Icy Trees in Tennessee

This morning's Beauty

I found it was difficult to capture the beauty of the ice in the trees by staying indoors, taking the picture through the blinds.  Here are just a few pictures.

Ice in backyard tree-taken in mid morning

Icy tree in the front yard

 

 

Ice in the trees

"Icy" Design Wall Monday

This morning, we woke up to sleet, which has accumulated on the streets, sidewalks and actually everywhere you would want to drive or walk.  I have no idea what it looks like anywhere else but in our neighborhood.  Several neighbors have ventured out in their cars.  I'm sure they were needed at work.  Been there, done that and I still remember that it was not a fun adventure.  Thankfully, I'm retired and can just stay home and sew and quilt.

Cardinal at the Salt Block as the Ice accumulates

Since last Tuesday, I've been working on a QOV kit.  All the pieces were cut by RJ, my friend from our weekly Sewing Group.  I now have all the blocks sewn together.
There are (10) full Star Flower blocks-(3) are shown in the picture
There are  (8) half blocks-(3) are shown on the left side of the picture
There are (4) quarter blocks- (1) is shown at the top of the picture

Sewing the blocks together was easy enough, once the angles were figured out.  Now, all that is needed is sewing the blocks together with the large diamonds, using set-in seams.
It's just like a great big growing puzzle.
Here's what I have so far.  My design wall measures 60" x 70", so it is not big enough to show all the pieces.  The finished size of the quilt is 72" x 83" and was designed by Diane Tomlinson of FonsandPorter.com
The pattern was shown in the March/April 2014 issue of Fons and Porter magazine.

Star Flowers QOV

 Be sure to drop by Judy's Blog at:  Patchwork Times.com

Design Wall for last Monday Feb 9th

I always seem to be running behind on all my projects.  However, I did get (2) quilts done & bound on Monday evening, so I could turn them in on Tuesday to our Sewing Group.  These two quilts will be given to ladies in need of a hug.  Here's a picture of those quilts.
The batting was pieced on each of these quilts.  I tried butting the batting pieces together & free motion quilting the pieces to hold them together.  Let me tell you--that was not such a great idea.  As you can tell by the lower right side of the picture, there was some stretching involved when I machine quilted it.

Thankfully, I figured out the problem prior to machine quilting the Tumbler Quilt.
Instead of free motion quilting the batting together, I cut a long 3/4" strip of muslin.  The two pieces of batting were placed side by side and the muslin was centered on top.  Then I sewed down each side of muslin, making the batting into one nice piece with no stretching of the batting.  I also sewed a strip of 3/4" muslin down both sides on the back of the batting.  Why in the world would I go to all this trouble?  I had too many pieces parts of batting, which I wanted to use.   

Front of Quilt 30" x 60"

Back of Quilt 30" x 60"

Back of Tumbler Quilt

Front of Tumbler Quilt

On Tuesday, when I went to our Sewing Group, one of the ladies was working on a Quilt of Valor.  She had all the pieces cut for Star Flowers, which was designed by Diane Tomlinson, Assistant Editor of Love of Quilting.  It was shown in Fons & Porter magazine (not sure what month or year).  It has lots of angles and we discovered, it does matter which way you cut the 60 degree diamonds and we didn't have the special ruler needed to make it easier.  She asked if anyone wanted to take it home and give it a try.  After I got home, I happened to notice the small printing at the top of the page which stated:  CHALLENGING.
I always try to steer away from "Challenging" but since I had everything, except the ruler, I'd give it a try.
Here's what I have so far.....

(4) Star Flower Blocks for QOV

I assigned a number to each of the (6) sections of the star.  It was determined that Section 1 & 6 were the same and Sections 2,3,4, and 5 were the same.  It made a difference which way the blue or red strip was sewn on.

I also try to steer away from "set-in seams", which I discovered, will be a challenge when joining all of the stars.  And, yes, it does make a difference on how you turn the large white diamond, when you sew it onto the stars, which I discovered when I went to press, based on the picture shown below.

Large Diamond set in seam (LOL)

Everybody needs a good laugh, now and again.  I set the large diamond in very nicely.  However, the star block wants to stand up on the ironing board rather than lie down flat.

For now, I think I will finish making all the star blocks and then see how I feel.  I may try to tackle the set-in seams again but at this point, I'm not sure.....

Hop on over to Judy's Blog  Patchwork Times.com  to see what others have created this week.

 

Design Wall Monday

This morning about 8:00, I could see a few tiny snowflakes if I looked quick.  I feel bad just mentioning it due to all the folks up North and in New England who have been bombarded with snow.  This morning, I've been working on answering a few emails and writing some cards in answer to quite a few Christmas cards that we received.

The project hanging on my Design Wall actually began as a Table Runner using leftover HST.  It was several years ago that I had sewn the blocks together and there it sat, waiting....  So, I decided to add (3) borders to make it into a narrow quilt to be wrapped around someone who may be hurting.  This quilt measures
30" x 61" and will be donated to a local group.  I purchased the lavender and purple flower print at Hammers Dept. Store in Winchester at $5.00/yd and it will be used for the back of the quilt.  The fabric also has the word "Joy" printed throughout the fabric.  It is barely there and you really must look for it.

Quilted Wrap for a Special Lady

Other items waiting for attention------
(5) Quilts are waiting for bindings and labels:
Family Reunion Signatures from 2011
Mystery Quilt
Ice Cream Cones
Here Comes Santa
Cubes

Drop by Judy's Blog at  Patchwork Times.com  to see the creations of other quilters.
   

Design Wall Monday

My Long Arm Quilter sent an email last week stating my name came up for (3) more quilts.  Oops!  I better get the tops, backs and batting ready for Thursday, the 22nd.  That's the day I chose to have everything ready to take to Susan.  Yesterday, I worked on "Here Comes Santa".  I'm really happy with the border fabric.  I had enough for the binding and for 2 borders sewn to the backing fabric.  I'm hoping Susan can machine quilt the reins.  If not, I'll have to add them later.  I never have found the pattern.

Here Comes Santa Top and Backing shown at bottom

On Friday, I worked most of the day and up until midnight working on a Tablerunner for my Secret Sister at church.  The top went together nicely but the machine quilting with the walking foot took much longer than I
had anticipated.  Finding enough fabric for the back and the binding that matched was a challenge.  Thankfully, I only had to piece about 10 strips together and I was able to sew the binding down with no seams falling on the corners.  Yea!

Table Runner for Secret Sister (Beth)

Back of Table Runner for Secret Sister (Beth)

Stop by  Patchwork Times.com  to see what others have been working on this week.

Design Wall Monday

It's hard to believe that almost half of January has flown by--I've been working on....

Bonnie Hunter Mystery - (3) blocks completed with pieced sashing strips & corner stones
The delay in sewing the blocks is Part 2.  I had only made one strip and then went on to the next part.
So I've been making (8) strips and then sewing a block together, which has slowed down the process.
My friend, Corinne is working on this mystery, so we've been encouraging each other via email.

Bonnie Hunter Grand Illusion Mystery

 
Table Runner for my sister's birthday, which just happens to be today.
She is 89 today!!
After, I shipped it, I realized I hadn't taken a picture of the finished runner.  So, hopefully someone
in my family will send me a picture.  Suzanne has always enjoyed a cup of tea in the morning rather
than coffee.  I had found a cute fabric with mugs and tea bags.  I always seem to wait to the last
minute before I decide what to make.  I discovered a little bag of half square triangles already sewn and
they just happened to match the tea bag fabric beautifully.  So, I created stars with a tea cup block in the center of each square.  The table runner had (5) squares on the front and (1) square on the back, which I used as the label.  This is all I have left of the tea cup fabric, since I also used it as the binding on the table runner.  

Tea Bag fabric used in center of each square

Stop by Patchwork Times.com
and check out what others have created this year!

Cat Panel Quilt Top completed--
This was a fun top to work on and I have another cat panel that is similar and needs to be designed.
This will be turned in to my Sewing Group tomorrow.  We will need to find a back, which will need to be pieced to fit, since it is wider than 42".

 
 

Happy New Year 2015

Yesterday, I worked most of the day on the Grand Mystery quilt blocks.  Before I checked on the final reveal, I completed Part 5, so I'd be ready to put together a few blocks.  However, when I started to make the first block, I discovered I needed to make at least (8) of Part 2 to complete one block.  So, today I have been working on Part 2 and have one Grand Illusion block completed.

This afternoon, I took my sewing machine over to Marcia's house to help her and Reta design a Prayer Quilt.  They bought a delightfully soft blanket from WalMart and  (1.5) yards of flannel to use as the ties.
I had never made a Prayer Quilt.  The flannel was cut selvage to selvage, 6" wide, folded over about 1" and sewn to the blanket edge.  Each strip of flannel was pre-cut into 3/4" strips prior to sewing onto the blanket edge.  Each strip will be tied into a knot as a prayer is lifted up.