Design wall...Tuesday

Better late than never!  That's what I always say!  Yesterday was a long and busy day of taking momma into town to deal with Medicare and the SS office...YUK!  And then of course we did a bit of shopping, she's still not up to the "shop till you drop" days but we gave it our best shot.  She lasted about 90 minutes.  Of course we had to eat while we were out.  Lately moms been on a breakfast kick, so we always eat somewhere that serves breakfast all day.  Steak and shake served us up a big ole breakfast.  My momma is a little tiny thing (size 6) but can put away the food!  She eats twice as much as I do, I've tried to keep up with her but I just can't.   Just glad she has an appetite again.  And today I had to take my dear sweety for another knee surgery.  Out patient, cleaning out the gunk in the knee.  He's down for the count right now, taking a nap after I fed him Deer Roast for lunch...Sleeping like a baby.  

So here's what I've managed to get finished this week in between all the running.  I worked a little here and there on my Nostalgic Christmas quilt.  Each block calls for plaid fabric.  Of course there's tons of quilting cotton out there that is plaid, but I had a stash of homespuns that I wanted to use up.  Man oh Man!  Homespuns aren't fun to work with, in my humble opinion.  But the results are just amazing.   Already gone through a whole spray bottle of starch to keep those homespuns from stretching out of shape.  Well worth it!  I'm in love with this pattern .

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One Down...

......Only 11 more to go..okay maybe a throw pillow or two...this ones for me and I'm thinking I'm going to use this pattern for a memory quilt for my my mom.  You can find the pattern here over at In Between stitches quilt Shop . 



Until next time Quilt out of your comfort zone!

Lea



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Setting things aside for this!

There's so many blogs I follow, and oh so often I find new things that go on the to-do list.  Here's one that I just can't seem to leave on the list.  CUTE!  I love it!  So I had to go digging through my stash.  You can find more information about the pattern over at Lynn's blog Sewn Wild Oaks.  Her work is amazing!  Such a brilliant designer and quilter!  Oh and she can cook , there's some really good recipes on her blog also! 

But my thought were to do a Christmas quilt using these vintage Christmas prints.  You find these by doing a google search.  

I'm not done digging yet!  Here's what I've picked out so far...

Until next time  "Quilt out of your comfort zone!" 

Lea

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Design wall monday and some inspirations

Here's a quick look at my design wall this morning.  One of these blocks is altered because I felt like I needed to change it for my tastes.   These are blocks from Erin Russeks 2011 BOM.   Only 4 of these are sewn down the rest are glue basted.  My thoughts were that if I had them at least glued I could sew them down as I wait with my mom and now others at their doctor appointments.  Maybe I should get a nursing degree and get a job at one of those visiting home nurses jobs.  It seems that everyone I know needs a nurse....think they would pay?!.....LOL  Love doesn't pay much huh?  Well not in money anyway.  Sorry about the poor quality but once again I'm not using my computer or camera.

Over the weekend I became obsessed with Nostalgic Christmas images.  And that somehow turned into Bulgarian textiles and art.  How did it get from one to the other I'll never know.   But anyway here's some images that caught my eye and I kept just for quilting inspirations.

These stamps are my favorite because they remind me of Baltimore Album blocks. 

Until next time "Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea

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Need I say more

I'm not going to say much other than things are getting out of hand and I'll be glad when the next two weeks are over .  It seems that this election has really brought out some stupidity with both parties.  Yes I watch the debates, listen to political radio and watch political TV.  Maxine raps my thoughts up about what's going on right now in Washington.  

See you on Monday for my design wall, tons of color!

Untill then "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Theres been no sewing here this week.  I've had a my little helper for a few days.  She's not much on sewing but she loves to cook and clean and garden.  I think she picked these pepper plants clean.   Can you tell that she loves the camera?!  We had a lot of fun during her visit, sadly she returns home today.  One more thing about this little cutie is we are of absolutely no blood line but she looks just like me as a little girl, well she's just a little cuter!

Until next time...QUILT OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!  AND EAT MICKEY MOUSE PANCAKES!

Lea Pin It

Design wall Monday

This has taken longer than I thought.  Although I had all weekend to get it put together with no interruptions.  Curved piecing is a bit tricky and I'm not looking forward to adding the geese and next border which will square off the circle.  I'm definitely out of my comfort zone with this one!  I've found that leaving the paper on the back might not be a good idea because it doesn't allow me to stretch when needed.  (Brings back painful  memories of garment making back in the "80's").  The thought has crossed my mind to just applique the circle to a square....is that cheating?  A border of braided rope could be sewn to the outside of the geese also to hide the seams and get me out of the curved piecing.  Creativity sometimes comes from laziness and procrastination!  But it's creative none the less. 

Now, my dear sweet man thinks that I should let him have this Mariners Compass to put in the bottom of his canoe that he made.  I thought he was kidding but he said he could epoxy it to the bottom and then cover it again with epoxy.  Ummm...I can print you out a pattern was my response. 

Him and his canoe, first time in the water last year in our pond.  This is hand made with strips of wood that are 1/4" thick by 16' long.  It took 3 yrs to make. 

Until next time "Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea

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Italian Meatballs

Okay so your not gonna find any meatballs here today, it was just a teaser.    But I did find it funny that while having a post funeral pitch-in today they served Italian meatballs.  And let me tell you my family is anything but Italian.  Most of them come closer to Hillbilly.  Oh and the funeral was one of those sad but expected kinda things, we all had a good time, strange I know.    Anyway....while reading another blog today it was mentioned that she chose a certain fabric because it reminded her of Tuscan pottery.   Well of course that sent me into google land.  I now know why she loved Tuscan pottery so much.  I've seen many quilts that mimic this style.  What an inspiration....

Oh my goodness...the ideas are flowing for some more applique!   Talk about quilting out of your comfort zone!  Hope you found some inspiration!

Until next time....

QUILT OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!

Lea
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Clearing out the clutter

As most of you know I like to surf the Internet for inspirations.  That causes the A.D.D to kick in high gear.  But really I just can't help myself, and when inspiration strikes I go with it until it passes.  With all the chaos in my head my studio can reflect exactly what it looks like in my brain!  My computer is full of pictures that I've saved from my surfing's.  And now the computer is starting to look like my studio and brain, very cluttered!  So it goes with me to mom's doctor visits, while I wait I'm supposed to be clearing out the clutter.  But did you know most hospitals and doctors offices have WIFI!  YiPPPEEE! 
On the table is my design for the center of a new quilt that may or may not find the WIP pile before it even gets started. 

I managed to get the guilds BOM  blocks finished this month and have them on the design wall(can't show you because those gals visit my blog also and I want it to be a surprise)

But I can show you the other WIP.  Of course it called for more LARGE paper and some brain power.  I'll be putting a ring of flying geese around a Mariners compass.  EQ7 has a mariners compass with geese block, but I didn't care for the placement of the geese.  And I find some aspects of the program to be... well ...to much for my cluttered brain, paper is easier than reading the manual for hours.  So  I took some measurements from EQ and started drawing.  I had to make a handy little tool in order to get this large  perfect circle.  The rays are 15 degrees.  And you want to know how I did it don't you?!  I folded in half one way and then the other.  Giving me my center, that gives you (4) 90 degree wedges.  Using my straight ruler for cutting fabric(it has 30, 60 and 90 degree markings)  I used the 30 degree marking.  But the sections were still to wide.  So I measured the section and placed a mark in the middle, giving me 15 degrees.  To make the geese I marked the center of the line and connected the dots to the corners.  And TADA!  homemade paper piecing on a grand scale!

Here's the dandy tool I had to make and how I marked it for drilling holes. 

I measured the thickness of my pencil with digital thingy(calipers) stolen from honeys tools.  Then found a drill bit that matched the thickness.  The little nail is the pointer for the middle of the block(nailed to my cutting table....shhhh) and also helped me with my marking the stick. 

Until next time ..."Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea

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