Movin' On

With the flip of the calendar page,

spring is transitioning into summer.

 I'm transitioning

 to being at home

and getting into some kind of routine.

And it's time to transition into

some new projects.

 I've been able to finish a few tops

that I've been working on for quite awhile.

It's so liberating.

Along with my sampler,

I finished the last of the buttonhole stitches

on the wool applique pattern,

 

Folk Art Album

by Primitive Gatherings

Seeing that it's wool and flannel and

I'll quilt it with perel cotton,

it'll have to wait until fall to be completely done.

The other top that's finished, but will 

still need to be quilted, eventually, is 

 

Midnight Silhouette

by Blackbird Designs.

It was the perfect project to work

on during all those Nanny nap times.

When this quilt was started in October, 2012,

I divided the 

quilt into 8 small monthly goals.

And now it complete through

perseverance and good nappers.

I really thought I had bought a backing

for this quilt, but after spending the last week 

searching for some piece of mystery fabric

that had to be folded up somewhere,

I gave up.

But as I was digging, 

I did find a Sandy Gervais panel and some

older Halloween fabrics, including some ancient

Debbie Mumm and decided

it was time to do some back art.

There were even a few spare blocks to add.

Constructing a backing is a lot more work

than sewing one center seam especially,

if you want it to end up the right measurements, 

a rectangle,

and not give your machine quilter fits when

she goes to put it on the machine.

I think it will be cute with the front.

So Now what?

I'm not sure.

Until Next Time-

Peepers

I love the fact that there is
Netflix streaming.

When there isn't much to watch on TV,

it's nice to have a choice of something to watch.

In the evenings I've been watching West Wing,

 great characters,

daily drama and stories in the White House and 

and 

political issues 

that just don't seem to go away.

This week President Jed Bartlet
made reference in  his weekend radio address
to all the leaf peepers in New England.

 My kids thought it was some kind
of a joke or code word.

With spring just around the corner,
fall leaf peeping is a ways off.

But as I cut and arranged the fall
leaves on the last borders
 of the Midnight Silhouette quilt
I guess I was a
Springtime Peeper,

with a little help from my sugary friends.

Until Next Time-

Turbo Charged

Many years ago,
Running Man and I

had the opportunity to travel to Germany.

Running Man was presenting a paper

in Berlin, which was still divided.

We flew into Munich,

rented a car and headed off

on the German autobahn.

We've all heard about the 

autobahn having at least three lanes, 

fast, faster and fastest.

Well, it's true.

Running Man was imagining he

was James Bond

or 

a formula 1 race car driver.

I could see the speedometer was well over 100 mph.

The F on our rental car, 

didn't say Ferrari.
 The little Ford was trying it's best.

I was informed by Running Man, he

was only trying to keep up and not

get run over.  True!

There was  something fun about going fast,

if you didn't figure in the fear factor.

I'm not sure if it's quite the same experience,

but yesterday I was TURBO appliqueing.

No,  you're right it's not quite the same,

but

exhilarating, none the less,
if you're a middle aged Nana.

I've been working on my
 Midnight Silhouette quilt and
appliqueing the center vine on the last two border pieces.

It's been super fast,
super easy, and

 super fun.

Why?

The raw edges of the vine were 

already turned under,

the vine was secured in place with a little

Roxanne's Glue Baste,

needles were prethreaded,

the kiddos were napping 

and Nana was 

turbo charged.

Oh, did I mention,

I had chocolate and diet Pepsi?

It felt good to get something done

just once and
trying to keep up.

Until Next Time-

Surrounded by Vines

Wouldn't it be fun to live in

a cottage covered in vines.

This poor place looks like it might have been a victim
of too many vines.

Vines can be an interesting vertical design element in a garden

or 

even add vertical interest to quilt borders.

I've been continuing to work on the quilt

Midnight Silhouette.

The outside borders are appliqued vines that 

surround the center appliques and pieced blocks.

The bias tape maker is my "go to" tool

for making bias stems.

 The Roxanne's Glue Baste narrow tip

works perfectly adhering those narrow strips

 to the background fabric.

These vines have just a gentle curve.

When  a pattern is primitive style,

the leaf placement can be left up to the quilter

to see what looks best.

Balancing the colors of leaves is also

important and

the simple leave designs are fun and easy 

to applique.

Appliqueing a couple leaves a day is all it took

and the first border is already complete.

I've just had to imagine sitting in my vine covered  cottage,

with a warm fire,

a glass of something good to sip, and 

stitching on my vine border.

Until Next Time-

Halloween?...Really?

There are only 9 months left
before the arrival of fall and
Halloween!

That might sound like a rather bazarre
statement in January, but to those
of us who quilt and are working
on a seasonal project, that
shouts, "Deadline" and
"You'd Better Get A Move On."

So that's what I've been working on
during that weekends when I'm home.

Drawing lines for the construction of

Flying Geese Units.

Assembly line stitching

and finally constructing
one of my favorite blocks,

a Sawtooth Star.

The design is just one of those blocks
that's always popular and easy to make.
It's a star pattern without worrying about
8 points coming together in the center

Although I only needed 22 random scrappy blocks
I really made 30.

That gave me plenty of options when
it came time to lay out the blocks.

These preprinted plastic tags by Quilt Dance
make a great lay out system for quilt blocks,
especially because I don't have a design wall space to use.

It's easy to get confused when I pick up a stack of blocks
off the floor and start sewing.
Trust me!
I've also used masking tape, scraps of paper pinned on, and
sticky notes that don't really stay on.

Here's the center.
The borders are next.
 

 Pumpkins and Black Cats

may seem far off,

but at this pace I'll be ready

with Blackbird's pattern,

Midnight Silhouette.

Until Next Time-