Happy Thanksgiving - 2019 -

Happy Thanksgiving!! - ;))

Today is Turkey Day in the U.S.A. -

And a day to Give Thanks! -

And I DO! - ;))

I'm thankful for SO many things -

My family - my friends - my neighbors - my readers/followers/fans -

My stash - my sewing machines - my toys -

And SO much more! - ;))

Here's hoping that you have a very nice Turkey Day with your family! -

And have plenty of leftovers! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Pressing -

Doesn't always go as planned - LOL - ;))

I pressed the odd-numbered rows up -

And the even-numbered rows down -

So that they would nest nicely when I cut the strata -

And shifted the rows up or down a notch -

But that doesn't work with an "odd" number of rows -

If I want to sew them into a tube -

The middle seam in the photo below needs to go BOTH ways -

And - since I am NOT a fan of pressing seams OPEN -

I added that left over "extra" strip to each of the panels -

To get an "even" number of rows -

And now they will both play nicely when I sew the tubes -

But my "pattern" will be off a bit -

So I'll have to tweak that a little to "compensate" for the new extra row -

But it will just be a variation of the original design -

So it should be no big deal - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Update -

Lately I've had a bad case of the "lazies" -

By the time I finish my "chores" -

I don't have the energy to do much else - ;))

So - in the last week -

All I've managed to get done on the quilting front -

Is to sew the strata into two panels - ;))

I still need to press and cut them -

But I think they are going to make a very pretty bargello -

One of these days - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Down to -

The last strip to be added to the strata -

Finally!! - LOL - ;))

Now I have to decide which pattern to use - LOL - ;))

I first thought that I could make it like my Summer Breeze Bargello -

Which used two panels of 40 strips (or thereabouts - I remember having to adjust for duplicates at the ends of the strata - but I don't remember exactly how many strips ended up being in each panel) -

Then I thought that I could make it like my RED Squirrel -

Which is a lot narrower - and used yardage - so it might need some tweaking -

AFTER I find the pattern - LOL - ;))

But then I thought I should make something brand new -

And found this one - Blue Bargello - HERE -

She said that she "used 2 jelly roll packs that have doubles of each color so you can get the same lights and darks twice throughout the quilt."

My jelly roll packs have triples of each color so I should get the same lights and darks THREE times throughout the quilt - which is even MORE fun - ;))

What do you think? -

Which one would you make - and why? - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Two more strips -

Have been added to each of the Imperial Bargello strata -

With five more to go - ;))

It's slow going -

But at least it's going - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Another strip -

Has been added to each of the six sets - ;))

To make sure that I get them all "oriented" the same on the strata -

I put the same selvage edge at the end when I line them up -

Before I stitch them to the "bottom" of the strata -

With the "top" of the design to my left - ;))

Here's the next set of strips all ready to go -

But this is getting boring and tedious -

I'm only half-way through -

And I have another six strips to add to each set -

So I pulled another 40-strip pack -

To check it out -

It's called "Alpine Jingle" -

Two each of 20 different batiks -

In Christmas colors -

Now while I continue to sew the strata -

I can wait for my muse to tell me -

What she wants me to do with them - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

And then -

There were six - ;))

All six strata now have 5 strips in each -

So I can add the remaining strips to all of the sets -

In the same order -

And in the same "orientation" -

One right after the other -

And hopefully not mess up - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

One more -

Strip added to the last three sets -

With another one waiting its turn - ;))

A special note to "another lefty" -
Yesterday you left me a comment - which was really nice - but you come up as a "no-reply commenter" - so I assume you have a yahoo email address. Mr. Google doesn't seem to like my yahoo friends (no pun intended - LOL) - so please email me at "caseyq19 - at - gmail - dot - com" - then I can add you to my "list" and be able to "reply" to you directly. Thanks! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Three more -

Sets of three -

In the same order as the other ones -

Now to add the next two strips -

So they all look alike - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

The first few -

Strips are sewn - ;))

I decided to do all three strata at the same time - adding the same "next" strip - in the same orientation to each completed set - instead of sewing all twelve strips of the first set - then all twelve of the second set - etc. -

This way - if one gets messed up -

All three with be messed up the same way - LOL -

When I got to the set that I had cut in half - I simply butted them up against each other when I sewed them to the third strip -

From here on out - I'll add the next strip to the bottom of each set - so they will all be the same -

Pressed out the creases in the next set of strips -

Added them to the bottom of the ones already sewn -

And added another one to them all -

But before I get too far -

I think I'll unroll the second jelly roll -

And get strata #4 - #5 - and #6 sewn up the same way -

Then I can sew the "next" strip to all six strata as one step -

To make sure that all six are identical repeats -

Then sew 1-2-3 together and 4-5-6 together to make the two panels that I need - ;))

This is going to be SO pretty!! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A slow start -

Sunday was a lazy day -

And I didn't do much sewing on the Imperial Bargello -

But I did cut two strips in half and then sew them to each other - ;))

I thought it would be easier to sew shorter strips -

But with all of the "one-way" designs in this jelly roll -

I run the risk of sewing some of them "upside down" -

And with the strips cut in half -

I have twice as many chances to mess up -

So what sounded good in my head -

Probably won't work that well in "real life" - LOL -

And I'm back to sewing LONG strips to make the strata that I need - ;))

Oh, well -

At least I realized it before I cut them ALL in half - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Sometimes -

The obvious totally escapes me - LOL - ;))

I thought this jelly roll would make a pretty bargello -

And I could have the prints running up and then back down again -

With the FLORAL in the center of the GOLDS as the "reverse" point -

But if I do it that way -

I need an EVEN number of duplicates -

To make the pattern run up and then back down again a second time -

So that I can sew them all into a "tube" -

Which appears to have no beginning or end -

And then cut the tube into strips of various widths for the bargello effect -

But I have THREE of each print - and one extra -

So I went back to the drawing board -

And then the OBVIOUS solution hit me - LOL -

If I have THREE of each print - and one extra -

I can forget about the extra one -

And simply lay them out -

In order -

In THREE identical repeats -

With no back and forth color runs -

Like this -

Problem solved - LOL - ;))

Have you ever -

Totally missed something -

That SHOULD have been obvious? - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Something pretty -

Sounded like it would help me find my mojo -

So I checked my stash -

And pulled out some jelly rolls with Christmas colors -

Because it will be here before we know it -

Whether we're ready or not - LOL - ;))

I sorted out the RED (8) - GREEN (8) - BEIGE/NEUTRALS (4) -

I thought about making some 5-step Upstairs/Downstairs blocks -
But decided that the BEIGE/NEUTRALS were a little too boring -

So I pulled out a YELLOW jelly roll from my stash -

And pulled out the two on the right -

They didn't really look very Chrismas-ey to me -

And replaced the BEIGE/NEUTRALS with the remaining ones -

Then they looked a little too "bright" to me -

So I put them all back and pulled out a different roll from my stash -

Imperial Collection - ©Studio RK - Crimson Colorstory -
RU-754-40 - by Robert Kaufman -
40 pieces - includes duplicates -
There are 3 each of 12 different prints and 4 of the last one -

First I laid them out thinking that I would make the 5-step Upstairs/Downstairs block - but each set of 5 strips will give me 3 blocks - and with so many duplicate prints - that is a whole lot of "same" - or really close to "same" - LOL -

So I think it might make a better bargello - with the prints running up and then back down again -

The FLORAL in the center of the GOLDS would be "reverse" point -

This only has 27 of them laid out - because my kitchen island is only 6" long -
So it would finish at 54" this way -

If I added another "reverse run" - I could have all 40 laid out -
And it would finish at 80" long -

I have two rolls - so I'm pretty sure that I could make it at least 60" wide -

That would be a nice size -

And it IS something pretty - LOL -

What do you think? - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -