star. My friend, Launi, was the first to work on it and she did the flying geese surrounding the center star. Then, her sister, Linda, made the 4 corner blocks. Now, this is a pretty big deal because for both of them, it was their first time paper piecing! Great job ladies!!! I'm really happy that my project stretched you into doing something you hadn't done before. Now you have a new skill that will lead to even MORE quilts you just have to make, right? Next, Le added the side strips and attached the NY beauties. At some point in here (maybe before the side strips were added or just after) Vangie appliqued the center medallion onto the background. Next, Linda C made a label for this beauty seen here....

Cool signature block, huh?? Next, Barb added another solid yellow border that ended up being used to make the final fence rail type border you see on the final product. This border was done by Lucretia and I think was a fantastic addition, pulling all the colors together! The last person to work on the top was Rana and she put the triangles on the borders and the little snowball type corners in blue on the corner blocks to mimic the shape of the top. I'm super excited to get this thing quilted!! I have lots of ideas for it, which is kind of unusual for me to be able to think quilting ideas up this quickly!

Anyway, aren't I lucky to be part of such a talented group of women??? Here's another quilt that was made this year that is super fantastic!!! This one belongs to Rana and I know she loves it too!

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the show! I may be out of commission for a while, though I do hope to get another triangle done before I go down. So hopefully I'll get another post in before tomorrow's chemo kicks in. Hey, and I might as well be optimistic here. I might not ever go down on this chemo. I might just do fine!!

Hope you are getting some stitching done today!!

Melanie

Another DJ Block!!

2009-11-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

I may have caught the DJ bug again. After doing that block and tri this weekend, I decided to do another block. This one was so simple and can you believe, it took me 3 tries! What? The measurements were funny and I just kept cutting them out wrong. Thankfully it was an easy block. I save all my errant blocks and someday they are going in their very own quilt! That ought to be interesting!

Now I need to do a triangle for this week. However, I have a quilt all layered and ready to be quilted that I should really get started on. Maybe tomorrow I will work on that a bit. I won't feel much like sewing come this weekend. Chemo #4 happens on Thursday so.....Until then I'm trying to beat the clock!!

Hope you are doing something creative today!

Melanie

A Jane Block and Triangle

2009-11-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

It has been somewhere around 4 months since I've done ANY work on my Dear Jane quilt. I felt like I needed to focus on getting some other things done and then came the Big C. But now I have done I-1 called Ralph and Nelda's wedding. It was rotary cut and pieced and has 20 pieces. It is not as wonky as this photo makes it look, but it is a bit wonky!! I'll be able to fix that when I set it in the quilt.

I also did a triangle. This one is LS11 called Kathy's Cake. It was paper pieced and appliqued like most of the triangles. It has 24 pieces. I'm motivated to keep going! In fact I quickly made another easy block this morning (I-2) but had measured the pieces wrong so it came out the wrong size and will have to be redone. Oh well, at least it was easy. I only have 3 more triangles to make on the left side and 3 or 4 on the right side to have the top and both sides done. I really should be focusing on Christmas presents though!

I have several things to get done this weekend. First, today I am going to go out and plant the pansies I bought. Our town is on water restrictions for a short time and so I can only water the yard on Saturdays and Tuesdays. That forces me to do the planting today.

The other thing I must get done is to put a border on the progressive quilt I am working on for a group member. They are revealing our quilts at the meeting on Monday evening. Unfortunately, I can't be there as my immune system is suppressed right now and the doctor won't let me be in groups. However, I have heard that my quilt is beautiful! I can't wait to see what it looks like! To see what I started with look here. It's the compass star and I hear the wonderful women in my group have done a fabulous job making something perfectly wonderful. I can't wait to see it and share it with you.

Hope you are doing something creative this weekend!

Melanie

A Return to Jane?

2009-11-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

I belong to the Dear Jane list sponsored by Brenda Papadakis and read the other day that for 2 weeks in a row only 2 people had completed the TOW (triangle of the week) challenge. I was shocked! Before I got sick I did one every single week and never saw less than 15 or so names on the achievers list. I emailed Marianna, the achievers list mistress, to make sure what I had read was correct and it was! So, this was a call to action for me. I'm feeling well enough to sew this week so I'm committing right here for all to read that I will do a TOW this week! I've got the paper foundation all prepared for LS11 and hope to have it to show you in a day or 2. In the meantime, I'm going to go clean up my front yard just a wee bit. It has that scraggly fall look right now. Check back soon to see if I kept my committment!

Hope you are doing something creative today!

Melanie

My October Finish!

2009-10-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, my leaders/enders project a la Bonnie Hunter is finally done and is my finish for October! I believe I started this project (the 25 patches) in late 2005 or early 2006. Since I truly only sewed on this as a leaders and enders project it took a long time! I made the hour glass blocks in 2007 and put the body of the quilt together last year. This year I finally got to the borders and quilting and am really happy with this one! For quilting, I just did straight lines in the center and feathers through 2 borders. It is a large quilt (it's nickname is The Beast) measuring in at 96" square and is the largest quilt I've made. Trying to do more than the straight quilting in the center did not appeal to me as I quilt on a regular home machine. Plus I really like the way the straight lines highlight the geometrics of this quilt. For the borders, I drew the spine of the feather and freehanded the rest.

Now it's on to my November project. It is another top that stopped short of getting its borders. Good news is that it is fall fabrics so it will be fun to work on this time of the year and it's much smaller than this one was so it should go fast!

Hope you are working on something that inspires you!

Melanie

Progress!

2009-10-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm working on finishing up my OPAM for October. Got the quilting finished Thursday evening and added a label yesterday. I'm really bad about labels and as you can see, I didn't add this one before the quilting, but it's got a label nonetheless. Also sewed the binding on yesterday and now have the seemingly monumental task of hand sewing it down. This quilt is 96" square so that's 32 feet of binding to sew down! At any rate I know I'll have it done in time for the end of the month. I will share some pictures of it as soon as I have a finished product! Until then, hope you are getting some of your own projects done!!

Melanie

Very fun package in the mail!!

2009-10-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

A package came in the mail on Friday from my niece, Sarah and her mom, my sister Betsy stuffed full of these fabrics and pattern they got at the Buggy Barn for me! Isn't it great?? I just loved opening the package and lifting each piece of fabric out and looking at it. What a lovely bunch of fabrics to make this pretty fall quilt. Fall is THE quilting season isn't it? I can't wait to dive into this!!

Hope you are enjoying a quilty project too!!

Melanie

Beautiful "Blocks" Given to Me by Courtney

2009-10-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

My lovely quilt group did a really fun thing for me for my 50th birthday: they each gave me a gift of 50 things. I got things like a box of bible verses, a jar of hershey's kisses, tea lights, 5" squares....it was great!

My dear friend Courtney gave me these 50 "blocks" of the state flowers that she embroidered. Aren't they beautiful? She embroidered a set of these blocks for herself and one set for her mother, my friend Rana. Problem was, she was completely sick of them by the time she got done making them. She is so skilled at embroidery! I wish I had half her talent! She has asked me to take them apart and re-set them, which I am happy to do! Here are some more photos....

I can't wait until I'm well enough to go fabric shopping in an actual quilt shop so I can find just the right fabrics to set these with! I think, no I know, this is one of the most generous gifts anyone has given me. I've told her that she is welcome to take this back any time she wants...it's just too much!

Thanks Court! You're the best!

A Beautiful Quilt Given to me by Wonderful Ladies

2009-10-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

This quilt was given to me by the wonderful gals in my quilt group. I took it with me to my 2nd chemo session yesterday and it was a big hit. I almost felt sorry for all those other people in their drab hospital blankets. It was obvious that I had people who loved me and I brought them there with me in a way. It was like they were there all around me (in spirit, of course). I know they are keeping me in their prayers and that means so much to me; I can't really express my gratitude for it.

These 3 applique/embroidery blocks were done by Vangie. She embroiders so beautifly. The patterns are from here.

This lovely signature block was made by Le. I LOVE it! It really brings the sentiment of the quilt together and I look at this part all the time. Thanks Le!

i just love these ladies. Wasn't that the sweetest thing? Oh, I forgot to mention the backing is flannel and the binding is satin. Wonderful!

A finish for September!

2009-09-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed August, but here I am, back in the swing of things for September! If this quilt looks somewhat familiar, it's probably because this is the second quilt I have made with the same fabrics. It is the Sunshine line from Moda by April Cornell. When did this line come out? Maybe 2 years ago or was it 3? Whenever it was, that's when I started it. Finally it is quilted and bound and thus is my finish for September. I'm already working on the next one. I suppose there is a small chance of it getting done this month too, but it is a small chance! Here's a peak at it....

Have a great weekend. I just had my head shaved, so I've got to go get used to that! I'll post photos on my other blog....

Hugs,

Melanie

Small Accomplishments!

2009-09-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have been able to get a few things done, believe it or not! Chemo was not too bad. I layed low for a couple of days, but overall, I'd certainly have to say the Lord blessed me with very minor side effects. Consequently, I've been able to finish a couple of the Gail Pan blocks in the last week or so. Here they are...

Coming soon is my finished project for the month of September. Actually, I'm really hoping to finish 2 projects in September to make up for the miss in August. August ended up being a crappy month!

Also, in an effort to keep those of you who would rather not be bored with my cancer experience free of that thread here, I've opted to start a new blog, "The Unexpected Detour." In that blog I will chronicle my experiences, past and future, as I go through my treatments. Personally, I have seen the hand of God at work during this time and it's exciting for me to share. Also, this will double as my journal for this time in my life. I have made a link to it on the right side of this blog.

Stay happy and healthy and keep on stitching!

Melanie

One down, five to go!

2009-09-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

My first round of chemo is DONE! It was the longest one and lasted 7.5 hours. Glad to have it over with and feel just fine so far. One of the drugs, Rituxan, can cause some reactions and of course I reacted. So they had to stop the IV and get control of things before I could get started again. But once they started it again, I was fine. And it shouldn't happen again the next time.

I'm told days 2 and 3 are the hardest, so I probably won't be back until Sunday or Monday. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Do some stitching for me!

Melanie

Health Update

2009-09-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for not talking about quilting at the moment. It's been hard to focus on being creative for the past few weeks, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

We saw the oncologist on Tuesday and got the word that my lymphoma is stage 3. I believe it is curable at any stage. It is stage 3 because I have a few small tumors in my abdomen. The football-sized tumor they took out when they did the hysterectomy was the greatest part of the disease, so that is very good news. I was happy to hear that it had not gone to the bone. The site where they did the bone marrow test still hurts over a week later, so I'm glad they won't have to periodically check that too!

Because there are such small tumors, the chemo does not need to be broken into 2 sessions. The doc thought I probably had more large tumors that once the chemo meds hit them, it would release too many toxins into my system. Tomorrow will be one long day starting at 8:30 and going until they are done (6 hours at the most). I have plenty of things ready to go: lap quilt for snuggling, pillow, hand held Tetris and Yhatsee games, Sudoku book, reading book, glasses and stitchery! What more could I need????

For those of you who have been so kind to send cards and well wishes, I do so appreciate them! I will be missing quilt group for a while as I'm not supposed to be in large groups, but the good news is that this will probably only last until December. It would be so nice to be able to make it to the Christmas celebration, but I think it will have to wait until next year. That's okay. God is good and in control. I am doing my best to lean on Him!

I'll leave you with a picture of another of my first quilts. I got the fabrics on a trip my mom and sister's and I took in 2000. We went back east for fall colors and to visit family and had such a fun time! Oh the stories I could tell you from that trip! I'm actually pretty proud of the hand quilting I did on this, but you can't see it in this photo.

Hope you are all well and being creative in some way!
Melanie

Wow, what a week!

2009-09-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we started with an echo cardiogram (not sure of the spelling). Wednesday I had a bone marrow biopsy and they took a piece of bone while they were at it! The doctor told me it shouldn't hurt, but still does. Thursday I had a PET/CT scan and for some reason, that just wore me out. Yesterday I had my port for chemo installed. This was about a 4 hour process from the time we were to arrive at the hospital to when they let me go. I had a really sweet nurse who was determined for me to be sedated to the point where it wouldn't bother me and she did a fantastic job. I have really come to love and appreciate nurses. What wonderful people they are to take care of others with such dedication! I'm wishing I had gone that route right as a career....

Oh, I have so many thank you notes to write. My 50th birthday landed right here in the midst of cancer diagnosis and surgery recovery, so I have thank yous to write for both events. At least I have plenty of time and my energy is not bad. I need to get things ready for chemo though as that starts on Wednesday.

Here are a couple of little things I've done over the last couple of weeks. It's not much, but they have certainly been enjoyable. In case you don't already know, you can get the patterns here.

Thanks for stopping by....

Melanie

My first quilt

2009-08-26T09:10:00.001-07:00

It's bad, I know, but isn't everyone's??? I really had no idea how to do the center, so here's what I did: 1) the sun rays are made with 2 layers of fabric sewn right sides together and then turned inside out (OMG, how hard was that?) and then appliqued to the background; 2) the face of the sun was put on with Heat-n-bond and never stitched down in any way; 3) for the outside border, each of those squares was cut out individually and sewn together at random; 4) the whole thing was hand quilted.

This little baby hangs in my sewing room. I don't hate it, but every time I really think about it, I think of how differently it would go together today!

Hope you are all well and happily stitching!

Melanie

Wow, It's Been a Long Time!

2009-08-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being away for so long. It's been a trying time here for me. Last week I ended up having a complete hysterectomy and removal of a lymphoma from my abdomen. Super glad to have all of that behind me and am trusting in the Lord for complete recovery. Still feeling a bit like I've been hit by a truck, but that seems to get better each day. I'm supposed to be walking 20 minutes, 3 times per day already and am finding it to be a bit more of a challenge than I had expected. At any rate, I'll get there. If you are a believing Christian, I would appreciate your prayers for full recovery. Thanks a bunch! The prognosis is apparently very good.

Now for more interesting things to post....

Wanted to share some photos of the friendship group I belong to. Each month one of us hosts the group and this month was my turn. I live in a small coastal town, so we usually like to meet for some fish or chowder prior to the meeting. So here we are! We had a good time that night sharing our progressive projects and ending with watching my nephew, Tyler Anderson, on the Food Network show, Chopped. Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did that night!! What a great bunch of gals these are!

I've noticed on some other blogs I read that several people are sharing their first quilt. I hope to do that in my next post. It's interesting to say the least! Boy the things I've learned!

Until then, God Bless!
Melanie

The Kitchen Paint is FIXED!

2009-08-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house in 2003, our kitchen was straight out of the 70s. BAD wall paper, really bad flooring and shutters that swung out into the room. It was just BAD. In our first year here, we stripped the wallpaper off and painted a light yellow, which I felt was too light. So, I ended up dry brushing a darker yellow over it. The longer I lived with that particular color the more obnoxious it became. I have been wanting to fix it for probably 2 years, but have been really tied up with my Dear Jane quilt. Since I'm taking a break from that, I finally got to adjusting the kitchen paint. I had no idea it would take me alllllll day and make me as pooped as I am right now! Since I had stenciled a border in there and wanted to keep it, I decided to mix a light yellow (my original base coat) with 2 parts glaze. I rolled the mixture on and then used a dry brush to thin it out and move it around. To save the border, I just went over it with a damp rag and that seemed to work. I'm so glad to have it done! NOW, it's time to put the kitchen back together!!!

Here are some photos of before and after, but I don't think it really shows how dramatic the difference is....

July OPAM

2009-07-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not much, but it is a finished project nonetheless. I just wish it was one of my old projects. This one was started on a whim this year. I'm hoping to get a bed-sized quilt done for August that I've been slowly working on for a couple of years. It just needs one more border and then it's ready to layer and start quilting....Can't wait to show you the finished product!

Latest DJ Triangles etc

2009-07-26T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's been a while! Here are the last 3 triangles completed. This first one is my least favorite of the bunch as it came out pretty wonky. But as they say, "from a galloping horse..." It has 18 pieces and like so many of these guys it is paper pieced and appliqued.

Next up we have Left Side 9. This baby is pure applique and has only 7 pieces.

Last on the DJ front is Right Side 5. This one is paper and regular pieced plus a bit of applique. It has 26 pieces and I'm happy with this one!
I feel like I have been pushing myself a bit too hard with these blocks and it has started to become a bit of a drag to work on. I don't want that to happen because it is such a fun project, so I'm taking a bit of a break. If I feel like making an occasional block or triangle, I will, but for now there are other projects that need some attention.

This year started out so positively with the OPAM (One Project a Month) goal. I have made one project a month, but they have been relatively small and several of them have been started new this year. My whole goal when I joined this group was to actually finish some of the quilts that have been started but never completed. I still like all of them, so need to get them done while that is still the case!

In addition to completing some quilty projects, I'm hoping to get a few other things done. Hopefully recording them here for all to see, will be an incentive to get them done! So here they are:

1) Tone down the bright yellow paint in the kitchen. My idea here is to do a "wash" of a very light buttery yellow mixed in with a glaze. I'm hoping this works!
2) Make new curtains for the kitchen (this is on my OPAM list)
3) Make a new valance for the guest bath
4) Paint the guest bedroom
5) Paint at least 2 walls of the master bedroom

This weekend was my first weekend off from Jane and it felt so productive! It's really amazing just how much time those little blocks take! For now I'm off to put binding on a small scalloped table topper. I'll keep you posted and will try to come back a bit more often now...

Have you done some stitching yourself? If not, stop blogging and go do it!!!

Melanie

Two more blocks!

2009-07-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Things have slowed down here a bit for the summer. Lots of yard work to be done, not to mention that sometimes LIFE just gets in the way of sewing. Know what I mean? Managed to get a block and a tri done this weekend.

This was last week's block. It's called Ben's Bowtie. It was rotary cut and pieced with a bit of applique and has 36 pieces.
This was this weekend's project and was very easy. Rotary cut and pieced with 26 pieces. It is H10 and called Ben's Bowtie. This was my last block in row H so I'm on to row I! Row I has some pretty easy looking ones and some tougher ones. I think I'll tackle the harder ones first.
I'm saving the triangle for next time. Actually there's 2 to share....

Until then!
Melanie

The Buggy Barn Outing

2009-07-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

So, when I was on vacation in Spokane, my niece, the planner, had something planned for us every day. We had so much fun! It's a beautiful place and seems like a great place to raise a family.

So one day we hopped in the car and headed out of town. I thought it was going to be a 20 minute trip (but it seemed longer) to the town of Reardan where the Buggy Barn is. It was a bit of an adventure going through the farm fields and down about a mile on a dirt road to this wonderful place! I believe this shot is of one of the owner's homes. The picture is taken from the shop.This is a blury picture, but I thought it was a cute one anyway. We love taking pictures in quilt stores! From left to right this is my niece Lindsey, sister Betsy, me, great-niece Sammy Jo, and her mom and my host niece Sarah.
Here's another photo taken from the back corner of the shop. Can you tell that every square inch of this place is utilized??? It's not big, but one could easily spend hours in here. There are samples everywhere, even the ceiling! I bought a kit called Crazy Rays. I really don't need another quilt to make, but I wanted a souvenier from the trip. And I will enjoy it when I get to it.
By the time we had finished shopping, we had worked up quite a hunger! One of the gals who works in the store has a brother who owns an old style drive in called Dean's. So we headed over there and had burgers and shakes. Yum! I had a bacon cheese burger and a berry shake. The name of the berry escapes me now, but it is a popular berry in the Northwest.

Hope everyone has a great Independence Day! Enjoy your weekend and do some stitching!

Melanie

Triangle Catch-up!

2009-07-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the triangles I've been working on for the past few weeks. There is one other, but I haven't photo'd it yet.

This is LS7, Sally's Steeple. It was paper pieced and appliqued, has only 15 pieces and was a fun one!
The next two are all or almost all applique and were ideal for the plane! This one is RS7, Fedelia's Hearts, had a wee bit of paper piecing in it and has only 13 pieces!
Lastly we have RS8, Love Forever that was all applique and has only 5 pieces.

I think with the one I haven't shown you yet, that brings me to 32 triangles completed. There are a total of 56 counting the corner kites (I have 2 corner kites in my completed number). So at one a week, I should have all the tris done in about 6 months if I don't take a break. I think I need to take a break pretty soon here though. With my work schedule and everything else going on in my life, keeping this pace starts to be a drain and my yard is suffering. I will probably go until October and then start working on Christmas gifts and then start up in the new year again. At any rate, I'm happy with my progress!

For those of you with a 3 day weekend approaching, hope you get lots of stitching done! I don't get the 3rd off unfortunately, but I'll make the most of the weekend.

Happy Independence Day! God Bless America!

Melanie

DJ Block Parade

2009-06-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, here's what I've been up to the last several weeks. These are the blocks that I did the piecing on and then took them with me on vacation to finish them up by doing the applique. I'm not fond of flying so it helps me to have something I love doing like these little babies to really help take my mind off of things! So here we go!

G13, Molly's Muffins was regular pieced and appliqued. It has only 13 pieces and was fun to do!
H2, Jacob Anthony was paper pieced and appliqued. Doesn't it sound like this block was named after someone's baby boy? Well, I just had to do it in a baby boy blue. It has 24 pieces

This is H6 Pie Sale and was appliqued and pieced, in that order. It might be a bit deceptive in how many pieces it has. This one only has 14 pieces and was fun and easy! Like most of them, it's not perfect but I'm happy with it.
This one is I7, Mac and Muff. Those itsy bitsy triangles were buggars! This was also pieced and appliqued and has 19 pieces.

This last one is a pretty one, don't you think? It is H9, Snowflake Melt. It was paper pieced and appliqued and has 20 pieces. Only 2 blocks left for row H and neither has a stitch of applique!

See now, I haven't been COMPLETELY useless! Soon I will show you the triangles I've worked on in the same time period. I think there are 4. Oh, I also need to share my Buggy Barn photos!

I have to leave you with this picture. My dog just loves my husband to pieces. They were both VERY tired last Saturday and crept off for an afternoon nap. I had to take this picture! Don't tell my hubby I showed you...

Whew, I think I'm making a comeback!

2009-06-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

It's been tough to blog the last month or so, but perhaps I will get back into it now as my schedule and life are settling back into a regular routine! I've not been ignoring my quilting during this time however, so I do have some things to show you!I realize that I forgot to take a photo of a cute 4th of July table topper I made for my niece as a hostess gift when we stayed at her place in Spokane. It was the same as this one, only in red white and blue. The star points were red, the background was a red on white toile and the binding, narrow inner border and center of the star were a navy with white stars. I just love making this cute little project. It goes together fast and easy and is a breeze to quilt because of its size.

DH is calling me to the living room to watch a movie, so will have to continue this tomorrow!

Melanie

Wow, It's been a while!!

2009-06-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

I've really been away from blogging for a long time! I made it up to Spokane and my DH and I are having a wonderful time here with my niece and her family and my sister and another niece! This is a beautiful part of the world. My niece lives in a neat older neighborhood with lots of Craftsman homes built in the 30s and 40s. Also lots of stately homes from earlier than that so taking walks around here is great. A couple of days ago we had a late afternoon thunderstorm that dropped at least an inch in only about an hour. It was really beautiful. Oh, how we could use some of this water in California. My yard would just love to have some of that water, rich in nutrients washing off the leaves! Yesterday we headed out to the middle of no where to the Buggy Barn and had a blast. It is a good 30-40 minute drive from Spokane, but a very pretty one out through forested and farmed land. I don't have the opportunity to download pictures here so they will have to follow. I bought a kit and my sister spent $375!!! Can't wait to share it all with you.....

More to follow!

Melanie

Last Weekend's Progress

2009-06-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Making it back to the world of the living...finally! Okay, here is the triangle I did this weekend. It's LS5, called Olympic Torch, has 26 pieces and was regular/paper pieced and appliqued just like most of the triangles!

The block is H5, called Michael's Motorcycle, has 22 pieces and was rotary cut and pieced. This block was a nice easy one for a change!

I think I'm going to try to head back to work tomorrow. Life is about to get very hectic! I have a week and a half back at work and then we head out for vacation. Not much time to pull things together!! Wish me luck!

Still feeling punk!

2009-05-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

My very first symptom of this thing was a scratchy throat that I woke up with on 5/21. Granted I didn't come down with full-blown flu symptoms until 5/25, but I really thought I'd be over this by now! But nooooooo.....It just keeps hanging on and hanging on and I'm sick of it! Not to mention my poor boss would just love to have me back at work. I figured a weekend in bed would get me up and at-em by Monday. I dread calling him to tell him...Uh, I'd go, but there are so many reason's not to!

I am able to sew in short spurts of about an hour and then I have to go lay down. But I was able to get a BOW and TOW done allbeit slowly but surely! Speaking of which, I was going to show you pictures of my little pretties, but it's time for a rest. Soon, I promise!

Melanie

I'm Alive, but Barely....

2009-05-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, that cold I mentioned on my last post, turned into the flu that night. I started to ache all over and got the fever. I haven't had the flu in at least 12 years, but there is no doubt what it is when it hits you! It's the end of May for goodness sakes, why is the flu going around now? Isn't it about time for folks to start their summer vacations??? Doesn't the flu know what time it is??? Anyway, my long weekend was a total drag and really unproductive after about mid-day on Sunday.

I managed to get one DJ block and one triangle done. I'm amazed I pushed myself to do it! But I haven't missed either the block of the week or triangle of the week challenge once this year, so I hate to let that record slip away after so long. The block is H4, Abbey's Eyes and has 7 pieces and was all machine pieced.

I'm fully aware of it's imperfections, but can live with them (at least for now, we'll see how I feel once I've healed). The triangle is LS6, called Susie Q and was machine/paper pieced and appliqued and has 25 pieces. I've no idea how many pieces my quilt has so far, but I'd sure love to know! My block count is up to 108 and my triangle count is up to 27. As there are only 56 triangles (including kites), I'm only 1 away from being half way done with them! I think for most people the triangles are daunting. But if you do only one per week, you'd have them all done in just over a year! That was compelling enough for me to jump on that wagon! Sometimes, I find I have to go searching for an "easy" one. But some of them can really fool you!

More later....
Stay away from the flu!

It's Been a While!

2009-05-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

A hectic week for sure, and I came down with a cold to boot! I have been so busy with shifting furniture around and the cleaning, sorting and shopping that comes with a project like this! Last Sunday my DH and I moved the double bed into the garage and moved our queen into the office. We moved into this house 5.5 years ago and I've never really "finished" the office to my satisfaction. We went to one of my all-time favorite stores....TARGET and bought some new bedding and rugs and after cleaning 5.5 years of dust from under the furniture, this room is sprucing up. My desk is completely full of stuff I NEVER look at so my goal today is to purge AT LEAST half of it. Meanwhile DH is giving the desk a darker stain to go with the new furniture in that room.

Our new beds were delivered on Tuesday, but when they went to put our king up the slats underneath were the wrong size. So that whole room was put into limbo. The store reordered the correct stuff and they were supposed to be here on Saturday (yesterday) to set it up, but DH went by on Thursday and picked it up and had the whole thing together for me when I got home from Bible study on Thursday evening. Oh, I was SO happy! What a nice man I married! I still hadn't found the right bedspread so ventured out yesterday and found something at Kohls. Now our room is done. Last on the list is the guest bedroom. Luckily, all I need to do down there is make the bed!

Now for some pictures! First I want to show you my cute little great-nephew, Logan.
He is a mini-me of his daddy. Bright blue eyes and a sweet disposition!Here's the whole family. Aren't they cute?

Oh, I need to show you my DJ accomplishments from LAST weekend. These are H1, Peek a Boo and LS4, Virginia's Kite.

I hope to get a few more blocks done today...and show them to you tomorrow!

Until then!

Wow, it's been almost a week!

2009-05-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've been busy! Not sure with what exactly...just more of the same. Trying to keep up with myself on my projects whilst making sure the necessities of life get done.

We ordered a new bed for ourselves on Sunday! We are upgrading to a king size. I'm excited about it. It will also be a platform bed which means NO dust ruffle anymore and THAT makes me happy! In our house dust ruffle translates to dust and dog hair ruffle...very attractive! Only problem now is, we need to hussle out and buy king bedding!

So I also never posted my DJ accomplishments from last weekend either, so here they are...
I'm pleased with the block. The triangle could be better. I thought this would be an easy one, but I think it took me about 3 hours. I was tired of it by the time it was done!

Oh, by the way, I have a confession to make. Survivor is still my favorite show. I rush home from bible study every Thursday evening so I won't miss a minute. Is there anyone else who is as happy as I am that Coach is GONE???

Last weekend's triangle

2009-05-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

This is RS1, was paper and regular pieced and has 26 pieces. This week's triangle is RS2 and looks pretty easy. I must admit, I enjoy the blocks more than the triangles.

We have our niece and nephew and great nephew over for the weekend. Wow, 20 month old little boys sure do have a lot of energy. What a cute little boy! I'll show you a picture of this guy tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Melanie

Ongoing project

2009-05-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been working on lately. I don't ever really focus on it, which is why it's taking so long. Mainly, I sort of use it as a leaders and enders project. It's one way I'm trying to use up some of my left over DJ fabrics.
This is a basket of left over fabrics I use as a door stop in my sewing room, so you can see there's plenty left for more projects! Plus there's a whole bunch more I haven't used yet! Yikes!

Also thought I'd share an update of how my DJ quilt is coming along. I'm up to 104 blocks and 24 triangles finished! Feeling pretty good about that! You can see I have a couple of non DJ items up there...

Have a great week!
Melanie

First block for the weekend

2009-05-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here's my first block for the weekend - an easy one! It's called Decisions, Decisions, was pieced and appliqued and has 13 pieces. I'm off now to do either another block or a triangle.

Hope you are doing some fun stuff too!

April OPAM Done!

2009-04-30T21:10:00.001-07:00

Here it is 9:00pm and I've just finished the binding on my April OPAM project! This quilt was started a couple of years ago by my 2 good friends, Launi and Vangie. Vangie made all the star blocks for me. Isn't she great??? I think Launi cut out every piece of fabric and made several of the snowballs. I'm grateful for their efforts. Aren't quilters just the best people in the world? Thanks to both of you! I finished the snowballs shortly after getting the "parts" from them and then put together the top a bit over a year ago. Last year was not a good year for much more than piecing, so I'm thrilled to have the incentive of the OPAM project to get me moving on some of these tops that have needed to be quilted. There's still a few more so I'll keep moving along!

Have a great weekend!

Melanie

Top Left Kite

2009-04-27T19:23:00.001-07:00

I finally got this one done! Been eyeing it for months now and wanting to get my hands on it! After the 2 tough blocks I made just before this, I felt I deserved to do this one now. Again, not perfect, but you know what they say...."Finished is better than perfect!" This was paper pieced, regular pieced and appliqued with a total of 41 pieces.

Think that was my 22nd triangle, so that puts me almost 1/3 done with those. Soon I will show you a picture of my DJ design wall in my sewing room to update my progress. It's coming along!

Have a blessed week!
Melanie

G8, Justin's Comet. Done and redone!

2009-04-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

I really didn't expect this to be a difficult block. So I sat down yesterday and got to work and the picture above was the fruits of my labor! Pretty impressive, eh? This block was NOT going in my quilt so it was back to the drawing board! I really do not enjoy doing anything over, but I set my mind to it and gave it another whirl. For the second try I knew I was going to have to hand piece. I think this is only the second block of the 103 I've made that has been made with this method. Some day I might like doing it more, but for now, I've got too many projects to take the time to hand piece. Anyway, here's the redo. Still not perfect by any stretch but at least acceptable enough to make it into the quilt.

Next on the agenda, the top left kite. I've been waiting to get my hands on this one!

More later!

Papa's Star done!

2009-04-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is G6, Papa's Star. My sister's and I took a class from Brenda Papadakis at Road to California in 2007 and during that class she started to show us how to do this block. I had gotten as far as the center star and was pretty proud of myself. That was until a friend, who will remain nameless at this time, pointed out that some of my star points were chopped off. So I wasn't very proud of myself any longer! So this weekend was it's time for a redo and I feel really good about having it done and pretty happy with how it turned out....no chopped off points, Rana! So what I find to be so amazing about this block is that the center star is a 1 inch block and has 17 pieces in it! That's pretty impressive, don't you think? This entire block was rotary cut and pieced, has 31 pieces, and is DONE!

If you are interested in seeing a really beautiful and AMAZING quilt, you must go here
and read about the winner of the Best in Show at Paducah this year. At the bottom of her page is the link to a picture of the quilt. It's really something to see!

Hope you're working on something FABULOUS this weekend too!

Melanie

Quilting, actual quilting (as opposed to piecing)

2009-04-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm currently working on. Need to have it done soon as it's my OPAM for April!!

Weekend Triangle

2009-04-22T06:45:00.001-07:00

This is RS3 and was mostly appliqued, although there was regular piecing and paper piecing involved too. if I counted correctly, there are 20 pieces. It starts with a regular pinwheel in the center onto which 4 melons are appliqued. Separately, the top piece is made by sewing the bottom 3 pieces and then sewing that to the top piece with the 3 applique diamonds and then finally reverse appliquing that onto the pinwheel piece! Whew! Jane, what were you thinking??? I have one corner kite to do and 4 more triangles and I will be ready to put my first 5 rows together and start the hand quilting. I'm planning on hand quilting this quilt in 3 sections and hopefully I can get the top section ready in time to take it on vacation in June! Seems like there is plenty of time for that!

Keep stitching!
Melanie

Beautiful Day

2009-04-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a nice day I've had already and it's only noon! First, we woke up early and headed off to the first service at church, then came home and DH and I made a nice breakfast together and then I toddled off to take a nap! I'm up and around again doing chores and thinking about heading down to the sewing room to tackle Papa's Star. Our weather is beautiful too here today, I think topping off in the mid-seventies. Nice....

For now, I will leave you with a picture of my finished block for March from Gail Pan's BOM. I just think these things are so cute! And just like the DJ blocks, you can't wait to make the next one! Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Tomorrow, I hope to share a some quilting on a quilt I've been working on finishing for my April OPAM project...

Melanie