A Big Finish & Rainbow Purple

This finish deserves a fanfare of trumpets!

The log cabin flimsy is finally done! After a year’s journey I have reached the first finish line!

My last step was to fix the fraying yellow strips so the seams wouldn’t come apart. After all this is a marriage quilt and, besides, after all this work—who wants it to fall apart?

I didn’t take a picture of the top because, well, it is just too darn big! It is a king-size. Due to the 14” blocks and no border, I was stuck with just one size choice. 112 x 112. That just about cover a king size top with some generous over-hang, doncha’ think?

For those of you who haven’t seen this quilt a gazillion times in the past year, here is the best picture taken when it practically filled up my garage wall.

Also on the “design wall” is my latest finish of blocks for the RSC 2014. I’ve been making snowball blocks in each month's colors. April’s color was purple and, true to form, I finished them this month!

I’m trying to get lots of novelty fabrics in my blocks. Didn’t have many in my purples. I did get my plaid purple in though. I’m trying to get a plaid block in each color because, well, I’m crazy, loony about plaid!!! And always one vintage, which looks like I scanned the same block twice!

The lavender in the upper right corner is one of my favorite colors. True to form it looks blue next to the purples. If I put it with blue blocks, it would look purple! And of course a gratuitous picture of my children. This was taken on our recent trip to the ocean. Noel Heart and Sweetie are running through the waves here. They were trying to the Baywatch slow-motion run!

I want to encourage everyone to go and see the website, Life Sew Crafty. She is hosting a blog hop to educate people about breast cancer. Every two weeks there are 2-3 guests and each one displays a pink block that they have made. I am going to be hosting on June 7!! I'm very excited, it's my first hosting! Fun for days! To learn more, read my previous post giving more information, plus pictures of Nancy Drew and family's recent visit. If that isn't a draw, I don't know what is!

I’m hooking up with the following blogs. Hop on by to check out lots of lovely quilts! Their badges are in the right sidebar.
So Scrappy RSC Saturday
Patchwork Times
Show & Tell Tuesday
Fabric Story
Linky Tuesday
WIP Wednesday
We Did It Wednesday
I Quilt
Fabric Frenzy

Wherein We Encounter the 60s and Do The Math

Monday, Monday, so good to me;
Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be.

Now there’s some enthusiastic people! Now if they’d written Friday, Friday, I would be more on board with it!
So, do you remember the Mamas and the Papas? And if you do, you’re from my generation! For the rest of you, the Mamas and the Papas were a singing group from the 60s.

I always wish I had more time in the week to quilt…which I think is a common theme on my blog and the same probably for many of you. I really don’t know how bloggers with children manage to quilt, much less write a blog. I didn’t start quilting until after my kiddos had left the nest! It seems impossible to quilt and blog and have kids! But forget my moaning and groaning. Really, isn’t some quilting better than none?

I did manage to work more on my Log Cabin quilt. It’s all looking good and I think I see the finish line ahead! I need to call the quilting lady and reserve time to get this behemoth done.

It’s gotten to the point that it’s difficult to sew on it because of its bulk. I think my king size quilt is actually working against me trying to maneuver it through my machine! I can just see it grabbing onto the edge of the table and saying, “No! No! Not through that tiny opening again!”

For those who haven’t been on this loooong journey with me, here is a post about the beauteous beast.

I sewed some more on the spool quilt. I also encountered a little hiccup.

The start line:

 















Advancing through my sewing machine:

Starting the next step, adding white strips:
















The progress as of late:



Doing the math:
56 1-sided spool blocks
+5  0-sided blocks
= 66 white strips needed
-22 white strips available
=44 white strips, that I don’t have, that are needed

And now Murphy’s Law raises his head. I have no more white fabric. I started this quilt a long time ago. Ergo, no matching fabric.

Enter the hero: My Aunt Marie, scrap quilter extraordinaire! In her scrap quilt she would often substitute  similar colored pieces when she ran out of the first color.

And there you have it (Thank you Aunt Marie). I must go down to the quilt store. Back to the quilt store and find a WOW fabric where the backside looks similar to the one it has.

You know what? I actually think it’s kinda cool…pulling a “Aunt Marie”!

Of Grandchildren, Murderous Trees, and Flimsies

Home again, home again jiggety jog!

Coming home from vacation is exquisite! Don’t get me wrong. Vacation is tremendous and this past week was the stuff dreams are made of! After all, who can resist this?

Curly

Or this?

Sweetie

Or for that matter, this?

Nancy Drew

Not me! Definitely not me.

But then, I miss this…horribly.

My Adorable Hubby

Now moving along to the Design Wall and another scintillating view of my garage wall!

I’m sure you don’t have to guess that I didn’t get any quilting done this past week! I bought fabric which you’ve seen on my previous posts. I had brought along a couple of blocks to work on for my Redwork Quilt. I didn’t even sew one stitch!

The week before I left I was chugging along to the finish line of the Log Cabin! I had spiderwebbed the columns and had started on the rows. I’m almost half finished with the rows then the quilt will become a flimsy!! (a quilt top without batting or backing).

I had to drag the beautiful thing out to the garage wall. Once up, I had to back way, way back to get it’s king-sizedness in the frame. On my way backing up, I met Mr. Meyers Lemon Tree. I can hear you all ooo-ing and awwww-ing in gustatory pleasure of the a Meyers Lemon.



Hold it just one doggone minute. You haven’t met Mr. Meyers Lemon who resides in my front yard. Did you know that Meyers Lemons have thorns? Great, big, long thorns? Of course, the taste of the Meyers Lemon is worth it.

Try getting stuck with this a couple of dozen times!

Of course it is! Except when Mr. Meyers Lemon in my yard does not produce lemons! It lives just to poke me and draw blood. Fiendish, blood-sucking thing! I’ve lived in this house for 10 years and never seen even one little blossom. Mr. Meyers Lemon just hangs out there and mocks me whenever I leave the house.

I have dreams sometimes. Wonderful dreams. Lovely dreams…




Maybe I’ll just go out there and show it the axe…
"I want lemons! I want them now! Now!"
Oops, I see I’ve been around my 3-year-old granddaughter too much!

But I digress…Now onto more pleasant subjects. I was backing up to take a picture of my Log Cabin quilt. And ran into the thorny lemon tree. I fixed it! (evil grin). No…unfortunately…not the axe. But I did get the big snippers and hacked away all those new-growth “branchettes”.

Even so, there is some greenery in the picture. This is due to the upstart of a bush that sends its tendrils all over the side of my house. Weaving it’s way through the fake shutters, attaching itself to my screens, climbing up to the roof…

Calm yourself. Deep breaths. You need to be calm.

And now, after all the build-up! Here is my stunning quilt!

You can see the unsewn rows at the bottom, plus tangled rows on the ground. Yes, but by next week I will have a finished flimsy.

Now I have a question for you amazing, knowledge-able quilters out there:

I bought my fabrics from very reputable, well-known fabric lines. But there are two of the yellows that are fraying a lot. Some are so frayed they are getting close to the seam.

On another quilt, I used bonding crystals and strips of fabric and bonded the fabric to the seams. On another quilt with not as much fraying, I used Fray-Check. I’ve thought of zig-zagging the seams together outside of the seams, then pressing them to one side.

What do you think is the best solution? I await your suggestions!

And…beware the murderous Meyers Lemon Tree!



I’m hooking up with Patchwork Times, Show and Tell Tuesday, Fabric Story, Linky Tuesday, WiP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, I Quilt, and Fabric Frenzy. All the badges are in the right sidebar. You just need to visit each blog because there are always cool things to see and neat ideas!

Fabrics, Redwork and a Tale of Woe

Busy week, but not for my sewing machine! I know it’s pining away for me… It’s hard to quilt when your machine is in California and you are in Utah.

Yes indeedy, here I am the lucky Nonnie visiting Nancy Drew and her family including two adorable grandchildren!

Curly, SWH & Sweetie

It makes for a brand-new genre of design wall! It’s called: What did I bring with me?
I bought 4 more fabrics for the Rainbow Challenge. This month the color is turquoise. My daughter took me to a quilt store that was under a mile away from her home! I’m green with envy. On Thursday when she has a day off we are going shopping and visit a few more quilt stores. I’m a happy camper.

I bought this fabric at: My Sister's Quilts in Riverton, Utah.
It's a wonderful store.

 My attempt to at least pull some minutes out for my 30/30. I have a redwork quilt I’m working towards. I started in 2007 embroidering blocks. I had copied pictures from a 1964 coloring book my Aunt Marie kept for the young nieces and nephews to color.


I’m almost done with this one:

Excuse the wrinkles from the hoop. I didn’t want to iron on the floss. I’m pretty sure I tested it for bleeding, but not taking a chance today. Also, it has a water type mark (I hope that’s what it is!) which I’m not messing with today either.

I have left all the faces blank on my blocks, except for two. One of my attempts turned out making the child looking like an alien. The other made the children look deformed. I’m looking up a friend that embroiders a lot to teach me how to do the cute faces from the 60’s.

Well, sad to say, *sniff* I have discovered that the 30/30SC challenge is too challenging. I started out March 1 with 30 minutes. Then March 3 with 60 minutes. March 5th at my weekly quilt night with friend,  I started a tree skirt for Nancy Drew and family.

Hold it right there! 30/30SC is about eking out 30 minutes of quilting everyday for March for YOURSELF. I was so tickled to start and dream about quilting just for me! Me, Me, Me! As you can see it only took 5 days for me to fall apart. I haven’t quilted everyday for someone, much less myself! Ah, shoot, I was so hoping.

That brings me to another more woeful tale. And it involves my evil pets again. First it was my cats. Read about it here, if you dare!

I am hoping your have a strong stomach, cause this ain’t gonna be pleasant. You've been warned…

On Saturday, after a grueling week of slaving away in the sweatshop that someone calls a job, I decided to fritter away my day. Quilt all day. Considering I had been through a week where I cried about an incident at work, plus got indignant about the treatment being dished out to my husband at work…It was all those hours ahead where I could dabble in my quilting room.
I was a-twitter with the excitement of working on the love-bird’s log cabin quilt. I had it spiderwebbed by column and was ready for joining the rows. The finish line was in sight! Time for the last sprint!

Arrival in Quilting Room

Picking Up theLog Cabin Bundle  from Chair

Placing Bundle on Cutting Table

Opening the Bundle

Right….There…In…The…Middle!

Dog Poop!

Where is that mangy mutt? I’m going to strangle her!

Don’t you EVEN try looking cute!

Dog slinks away avoiding looking at my face.

She'd better hide

It will take a few days years eons, okay, weeks for me to look kindly at her.

I punished her by going on vacation! What an evil scheme!

For those who are going to experience this horrific event:

1. I was able to take the three affected blocks out of the quilt since they were spiderwebbed.
2. Soak blocks (quilt) in cold water with Woolite.
3. Let soak for 30-60 minutes.
4. Upon inspection if staining is gone, remove it from water.
5. DO NOT WRING!
6. Place blocks on a hard surface. I used my washing machine top.
7. Gently scrape at any remnants of doody from fabric.
8. Rinse gently…gently…gently.
9. Press blocks together in your hand without twisting.
10. If you have not pre-washed your fabric, you will have to pin the blocks to a flat surface, gently stretching the fabric to the size of unwashed blocks.
11. If you have prewashed fabrics, continue from here.
12. Dry in a place where it will be undisturbed by Devil Dog.
13. Make sure there is air circulation to both sides or place on a thick towel.
14. Let air dry.

I thought this dog was the cutest thing when I got her!

I should have recognized the signs…

Hooking up with:

Patchwork Times
I Have to Say
Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday
WiP Wednesday
We Did It Wednesday
Needle and Thread Thursday
Fabric Frenzy
I Quilt

Picture of Woman’s Surprised Face credit: http://carseatblog.com/3405/baby-on-board-2/

Decisions! Decisions! I Need Help!

I have been talking about this quilt for so long and now I am pleased and thrilled to announce that I have finished ALL the blocks! All 64! Sixty-four! Six tens and four ones. Omigoodness! I've been teaching young children too long...

Behold and see!
 
I wanted to try a more “artistic” (read interesting) way of photographing my blocks. I mean…how many times can you see a log cabin block over the course of months?

I’m so excited to start sewing the top together. Soon it will be a flimsy! Aspiring to be a quilt. I love that name “flimsy”; I just heard it a few months ago. I didn’t know what it was originally then figured out it meant a quilt top without batting & quilting.

I’m also working on my Spool Quilt as a leader ender. I had started it last summer then switched to the Sister’s Choice quilt blocks. I realized that there are a lot, many, many blocks to make for the SC. The Spool Quilt is much more manageable, as in less blocks in the quilt. I switched back to the Spools to get it done first. You can see some of the blocks and even a log cabin progress report here.

I asked for your help last week in finding more of the darkest blue fabric for the Log Cabin so I could continue with making blocks for a quilt for myself. You are wonderful people, do you know that? Well, you are! I found it at Thousands of Bolts. Yes the fabric AND at a bargain price of $5.95/yd. I paid $11/yd the first time I bought it.

I bought 6 yards of it. Just a teensy weensy bit overboard, I should say. I thought 3 yds would probably do, but that blue is the last two strips of a 14” block. I figured I’d buy a bit more to be safe…which I had done in the first place. And you know where that landed me. Hmmmm. I knew 6 yards was more than enough, but I love, love, love that fabric so much I thought of future quilts that could have parts of yummy blue-ness in them. My head started to swim. I clicked on the “Order” button, finalizing the 6 yards and thought, “Whooppee!”

Of course, my stash count next week is going to take a hit. But I’m sure all will be well over the months.

So thank you, thank you gracious readers. You sure are a swell bunch!
And speaking of your help and stash counts, I need another helping hand of your knowledge. I am participating in the HST BOM at Quilt Arts Design. (See the badge on the left sidebar.) I’m joining in a couple of months late, but figure I CAN do it. I know a cool, quick way to make HSTs and I love them.


Now here’s where your help comes in. I’ve always wanted to make a red & white quilt. I’ve chosen two gorgeous fabrics: one dark and one light. I think I need a third fabric for mediums. I’m not doing scrappy here, just the two materials above and one more.

Could you pretty please with a cherry on top, leave answers in the comments below and let me know what your experienced (or non-experienced—because we all can tell what we like!) answers.

Here are my questions:
1. Do you have any ideas for a medium piece? I’ve looked through my stash and have nothing. Should I choose a fabric with red, black and white that is medium? The red flowery/star fabric has black in it. What would you suggest?
2. Do you think I should have more than three fabrics, for instance: another dark, another medium (makes 2) and another light?
3. Could you come to a quilt store with me and help me pick the fabrics? Cookies provided!
4. Do you think I should go scrappy? I love scrappy. I thought just the unity of 3 or 6 fabrics would be fun.
I’m looking forward to reading your answers! You helped me before with my Spiderweb quilt borders, so I know I can count on you.

Have a lovely week!

Sharing with: Patchwork Times, Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday, Free Motion by the River, We Did It! Wednesday, WIP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, I Quilt, Fabric Frenzy Friday

No Threads of Thought Here!

I promise no songs today! Scout’s Honor! (Last Mond
ay was a holiday for me too--see song I wrote in tribute) Although I am humming "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary" from Mary Poppins! Or "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma! Go ahead, see if you can get those out of your mind for the rest of the day!

Excitement abounds today...our bathroom is going to be finished! You might recall that my hubby started remodeling the "guest" bathroom in April. The bathroom only had a tub. The only shower was in the Master Bath. With our son and daughter-in-law coming, he wanted to get a shower in so we all wouldn't be trying to use one shower.

He got pretty far along, up to the point of tiling. Then Things Came Up. Fast forward to last Tuesday. We have been re-financing our house. Everything's a go. Then financing People called to say they wanted the bathroom finished before the loan would go through. Reasonable People that they are, they wanted it done by Tuesday. You know, they're such Good Guys. Well, they are. They are re-financing our home! But, honestly...7 days to finish up? We needed to hire a Tile Guy to finish. I'm sure there were plenty of Tile Guys who happened to have two days in the week ahead (now behind!) free to do our bathroom.

Goodness Abounds! We asked the tile store. They gave us a few names. We called the first one. He had time. He'd be over in less than an hour to look at our bathroom and give us an estimate! I'm always scared about hiring unknown people to work on our house. When he knocked and I opened the door and knew everything was going to be all right. Do you ever have those feelings where the Spirit is telling you it's going to be fine? That's what happened when I saw our Tile Guy. I knew immediately he would do fine, very fine indeed. He finishes up tomorrow and his work from Friday was excellent. We love our Tile Guy. And we're thankful that the Spirit let me know he was a good guy.

I just got off the phone with my youngest GD, Curly. It always so much fun to hear her newest antics and to talk to her! We grandmothers have to brag...there's a rule about that somewhere!

Curly playing with Princess
Sophia and Princess Sophia!

Curly has been going through the "stage" of having imaginary friends. She now has "another grandma", "another mommy" and a "brother". The brother isn't at home right now, he ran away and got caught by the witches and wolves! Nancy Drew, her real mommy, told me that the other day Curly came in and said, "My other mommy made this for you," and handed her a scarf. What a darling! I'll be seeing her soon when Spring Break comes around. The good news is that she doesn't have "another Nonnie"!

The most exciting, fantabulous, excitulating news is that I have 5 more blocks left to finish the Log Cabin for my TGS & OSLW. Whoopee ti yi yo!!! ** I’ve already begun on the Final Five and only have 3 more rounds left on each. Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay! **

And now begins the end…sewing the blocks together. As stated before, I have some sort of genetic inability to lay out a log cabin in the barn raising pattern. My hubby helped me get the 6 rows displayed correctly. Once that was done, with help from my readers, I decided to make it 8 rows by 8 columns with no borders. I have marked each of the original 36 blocks with row and column number. Now I just have to get the 15 extra blocks in correct order….or I might have a barn raising followed by a barn crashing!

An inauspicious beginning!

" Oh honey!!! I need your help in here. For just a few seconds!"

Mosey on over and check out all the other quilty fun-ness at these wonderful places! (Badges in sidebar).

Design Wall at Patchwork Times
Show and Tell Tuesday at I Have to Say
Fabric Story at Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
It's a Party at Creative Princess
We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins
Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday
Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts


** “Whoppe ti yi yo” is from Git Along, Little Doggies, an traditional cowboy ballad
** “Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!” from Jabberwocky.

It's the Design Garage Wall

Before the preview and look at my wonderful quilt, I wanted to announce that I finally figured out how to do tabs at the top of the blog!!! I've been trying for about nine months...but something didn't work. Well, last night I figured it out! It must have been the two naps I took yesterday!

There is a tab with my Quilt Provenances. It has a picture of each of my quilts I've finished, plus the numbers, and a write-up on each quilt.

The other tab is a list of the nicknames I use for my family in the blog. You can find out when I write TGS that it means Talented Geek Son, and that he is my third child. I guess this tab is a reference resource!

I'm very proud of my tabs. They are still a work in progress, as is some of the problems in certain parts of the blog. It's a journey...

One more major announcement! I put up my 2014 Quilty Goals in the right sidebar. Take a peek and shake your head at my over-ambitiousness!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

My design wall took on a whole new twist today. My log cabin is up to 50 blocks! Wahoooo! It's too big for my flannel quilt wall, so outside I went.

When I have a quilt that is very big, I use the side wall of the garage. I take a queen size flat sheet and thumbtack it to the wall. After that, I pin the blocks to the wall. It's not perfect, but actually it's no worse than my flannel one. The lighting is perfect there also because it is in the shade. It's sunny out today but the color showed up beautifully on the picture.

There I am in the shivery cold, well, shivering. I've got the step ladder and I'm thumb tacking a sheet to the garage wall. I don't know about you, but I find it near impossible to get the layout right on a Log Cabin. Thank goodness I didn't live back in the 1800's. I'd never be able to build a log cabin!

I'm following along with the quilt layout from Quilt In A Day. I'm drowning out here. I keep having to re-arrange blocks. Sometimes two or three in a column. It's amazing I even have hair left. I've got about half the blocks on and my husband, in robe, opens the front door. He can clearly see my handiwork. Then he says, "Okay, okay! I'll paint the house!" He's such a card! He proceeded to tell me three blocks that were turned wrong. I'm bummed. I was following the book! So I coerced him (with Bambi eyes, which usually don't work) to come out and help me finish putting the blocks up.

With my husbands quilt life- and hair- saving expertise, here it is:

What do you think? Right now it is 6x6 and the blocks are 14" finished. That comes to 84" square. I'm making this a king-size for my TGS & his OSLW. They have a California King, which is just longer than a King.

I was figuring that I'd make the quilt 109" square without a border. Doing that would be adding one more row of blocks all the way around, making 8x8. So here's the dilemma:

Do I add another row of blocks all the way around to make it 8x8? The quilt would then be 112". I hadn't planned on doing a border, so that would be the correct size.

My other idea is to stop here and put on a border. If I put a 2" dark border, then a 5" lighter border, then another border of 2" dark, It would come out about 116" square. A little on the big side.

Please help me choose! If you have an idea for a different border, let me know!

And now for the silly part. I ran out of the outside dark blue fabric. I cannot tell you how many times I went back to the fabric store and bought more, then more. I didn't have a pattern, so I was winging it with fabric amounts. I thought I bought more than I needed, better safe than sorry. When I realized I needed more to finish 13 more blocks, I panicked! Run around, pull your hair out, hit your head against the wall panic.

I realized I'd need to know the name of the fabric to look for more. Unfortunately, all the remaining fabric had been cut into strips. I finally found four that had writing, but I was mising the last part of the name of the fabric. To the waste basket I go, looking through the strings left from squaring off the fabric. Voila! I had pieced together the name of the fabric!

I discovered several sources on the web. Interestingly enough, they were all 108" wide back. Hmmm. I bought mine as 42" fabric. Oh well, less yardage to buy, more money per yard. It will work.

I'm sharing with: Patchwork Times, What A Hoot Monday, Show & Tell Tuesday, Linky Tuesday, WiP Wednesday, It's a Party, We Did It Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, and I Quilt.

Please, please, pretty please, leave me a comment with a suggestion on border or no border, ideas, etc. I will love you forever!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's Off to Work I Go!

You're right, I shouldn't be complaining about going back to school after a two-week break...but...



I always feel guilty complaining about going back after vacations since most everyone works "regular" jobs, like my husband. Every weekday, 8 hours a day, every week of the year except for a couple of weeks of vacation. I'm glad there are people who can do it, because don't think I could!



I've been having to put off and put off reveals of my latest projects, since they were Christmas presents for family. It's difficult to keep secrets when family reads your blog! The one I made for Sweetie was opened up Christmas morning with me there! In an earlier post, I mentioned how she is crazy about zebra print! Her parents got her a sheet and comforter set in zebra print. And I, I made big zebra throw pillows!

I got some great fleece zebra fabric and thought of just backing it with some other plain fleece. I was at the cutting counter with my two choices, when I looked behind me at one of the rows. And there it was! This gorgeous black curly "haired" fabric! It was sooooo soft and Perfect.

I found some super pillows at Goodwill. They were 22" square, made of foam. They have this wonderful feel. They are firm but bounce back when you come off them. I don't know how long it's been since I've had a nice foam pillow like that.

Sweetie was so thoroughly happy with shining eyes! What a perfect expression to tell me that I had gotten it right! I took a picture on Christmas (I thought) but never did find it on my camera. Nancy Drew took a picture tonight and emailed it to me.

My other present has still not been given! Here comes a shocking reveal for when my oldest daughter, Noel Heart, reads this blog. The gift is for her. She and her hubby (who I need to find a "blog-name" for) have been so sick since before Christmas. They haven't been able to come over here and celebrate Christmas with both her families. Next week, I promise!, I will let you know what had been on my sewing table until December 20th.

I'm following along with A Year of Lovely Finishes and have made my January goal. The First and Most Important quilting goal is to finish my son and DDIL's wedding quilt! If you've been reading for a while you'll know this is a long-running story. My January goal is to finish 40 blocks of the Log Cabin and 16 of my Sister's Choice Quilt, which is a Leader/Ender.

Doing math, thank goodness it's only division, it works out to 10 Log Cabin blocks a week and 4 Sister's Choice blocks per week. And the astonishing thing is that I met that goal This Week!!!! So I am well on my way to meeting January's Goals!

Next week, I will get all of my Log Cabin blocks on the design wall for a picture! It's huge--the blocks are 14" finished. I now have somewhere around 60 finished. I'll make sure and count them for next week.

I'm sharing my progress on the following super blogs. Make sure to go over and look at all the amazing projects quilters are doing. All the links are in the right sidebar.

Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times
Show and Tell Tuesday at I Have to Say
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
We Did It! Wednesday at Sew much ado
It's A Party at Creative Princes
We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins

Design Wall Monday: The Wall of Many Projects

I have a plethora of projects on my design wall today. Don't you just love the word plethora? It's got to be one of my top favorite words. I love how it feels as you pronounce it and I love it's definition. Who could ask for anything more? Who could ask for anything more! (I'm singing those last two lines). And why not? It's the first "official" day of summer vacation. I hope that's not groaning I'm hearing...I have been talking about it ad infintium  a lot.

And what greets me on my pre-first day of summer? Oh, hello, Mr. Virus! Oh, you've decided to come for a visit? I haven't seen you in a while. Yes, old "friends" shouldn't let so much time pass between visits. Come in? No, I think not; I'm very busy. Well! Aren't you rude just barging in like that!

First up on the design wall: I've added the second dark on the Log Cabin for the newlyweds. I haven't gotten it trimmed yet, but I have a great quilt afternoon with my friend, JP, today. Fun for days!

I've thought of a name for my Spiderweb quilt: Web of Friends. Most of the scraps in this quilt came from my own stash and from JP's, plus a few other friends. I look at the fabrics and say, "Oh that one was JP's or MF's. Pretty cool in my book.

Now I need help. On the quilt. I'd like to ask you to quilt it, but no... I'm not sure about the second border, the light blue one. When my husband and I were auditioning fabrics, it looked pretty darn cool with the quilt. It's all sew in, but now I'm just not sure. Is it too light? What do you think? Please leave me a comment with your opinion.

Sorry, picture got deleted by someone trying to clean up a file...

Here's a close up of the corner. The third border is midnight blue: dark, dark blue and purple. Lovely fabric. The corner is light blue polka dot. Ideas anyone? Remember, if you think I should replace the middle border, I'm sending to you to rip out the seams! I'm kidding. Maybe. Maybe not.

Sorry, picture got deleted by someone trying to clean up a file...

And here's a cutie. My little spool blocks are coming along swimmingly. I've finished the strippy part. Yesterday I tried out colors for the spool. Hit it in one! I have a very warm brown fabric and I think it's perfect! What say you?

And now, just because I'm crazy enough to try it, this is the fabric I chose for a twirly skirt I want to make for Curly. I found this adorable pattern on Craftsy. Nancy Drew loved twirly skirts when she was young, so I wanted to make this one for Curly. In time to give to  her when I go out there. In one week. Does the word crazy jump in your mind?

You must go to the website to see the cute dresses Mommies have made and shown in the comments.

Here's my fabric found in my stash. Thank goodness for "inheriting" my Sisty Ugler's and BFF MF's stash. They had lots of good bright colors.

If you've ever wondered why I call my granddaughter "Curly" in the blog, here's why....

I'm sharing this with: (the badges are on the right)
Patchwork Times
Show and Tell Tuesday
Fabric Tuesday

I'm Agog! Simply Agog!

I'm having fun again! After a couple months of not quilting and anguishing over the DWR I was to make for my son and his wife's wedding quilt, I'm back in the saddle again. (humming heard in background with the distant sound of horse hooves).

Now that a different quilt that fits her colors has been chosen, my sewing machine is cheerfully chugging along. (Sound of train....hmmm...no) I'm doing a lovely Log Cabin, one of my very favorites (sounds of climbing on bandwagon...no, no, NOT the chuckwagon!). It is blue and yellow with a orangey-red center. My dear daughter-in-law wanted colors of fire and this fits the bill.

And now, without much ado...

Mock up of Log Cabin block--ain't she purty?

Strips in the waiting

Strips waiting to be cut

Even more strips to be cut

 Now, the real fun thing is...I've always wanted to make a log cabin for myself, being my favorite quilt and all. And I've always wanted to make a blue and yellow quilt; you see where this is heading... I decided that I would make a second quilt (same quilt) at the same time.

Aren't I inspired? TGS & OSLW are getting a California King Size and I'm getting a Queen Size. Only 85 blocks in all... only.

I'm sure you've noticed the quilt above isn't on a design board. I'm sure you're being benevolent and saying that it doesn't have to be on a design wall. But wait! I do have a quilt on the design wall, the blocks anyway.

I'm doing a leader-ender quilt, ala Bonnie Hunter, at the same time as the LC. I saw this cute spool quilt online and thought it was adorable. I had this jelly roll of 1.5" strips that I didn't know what quilt to make with them. I had bought them from Missouri Star Quilt Company Daily Deals because I liked the fabric so much. (Warning! The Daily Deal is addictive!) It obviously lead to the idea to make the spool quilt from that jelly roll.

The spools will finish at 4.5xsomething, I wasn't thinking properly (that day) and made them square and will have to cut them to rectangular. Oh well, just another glitch on the road to a completed quilt. 

 Here's what is really on my real design wall...

Close up of spools

Many spools

I'm hooking up with wonderfully creative sister-quilters. Click on their badges in the right column (not the correct column, the right column) or the link and see what other quilters are doing.

Judy over at Patchwork Times (Monday)
Quilt Story (Tuesday).
 i have to say... (Tuesday) Click here!