Showing posts with label polaroid quilt blocks. Show all posts

Lots of Little Progresses

I don't feel like I've accomplished much since last week, but looking over my pictures, we've made a good deal of progress.

 First, the bathroom in the basement.  We were really hoping to have everything done by the end of last weekend, but the counter fitting took significantly longer than expected.  And we took several trips in to Menards and Lowes.  And we took our daughter practice driving on base and she sort of got pulled over by the Navy Police.  Mostly it was coincidence and he didn't use lights and we were in a parking lot and there wasn't any issue.  We got a fun story out of it.  

 Anyway, the bathroom walls are done and look great.  The toilet is back in, cleaned, and functional!  I may be most excited by this part.  The counter took a lot of lifting on and off because the drywallers built the corner out too much and it is out of square.  So my husband had to trim the quartz on one end to make it fit nicely.  I think we lifted that thing off and on four or five times and hauled it outside and back in a couple times.  But it's on.  

The next logical step would be to hook up the faucet, but I really wanted to see the light fixture on the wall.  So the light works and the plumbing hook ups and outlets are currently in progress.  I have cabinet knobs on order since the store only had three of the four I needed.  The only thing I still have left to buy is a mirror.  We debated getting a framed mirror since that is what is in style, but I have one upstairs and I hate it.  It collects all sorts of grime and dust.  I will purchase a big, beveled edge mirror because that is what I like.  Trends be darned.

In the sewing arena, I have now received all my Polaroid blocks.
Here are some I sewed for myself.
These are all the extra ones I have left.  I'm still open to side trades.
Here are all the diamond blocks that I am procrastinating on.  I was surprised by how yellow the fabric reads as a whole, although I'm happy to see it doesn't look quite as yellow in the photo.  Oh, and look--there are all those Queen Bee blocks that have been hanging around for a few years. The blocks that are left on that require appliqué or hand sewing.  Could that be why it's still unfinished???


I sewed up this quilt top from a kit I bought a few years ago.  There was supposed to be enough fabric  for the backing too, but they neglected to take into account that the fabric is directional. Duh.  So I am going to have to piece a backing somehow.  I bought a little extra fabric because I didn't like the flying geese main triangle fabric that came in the kit.  When I bought the extra fabric, it was a three fat quarter bundle, so I will probably try to make the extra fat quarters make up the difference on the backing.  Still, it is really annoying that they didn't give enough fabric to do it properly.
I went fabric shopping because I needed a few things.  (More below.) I was really happy to find some yardage so that I could make a backing for this quilt.  It's a great big one.  Not sure when I'll get to quilting it, but at least now I'm a step closer.
Finally, I joined another quilt along.  I didn't really need another project, as anyone who has visited my works in progress tab up above can attest to.  However, I'd been looking at just how much fabric I have and I was feeling pretty guilty over my excess.  I also was noticing how some of it goes together.  And I had seen mention of #DashAlong on Instagram and the quilt is one of my very favorite blocks, the Churn Dash.  While the pattern calls for a layer cake, I realized I had almost enough in my stash to do the entire thing.  I purchased four extra fabrics to balance out the colors.  There are so many different manufacturers in this--Riley Blake, Moda, Windham, Timeless Treasures, Cotton + Steel, Dear Stella, Kaufman, a few unknown (no selvage).  I hope it turns out well!  I'm terrible at envisioning a finished product.  It's not too late for you to join in too.  Just search for #DashAlong for the free pattern and details.
I'll be trimming HST for the rest of the week.  What are you working on?


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On My Table

Things are quiet around here.  My kids are still visiting their grandparents.

 Here are the Polaroid blocks I sent out.  I've received six sets, and am waiting on five more sets.  I also agreed to I think four side swaps, sent mine, and haven't received any back yet.

We bought a kit for this Elizabeth Hartman Nessie quilt and I made the top over the last few days.  The pattern is available for free on the Robert Kaufman website.  The fabrics are all Elizabeth Hartman fabrics.
I also started sewing this quilt.  I am pretty sure I bought the fabric and the pattern around 10 years ago.  The Fig Tree Quilts pattern mentions the newest Moda product, jelly rolls!  The fabric is Celebrate Spring by Sandy Gervais for Moda.  I'm going to made a tote bag with the pink and navy fabrics in the background at my next guild Sewcial.
R.I.P. John
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The Final Three

I finished three more quilts last week before the guild meeting.  I ended up with 20 entries in the drawing, and as a guild we finished 60 UFOs.  Even though I had 1/3 of the entries in the jar, I did not win the money.  Bummer.  At least I have 20 completed objects.

 Here are my three finishes.

 This first quilt is a mystery block of the month by Kimberly Einmo that was published in American Quilter magazine in 2005.  I had made all the blocks and then left them in a box all these years.  I think that happened because I had something turned differently than what the pattern required.  I decided no one would notice and just sewed them all together.  Those borders took me like an hour a piece!  I quilted it with a pantograph and machine bound it to have it finished in time.  It is stunningly bright in person.  It looks quite summery.  The outside border fabric is a Moda and was labelled "Classic Florals by Moda".  Not so many designer lines back then.  I'm not sure what this quilt's fate is yet.

Next is a Row by Row quilt from last year.  This is a kit I bought from Modern Domestic and had to wait until the end of Row by Row before they could mail it to me.  I had to add backing, batting, and binding, plus some extra black because I mis-cut a piece.  I think it's so cute!  I did ruler work on the long arm to stitch in the ditch and make the grid.  I'm planning to hang this in my sewing room, assuming it (sewing room) gets done sometime in the next decade.

My final finish is one of my favorites.  This is a kit I got on clearance from McCall's.  Score! The fabrics are Miss Kate by Bonnie & Camille and a printed, solid blue coordinate (white on the back, blue on the front).  The pattern was printed in McCall's and is called Bursting Star.  You can find it online.  I quilted continuous curve with a ruler through all the star points and drew a freehand design for the corners.  I just love how this turned out.  I think I want to hang this somewhere in my house.



We've had exceptionally rainy weather lately.  This is good, because we were in desperate need of rain.  It's not so great for trying to take quilt pictures or doing anything outdoors.  It stopped raining long enough the other night that we were able to go for a walk.  When we came back, we started to walk along the sidewalk in front of the house and almost got hit by a mockingbird flying out of the clematis.  My husband looked at the vine and found this nest.

So far this year we've hosted phoebes, house finch, a sparrow (those babies didn't meet a good fate), and now the mockingbird.  I'm sure there's lots more, but these are the nests we've found so far.  

We also have a hummingbird with a broken beak.  My kids have nicknamed him Chubs because he's quite portly and aggressively defends one of the hummingbird feeders.  His beak looks like a seam ripper right now.  I read that the beaks can be broken by flying into a window or fighting with other hummingbirds.  He seems to be able to drink from the feeder with no modifications right now.  We will let mother nature take her course on this one.

Other things happening right now:  kids are with their grandparents for two weeks.  I'm kinda bored.  I've been doing a lot of cleaning and tried out a new steam mop yesterday.  My hard floors feel so clean.  I'm planning to do a requested resize on one of my doll patterns.  I have a secret swap to work on for guild.  I'm finishing up my #PolaroidGreetingSwap3 blocks right now.  I'm hoping to get to the post office to buy international stamps tomorrow and then get both domestic and international envelopes mailed.  I'll share pictures of all the blocks soon.  Or you can check them out on my Instagram feed.  Link to right and up a bit. ---->

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Polaroid Block Swap

Now that I have finished my 365 Challenge top I'm sort of feeling at loose ends.  Last night I made all my Polaroid Swap blocks and I mailed off the stateside ones today.  Of course now that I've mailed some and the rest are sealed in envelopes, I noticed that one of the photos I took was all blurry.  My daughter was holding the boards for me and she hiccuped right as I took the photo.  Oh well.  

Here are the blocks I've received so far--the top left and bottom right came from New Zealand!
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