A Work in Progress

I spent some lovely time playing in my stash yesterday deciding what to take to my guild's retreat in Ocean City, Maryland this weekend.  Retreat projects have to meet certain criteria.  There can't be too many color changes or the need to check the chart constantly.  This project, Sampler Houses by Brenda Keyes, has been my work-in-progress for some time, and it is probably the most perfect project for a retreat ever.  Look at all those areas that need to be filled in with one color!   Even the houses don't require much looking at the chart.  I'm going to be working on the border of this piece tonight so that I can do more of the filling in over the weekend.  This piece is a SAL with the duClay EGA  and also on my 2017 WIP Challenge list there.  Only three more houses and the rest of the border to go! I recently acquired an Accuquilt cutter and when I saw this block on Bonnie's blog, I got the appropriate die.  I haven't purchased much fabric during the

Just a quick post to document that I achieved my One Monthly Goal for September.  These pillowcases were finished pretty early in the month and then I was inspired to move onto other projects in the sewing room.   I finished the album blocks I showed in the last post, but as I anticipated, there were problems putting them together into a finished top.  When I was making them, I had trouble getting the block size consistent and that meant that I couldn't get the sashing to line up. So I'm slowly taking the rows apart.  One row of four blocks will become a long runner to go on top of the TV stand in our guest room.  Another group of four blocks will be re-sewn into a square for a table topper.  I'll probably make a runner and a table topper from the remaining four blocks and give those items to my daughter for spring decorating in her apartment.   I'm off to Bethlehem, PA tomorrow for a class with Catherine Theron, and then to Ocean City, Maryland for a guild ret

Patty at Elm Street Quilts  opened the link-up for September's One Monthly Goal a week ago.  Ever since I finished the queen size quilt that will be a wedding present for my nephew, I've been trying to decide on my next monthly goal.  I kept looking at the projects in various stages of completion in my sewing room and didn't want to commit to any of them. There is a pile of these block awaiting sashing.  However, this project has had its difficulties and I'm just not feeling it right now.  I probably could push through and get it done, especially since it would be a good project to practice quilting with my embroidery machine.  But at the moment, it just seems like all work and no fun. Last night, I decided that my sewing room needed straightening up and I looked at a couple of potential projects and some WIPs.  I found three of these blocks that need just a little work to be made into a table runner.  It would be a nice fall decoration for my daughter, but again

My One Monthly Goal for August was to complete a block-of-the-month quilt.  I started this is 2015 and then work on it stopped when I decided it wasn't going to the originally planned recipients.  My nephew got married in a small ceremony in July, 2016 right before I had surgery on my shoulder.  I'm slowly getting back on track completing larger quilts and thought this would be a good gift for the (somewhat) newlyweds.  When I put the finished top on my bed, I was tempted to keep it.  I even showed the picture to my sister to confirm whether or not her son and daughter-in-law would like it and was more than a little disappointed when she said they would love it.  But I know this will go to people who appreciate it, and it's perfect for their home on the coast of California. I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts .  It's always fun to see what others accomplish during the month.

My new sewing room furniture was delivered last Monday afternoon.  I was itching to get everything back into the room and organized, but we left Tuesday morning for a quick trip to see our daughter in upstate New York.  We got home late Thursday and I was booked on Friday.  So the room is not quite ready for pictures, but it's slowly coming together. While we were in New York, we took a trip to Glens Falls to see the Hyde Museum.  The most interesting part to us was the former home of Louis Hyde and his wife.  They were art collectors who had a Rembrandt hanging in the library and Renoirs in the bedrooms.  I was delighted to see this embroidered panel from Germany in the 19th century.  It was done with silk and metallic threads on linen. The day was capped off with a concert by the fabulous Philadelphia Orchestra and fireworks at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs. One of the things that I discovered when putting things away in my sewing room is that I

I managed to go above and beyond my One Monthly Goal and finish the Box of Chocolates mini-quilt.  This one was a lot of fun, all the way from choosing the fabrics, putting the blocks together, quilting a free-hand wavy line and choosing the buttons.  Sewing on the buttons was not fun, but I was determined to make this a finished quilt.  My plan is to hang it on the door of my sewing room for Valentine's Day. It's hard to believe that July is almost over.  I had a great time taking a needlepoint class from Kathy Rees (Needle Delights) in Jacksonville and spending time with the ladies at duClay over the weekend of the 15th and 16th.  Then I was off to Hershey, PA on the 21st for the annual Quilt Odyssey show.  I took an appliqué class from Mimi Dietrich.  Her instruction was so good that I have total confidence that I'll be able to successfully hand appliqué.  I also took a shorter class on English Paper Piecing and picked up some good tips. On the home front, my sewing

I had a big internal debate on which project to choose for my One Monthly Goal for July.  I would really like to keep going with the Sand and Surf block of the month I worked on last month.  All the blocks are finished for another block of the month and I could work on the setting for those.  Or I could finish the rework panels for a small quilt.  So many projects! In the end, I sat down with a calendar and thought about the two trips I'll be taking (one for a needlepoint class and the other for some quilting classes) along with the realization that I'll have to do some organizing to get my sewing room ready for the new furniture.  That helped make the decision to keep my goal small.  My plan is to turn these fabrics into nineteen more of the block shown here to make the Box of Chocolates quilt from 101 Fabulous Small Quilts.  Making the quilt top is what I'm hoping to accomplish.  Getting it quilted and bound will be a bonus. I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts

I met my One Monthly Goal for June and will be linking up with Elm Street Quilts .  These seven blocks were a little time-consuming, but since I love the colors, they were fun to sew. All the blocks are made for this quilt but the sashing requires quite a bit of piecing so that will be my OMG for July. I acquired a new, larger sewing machine last year and needed a bigger space than the one I had been using in the basement.  We decided to make one of our bedrooms into a sewing room when we got new flooring and painted the bedrooms last year.  One of my machines has been on an Ikea desk that we bought 25 years ago for our sons' rooms.  I've had a small ironing pad next to the machine and a small cutting board on another Ikea desk next to it.  In addition, I've been making do with small Daylight and Ott lamps since there is no overhead lighting in the room.  While it works, it's not ideal and it's hard to keep pieces organized.  After months of measuring and d

Being away for nearly the whole month of May has made me lose track of time, and it's hard to believe that it's June already.  We don't have many plans for this month, so I'm hoping to get a lot of quilting and stitching done.  My big plan is to finish nine blocks for a Block of the Month I started in 2015.  I had some recipients in mind for the Sand and Surf quilt, but ran out of time and also realized that the gift would not be the most appropriate.  During some digging around in the quilt closet, I ran across the kits and got excited about this quilt again.  I am going to love working on the blue blocks since they seem so summery.  I'm thinking that this will be a gift to my nephew for his wedding but I may have trouble letting it go. On the stitching front, I'm finishing the pre-stitch for the Virgin Queen box class with Betsy Morgan this weekend at Salty Yarns in Ocean City, MD.  The forecast is for the mid-high 70s with sun, so it should be a beautif

I mentioned in my last post that May would be a busy month.  We were traveling for most of it and it has taken me a little while to get back into my routine at home.  I'm glad that I chose finishing just two blocks as my One Monthly Goal.  Even with a small goal, I finished just under the wire to be able to link up on Elm Street Quilts .  The seam ripper got a lot of use as some of those half-square triangles were turned in the wrong direction.  I have no idea how that happens when I have the pattern directly in front of me as I'm pinning the pieces together! I hope everyone had a great month.  I look forward to being more productive in June!

This will be short and sweet as I've got a lot going on right now.  May will be a busy month so I'm keeping my One Monthly Goal simple.  I'm planning to complete these two blocks for a Block of the Month quilt.  Hopefully, I'll get a little more time in the sewing room this month, but I'm not counting on it. I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts .  Looks there are some great projects waiting to be done this month!

Just a quick post because I'm off to a retreat with the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild  tomorrow.  Everything is packed and ready to go-- --all of the important things anyway. My One Monthly Goal for April was to complete this baby quilt to donate to my quilt guild's charity. Despite having to remove quite a bit of quilting due to tension issues, I managed to get it done in time to turn in at the meeting last Friday. I actually accomplished quite a bit in the sewing room last week and reduced the pile of WIPs, but I'll show you those projects later.  For now, I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts  so you can see what everyone else has done this month.

Some time ago, I saw Finished or Not Friday posts out in blogland.  At the time, I thought this would be a great motivator to post my work more often.  I lost the link until I saw Patty's post of her beautiful finished quilt today.   I'm going to start with a small project I finished at the beginning of April.  This is from Little House Needlework's ABC Sampler series.  Someday, this will be finished into a small pillow and displayed in a basket along with the other eight samplers (not yet stitched) in this series. I'm linking up with B usy Hands Quilts . 

We have a typical April day here in southeastern Pennsylvania.  It's around 60 but raining.  The perfect day to stay inside and stitch! I'm keeping my one monthly goal simple this month.  As I looked around my sewing room last week, I had five (!) projects out in various stages of completion in addition to two Block of the Month programs I'm trying to keep up with.   It's time to bring some of these to a finish and I'm planning to devote most of the month to clearing off the various surfaces in the room one project at a time.  My April OMG is to complete the quilting and binding on this quilt that I'll be donating to my quilt guild's charity.  That's also in keeping with my goal to complete and donate six quilts this year. This was a lot of fun, and easy to piece.  I used the raspberry fabric for the backing and still have at least two yards of it left.  Not sure what I was thinking when I bought that much!  I have enough of the ice cream fabric

I had every intention of writing a few more posts this month but, as usual, other things intervened.  I've been busy trying to clean out and organize our basement storage area.  It's cluttered with the things I removed from our children's rooms prior to getting new flooring and having the rooms painted last summer.  At this point, the kids have been through most of their things and decided what they will keep (texting pictures of items to them on a daily basis really helped with this process).  Now it's up to me to box up and store everything.  They were pretty selective so it's not a lot of stuff, but it does require a bit of a time commitment. This month I had trouble sticking with one project both in quilting and in needlework.  So I accomplished my March One Monthly Goal with just a day to spare.  Turns out I only needed to make four Farm Gurl Vintage blocks to have the 48 needed for the quilt.  The pig and the sheep were fun even though they had a thous

Setting one goal for the month has really helped me make progress on two projects so far this year.  I debated between two projects for this month and finally made my choice.  I'm going to commit to finishing the blocks for the Farm Girl Vintage (Lori Holt) quilt I started at least a year and a half ago.  I was doing well completing a block or two a week and then life intervened and the project stalled out.  I counted tonight and I think I have just eight blocks to make before I can start putting the quilt together.  Here are some of the ones that are done. Even though the 6" blocks have been a challenge in some cases, I've had a lot of fun choosing colors and putting these together.  Getting this quilt done will also help me clean up a corner of my sewing room where the fabrics for this project are stacked.  Maybe I'll even be inspired to start on the sashing. Head on over to Elm Street Quilts  to see what others are hoping to accomplish this month.

February has gone quickly!  It think that's partly due to the spring-like temperatures we're experiencing in southeastern Pennsylvania.  The nice weather certainly makes me want to get out and about more.  When I was home, I stuck to my One Monthly Goal of getting the Leaf Chain top pieced.  It won't be quilted until I've taken a class on how to use my embroidering machine for quilting.  That's not until the end of May, but I have lots of time to get this done in time for next fall. Linking up with OMG at elmstreetquilts.blogspot.com   Go see what everyone else has accomplished this month!

It's time to set One Monthly Goal and link up with Elm Street Quilts .  This time, I chose a new start as my focus for the month.  I joined a group that meets at my local quilt shop the last Thursday of each month.  It turns out that nearly everyone in the class is also in my quilt guild so that makes it even more fun. The group  has been meeting for about three years and the focus is making small quilts from the book 101 Fabulous Small Quilts (That Patchwork Place).  They decide on a quilt and spend two months making it.  For January and February, the quilt is Leaf Chain.  I love the autumn colors and I was able to find all but one of the fabrics for it in my stash.  My goal is to have the quilt top pieced this month.  So far, I've completed one block (only need 8 of these)  and half of another (also need 8 of these) so I'm confident I'll accomplish this goal.  I'm still not too sure about that green square, but I think it will be OK with the border fabr

I have another finish!  This is Love and Live Happy by Guild House Samplers.  I saw two versions of this piece at the needlework show in Woodlawn several years ago, and tried to track down the chart at the time.  The designer is Pamela Darney but she didn't have a website at the time.  (She still doesn't, but I understand she is working on it).   I sort of forgot about this piece and of course, I had a *few* other things to stitch!  Then Caryl C. showed her completed piece at one of our guild meetings and loaned me the chart.  I did mine on 36ct. white Edinburgh with the Gloriana silks recommended on the chart.  This was lots of fun to stich and I had fun with the color variations in the silks, particularly Red Clay.  Guild House Samplers was supposed to be one of the vendors at Annie's Needlework Festival in Williamsburg last December but she ended up not having any items at her table.  Pam spoke at the opening banquet about architecture in needlework and I understand th

I signed up for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts  and I'm happy to say that I finished a small quilt.  This top was pieced several years ago and put aside because I wasn't confident about quilting it.  I unearthed it when setting up my new sewing room last summer and decided it needed to be finished and donated.  I recently took a class on quilting with rulers on a home machine and thought I might be able to use that knowledge on this project.  I discovered that I'm going to have to put in a LOT more practice with the rulers so I quilted this by (mostly) stitching in the ditch.  It was shown at the January meeting of my quilt guild and given to our Pieces of Love project for donation to a charity that needs baby quilts. Now to chose another project for February!

I know, I know--this blog was silent for six months and suddenly I've started posting every day.  Please don't expect that to continue!  The beginning of a new year has brought the opportunity to set some goals and participate in a few fun things around the guild so I have some extra things to write about. Measi   has been hosting the WIPocalypse for several years.  This month, she asked participants to introduce themselves and talk about projects and goals for the year.  The duClay Chapter of EGA  has a challenge every year and it's a great way to set priorities.  These are my projects for the WIPocalypse and duClay. 1.  Ann Smith by Scarlet Letter--I started this on Super Bowl weekend last year and stitched on it a lot during 2016, but I still have a long way to go.  This will be my focus in 2017. 2.  Sampler Houses by Brenda Keyes-This was a New Year's Day start for a SAL with duClay. 3.  Anniversaries of the Heart by Blackbird Designs-I have completed eve

I've been Kate's blog  for some time and especially enjoy her posts about her OMG or One Monthly Goal.  This is hosted by Patty at El m Street Quilts  in order to encourage quilters to focus on one project that can be completed within a month.  That sounded like a great way for me to turn some UFOs into finished items, and I'm glad it's starting up again for 2017. We did some home improvements last summer with painting and new flooring in the three bedrooms that our children had used.  Since they're all gone and not likely to be living at home again, we turned one of the rooms into my sewing room.  Wonderful, except that the furniture was placed back in the rooms an hour before I had to go to the airport to pick up my sister who came to help when I had the rotator cuff repair.  One of the craft related things I could do during the first two months after surgery was sort through my stash.  I organized all my fabrics by color and found a few forgotten projects.  O