More Dresden Plates

Linking up with Em at Movin' It Forward. Wow! Those ladies can get stuff done! You really ought to stop by to see for yourself.

As for me, my Spring stitchery is coming along. (Sorry about the fuzzy picture.)

Mostly I'm happy for the latest Dresden block that I finished.

This Dresden Workshop Quilt really has been a lot of fun to work on.

Remember that photo of the six little plates on last post? Well, I was suppsed to make seven. Ugh! One short!!!! Back to the cutting table for me!

Speaking of cutting table, how many of you are sewing along with Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune? I've yet to commit besides gathering a few fat quarters!

FNSI #2!

Another perfect evening for the Friday Night Sew-In gals & me to take a step back, breathe, and relax. Thanksgiving was wonderful with hubby's sister and two daughters eating dinner with us. Their three and our three (which included Mom, of course!) made a nice round table of six. We had all the trimmings and Mom kept exclaiming that I served $50 meals to all. Isn't that sweet??!! Anyway I'd like to say that I tried Ina Garten's Steamed Brussel Sprouts & Bacon recipe. They were a hit with everyone. Even hubby said they weren't bad which I consider a compliment from him! Hahaha!

After dinner I brought out a jigsaw puzzle which I'd received from my daughter. The guests said they didn't really do puzzles and flipped when I said it was only 1000 pieces, still in the box, and surely they could give it a go. We managed to get this much done before desserts called to us.

Mom & I worked a bit on it some more during the day on Friday and now it looks like this.

Progress is progress, right?

Anyway, after all the hubbub of Thanksgiving Thursday, it was leftovers and sewing for me on Friday. Here's a peek at what I managed to sew. 

Earlier thought that if no one wanted to do my puzzle with me that I should at least have something in my lap. I got out my Kathy Schmitz Spring pattern and copied it over to my fabric. (Love my lightbox!) Before company arrived for dinner I did manage to put a few stitches in.

Last night, I got this far ....

I'm loving it, especially that little bird!

This morning I crept down the stairs very early and worked on my Dresden Quilt Workshop. The blades were already cut out and the first pairings sewn. They needed pressing and then more sewing. Here they are.

I'm slowly but surely making progress on this and think I may be able to catch up this week. That would be sweet because the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt - Good Fortune - released clue #1 on Friday. I've vowed to not even start that one until the Dresden Quilt and Temecula Quilt Shop's Secret Santa SAL are completed! Sure hope I can hold out!!!

Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend. Remember your favorite shops today and pay them a visit if you've got a little time. Today is Small Business Saturday and we surely cry when local quilt shops fold/retire/quit/whatever.

Linking up with our beautiful hostess Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs for Friday Night Sew-In.

Secret Santa SAL & Friday Night Sew-In

Yesterday I made quite a bit of progress on Secret Santa SAL with Temecula Quilt Shop. Here are Steps 3 & 4 all sewn up, waiting patiently with Steps 1 & 2 to see what's next.

I noticed this morning that Step 5 is posted and my stomach lurched when I saw I was to cut out 96 scrappy small rectangles AND 48 a tad bigger rectangles. I read on to see that we'll also be sewing some of these steps into squares and the finale will be revealed next week. OMG!

While I was basking in being caught up, I thought I'd see about cutting up more fabrics for the few steps I'm behind on Dresden Quilt Workshop. And here we go ... This is a picture of the sewn-up blades for three small dresden plates.

 They now look like this, all turned out and pressed. So pretty, each and every one of the 36.

So then I cut & cut & cut and got 96 mini blades cut and sewn. They're all ready to be turned right-side out next.

A couple of days ago we got 4" of snow. My Gracie was in high gear racing through the white stuff. Doesn't she look like she's having a blast?

On a sad note, this week my cousin's 57-year-old husband passed away from esophagal-stomach cancer and on the same day I learned that a dear man that used to be our neighbor (who with his wife were the main ones to welcome us into the neighborhood) had passed away the week before with his funeral yesterday. He truly died serving his country as he is one of many that has contracted "Afghanistan Lung" while doing his job. He passed away two days before Veterans Day -- a veteran who did his job without looking for praise. Just doing his job whether in the Middle East or helping tornado-torn Rollo, MO.

Look around. Be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking up with Sugarlane Quilts for Friday Night Sew-In. Thank you, Wendy, for again hostessing this fun evening!

Also linking up with Em's Scrapbag for Movin' It Forward Monday. Thank you, Emily, for again hostessing all of us for sharing our progress!

Sewing Like My Pants are on Fire!

Lately I've been sewing like my pants are on fire. First up is a finish. Yay!

I made this Fall table runner for my daughter. I'm in a table runner club at O'Sew Personal, my LQS. I thought this turned out cute and it's 24"x48". Should fit my daughter's 29"x49" coffee table perfectly. The colors are a little wild but suits her decor! 😉

The quilting really set it off. I took 6 different leaves from a recent walk with Gracie and traced them on cardboard. Then I used one of those blue markers and traced around the patterns here & there. When it was time to quilt it, I did curlicues and off-the-cuff leaves to connect the drawn ones. Voile!

I'm making a mad scramble to get caught up on Temecula Quilt Shop's sew-a-long. I love their SALs and this one promised to be finished by Thanksgiving. That means we're getting close and I'm behind (naturally). 

This was Step 1 which I finished a few days ago. There are twelve of these unequal 9-patches. They're small, only measuring 4-3/4" unfinished.

This is Step 2. I cut the strips out Saturday and sewed them up yesterday. There are 68 (!!!!) of these tiny 9-patches. They measure a mere 2-3/4" unfinished.

This morning I cut all the strips for Steps Three & Four. Yoi!! Here's a picture of Step Three's strips. They'll need to be sewn together, cut up, and then sewn into the proper 68 units. I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon! Haha!

Of course with all this going on, I'm now three steps behind on Dresden Quilt Workshop! And when's the last time you've see or heard me talk about Kyoto???? Stop this train -- I want to get off!!!!!

Sewing like crazy and loving life!

Linking up with Movin' It Forward.

Fall Has Arrived!

Fall is here and I love it! Warm-ish days and cool-ish nights. It can stay like this awhile, please.

These past couple of days I was sewing with friends at Rock Springs Rotary Park in O'Fallon, IL. What a beautiful setting and the facilities were very nice -- once the gentleman came to turn off the A/C and switch it on to heat! It was in the 50s and I guess a room full of women with irons put out enough heat for the A/C to keep kicking on. Brrrr!

Anyway, the reason we were there was because Dana, our fearless leader, once again invited Irene Blanck from Australia to guide us along with her patterns. You remember how I'd been working on Mosaics by Irene. She is so much fun and has loads of tips for us. This is my 3rd year sewing with Irene and once again I learned a new tip PLUS she reminded me of a couple that I'd forgotten.

There were 17 of us sewing along on lots of patterns. Two of us  were sewing on Eva Grace. I got this far.

Unfortunately I didn't get any of the leaves sewn down nor the two flowers. We all fell in love with my vase fabric and there was talk of not putting that quirky stem & leaves across it. I may not sew on all five leaves from the original pattern but I will be keeping that stem.

I want to let you know that I love retreats. We are all sewing on our projects and just chat about everything and nothing. I met a really fun gal that I might not have ever met since she doesn't live near here. She heard about this retreat through her guild. I hope to catch up with Amy again one day.

Gracie & I had a wonderful walk today. Pictures from this morning's walk include Gracie, the changing leaf colors, and fungi. Enjoy!

I'll be linking up with Movin' It Forward on Em's Scrapbag on Monday. You should check out the incredible projects these ladies are working on!

Off the Grid Lately

I haven't posted in a bit. Not really sure why other than I haven't. Let's change that! I'll work backwards until I catch up or get tired of posting or think that maybe I've bored you enough for one sitting!

Here's a picture of a new project I started yesteday. Yes, I started another project ... but this one is tiny. The only handwork is this 4" x 6.5" background. There is a little wool to be added, piecing involved later, and then it's done. I bought this pattern at a vendor at my guild's last quilt show. Since I'm working as Publicity Chair on the quilt show committee, I thought maybe I should get this project out and finished before next June's show! (This pattern came with two patterns inside and I bought another one as well -- that means three more cute little quilts after this one is finished! Yikes!) 

The picture on the left is how I started my Friday Night Sew-In last night. I'll be linking up with the girls here and there are 21 of us this month!!!! Check in to see what a creative group we are! Thank you, Wendy, for hosting this wonderful group of ladies again this month!!!

Last night I also finished up this little cat stitchery. I saw my friend Pat working on a dog one and I told her how cute I thought it was. Pat explained how it was a kit with everything in there including the drawn pattern on the quilted fabric and a needle! She had a cat kit to go along with her dog kit -- would I like to have it? Um, yes! It was supposed to be stitched in red but I subbed the red out for green ('cause that's my favorite color).

Of course I've been working away on my Dresden Workshop Quilt. I'm still two weeks behind but I think I've come up with a word for Block #1: SING! I thought about WHISTLE in tribute to my dear ol' dad since he was a whistler and his mother's parents came from Dresden, Germany and I still may change out to that anyway. Still have time to figure it out!

This is the block that I hadn't settled on the dresden center. Isn't it cute? Glad I switched it out.

I've also been working on some Christmas projects which I can't share with you yet ....

Also linking up with Moving It Forward. Check out what Em and the rest of us have been doing this past week.

Until next time, have a great week!

Due to the Columbus Day Holiday ...

I was temporarily off the grid. But I'd like to play catch up now.

My Kathy Schmitz "Be Mine" embroidery is done. All that's left is the "finish" to make it into a little quilted wall hanging. So far so good! (It could also use a little pressing!)

The Lady Claire socks I was knitting for Loopy Academy have been 100% finished. That means I've also blocked them! That's a very important step that I sometimes do not actually do. Aren't they pretty sitting with that purple clematis? Can't believe it but I've actually got two blooms due to the unbelievably warm weather we've been having here in the Midwest!

I also finished these two steps in the very fun Dresden Workshop Quilt. I actually am just about done with another step but I changed my mind on the little center so the picture will have to wait until next week. Hopefully I'll have an additional step or two to add to this collection by then. Loving how this is working up .... so far!

I still have a slight dilemna: The very first step was a block with the word "Quilts" in it. That's all fine and dandy for some but I want something different. I've toyed with "Family" and "Ooh La La!" since it's French General fabrics. I also thought about "Gracie" or "Polly" for the pets ... just because. Don't want "Faith" or "Bliss". Any suggestions out there?????

And last but certainly not least, I finished up this EPP design that I stitched up eons ago. I love the quilting on it and the spiffy red binding. Here's the front: 

And here't the back. My initials & year are in the bottom right corner. I'll be taking it to guild meeting tonight to donate for the auction next month. I hope it finds a good home!

On my walk yesterday, I spied these "soldiers" all in a row. Aren't they cute? Couldn't resist a fungi photo!

Have a great rest of your week!