Wordless Wednesday

Winding A-Way

 First three rows are pieced and ready to be sewn into a section!

The commissioner of the quilt ordered the Minky backing and dropped it off yesterday along with batting. Getting closer to a real quilt. 

I'm clipping the seam allowances of the blocks to eliminate some bulk as I assemble the rows, and making 4 patches as leader-enders.  I'm just about out of thread so am off to Joann's for supplies and sale finds. Here's some baby spam to close the post:

Winter in SoCal is over, apparently!

Busy

My sewing room has been busy! 

• A week ago Monday I cleaned it up in time for the housekeeper's monthly visit.  
• I sewed together two of the Winding Ways block rows while using leader-ender pieces to make four patches.
• Thursday night saw me packing up and dismantling much of the room to prepare for the carpet cleaners on Friday
• Saturday I put the room back together, slowly, and at my husband's suggestion, altered the layout to leave more open space--putting the cutting table against the wall. Seems he wants to use the fireplace sometime!
• Sunday I sewed nearly all day on these two projects:

Rescue of the late '80's quilt.  Previously I had trimmed off excess fabric to make a center square. I started the two color pieced insert (pattern from an APQ calendar) some time ago but put it aside when I ran into problems and needed more sections figured and cut for the correct fit.  I worked that all out and got the two inserts sewn.  Now I need help.  I want a spacer strip bracketing the pieced inserts and have two choices from stash:

A medium blue solid and a darker blue dot.   The darker blue dot kind of matches the star point you see in the bottom of the photo, and I am leaning towards that.  Opinions?

The other project was a guild opportunity to join a Round Robin--my first ever.  I pinned a star block recently that I liked a lot, and decided to use some new fabrics bought at Road to California for the modern aesthetic required.

The solids I already had but pulled to go with them.

  

I drew out the block and all cutting instructions and started choosing fabrics, cutting and sewing.   Here's what I ended up with.

My star is a little lost, unfortunately.  It was too late to redo before the deadline of Monday so when I get it back, I will likely applique over with the orange print to define the points a bit more.  Overall I like how bright and summery it is. 

Per written instructions, I packed up lots of options for the members to choose from.  Each month a border will be added, for four months, and then we get our quilt top back in June, having not seen it since the turn in day. Preferences were listed, if desired.  We had 14 people join in on the Round Robin and that is very exciting.  Last night at the Guild meeting we handed off our boxes and bags in a randomly chosen order.  I'm looking forward to working on some great blocks for the next few months and look forward to seeing what the others add to mine.

The four patches I have been using as leader-enders are for the Go Four It quiltalong in progress from American Patchwork & Quilting.  I really like Edyta Sitar's quilt but the pieces were too small for the size scraps I save.

I'm going to use my 1.5" strips and squares that have been piling up for years, seldom leaving their bin.

So glad these will all find a home, finally!  The Quiltalong is for about a year so I will be making four patches for some time.  I don't know if I'll make a quilt as big as Edyta's.  It tickled me that her finished quilt has vertical strips of fabric separating the pieced rows--and I have used the same fabric in at least two quilts.  There are scraps of it somewhere I'll definitely want to put in.  I'm planning to keep up the busy-ness of my sewing room.  Clearing it all out was eye opening in a slightly overwhelming way, I must say!

Tuesday's Orts

It has been quite a while since the last edition of Tuesday's Orts, where I share bits and pieces of thoughts and happenings.

• Cove is now 11 months old, has had his first haircut, cut another tooth for a total of 5, and decided two Mondays ago to just start walking.  His father said, "Not walking, 1:00 pm.  Walking, 1:05 pm".  
  
  Here he is watching Papa play guitar last Sunday. Cove also got to bang on the piano for the first time, which he really enjoyed. So glad they live close by so we can see them often.  Hard to believe he is mere weeks from being a one year old.  Babies do grow so fast!
• Since getting all the blocks finished for Winding Ways, I've been working on another overdue project, a baby quilt for my daughter's friend.  

Just before bedtime the other night I got this close to finishing the last seam of ten strip sets before running out of bobbin thread.  Doh! 

• Time flies when I play with Pinterest on my desktop, so I haven't downloaded the app to my phone--I'm afraid I'd waste even more time with it there!  I did copy a pinned idea for a holiday display for my winter decor.   

 My votives aren't silvered like theirs, but the pinecones are sugared and sparkly. I like it.

 Poinsettias are still in bloom in my backyard so I left my runner on display with the pinecones.

• Traffic rant:  People who pause their cars before going up a steep, curved freeway onramp, as if they are riding horseback and have to let their mount gather its strength to climb a hill.  You're driving with hundreds of horsepower, people!  Get on with it!
• I saw a license plate frame today that said, "I'm still hot.  It just comes in flashes now".