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!

Rocky To The Rescue Again

I was playing around with orange peel quilting and I like it. Since I'm not the best at drawing smooth curved lines, I used a disc to mark my lines. And since this was a small piece, I thought I would see how tight a curve I could sew with the feed dogs up.

The quilt sandwich actually is upside-down.....the narrow blades were done first and they do give a different effect than the wider blades.

I've been doodling on paper for practce and will take the leap soon, trying it out on fabric without marking.

Rocky had to lend a hand (or a face) to get the best shot. This post was started on my iPhone, saved, and completed on Kindle Fire...l won't do that again!

P.S.
I actually have to go back to iPhone to straighten out the spacing in the post.

Why I Do The Georgia Stomp!

Yes, I do the Georgia Stomp before I put on a pair of work gloves that have been laying around for even a short time. If my gloves have a bit of moisture in them I'll let them dry, then stomp and ziplock bag them.

And this is why!!! It's the biggest one I've seen so far and there's a never ending supply of smaller ones.

Happy Earth Day!

We were suppose to do clean up along our roads in our section of the development yesterday, but it was rainy in the morning, so we did it today around noon. All the better because I had already decided to go to my first Property Owners board meeting Saturday morning.

Wouldn't want to make a steady diet of them, but it was interesting even though a topic I am interested in wasn't discussed like I thought it would be, only a schedule of presentations to roll out the info was given.

Don't know for sure if I like the tree colors better in the Spring or the Fall.

Sad to say, but in the three trees in the fore ground, the one on the right (an Oak) is officially dead...no leaves this year. I'm pretty sure the root system was probably affected too much when the driveway was put in.

Blogging By Firelight

Sweetie is in the process of putting a fireplace on the back porch and it's far enough along that we can enjoy a roaring fire!

Love blogging by firelight on my Kindle Fire!

Quilting With Nature

Inserting pictures is a bit goofy with mobile blogging....at times I'm not sure what order that the pictures are going to fall in place...even when you retake them, trying to reorder them.

Anyway, it's such a glorious day that I had to open the big door even if only for a little while...pollen count was near 10,000 this past week! The white specs in the woods are the Dogwoods in bloom...love those little trees!

Also, meet Sophie, the newest addition to the quilt shop. A few weeks ago one of the ladies at my quilt guild asked if anyone wanted her. My hand shot up in the air immediately! She's modeling the quilted wrap/poncho that is in a redesign phase.