SEWING AND CLEANING IN THAT ORDER

This week has been mostly cleaning time around here...when i am sewing no cleaning gets done except for the kitchen and some laundry...i shouldn't tell anyone that i suppose but true ....i am sure most sewing people have the same problem if you dont have a family you have to take care of...

I have a lot of health problems that affect everything i try to do and cleaning is one big one....in order to scrub the kitchen and bath floors it required me to stop and rest my back several times before completing the task...this isn't like me...i used to be kind of a whirlwind with all those things getting a lot done in one day...now i am lucky to get done what i do....

Memorial weekend is here and i have had past thoughts about what our family used to do...we had good friends and we always got together on this and other holidays for family outings together....now i am the only one of the adults still living except for their kids and mine....somewhat sad to miss all those good times we had all together...my kids will be busy doing their thing this holiday and i am going to try to get a quilt laid out...if not i will be sewing i am sure ..maybe leave for a little while for a lunch somewhere over the weekend.....more later....

STAR RUNNER FOR MY FRIEND

I can post this now that it has been delivered...i made this runner with a quilter friend in mind when i started...i had been tinkering around with some stars with triangle blocks squares leftover from the big star quilt...then i made some other stars the same size maybe to have a big quilt someday with all them in it...Well when working on this runner it was looking a little plain so i decided to hand quilt in the white with blue thread...and after all that i thought it needed more so hence the stripe binding....Not too bad but i would have liked star binding better but no luck....

Today i have been working on another small quilt for charity...2 inch squares around a 5 inch center square...i have a lot of solid colors that i can get the centers from and a lot of 2 inch squares to pick for the rest...i think i will need 35 blocks then i can put together...i might machine quilt this one before i send....we will see later......that is all for now...will be a quiet holiday here that is ok...time for sewing?????.....more later...

NEVER TOO LATE TO FINISH A UFO

I have been working on a UFO that i started back in 1980...not sure why i quit working on it but i think its because i had trouble appliquing it to the white background...It was my first attempt at applique and i didn't do a very good job...BUT i decided to finished anyway...It was a good item to practice my hand quilting on it... and what it would look like if you couldn't get all the design where you wanted it...Its 28 inches square so not a lot of room...i had all the pieces there to finish it but had to find a binding color as i dont have any of the fabrics left in my stash...Not sure i will be making a wedding ring quilt in the future...but then i never say never...

It hasn't been a very good week..one trouble after another...first the main sewer pipe was plugged and had plumbers out to work on it....was very inconvenient for couple days....then hot water in shower wouldn't work all the rest of rooms did...finally got that unplugged...was an air lock....and last but crazy...the crockpot couldn't cook a chicken in 6 hours at 300 degrees...

Today i left to maybe change all the bad karma that is floating around here...maybe it went out the door when i left....well i hope so....so its time for me to get going on something being i have basically goofed off today...more later.....

MORE TIPS ON MAKING GRANDMOTHERS FLOWER GARDEN QUILT

Today i thought i would give you a couple hints for those who are interested in making the Grandmothers Flower Garden quilts, either the large ones or the small flowers...I was asked while back if i had any easy tips...i am not sure they are easy but they might make the work easier...

1. A good formula for planning a Grandmothers Quilt (small flower) is: Pick out at least 7 colors from the color wheel, such as purple, pink, green, blue, orange, brown and a mixed one that doesn't have a definite color plan (like multi color flower)...then the next part is out of EACH color category get at least 5 different prints...and the next part is out of EACH of those 5 make at least 5 blocks each...you should have about 175 blocks when finished...that is enough for a good size quilt...this is helpful when trying to see if you have enough fabric...

2.If you have started a quilt and have trouble getting in the right spot for adding the end block...start  with the block in second or third where those blocks would be and work back to the first one...Its much easier to do that than to try to rip out without tearing up your block...i know from experience.

3. If you are following my method of this quilt...you will be repeating row 1 and 2 throughout...so trying to figure out how big to make the length take the amount of blocks in these two rows and x by how many times you want to repeat and then add the last row extra to balance the quilt so it looks the same as the first row (the longer row)....

I hope these tips help...i have done things so automatic that i dont think of them as tips but i guess they are if you are getting started...this quilt isn't hard but if you dont want to devote the time to make it you may never finish it as it does take a lot of time....let me know if they help...more later...

COUNTRY LOOK TABLE TOPPER FROM 1 SCRAP STRIP

I made this little table topper last week out of a 3 inch strip i had that i got from a scrap bag a lady brought to the quilt meeting last month...it made 7 little pinwheels and was so pretty i couldnt see burying it in the middle of a quilt so i had to make something to show them off...i just kept building the block then laid it out and this is what i came up with using all but one block...I had a stencil i wanted to try out hand quilting before i put it on a big quilt, the verdict is out on it so far....I took the topper to my daughters mothers day hoping she would like it...these are the colors she likes....She Did!...she is pretty picky about what she wants so not always easy to please her lol...

My stencil order came so now i have new ones to play with...more sizes which will be helpful...i see one already that i plan to use very soon...

Today i made a couple mug rugs, the binding to sew down tonight while watching tv...my machine was acting up terrible but i finally got it going ok...but i made a few mistakes  here and there till i got it to work...it seems it wants the thread to be in the spindle on top of machine not the horizontal one...now maybe i wont have trouble for awhile....hope not i have a lot i want to do and dont need the stress....well its time to get back at it so till next time....more later.....

STAR QUILT TOP TOGETHER, YAY!

I got this quilt put together today except for the border....it will be 80x100 when finished...being it was 8 inch blocks it went togther alot faster than the little pinwheel blocks i have been working with..I have been collecting purples, magentas, teal, and other batiks since i bought the 9 patch fabric a year ago...i saw this quilt when i looked at that fabric lol...i dont have floor space to lay it completely out so the couch had to do....

I had been looking through my stencils this last month and using a few here and there or parts of them...i have a good collection but a person gets tired of using the same ones over and over so i got an order together and hope it comes this week....the ones shown are some that i used this past week...i needed some inbetween 4 and 7 inches...when i first bought them those were the sizes i thought i would need...now i seem to need all sizes....i guess i am doing more quilting these days...

I have a couple more things to show but have to wait till the person get them cause they may read this blog and i want it to be a suprise for them lol...so will post pics of them later....for now that is it....more later....

BLOCK SIZES AND INFORMATION FOR FUTURE USE

Playing last week included working up different star blocks to see what sizes i get using various strips and squares...and yes i wrote information on the block so i would be able to see at a glance if i had close to the size on my messy sewing table...i did the same with pinwheel blocks...before i could never remember what sizes i had started for a quilt then had to remeasure and hope it was right so now maybe i will be more organized.....

By double stitching my hst's for my aqua/purple/blue star quilt i am gaining small star blocks (the red one in pic)...so there will be another quilt...i couldn't bear to throw away all those smaller hst's cut from those big blocks at the price of batiks these days...i found a pinwheel block size the same as those start blocks so i think maybe it might be a quilt one day....

I still have golds and oranges to wash up and iron....those i have a plan for so would like to get at them and then i will have most of the fabric done...its been laying around too long and i could be using it...there are some really pretty fabrics out there that i am itching to get my hands on lol.....

Well i am off to Pinterest to get a dose of  'Quilt Med' to get me started today while i finish my coffee...after seeing all the quilts on there i get inspired to do more sewing....its amazing what a picture will do lol.... more later....