Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hateful Old Thieves

April 13, 1864
"....-a squad of 15 came and made us feed them and their horses - stayed here nearly three hours, hateful old thieves.  I wish a squad of Confederates had come and captured the last one of them - they stole Mr. Wither's horses ..."
Isabella Buchanan Edmondson

This week I worked on the block named, 'Hateful Old Thieves'.  I enjoyed working on this block and really like the brown tones that I used in the block.  Again, I mimicked the colors that Rosemary displays in her book.  So here is how I completed, 'Hateful Old Thieves'.

Here are the fabrics that I used out of my Civil War stash...

I like to write on the foundation paper the fabric colors so that I keep track of what goes where... I also cut my fabric into strips to make it easier to work with while sewing.

Sewing on the lines...

I centered a motif on the fabric in the center square.  I love how it turned out!

Wilson was sitting under my feet while I sewed.  He's such a goof ball!

The block was broken down into five sections that pieced together easily.

April 13, 1864
'Hateful Old Thieves'

Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next weekend I will be working on 'Conferderate Flag'. This will complete Row 4 on my Civil War Diary quilt.  Woot! Woot!  Hope that you are able to join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt.
Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you!

Check out Rosemary's website.  Her books and CD's can be ordered there too!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Testing.... testing.... 1... 2... 3...

Finished making my still 'nameless' woodsie, cabin quilt.  It's turned out oh so nice.... it will be shipped off to my quilter shortly. I have a pile of notes to go through and a pattern to write.  My process makes perfect sense to me, but I have a pre-determined idea in my head, unlike the person who picks up my pattern.  I'm looking for a few testers.... are you interested?  The finished quilt top took me about 2 full days of sewing, but that included math, interuptions and testing ideas.  Not all of them worked, so it took me longer to cut and piece it.  It may take you less time to piece it together.  I'm asking that you finish piecing it within a 2 week time-span once you recieve the pattern via email. It doesn't need to be quilted or finished, just the top done.  The finish quilt measures 66" x 91".

To keep this from having any tinge of bribery, I'm sorry I can't offer you payment to do this; I'm asking it as a favor, and hoping that it will be fun for you, too!  Your reward is a free pattern, autographed and with many thanks, when it's hot of the presses.  I should have a draft ready to send next week.  If you are interested please email me!  I'm looking for quilters of all experience levels!

Here's my quilt top, I can't wait to get it quilted!  It will be such a yummy warm quilt when it's finished.

Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you,

Saturday, February 18, 2012

FNSI Results...

Well, I maybe didn't get a ton of stuff done.  I always have a larger list than I maybe have time for.  I try to cram too much into an evening sometimes.  After picking my sister and nieces up from the airport and having a pizza dinner with them all, I did get around to FNSI.  But to start my evening out I had a wonderful visit with my sister and her adorable girls.  It was so much fun to hear about their adventures at Disneyland.  They were soooooo tired, but so excited to tell me about their trip.  So after saying 'goodbye' and seeing them off on the last leg of their journey home, I got around to finishing a couple of projects.  It feels good to see these projects done!  But alas, I didn't get my block done for Civil War Saturday.... well, Saturday's not gone yet! 
I finished sewing eyes and mouths on my 'Frankie and  Friends' table runner....

I also got around to sewing binding on my 'Spinning Pinwheels' quilt....

Here's my finished quilt, Binding is all done! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I feel a tad bit guilty sending it out to be quilted.  But only for a second!  Mimi's Quilting Cottage did such a wonderful job!  It was fun to let someone else do it so that I could concentrate on a few other projects and not feel stressed about quilting it myself.

Friday, February 17, 2012

FNSI

Happy Friday everyone, I have a Friday off from my 'real' job.... it's a brisk, sunny day here in Minnesota and I woke up this morning with high hopes for a wonderful day spent catching up on some projects.  Youngest son is off to school and the house is quiet except for the hum of my dishwasher.  I will be off to breakfast shortly with a dear friend, the perfect way to start off my day.  I'm hoping to return all energized and ready to sew!  I have a quilt to bind, my Civil War Diary quilt to work on and a table runner to finish! (Along with a few other things!)  Hope that you are able to join me for FNSI, it's not too late to sign up!  You can click on the link on my blogs sidebar to join.

Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Building Continues...

Still behind in my houses, I have not been making one a day... I skipped several weeks and now am playing catch up. I can say though the houses are quick and easy to put together and a delight to make.  It's not too late to start a house quilt!  Check out Jeanneke's site, Building Houses from Scraps. I've enjoyed seeing the progress from all over the world. I'm using several house designs to make my 'village'.  It's been fun fussy cutting and having different faces peak out of the windows and doors.  So far I have only used my scraps from my fabric.  This challenge even got me motivated to divide my bits and pieces by color and put them in plastic bins! I have eight bins in total, red, pink, orange/yellow, purple, blue, green, black, and white/cream.  A rainbow tower of fabric... it looks so cute in my sewing room.

The building continues....
Happy building  quilting and perfect stitches to you!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Where did January go?

Ever feel like you are chasing the school bus and can't catch up.... well, I'm chasing.... Behind, behind, oh so behind on what my to-do list in my mind has listed.  I'm not sure where to start.  I am suddenly about 25 some odd houses behind on my 'building houses from scraps' challenge.  Oh my gosh, a month behind on my 'Takes Two' quilt.... have pattern drafts to work on for Spring Market.... testing.... correcting.... printing to do.... a block or two to do on my Civil War Diary Quilt.... where did January go?  Last weekend was a busy weekend.  My In-laws were visiting from Arizona for the weekend.... the weather here in Minnesota is crappy.  We should be visiting Arizona, hummmm something wrong with this picture! I felt the need to sew....so I tip-toed to my sewing room last Saturday morning before anyone was up to steal some time to work on a block on my Civil War Diary quilt.   Oh wait... it was Superbowl Sunday.... house full of people coming.....maybe I can catch up at my scheduled March quilt retreat with my mom and sister.....

So this weekend I finally was reunited with my sewing machines. Lucy and Ethel hummed happily. Here is what I accomplished for Civil War Saturday.... I got the next block done, Parlor Activities. I know it's not a lot, but it's progress.



Parlor Activities is a pretty straight forward block to make.  My fabric choices are similar to Rosemary's.

I did notice this little 'glitch' with the foundation paper I printed up from the companion CD...

I drew in the extra little bit that was missing on the foundation paper that I printed up.  A quick and easy fix!

Here you can see that I wrote in the fabric choices in each of the blocks so that I can easily keep track while I sew along.

I cut my fabric into easy to use strips....

Lining up my fabric for sewing....

I sew on the lines and a 1/4" past the lines to account for the seam allowance.

My two paper pieced sections are ready to be sewn together...

'Parlor Activites'
April 7, 1864

Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next weekend I will be working on  'Hateful Old Thieves'.   Hope that you are able to join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt. Have a wonderful weekend, hope that you are able to find some time to quilt! I'm back to my studio to do a bit of house building.  Hope that you have a wonderful week stitching!

Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you!