Winter Weather - more sewing room time!

Our tennis tournament was cancelled again today because of sporadic rain.  After getting the courts all dried off this morning, the skies opened with a downpour.  Tennis is messed up this week with us playing somewhere else to accomodate finishing up the tournament.  I am not upset as more rain means water for the desert and more sewing time for me. 

I finished getting my swap blocks put together and added some borders from my stash to get it to a good size for donation.  Not sure where this will go but one of my favourite charities will be the recipient.  This is the very last of my 6½" blocks that I swapped with my Wednesday Diva group.  This is a ufo that will get quilted and bound later in the spring.

And I played with the Eleanor Burns ruler for flying geese.  This one makes 4" x 8" blocks and I set them as shown in her book.  Not too sure if I need an outer border to finish it off?  It is a good size for a crib quilt as is.  These are my reprod and Aunt Gracie fabrics that I have been collecting for a long time and have had the best of intentions to use them up in some donation and baby quilts.  I have enough left over to begin another quilt just like this one. 

While writing this, we went from sunshine back to rain, dark and gloomy skies. 

When it rains in Arizona....

When it rains, especially when it wasn't predicted, I get to sew.  Tennis practise and fun play times were cancelled and I headed into my sewing room and have been there for 5 hours. 

First I decided to finish up my Dick and Jane quilt top.  This is a very old UFO, not sure exactly how old, but a friend remembered that I probably bought from Carola's quilt shop in Gibsons, BC - and it would have been at a quilt show. 

Then I started making more blocks from the last of the Diva Swap.

 

 

But, then I got bored with making these and started playing with some of my old fabrics... some Aunt Gracie's and some repro fabrics that have been in a bag for years, probably from way back when I though I might want to make a Dear Jane quilt?   I had purchased the 4" x 8" flying geese ruler from Eleanor Burns and started playing with that technique. They are on the right hand side of my design wall.  I think this will become a demo for the Sunland Stitchers.

 



 

 

The other technique I am playing with is a hexagon ruler from Missouri start quilts and am cutting up more of my 'old' fabrics.  The problem with this one is that you have to have the entire thing ready to go before you can begin the piecing?  I have the same hexie ruler for using with charms.  This one is large, working with 10" squares - of course, I am using scraps from the 'bag'.

 

I had a friend tell me that my picture of my bargello table runner was fuzzy so am trying again with my pictures of that project.

 

 

 

That, my friends, is what I did today.  Made a mess in my sewing room but did complete a flimsy, ready to head home for quilting and binding. 

Oooops.. forgot about my current project

I am working on a Dick and Jane quilt from a kit that I bought eons ago - honestly, I have no recollection of when this project came to live in my house.  But, it is cute! 

Sunshine and warmth in Arizona

Even though the weather has warmed up considerably, I seem to be motivated to finish up a few projects that I began over the last few weeks.

My flannel yellow brick road is put together.  It might need a border but it will head north to my summer home for finishing (lots of flannels in my stash at my other house). 

I finished my bargello table runner from the class I took last Wednesday.

And, I got my purple and green strips put together - another project ready to head home for finishing.

Currently, I am working on my Dick and Jane quilt and adding corner triangles to the last of my blocks from my Diva swap two years ago! 

Hopefully, more pictures to send in the next couple of days.  I had to stop sewing yesterday while they replaced my window in my sewing room but now, when they come back to install the rest of the windows, I can sew while I am 'stuck' at home.   We have another large tennis tournament here in our park this weekend but I only volunteered for minimal involvement so that might mean a little more sewing time coming up since we can't play while the courts are being used. 

Cooler weather means quality time in my sewing room.

I have finished putting the blocks together for my Iced tea flannel quilt.  The quilting will be done once I get home in the Spring.  It is easy to take or mail home tops rather than finished quilts.

My Majestic Mountains quilt is also put together with borders added and will join the other finished quilt tops in the box of stuff to go home in March.

On my design wall is a purple and green strip quilt I started last fall.  Who knew I had so many purple and green strips in my 2½" container?  I am sure I could make at least another 2 or 3 of these!

Yesterday, I took a class on making a twisted bargello table runner.  The sample I am showing is NOT mine, it was the teacher's sample. 

I am truly thankful to my good quilting friend, Janet in San Diego, for lending me her Featherweight to use for taking to Wednesday sewing for charity here in our park.  I used it yesterday to take to class and the tension is just awesome on this machine.  Sews like a charm!  You can see my fabrics sewn together in my strata, waiting to cut into strips and staggered, resewn together but wanted to cut at home and use my design wall to lay out.  However, the wall has my purple/green blocks on it so will get those put together so I can work on the table runner. 

Here is another class sample from yesterday. 

Mid January and it is very cool here in Arizona.  The sun shines brightly but not quite enough warmth to be outside wearing typical tennis clothes.  The jet air stream is bringing us colder than normal temperatures.  However, every cloud has a silver lining and I have been able to spend time in my sewing room.  My Majestic Mountains quilt is getting sashings added and eventually will have a piano key outer border. 

 

And, I have my first UFO of 2013 finished.  Not a very amitious project but something I started in the fall for my kitchen table and then it got put away during Christmas.  Now the the decorations are put away, my table looked naked so got the binding stitched down last night and it is ready to be used.

Today, I hope to work my majestic mountains and get a top completed, ready to send home and it will be used for a Quilts of Valour. 

Happy New Year

It is the 5th of January and I am finally back here blogging.  Today I have 9 people coming for a turkey dinner.  Why roast a turkey on this date?  Because I want the turkey roasted and out of my freezer and I was intending for a New Year's turkey but 5 days late is ok!
As usual here, everyone offered to bring something to add to the feast though I did decide to also use up some of my frozen tart shells that I carried in my suitcase from Canada and make butter tarts.  Tarts are definately not an "American" thing. 

This week I made myself a tote.  It is a Lazy Girl design and I used the fusible vinyl on the surface of the fabric.  Was a simple project only made difficult because the vinyl surface is slippery and you cannot pin through it or you will make holes. 

This is strange.  Google must have done something new and different to the Blogger.  I had to upload my picture to my Picasa album to get it to load onto my blog?  Never had to do that before?  Oh well, it worked! Just one more step in the process. 

And, I have finally figured out why I am not accomplishing anything in my sewing room.  That darn NHL!!!  Usually, when my hubbie is watching hockey, I am sewing.  No hockey, no sewing.  Do you think if I wrote to the NHL and complained that their dispute is creating a lack of sewing time for me, they would listen?  I can't be the only one?