Sister's Choice Quilts

Ok Kids, Let's Sew

Ok, girls, let's rev up our engines and plan to make this adorable quilt!  Several of you guessed that this might be the pattern I was was going to be working on, and you were right.  You also asked if you could sew along!  Of course you can.  It will be so much fun to see what folks do with this amazing pattern that lends itself to any kind of fabrics!  Seriously, EVERYONE needs one of these hanging in their sewing rooms! 

We are being super casual about this sew along, with no deadlines or other restrictions.  It's summer and we want to go with the flow.  As you make progress with your Spools blocks/quilts, send me pictures and I will post them.  When summer is over, we will be done.

Here are the correct answers to my little giveaway quiz:  The pattern is Spools by Thimble Blossoms, the primary fabric I am using is a jelly roll of Marmalade  (although I may toss in some Bliss, Ruby or other collections that "go"), with some Vintage Modern thrown in for the spool tops (because yardage of Marmalade is not available to me at this time), and the gals who started the Sew Along idea with me are my friends Thelma from Cupcakes 'n' Daisies and Lisa from Stashmaster.

Several of you guessed correctly, but the first person to do so had the email address of mvorefamily @*********.  Dear mvorefamily, you didn't sign your name, but you were the first to guess the right answer.  Email me your address and this little goodie pack will be on its way to you.

Announcing A Sew Along

A couple of my friends and I are going to be doing a little sew along in the coming weeks, and I am pretty excited about it!  Would you like to guess what it might be?

Take a guess and on Wednesday I will announce the name of the first person to correctly predict just what project we might be launching into!  Giveaway!  Woo hoo!  A prize to the first person to identify the primary fabric collection and the pattern.  Additional prize to anyone who can guess the two individuals in blogland who will be sewing along with me.

BOM Rehab Monday

This is all I have to show for myself.  One block.  The lower one in red, yellow and green.  All I have been doing lately is working or chasing after the baby.  I got up at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning and staggered down to the studio to make the third block in the Designer Mystery 2011 BOM series.

Let's just say that I was very grateful for the excess of fabric that FQS sends with its BOMs this time.  The block doesn't look exactly like it should, but hmmmmm.

Yes, that's it.  I WANTED it to look this way.  That's right.  I MEANT for it to turn out like this instead of the way the designer intended.  Yes sirree Bob.

And I even made it to work on time.

 

 

Got To Change My Ways

Well.  I had my annual physical this past week and just got the results of my blood work. 

Let's just say I've had a bit of a wake up call.  Cut back on the carbs, eat more fresh fruits and veggies, consider exercise more than a theory, and maybe take a multi purpose vitamin.

I've never been a believer in vitamins.  Those big ol' horse pills that smell so funky?  Fuggetaboutit.  I get all the news I need on the weather report.  I mean, I get all the vitamins I need from my normal diet, right?  Umm.  Maybe not.

My doctor ordered a new test this time, one I haven't had before.  A test that measures the vitamin D in your body.  Have any of you had this test?  I had never even heard of it!  I suppose when one gets to a certain age, bone density, calcium, vitamin D is a concern. 

My level of Vitamin D was so low it is a miracle I don't have rickets.

So, major changes ahead.  Greek yogurt every day, vitamin D supplements, a multi vitamin, whole grains.  And no pizza deliveries for awhile.

 

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  I hope you are able to be with family, eat delicious food and see pretty fireworks after dark.  I have to work today, but plan to go hang out with Grandpa afterwards and have dinner with him.  My husband thought it was crazy to drive up from Monterey (where he works) and then turn around and go back 200 miles, so he won't be with us.  There oughta be a law against the 4th of July falling in the middle of the week!

As you see, I got the binding on my Doc Schnibble, and it is gracing my kitchen table.  So glad I made this one!

It's Official...

I am certifiably insane.  I have decided to hand quilt my Leap Year Schnibble.

So.  The hand quilting thing.  I decided to do it for a couple of reasons.  First, that wide expanse of lattice and border just calls out for something more than Stitch In The Vicinity of the Ditch.  Second, do you ever just want to get back to our quilting roots?  I think it has been going on 25 years since I hand quilted anything.   Time to re-explore that technique, and this little project is the perfect vehicle.

The quilting of the lattice and borders will go really fast.  Then, I just may machine quilt the blocks with a cross hatch pattern.  There isn't a rule that you can't mix hand quilting and machine quilting in the same project is there?  If so, I hearby break that rule.

I used my Frixion pen to mark the design on the lattice and borders.  I tell you, I was holding my breath while I was drawing those black pen marks on the pristine white borders.  Oh dear, what if it never comes out?  I kind of messed up with my tracing in one spot, wanted a re-do, and thought I would test the pen's ability to disappear when heat is applied.

No problem.  Love those pens.

Just a touch of a hot iron, and "Gone, baby, gone".

"I'm Leaping"

That is what my dad always says when we call him to dinner.  "I'm leaping".  As in "to my feet".  So, that is what I'm calling my little quilt.

Instead of 16 block squares, I made mine with 49 squares in each block.  Just liked the added element of complexity I guess.  They make a pretty mosaic, don't they?  It puts me in mind of the 60's when my mom was putting mosaic tiles on everything we owned.  Don't you feel if you step back a bit further, the little squares will show something representational, like a cow in a pasture or Abraham Lincoln in profile?  Ok, I am getting goofy now.

While reading about the Leap Year pattern on the blogs of others, I keep seeing two variations mentioned--a 16 patch version and a 36 patch version.  I thought I WAS making the 36 patch version, but as you see, my blocks have 49 little squares.  It looks like in my hurry to get this top finished, I neglected to actually read the pattern.  This is the sort of thing that happens when I stay up past my bedtime.

I have no idea how I managed to finish this.  It was a fun little project, but I started it at the eleventh hour, that's for sure.  I did stay up late and sewed by the light of the moon shining through the window of my studio.  Believe it or not, I have never worked down there at night.  I am a morning person, and staying up doing anything remotely productive after the sun has gone down is very much against my nature.  It felt strange to be wandering around in my back yard at midnight in my nightgown, going from studio to house for a refill of chardonnay.  Oh.  Maybe THAT'S why my blocks have 49 squares instead of 36.

The fabric I used was two charm packs of Farmer's Market, by Brannock and Patek.  Also, since I like to use these Schnibbles on my kitchen table, I cut down the size to nine blocks instead of twleve.  The blocks ended up being 7 1/2 inches square, the lattice was 2 1/2 inches wide and the border was 3 inches wide.  I think my finished top is around 32 inches square.  Don't you love that sprinkling of black throughout the top?  It makes things twinkle.  I was completely random in chosing my fabric placement, except to avoid putting the same colors right next to each other.

Even though this quilt top came out a far cry from the Leap Year pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, I really like my accidental variation.