BOM Rehab – Early Start

Sep23

Linking up to Sinta’s at Pink Pincushion for her weekly BOM Rehab.  I completed Block 11 of the Birdie Stitches group by Little Miss Shabby.  That only leaves two blocks.  December and a replacement for June with a unique block that may or may not feature Hello Kitty eating playing with a little Birdie.

Birdie Stitches Block 11

I’ll have the MIL stars and stripes blocks connected into rows by tonight, so I’ll post tomorrow with an update on that and a picture of my growing yo yo collection in Tapestry.

See you then and thanks for stopping by,

Jennifer

Manic mode this week

Sep20

I think the changing seasons is getting me into a manic hyper drive mode.  I have lots of projects I want to start and finish and I find that I enjoy having several going at the same time on my tables.  Variety is always good and I can easily pick up something and get a few minutes done until ‘they’ discover I’m gone from their immediate vicinity.  “They” being my 4 and 5 year olds.

So – what’s new?  Well,… thanks to Sinta and her blog post from yesterday … I went on a hunt for a pattern called Yoyoville by Bunny Hill Designs.  Sinta is making hers from Whimsy fabric (Fig Tree).  I love the picture in the photo on the pattern (made with Simple Abundance by Bonnie & Camille)

… but I thought it would look great in Tapestry!  So … I have never made a yoyo before and the pattern strongly suggests that you get the Clover large yoyo tool.  So, with a coupon and a few dollars in hand, I picked one up on the way home yesterday from Jo Ann’s fabric store.  My only reservation is that I hate to see that extra corner fabric fall away and know I can’t really use it.  But the tool is perfect for charm packs, which I happen to have one of Tapestry already.  I’ll probaby bring in some Mill House and Patiesserie to make it extra scrappy.  First I’ll see if I can get all of these made before I buy the pattern and coordinating fabric (although I’m sure I can find some already in my house).  These little gems shrink down to 1 3/4″ in diameter when you are done.  The pattern calls for about 120 of them.

While I was at Jo Ann’s, I thought – … I wonder if I can crochet?  There is a Fusion Crochet thing happening on some blogs and I thought that it would be interesting to try one or two blocks to see how I like it.  I figured that it would be easy to do, but I haven’t learned that craft before.  I had a crochet needle, just needed some yarn, … and a book.  You can see my attempt to practice the single crochet and slip stitch on my little sample in the picture below.

I’m not sure I’m ready to start this yet.  I may have to do something like 3×3 charm blocks and join those larger ones together with crochet instead of the individual 5″ blocks.  To be determined…

Finally, a progress report on my Away From Home BOM, using Mill Girls fabric.  Still on the first block and finally got the main factory building done.  It was reverse applique to make the fabric appear like windows in the building.  That took me a VERY long time I think, compared to traditional piecing.  I had not really tried needle turn applique before and I’ll probably try converting to machine applique before I’m done with this block.  But – I’m proud of my results so far and ready to finish the factory building and do the sun and moon shape.

So – there you have it for this week.  Working on Birdie Stitches #11 (November/Thanksgiving theme) and worked a little more on the MIL stars and stripes quilt.  Really looking forward to a weekend at home with no duties or places to go.  Wish everyone a wonderful Thursday!

Jennifer

Busy, busy, busy!

Sep11

Lots of WIP and more started since last post.  I don’t know what I’m thinking … but I hope I’ll have this breakthrough moment when, after working a little bit on all of my projects each week, I’ll have several completed at once!

Here’s a look at what’s on my work surfaces right now:

 

1)  10 Little Things Baby Quilt – ready to pin baste and FMQ (free motion quilt)

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2)  Birdie Stitches Quilt – As of today, I have 9 blocks completed and one in progress.  I haven’t decided on the setting for this quilt yet.Image

3)  Forget Me Not Sew Along (hosted by Pam Buda).  This is where I am today.  We have the instructions for two more blocks as of last Friday, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.  Goal is to get those done before this Friday, when the last two block instructions will be provided.  I can do this!

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4)  The ever present quilt for Nora.  I finished putting on the inner border, but I need to cut out and piece the last border and get it attached.  Then it will be ready for quilting!

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5)  Away From Home BOM – just starting this in September.  The first few blocks will be all applique, which is new for me.  Going very slowly to try and make it look as good as possible.  So far, only half way through the reverse applique step of the mill factory rectangle with all the windows.

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6)  Other works in process… lots going on in this picture:

My MIL quilt – Stars and Stripes.  Almost done with the inner blocks and will piece them together, then just a couple of borders with four cornerstone star blocks.  I would say it has gone really fast, but I don’t sit down long enough at one time and work on it to get it done.  Hoping it might be possible to do it by the end of the month before we visit again.

The October Birdie Stitch block is shown here in process.

The latest Forget Me Not instructions are printed out and ready for cutting the fabric.

My nano needs to be charged and connected to speakers again that went missing (wonder who?)…

Coupon that came in the mail from Jo Ann’s Fabric.  I’m sure I’ll have a use for it soon.  Need some matching applique thread for the Away From Home BOM.

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So – that’s it!  I’ll show more details of each as they are near completion.  Have a great week!

Jennifer

Vacation week is over!

Aug27

My boss officially returned from his vacation today.  Therefore, my vacation is over as well.  Back to the grindstone!  Actually, he’s really easy to work with and is the best boss I have had in my career so far.  Not complaining a bit.

The munchkins are enjoying their last day of summer.  Tomorrow officially starts ‘school’ days and Oliver will be in Kindergarten!  I will share pictures tomorrow night or Wednesday morning for this monumentous event.  And a picture of his cracked/chipped tooth from trying to separate his Legos with his teeth.  That boy!!

I’m staying up with my sew a-long project from  Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts.  This weekend I completed blocks #5 & #6.  Here’s a picture of #4 that you missed last week and the new ones, and a group shot.  This brings me to the halfway point on the blocks for the sew a-long!

Forget Me Not Sew A-Long Block 4

Forget Me Not Sew A-Long Block Group 1-6