Choosing Shades

 My last post I had the conundrum, that I could not find a dark fabric to go with this piece.

I looked through my stash (and boy do I have a lot of green) and was not thrilled with what I came up.  This fabric is almost a Kelly Green with a lime color running through it.  I went to the quilt shop, and I put it next to all sorts of dark green batiks and did not like any of them.  I finally found this one and it was  slightly darker, and it was at least in the same color family.

The guild fabric is the bottom, the one I purchase is above it.  I made the block and it just did not have a whole lot of contrast.  The block is called Sunshine and Shadows.

At guild there were greens all over the rainbow, but none of them really looked good IMHO.  There were solids, some batiks, and even some polka dots.    I should have taken a picture to share how tough it was to find a complementary dark green. 

I also mentioned that Cheryl had shared fabric that looked like the one I had been searching for all over.

Mine is the small strip, and the one that Cheryl shared with me is the large piece.  Can you believe that it is about a shade or two darker.  I am going to use what Cheryl shared with me I don't think it will be really noticeable, and if it is I would put the two blocks made earlier will be put at opposite corners of the quilt. 

A Mini Finish

I haven't been getting a whole lot done, but I did have a mini finish!

I finally completed step 4 of the Allietare! no longer mystery QAL.

I am so totally stoked that I got through this step.  I then started step 5.  I need to make 98 of these units.

I have this step a little over half completed.  All I can say is I am glad that it was not a 12 step program or I would be working on it until my next birthday. 

I will also reiterate that blog friends are the best.  I had written here that I could not match the fabric which had been using for the Navajo block background.

Cheryl from Cheryl's Teapots 2 Quilting thought she had the same fabric and was wonderful enough to send it to me. 

 On the same subject of matching.  At quilt guild we have what they call the "friendship block" each month they give us a block and a portion of fabric and we are supposed to add fabric to make the block based upon their direction.  I was given this fabric.

 I am supposed to add a darker green, and a yellow to make the block.  I have dug through my stash and tried what seems like a bazillion different greens and none look good, even my batiks.  I may have to go on a stash acquisition search tomorrow. 

I know it is silly to be excited about just finishing a step in a quilt. Baby steps. 

In a Blink of The Eye They Are Gone

The little boys moved out today.  I will say it is a bittersweet day. 

The youngest daughter purchased her own home.  A new to her home.  Her original home she had acquired for free.  She worked to make it nice, but it was just too small, and it was about 45 minutes north of us in a not so great area.  The new home is literally as the crow flied 2 miles from us.  I am so proud of her, because she decided she needed something better and found it, and was brave enough to do it on her own.  I will still watch the boys, their mom will drop them off on her way to work, and pick them up on her way home.  The boys will still be able to catch the bus at the end of the driveway, and help the ancient ones by bringing in their mail, taking out the garbage, and feeding their pet chicken.  We will be able to do homework, work on our scout stuff, and other adventures which will come. 

This past week I fought the cold that DH had last week.  I did a wee bit of sewing.  This is all I am going to show. 

I am still working on sewing these units.  I think I have 8 more sets to go and then I will be able to move on to the next step. Whew!  I have also been working on sashing my farmer's wife quilt. I am still working on the layout after it had been shaken off of my design wall over a year ago. 

I cleaned up my sewing room a bit and have this pile to fold and put away.  I found it while I was looking for some purples which is the color for March's RSC.

These purples and lavenders are what I came up with.  I am not overly enthused with what I have, so I may be doing some stash enhancement. 

I did win a give away from Cat Patches.  Barabara lives in Oregon (reason 1 why I follow her helps me with when I get homesick because she always has some gorgeous photos).  She and her hubby have some wonderful adventures traveling (reason 2 why I follow her).  When traveling Barbara purchases fabrics that are from that area of the country.  The latest trip she stopped at a shop but could not get a fat quarter they would only cut a 1/2 yard, so she put up for grabs the other fat quarter that would be remaining.

Isn't it fun fabric?  She also included this fabulous quilty pin.

Other reasons why I follow her blog?  She makes some lovely quilts, does great embroidered quilts and has been quilting her own quilt also (reason 3), she shares some wonderful recipes and shares those recipes, gardens, and she is genuinely a great read.  The best part of her blog though is when she has a guest blogger which is normally one of her two feline friends Smitty or Maggie. 

Tonight it is quiet.  I will miss reading to the boys before they fall asleep.  I guess I will have to finish Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by myself. :( 

As Time Goes By

Time seems to fly by at warp speed some months and I will say that February is one of those months.  I missed my 500th blog post, my 3rd blog anniversary, and didn't even really want to do much for my birthday.   I think it is a combination of lot of things going on, maybe having a bug of some kind for a couple of weeks which threw my blood sugar totally out of whack, and just so much going on.  All I can think of is how would I manage if I worked a full time job? 

The daughter asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her some bins for my project. Maybe about 10.

She bought me 10 which are plenty big.  They are large enough to put a RSC block fabrics and instructions into each one.  DH has asked me what I want but I am just not too sure yet.  I mean I did get a new gas range a coupe of weeks ago to replace the one we had got on Craigslist for $50 a couple of years ago.

Lets just say that I love it, when I get to use it, since DH seems to love to cook all of a sudden even more than he cooked before. We have a high BTU burner, and a large center burner, which switches out to a griddle which means we can cook enough french toast to feed the thundering herd all at one time. 

I tried to order some fabric which matched the background I was using in the block Navajo for the RSC.  I only had about 1/2 a yard of it, and thought I should probably have a way to match- maybe not exactly, but kind of get close to the fabric.  I took a picture and did a google image search to no avail.

I thought I would try to match a Northcott Stonehenge.  I had a piece of the fabric and tried my best online.  This is what I ordered. 

I think this is too yellowy, not tan enough.  If it was just a little more tan it would work fine. Of course while I was shopping for that I decided to shop for fabric for the Bag Lady group for quilt guild.

This is Shabby Strawberry by Penny Rose for Riley Blake, and I actually did supplement the yellow solid from my stash, and it went perfectly. Normally I do not pick up a line of fabrics to use, I just build my own group.  I then had to choose a block,  I decided that my block for the year would be the Twinkle Star that Angela at SoScrappy used for the January Column Along as part of the RSC. (You can find her pattern under the RSC Sampler Tab.)  It was perfect because it was a 9 inch finished block.

 Along with my fabric order was another squishy package from my wonderful friend Barbara at Wont-to-Be Quilter. 

A cute card, some fat quarters and a charm pack of Scrumptious which I will say that the colors and patterns are truly scrumptious.  I may make myself something out of this one! 

Another good thing on my birthday is that I talked to my two daughters that live in Oregon, and while chatting with them I organized my 2 inch strips.

And drew a line diagonally across part of the 480 2 inch black squares for Allietare. 

I managed to only  get about 10 sets of these completed (A set consists of 4 red matching rectangles, 4 neutral rectangles, and 16 2 inch squares) I still have 20 more sets to go. I am making these fun units.

Yep my text fabric because I was using scraps ended up sideways in my block.  Oh well. 
I did want to share a pic of the newest grandson also.  This was the first opportunity that we had to hold him.

Maybe it isn't that life is going by any faster than it was previously.  It is just my life is so full that I forget to take a deep breath and enjoy the ride. 




 

February RSC Blocks

It is a beautiful cold, sunny day here in Michigan.  I haven't had much time for sewing for a couple of days.  We had a snow day...then Friday was a day that one came home sick.  Little boys are so needy.  Just sayin.
I decided that I would do a February wrap up of my blocks for the RSC.

Crown and Star

Saw Toothed Square

Fancy Foxes

Twisted Blossom

Navajo

Isn't it amazing how many browns I came up after my initial post lamenting about my lack of browns.  I did a little bit of stash enhancement, did some deep stash diving, and with a little help from my friends I managed to come up with plenty of browns to make my blocks.  I enjoy making these blocks and can't wait to see what color is for the month of March.

A Cutting Finish

Want to see what 480 -2 inch black squares?  I finally got all of the black squares cut, but I do need cut some red rectangles and then I will finally be ready to sew step 4 for Allietare.  . 

Between finishing up cutting the black squares I did do my last block for February for the RSC.  This one is called Navajo. 

The colors are Moda Bella Earth (the darker brown) and the lighter orangish tan is Ocher.  I spend more time pressing on this block than cutting, squaring up and sewing, but pressing really pays off, and all of those little HST almost simple using the Bloc_Loc rulers to square them up.  It is nice when you find a tool that makes things so much easier. 

Still Cutting

I cut again most of the day, and took some time to sew!  And dreamed of other projects. 

I need 480 black 2 inch squares for step 4 of the Allietare quilt before I can even begin to sew.  Even after cutting for a couple of hours I still need about 100 more.  Ugh!  But I did take a break from cutting and did sew a little.  Twisted Blossom which I chose fot the RSC, this is the brown one. 

The cutting for this block takes a bit, but once the parts are cut, it goes together pretty quickly, especially with a curve master presser foot.  Once I was done with this I went back to cutting my black squares, and then squared up some bonus HST which I have accumulated.    I have bags with  1 1/2 inch, 2 inch, and 2 1/2 inch HST, and a whole big plastic shoe box full of HST the that need to be squared up.

I will say that the Bloc_Loc rulers do help me square up quite a bit faster.  What I am going to do with them I do not have a clue.  I see a triangle quilt in my future. 

So doing the happy dance because I did sew today.  Tomorrow back to the cutting crew.