Sunday, June 29, 2014

This Week I...


...saw wagons on the Oregon Trail,


watched a vase be blown at the Tacoma Glass Museum,


hiked to a waterfall,


then up to a lake,

The view from Mt Constitution, Orcas Island, Washington

 then to the top of the island.  I thought I was going to Die.  
We hitched a ride back to the campground and fell asleep at 7:30.  
No sewing, but sometimes that can be the best thing.


Thursday, June 19, 2014

Releasing My Inner Gee's Bend


 I know I said I was going to focus on my summer sewing on these four projects but I needed some handwork to take with me on vacation and the one project that required handwork was too unwieldy to take with me.  So I gathered up some scraps and decided to do some improvisational hand sewing kind of like the quilts of Gee's Bend.


 Right now I am cutting (with scissors) strips of fabrics and sewing them together with a simple running stitch.  I don't have any real plan for them now, but I think I might use them to make a medallion quilt.  I'll keep you posted.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Trifle Dish Sew-Along at Moda Bake Shop



A few months ago the Moda Bake Shop sent out an email asking previous contributors to submit block designs for a row quilt.  (We submit the designs and they write up the tutorial and make the quilt - how easy is that?)  I submitted a few designs and when I didn't hear back from them, I figured they weren't chosen.  Then a friend congratulated my on being part of the Trifle Dish Sew-Along.  ???  Turns out the Orange Peel block was selected!  I love that block and would like to make a whole quilt out of them someday.  Another friend is making an Orange Peel quilt out of her collection of Anna Marie Horner fabrics and it is Gorgeous!

If you would like to sew along all the details are here.  And here is the Orange Peel Tutorial.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Baby Steps with Baby Blocks

 

Summer has hit and I am finding it hard to find time to sew.  I have vowed to get all of the saplings out of our numerous flower beds this year and have been spending most of my free time in the yard.  In past years I have tried to cut the saplings down and poison them, but as I dig them up this year I keep finding live saplings that have been cut down numerous times.  Arrg.  I hope old fashioned digging works better.

I did find the time to sew up a few mini blocks for the Baby Stars quilt.  The largest is 6 inches and the smallest is 3 inches.  They were pretty fast and fun to sew.  My plan is for them to be sprinkled on the background of the quilt.  To make the setting easier, I might applique them onto the background fabric.  That way I can easily place them where I want them.  And the final quilting will help mask the applique and really secure them to the backing.

I really like the yellow Ohio Star block and can't wait to carve out the time to make a few more.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding some moments to sew too!

Linking to Freshly Pieced.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

The Blocks Are In The Mail!


I finally found a box large enough, packed the blocks for Soy Amado Project up and sent them to Alison today.  There were 101!  And they were all wonderful.  Thank you so much!  (To learn more about the project read here and here.)

If you want to keep sending me blocks, I will keep collecting them from American quilters and sending them to Alison as soon as I have enough.   (Canadians can send them to Kristy and all others should send blocks directly to Alison.)  Email me (lmgardunia at yahoo dot com) for my address and pitch in a few dollars for the final shipping to Alison.  It is much more affordable to send over a large package of 101 blocks than 25 packages of 4 blocks.  The cost to ship this package averaged 85 cents per block.  Not too bad.

If you make a few blocks, sending them to me would be the most cost effective.  If you have a larger number of blocks (20 or more) it would probably be less expensive to send them directly to Alison.  If in doubt, take your unsealed package to the post office and get the price to send it to Alison and the price to send it to me.  If the cost of sending it to me, plus 75 cents to a dollar per block (in cash - I am awful about cashing checks) to help with the final shipping is cheaper than sending them directly to Alison then enclose the shipping money and send them to me.  If not, seal and send directly to Alison.

Thank you all for participating!  If you want to send prepared strips for the final QAYG piecing or binding I will send those too.  (Use the measurements Alison outlines in this post.) I am sure Alison would appreciate it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!  It is raining here, but that is good because it means I don't have to work in the garden.  :)