Three For March--next pick

Three for March challenge continues.  This morning the random number draw was #9, which is the Greenpiece BOM from 2010.  This poor project has languished for so many years, it has sadly been on numerous UFO busting lists over the years, including the Three for September challenge last fall!  It is so old that I don't have any photos of it on my phone. 

I have finished all the pieced blocks, the pieced triangle borders, and many of the wool applique blocks.  Goal for three days is to finish up a few more wool blocks, like this one, which only needs some small details stitched. 

I doubt much will be accomplished in the next two days, what with work, my sister coming over tonight for a sewing machine and visiting, and a family birthday dinner tomorrow night for youngest daughter, Erica.   But there will be time in the mornings and at lunch to get some stitches in.  

Some stars and stripes in the watermelon have been cut out for many years, ready to stitch for the crow to yell about!

Thanks for all the compliments on my Go Four It quilt top--it was a major accomplishment and I'm so pleased to have a good result. 

Go Four It Wrap Up--Three for March

Go Four It sewing occupied many hours this weekend, lots of pinning and ironing and rearranging...I wish the aerobic efforts offset the chocolate I ate!

I sewed another grouping to add the large first section finished on Day 2.   So far so good...

There was surprisingly little ripping necessary on this entire quilt top, fortunately. I did run into one row where I had duplicate dark square in squares next to each other and had to switch one square in square out.  There was some break time before the remaining corner was completed.

It was so nice to get to the shorter rows and by 9 pm I had the top all together.  One long last seam...

Hooray!  All done save the four corner triangles, which I have not yet cut.   The top measures about 51x68" currently, and will require borders at a later date.  This first pick for my Three for March challenge would never have gotten done if chosen during a regular weekday.  So glad I had the time to devote to it on the weekend.  Next Three for March pick tomorrow...

Three For March--Go Four It Progress

Today is the third day for working on the first pick of my UFO busting self-challenge.  Yesterday I sewed and sewed, cut and cut.  I started the assembly much later in the day than I planned, due to my husband wanting to go out to breakfast at one of our favorite spots.  It was raining and the outdoor patio was closed, so the wait was long.  Before we left home, Grant had texted our youngest daughter to see if she wanted to join us. We had been sitting there (luckily snagged an inside spot!) for more than 20 minutes when he received a text back from her.  She had just woken up and, thinking it was too late (30+ minutes after he texted her), wrote, "This is the saddest news I have ever woken up to.  I wanted breakfast!"  After laughing, Grant wrote her back that we were still waiting and she was welcome to join us.  Her boyfriend was with her and though it turned out we waited about 45 minutes total for a table, it was fun to have some time with just the two of them. 

I started in on the setting triangles, which were easily cut from strips with the Essential Triangle tool--so much easier than making the bigger squares.  The strip is cut to the finished block size listed on the tool.  Thankful for brainy people who make these shortcuts!

Before long I had assembled the bottom left corner, without getting anything out of place, thankfully!  Here are some block closeups.

I took several breaks but by 10:00 pm had assembled up to the longest diagonal row, which was a good stopping point. 

Nothing has turned or twisted out of place and I am happy with how everything fits.  Making the square in squares a little large and cutting down was tedious but sure helps with assembly.  I have been pressing the seams alternately to one side on each row so they nest.  Now to get to it after I slept in this morning!  Hope to have a finished top by bedtime tonight.  

Three for March--Go Four It Layout

 Three for March--working on one quilt UFO for three days at a time, all month.

I spent several hours with the Go Four It pieces and parts yesterday--I have only a design floor, so got lots of exercise crawling around, with intermittent jaunts to the cutting table for more setting squares.  The setting square fabric is a Jan Patek fabric called Hawthorne Ridge. 

Here is half the quilt top laid out.  I was happy with the setting fabric as the print looks fine turned any which way without particularly forming a secondary pattern.  The blocks are busy enough by themselves.

And here is the whole top--minus the edge setting squares.  Bonnie Hunter fans may notice I used her Daybreak quilt setting for my four patch arrangement, grouping five square in square blocks.  Funny that she is just teaching this quilt! She used a pretty warm solid blue for the background and then sashed with neutral string borders and four patch cornerstones.  My layout eliminates the thousand tiny setting squares and sashing, and I alternated the dark and light centers/outer squares. 

Next I'll use Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool for my side triangles and corner triangles.  I will have to cut a couple of sample sizes to see which fits best, MATH not being my strong point.  My finished block size is 3" for the square in squares which by Bonnie's helpful online guide means a 5.5" setting triangle.  It may be that I end up cutting larger squares and slicing diagonally twice, but I'd rather not!  Especially since I have limited fabric, only about a yard and a half left of the setting fabric. 

Three for March--first pick, Go Four It

For my WIP/UFO busting self-challenge, working on one project for three days at a time this month, I drew a number randomly from a jar. 

#5 is  my version of the APQ challenge quilt by Edyta Sitar, Go Four It quiltalong.  I have made more blocks since this project last appeared in my Three for September challenge. 

I found the background fabric at the vendor mall of the Santa Barbara Quilt Guild show last fall.  There will be some trimming of blocks before I start laying out my design.  Background fabric will be cut to 3.5" squares and setting triangles.

Blurry photo but shows my basic layout of light square in squares alternating with colored square in squares set diagonally. I plan a 6x8 setting and will assemble in diagonal rows.  My three day goal is to get the top together.  That is a lot of sewing but should go fairly fast--fingers crossed!

Design Wall Monday--2/25/19

Design Wall Monday is here.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

The rest of February will fly by this week, but I have been stitching and my Design Floor has seen a number of projects in progress.

I managed to get the label done for the just-turned-1-year old of a family friend--the pieced backing was all from stash.  The plaid has the same green as the Kona Tarragon solid on the front and binding.  I delivered the quilt to DD Erica on Friday and she'll take it to her friend. Can't wait to see little Sid on the quilt. 

Another backing was cobbled from leftover flannels for the baby quilt version of Falling Charms. It's folded in this pic but really is big enough.

Here's a pic of the finished top.  This is to be packaged up with batting for my sister to quilt, then I'll bind it before handing in to Guild for donation.  I kitted up a couple more charm square groupings to sew in the near future.

More Log Cabin Loonie blocks have been forming, my version of Julie's block are 7.5" unfinished.  Lots of 1.5" strips are getting cut from the scrap bins.

There are now 41 finished blocks and another dozen in progress--80 are required for my setting plan.

I spent some time organizing and culling the scrapbooking drawers I use for precut strips from scraps, separating solids by neutrals and colors to their own drawers.  I really must keep up on the scrap management--my cutting table regularly gets out of control!    

We celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary Sunday--well, we were going to have dinner out but then my husband called with a dead car battery, from the mall where he had been on an errand. The jump from my car didn't work so we had to call my mechanic brother for help, then went to his shop and he put in a new battery.  By that time it was  nearly 7:30 pm, our reservation had been canceled, and I voted for staying home for leftover homemade soup and cookies.  We'll reschedule the nice dinner out :)  Our grandsons have their shared birthday this week and then our youngest daughter has her birthday the following week.  It's a busy time of the year for celebrating--five weeks in a row for our family. 

Next up, I will revisit my Three For September challenge beginning March 1.  I've made my list of quilts and will work on one project every three days for the month of March.  The self-challenge I did in September was very energizing and I'm looking forward to more progress on WIPS, perhaps even a couple of finishes.

Sewing and Celebrating

On and off my design floor are several small projects.  I spent more time with charm packs, as I mentioned last post.  The baby sized Falling Charms quilt got laid out and rearranged. 

This charm pack was called Wing and Leaf, lots of bright fun prints.  I have since sewn the blocks into rows and it will become a top in the next day or two.  I believe I have a good option for the backing in stash.  

I got the binding on Sid's quilt (for a family friend's son) and laid it out to show the quilting my sister did before I washed it. Love the baseball hats.  The cloudy day turned my tile pink in this photo but showed the quilting pretty nicely.  A label is all that is needed to get this one off to its new home.  

My mom turns 80 this month and there was a grand party for her this past weekend.  All told, we  were about 50 folks, most of them family, including her sister and 6 brothers, all 5 of us kids and most of her 16 grandchildren, and the three great-grandsons.  Mom requested a bagpiper to play and I managed to get a photo of them. 

He played a few songs, finishing up with Amazing Grace.   My grandsons weren't fans, covering their ears and heading into the house, but the rest of us enjoyed the novelty.  I decided last minute to make Mom a little quilt and cast about in the sewing room for something already in progress.  I happened upon the Sajou quilt from Humble Quilts' mystery sewalong a few months ago.  I had forgotten that I'd completed a backing as well.  I had set aside a green fabric for sashing but opted instead to bind the quilt as is.  A quickly pieced batting from scraps and SITD quilting and I was ready to add binding, which I pulled from stash.  

I didn't label the quilt as I wanted it to be double-sided.  Mom loved it and got lots of compliments on her gift.  I really enjoyed getting this finished and giving it to Mom.  Happy Birthday!