Hello Quilting Friends! My Quilt Studio clean up is almost complete. I had a set back or two over the last few days but things are moving along pretty good once again. So when I ran across the yellow gingham porch quilt UFO I thought, why not get this girl made into a finished quilt top. It shouldn't take long since she is about halfway pieced.
Oh how it made my little ole heart go pitter pat to hear the sewing machine humming along. An hour and a half later the top was complete. While things seem to be going smoothly why not go ahead and make a pieced backing for my little ray of sunshine.
Wham Bam! An hour or so later the scrap backing was complete. I'd really like to put her on the frame and get her quilted up but I'm sticking to my new plan of making and quilting a charity quilt first.
For now she's safely tucked away with the rest of the quilts waiting to be quilted. Now it's time to get back to dealing with the blue jean and flannel quilt I was cutting up last week. Then I'll start the first charity quilt.
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
Spring is a fickle season, don't you think? It's cold one day, warm the next. Sunny in the morning, snowing by nightfall. I'm not complaining. I can take springs mood swings because I know it won't be long until the flowers start blooming and everything turns green again. Until then I can make my own bit of sunshine in the Studio.
This weeks weather is looking pretty yukky. There might be a couple days where I can squeeze in a little veggie garden prep. The Farmer's Almanac says I should have already planted a few things but I think I'm going to wait for the late spring planting for my above ground veggies like peas. Maybe this afternoon would be a good time to plant the radishes and beets. The rest of the week is looking pretty soggy.
I went out on the back porch this morning to get a feel for todays weather. Sometimes temperatures can feel warmer or colder depending on the wind and humidity. It was crisp this morning but not freezing. This mornings sunrise was gorgeous. Do you take time everyday to watch the sunrise? It's a nice way to start the day. Letting the eyes see the sunrise every morning helps set our circadian rhythm which is good for our health or so they say. It can't hurt to try and maybe get to see a beautiful start of the day. Today was a real beauty. Lots of reds and purple. A picture is never as good as the real thing.
Red in the morning, sailors warning. Maybe it should be...Red at daylight, quilters delight!
Yes, I'm delighted to be stitching up more gingham porch quilts. Cutting and piecing the yellow and pink quilts at the same time seemed like a good plan. I love the two colors together. So springy! Assembly line sewing or chain piecing makes quick work of these 2 quilts.
The instructions for this free pattern called for making large width of fabric strip sets. I found this to be hard to subcut into accurate strip sets afterwards.
Cutting and piecing squares works better for me. Whatever works right? Counting the squares was very simple quilt math.
Well, it was working until I forgot that each row starts and ends with the same color.
So me and Jack had a little quality time.
If you choose to make one of these gingham quilts using my method of piecing squares. Make sure you set aside 6 medium squares and 7 dark to be sewn to the end of each row.
It took a little over an hour to sew sets of two, remember that included a little ripping. The plan for today is to get the rows stitched together for both colors.
But before working on the gingham quilts I need to get busy quilting the scrap buster baskets quilt. She needs to be quilted and off the frame so I can quilt the gingham quilts when they are finished.
Before I go I wanted to share with you the song that ran through my mind this morning as I watched the sunrise. Most of you will know this one.
Hope you all have a lovely spring day!
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
Hello Happy Quilters! There's not a lot to share with you today but there has been a little progress this past weekend. Most of my time has been spent doing those nasty little chores we put off in order to spend time doing what we want to do instead of what needs/should to be done. Total time in the Studio was about 4 hours over the weekend. Not much time but there was a lot accomplished in so little time. The Amour de Cherise quilt is coming along. Not sure I'm in love with the quilting but at least it's being quilted. Hopefully I can quilt a row or two of blocks a day. The goal is at least one row per day. Anything over that calls for a celebration.
The cheap front porch quilts are slowly progressing as well. What great little project to get me off my feet for a bit. Both quilts were cut and pieced at the same time.
Today I hope to get these pressed and subcut into rows. I think I'll do this before quilting on the frame. Then I'll choose my next UFO to be put on the frame. Maybe something springy or that would fit in with an upcoming holiday. I'm sure it will be a digging through the quilt tops rabbit hole that may take much longer than what my mind thinks. Maybe I should just close my eyes and grab one. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
In between the sweeping, dusty and other nasty chores I also did a lot of cooking. The way to Mr. Podunk's heart is through his stomach. We are not big fans of convivence foods like premade meals, you know frozen foods and such. The occasional can of soup is about as wild as it gets. So I made him some breakfast burritos for a grab and go breakfast. A quick chicken salad to work into the mix of leftovers he normally takes for lunch. And I also made the weekly homemade pizza. Mr. Podunk wants pizza every week! He said I just need to keep a batch of dough on hand at all times because it's great for pizza and for baguettes. It is the best pizza dough I've ever made. Wish I had known about this pizza dough back in the day when I actually ate pizza. Yes dear friends I don't eat pizza due to allergies. It makes me swell up like a bullfrog. Every once in awhile, like this weekend, I ate a 2" piece of pizza. By the next morning I had gained 1.5 lbs. in inflammation and my joints were not happy. Was it worth it? YES! Delicious! But I won't be having anymore for awhile.
If you would like the recipe you can find it in this video.
The second part of this video can be found below. I know 2 videos seems like a bit much but it's worth it, I promise. You really only need to watch the first few minutes of this video where he shows you how to form the pizza. If you don't have a pizza oven or pizza stone you can bake at the highest temperature on your oven on a cookie sheet bottom rack until done. You might need to broil on the top rack to brown the top. I do not need to broil the pizza in my oven. My oven goes to 500 and it takes about 12 to 14 minutes to cook the pizza.
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
