2014 Starts/WIPs....Scrappy

I think I started this sometime in the Spring and it became a take along project when we were out in the motorhome. Usually, I would be working on the center strip...sewing strings onto 6.5" x 2.5" pieced of phone book paper. Something that you don't have to put a lot of attention into it....great for sitting at a picnic table sewing. You just have to keep your pieces from blowing away!

I'm not sure if this is the half way point or not. It may get a little bigger. All the HSTs have been cut on the GO for the second half and I think I have all the paper strips cut. The scrap container has been refilled with strings and is ready to go in the motor home....we're heading out next week!!!

This top was actually started in very late 2013 when I was making crumb blocks with Bonnie Hunter during Quilt Cam. The picture really doesn't capture the vibrancy of the colors...fluorescent lights.

There was a lot of trial and error in making this top....as usual I didn't use a pattern and was just winging it. I hadn't ever done anything on point before or used set in triangles on the row end...so trial and error and experimentation was in play. I made the set in triangles larger than would normally be used because I wanted a little extra fabric to hang onto while quilting and so I wouldn't have to quilt on and off the top...a lot of bobbles can happen then. I'll just trim the edges down after it's quilted.

This quilt is in the number 2 spot of my To Be Quilted queue.

Hiatus Happenings Part 7.....Audio Books

Audio books sure make time fly by whether you driving in a car or a motor and you've seen the scenery many times over...or its nothing special the first time.

Since I had a few (and rare) deadlines last year, I spent many long hours in the quilt shop listening to audio book after audio book.

It's also very enjoyable to sit by the lake, gazing out at the water while listening to a book.

I tried to get them in order, but my mobile app just doesn't want to let me rearrange photos and my screen shoot photos of the Over Drive history file were really small so I picked them in the wrong order.

As you can see, I have favorites that I'm working my way through (although the library that I borrow from doesn't always have complete series...bummer).

I like to find authors that write stand alone books that I don't need to listen to in order. 

I will look for books that my favorite readers have done for other authors. There are authors that I like, but don't care for the reader...such as J A Jance's JP Beaumont series. The same reader does the whole series and I find his tone and speech rhythm just so annoying.

Hiatus Happenings Part 6....Final Finishes For 2014

All the string pieced tops were done while we were out camping....I really enjoyed sitting at the picnic table, sewing and looking out at the water.

I made a freezer paper template up to make sure I would be able to fit six placemat on the table. A little more (about a quarter inch on each side of the narrow end) had to be angle trimmed off to allow for the binding space taken up.

It only seems right for them to do double duty, so I did the backing pairs in matching fabric.

I'm still using the snowman side as I still have my snowmen out. The binding method used was faux flange...no bias cuts were used on the curve and it worked just fine.

Something bright for spring and summer! This was one of the first pieces of fabric that I purchased several years before I ever thought about quilting. I walked into a fabric store in Cedarburg, Wi, and fell in love with this fabric. Until now, I never had the heart to cut into this fabric.

Because the fabric has so much going on, I used different blacks for the faux flange binding.

This one would work anytime of the year and is one of the few large yardage pieces that I own.

Here's a close up one the fronts. The quilting was marked using a Full Line Stencil.

Hiatus Happenings Part 5....More Finishes

I love how my grandson's I Spy quilt turned out! The side and top edge pieces where done by winging it and experimentation and worked well. More fabric (full price...non sale price) was wasted than I would have liked, but I just couldn't abide with any upside down clouds.

You can't really see the backing fabric to full advantage in the photo...it was so darn cute. As I had mentioned in a previous post, the quilts headed North before I took any really detailed photos myself. Fortunately we had Quild Show & Tell before Thanksgiving and I was able to round up some some photos to document them.

My granddaughter sewed the quilt's  center from from charm squares during a visit and sewed on a couple more strips during a three week summer visit...then she was done with sewing. The pool had more allure. So I finished it.

Both the tops languished on my design wall for months until I found out in early October that my son's family was coming down for Thanksgiving. A couple of spools of King Tut were ordered and quilting commenced when it arrived. I burned through even more audio books.

These are left over bits of the faux flange bindings that put on the quilts. The blue star fabric was also used for the triangle star pieces on the I Spy quilt and I really love that fabric.  I went back to the quilt shop to see if they had any (full price fabric) left but only had a darker version left.

These two are the first quilts that I put labels on and was pleased with how they turned out. But alas ...no photos.

I need to make some labels for Lauren's quilts and add them on a future visit.

Hiatus Happenings Part 4.....2014 Finishes

I'm doing this post on my iPad and I don't have the ability (well,one of us doesn't have the ability) to rearrange the pictures. I inadvertently deleted the picture that I wanted first and now it's last...one of life's little disappointments.

Anyway, these three quilted items were for my DD's baby shower in March up in WI. I was really scrambling because the shower was a month earlier than I had anticipated....I burned through a lot of audio books finishing them.

After I got back home, I made the matching valance from my scraps from the project...fortunately I had plenty of the white background dot fabric and didn't have to make yet another trip to the quilt shop in Jasper and have lunch next door.

Lauren Patricia was born in May, on her great-grandmother's birthday and the day after her Mom's birthday. I made the long drive again to be there for the birth and hung the valance for her arrival home. During those drives I burned through quite a few more audio books...thank God for audio books!

I carried the zigzag theme to the back with fabric from Dahlonega.

Hiatus Happenings Part 3......301A

I had been taking my Juki TL 2010q along but it is such a heavy beast to be bring in and out of the RV. A friend in my guild got me started on eBay and this is my one and probably only purchase on eBay. There just seems to be too much of an opportunity for dishonesty in the bidding process. This machine was not a bid or make an offer buy and was less money than any of my losing bids or declined offers.

She's not pristine but she suits me just fine and sews a really nice stitch. I like winding bobbins on her much more than the Juki.

Sweetie has made several times for the RV....one is the wine rack. It rides right where you see it and doesn't budge as we go done the road.

Hiatus Happenings Part 2.5

Our go to spot for camping is Woodring COE campground on Carters Lake, which is only 26 miles from the house...probably less than 10 miles as the crow flies.

These are our two favorite sites.

This one is our number one choice of the two...it's just so private. Camping here is like having lake front property without the expense or maintenance and if we want a different lake view we just move on down the road.

It is handy to be so close to home for those times that we forget something. Every time we go there different groups of friends come out and spend the day. Two couples came over for Sweeties birthday this summer.