Design Wall Monday

This is an overall look at my design wall, yes there is a lot going on there. After my clean up Friday morning I wanted some sew time. I knew I really needed to finish several things but last Saturday Faye had shared this pattern I think it was called Charming Addition from American Patchwork magazine. Everyone knows I like a challenge and a puzzle, well this one fits the bill.

I was smart enough to cut it down to a baby quilt and choose to use 30's reproduction fabric. I got this far on Friday. As you can see I added a little more over the weekend. Faye had made a really nice grid for me and that has really helped. I plan to make it about 40 x 48 inches.  The pattern has you put it together in rows. Faye chose to block it off in sections or blocks of 36 squares but I decided to use the 2/4 method I use most often and make a 16 patch block. It is still a challenge keeping everything in order, what connects to what. So after a couple of hours of that I thought I needed a break.

I was reading Jo's Country Junction blog and she showed Kelli's Christmas Star again. A simple pattern but very striking. Half the pattern is green and neutral four patches, mindless sewing. So pull out the 2 1/2 inch strip drawer and start strip piecing (something I couldn't do in the above quilt). As I am sub-cutting the first strip I start thinking I have already started this quilt , I just know I have but I didn't see it in my cleaning Friday. Keep cutting more convinced I have this already started somewhere. Start digging through boxes again and I am right. I have three blocks done and parts and pieces for several others, not the whole quilt so even with the strips I have done this weekend I will still need more. I put four blocks together so that you can see the pattern.

I really like how both the red and green chain though out the quilt. Check out Jo's blog to see the whole quilt or wait for me to finish it down the road.

Looking at the wide angle view of my design wall I know there are several other confessions I could make, but not at this time.

Hope to find a little time to sew this week and I wish you all the same.

Friday Clean Up

I was off work last Friday and on Thursday night I told Johnny "if I don't change my mind, I am going to clean off my ironing station." He wasn't too optimistic about the idea, says I have said that before. Here is what it looked like.

My ironing surface measures 25 inches by 48 inches. It is one Johnny built for me a few years back. It has the wire baskets underneath. As you can see I really only had a few inches of usable ironing space. I would like to say that by the end of the day it looked like this.

But in reality it looked like this. I would like to turn the table around so that I could have the cleaner surface on the front but that was more work than I wanted to do at the time.

Granted this is a lot better but, I still have those two baskets of scraps to cut up. I got a bigger tub to put dark strings in and have light strings in a basket pictured below.

I have a couple of different projects in the works that need string blocks so I should have enough cut for those projects or at least a good start. I could only handle so much cleaning before I had to get to some sewing and I will tell you more about that later this weekend.


Have a good weekend.

Weekend Wrap Up

It is finished. YEA! It barely goes up under the edge of the pillows but otherwise fits the king size bed. Maybe I can make some pillow  shams so that it won't be noticeable. I ran out of the wine color (yes it looks very purple here) or I could have made it a little bigger. However I put a big dent in fall fabrics and the 2 inch strip drawer.

I used all of the yellow inner border I had as well. Still thinking about what I will call it, some ideas are---- Dancing though the Vineyard, Autumn Dance, Nine Grapes, Fine Wine--- nothing is just right yet, maybe after it is quilted.

Here is a little something I have also been working on. It is from the book Fresh From the Prairies. I am thinking just a table runner or small throw not a big quilt. It will take a lot of these 5 inch blocks to make anything very big.

Have a busy week ahead but with a bright light at the end of the week, a stitch day with friends. Now just to plan what I will work on for the day. Not sure if I will take my machine or do some handwork of a couple of different projects. We will see as the week goes on how much prep work I get to do.

Have a good week.

Making Progress

For the last week and a half I have been working on another Dancing Nines. I was just going to do the size of Bonnie's original pattern but really liked how it was coming along, so decided to make it bigger. Four framed nine patches make a block and I have enough made to set them 5 x 6. I think I have enough four patches just not framed to make it 6 x 7 but I am hoping I have enough of the wine (not purple) frame fabric to make it 6 x 8. We will see. Here are some other pictures of what I have put together so far. I am trying to find a better photo location.

On the porch looks good.

Over porch railing.

Johnny holding it in back  yard, there was enough light that the flash didn't go off and the frame color is closer to the wine color.

This close up is the best for actual color on the wine, but the others look too bright. Just can't win with this camera.

Last weekend was my cousin Kelly's birthday, so I made her this wreath.