Not Much New or Exciting

 Not much going on this past week. I did finish my Project Quilting birthstone challenge...barely. Scroll down to my last post.  I wasn't overly motivated and almost decided not to do it...but I already cut everything out and had it partially sewn. I didn't want another UFO.

I think this is the second time I've loaded a small project on my quilt frame.

I don't know why I don't do it more often (I have lots of little things that need quilted). It is actually quicker to load a small project than pin baste it. 

I forgot how much I like using my rulers. It took about 10 minutes to quilt each item.

Yesterday I did a major clean up of my sewing room. Cleaned up / picked up all the mess from the last few projects I've finish then vacuumed everything in sight. I also prepped (cut out borders and binding) a couple of small projects that I'll work on this week.

Today I finished sewing pieces and parts of flannel into another future back (no picture). I also put together a new chair.

Yes, I put the arms on backwards. I don't use them so I may not fix them. This thing is so comfortable. I haven't decided if it will be my sewing chair or my desk chair...or as Stephanie suggested buy another so I don't have to decide.

Project Quilting 16.4 Birthstone

 One of my birthstones is alexandrite.  The other is pearl. Stephanie told me your birthstone can also be determined by zodiac sign and month, which would have allowed me to use just about any gem color I wanted. I decided to stick with alexandrite. 

The stone's color can vary based on lighting. The few I've ever seen were small, man-made and VERY expensive. Mine are also small, woman-made and were very cheap to make (stash + scraps = free). 

The stone can be blue-green during the day and purple-red at night. I tried to give them gem shapes, but I think they look more like Easter eggs to me.

So, I put my mom's rock egg basket on top of one. Now I'm ready for the holiday two months early instead of six months late.

Check out all the other creative gems here.

Does it Fit?

 I adore this quilt. It is so incredibly soft. I have the binding almost done...

I've forgotten how much I like hand sewing binding. It's going to be a gift, but I may have to keep it a while so I can pet it more.

I also adore the texture this pantograph pattern creates.

I didn't take a picture of the finished puzzle, but I did take a picture of Bella in the empty box.

You know how it goes "if I fits, I sits".

Speaking of does it fit...this week's Project Quilting challenge is birthstone. My birthday is in June - which is alexandrite, which is very rare and very expense, and pearl. Alexandrite's change colors depending on the lighting. Daylight they can be blue-green; nighttime purple-red. While normally white or cream and round, pearls come in a large assortment of colors and shapes.

I'm stretching it big time by saying the center of these little table toppers are "pearls" and the outside is "faceted alexandrite".  Or maybe they are funny looking Easter eggs?

 I think I've already made and finished more quilts this year than I did in all of last year. Last year I primarily quilted tops others made.

I have the flannel quilt half loaded onto the quilt frame. Now I'm trying to decide on thread.

I don't have a large selection of thread colors. I think this dark brown works best. The back is a medium gray, so hopefully the brown won't peek through too much.

Then I will have to load my latest finish.

My oldest UFO is now a quilt top. Not my favorite layout, but it works and it's made. The binding is made and I think I have a fabric that will work for the back. I'll just have to stare at it a while to figure how I'm going to quilt it.

I haven't been sleeping great lately, I think it's the time of year, so I've been working on this late at night.

Having large cutting mats to cover the puzzle is perfect protection from Bella.

Project Quilting 16.3 Common Blocks

Rule one of this week's challenge was: You must incorporate three (3) common blocks in your project. I originally thought three of the same block when I read the challenge description.

Then I started second guessing myself. But I had already cut everything out. So I turned the half square triangles into three different common blocks: pinwheels, broken dishes, and flying geese.

The quilt is a variation of Happy Go Lucky from Quick'n Easy 3-Yard Quilts. The fabrics had selvage dates of 1999 and 2000! The back is the same fabric as the front, and I still had almost a yard left over.

Hello February

 Well, historically Punxsutawney Phil may not be very accurate, but I think he hit the nail on the head this year. We got about five inches of snow today.

Very wet snow. The kids across the street tried to sled down the road. It looked more like they were swimming on paddle boards as they pushed themselves down the road. Looked like they were having fun. The guy who got his truck stuck while slip sliding up the road did not look like he was having fun.

I worked on more miscellaneous stuff last week. 

Last year I threw my UFO list out the window. I don't think I worked on any of them. These three blocks and the coordinating fabric have been on my UFO list for the last five years with zero progress made. 

I finally had some inspiration on a quilt design using them. Stand on your head, this is actually upside down. The "bricks" are actually stacked 5 inch squares. I probably won't be able to sew it together until next week.

I loaded, quilted and added the binding to another two fabric donation quilt.

And added binding to two guild community service quilts (no picture).

This week I'll be focusing on Project Quilting 16.3 challenge: Common Blocks. We are supposed to make something with at least three common blocks - I don't know if this means three different common blocks or if we can use 3 (or more) of the same block.

I'm going very common...half square triangles.

Above is the pattern and fabrics I'm using. Some of the oldest fabrics in my stash. The pattern is from one of the 3-Yard Quilts books by Fabric Cafe'

Everything is cut. The half square triangles are made and trimmed. As a CYA, I'm going to make one row of pinwheels, one row of broken dishes, and probably one row of square in a square blocks.