Design Wall Monday...Weakness

It's a fact, Will Power has left the studio.  Honestly the amount of effort it takes not to start something new is just to overwhelming!  I've opened the stash cabinets in OCD fashion for weeks now.  Looking at the fabrics, flipping through magazines, books and web pages.  It causes more issues than it fixes.  So sometimes a gal just has to admit that she has an issue, except it, own it, and GO WITH IT!  It felt so good to just dive in and do it!  A weight lifted off my chest...A NEW project!  So exciting!  

 You can find this Barn Along here.  If you look in the sidebar of the blog you'll see a flicker link to everyones blocks and links to all of the barn blocks.  So far Lori has given 5 block instructions.  I'm in the mood to get these put together so I'm moving ahead with my own blocks from her site and other sites.  Her blog also has many great tips for drafting your own blocks, take time to look around, you won't be sorry!

This is one (above) that I worked up in EQ, LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!  Each block on the side of the barn is 6 inches!  The basket block below has 1/2 finished hst's!  Yikes!  Very much a challenge and out of my comfort zone.  Thanks to Lynn's great instructions and going very S-L-O-W  it came together with no issues.

 This little cutie patootie(above) is from Lynn Wilders blog.  I changed it just a bit by taking out the four patch in the corner, now I'm wishing I had left it in the block and made my basket handle red....Oh Well.  Oh you can find the pattern here.  

 Postage stamp, 1 inch squares of mostly 30's repo's.

The barn finishes at 14.5 

If you follow Lori's instructions these will be sashed and finish larger.

 Of course I can't stick to a pattern, so I'm playing around with other ideas on how to set these blocks.

 If you watch the video for block five(above) you'll see Lori using a product that lays on the bed of your machine to help sew a straight line on hst's without marking.  Instead of running right out and buying something that I may or may not like, I made my own.  Just laid out a piece of tape, marked down the center with a marker and ruler.  After placing on my machine I took a razor blade and cut the tape so I could open the bobbin door, and cut away the excess on my feed dogs.  Works like a charm!  And I didn't need to buy a thing!

Again today I'm linking up with Judy over at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.  Hop on over and be inspired by others handy work.  I always find something new that I'd like to make!  Go figure!

Until next time 

"Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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What didn't make the cut

Still working on the spare bedroom redo.  Its so close to done.  All that's left to paint is the top window pane, but that will have to wait for a warm dry day.  Hard to paint if the rain is coming through window.  So today I'm going through all the junk   stuff that's stored in this room.  Mostly my cloths and some of the things from my kids.  These little guys are cherished and I've always had them displayed.  They will find a new home somewhere else in the house.    I should explain one item and that's the broken bottle , it served as guitar slide for my oldest son, didn't want you to think there was a bar room brawl!..LOL

 While going through my cloths I found these, haven't worn them in over a year so they are out of here and can be deboned and added to the quilting stash.  

This huge pile didn't make the cut for the quilting room.  I know the jeans could be made into a quilt but I've already a big box of jeans.

 The Scrap Happy Flowers top is nearly finished!  It's pressed and ready to be measured for the borders.  It took some work in EQ and a tip from a follower(Nann) to come up with a good plan. So many gave me some good ideas but I've tons of hst's left to make an interesting border and another small quilt.  Thanks Nann!

Until next time "Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Slow progress

Good Monday morning!  Hoping that everyone had a good weekend.  Did you get all your goals accomplished?  I didn't....Yeah!  Well the way I see it I might as well be happy about it because whining will not make it any better.  So a big round of applause for those of us with to many projects....WhooHoo!  Anyway...Some progress was made on my Ultimate Super Scrap Happy quilt.  It seems that the seams on this one are quite tricky.  Solving the problem by clipping them the Jo Morton way in order to make them lay flatter and in the right direction. 

 

See how the seam below is clipped right up to the stitches but not cutting the stitches.  A little extra CAREFUL work but well worth the effort.  I know your wondering why I used different color thread for piecing.  Well I needed the bobbins that were full of thread.  So if haven't used that color in awhile I use it for piecing, please don't tell the quilt police!  The last time I got by with a warning, not sure what type of citation comes after that, rotary cutter suspension?, confiscation of my colored thread?

My design wall is 4x8, doesn't hold much.  I'm thinking about making one whole wall in the studio a design wall.  Crawling around on the floor just isn't working so well anymore.  Almost to the halfway point on piecing. 

Still undecided on the borders, they always give me troubles.  There's plenty of HST's left to work up a border.

My other on going project is getting closer to done also.  Its been moved inside for the many layers of paint and sealer.  Today will be the last coat!  FINALLY!  

 

This made me really sad...I wasn't going for the antique crackle look but some how I got it on top of the dresser.  Its staying because fixing it would mean more time.  So we'll just say it adds character to the room!  TADA!  Problem solved!

I'm linking up with Judy for design wall Monday today.  Hop on over to check out what others are working on!

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Longarm flower bouquet

A couple of weeks ago while at the LQS I saw the Magnetic bowl being sold as a pin holder.  Now I've one of these for when I'm working on my truck or something around the house with screws.  The one I had was a little larger than what the LQS selling.  But I noticed the price seemed kinda high, $8!  The larger one that I bought didn't even cost that much.  So I  was off to Harbor Freight.  And looky here, less than half the cost of the LQS.  You can buy them online here, but there's shipping costs.  I bet you can find them at the auto parts store for less, maybe even Wal-mart.  When I tossed my pins in the dish they just automatically arranged themselves like this....A bouquet of flowers!  This is so handy when pinning a quilt the longarm. 

 Super strong magnet even holds on upside down.  

I think I'm going to get a second one for my smaller piecing pins.

Until next time "Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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The Man Quilt

Every once in a while I enter a quilt in an online contest.  Sometimes I blog about it sometimes I don't.  This was the first quilt I made after getting my Longarm.  And the one I've entered in the contest that you can find here.  Anyone can vote, and there's many beautiful quilted eye candies.  Even if you don't vote you can leave a message for a chance to win a gift certificate from the Fatquartershop.

This quilt I call "The Man Quilt" because Ross was tired of all my brightly colored quilts and asked if I had any fabric that wasn't bright.  Well if you know me, I like color.  But there are a few browns and muted fabrics hiding in the stash.  So here's the Man Quilt for the MAN in my life.  Of course I had to take a picture with some girly flowers...LOL

It was made from the scraps left over from this quilt....Given to my BFF when she had her hysterectomy.  I call it "The Beauty in Chaos"  

 And other made from the same scraps.  I took a 2.5 strip from every fabric I had at the time and made these super scrappy quilts.  And the one below was made for my BFF's  mother in law when she went in a nursing home.  She wanted something to make her room seem homey and cozy.  No pattern, just threw it together in 11 days start to finish, delivered on the 12th day!  The pinwheels in the sashing were from the quilt above when I cut off the corners of the snowball block.  And if your wondering.... there's still scraps left from these 3 quilts, enough to make another lap quilt.  

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Playtime in the studio

What a wonderful day!  My cousin Stephanie came over for a visit.  It was the many of first for her.  The first time at my home and the first time playing with a longarm quilter.  I forgot to take a picture so I had to dig through my pictures and find this one.  Stephanie is the blonde with all the shimmer on her shirt, ain't she  a doll.  Okay I'm a little bias, when we were younger I was her babysitter!

Here's her handy work, not to bad for the first time!

 And then we had cake!  Its called Crazy cake!  Super moist cake recipe from the 1930's

CRAZY CAKE RECIPE (NO EGGS, MILK OR BUTTER) Ingredients1 1/2 Cups flour3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)1 Cup white sugar1 tsp. baking soda1/2 tsp.  salt
1 tsp. white vinegar1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1 Cup water 
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8" square baking pan.  Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger ( Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.  Pour water over all.  Mix well until smooth.
Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes.  Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.  Cool.  Top with your favorite frosting.  Enjoy!
Tip - You can double this recipe, just use a 9x13 baking pan.

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Monday madness

Making a little progress in a couple different areas.  My design wall hasn't changed much because I took Saturday off from the Studio.  Basically I just sat around and watched TV and napped, with short little bouts of hand stitching.  

 Six blocks stitched and six to go!  Half way there!

 Today before I do any stitching I must get the inside of the closet painted.  Ross is bringing home the new shelf and rod today after work, so I gotta be quick!

And then its time to paint the ugly furniture

The top part of the hutch is sanded and  primed

Don't look to closely at the "Man Cave"  its a mess.  Pretty sure that I'm doing more than the speed limit in here....

Well I must run...the clock is ticking..tick-tock...tick-tock....Ross will be home soon!

Until next time "Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea

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My big Bro

My niece Karah, me(lil sis), my brother Greg(big bro), my nephew Shane.  

This is one of the last pictures taken of my brother.  Six years ago today(Friday, April the 13, 2007) he was killed in a car accident because he was drinking and driving.    He was my only sibling, my older brother, and one of my best friends.  I could rant about drinking and driving but I won't.  I could give you a long lists of quotes about how precious every minute is but I won't.  What I will say is don't you think he looks like the guy on the Mr. Clean bottle? 

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I'm Hueless

Totally Hueless!  These have been so fun to put together.  No worry about color, just grab and fuse.  Now to get them stitched down.   Years ago I made a couple of these types of quilts.    They can be quite hard to display and use because they match nothing!  Its frugalness at it's finest!  The background fabric is a flimsy cheap shirting fabric from who knows when.  It's another one of my estate sale cheapy.  The rest of the quilt is all scraps, less than a fat quarter of the fabric.  Its funny how I know where each fabric came.  They range from top of the line LQS fabric, WalMart fabric, vintage and nothing matches.  I think modern quilters call it IMPROV quilting....LOL...I call it Scrap Happy quilting...

Totally love the flower above!  The vintage Calico reminds me of being a kid.  

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Scraplique

Between housework and putting up the trim in the spare bedroom I managed to get 2 scrappy blocks finished.  This technique of not really caring if it matches or not is great!  It makes me cringe to remember how many little pieces of fabric I threw away when I first started quilting. 

 Of course I chose a quick method of applique, fusible machine applique.  Makes thing just so easy!  And with Invisafil 100 wt thread the stitching doesn't take over the block.  

Now I save everything.  Probably pieces that I should toss out.  These will go in the baggy of bits and pieces.  Does a woodworker save sawdust?  Or a mechanic broken parts?  

I also wanted to share with you a free BOM pattern that I found via Pinterest.

Its in dutch and english.  If you get to looking around this site there's many free patterns.  Just go here and scroll down a little bit and you'll find a link to each part of the quilt.  This BOM just finished up this month.  Isn't it cute!?

Here's a picture I stole from the blog...Yummy!

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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