Easy Street Clue 5 & 6

I was glad today's clue was easy breezy! I had to finish up the tall flying geese from last week, with Christmas, work and all putting me behind. Here are ES 5&6. I only took pics of part of the stacked bricks, the rest are stacked neatly in their tub, awaiting further instructions! 

I really wished I would have had the black on white print fabric required, but in person, the white on cream print stands out better. I hope it looks okay in the final quilt! I'm a bit worried about it.

Now the tall flying geese I'm please with! Love the colors of the batiks and it's such a fun fabric to work with. Whew! Been sewing all morning, and now it's time for a break!

Hope your Easy Street is coming along! I've been looking at the link ups and love all the variety! Can't wait to see the next clue New Years Eve, even though I have to work. I'll be off New Year's Day. Here's hoping everyone has the best New Year ever!

It's Looking Alot Like Christmas!!!!

For Christmas this year, I thought I needed some precious grandbaby pics! Here is my sunshine and the reason I have such a big smile on my face!!! Aiden and Addi! What more could a Nana want! They are the most lovey dovey babies you could ever ask for!

Now Aiden and Addi are not home. They went to Auntie Sarah's house for the weekend. While they were away, these two elves were busy in my living room. Now I'm not an elf hater by any means, but 5:00 am? Ahhhh the night shift elves! One of them looked alot like a Nana! Hee Hee!

Any how, there is a huge dollhouse with Addi's name on it! It comes complete with a garage and a chandelier. Barbie is high styling it now!

And then this dune buggy drove in! Aiden will be driving all around the backyard! It even has a seat for Addi! ( They'll be wearing helmets of course!) I can't wait to hear the squeals of joy! Santa has certainly outdone himself this year!

 We're celebrating Christmas this Sunday.  I have to work both Christmas Eve and Day. Kinda of goes with nursing! So from my family to yours...Merry Christmas! May your holidays be filled with love and joy! I know mine are!

Easy Street Clue 3 and 4 Completed!

Oh what fun I've had with Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery! I really loved the shaded 4 patch. Though I wound up redoing a few blocks. I decided instead of mixing the the turquoise prints, to keep the same print for each 2 inch square. I also decided I needed to have 4 different pink prints instead of 3. The extra print worked out better I think.

Here are my flying geese units. I think I'm getting better at these. I really like the Easy Angle ruler set. You know, I've had the rulers for some time, but never used them to their potential before! Bonnie is such a great teacher and it's so kind of her to do this free mystery quilt, along with the lessons. She's just so awesome!

 

Here are my revised shaded 4 patch. I'm much happier with these colors together!

And let's not forget my green squares! I just love Batiks! Don't you?

 Now I don't presume to speculate, but just couldn't resist laying out my blocks! I LOVE IT! I think it's sassy and fun! So now I'm chomping at the bits to see what the next clue is! And hey...I've kept up! (That's amazing for me!)

 Now for my other project. I have the Scrap Basket Sensations by Kim Brackett. I love this book! This is the quilt 2 of my daughters have fallen in love with. So I bought all the fabric and 2 Bali Pops.It sure won't be done in time for Christmas, but they will be,"Just because I love you!" gifts.

 Here is what I've done so far! Love LOVE the bright colors, but you knew I would! It's such a fun quilt and is going along quickly! This is only a couple of days work. The daughter who's quilt it is, is just chomping at the bits. She seen me working on the mystery quilt, and said,"Is this for my quilt?" Uhhhh, no...it's for my mystery quilt. She looked so sad! (Ok, so I'm bad about finishing things!) Fear not dear Amy and Angela. Little do ya'll know that making a quilt for all my loved ones is my resolution for 2013! (Yeah...provided the world doesn't end on 12-21-12. I don't think it will...I'm just not feeling it, and I always have premonitions when *&%$ is fixing to happen.)

Love all you  gals that leave me the sweet comments! Thanks for visiting! Hope your Holidays are joyful and sweet! We are so ready for Christmas. I have to work, but we're doing our Christmas the weekend before. 

Last pic! Here's my Addi girl on her 4th birthday! December 7,2012. Happy birthday Addi Baby!

Easy Street Mystery Quilt

I'm just so gosh darn excited to be participating in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt Along, Easy Street. I've never done a mystery quilt before, so I am excited to see this quilt transform. This is my color palette. I strayed a tiny bit with a substitution of cream with white print for the black on white print, and pinks instead of purple. I love the Batiks!

 Two inch strips, ready to sew! The grey is Kaufman Artisan Elementals Fern in Steel. Hancocks Paducah is having a sale on batks.

 And here are 201 4square blocks! And yes, I twirled the centers! I love the cream and grey together!

 Now I'm working on finishing my flying geese. I just came down with the grandkid's virus, and it's slow going. Get up, sew a bit, go  back to bed and bury myself in a blankie! Amazing the bugs they bring home from Kindergarden! I think I'll send some Lysol spray to Aiden's class this next payday. Last time I sent a bunch of hand sanitizer.

You can go to: Easy Street Mystery Quilt and quilt along with us!

 Here is my bound and quilted baby blanket. I'm so pleased how it came out! Hope she is too!

 I free motion embroidered the baby's name. I think it was the perfect touch! Now I'm off! got to finish those geese!

And Still Working on the Baby Quilt!

Hi! It's me again, and no, I didn't quite finish the baby quilt. Sigh...It's at the staring stage when you just stare at it, trying to figure out what to do next. (Ummm, if I would have kept it at simple blocks, it would have been finished at least 2 weeks ago!) I'm really loving it though. The twister tool is fast becoming a favorite, and I used my Accuquilt Go! to make the Rose of Sharon flowers and leaves. 

Look at my new goodies! I got them at Missouri Star Quilt Company . If you sign up for their newsletter, you'll get the daily deal which is always a steal! The Yuletide Magic pack was 99cents for the deal of the day. (The second one was $ 4.99) Still, not bad for 2 charm packs! The Misty Light charm packs were on sale for $5.99 each. Then I got the Kaufman Kona cotton solid in black to match both charm packs. Yep! I'm going to make some more Twister blocks! I'm so addicted!

And then there are my grandbabies! Addi and Aiden! Looking most very cute, on their way to the circus with their Auntie Susan! (Susu as they affectionately call her!) What a great Auntie to take them to the circus! They came back home with tales of highflying people on wires, an elephant that could stand on it's head, and clowns with big funny noses. We left at home enjoyed some peace and quiet!!!!

I'm No Speed Quilter !!!

I am not a speed quilter! I know of folks, have friends that can whip together a quilt top overnight! I'm not talking the simple 4 inch block quilts either! They can whip together basket quilts, star quilts, fancy applique all in the blink of an eye!!! I scratch my head and wonder how the heck do they do it! I admire these folks that seem to have a happy new blog post sporting their latest accomplishments at least once, if not twice a week... I think to myself, if it had been me, it would have taken at least a month or two! Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed over it. I'm content to poke along, taking a day or two to make up my mind what color scheme I'm shooting for. I took forever to make my quilted bag. It sat in the corner for days on end, waiting for me to make up my mind.

The point of all this?  I've been working on a friend's baby quilt for far too long! Actually I had it all pieced together. It was plain 5 inch blocks and then I was going to use a quilting program on my machine to embroider each block. It was what she said she wanted,  but it was so simple looking, I just wasn't feeling it, ya know?. What's a gal to do??? Which would you prefer? Plain blocks?

 Or Twister blocks? Hmmmm? The twister blocks make me smile! They look so much happier! Or is it just me? Magically, the quilt came together in my head! It shall have borders, and applique flowers, and a bit of embroidery. I have matching canvas to make a bag and maybe enough scraps to make a changing pad. I'm so glad I didn't settle. I'll be much more pleased to gift the new design!

And then there's my blocks for the Grandmother's Choice BOW. I've been trying to keep up! Here are my two New Jersey:Suffrage blocks. Purple and gold....

 Blue and gold. Wasn't these blocks fun to piece! I really like them!

 And, I have my two Aunt Eliza's Star. Poor lady! Thank God for Women's right! To not be entitled to your inheritance and to be stripped of your child to the likes of a womanizing twit? GRRRRRR!

 I put my favorite gold print roses in this and my heart went out to Eliza's plight.

So there you have it! Slowly but surely, I've been making progress. I have to finish the baby quilt this week, as another friend is going to visit her next week, and I want to send the gifts with her. 

More Treasure!

Looky, Looky! My good friend Ms Julie gifted me a whole bag of yummy scraps to help me out starting my own string stash! It was so much fun to go through all the scraps and sort them out.

 

I found lots of 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch squares. Lot's of triangles, bigger squares, and some large peices of fabric. Wooo Hooo! I feel rich!

Then there were the stings and the crumbs. I'm really excited about all this because....

I finally have Bonnie Hunter's books. String Fling and Leaders and Enders! Now let me tell you, these are both wonder books, the directions and pictures are fabulous and I can't wait to start my own Sting Fling quilt! ( Sting Fling is autographed by Bonnie too! I love that!) I think these are just the best quilt books I have in my library by far! Bonnie is definitely my favorite quilter!

 Then I got a new Supreme Slider for my machine. Leah Day recommends them, along with the Machingers. The slider goes on top of your machine bed/table, and has a hole for your needle. It's teflon on top, and gripey on the bottom. It's suppose to help you slide your quilt around as you free motion quilt. Leah Day says she can't do without it or the Machingers, so we shall see.

Sometimes It Just Don't Work Out!



So I was working on the Sunflower Block of the Grandmother's Choice BOW. I was rather unsure of my skills, there were so many of those Y intersections I'm not so hot at doing. Well, right off the bat, I realized that I'd sewn the center petals upside down! Rats!

 

That doesn't bother me so much. I've learned the hard way that the tiniest stitch your machine can sew is not the way to go. Rule of thumb, I generally use 15 stitches to inch. Why? Well, when it's time to rip out a seam, the tip of the seam ripper fits inside the stitches perfectly, and having to rip out a seam is not a problem. With a tighter stitch per inch, your bound to rip your fabric instead of stitches. 15 stitches per inch is perfect, and still makes for a secure seam. See how easily my seam ripper just slides up under the stitch?

Anyway, that was just the beginning of my woes. I found when I joined the last section, instead of a nice flat block, I had a coffee filter shaped mess! What to do, what to do?

Ok, I thought I just gather the inside petals, and Wah Lah... a nice flat block! I patted my back for my ingenuity and thought I had the whole thing licked, and then....

I sewed the outer block. Twice! ARGGGGH! Look at that floppy block! No way I'm going to put it into a quilt! You are now looking at a future pot holder! The End!

Grandmother's Choice Quilt Along Progress.

Progress being made on the Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week! Block number 2 is Amethyst - Suffrage. I had a slightly difficult time peicing this block. Never really dealt with a Y seam on machine before. I know the hexies in Nana's Flower Garden have Y seams, but handstitching and machine stitching are two different things! I had to rip out seams a couple of times to get this one!

But with endurance, I manage to get my 2 blocks done! I'm so pleased! The seams lay flat, and I'm liking these colors together. This is fabric I've had in my stash for sometime. I'm quickly running out of the gold, but am sure I'll be able to find another gold color print that will suffice.

Here's the Amethyst and Grandmother's Choice side by side. What do you think? Poor picture quality, but the white print in the Grandmother's Choice has just enough gold to pull them together in real life. At least to my point of view! I will be putting sashing in as well.

Then I have two completed Union Square blocks. Easy-Peasy! They stitch up fast! I love how they came out!

And here is the contrasting twin. I really am digging the thought of having 2 completed tops when I'm done! This is a fun quilt along and the history of the women's suffrage movement makes for a good read as well!

 

 

On a final note. If you've noticed the Grandmother's Choice badge on the side bar, here is the html code to coopy and paste to your gadget bar on your blog should you decide to join along!

 

 



<a href='http://grandmotherschoice.blogspot.com/'>

<img alt='A BUTTON' height='151' id='Image9_img' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgryRSTvpdODN2mSXy2yMWLdySXihF2FHVTfKSIn68ZbSFC5KYb0FlQAYMYZ4AamC-y6oRibsqKP2yzMPIn-dzBIYbwNOMgLAJaQCTn_lpLgYbyvZ1P8tmXY1Wyxg8P4ZHmNG1GhFcV_nk/s250/GMCHOICEBUTTON.jpg' width='125'/>
</a>

Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week



While surfing the quilting blogs, I found a quilt along, Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week. The blog has the weekly quilt along based on the Women's Suffrage Movement. It's a quilt along with a history lesson all wrap into one. Being a working woman, and having spent most of my working career as a single mother, I'm especially intrigue by these great women in history that stood up for  female equality.  Where would we be now if not for these pioneering women?

Ms Bessie hasn't seen any real action in a great while by the looks of her when I bought her, Now that she all nicely oiled up and the short in the foot control is repaired, I decided to use her to make these quilts. ( I making two of each block.) Let's see if she is up to the task at hand!





So far so good! She doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Ms Ruby, but her straight stitch is really nice, and she can do a scant 1/4" like a champ! Ms Betsy purrs like a little kitten, quiet as a mouse. The sound of her motor whirling and the needle going up and down is really soothing to my ears.

My favorite setup for peicing blocks. My Little Olfa cutting/ironing board combo, and my little Dritz iron. Sure makes it nice to peice and press the seams as I sew without getting up and down to the ironing board. The blocks will still need a good hard steam press upon completion, but the little Dritz is just enough to lay the seams flat. Up above you'll see my Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter and my Kai scissors. I love the Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter, I can use it without so much pain to my hands.(Arthritis, repetitive stress injury and what I refer to mouse thumb. The joint at the base of my right thumb stays swollen and painful from using the mouse at work.) Ok...enough whining! The Kai scissors are ergonomic as well. The bottom handle is large enough for all four fingers to fit into. Grips are cushioned, and the scissors are razor sharp all the way to the tips. Great for cutting out patterns! I really love these products! (No..I don't get anything for saying so. I just like to share the knowledge when something is really good!)

Here is the first Grandmother's Choice block complete! I can't make up my mind whether the dark fabric is blue or purple, Can you? I'm thinking it's blue, but depends on the lighting. Sometimes I swear it's purple!

Here are my two blocks together. If you'd like to join this quilt along, I have the blog button on  my sidebar.

Later! Have fun stitchn!
Mary

Quilted Casserole Carrier

I was Magnolia Quiltworks again, and I spied this awesome kit! A quilted casserole carrier or cozy. Well, it just reached out and grabbed me! I might like one for myself, but I have two daughters that work in offices, and they are always cooking and bringing things to work. Here is a pic with the casserole carrier, and with the left over scraps, I made a matching hotpad. 

 

 Here it is, opened with an old casserole dish I have.plans to buy a new square casserole dish with a lid to put in it. I think it'll make a great Christmas gift! It has insulbrite as batting to keep things nice and toasty! You just set your casserole dish in the middle, overlap the rings on the side, and pull the handle up through the middle of the rings. Kewl, isn't it?

 Another view of the carrier. And yes, I need to vaccum the rug by my sewing machine! (I've been busy sewing and quilting!)

 And here's a close up of the machine quilting. I tried out my Machingers quilting gloves. They really help! It was much easier to control my quilting with them, they have just the right amount of grip. I give them a definite thumbs up!

 And a final close up of the matching hotpad made with the scraps. Now give me an honest opinion. Do you think the Casserole Carrier with a new casserole dish would make a nice Christmas gift?