Looking Ahead and Looking Back #1

When I got up this morning it was raining. It was coming down pretty hard. It's scheduled to rain today and tomorrow. YAY! I like rain. We need rain. I like rain.

Ain't it purty? I relish the rain! I open my slider and listen to the sound that I adore: the sound of rain on the patio aluminum roof. I don't mind going out in the rain. I don't have a hairstyle to ruin and I'm not worried about that. Can you ruin a ponytail? Hmmm. When I have the right shoes on I love to jump right in the puddles!

Putting my Gene Kelly aside, here's the lowdown on how I did last week:

Crum...it's hard to start with a red letter C or a negative, but I'll just dive in. I didn't do anything on Actually, I did very little quilting at all. 

I worked on my block for the BOM challenge at Jo's Country Junction. The challenge is to pick up an old BOM that you abandoned and go forth making a block each month. I picked out my very first BOM I bought. I had just starting quilting and, in 2006, I thought I'd buy a Block-of-the-Month to teach me how to quilt. I picked out a quilt that I thought looked easy (no snickering yet). I bought it from Keepsake Quilting. I managed the first block, which I messed up so bad I had to call and ask if they had any more fabric to replace what I'd messed up on. Bless their little pointy heads, they had some and sent it to me FREE. Over the years, I've done some blocks: six, to be precise. Here's the almost finished block I worked on this week:

Next up, I started sorting out all the scraps I've been saving for a string quilt. I am very excited about this little baby. A few years ago, I saw a picture of this quilt. I named it The Spaghetti Quilt. There wasn't a pattern, but it looked relatively easy to reproduce.

I chose a color palette for this quilt. I chose purple and green with orange as a punch of color. I got out my 3 bins/boxes of strips and fabric I had collected and started to sort them into a big box for green and purple and a shoe box for orange. Right at the git go, I had worried that I wouldn't have enough orange. I made sure to buy oranges when I saw them. I outdid myself...I have too much orange. My ratio that I'm planning is 3 parts purple, 3 parts green and 1 part orange. It's somewhere to start...

Purty!

Camera didn't capture the orange-ness

Looking Forward

One thing I forgot on my 2018 Goals, was Poppet's birthday coming up in January, which is if you didn't notice is this month. I'm making her some Alphabet Letters for the Fridge. I found a good tutorial online. It's from Twin Talk Blog, which has moved to Parenting in Moments.

That's where I'm heading today.

Work on finishing the BOM block.

Finish RSC Green Block.


Nyd din dag

Enjoy your day, in Danish. Just don't ask me to pronounce it. I'm about 1/3  Danish and my linguistic skills aren't that great!
 

Pillowcases, RSC Pinks, & Baby Blankets

Whew! I’m almost worn out from writing the blog title! For someone who didn’t do much quilting this week, I certainly sound busy!


 My “designated” February UFO project is six pillowcases. I’ve made three. It was a little difficult using a different fabric for front and back. I’ve been fine-tuning as I’ve made each pillowcase:
#1—too short
#2—too wide, need to add 3 inches to the length
#3—way too wide, length good

Next pillow case fabric

I have one more guinea pig pillowcase to figure out the length. On the second pillow, I was able to take in a side seam. Unfortunately, the third one can’t be taken in. I will reveal all six this week and you can see all of them.

I have been enjoying the splash of color the pillowcases add to my bed!

I spent this weekend picking out the pinks for my RSC. I’ll post the finished block on Saturday, but here’s a peek at the fabrics I was trying out.

Warning: Cute baby pictures ahead! You have been warned!

Last weekend, I had a wonderful visit with my little Poppet, my newborn granddaughter,  I had gone to visit her on January 31 when she was 10-days old. Unfortunately, I went with her parents to take her to the ER. We’re very thankful she is now home and doing wonderfully. I didn’t get to see her for more than 10 minutes that time.

Poppet & Chief

  Last weekend I picked up my grandson, Firstest, and we went to see Poppet, Noel Heart & Chief. This was the first time that Firstest met his baby sister. He was so sweet with her; I almost had to drag her out of his arms to get a little cuddle time!

Firstest & Poppet

Happy Valentine's Day

Noel Heart and I finally got the design and color of Poppet’s baby blanket figured out. I am very excited; it looks like so much fun to do!

Up ahead this week:
1. Finish 3 pillowcases (hopefully tomorrow)
2. Finish RSC pink
3. Maybe get started on Vintage Kitchen or Sweet Sixteen.

Sent this morning from Noel Heart:

Sent this morning from TGS

Beware of bright-eyed grannies with pictures!

Check in with other bloggers on what they have done and are doing this week. Lots of fun and loads of quilt candy! The badges are listed by day of the week in the right sidebar.

Still working on a fix with Google+ comments, fiendishly added by Google without my permission! If you don't want to write a comment in Google+, email me at quilting_nonnie@yahoo.com

Happily Quilting on my Free Day

credit Frank Olsen: source

If you look in the general direction of the West coast of the United States, you can probably see a glow emanating from a single house. It is the loveliest, sweetest, most cerulean glow there is. And it is from my house!

I’m almost afraid to say this, for fear of massive sorrow for everyone else. I am off today and enjoying my three-day weekend! Now not to just pile on more misery, but there is another three-day weekend next week! It’s almost too much….no, no, it isn’t. It’s wonderful, fantastical and full of quiltiful fun!

source

 Today is marked as Lincoln’s Birthday on the school calendars. Next Monday is the Legal Holiday of President’s Day. I’m very happy that the schools in my area didn’t buy into that “let’s put both President Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthday celebration into one day” foolishness. Who in the heck would want that? Oh boy, Bobby, we’re changing from two days off to one!

source

Okay, enough gloating, rejoicing and dancing. You may, however, continue quilting!

I didn’t have much time to quilt this past week, but I made up for it yesterday. This is my second UFO finish this year. So far I’m keeping right up with the insanity of one UFO finish per month.

Back in June 2014, my quilty friend and I decided to make Christmas tree skirts. You have probably heard about the one I finished before Christmas. And now to reveal, the heretofore unmentioned, second Christmas tree quilt. This one is for TGS & OSLW.

The little snowmen were crocheted by my Aunt Marie. Aren't they adorable?

To be entirely upfront, my UFO for February is 6 pillowcases. To read the scintillating, difficult to put down story, go to my Design Wall post of last week. It’s worth a click. You’ll be glad you did.

Yesterday I started on the first pillowcase. I have made pillowcases before, but it’s been awhile. I was eagerly looking forward to getting the piranha pillowcase done, but…having finally learned a lesson from the past…I decided to do another fabric first while I worked out the kinks.

I recommend the Missouri Quilt Company video tutorial for clear instructions on how to make a tube pillowcase with a cuff and flange.


I used a pillowcase I had made before that was the size I liked. Making the pillowcase this time was going to be a little different because I was using a different fabric for front and back. I don’t like excess fabric in the width or the length. I think I accomplished that!

Oops!

Disaster! I couldn't figure out what I was going to add to the cuff to make the case longer. Today I had a brainstorm! I tried the pillowcase on another pillow...and voila!

One side

Other side

Today—my day off, I remind you, I will be _________. As my Mom used to say, “I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.” There’s logic in there somewhere. I got it when I was a kid!

I love linky parties, so make sure and look on the right sidebar for the full list of parties for each day. Make sure to mosey on over; each party has dozens of great quilts and ideas!

I still have one giveaway running. You may have seen the Grow Your Blog badge at the top of the left column. It took place last Saturday with over 300 bloggers participating. I wrote a post for the meet and greet party then topped it off with a giveaway.

If you’re interested, the giveaway is open till February 13. I’ll give you the link, if you promise to read the post all the way through…scout’s honor. Go here and find out what I’m giving away and a welcome and introduction to my blog! Beware! If you win the prize, I will quiz you on the contents of that post!
 
I'm still working on getting un-tangled from Google+. Somehow it attacked my blog, without my permission. For those of you who don't want to use the Google+ comments offered (by them) below, please email me your comments: quilting_nonnie@yahoo.com

A Plethora of Quilty Fun!

Yes siree bob! More fun than one can expect in one post! Money-back guarantee!

Count von Count

Let’s see, we have a Design Wall. That’s one, one design wall. Ah, ha, ha. (Yes, I was enamored with the Count on Sesame Street!) Back to QN Street. We have the winner from last week’s giveaway, we have our February goal, we have projects to share.

Well, if there’s this much to share, I better pare down my usual loquaciousness. It’s always worth a try, I say.

GIVEAWAY WINNER!
The winner of the RSC15 giveaway: Making Quilts is…Lisa Fillion! She has a blog called: upstatelisa Her blog is very cheery and Lisa looks like a very energetic person. I think you’d enjoy seeing her blog!

 DESIGN WALL
I’ve been working on a cute quilt called Square Dance, from Gigi’s Thimble. It uses a charm pack to make. I buy charm packs whenever I can find a good deal and that’s what I used for this quilt.

 
FEBRUARY’S QUILT TO FINISH
I’ve dedicated 2015 and myself to finishing one UFO every month. I’m motivating myself through three different finish-it-up challenges. You can see my UFO list and the blogs sponsoring the cracking whip!

On my list, you can see, I finished Cascadia Quilt for January. The Christmas tree skirt will be done this week. Plus I have the blocks for other challenges: January & February's Sweet Sixteen Block and RSC15 and January and February's Vintage blocks. 

A few fabrics for Sweet Sixteen Blocks

What I really want to do this month is work on my granddaughter’s baby quilt. However, my daughter and I haven’t picked a pattern. Then I have to buy fabric. I want to get this done this month and have Darlin’ Girl’s quilt my project for March.

So what am I doing for February, you ask… I wanted something easy so I could finish the Christmas Tree Quilt, a secret project, catch or keep up with monthly challenges and prep for the baby quilt. This month I’m going to make some pillowcases that have been sitting around waiting for a long, long time. If I didn’t dedicate a month for a finish, I’d never do them. 

And here is my February project to finish for 1. A Lovely Year of Finishes and 2. TGIFF

I bought a yard of some quirky fabric that I just couldn’t live without. 

Hungry Pirhanas

My husband loved it when he saw it. Now the quandary was how to share a yard of fabric between us. Pillowcases! I can do 2 pillowcases with the fabric on one side of the case and different coordinating fabric on the back.

Once I figured that out, I went searching for more cool fabric that I could use for pillowcases. I thought this was a crazy, cool way to use quirky, one-of-a-kind fabric that you’d like to see a lot but wouldn’t if it was cut into pieces in a quilt, especially if you only bought 1/2 or 1 yard of it. (Did you know that I was crowned the Queen of Run-On sentences?)

Henceforth and therefore, my February goal is to make 6 (six) pillowcases. Sleeping is going to be a much nicer event in March!


How can I finish up this amazing post? Not easy. This was sterling work. Do they have Nobel prizes for blog entries? Okay. Enough already.

I still have one giveaway running. You may have seen the Grow Your Blog badge at the top of the left column. It took place last Saturday with over 300 bloggers participating. I wrote a post for the meet and greet party then topped it off with a giveaway. If you’re interested, the giveaway is open till February 13. I’ll give you the link, if you promise to read the post all the way through…scout’s honor. Go here and find out what I’m giving away and a welcome and introduction to my blog! Beware! If you win the prize, I will quiz you on the contents of that post!

I'm still working on getting un-tangled from Google+. Somehow it attacked my blog, without my permission. For those of you who don't want to use the Google+ comments offered (by them) below, please email me your comments: quilting_nonnie@yahoo.com

Quilting Design Wall & Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 3 Days to Go!

My vacation quilting began on Saturday. I worked on a Christmas gift for my granddaughter who will be born in January. I can’t say anything now, because Chief and Noel Heart don’t know what it is.

Noel Heart is the pregnant one! My granddaughter is
hiding behind her Mommy's sweater. At right is Hubby and
at the bottom is Firstest

Tomorrow I’m going to quilt with my friend, JP. We’re both excited for being able to quilt almost every day of the vacation! I will be doing the “final stretch” on the Mystery Quilt “Cascadia.”

Lori from the blog “Humble Quilts,” started a QAL on November 7. It was to be a wall-hanging and end up about 17” x 19” square. When she mentioned using up 1.5” squares, I was hooked. I have a box of those little squares and it would be fun to use some of them. On November 26th, Lori did the reveal. It’s an adorable quilt. She copied it from an antique quilt she found.

Here’s my progress so far. The center strips are seminole piecing. It’s my first experience and tomorrow will be my third day trying to get it right. I believe I got it figured out at the last quilt-together. I’m anxious to see what I can do tomorrow!

We’re in the final stretch for Christmas! I miss the days of having the kids home for Christmas vacation and doing fun activities with them. Young moms, believe me, there will come a day when you miss having the kids under your feet at Christmas!

Quilting Nonnie with my three young kids.
In front, Nancy Drew  3 yrs, Noel Heart 5 yrs
and I'm holding TGS, 1 yr

I have told stories of our Advent Calendar activities when our kids were at home. My crazy son, TGS, and his lovely OSLW, have finally dropped over the cliffs of insanity. I thought it was cute when OSLW told me she painted the husky’s toenails. Of course, I helped things along this year by sending my granddogs an advent calendar. Now they’ve gone around the bend! TGS excitedly told me just a bit ago that Ginny and Gandalf (my granddogs) had done the Jello Slurping contest. Once Hubby had brought me back with smelling salts, I got the second-by-second description of the contest. A video is forthcoming. TGS said he wouldn’t spoil it by telling us who won. I think it’s Gandalf; Dale thinks it’s Ginny. I think we should make a bet!

OSLW with Gandalf (left) & Ginny (right)

 Now that Nancy Drew suggested a song, TGS, whose name might be changed to Crazy Geek Son, sent his Christmas “carol” into me.

TGS was totally absorbed with Dr. Demento when he was a teen, which might explain his personality now. He’d record each show from the radio. Actually, it was fun! I learned some goofy songs during that time!

TGS sent me a Christmas “carol” he heard on a Dr. Demento show. It is by the great comedian, Stan Freburg. He was well known in the 50s and 60s for his satire and parodies of many common themes of the day. TGS’ request today is “Green Christmas,” which TGS loves because he agrees with the jist of the spot.





Because of the Design Wall, this has been a little bit longer post. I hope you enjoyed the quilting, the music and the stories.

Don’t forget to come back every day to see the next Christmas Carol Countdown. If you’ve missed any so far, click on the badge near the top of the right sidebar!

Messes Always Come Before Tidiness

Is this really Monday? Design Wall? Not in Nonnie-land!

We had Hubby’s youngest brother visiting us this week. We enjoyed having him here the entire time! There was lots of catch up to do since we haven’t seen him in about 10 years.

You know the old saying… “Guests, like fish, should be thrown out after three days.” It was certainly not true with Younger Brother. I felt at home having him here which, in itself, is a milestone.

While he was here I got a chance to sort through some scrap bins. It was loads of fun, but I made myself a load of work!  My quilt room now looks like a bomb went off in there!

Can I just stop here and quote, loosely, Michio Kaku: “It’s pointless to have a nice clean desk, quilting room, because it means you’re not doing anything.”

Either I’m a hamster running on a wheel or I’m reorganizing!

I’m sorting scraps by color and storing each color in a soft drink box. And don’t try to cozy up to me now! I do not have $1000 dollars in that box on top! I would tell you what’s in the box, but I’ve lost it in the mess “gentrification” project.


Saturday I engaged in re-allotment. Which is defined in Nonnie’s dictionary as moving fabric around to make more room and ending up with just the same amount of fabric just in different locations!


As a result I now have three drawers for blue, instead of two: light blue, medium blue and dark blue. And up- cycled one drawer to two for red and green and … Well, I don’t want to make you depressed because of all of the beautifulness of my organizing. Because all I did was take stuff that had been in drawers to make more room for certain colors and put previous stuff in boxes. I still haven’t figured out where those boxes are going to go!

Certainly not here!

And now, dear readers, my story is told. If you want to see real design walls, check out these sites. Real quilters! Real projects! Just click on a badge from the right sidebar.

Wait! Before you leave, here is the status of the blue block I reported on last week:

Don't adjust your monitor! There is a picture there. And it is what has been done on my blue and white block. More here about said block.

Quilter Without A Brain Tries to Make Quilt Block

Ah the beauty, the magnificence of a Lone Star. All those amazing little diamonds joining hands and becoming big diamonds. What a tribute to team work.

It’s a true pleasure to work on this UFO.

Until…
you go to sew in the last backgound triangle…

Pay Close Attention to Right Lower Corner of Picture

Oh yes, dear friends, it’s all fun and games until the seam isn’t long enough!

I’ve been measuring things this way and that…and I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do. Oh well. Like Scarlett O’Hara said, “I won’t think of it now. I’ll think of it later when I can stand it.”

Meanwhile, I was auditioning blocks for the borders of the ghastly beautiful Lone Star. I found some on Quilter’s Cache that were rated easy. I needed easy, I had a lot to make and I didn’t want something with 57 pieces. I’ve already done that with the Farmer’s Wife!

My first was Railroad Crossing. 4 hourglass blocks, on point. 4 16-patch. Yes, I think this is easy.

Yes, but did you consider the number of pieces?  (102) Yeah, but the 16 patches are string pieced!

When I Should Have Had This

So I Started Out With This

Pull out white fabric from drawer, unfold all 2 yards of it and cut another strip, sub-cut to squares, sew to short strips.

Onto the next step! Whistling with lighter spirits, I moved on to the half-square triangles. I had a speedy method to make them. Off I glided to my sewing machine...

The 7.5" Behemouth

Everything was just fine until I realized that there were four HSTs in each corner...not just one. And not only that, they were 2", not the 7.5" I had just done!

I cut down one 2" HST from each of the 7" ones. Still had to make more blue and white...drag out the white fabric again. Spent 15 minutes trying to find where I put away the blue fabric! Finally:

Ah, That's More Like It!

As I made a mock-up of the block, I realized that the corners of the 16 patches were made with 2 white/white HST.


Drag out white fabric, unfold, cut, refold.   







All I had left was to sew together the 16-patches and put it together. Yup, that's all.




Hmmm, do you know how many times I've taken out the white fabric?

And what about all those stitches I've ripped out?

Nope, I'm remembering Scarlett O'Hara.

"Fiddle de dee, tomorrow is another day!

Now that you've heard my woes, go to the following parties, with much more cheerful stories than mine! (Badges in right sidebar)