Design Wall Monday - January 7th

It was a long weekend.  We spent most of it perched on bleachers watching Drama Teen and friends play volleyball. It wasn't the most successful weekend on the court in terms of wins, but the girls are all getting better and what games they did not win, were pretty much nail biters. 

Unfortunately, being at the courts really put a dent in this week's stitching efforts.  Even so, all the borders did get stitched to Evening Star Saturday evening, so it is now a finished flimsy. 

Pattern from Calico Carriage
Designed by Debbie Maddy

Sorry for the dark picture, I didn't have a lot of time yesterday to get good photos.  Next step is to get the back pieced and then send it off for quilting.  

While I had all the photography equipment out, I finally got a shot of the finished  Fat Quarter Stars quilt (which was finished back in November).  

Fat Quarter Stars by Konda
of Moose on the Porch Quilts

I'm still looking for a name for this quilt.  It's intended as a gift for a family friend who is a mathematician.  At the moment, "Counting Stars" is the front runner.   

Neither of these are actually on the design wall, but there hasn't been much change in what's up there this week.  Hopefully, I'll more to show on that front next week.  You can check out all the other design walls over at Judy's Patchwork Times.  

Slow Stitcthing Sunday - October 7th

I really had planned on doing a bit more slow stitching than actually happened this week.  I did work a bit on the Embroidered Medallion Quilt piece this week, but not enough to show up as real progress in a picture.  Work stuff, prep for DT's school Fun Night and a broken washing machine had a lot of influence over my schedule this week.  It's been years since I've had to use a laundromat.  In that time frame, the cost to wash a load has doubled!  I hope it's that long again before I have to resort to loading the laundry up in the car, driving across town, and hauling it out of the car into the building.  

I did spend a few minutes yesterday working on the binding for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt. 

   
I didn't get far, but every little bit is progress. 

That's it on the hand stitching front.  What free time I had this week, was spent on the sewing machine.  I do plan to spend one night a week on just hand stitching, but the schedule hasn't been real conductive to that as yet. 

Check out all the other hand work posted over at Kathy's Quilts. 

Design Wall Monday - May 28th

As much as I enjoy holidays off, it always seems strange to be home on a day I would normally go to work.  I'm planning to sew all day today and have great plans to make lots of progress on the May UFO and the Scrappy Coffee Cup quilt as I'm behind on both.  I need to do some sewing room clean up as well. 

I did sneak in some significant sewing this week.  The Fat Quarter Stars Quilt top is finished. 


Fat Quarter Stars by Konda
of Moose on the Porch Quilts

I had to play with the setting a bit as I didn't have enough background fabric to make the setting that Konda showed.  I like how it came out.  This will not be my last red, white and black quilt.  I really like the color combination. 

I was able to watch most of the NASCAR race last night.  While I was doing that, I worked on the C for the Coffee Cup Quilt. 

Coffee cup block patterns from Karen F. Srebro and Janet McCarroll
published in Block Magic and Block Magic Too by
Nancy Johnson-Srebro

The O is almost finished.  By the end of today, I hope to have finished it, plus the two F's and 2 yellow cups. 

I've been working on the Sweet Treat quilt as a leaders and enders project.  Another 6 blocks were finished this week, so I'm a third of the way through with the blocks. 

Sweet Treats Designed by Judy Laquidara
(pattern available here)

The blocks look a bit busy right up against one another, but the white tone on tone with which they are going be set with should calm them down a bit. 

I'm off to see what mischief awaits in my sewing room.  Check out all the other design walls over at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - May 14th

It was a nice weekend.  Mother's Day was uneventful, but good.  My family treated me to an unintruppted afternoon of sewing, dinner and then ice cream. 

So after an afternoon of sewing, what's up on the design wall?  Nothing new, but progress has been made on the Fat Quarter Stars.

Fat Quarter Stars by Konda
of Moose on the Porch Quilts

The blocks are all framed, sewn into rows, and I've started sewing the rows together.  The center seam needs to sewn and then I'll be able to add the borders. 

Two more blocks of the Sweet Treats  project have made it to the design wall (There is supposed to be 30 at this point, I'm behind). 

Sweet Treats by
Judy Laquidera at Patchwork Times

I've been making these blocks as a leader and enders project while I work on Fat Quarter Stars.  I've missed having a leaders and enders project.  This one works out nicely. 

That's it for my design wall.  Check out more fun stuff over at Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - May 7th

In spite of having round 2 of the sinus crud, I did manage to spend a little time in the sewing room over the weekend.  Thankfully the fever broke last night and I'm feeling much better this morning.  Just in time to go back to work. 

Actually, the all of last week was a good one in terms of sewing.  Fabric was cut to make more blocks for the May UFO, but as yet there is nothing to show on the design wall for that one.  The cutting and piecing requirements for the "C" letter block in the Scrappy Coffee Cup quilt was worked out, but no actual work has been done on it.  So again, nothing new on the design wall.  There was progress on the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along project. 

Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along pattern
from Moose on the Porch Quilts

I've started framing the blocks.  I don't have enough fabric to set the quilt exactly according to the Moose on the Porch Quilts published pattern, but I've used the pattern as a guideline.

Also up on the design wall are the first 2 blocks of the Sweet Treats Quilt Along that Judy has going at Patchwork Times.

Sweet Treats by
Judy Laquidara

I didn't really intend to start anything new, but Judy's pattern for her May color palette quilt just stuck in my head.  I went to bed Friday night thinking about what fabrics there might be in the stash to make this quilt, but not really consciously thinking I'd start a version.  Then Saturday I was in the stash closet putting up some fabric that had just been ironed and folded when I spied the pile of 1920's red and blue fat quarters that had been used in another project.  The 1920 reproduction fabrics aren't usually my style, but one of the quilt alongs at the local quilt shop used blocks published in the Kansas City Star back in the 1920's and so I bought a few fat quarters to make this quilt.

1920's Red, White and Blue
Block patterns published in the Kansas City Star in the 1920's
Finished in 2009

This quilt turned out to be one of my favorites and had pride of place on our bed for about a year.  Unfortunately, My Guy is not a fan of sampler quilts and asked me to make something else for the bed.  Still this quilt is one of my favorites.  The Sweet Treats quilt will help use up what's left of those 1920's fabrics. 

That's it for me this week.  Check out all the other eye candy over at Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - April 30th

We've reached the end of April.  Unfortunately, the end of April isn't going to mean the end of the showers we've been getting this weekend.  We spent about 40 minutes in the tornado shelter last night, though I don't think we were in any danger, the worst of the storm was to the north of us.  The news this morning is that 9 inches fell over night just north of us. Definitely spring time in Oklahoma. 

The design wall isn't empty.  After finishing up a quilt and a top last week, I pulled out a WIP that got put on hold when the computer crashed.  I had worked up the last block for the Moose on the Porch Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along in EQ just before the lap top screen died.  Since I didn't print off a copy of my changes or even a copy of the pattern, the project got put to the side.  Last night I finished up block 12 finally.

Here's the whole set. 

After playing around with the set last night, this is the final layout I liked best.  Hopefully I'll start framing the blocks tonight. This top should get done sometime in May, just a couple of months behind schedule.  Better late than never. At any rate, it should stay off the UFO list. 

That's it for my design wall this week.  Check out all the other design walls posted at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - January 23rd

It was a productive weekend in the sewing room for a change.  A little laundry and housework was worked in as well.  Drama Teen was allowed to sleep in till 10 AM, which had been her most fervent wish for the weekend.  My Guy got in a bike ride in spite of the strong winds.  So overall a very relaxing weekend here at Life in Pieces. 

So what's up on the design wall?  Blocks 8 and 9 of Moose on the Porch's Fat Quarter Stars have been completed and are up on the big design wall.

I'm enjoying playing with the red, white and black palette.  Just 3 more blocks and it will be time to figure out how to set this one together.  

Progress was also made on UFO #5, the Scrappy Stars quilt. 

After mocking this one up in EQ, several of the original patterned backgrounds have been removed and replaced with lighter tone on tone tans and beiges.   I may need to pull one or two other lighter neutrals to go with the lightest neutral.  It looks a little out of place all by itself and the EQ mock up clearly showed that lighter backgrounds make the quilt look less busy. 

The McCall's Quilting Mystery Quilt was started during Friday Night Sew In.  Last night I finished up all the blocks from clue #1. 

Now I have to wait for the March/April issue of McCall's Quilting  to do anymore on this project.  And since I'm caught up with the Fat Quarter Stars blocks, that leaves UFO #5 as the only ongoing project for the rest of January that I can make additional progress with. 

That's it for my design wall.  If you haven't yet, check out the other design walls over at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - January 16th

It's Monday already?  Last week was really busy, hopefully things will slow down some this week.  The volleyball tournament was over in the early afternoon yesterday, so there was time for some laundry and some sewing. 

So what's up on the design wall?  Block 7 from the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along. 

It's not perfect, but it's done!  I'm not a big fan of sewing with templates.  Thankfully the directions were pretty clear and the block went together pretty smoothly.  I had hoped to get to block 8 but that didn't happen.  All that's up on the design wall is the first 7 FQS blocks. 

The red, black and white color scheme is one I've never worked with before.  It certainly makes for bold blocks. 

That's if for my design wall.  I'm hoping to make some progress on both the Scrappy Stars and the McCall's Mystery quilt this week, in addition to completing blocks 8 and 9 of the FQS.  Probably won't get to all of that this week, but it should be a more productive week than last week was. 

Have a great week.  Check out Patchwork Times for more inspiration. 

Design Wall Monday - January 9th

Not much up on the design wall this week, as most of my time went towards figuring out what to do with UFO #5.  I posted yesterday that I realized the originally selected patterned background fabric wasn't going to work.  I bought new fabric to replace those, but still didn't like how it was working out.  Thanks to all who suggested using more of the lighter background fabric, that made a huge difference. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of light neutrals in my stash, so it's back to the quilt shop.   This pattern is derived from Folk Art Christmas Stars by Robyn Pandolph for Moda Fabrics.  The pattern I'm working from was adapted by Vicki McGowan, who taught the class where this quilt was started. 

The only other sewing room activity that occurred this week was prepping the templates and cutting out the pieces for block 7 of the Moose on the Porch Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along.

The background pieces still need to be cut out.  I really hate working with templates, which is why this block is still not done.  Hopefully by next week both block 7 and 8 will be up on the design wall with the previous blocks.  

That's it for my design wall this week.  For more design walls, check out Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - January 2nd

New Year's Day was quiet around here.  Most of the day was spent in my PJ's in the sewing room.  It took a bit to get going, after all madness of the holidays and finishing up three projects, it seemed strange to be moving on. 

So what's up on the design wall after the one day "sew in"?   Block 6 of Moose on the Porch Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along was finished. 

Block 8 comes out soon, so block 7 needs to be stitched today or I'll be behind again. 

The first NewFO project is the McCall's Quilting Mystery quilt.  Part one was in the Jan/Feb issue of the magazine.   After much auditioning of fabric, here's the palette for that quilt.

All 4 pieces came from the stash.  I've had the yellow with the tea cups and strawberries on it for a while.  It's actually a bit brighter than shows in the photo.  Hopefully the blocks for part 1 will be up on the design wall next week. 

I also pulled out the box that contains UFO #5 for Judy's 2012 UFO challenge.  Scrappy Stars dates from 2003.  I don't think I've touched it since then.  So it took me a while to reread the pattern, sort through the fabrics and decide what direction I was going in.  No pictures this week, but hopefully this one will also be up on the design wall next week.  I'm going to try to piece it as a leaders and enders project while I'm working on the stars and mystery blocks. 

That's it for my design wall.  I'm going to grab a second cup of coffee and check out what's on yours over at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - December 5th

How's the Christmas preparations going?  If I were giving myself grades, I'd get an A in shopping and a F in holiday decorating and gift wrapping.  Just haven't gotten there yet.  Mainly because I've been trying really hard to finish the Geisha quilt.  I made good progress on Saturday till I realized that the fabric choice for my first border was just lousy.  Of course I didn't realize that until I had both vertical borders sewn on.  After some playing around on the design wall and a consult with My Guy, I unsewed the lousy choice, cut new borders and tried again.

I still have two more sets of borders to add.  This may have to be wrapped up as a completed top for Christmas with the promise the new owner will get it back quilted after the first of the year.  We'll see.  The tree is not up, nor are any gifts wrapped.  Kiddo's Christmas program is this week, plus she has a swim meet this weekend.  Time to sew is going to be a precious commodity this week. 

On the other design wall are the first 5 blocks from Moose on the Porch Quilts Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along.  

These blocks have been assembled as leaders and enders while I've been working on the Geisha quilt.  I know the block in the lower left stands out since it's the only one that has red corners.  There are still 7 blocks left, so I'm hoping there are a couple more blocks with the corners in the set.  Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how this project is progressing.

That's it for me this week.  Hope your holiday preparations are going well.  I'm hoping to sit down for a few minutes this evening with a cup of tea to check out all the other design walls over at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - October 24th

Monday, already?  Most of last week I was lucky enough to be on vacation, though the first two days of the week I was out of town on business.  It's hard to do much on the blog when I'm traveling for work, so there was no Design Wall post last week.  I'll make up for it this week.

Block 2 for the Moose on the Porch Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along is done. 

My block is simpler than the pattern provided.  I just liked the cleaner look, especially when paired with the first block.

All the blocks for the purple and yellow quilt have been sewn together.  

The original pattern didn't use borders, but I'm going to add a couple.  That may mean ordering some fabric as most of the purple I have left is all as fat quarters.  I really like how this one is turning out.  This UFO almost didn't get finished becuase I wasn't thrilled with the first 3 blocks made in the class.  It definitely deserved a second chance. 

Progress was also made on the Geisha quilt.

I'm not setting the blocks this way, there will be dark blue sashing between the blocks in the final quilt. 

That's it for my design wall.  Hop over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see other design walls. 

Design Wall - October 10th

It was a nice weekend here.  We got some much needed rain.  Even better, My Guy made it home after 4 weeks of being overseas.  He had asked me to have some Starbucks coffee waiting for him in car.  Apparently it's very hard to find brewed coffee in the UK and he really wanted a good cup of coffee.  It's good to have him home.

Since Sunday was spent shopping with Kiddo before we headed to the airport, I didn't get as much sewing room time as I normally do.  Even so, progress was made on Geisha Quilt.

 
Corners have been added to all the fussy cut blocks.  Now I need to cut and assemble the "frames" for these blocks.   I also finally got myself in gear and finished up the first block for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along. 

This is the first time I've used black, red and white in a quilt.   I'm liking how they work together.    When I picked out the bundle of fat quarters for this project, I didn't realize just how many of the fabrics have stripes.  That may make some of the future stars a bit challenging to piece.

That's it for my design wall this week.  To see what other creations are under construction, check out Judy's Patchwork Times.