Slow Wooly Sunday Stitching

Earlier this week I was the lucky winner of a door prize at our guild meeting.

It was suggested that I use some of this Alexander Henry fabric to make the quilt that goes inside the cup....

....but I realized that I only had a piece of this fabric--not quite the same thing! 

I ended up making my little quilt from this Timeless Treasures novelty fabric--when I'm bored, I will always have something to read--lol!

It holds a lot more liquid than my Tervis cup--I'll be well hydrated now. 

My Linen Closet baskets are finished: I had lots of stitching time at the guild meeting Monday, a sew-in on Tuesday, and Applique Group on Friday. 

I'm using my pre-cut scraps for the Temecula Circa 2016 sew along. I don't always have the ideal fabrics in the scrap boxes, but so far I'm happy with what I've been able to put together. 

Today I'll be doing some Slow Sunday Stitching on the latest Buttermilk Basin Let It Snow block. Since I've been doing my letters in blue, I was able to make my cardinal a male. I'm really loving this project! 
Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

You Must Remember This....

It's been a while since I even thought about my wool hexagons from Stitch Society--out of sight, out of mind, as they say....

Look at this!! 
No, sadly, this isn't mine--rats!
My hexagons are still in a tub.
This beauty belongs to Sandi Tundel. Sandi has been leading a group making the Stitch Society hexagons at Eagle Creek Quilt Shop. 

I had heard that Sandi had her quilt finished, and I was about to email her and beg for some photos when they popped up in my mailbox. Even though we have never met, I consider Sandi one of my friends because we are kindred spirits, for sure!

Aren't they all wonderful?
I'm reminded of  how much fun they were to make and inspired to get mine out and do something with them. 

Sandi explains how she made the top:  
Each of the wool hexagons was sewn to an individual "quiltlet" that already had batting in it and then all the individual "quiltlets" were joined together by machine.
Wowzer!

Thanks Sandi for sending me photos and allowing me to share your quilt--I love it!

Midweek Report and a Block Board Tip!

Another week of the 365 Challenge Blocks has come and gone.

Kathy has been throwing in some of the six inch blocks this week. Imagine my relief when I finally figured out that the upper right block wasn't going to be 3" finished---whew! 

The ThimbleCreek Mystery blocks Clue 5. Yes, they are made with my nemesis--the Square in a Square components--sigh.
I kind of rewrote the instructions and used 2.5" and 1.5" squares and the "flippy corner" method to make them. I also made a 10" strip set and sub-cut to make the two piece components. It just makes more sense to my foggy brain to simplify things a bit!

When I teach the LeMoyne Star class, I always make a block design board for each student so they can keep track of their star pieces. In the interest of time, I don't usually add the cute hot glued "binding" though. At the February class, one of the gals, Linda, brought her own board that she finished with Duck Tape. Of course, I had to totally steal her idea for my March class!

My piece of budget foam core board from WalMart (88 cents!) gives me six 10" block boards that I cover using scrap batting and spray glue (I've also used glue stick with good results). I stick a 10" piece of Duck Tape onto my cutting mat and using my ruler and rotary cutter, I divide it in half  the long way so it's about an inch wide. 

I find it easiest to start on the back and stick the tape on using a scant quarter inch ...

...and wrap it to the front. Repeat all the way around the block board. In about a minute, your board is "bound"! No need for mitered corners either!

These newly made boards are so nice and clean, I'm tempted to keep them for myself! 

You can find a complete tutorial by Lori Holt HERE for design boards.

You can purchase design boards HERE 

Slow Sunday Stitching Options

Today I won't lack for some Slow Sunday Stitching goodness! 

I have labels to sew onto the backs of my two (yay!) finishes....

...and binding to sew down on one of them....

.....and if I get all that finished, I have the patterns reversed and ready to set up the latest two blocks of the Linen Closet Designs sew along for some "wooly" Slow Sunday Stitching!
Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching HERE 

Lotsa Lemoynes!

I taught another Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star Ruler class again this week and I remembered to take a few photos....

There were a couple stars made in patriotic colors......

perfect for Lemoyne Stars.

Two gals were working on this Laura Ingalls Wilder quilt using the new Little House on the Prairie fabrics from Andover. They decided to use their Lemoyne Stars from the class to replace one of the blocks in the quilt. They get their fabrics by mail each month from a shop in New Ulm, MN.

These are my Clue Four blocks from the ThimbleCreek mystery. 
I had a "V8" revelation about half way through sewing these--
Wow! I could have used the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler....duh!!

Last Friday's Temecula Circa 2016 blocks--new ones posted today!!

And another week of 365 blocks--I used up some stray half square triangles to fill my basket block.
The instructions come through to my email about 8 am every morning. Some days I make the block right away, but occasionally I end up "collecting" the patterns and make 3 or 4 at a time . I'm still pretty excited about this project--no "quilt fatigue" yet on this project! 

I have more to show, but it will have to wait for another day--happy sewing!!

Weekend Stitching

I'm plugging away on the Ryokan quilt,,,

The Design with Lines stencil is a big time saver. I just have to swipe across it with a chalk pounce and all my lines are marked. I've been free handing the roof shingles, so the guide lines are very helpful. 

It''s been a little stressful removing the chalk after quilting. I put Miracle Chalk in my pounce and in the Clover marking pen, but I can't really iron it away on the quilting machine--and I don't want to wait to see how the quilting looks. The Cherrywood fabrics in the little quilts and the narrow sashings haven't been washed, so I'm scared to death of migrating dye. I've been spritzing with water and mopping with a cloth--so far so good. I'm keeping the quilting on the houses (or Japanese inns, actually) pretty simple and when they all are finished I will go back and figure out the little Cherrywood quilts on the house fronts. They are the stars of the quilt, so need to have a little special quilting! 

I've been playing around with the row placement for my All in a Row quilt--I think this may be the one. 

Today, my Slow Sunday Stitching will be on my Flower Garden Crazy Mat until Downton Abbey comes on--I don't want to miss a minute of the finale!!!
Linking with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

March (already?) UFO goal

Finally, this is the month that I vow to finish Ryokan!
My March UFO:

This was a shop model for ages, and when it came home with me, it went into a bin for a couple years--it's about time it got quilted! 

Another week of 365 Challenge blocks finished--the center medallion counts as two days--I love it! 

Circa 2016 blocks--now making two of each.

I finished stitching my Little Wooly Baskets last night while catching up with Agent Carter. 

 Linking with OMG (One Monthly Goal) HERE