Snail's trails, Snail's trails! Almost complete!

 Yippee!!! I finally have my snail's trail peiced together! I'm pleased with it too! It's very colorful and happy. I had problems along the way. I didn't have a 4 inch half square triangle die for my Go! Baby, so I used a 4 7/8"quarter square triangle die instead for the last set of triangles. Well, it took me a bit to figure out how to fix my error. So the blocks sat in the naughty corner for a while. I knew I had to trim them up, but wasn't sure how much. (But we're much better now!)

 Now to figure out how I'm going to finish this border wise. It'll be a comfy throw size. I showed the DDs, and the first question was,"Is this an Addi quilt?" Ummm, well yeah, Addi will probably claim it for her own. It's pink with flowers and little Japanese girls on it. I was really just wanting to make some colorful throws for the couch, but if Addi takes it, that'll be ok too. It does look very Addi-ish.

Have you seen these? I've been wanting to get one of these for a while. I seen it in a quilting magazine, and it's a Guidelines4quilting ruler for no math cutting. It's pretty neat really. The guides on the side of the ruler slides and locks to the measurement you want, then you attach the seam allowance guides to add 1/4" seam allowances for squares,half square triangles, and quarter square triangles. Anyway, go see the site for a better description. www.guidelines4quilting.com . It's worth a look see. It's so neat, I got an extra set for my friend Ms.Julie. (I'm making her a goodie basket to say thankyou for the Go!) Shush...don't you tell her!

Growing a Little Snail's Trail

 First of all, my DD Amy make me the most wonderful steak and baked potato dinner! The steak was cooked to perfection and most very succulent! YUMMY!!! Thanks Amy! You rock! What a great beginning to my 8 days off from work! Yes, I have 8 wonderful days off to sew,quilt, and go fishing with grandkids. I plan to teach them the fine art of fishing, just like my Dady did when I was a little girl of 4. I caught my first fish in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It was a 5 pound black bass that broke my little fishing pole. My Dady wouldn't let me lose my first fish, he pulled that line in by hand, it it cut his hands too. But he brought in my fish, and made me scale it. We had that fish for dinner the next day. I was very proud of my first fish! (Dady didn't catch anything that day either!)

Ok, I am making progress of the Snail's Trail quilt. This isn't the actual layout, but just a pic of the blocks I have so far. 9 blocks down, only 21 more to go in 7 more color changes. I'm doing good with it. I've only had to rip out one block so far. It's a fun little quilt to piece. The next quilt top I do will be applique. I want to test out all the different stitches on my machine. Maybe a applique/crazy quilt. I really love crazy quilts.

Addi keeps saying, "When are you going to make us something, Nana!". Demanding little toddler, isn't she? I told her, "I'm making a quilt, isn't that enough?". She says,"Noooooo! Make me something!". I assume she wants a dress. So I may have to take a slight detour and make her a simple dress. Any how, I'm off this computer and getting back to my blocks. That quilt isn't going to sew itself!

Breaking in Ruby!

Finally! Two days off, back to back. I'm not sick! I've put on the soup bones, meat, and such for a big pot of Pho, so dinner will be a snap. I've cut out my blocks with my Accuquilt Go! Baby. I now have time for me and Ms.Ruby! Ahhh, what a sweet sew n sew she is! I put on my 1/4" foot, and she almost sews by herself! LOL.. when it comes to embroidery, she does sew by herself. Here's the first pattern I've stitched out on her. I thought the pattern was cute, and plan to make a patchwork bag with it. Basically all I have to do is set up the embroidery hoop, pick the pattern, and change thread colors when she chirps at me! I just love technology! I plan to digitize some of my own patterns. I have the Embird program with the digitizer. I've already made a Hello Kitty pattern for Ms.Addi.

 Now for some serious sewing! I have all the blocks cut out with the Go! Baby for a Snail's Trail quilt. I'd seen the pattern for the quilt on the Accuquilt site and got the book, "Quilted Curves & Strips" from the site for the pattern. Then that same week, my friend, Ms Julie from www.juliekquilts.blogspot.com , was making a Snail's Trail. I thought that was just so neat! Her quilt came out so awesome! Anyway, here is my very first quilt block hot off the new machine. I really am loving my new machine. I really loved how the Go! Baby cut out my little triangles too. They're dogearred, so you can really match up the blocks precisely. I didn't find a need to square up after peicing. Instead of black and reds, I'm going with hot pink and turquoise. You know that Addi really loves her pink! (Nana does too!)

Today I shall break in my Accuquilt Go!Baby.

I have visions of quilting going through my head. I've finally decided on a design. I have my Accuquilt Go!Baby and all the dies I need to finish cutting out my quilt. I really love the Go!Baby fabric cutting system. It makes really precise cuts, and my triangles have never been truer. I'm looking forward to adding the hexagons, drunkard's path, diamonds, tumbler, and apple core to my collection. I also want to add more flowers, birds, and other applique shapes as well. The only downside is the fact the dies are a bit pricey.

Will I ever get the Accuquilt Go!, the big sister to the Go!Baby? Probably. I have my heart set on doing a Wedding Ring Quilt. It's always been on my bucket list, but cutting one out has always stopped me and Accuquilt has the Wedding Ring die for the Go! It has other hard to cut out classics too, like Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, Winding Ways, and the applique dies by Ricky Tims look intriquing. Reminds me of Hawaiin applique.

I started cutting out some of the3" triangles. Now I'll need to cut out the rest.I got the rest of the dies for the 12" mix and match block set except for the 2 that won't work with the Go!Baby. (The 6 1/2 " square and 6 1/2 " triangle.)  I have some flower dies and the cute dragonfly/bee/butterfly die as well. I was originally going to do a windmill pattern, but now I'm thinking a sampler quilt so I can incorporate some of the other dies. The Accuquilt site has free patterns for a lot of different combinations for the 12" die set. Here's a link to get the free download:

 http://www.accuquilt.com/patterns/bed-quilts-1/go-mix-match-quilt-block-free.html

I'm planning on using some of the block ideas, but I'm definitely goiing for my own tweeks. So I'm getting off this computer and I'm going to go make something!