A Decision and a Squirrel Project

I hope all the dads had a great Father's Day.  We went to a BBQ at my Mom and Dad's and all my siblings were there, lots of nieces and nephews, for about 30 guests.  Boy does it take a lot of set up and clean up, but we sure had fun.  The grandsons had a great time being spoiled with attention as they were the youngest in the crowd.

Now that Narragansett Browns is a finished top, I need a new leader-ender project.  A few years ago, American Patchwork and Quilting magazine had a sew along they called Go Four It, based on four patches.  I fell in love with Edyta Sitar's design, a bar quilt with braids of four patches.  However, her design called for 1.25" pieces for the four patches and I don't save pieces that small, so resized ito utilize my 1.5" and 2.5" precut strips and squares.  These I have used as leader-enders for quite some time and I have made hundreds of four patches.  Last year I showed a possible alternate layout , and have made lots more of the 3.5" square-in-squares. I revised my plan to make a larger quilt and did the MATH again.  I now only need 70 each of light and dark square-in-squares. 

I'll lay out all the little blocks individually in diagonal rows and then use 3.5" setting squares of a print or solid.  My design eliminates one bazillion setting triangles, which I am happy about!  It feels good to see this leader-ender closer to becoming a quilt top.  

A squirrel jumped out of a box while I was looking for something else in the Hoosier cabinet that houses my precuts, project boxes, and pattern books.  Oh, they are sneaky, those squirrels! 

Some Broken Dishes blocks made from a Turnover of Frolic fabric I won on Sandy Gervais' blog years ago.  I trimmed all the HSTs to 5.5" inches.  Some Grunge fabric would look great as a border, I think.  There are still MORE pieces left of the Turnover to do something with.  I need to sew faster!

Design Wall Monday--June 3, 2013

I did finally get the borders for the Greenpiece quilt stitched together, the pieces and parts which I showed last week.  I seem to be continually distracted from any worthwhile chunks of stitching time.  It really should not have taken so long!  

The color is way off in this photo, but there was a minimum of unsewing and resewing points and for that I'm thankful!  Not that there is a quilt top to stitch these to, as yet.  There are a dozen more wool applique blocks and the medallion center to piece and applique as well.  My projected finish date has changed so many times I cannot even recall it!  But sometime this year I hope this 2009 BOM is on the completed list.  I did pull out a bunch of the partially completed wool applique blocks and did some unstitching of one appliqued leaf after checking a placement photo, but really had no desire to embroider.  So I rummaged through my project bins looking for something to PIECE. 

I remembered this partially finished tablerunner as being in three sections, however when I opened the bin, the center had already been completed. There was even a washed and ironed cream chunk waiting to turn into the borders and triangle ends, so I got busy with that.  These great Frolic prints from Sandy Gervais I won on her blog several years ago and they actually came in  a "Turnover" triangle pack.  I'm not sure they still make that precut.  I cut the Turnover triangles in half to use in this pattern, which is designer Heather Mulder Peterson's Party Time tablerunner from her pattern book, On the Run.  I omitted the appliques, though. This is the second time I've made this tablerunner; my mom got the first one (below) for Mother's Day last year.   

Fabric is Boutique, by Chez Moi

 See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.  

Thoughtful designer

About a month ago I was visiting designer Sandy Gervais' blog, Pieces From My Heart.  She started her blog last year and I have been reading it regularly.  Very creative, funny and talented lady.  The quilt I made Grant was one of her designs, so I have been a fan for a long time.  Sandy posted that they had some scary news about her mom, who was diagnosed with colon cancer.  I expressed my sympathy and concern, as did many other commenters.  Upon checking back, this post gave the news that her mother was able to come home from the hospital and as appreciation, she had gathered the comments, cards and emails and picked some names for a giveaway.  What a thoughtful thing to do, I thought, as I continued reading.  Then, my name was on the list!  Well, sort of my name.  I sent an email and Sandy confirmed that I was indeed selected to receive a Turnover of Frolic.  I love Frolic and had been petting a layer cake in my LQS just the week before.  A package arrived within a week and I am the happy and grateful recipient of this:

80 precut 6" triangles of Frolic, a line that has so many of my favorite colors.  I have already bookmarked some Moda Bakeshop ideas but for now am just happy to look at it.  The caramel popcorn was half gone by the time I took this photo last night and is now 3/4 gone!  It was really yummy (company name is The Chocolate Season).  So, thank you again, Sandy Gervais, for your thoughtful and unexpected gift in your time of worry and concern. I hope your mom is feeling okay and getting the care she deserves.