Busy Bee

I've been busy in the studio. I ironed and folded this massive 8.5 yards of fabric to ready it for cutting.

I carefully measured my lengths and cut them out. I pin any fabric this long before sewing. It is so heavy it can easily stretch! I had to maneuver the fold-out table next to me at the machine to hold up the bulk. 

I sewed my three pieces together and ironed the seams open. My backing is complete!

Ready for quilting!

I got nervous of my ability to sew dresdens. Or maybe I was just intimidated to learn how to do it during the retreat...in front of witnesses? Not wanting to make a fool of myself, I sewed a test block. It took a bit of fudging a couple of the seams fatter but it lays flat as a pancake. Beautiful! 

Now, I need to teach myself how to blanket stitch this block on! And how to make the center part. Oh, this is such fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Uglemor Isn't Crazy After All.

Yesterday, I received a very perplexing comment:

What? TUSAL isn't until next week. This girl is crazy! Then I go check the calendar and see I am a week late. Uglemor, my very abject apologies for my belief you had lost your mind! You seem to be the only one on top of things this month! Thank you for letting me know I forgot the Totally Useless Stitch A Long!

OMG I missed the New Moon! Did you? I was off in la la land with finishing one quilt and starting a new one. That means I cheated! I have added HANDFULS of ORTs into the leaf bowl since last Sunday.  I must say, they are beautiful ORTs:

I am working on cutting the background blocks of Kona Snow for the Dresden quilt. 

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your February TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Dresdens Anyone?

I officially started a new project this week but I've been collecting the fabrics for a long time. I have a retreat planned and this is going to be my project for it. Today, I finished cutting the plate fabrics out.

Yes, this is a Dresden Plate! I plan on 16 blocks, all in blues on white Kona Snow with blue borders.

There are 56 different blue fabrics. Whoops! I am NOT done cutting...I still have to cut the white fabric!  Once I get the white cut, I still need to sew the backing fabric for En Provence. 

I found this pink and purple Paris fabric at Hobby Lobby a couple months ago and dithered. When I went back to see if they still had it for sale I found it in the clearance bin, an entire bolt!

While I was busy playing with fabrics, Dash went for a ride on the motorcycle. He stopped by Pops and got me six different sodas. I don't drink soda as a rule but I do like a treat every now and again. I think I'll try the peach one first!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

En Provence! Flimsy

I have a flimsy of En Provence! completed! For those non-quilters out there a "flimsy" is a quilt top that hasn't been quilted yet. This has been a wonderful learning experience and I have had the time of my life putting this quilt together. My design wall is not big enough:

I had to pull out my ironing station and reach high as I could. Still not big enough! Once I get it actually quilted, I shall get better photos. I am pleased as punch. It turned out just lovely! I will certainly do Bonnie's Mystery quilt again this year. 

I am still trying to figure out where these leftover four patches go. Can I really miscount that badly? Really? I admit I am not the best at math but whoa...there's like forty leftover pieces here! HaHaHa!

I am hoping to take my flimsy to a local shop that lets one rent a longarm. I'd love to quilt it myself. Now to find the perfect backing and binding fabric! I also need to start ironing a bunch of blue fabrics I've been collecting for my next quilt...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Slow Rows

It may be slow going with the En Provence quilt but it is going! I have two rows almost completed. Thinking about it again...these blocks are so large I nearly have half the quilt put together, right? Ha!

I think it looks really cool. There is still a row of the neutral four patches to add to the outside border. I believe that border is my favorite part of the entire quilt, all those mixed-up not-plain-white neutrals make an amazingly beautiful design. This idea will definitely be used again by me.

Ok, Super Bowl Sunday snacks are at hand...I gotta run!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

ORT Fest

Yesterday was the New Moon! Do you have your ORTs all polished up for inspection? I kept having to stuff mine flatter in the wooden leaf bowl. Especially when adding in those little clipped dog ear corners. I find dog ear confetti all over the house! Always a party around here! Here is my stuffed bowl sitting atop En Provence, which is waiting impatiently to be put together:

I also had another container to show you. Remember my Cash for Stash can for the Piggy Bank Challenge? I'm afraid that can was too small. When it got too full to add any coins I had to come up with a new plan. I found this great wine bottle and my friend, Lauren designed and cut vinyl lettering with her Cricut machine.

Isn't that totally awesome? Now I have lots more room for coin saving. On July 6th we empty our banks and report how much we saved to buy guilt free stash with. 

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your January TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

2864 Pieces

 Bonnie released the reveal and the end of our Mystery Quilt En Provence! last week. I was a little sad it was over as I'm having such fun with it. You may go to Bonnie's blog if you want to see the finish or you can wait and be surprised here.

Clue 7 was green, yellow and neutral quarter square triangles. Making these is a breeze and they create fun ORTs with the dog ears.

The last part was to make these yellow squares in sets of four. I had to go buy more yellows as I did not have enough to make each set different...and I really wanted that. This is also a photo of all the pieces to make the quilt...2864 pieces to be exact. 

OMG 2864 pieces!

Now to start putting them together...

First up was sashing pieces and those are finished, though not all ironed.

Then to make blocks. I have 2 finished already. These are not as complicated to put together as they look but I do it with the instructions in hand the entire time!

 Then it will be on to borders with all those neutral four patches. Maybe I will have a finished top to show you next? Let's hope!

Linking to Bonnie's Mystery Monday Link Up.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

More Mystery Quilt

One more post to end off the year...2017 is peeking around the corner! 

I've been hard at work and Clue 5 of my Mystery Quilt is Complete! Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool is da bomb! I've tried triangle pieces on my own before with so-so results. It's all those "special" measurements one has to figure out that throw me off! This thing makes it SUPER EASY! 

I got to work right away on Clue 6! This one also uses the Essential Triangle Tool.

I made this looooong chain of triangles.

These were ironed open and since they were fed through the machine in order I just cut the chain between every pair and left the chain of pairs together so they wouldn't get mixed up. I only had to snip between the pairs and nest the seams and soon I had them all finished!

Bear in mind...I have not made these last two units before this. I was scared to do these! And yet, I have completed both of them in record time. Bonnie is such a good teacher!

Do you like my pink cutting mat? It was a Christmas gift from Dash. Along with the large Olfa rotating mat you see in the photos above. So handy!

My leader/ender pieces are adding up! I only get a few when I'm doing lots of chain piecing like this but look how full that box is! One day I'll have to move on to piecing these as four patches between my regular sewing. Bonnie is the genius behind leaders/enders too.

Ok, my studio is still trashed. I have piles of papers, fabric, tools, Christmas gifts, and every bit of junk imaginable still lying around everywhere. Now, I must be firm with myself and go clean it up!

See you in 2017!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Last ORT report for 2016

We've made it another year! Today marks the last New Moon and our last Totally Useless Stitch A Long post for 2016! It has been an off year for me and I'm cheering on 2017 in hopes of a grand upturn. 

I have been busy with the Mystery Quilt and my wooden bowl is overflowing. I was getting worried I would need a dumping between New Moons and that's just not done here.

The studio is trashed with all the Mystery Quilt goings-on and then the Christmas hullabaloo. I just plopped my ORT bowl into the middle of all the junk. I also have some photos from during creation but I'm afraid I get so caught up in sewing I forget to document!

You saw the first clue, neutral four patches, in last month's ORT photo the pieces above are for the second clue. These are triangle-in-a-square blocks. They only look hard!

They make fun bits when you get to trim dog-ears!

The third clue was purple and lavender four patches. You sew these units in the proper direction and all the seams spin the correct way. See they are all laid out so I don't mess up?

Neutral and purple triangle-in-a-squares were the fourth clue. I actually finished this clue by the weekend's end (the clue is revealed on Fridays) and was quite pleased with my abilities. Then...

Last Friday we were directed to sew purple and neutral half square triangles. Easy...but I didn't have the proper tool yet. It was coming in the mail! So I got behind a few days! It came in the mail on Tuesday. Alas! I have to work so I have only gotten to play with it a teeny bit, enough to complete one block.

A new clue comes out in the morning but I must get the 5th clue finished first. I am going to sew all weekend!!!

Here are all the clues I've completed so far. I am getting excited to see what the pattern will be!

There. ORT report dutifully posted. If I survive the severe case of stitch-ass I plan to acquire this weekend I will return to show you my completed clues 5 & 6!

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your December TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

November ORT Report

A rough week at work so my Totally Useless Stitch A Long is posted waaaay late! I've got lots of trimmings from the teal quilt I was working on and from starting Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt, "En Provence!" This is so much fun!

I have been working on the first clue, sewing neutral four patches. This clue calls for lots of them! The second clue was posted yesterday but I'm so far behind on the first I haven't started even cutting for the second! I hope to get some of the 2nd clue cut and at least a few sewn so I know what I'm about. These are triangle units and I am very inexperienced with them! I will catch up with everything when I end up having to wait for one of the rulers I need to arrive.

If you think you might want to do the En Provence! quilt...there is still time to start! Plus, you could always save Bonnie's PDFs to your computer to do at your leisure. Be sure to save them, they disappear from Bonnie's blog after a while and then you'd need to purchase the pattern.

I was so far behind on the first clue because I made myself finish the Folkloric Stars quilt top. Terrible photo! I still need to get the backing for this sewn and then have it quilted. The top turned out very nice although it is most certainly more teal than I really prefer!

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your November TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox