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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Weekend's Accomplishments

Here is a rundown on what I sewed this weekend.

First, as I posted yesterday, I finished assembling the blocks for my Blue Ridge Beauty.
Sorry for the redundancy for those of you who check in on my blog regularly. As you can see, it completely fills my design wall and drags on the floor. That is why I had trouble taking pictures of the other project I worked on.

Here are the blocks I finished for my Amish with a Twist BOM.
I know this is a terrible picture, but since the design wall was full, I used my ironing station. There was no way I could get a good shot. If you remember all the drama from last weekend, as I shared here, you will see that I replaced the fuchsia fabric. I see no difference between my original fabric and the replacement fabric. Phew. I am back on track.

I am linking up at the Anything Goes Link Up, found here and at the Let's Get Acquainted Link Up, found here and at Fresh Sewing Day found here and also in my sidebar.
Thanks for stopping by.


Saturday, March 30, 2013

Two Parts United

I spent the day assembling the bottom half of the Blue Ridge Beauty. I also got the top and bottom halves put together.
Now I need to add the two borders. I will definitely have to send this out to be quilted. It is king size and I only have a domestic machine. I hope to do more sewing tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.


Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Oh my. This post is going to cover the whole gamut. First, the Good:


I am really loving this Blue Ridge Beauty (Bonnie Hunter). The blocks for the bottom half are pieced and laid out on the design board. I think I am done shuffling them around. Next step, assemble rows and then join the rows. More will be posted later on this one.

The Bad:
Actually, this is bad only because I senselessly added to my stash.


This is Denyse Schmidt. It was on sale for 6.50/yd. Plus I had a 25% total purchase coupon from Joann's. Regular price is $12.99/yd. Now how could I walk away from this? Could you? I have no plans for this other than to love it for a while. I already have the same design in orange. I haven't used that one yet either. I just love it. In my defense, after I got home I compared it to some other fabrics that I am pulling together for a project, and it works.

The next one isn't really bad either, because I was using the aforementioned coupon to get a deal on some yardage for a quilt back.
This was regularly $5.99/yd. on sale at 4.19/yd. Plus, I used the 25% off coupon. I bought 8 yards for an upcoming quilt. How could I lose with this one? I usually think I am doing well if I can get $5/yd for backing. Had to get this.

I was actually planning to buy several packages of batting, but they were not on sale. Even with my 25% off coupon they weren't such a good deal in my opinion. I have gotten better deals when they have been on sale in the past. I'll wait for a sale.

OK, here is the UGLY:
This was totally due to my idiocy. My newest installment of Amish with a Twist BOM package arrived. I was so excited to dive into that one. Block #3. Bow ties. LOVE them. Raspberry and Brown. I pulled out the new fabrics and cut the pieces I needed and laid them out on one of my nifty design boards (Lori Holt). Sorry that this picture is blurry.

Next, Block #4. Rolling Stone. Copper and Brown. I remembered that I used copper in the blocks I made in the last installment, so I pulled the copper out of my project box.



Then it happened. Oh, oh. There are other raspberry-like fabrics in my project box. Gulp. Pull out the color chart. You already guessed it. I had cut the wrong fabric for my bow ties.

Here they are together. On the left is raspberry. The new fabric on the right, that I mistakenly cut into, is Fushia Punch. Well, maybe it will be OK. Maybe there is enough fabric that I can still cut out 20 3-7/8" squares. Cut, cut, cut. Not quite enough. I only managed to cut 18. Now, here is the second example of idiocy...I rechecked the directions. I was supposed to cut 3-3/8" NOT 3-7/8. I had actually wasted one half inch of precious fabric with each square I cut. Doh! Double Doh!

Walk around in circles. Pant, pant, pant. What will I do? I checked the website of the shop I purchased my BOM from, but they don't carry the fabric in their shop. I Googled the color and found that Shabby Fabrics does carry it. I ordered a half yard of the fabric and will wait for it to arrive. If it doesn't match exactly, I will recut all of the pieces.
I am saving the mis-cut pieces in case I can use them for future installments.

Meanwhile, I haven't started sewing this month's blocks. I am waiting until I get the replacement fabric. Somehow, I just don't have the heart to sew these yet. Here are the pieces for Block #5 waiting for the replacement fabric to arrive so I can cut the last two squares.
I am not always this stupid. But every once in a while I become an absolute idiot in the sewing room. I think I may need professional help.

Thanks for stopping by. I am linking up with the Let's Get Acquainted Blog (see link in my sidebar) and the Anything Goes Linky Party found here.






Sunday, March 17, 2013

More Blue Ridge Beauty

I have had a good sewing day. I assembled the rows of the top half of the Blue Ridge Beauty quilt.



I have now taken the assembled top half off the design wall. I am continuing to assemble blocks for the other half of the quilt. Here is the progress I made today sewing those blocks.

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by.


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy International Quilting Day!

I am so excited that there is actually a day that recognizes quilting as a valued activity. I did a little sewing today, but not as much as I would have liked.

This week is the university's spring break so we just returned from a trip to Michigan yesterday. We visited our son, DIL, and granddaughter. That was wonderful. Little Missy has changed so much since we saw her at New Year's.

The day started with DH and I judging National History Day projects in our district of the state. It was pretty interesting. Since this is the first round of judging the quality was mixed. Having said that, I really think it is wonderful that students have enough interest in a topic to conduct research and to present it in front of judges. I am sure it is very nerve wracking for them.

When we returned home, I sewed two rows together on my Blue Ridge Beauty. It looks pretty much the same as it did in my last post. At about the time I was ready to begin putting another section together, DH brought in the mail containing the latest installment of the Designer's Mystery BOM.

I couldn't wait to put it together. This is block #10 in the series and was designed by Minick and Simpson.
Notice the direction of the pattern on the chevrons. That was a little tricky. There was even a mistake in the directions that I caught before I sewed the pieces. I didn't have to take anything apart this time, so I am pretty proud of myself, especially after all of the mistakes I had to correct in the last one.

I have some other quilt-related news. DH and I are going on Bonnie Hunter's trip to Ireland and the International Quilt Festival in June. I am very excited about it. I have signed up for a couple of classes in free motion quilting. I really want to improve my skills in that. I decided that I didn't want to take any classes for which I would need to bring fabric or supplies. I want all of my luggage space for clothes and I can take quilt classes closer to home.

That's all of my news for the day. Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Blue Ridge Beauty

I have returned from my conference. The weather was beautiful in Orlando. Too bad that I was too busy to go out and have fun. Returned to snow flurries and cold weather in Kentucky. There are reports that another storm is on the way. Oh well. I had time to sew on Sunday. What fun.
I have completed more Blue Ridge Beauty (by Bonnie Hunter) blocks. I rearranged them on my design wall in order to get more up there.

I am almost out of space. I think I will have to sew these rows together and then arrange the rest.

I am linking up at Stitch by Stitch: Anything Goes Linky, found here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Rabbit, Rabbit!

It is March already. Yeah! Spring is getting closer. I am at a conference, so no sewing to report. Have a great day.

Thanks for stopping by.