Sew Day and Pyramid Building

Last week my friends and I had the opportunity to get together for a day of sewing fun!  Joyce was in the valley for a few days to stay with grand kids.  We met at Diane's as her husband had surgery a couple of weeks ago and we didn't want him to be alone yet.

I made Crock pot Potato Soup and carrot cake for lunch so we were set to sew! And sew we did!

Joyce is working on four patches for a quilt for one of her grandsons.

Now doesn't she look happy!  She got all the ones she had ready to sew that day done!

Diane was continuing a tradition of working on a quilt she plans to enter in the Arizona Quilters Guild Show which is in March.  Yep, last minute, but she always gets them done! And they win prizes, too!

These geese are for the border of her flying geese quilt. these are actually the side triangles, the geese are from various prints that are used in the blocks of the quilt.

We are all working on hexie quilts.  This is the beginning of Diane's.  I had mine there, too, but have a lot more done on it now and have not photographed the progress -- next time.  Joyce did not have hers there that day.  She is working on a larger size hexie, but has now purchased the smaller one that Diane and I are using as she likes that size better now that she has seen our progress.

Joyce made this wonderful bag for me to use while working on hexies.  She made Diane another friend and herself one, too.  She's been a busy gal!

Just look at all of those compartments!  She had rolled up 2" strips of fabrics in the colors I'm sewing my hexie quilt in as an extra surprise!  I am loving sing this wonderful bag. Thank you, Joyce!

I was working on setting triangles for my Thousand Pyramids quilt.

All of the blocks are finally sewn together and the top 5 of the setting triangles on the right side.  None of the blocks are sewn into rows and the 7 setting triangles yet to be sewn are just pieces placed on the design wall.  This quilt began with an exchange of fabrics almost 30 years ago.  I won't say there are no repeated fabrics as there may be one or two, but not intentionally.  I think there were six of us who sent each other fabrics 10 per month in the color of the month until we had a thousand fabrics.  Since we sometimes bought the same fabrics, there may be some that are the same.  I'll tell the whole story when the quilt top is done and ready to be off the design wall!

I need it off the design wall so I can put Celtic Solstice up there! All the blocks are done.  All of the pieced border blocks are done, but none of the rows have been sewn together.  It's on the list, but first I want those pyramids off the design wall.  My design floor doesn't allow me to check out the blocks as well, but I have decided that an Oriental rug would look lovely on the floor in the loft once Celtic Solstice is finished!

So, I'm making progress on 3 quilts.  Yay!

Until next time,

sosoSOSOsoso

Lois

A Sew Day and What I've Been Doing

My sister called a couple of weeks ago or maybe more to ask where I've been.  She says she keeps up with what I'm doing mostly through my blog.  Yes, that means I'm not a very good correspondent and I rarely call anyone.  It's not that I don't want to, but we live across the country from each other and there is that whole time difference.  Arizona doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time, so half the year there is a two hour difference and half the year it's only 1 hour.  By the time I decide I should call in the evening, it's too late where she lives.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Seriously, I've just been busy with this that and the other.  Here are a few of the things I've done in the past few weeks.

First I was invited to a sew day at Evelyn's.  Evelyn had just returned to Arizona from Wisconsin where she spends part of the year.  She is not exactly a Winter Visitor as she has a home here, but it is just a lot cooler in the Summer in Wisconsin and she has a home there, too!  She and several others get together occasionally to sew and this time, they asked me to join them.  Though I was only able to stay part of the day, it was a great time and I got a lot done, too!

 

This is Evelyn busily stitching away.  Evelyn does mostly art quilts.  She is collaborating with a Wisconsin quilter and they enter quilts in shows together.  Her house is chock full of quilts on the walls and draped over furniture.  There is a LOT to see at Evelyn's house!

 

 

This is Judi.  She makes the most incredible miniatures you would ever want to see!  She was hand piecing the most amazing mariner's compass block.  And it was for Sue!  Judi's work is accuracy with a capital A! Tiny pieces with sharp points to die for!

 

 

Tari was piecing blocks. Her lamp is in the way, so we cannot see them.  I cannot remember what block she was working on. She kept her nose to the machine and worked away all day!

 

 

Sue was busy squaring up her applique blocks.  Sue also is a long arm quilter and probably produces more quilts or quilt tops in a year than anyone you know.

 

 

Here is a close up of one of the blocks Sue was working on.  There are pieced blocks in the quilt as well.  It is a lovely soft palette and will be beautiful when completed.

 

Also present was C.J.  She is Sue's cousin and arrived later in the morning.  Her name isn't really C.J., it is Judy.  Since there was already a Judi in the group and since this Judy is Sue's cousin, the group refers to her as C.J. which is short for Cousin Judy as it's less confusing that way.

 

And what was I working on that day?  Sewing the blocks together for this quilt.

 

 

Since that day, I have set the strips together and shortened the vine strips as the star block strips were not quite as long.  Remember I did the vine strips when I was teaching vine and leaf applique so the quilt had not been designed at that point.  I just randomly selected a length for the vine strips.

 

 

The first border has just been cut and placed on the design wall.  It is not stitched yet.  I really like the multicolored striped on the black for this inner border.  Stay tuned for what the outer border will be.  I also have a tutorial almost ready on how to hand piece eight pointed starts that will be coming soon as well.

 

In addition to doing that, I unstitched in excess of 1,200 inches of quilting in the border of another quilt.  I was just not happy with the way it looked so it had to go.  Here is what replaced it.

 

 

It is finally bound and ready to go.  As it is 100" by 100", it took a bit of time to do all of that picking out stitches and re-quilting! I cannot show you the rest of the quilt as it will appear in a magazine.  I'm still working on the directions for it.

 

So that sort of brings you up to date.  I will try not to take such a long leave from my blog again.  I really missed you and hearing from you.  You make my day when you leave a comment so please let me know what you have been doing or what you think about what I've been doing.

 

 

Until Next Time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois















Mini Quilt Retreat

Three friends in a cottage in the woods with fabric and sewing machines -- what could be better than that?  For three and a half days last week Diane, Joyce and I sewed and talked and laughed and shopped and ate!  What a lovely time we had.

Diane and I drove up to the mountains to Joyce's little cottage last week.  In case you think Arizona is all desert and cacti, here are a few photos to show you a different side of Arizona.

Diane was driving which left me free to take photos through the windows.

The views are breathtakingly beautiful!

The lower areas still have rocks and cacti.

It makes one wonder how and why the west was settled!  Can you imagine going through this rough terrain in a covered wagon or walking?

I would have stayed here -- so cool and beautiful!

We were at above 7,000 ft and in the cool, refreshing 70's!

When we arrived, the property was covered with trees that were a bit shorter than the tall pines we traveled through.  We also passed areas where regrowth was just beginning where forest fires had claimed many acres of trees.

The garden keeps the larger critters out, but a squirrel had to be chased out shortly after we arrived.

The squirrel got the ripe tomatoes.

I loved the remains of this felled tree.  Stumps and logs have always intrigued me.

They are ready for the colder weather which will arrive soon at that high elevation!

This is the view from the back deck.  If you look closely at the center on the horizon line, there is another home.  There were closer homes on the other side, but no windows there, so it seems very private and remote!

As soon as we could, we set up our sewing machines and were humming away.  Well, we did stop to talk and laugh, too.

We each have our organization styles.  This is Diane's.  She was quite far in her project, so these are the smaller pieces yet to be joined.

Joyce had already started her project and had things all laid out to sew.

Mine was a new project, so I just had all the parts cut and in the container ready to begin chaining pieces together.

Diane is working on one of the snowball blocks to go with the stars on her quilt.

When I wasn't taking photos, I was making chains for an Fall colored quilt.

Lots and lots of chains.  There was bright sunlight streaming through the window behind me.

These are Diane's star blocks.  She had all of these done by the time we left, as well as all of the snowball blocks.  She was working on the bonus half-square triangle units from the snowball blocks by the last day.

Joyce's little bow tie blocks are tiny!  She will be making bow ties for a long time!

I only completed one of the dark blocks to see what it would look like.  The alternate block is the opposite - dark where the light is and light where the dark is.  Oops, I sewed way too many of the light 2" squares to the ends of the 6-1/2" rectangles.  I un-sewed these on the way back home!

A retreat isn't complete without chocolate.  Wednesday was my day to cook, and this was our dessert for dinner.  I learned that candy coating melts differently at a high altitude!  Some of it burned.

Still these look pretty cute, don't you think?  They were tasty, too, although the candy cup was a bit too sweet for me to finish.  But, it's all in the presentation, right?

All too soon it was time to head back down the mountain to the heat of the desert.  At least we had a few days of cool weather and a TON of fun with friends.

Do you go on retreats?  Do you get a lot done or are you there mostly to socialize?

Where is your favorite place to go and get away from the routine of your life?

Please share your favorite get away.

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Frenchy Wreath and Sew Day

A few weeks back Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict painted a rooster she had found with chalkboard paint.  I loved it and remembered that I had a similar rooster tucked away in a box in the garage.  I got it out, but was dismayed to find that mine was molded a bit so writing on it with chalk would not work.  The rooster, however, looks great painted in the black chalkboard paint even if a message would be hard to do.  My rooster was formerly verdigris and I like him much better now.  Since I could not write a message on him and hang him on a doorknob, I set him down and he ended up laying on a wreath I had bought at the Dollar Tree and had not used in a project yet.

Here is the result after a little twine was added to the rooster and wreath.

This wreath will get us through until it's time to decorate for Fall.

Yesterday Diane invited Joyce and me to come for a sew day.  We sewed and laughed, at snacks and Diane prepared a lovely lunch of chicken saladon a croissant and fresh fruit - yum!

The oatmeal cinnamon chip cookies were center stage with Diane's snippet bag. Joyce takes the snippets and stuffs pillows with them.

Diane was working on this lovely fabric -- looks like desert colors, yes?

This is a group project.  She is making the square blocks and others are making star blocks.  Shhh, it's for a gift, so can't tell any more.

Diane designed the quilt in EQ 6, a  computer quilt design program if you don't know what EQ 6 is.

Joyce finished the last few pieces of one project and started another, unfortunately, there wasn't really any way to show what she was working on at the stage it was in.  Don't you love how Joyce smiles with her whole face!  I sure do!

I was working on piano key borders for the pastel log cabin quilt. It's hard to get the color right as Diane's dining room is in the middle of the house with not a lot of natural light.  The overhead light was on which made things look a little off in color - sorry about that.

Everything starts out organized, really it does.  We just get into our projects and make a mess.  Next week we are having a mini retreat at Joyce's cottage in the mountains.  Oh, I hope it is cooler! It's supposed to be 113 today!

In the afternoon we took a little trip to the nearest Goodwill.  Joyce found books for her husband and a red sheet and a black print sheet to use in a rag rug she is making for the cottage.

I found a bunch of stuff to use in future projects - a wood tray, an ironstone plate with cobalt blue flowers, and a silver goblet among other things.  You'll get to see them soon.

A day with friends is such fun.  Hope you have those frequently!

I also hope it is cooler where you are - thank goodness for AC!

Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Sew Day Duet

What a week it has been.  I didn't get home until Monday afternoon from being in Tucson that I told you about last post.  Tuesday I did a little catch up and since Wednesday I've had 3 extra people in my house -- two grandchildren and their dad (our son).  There's been a lot of cooking and picking up after which leaves very little time for sewing or blogging!

The week before on Tuesday, Diane and I had a sew day.  Usually it's a trio, but this time it was a duet, just the two of us as Joyce will spend most of the summer at her cottage in the cooler parts of Arizona!

Diane was working on one of her "trailer" quilts -- so named as they are for their little camping trailer.  As you know camping trailers are lacking in space and big on multi-use spaces and almost NO storage!  New quilts to fit the space were necessary, right?

This has been Diane's "sew day" project the past couple of times we've sewn together.

It's a little hard to see, but she was adding sashing strips.

There were a few more in her container.  She has actually now made three quilts using this pattern and fast piecing method, but all were joined with different types of sash strips - one with black which was gorgeous, one with double sash strips and this one with single sash strips that are twice as wide as the double sash strips on the previous quilt top.

I had no projects at the stage I wanted to take along, so, of course, I started a new one!

I have been wanting a different quilt for what will be my office some day when I don't have grandchildren sleeping there!  And I have quite a stash of 1-1/2" strips.  As I want this to be more or less pastel, I grabbed only the lighter strips to take.  I cut 2-1/2" yellow fabrics for the centers.  I like the jagged edge these give to a log cabin.

First strips ready for pressing with my little Clover ironing tool.

Lots of yummy yellow!

Here's a chain with round 4 attached.

This is the muslin protector strip I use when I press each round.

The muslin protects my ironing board cover from all the spray starch I use.

After pressing, it's squaring time.  See those little jagged edges?  They have to come off to keep the blocks absolutely square from round to round.  I do this after all 4 sides have been added each time.

The fifth strip has been added in a chain and ready to be pressed.  Actually at this writing they are pressed and ready for the sixth strip, but I didn't take a photo of the stack of blocks.

It would be nice to have a lot more, but I'm not a quilt in a day kind of girl anyway.  I like having more than one project going at a time.  Is that weird?  I think maybe I have Quilter's ADD and need to have a new project going all the time to keep from getting bored or antsy.  I'm a bit suspicious of those quilters who can work on only one project start to finish, aren't you?  It just doesn't seem natural to do every last stitch before starting something new.

Hope you are having a fantastic Friday!

xoxoXOXOxoxo,

Lois