MAY WRAP UP

Oh my goodness!  What a merry month of May this has been!!  We have been very busy as a family with both of our grandsons reaching milestones.  Our older one graduated high school and the younger one is heading into middle school.  See my blog posts of May 23 and May 24, 2014 for a little introduction to these guys.

Earlier in the month hubby and I participated in Antique Alley Yard Sale.  We had two strong selling days and packed up early because of the rains coming in on the third day.

LilBit and I sat in the truck and watched the rain for a long time!

An annual excursion for us is a local Neighborhood Yard Sale.  This year was a bonanza buying year for us.  Since hubby is an avid re-seller at Flea Market and Long Yard Sales, he must constantly be looking for inventory.  This is such a fun Memorial Day Weekend Event for us.  We just take LilBit and browse through this very old neighborhood.  St. Elmo is a neighborhood that has very old homes that folks are buying and re-furbishing.  Many times they buy the house and whatever furnishings are left.  One of those houses this year was having a huge sale and Hubby was very happy!
Sorry I don't have any pictures. 


I love spending time with my family!  That means that I do not do as much quilting as usual. 

I did have one finish that I can show:

This was started several years ago in a Bonnie Hunter class and I just finished it.  I chose to do straight line quilting on my Bernina sewing machine and I love it!!  Bonnie calls this Virginia Bound.  I call mine Facets and Gems. 

I completed two other projects but I cannot show them yet.  They will be shown next month after they are presented to their recipients.  A third project will be shown next month after my Modern Quilt Guild meeting where it will be part of this month's program.

The other thing that has kept me busy this month is trying to clean up and de-clutter some of our flower beds and foundation plantings.  This has taken me over two weeks to complete.  I have a couple of pictures to show.

This section shows some droopy, transplanted calla lilies and some added stones.  Of course all of these beds had to have added top soil and then be mulched heavily.

In this section I added the ornamental stepping stones that were made of the footprints and hand print of my grandsons when they were each about a year old.  They have been in another flower bed in the back yard until now.

This Procumbens Nana Juniper is way out of hand here.  My plan is to slowly cut it back until I can remove it completely and then plant something less bulky.

 

There was one on the other side of the entrance and I removed it and replaced it with softer, cleaner plantings of variegated liriope and dianthus.  I like the looks of this so much better.

 

 Until next month when I hope to have a lot more to show. . .

 

 

-sandi

 

 

 

 

 

 

APRIL WRAP UP

Whew!!!!  April has been a busy month. I continually set up goals for myself and I continually miss reaching lots of them.

So here is what I have accomplished.

I finally finished all of the components for the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  This is one of the corner blocks and one of each of the two blocks that make up the quilt design.  Not too sure how long it will take me to get all of these blocks made and assembled....

Second block completed of Starry, Starry Night.  These blocks are about 18 inches square.

Made a few clamshells using my friend's die cutter.  Might turn into a pillow.

These are tiny (3/4 inch) leftover HSTs from the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  Thinking something modern will come out of these.

Of course, April would never be complete without the Frogpond Quilters Retreat at Grand Oak Retreat Center in Scottsboro, AL.  What a super bunch of gals to hang out with for four days!!!

Cute little make it/take it project that Jackie brought for us.  Still need to quilt it.

I did manage to get one project completed at the retreat - well, the top that is.  No, Carol is not being punished by standing in the corner.  She says it is some kind of exercise???

 

 

Having lots of fun in my paper piecing group making these seasonal mug rugs.

 

Still quilting this strip pieced quilt on my DSM.  Almost there...

Have another block of my QAYG on the design wall.  Not too happy with that large blob of yellow dots in the center there.

 

Of course, I have a carry along project making more hexies....

In my SLKS bee group we are starting a round robin with the four of us.  I have the first Round of Sharon's quilt and here is a little sketch of what I might could do, but then again, maybe not.  Her block is the colored star that she wants used for the center.

I did completely finish one small project.  This is a quilted mat for Lady Dog.  She belongs to a friend of my hubby.  We wanted to say thank you to her master for some kindnesses he has shown us.
The HSTs are made from the Pampered Pooch Charm Pack from Moda.  I still have enough to make another mat, maybe for LilBit.

This piece is about 32 inches square and I love the low contrast of the blocks to the light blue background.

Looks to me like I have a lot of things in progress. . .   Maybe next month we will see some completions ???


                                      -sandi









 

WELCOME MARCH!!

March is such an unpredictable month here in the Southeast.  Sometimes it is warm and balmy and other days we have sleet, snow, and wind.

It is also a wonderful month for seeing the first of the spring flowers pop up! 

 

I am so excited to put together this list of projects to get finished and out of my to-do stack in my studio.

I did not get this QAYG finished last month:

I now have 3 blocks completely quilted and a fourth one about two-thirds quilted and three more pieced.  That leaves me with only 3 more to get pieced and then get all of them quilted and bound.  I do want this finished this month!!!  I have the fabric pulled for the pillow slips that I want to make to go with this quilt for my guest room.

 

I will continue with the Pineapple blocks for the small wall hanging for my living room.  In addition, I would like to get one done for my daughter.

 

 

Of course, I expect to have my Cascade scarf finished.

 

 

Quilting the Facets and Gems quilt is in this month's list.

 

Okay, now just don't let myself get sidetracked by other projects.  I have spent enough time moving these project boxes around!!!

 

Of course, I have three projects with deadlines this month that cannot be shown yet!  Those will take up some time.

I also will be attending Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, TN for its annual quilt show.

 

-sandi

 

PROPOSALS

I am going to write a post unlike any I have written before.  I have shown some of my WIPs and UFOs in the past, but the twist here is that I am going to get specific about completions.

This month I want to finish at least 4 more of my QAYG Improv blocks for my grey/yellow/black guest bedroom decor.  I also want to get at least one pair of pillowslips finished for this room.

I have two wall hangings that are ready to quilt.  The first block that I show is from a class I took with Bonnie Hunter in 2012.  I have several of these blocks finished and I have decided to use them in a small piece as a wall hanging instead of trying to make more blocks to have a bed quilt.

This is my Kaleidoscope and I have decided to finish it at the size it is now instead of adding borders to it.

Another workshop that I will be attending will be on making pineapple blocks.  I plan to make enough of these to have a wall hanging.  I want to take this project to completion this month.

These are the only things I am committing to do this month.  If I find I have extra time then I will do some others.

My completions for January included getting my husband's quilt quilted and bound; and completing two of my QAYG Improv blocks.

                                          -sandi

2014 PLANS

Another year is behind me and I am looking into the New Year of 2014.  About this time each year I begin to look at the unfinished projects that are stacked in my studio.  I have also made a list of them.  Last year I attempted to complete one a month.  That was interrupted when I took on a part-time project/job for the year.  That project is almost completed and I am looking forward to more time to work on my personal projects this year.

Another thing that I want to do is use up my stash.  I have joined some of my other quilty friends to make a pledge (well, sort of) not to buy any more fabric unless it is necessary for the completion of a project.  Hmmm, we shall see if I keep this promise/pledge to myself. 

Here are a few of the projects that come to mind:

Virginia Bound

Farmer's Market

Hexagon Star

Batik Kaleidoscope

Fish Collage

Modern BOM

Small Landscape

 

 

 

I have no idea in what order I will do these projects as well as many others. 

So, let's get started!!  I will try to post a little more often with progress reports this year.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!!!

 

-sandi

 

 

WIPs TO FOCUS ON

 

ALL OF MY UFOs AND WIPs ARE FINISHED!!

 

Gotcha!  April Fool's!?!?!

 

Now for the truth of the matter.

 

 

Every year I take time to re-assess my WIPs list.  It is quite a long list.  I simply re-arrange the order of the list and continue to do new projects.  Since I will be going away on four retreats this year, I have chosen to focus on some of my specific
WIPs with the idea that they will get finished.  I do not know which is the better way to approach this:  Do I start with the most current and work my way back to the oldest one?  OR Should I go back to the oldest one and work my way forward?

 

After looking at the list of the seven projects that I chose to focus on, I have decided to start with the most recent and work in that direction.

 

In November/December 2012 I started Bonnie Hunter's latest Mystery Quilt called "Easy Street".  This year I knew that I would not have much time to devote to it as it was happening so I decided to do some of each step.  For me that was not the best idea.  It has taken me more time to sort out what number of components are lacking.  In the future I will know that is not a good style for me.

Here is a sample of some of the units I have done.

 

 

 

 

Another Bonnie Hunter project that is still sitting in its little box is "Virginia Bound".  This one was started at a Workshop I attended in Pelham, Alabama when Bonnie came 2 years ago.  In reading her blog and checking her calendar I discovered that she would be coming to a "town near me" and I contacted the sponsoring guild and was able to get the last slot.  That was a really fun day.  It was great to meet Bonnie and to see her style of teaching a Workshop.

I have about half of the blocks done for this quilt that uses strings.

 

 

 

 

 

My landscape quilt and my kaleidoscope quilt are both small pieces and only need to be quilted and bound.  This should not take very much time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A third Bonnie Hunter pattern that I have going is the Lady of  Lake Erie pattern that appeared in Quiltmaker Magazine.  A few years ago I made a picture of the produce section at my local grocery store because it inspired me to think of a quilt pattern to use these colors. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I have chosen to use the Lady of  Lake Erie pattern and am naming this project "Farmer's Market".  I have about a third of the blocks completed and the rest are cut and waiting.

 

 

 

The topic for our projects for this month in my Art Quilt Guild is collage.  I have a fish collage that I started over five years ago.  It needs to have the thread embellishing done and it will be complete.

The first retreat is early in April and my guild meeting is at the end of the month.  This really could get finished.  Of course, that means I will be changing the order again of when to do these WIPs.  But isn't that what life is about?  Being flexible and willing to make changes?

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, I don't want to forget about my Ticker Tape quilt. 

 

Now I am motivated to get started.  I wonder how many of these I will get finished at the first retreat in April????

 



 

 

-sandi