It's the last day of July, and I am away from home most of the week. I have redwork in the car, to work on while I travel. The project is an 8 block x 8 block square quilt of redwork squares, with a flower/leaves border on all sides. I'm at about 55 of the 64 blocks needed, and am working on the borders. Here's a picture of the four borders in their present state on my design wall:
Here's a closeup, as the picture above is too far away:
A rough calculation is that I need at least 10 flowers on each of the four
borders, and progress is as follows:
Border #1 10 flowers
Border #2 8 flowers
Border #3 5 flowers
Border #4 2 flowers
One way to look at it is, I'm at 25 flowers, and only 15 to go. I'm working on getting 2 more flowers on the second border, and then two borders will be at goal. Later I will figure out how to make the design pleasing in the corners where the side designs meet. As Miss Scarlett said, "I'll think about that tomorrow."
What are you working on this week? I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures. Please reference back to this blog post somewhere in your blog post, so people can go quickly back and forth between all the design walls. Thanks!
Recently, a blogger friend (Gail Sheppard, of "quiltinggail.wordpress.com") nominated me for the "Liebster Award". What does it mean? Well, the word means beloved in the German language. As far as I can tell, a Liebster Award means another blogger wants me to write a post about myself, and answer a few questions. Then I nominate other bloggers, and on it goes......maybe like a chain letter, but not. It is a way for bloggers to get acquainted.
So here are ten questions about myself that I have posed, and answered, so you may know me better:
(1) What challenges do I face as a quilt blogger? Irregularity.....no, not that kind of irregularity.....I mean I had no consistency in when I posted. But now that I'm hosting Design Wall Mondays, I like the schedule of posting every Monday. I so enjoy all of your posts, and seeing what you are working on every week, so it's a win-win situation.....and there are very few of those in life.
(2) What ridiculous quilty thing has someone tricked me into doing or believing? Early on, I was told, "Everyone must have a stash." If I could start over, I would buy far less fabric and and have a project in mind for fabric when I buy it. I now buy no fabric at all, and will be amazed if I eventually use all the fabric I now own.
(3) What's an example of a small change that I made that improved my life as a quilter? Here's one that pleases me: Recently, I hung a small basket filled with batting right next to the design wall, and filled it with flowerhead pins. It is so handy when I am pinning blocks to the design wall. Also easy to put pins back there when I'm done and they are right there when I need them again. Don't know why I didn't do this sooner.
(4) What is the most important thing I learned as a quilter to improve myself? I got more precise on 1/4 inch seams and I also learned to measure parts of a block before assembly of entire block. This came about as I did Jane Stickle blocks, and is why I sometimes refer to that quilt as "Quilting 101".
(5) What are the most common road blocks that stop me from finishing a project? I make a mistake in assembly, or decide I don't like how it is turning out, so I put it aside to think about it for a while. I've been thinking about some projects for quite a while.
(6) What kind of thread do I use? I'm not very particular. I do use cotton, or cotton/poly blend on most of my work, and use a neutral color on almost everything.....off white, white, taupe, or beige.
(7) What lie do I most often tell myself? I say, "This free internet quilt-a-long won't take very much time at all, and it will also use up some of my stash."
(8) What is one feature of my quilting life that is perfect? The weather! It's always a good day to quilt. My hubby is a golfer, and while the weather forecast sometimes doesn't look favorable for golfing, it's always a good day to quilt!
(9) What's the silliest quilting tool/invention that I have bought? Too many to list, but I no longer buy anything demonstrated at a quilt show. I will tell you that I have several rulers that are seldom used.
(10) What encouragement do I have for other quilters? Please don't fret about your "style" or "method" or "process". There are no quilt police, and there is no right way to do something. I sometimes cut blocks out the old fashioned way with scissors, just because I think it is fun to do. I won't ever have a fabric cutter machine, but I have no opinion of those who use them.....I just like to put my thumb and finger through rings on the end of the scissors handle and snip away. I am open to learning and trying new things, but only use the new way if the way I do it now is not pleasing to me.
I hope this helps you know me better, and if you have any other questions, you can ask me. If anyone would like to be nominated for a Liebster Award, I would be happy to nominate you.
I am on a much needed vacation this week, so my design wall has not changed:
We are on a trip to Mackinac Island and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and will be back home next week. I hope you have a more productive sewing week that I am having. I am looking forward to seeing what you are posting when I get back. What's on your Design Wall this Monday?
Today's not a design wall, but a pile of little quilts that I am putting labels on. I am not so good at completing that finishing touch of documenting my quilts. I'm wanting to improve that so I'm spending my sewing time today making labels for several little quilts.
Also, if they don't have a hanging sleeve, or hanging triangles, on the back, I'm sorting those into a pile to add that also. It's a day to work on the little finishing details. What about you, What are you working on today?
How to reward myself for doing a good deed? Start a new doll quilt, of course. I'm working on a snowball and nine patch doll quilt from a July challenge by a blogger friend at Huckleberry Stitches (Here) . It is going well, and a nice break from the Valentine quilt.
What was the good deed? An adult child came to visit and brought a "mending" task. Her dog had chewed up the back of three pillows, and would I please fix the pillows. I recited the adage "asking a quilter to do mending is like asking Picasso to paint your garage" but all the kids laughed because they know I will do anything for them. AND, they laughed at the thought of me being compared to Picasso. Humph! So two quilting days were spent fixing the pillows.....I do love my kids and my grand dogs dearly. Also, I did do a bang-up job on the repairs.
Work on the Valentine quilt while on vacation at the cabin has been a challenge. The pieces for the next 10 x 10 block were laid out on a beach towel in preparation to sew, only to have to roll up the towel and store it away when more family came to visit. Now the family has all gone back home, and the block is laid out again, ready to sew. What's on your design wall?
Happy 4th of July to those in the United States! Here's my favorite patriotic doll quilt.
It's 13 inches by 17 inches and each flag is made of three pieces of fabric, 2 striped pieces and one starred piece. I made it from old fabrics from my Mom's stash, which is why I like it so much. The flags are 3 in. by 5 in.
I'm on vacation and away from home, so no pictures from my design wall.
What's on your Design Wall?
