Self Questions That Begin With "Why"

Like...Why is the one picture in my last post looking like its being stretched on the bias? Or my big "Why" for this afternoon....Why did I wait so long to change the blade on my rotary cutter?  Its like cutting "butta"...I'm having to really lighten up on the pressure!  DUUHHH!

Road Trip To Hiawassee

Evening at the Boat House Yacht Club...look to the left...look to the right .

Are There Any Quilt Guilds In Switzerland?

It would really be so much fun to visit a guild while I'm there next month!  Anyone in Blogland know of any? How About Rome and Munich?

Time to start prepping the hexies so I'll have some hand work to do on the 9 hour flight.  I wonder if I'll meet some other quilters on the plane.

Scrap Shopping

It was time to replenish the scrap pile for the Pineapple blocks, so I headed down to Jasper. The Quilt Shop On Main has a scrap tub, which the owner had just loaded up with big pieces of batik scraps ....they're mine now.

It was all I could do (after several attempts) to get the bags zipped! When I got home I weighed the bags and some how I managed to get exactly 11 1/8 ounces in each bag.

There's at least $50 worth of fabric in the bags...all for a mere $6.

Switzerland Here We Come!!!

It's official....Sweetie and I are going to Switzerland in early August for two weeks...(squealing big time!!)

So far the plans include a boat trip across Lake Geneva to France, a flight to Germany to the town that has the castle that the Disney castle was modeled after, and a flight to Rome...(more squealing).

More on the trip later, I'm too excited right now!

 

To calm myself, I am doing some piecing...12 (of 72) 16.5" Pineapple blocks are done and five more are started.  Notice how I have strategically placed the fabric to try and hid the rattiness of my ironing board cover.

SQUEAL!!!!!! 

Pineapple Progress

Pineapple Work Station

More 2.5" strips have been cut and added to the pile.  I mix them up real good (will post a picture of my new process later), stack them up and deal them out to several blocks and then sew.  My one rule is that I can't use the same fabric twice in a block.

I was using a large metal wastebasket and mixing them and pulling out strips randomly (without looking) as I sewed.  It didn't take me long to realize that the strips were fraying badly and I was spending too much time trimming off the frayed strings.  All that tumbling and digging around was just to much for the strips!

Right now, I'm working on six blocks at a time...dealing out the strips, sewing a round on each one, pressing all, and then trimming all...much less up and down, wasting time and motion.

My Guild Demonstrations

Last month for my guild, I gave a demonstration on Gyleen X. Fitzgerald's Pineapple Block and the tweaks that I've added to the technique.

I also demonstrated the Eight Point Star Block that I was at Squash House Quilts blog....and of course the tweaks that I made to the technique...wasn't in love with the bonus block.  I also re sized the block to 12.5 inches from 9.5 inches.

To aid in the demonstrations, I used one of several 18" pizza boxes that I got from Charlie's Italian Restaurant here in Ellijay....if you're ever up, down, or over in Ellijay, stop in, the foods great!

The fireplace is done (Sweetie did a wonderful job on it...we love having fires out on the backporch) and our company is gone so I've been spending more time in the quilt shop!