Times a wastin'

Recently I've had a few comments on how quickly my quilts come together.  With statements such as "How do you do get so much done in a day?"  Well I can't make them fast enough is my response to that!  It's all I think about and all I want to do.  However when you live in the middle of nowhere there's plenty to be done.

So I thought I'd share how  I manage my time.  At least for now, I'm always looking for new ways to fit more into my day.

This is the computer in my studio.  NO INTERNET ON THIS ONE.  It's basically for designing quilts and storing my pictures and music.  I had internet in here a few years ago and it was a real time waster.  Don't get me wrong, I love social media but I can kill hours just browsing nothing,   Notice the dust on it?  

TV?  Nope not in my studio.  We have 2 TV's one in the living room and one in the garage.  If I'm in the studio and feel the need for noise, which isn't often, I listen to things that don't require me to stop quilting.  Political talk radio is a one of my favorites, music, and those silly shows on ID also rank pretty high on my TV Faves.  Shows like Wives with knives or 20/20 don't require me to sit and watch, but can satisfy that need for drama.  Most of the time there's nothing, no radio and no TV, just me, myself and I  and my thoughts.

I take breaks from quilting about every hour.  Standing or sitting in one spot for long periods of time is hard on the body, so I try to keep moving as much as possible.  I quilt for an hour, start some laundry, do some cleaning, and then quilt for an hour.  Usually by 10 a.m. or so I'm ready to eat so that means I get to catch up on Social Media.  That's what I'm doing as I write this post, eating my brunch.  Then it's back to quilting until noon.  There's usually a list of things that need to be done.  In the winter it's around the house stuff, in the warmer months it  the gardens.  I'll stay out here until all of the days outside chores are complete. 

By putting mulch around my garden plants I have more time for quilting and less weeding!

But you can always find a few weeds, I'm not as obsessive about gardening as quilting. 

A quick shower and I start the quilting/house cleaning rotation again.

Letting myself be messy in the Studio is also necessary.  I straighten up in here once a week and in between projects.  No reason to keep it super clean that's time wasted.

And one of the most important things for me to stay productive is recharging and relaxing.  There's days when it's busy work all day long, jumping from one project to another.  The mind gets all cluttered with whats next on the list.  STOP, breathe, don't think.  A few minutes on the swing, watching the chickens, or watching the sunset is usually just what a I need to let it all go.  

So really I just stay away from technology as much as possible.    My phone is often in the other room on vibrate.   And the reason is... I work in total silence most of the time.  Sudden noises startle me, that's not a good idea when you work with so many sharp objects.  I've burned and cut myself many times due to that silly phone.  And it can totally mess up free motion work.  I do take it outside with me just encase I need to call 911, but it's usually on silent.  

Well that's it, my uncomplicated day of busy work.  Brunch is over and I need to get back to work!

Lea Anne

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Making progress

I've been working on a new quilt design for a couple of weeks.  There will be two alternating blocks set on point.   And of course some applique!  

The blocks are traditional with my own little twist.  Traditionally the Rose of Sharon quilt block has rose buds in the corners.  Mine will have the blue and red gingham Pomegranates instead.  They are easier to make and just looked better to me.

Of course this quilt will be scrappy, keeping the color placement the same in each block with different fabrics.  The only repeat will be the gingham.  Its in the same place in each block.  

The inspiration for this design was the gingham and nine patches.  One day a couple of weeks ago when doing a little Studio organizing I ran across a baggy full of red gingham scraps and about 90 blue nine patches.  The original idea for them was to make something quick and small.   Well...it grew one afternoon as I sat drinking my much need coffee and flipping through an old book.

The blocks in the book finish at 15", my blocks are bit over sized finishing in the quilt at 22.5.  The border in the book is nice but you know me, I gotta be different.  I'm still working on the details of the pieced inset borders.  Nothing set in stone just yet.

I started pulling fabrics, doing math, made a test block and realized that I'm going to need more fabric for this huge quilt(95 x 95).

No time for real shopping.  So with a few clicks on the computer ....and my dotty fabric is here!  Now I can finish the first applique block.  

Linking with Lets Bee Social@SewFreshQuilts

~ Lea Anne ~

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Sugar Pop Posies

It feels so good to finally have this one finished.  These little quilts aren't any quicker to make than the bigger ones.  Sometimes I think they take longer.  The little squares finish at a half inch and the quilt is 22" square.  The quilting was done on my domestic machine.  

You can read more about the making of this quilt here, here and here.

This picture below shows the real colors.  LOVE IT!   Coming up with a name was really hard.   So I thought what the heck lets do the Posies again...

Sugar Pop Posies.

Adding my little quilt to a linky over at

 Quilting is more fun than Housework  

MainCrushMonday@CookingupQuilts

MondayMakers@HugabitQuilts

Design Wall Monday@PatchworkTimes

Hop on over for inspiration and to share your projects.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Fave Quilts, its all about free!

   The other day while looking for quilt inspiration my google search landed me at Fave quilts. 

 Wow!  This site is packed full of free projects.  Everything from mug rugs to king size quilts.  They make it easy to search different sizes and style of projects with a long list of categories.  

After spending more time than I should've browsing I noticed that bloggers can submit a project.  Well you know I did!  The forms were easy to fill and submit.  And within a couple of days I received a confirmation email that my projects had been added to their list of projects.  What a great way to reach more quilty friends.  Guess what else I found?  Monthly Giveaways!  

You better hurry this bundle of Peppered Cotton fat quarters will be gone soon the giveaway ends on the 24th.

And the all About strips book giveaway ends on the 31st.  

Have fun browsing the projects and Good luck in the giveaways!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Itty Bitty Change

Does it surprise you that I've made a few changes to my little quilt plan?  I didn't think so.  Earlier in the week I attached a white border to the center panel of my itty bitty block. you can see it here.  It wasn't tickling my fancy.  A few quick flicks with the seam ripper and a new design idea and TADA....Oh so cute!   

I often design on the fly, not really knowing how a quilt will look.  A general idea is born, then I just let the creativity and playing take over.  This type of designing can produce a few more scraps than having a set in stone plan.   It can also produce many UFO's and WIP's .    I couldn't remember when I started this little project so I did a little digging through my blog and found the original post in August of last year.    Hey that's not too bad!  Not even a year has passed.

Here's sneak peek at the quilting.  I'm at the halfway point.  I'll see you in a day or two for the big reveal of my Itty Bitty Quilt.

Need more inspiration before then?  Well I've just what you need.  Hop on over to these Linky Parties, there's always ton's of it just a click away.

Confessions of a fabric Addict

Richard and Tanya Quilts

A Quilting Readers Garden

~ Lea Anne ~

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Throwback Thursday

The last couple of days have been full of everything but quilting.  Gardening has taken over my life.  Just when I think I'm caught up, something else pops up, usually more weeds.  Yesterday mom'ma needed  chauffeured around two counties to doctors appointments.  I'm not complaining, these times will become fond memories someday.  While waiting for mom'ma to gather her things I spied a new picture sitting on her kitchen desk.  Well the picture is new to the desk but old as far as date taken. 

This is mom'ma's dad and Step Mom.   I can't remember my Grandparents being this young.  And although she was my Step grandmother in my heart she was just  Granny.  She loved me as one of her own and never made me feel less than any other grandchild.   Every break from school was spent with her.  They lived a simple life with no TV,  only gospel music and sermons on the radio, and church several times a week.  When gramps was gone granny would sneak and play old country music on the HI-FI, her favorite was Dolly Parton's "Coat of many colors".  I loved every minute of time with her and would dread the day I had to go home.  

As I grew up and started having children we would talk on the phone several times a week for hours.   She's been gone for almost 20 yrs and I can still hear her laugh, and say "COME ON BIG SIXES" while playing the much frowned upon (by Gramps) game of Yahtzee.... I miss those times.   Seeing this picture reminded me just how precious every moment is with our elders.  Granny was mom'ma's age when she passed.  I looked at mom'ma with a new set of eyes, for a brief moment.  While she can be difficult and ornery I love her and want those precious memories.  This may require a pair of rose color glasses.

~ Lea Anne ~ 

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Winner winner Chicken Dinner

I'm doing a chicken happy dance!  Why you say?  I won the give away at

 Life in the Scrapatch.   My actual win was on Mother's day, but it took me awhile to make a decision how to spend part of winnings.  

The give away was for the Jelly roll strips and a $35 gift certificate to Fabric N Quilts.  First let me say I don't enter every give away that I see.  It must be something I really think I can use.  Winning something you don't love isn't fun, and by entering to win something you don't love you're making the chance of winning less for everyone else that does love that item.  Well I loved that Jelly Roll and a few things at Fabric N Quilts.  It was even more exciting when Fabric N Quilts sent more than what I won.  The items won are the Jelly roll strips, Farm Fresh Quilts and the Bandana Charm pack.

DANCING TIME! 

I want to make every quilt in this book....SO CUTE!

Thanks Shannon and Pat!

This was my first time ordering from Fabrics N Quilts but it won't be my last.  She has a great selection fabric and notions, all with free shipping!  I love the Bella Solids Build a Bundle, every color you could possibly want.

Pat@Life in the Scrapatch is such an inspiration.  She designs and shares many free patterns.  Rarely do I make someone else's pattern but I just couldn't resist making Pats Checkers in the Park  (below) last year. 

Click here for the free tutorial. 

My Checkers in the Park(below).  You can see more of it here.  Pat has many more free projects on her blog,  just hop on over and click on the tutorials tab at the top of her blog.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Catching up

It doesn't take long for the yard to take over when ignored.  So yesterday was spent catching up the outside work instead of in the Studio quilting.   It's been raining so much we couldn't mow.  That made my job yesterday a little longer than expected.  As I complained to myself about having to spend so much time working in the yard I realized that it wasn't so bad I just need to take a minute to look around.  My Peonies are opening, such a gorgeous flower.

Last year not one Peony bloomed.  For some reason they didn't have ants to help them along.  Did you know a Peony can't bloom on their own?  The little ants are a happy sight indeed!

After the mowing, the garden is next in line.  So I let the chickens do a little free ranging, I can keep an eye on them and the dog while I weed the garden.  They seem to love the fresh cut grass.  Don't get too excited little chickens that grass is mine!

  And those grass clippings that the chickens love so much will need to be put on the garden later today after they dry out a bit.  Grass clippings on top of newspaper is a great organic way to keep the weeds under control.

This is our main garden.  We also have 3 small raised beds and one raised tomato bed up by the house.

Thankfully Mr. Podunk takes care of these two smaller beds.  

  

As I was pulling the last of the weeds in the garden rumbles could be heard in the distance.  Oh there's a storm brewing...great.... more rain, just what I need!

The storm looks worse than what it was.  This picture hasn't been altered or edited.  I love how it came out.  It only took about 20 photos to get one good one.

Well I better get busy or I'll have another no sew day!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Mini Scraps

How many of you are like me and struggle with throwing away the smallest of  fabric scraps?  Well if we save them we must use them at some point.  This project was started about a year ago.  Occasionally I take it out and admire my tiny little 4 patches that need to be squared up to 1.5".  That's a pretty difficult task with just about any ruler in my collection. 

My smallest ruler is 4" x 4", it works but seemed to take forever, trimming two sides at a time then re-positioning the template for the other two sides.  Matching the ruler lines to the seam on the blocks is harder than you think, not much room for error.  I decided after about 20 blocks to make my own 1.5" square up ruler from Plexi-glass.  I've shared my template making in the past here and here.  One thing I get asked is "How do you keep the black lines on them."  Well I've tried several methods, tape, clear fingernail polish and nothing at all.  But scoring the lines with a razor knife and using a sharpy marker to fill the score lines works the best.   If your sharpy marks are outside the line no worries, just rub them with your thumb and the excess comes off.

To keep the template from slipping I sprayed the back with temporary quilt basting spray.  This works great!  When the glue gets "unsticky" and filled with lint,  just run it under water and wipe off the lint, like magic the glue is still there and sticky. (This makes me wonder how well it actually washes out of a quilt)  I trimmed all of my 4 patches without needing to reapply the basting spray.  When I tried to wash the glue off  my template with Dawn Dish washing liquid it wouldn't come off with out using a Magic Eraser.  No more spray glue in my quilts that's for sure!  At least not the Dritz brand.

I took the picture below because I wanted to stop working and move on to something else.

But if I quit now I'll need to lay out all of these 4 patches again....well darn, just keep plugging along.

Whew!  The center is complete! I'll tackle the borders tomorrow.

I'll be linking this post to the following linky parties.  Hop on over, be inspired, and link up too!

Design Wall Monday@PatchworkTimes

MainCrushMonday@CookingupQuilts

MondayMakers@HugabitQuilts

LinkyTueday@FreemotionbytheRiver

FabricTuesday@QuiltStory

TipsandTutorials@LatenightQuilter

SewCute@BlossomheartQuilts

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Quilt Fabrications FREE Quilt Along

  Quilting has become a very trendy and expensive hobby in the last 10 yrs.  Back when I started quilting it wasn't so expensive to buy fabrics and patterns.   Since 2008 the price of antique quilts has gone down but the price of making a new quilt has gone up.  I don't understand economics but I do know that we quilters need a break!  So when I find a good free pattern I like to toot that quilters horn.  So lets give a big ole TOOT! TOOT! to

Susan over at Quilt Fabrication

She has generously put together the

 Spangled Stars Quilt Along.  

The first block was posted on May 7th,  but there's still time to join in the fun.

There's no pattern or book that you need to purchase in order to participate, its all FREE.  You can choose from several different sizes from a wall hanging to a king size bed.

Click here to view more size options and fabric requirements for each.

The king size is pictured below.

So you aren't really into the patriotic quilts.  Well Susan has thought of that too!  You don't need to be in order to participate.  You can

  find more color options here.  

Of course you can always just live wild and free and create your own colorway.

There's still plenty of time to join. 

The quilt along is in full motion and prizes are being awarded.  Oh yes you heard me right there's prizes for adding your picture progress on the flicker group.

So click here to find the links to the first two blocks and the schedule for the rest.

Enjoy!

~ Lea Anne ~

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