A Perfect Sewing Day

On my last post I said I would be working on bindings or getting distracted by a new project. Well, I got distracted. I have had this bag bookmarked to make for quite a while and finally whipped it up. It's an easy pattern. It's by the fabulous Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studios and you can find it here. I've been collecting home dec fabrics whenever I see some I like and I liked this combo. By the way, that roll of paper I have had forever. It was my Mom's in her sewing room and I have had it for years. It came in really handy for my next distraction I will show you.

 Today arrived with the first snow storm since last October-I am not kidding-we have had no storms since last October so it was a perfect day for some sewing. We got about 8 inches here which is a small snowstorn for NH. I have been using my stash quite a lot these past two years and when ever I am doing a project I slice up any scraps into strings and dump them in this basket. I wanted to someday make some kind of string quilt or a spider web quilt and then I found this tutorial I liked.

There is a quilt-a-long being sponsored by Sew Lux Fabric and Gifts and the easy tutorial for these blocks is here. These block are super simple and work up fast. The common foundation of the white string looks great with a few blocks done. This is semi-paper pieced. I say semi because you only sew one seam through the paper so ripping off the paper is a breeze.

I did make a couple of changes that may help you if you try it. The tutorial calls for a 6 inch square of paper for the foundation but I am using a 6.5 inch. The reason I am doing that is because I have an Accuquilt Go Cutter and the 6.5 inch die so I am cutting my paper with the Go. Did you know you can cut paper with it and not damage the die? So if you have this die, use it! The next thing I did was cut my white strings on the length of the grain, not the width. There are a lot of diagonal seams going on and I think you need a strong foundation in the middle that is less likely to stretch. As you can see below this is what you end up with on the front and back and the directions call for you to use the grid on the cutting mat and proceed to cut basically on the edge of the paper from the back. But I was finding that cutting blind like that, I was not getting quite in the center of my white strings sometimes.

Then I remembered my favorite tool in my sewing room. My Precision Trimmer which also is 6.5 inches. So I ripped the paper off the back before I trimmed and I did my trimming from the front so I could place that diagonal line on the ruler right down the center of the white string. Perfect block!

So that's what I have been up to. That and talking to my cat. She was watching me sew and I kept saying, "These blocks are so much fun!" It's just me and the cat here most days so I gotta talk to someone.

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A Bit of This and That

I was a little shocked to see that it had been almost a month since I last posted. As the title says, I've been doing a bit of everything. First of all, the weather here has been fantastic. We have had the mildest winter ever here. We started out on Halloween with a big snowstorm and then nothing since. We have no snow here and the temperatures have been spring-like all winter. Today is in the high 50's.

I am still working on my Birdie Stitches blocks and have been doing a bit of knitting. And it is easy to think about starting another project, like all the granny square quilts I have been seeing like here and here. I'm tempted! But one day I decided to cut another quilt and this is what I made.

I have an Accuquilt Go cutter so cutting this quilt is a breeze and sewing it is easy, easy, easy. All fabric I had in my stash. This was made to put in our lake cottage that hopefully we'll be opening in April for the summer. Just have to sew the binding down along with sewing the binding onto these two quilts also. So if you are looking for me I'll be working on binding or getting distracted by a new project on the blogs or on Pinterest so I don't have to sew down the binding. Yeah, that sounds about right.

A Winter Comparison

Last winter, January 23, 2011. Cold and snowy all winter.

This winter, January 26, 2012. Warm and not snowy so far this winter. It was gorgeous yesterday and today in NH getting into the 50's which is shorts and sandals weather here. I seriously saw someone in shorts and sandals at the grocery store.

This snow will be gone by tomorrow since it's supposed to rain. I would love every winter to be like this.

An Embroidery Weekend

It was a productive weekend in these parts this past weekend. It was cold and snowy on Saturday so a perfect day to stay put. And then we had to watch the Patriots on Sunday-WooHoo! I worked on the Birdie Stitches project I have restarted after I dropped it a year ago. I finished the first square I had begun last year and did 3 others. Please excuse the dark and not so good photos as it is cloudy and dreary today and I took these with my cell phone. Can't seem to find the cord to my camera which takes a better picture.

I'm also testing out some possible settings and I kind of like this Jade colored Kona fabric as a sashing choice. We'll see when it is all done. 

As for the weather, it had been a really mild fall and winter here with very little snow. We still have very little snow which is fine with me. But it recently started getting colder, more typical of January, and a few small snow storms have come through. Now all this change in the weather started the day after the New Hampshire presidential primary. That was the day when all the hot air of the media and the politicians left the state. Coincidence? I think not.

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Time for Some Stitching

I've been seeing a lot of embroidery on quilts last year and again this year that I wanted to try. Did you see the new Aurifil Designer Block of the Month? Then last year there was Birdie Stitches which I was going to do in 2011. I even got all my squares ready with the plain in the center to embroider and 2 inch squares to frame it. Got part of the first one done and then health concerns and shoulder surgery in 2011 got me slowed down considerably and I dropped it. Then Nicole started stitching up the blocks this year and that got me inspired so I am about to start up this project again so look for some updates soon. 

Otherwise I just made this really cute sewing cube and I am finding it handy for my embroidery supplies. It's an Atkinson Designs pattern and I got it at my LQS. There was a learning curve making this but future ones would be quite easy now that I've done one. You can see a couple of my blocks all ready for embroidery resting underneath.

I don't generally buy a lot of fabric from Joann's but I love the Denise Schmidt fabrics they have and these fabrics are from that line. They are 30% off right now too.

So thanks for the inspiration Nicole. Check the fabrics she is using which are so cute. I am using all sorts of scraps in mine and I think I've got a good combination going. 

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Welcome 2012

I'm glad 2012 is here as some of 2011 really was not good for me healthwise but I am plugging along and hoping my illness stays under control this year, but on to fun quilty things.

First of all, sorry for the less than ideal pictures as it is a cloudy day here. First up is a Fig Tree pattern that I started pulling fabric for quite a while ago-June in fact. I love this quilt. I used a lot of favorite fabric scraps and love how it came together. There's something about seeing favorite fabrics together in a quilt that makes me happy. I prefer to put a quilt together this way rather than buying a whole collection of one fabric line.

I actually finished this sometime back in October but I hated both of the borders I had on it so I removed them and then did nothing until recently and I love how it came out. The original pattern has only a small border of the background fabric but I prefer this. My quilter chose a wonderful quilting pattern and I will get the binding on soon, which will be the same as the inner border.

Then I finally got borders on what I refer to as the ugly fabric quilt because I didn't like the flowered fabrics but they are looking pretty good now!

Again, my quilter chose a happy pattern and quilted it in green. The binding will be the same as the inner border. I think this one is destined to live at our lake camp.

So that's what I've been up to. We haven't had a drop of snow since the Halloween storm. It's so strange to see grass instead of snow. Now that I've said that it's bound to snow a foot or more soon!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a healthy, happy holiday and lets hope 2012 will be a great year for all of us.

Some Knitting

Besides some quilting going on here I have also been knitting and here is a sweater I just finished. I used to knit quite a lot but somewhere along the line I stopped. But I have been seeing all the beautiful things being made on blogs and by friends and picked up the needles again and got going. This is a Plymouth Yarn Company pattern and it was made with their Encore worsted weight yarn. Loved knitting with this yarn. I already have another sweater I want to make so I will start that today most likely. So I'm still quilting but you're likely to see a knit project now and again.

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Ugly Fabric Quilt

I'm back. Took a little blog break here recently. No good reason either. We have had a spectacular fall, despite the Halloween snow storm, so I have been out and about enjoying that. And I had a mess of medical appointments to deal with. But I have actually been sewing.

If you have some ugly fabric and don't envision ever using it here's a great quilt to put it into. Once it is done no one will be looking at the ugly fabric but will be looking at the overall effect of the prints and solids and how they work together. This is the fabric I was cutting out when I had no power for 5 days. It's just squares and triangles that I cut with my Go fabric cutter.

I have had this flower fabric for a number of years. I think it was a collection of state flowers and I bought a bundle at a store going out of business. Never really liked it but was determined to use it so all there is to this is squares and triangles that make up into a half solid and half print block. It's fun to then play with them on a design board. You don't need all solids either-just fabric that reads as a solid. I love using solids in my quilts lately. I have added a couple of borders since I took this picture so it's done. Just need to piece a back and get quilting. I may try and quilt this one myself.

Here's another quilt I made a number of years ago using the same design but just out of vegetable fabric that time.

I also made a lap quilt for my DIL for her birthday. It's from the Schnibbles Times Two book.

So that's it for now. We continue to have spectacular weather here. Supposed to be in the 60's today. We know that won't last but we'll take it for now.

A Perfect Day

This is sort of how New England weather goes. A foot of snow one week, almost 70 degrees the next. That's what it was today so hubby took the day off so we could get out to our lake camp. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, we forgot to bring the sealer for the dock so we went canoeing instead. Like I said, a perfect day.

I promise the next post will be quilt related as I am sewing the pieces I cut during the no power 5 day fun. Yes, we got our power back. It wasn't all bad as I rediscovered knitting during that time and that's a good thing.

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Day 4

Day 4 of no power. We have heard that it may be until Friday when we get power back. We have a woodstove to warm us, although it is not terribly cold here, we have water and a lantern and I have a Kindle and a droid phone from which to blog from so it's not too bad.

One thing that does not need power is my Go cutter so I have been cutting fabric and have managed to cut a quilt out of fabric I had. A stash is a wonderful thing. I may end up at my daughter's tomorrow to sew. This quilt will be destined for our lake camp. Those summer days seem so far off. Sigh.......

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No Treats Just Tricks

A foot of snow and a devasted maple tree in October! Add to that no power and we are having buckets of fun. They say we may not have power for days. This is when I wish I had a treadle machine. I did manage to get a quilt partially cut out so I did have a productive day.

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Baby Tumbler

The baby tumbler quilt is all put together and ready for quilting. I love scrap quilts and this one is so scrappy and wonderful. All from my stash too. Sometimes you just need a quick project so hopefully my quilting will get done in a timely manner too.

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Tumbling Along

I have been pretty much absent here but the glorious fall we have had here has kept me busy and at our camp a lot. You know, I retired last June and I thought I would have more time for quilting but I am busier than ever. But on a rainy day here in NH I cut a baby tumbler quilt with my Go cutter and am happily sewing along on some bright fabrics. Hope you are having a bright and shiny day.

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Little Gray Camp

As I posted about before, my husband and I have bought a small lake camp. And despite the rainy week we have had this week so far, we have been able to enjoy the lake in recent weeks with some beautiful warm fall weather we have had here in NH, and this coming holiday weekend looks like another warm one so Woo Hoo! So here's some things we've been doing at camp.

My mother in law gave me a bunch of pictures recently and there were many of my husband as a child at his childhood camp. So I wanted to display them somehow at our camp without having to frame them all which seemed too formal for this little home. So I took an old door, stripped it, added eye hooks on the back, strung some twine in a criss cross pattern on the front, painted "camp" on top and clipped a bunch of pictures on it.

Here's a shot of another door I had for a previous project. Unfortunately the door I used for the picture project was missing the trim on the sides. I got these doors many, many years ago from a cousin of mine who ran a retreat house for the diocese locally. They were renovating the kitchen in the large building they were in and were throwing out these wonderful doors which horrified me at the time. I rescued a couple of them and have been hanging on to them ever since. I wish I could have rescued them all.

 I made a black board with the other door a couple of years ago.

And it's amazing what a little power washing will do for a neglected porch. This is the entrance of the camp and I think it makes a much better impression now, don't you?

And as for the question is a cottage, which is what I was calling it, or a camp, which is what my husband was calling it, it seems it has now settled into it's camp title.

As for me, I'll be on the porch. Note to self; got to get a sewing machine here.