Five down -

After I transported them to and from the other room -

On a handy-dandy cookie sheet - ;))

They turned out pretty well -

And hopefully will wash up nicely - LOL - ;))

Since I have decided to try to make a dent in the Mountain To Be Quilted -

I dug out another oldie but goodie -

My Easy Street Detour Around The World -

It needs the opening stitched down - and then some "walking foot" quilting -

So that machine will be busy for a while -

And I can keep the FMQ machine busy with this one -

After I re-watch the videos -

To refresh my memory - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Two down -

And DONE! - ;))

One more is half-way there -

And the last two are trimmed and ready to go -

The colors in the ones above aren't true - the one below is a little closer to true -

The BLUE is a pretty CORNFLOWER BLUE -

And the pre-packaged STONE BLUE bias tape matches it pretty well - ;))

Yesterday - I forgot to show you guys a full-size photo of the FMQ project -

The bump in the middle is because it's been folded for a while -

And the borders past the YELLOW sashing are the ones that need quilting -

Hopefully - I can remember how to do it - LOL -

But that's the great thing about a Craftsy/Bluprint class -

Once you buy it - it's yours forever -

I can re-watch the lessons -

To refresh my memory -

Hopefully - it's like riding a bike - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A slight adjustment

This afternoon - when I was looking for one particular Squirrel -

I heard this piece hollering at me -

"Pick me!! - Pick me!! - I want to be on the BACK of your potholders!!" - LOL -

So I made a slight adjustment -

And decided to use it for the backing on my potholders - ;))

It's a 1/4 yd cut - so it's 9" wide - and plenty big enough -

Then when I checked my drawer for "potholder parts" -

I found some Insul-Brite® that I had left over from last time -
Already cut in 8" squares -

So I checked my "potholder post" - HERE -

And sure enough - I made the last batch of potholders at 8" square -

So I made another slight adjustment -

And decided to make these 8" -

Using some of the YELLOW as border strips -

To bring them up to size -

But I only got this far before it was time for dinner - ;))

Oh - and the Squirrel that I was looking for that started it all? -

This "not-quite finished - but almost" quilt from a Craftsy FMQ class that I took a couple of years ago - Free-Motion Quilting Essentials - with Christina Cameli -

I really enjoyed the class - and I learned a lot -

I finished quilting all of the blocks -

And quilted all of the sashing strips -

But I still need to finish quilting the outer border areas -

Gene finished his - HERE -

And that was just the nudge I needed to dig mine out -

Now that the weather is getting cooler -

And I'm running out of year -

I thought it might be time to tackle -

All of the Squirrels on The Mountain To Be Quilted -

They are making a LOT of noise -

Hollering - My turn!! - My turn!! - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Almost there -

Thanks for all of the comments yesterday -

They made me realize that I don't NEED another placemat -

Or FOUR as one of you (Gene) suggested - LOL -

But I DO need some new potholders - ;))

So - how big is that blue scrap again? -

7" wide on this piece -

And how big is my favorite potholder? -

7" square -

GREAT!! - That'll work!! -

So - how big is one set of these guys when it gets all sewn together -

I don't know what I was thinking -

6" finished is 6-1/2" before I put the binding on -

And when I compared it to my favorite potholder -

It was close enough for me -

So I sewed up five sets of 4-patches - and used up 45 of the 49 - so that's good -

And have enough of the YELLOW scrap to back three of them -

And enough of the BLUE to back the other two -

Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow - LOL - ;))

And I better get a move on -

I saw another SQUIRREL- with CAPITAL letters -

That is making a LOT of noise -

And I'm getting bored with this one -

Can you tell? - LOL - ;))

Then - AFTER I sewed the 4-patches together -

I realized that a nine-patch of 4-patches -

Is the SAME as a four-patch of 9-patches - DUH!! -

I could/should have left the dang things as 9-patches -

It would have saved me a bunch of time -

IF I had been paying attention -

And not been distracted by this NEW SQUIRREL - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

More playing -

And all of the 4-patches are finally sewn together -

I even found some coordinating Extra-Wide Double-Fold Bias Tape to bind whatever it turns out to be -

And since my kitchen is blue and yellow -

I thought I might try to make some quick little potholders -

I have 49 of the 4-patches -

I like my potholders to be about 7" square -

But the 4-patches will finish at 2" -

So - a 2 x 2 layout would be 4" square - about the size of a coaster -

If I did a 3 x 3 - that would be 6" square - and that's too small -
but I could add a strip to two sides to make it a little bigger -

If I did a 4 x 4 - that would be 8" square - that's too big -
but I could un-sew some of the 4-patches to make it a little smaller -

So I could get them "just right" -

I sound a bit like Goldilocks - don't I? - LOL -

OR - maybe it's back to trying to make a baby quilt -

Let's see - a 6 x 8 layout would use 48 of the 49 4-patches -

That sounds good -

But that would only measure 12" x 16" -

And is more the size of a placemat than a baby quilt -

So maybe THAT'S what it wants to be when it grows up -

ONE placemat - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A little more playing -

I decided to mix up the 4-patch sets -

So I un-sewed the ones that I had sewn -

Resorted them -

And sewed some back together again -

Then I found these scraps in the Big Box of Magical Things -

Some more of the YELLOWS and a coordinating BLUE -

So - who knows? -

I still might be able to come up with something -

We'll have to wait and see - ;))

One of my friends reminded me that it's a process -

And it doesn't always work -

But when it doesn't -

"Learning happens!" -

I LOVE that! -

It's SO true! -

And learning whether or not something will work -

Is especially FUN when FABRIC is involved - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Playing -

With the 9-patches -

Un-sewing parts of them -

And re-sewing them into 4-patches - ;))

I should have enough to make 48 4-patches -

Which I thought could be the "centers" of a 6 x 8 block layout -

That I could surround with cuts from a "neutral" jelly roll -

To bring them up to 6" squares -

For a small 36" x 48" baby quilt -

But I think the jelly roll fabrics are a bit too "fancy" -

To go with the "homespun" 4-patches -

So - back to the drawing board -

And back to the Big Box of Magical Things -

To check for more of these "homespun" scraps -

And then to my stash -

To see if I can find something more suitable - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Another week -

Is almost over -

Where does the time go? -

Last time I looked - it was Monday -

And I posted about my HST -

Then I saw another Squirrel that I had to chase -

These little guys - ;))

They were in the Big Box of Magical Things -

And I think that they were originally going to be 9-patches -

Or a border of some sort -

But I have another idea -

We'll see it it works - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A little more sewing -

Makes for a great day - ;))

I cut and sewed another batch of HST -

Clipped them apart and pressed them all open -

And bagged them up -

To add to the baggie of white-on-white squares -

And the "parts" for this block -

And the "parts" for this block -

And these guys -

If I make the full-sized pattern - 96" x 96" -

I'll need over two thousand of these little guys -

So if I have 30 or 40 that match -

I don't think it will be a problem - LOL - ;))

But don't worry -

I probably won't make that many -

I already found some other Squirrels that I want to chase -

So I think I'll make a mini-version -

Before I commit to making something that big - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A little sewing -

Goes a long way in making me happy - LOL - ;))

Today was a cut and SEW day -

I cut some "plain" squares -

And sewed them to some HST that I had already made -

I need a combo of two blocks -

So I made one of each for now -

Mini "test" blocks - for reference -

I need a whole lot of them -

But there's no hurry -

And even though they're little -

They are a LOT of FUN to make -

And it sure beats doing "chores" - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Friday already -

This was certainly a fast week -

I spent most of the time doing "chores -
Those pesky little things like paying the bills - grocery shopping - laundry -
That refuse to do themselves - LOL - ;))

Anyway - I finally got around to playing with some bits and pieces -

And wondered how you guys press your HST -

After they are sewn -

#1 - Do you start at one corner and aim for the other one? -

#2 - Do you press down the middle of the seam? -

#3 - Or do you do it like I do -
And try to press it WITH the grain -
Starting in the middle of one straight side -
And aiming for the other straight edge? -

I know we all have our favorite methods of doing things -

But I think #3 keeps the "stretch" factor to a minimum -

So that's how I pressed all of the HST that I had cut and sewn -

And then I sorted through the baggie of blocks and block "parts" from the
Big Box of Magical Things -

And made some more piles -

Take a look at these 4-patches -

PERFECTLY matched seams -

And I really hated the thought of un-sewing all of those perfect seams -

But that YELLOW would be SO great as a SUN in a confetti quilt -

So I asked my friend if she would mind if I un-sewed them -
And she said that she didn't mind - they were mine to do whatever I wanted -
And that she thought the YELLOW would make a good sun, too -

So I un-sewed them - and added the solids to my confetti parts pile -

Then Wednesday -

My jigsaw puzzle friend came over and we put together this little itty bitty puzzle -
It only measures 9" by 7" - but it has 150 pieces - so those pieces are LITTLE -

It's Friday already -

AND it's Friday the 13th -

So - no chores today -

I REALLY want/need to SEW something!!!!!!!! - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -