of cleaning, quilting and Shamus Shaving

Fresh Oliver with auntie Jaz (with fabulous green hair) and mama Tab…cuteness! I’m guessing this photo is from December 2004 or January 2005…found this while making room in Oliver’s room for his new loft bed…AW…little puddin’ heads!

The Quilt with a View is totally complete and hanging in it’s new home…kinda wiggly…have cords behind it so I really can’t attach it in a totally flat square way…Oh Well…I finally have color in my cubicle! Took about a month start to finish and I think it turned out fabulous! I’ll stop patting myself on the back now…lol…August 27^th 2012

Shamus before his hair cut…mighty shaggy and as Jim puts it Hippy like… August 25^th 2012

Shamus looking spiffy after his hair cut…a little shy being naked and all…August 25^th 2012

Shamus wanting some of Jim’s supper…August 26^th 2012

Favorite Quilt Block Patterns

Which block patterns do you just LOVE to piece for your quilts?!?

Hmmm let’s see…one of the first blocks I learned was the Hole in the Barn door or sometimes called monkey wrenchhttp://www.jeannesquilting.com/free/barn.html I really like this block because it is so versatile, you can use 3 or more colors of fabrics…even mix and match the outer triangles so the completed quilt top will have even more design to it!

Next would be the Square in a Square (in a square in a square infinity) I bought a pattern called tropical depression which turned out to be a simple square in a square block pattern, but once you got all your block pieced your top looked like wee hurricanes…I’ve also used this pattern as an eye spy with a different fun belly button for each block and all different outer triangles to add to the flow of movement across the top.

I love the idea of eye spy quilts for babies and children…so much that I had my sweet hubby make me different geometric shapes out of Plexiglas to make fussy cutting easier…once I get enough sashing added to the center shape I plan on trimming them all square, slightly wonky…this will be a fun quilt for babies and kids alike!

Since I’ve become a paper piecing fanatic and so love the ‘perfect’ look of the completed blocks I’ve searched high and low through books and the web for as many patterns as possible, I should be kept busy well into the next millennium lol…Houses and trees are my current passion…I have growing piles of each so one fine day I’ll have 2 tops made, one of pink and purple houses, the other will be a sprawling pine forest full of fabulous greens and earthy brown with peeks of blue sky…my own personal old grove forest if you will!

 

Well there are my bits of block insanity, what are your favorite blocks or patterns to work with in your quilted happiness?!?

Sewing Adventures of a 3 day weekend

• Who could have thought I could actually get so much accomplished in a mere 3 days?!?

 

Found these blocks while tidying my fabric stash, Jim made the template for these out of Plexiglas for me so I could get a consistent sized house…yes houses again…I had already put the sky pieces on these and put them away…got this fun laundry day fabric for no apparent reason and wa la the next quilt I’ll be sending out to be quilted…this quilt is about 45 inches by 54.5 inches…couldn’t locate the tape measure so I had to use my ruler…I’ll have to bring this with to the quilt shop to locate the perfect backing… August 11^th 2012

Home is Where the Heart is quilt getting ready to be sent out to be quilted at Rose of Sharon in CAhttp://roseofsharonstudio.blogspot.com/ this is quite a leap for me…I’ve never (and still don’t) think my quilts are good enough to warrant being professionally quilted…but I figured lets give this a try…I’m much faster at piecing than quilting and this way I can get more quilts donated… J August 10^th 2012

Next box of sock beasties being sent to Operation Sock Monkey in Canada…http://www.operationsockmonkey.com/ yeah I know they aren’t all monkeys…one kinda looks like a bear, and there’s a bunny and an Oonie in there…on and a Kitty made out of Hello Kitty socks…I think they’ll all get some love! Boxed up and shipped on August 11^th 2012…

Pile of out going fabric happiness…monkeys and fabric RAOK to quilter friends… August 11^th 2012

What’s fabulous is I got this on my face book page…here’s one of my moneys getting his new friend…As my heart swells to popping…I’ll have to squish in some more monkey production between quilts to keep those monkeys going! This is why I make stuff to send away…heavens I am so happy this wee beastie made of socks and stuffing will be keeping this little person company! August 13^th 2012

QWAV (Quilt with a View) is coming together quite nicely! All the block patterns were found in the book: 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Block Patterns by Carol Doak.  The disk for the computer that came with the book is great, you fill in the finished size block you want, hit print and there ya go…perfect blocks every time! August 12 2012

QWAV (Quilt with a View) quilt top COMPLETE (happy dance)! All the block patterns were found in the book: 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Block Patterns by Carol Doak.  Seems to be hanging funny, I used thin iron on batting for this project as it will eventually live in my cubicle at work.  It measures 34 inches by 35 inches before I finished the edge…LOVE this it is turning out just like I wanted it to! August 12^th 2012

QWAV (Quilt with a View) wee quilt hanging on the line…I dare say yanking 6 strands of embroidery floss through Batik is not easy at all! But the clothes line look dandy as to those tine wooden clothes pins…total cuteness! August 12^th 2012

QWAV (Quilt with a View) peeking Shamus! I just knew I had one lone Shamus schnauzer left and thankfully I found him before my head exploded…hate when I know something exists but can’t find it…well here he is hiding in the drying wash…I’ll know he’s there but I can’t say as anyone at work will think to lift the tiny quilt to see who’s behind it… August 12^th 2012

paper piecing with Shamus

Quilt with a View potted flower block # 2 …with fabulous purple mini ball trim…I trimmed the fabric too close to the seam put my finger right through it when I removed the paper…think the trim makes it a little cuter…pattern from the book 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Block Patterns by Carol Doak this is pattern # 103 this block is 2.5 inches square complete. August 4^th 2012

3D flowers for the Quilt with a View… the center flower was made using 2 inch squares rather than circles for the petals…they will all have some sort of button for their middles when they are attached to the quilt. August 4^th 2012

Quilt with a View birdhouse # 1…this one is 4 inches square complete… pattern from the book 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Block Patterns by Carol Doak this is pattern # 054. August 5^th 2012

Quilt with a View birdhouse # 2…this one is 4 X 6 inches complete… pattern from the book 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Block Patterns by Carol Doak this is pattern # 054. August 5^th 2012

Yet another layout of the Quilt with a View…will be using some of this blue batik as the sky…the rainbow will fill a bit of that massive empty space in the upper right corner…think it will be a bright and fabulous addition to my rather drab cubicle! August 5^th 2012

Shamus is on the mend…occasionally he’s back to his silly self…he finally sleeps in the bed with us again…and he puts himself in the way when I’m sewing… August 5^th 2012

Frappe’ of Giggle-ee-tude

3D flower 1^st try…

turned out adequate…next time I’m going to use larger stitches to try to get the belly button a bit tighter…this one (with the button) will probably go onto the quilt with a view since I made it with batik fabric…I’ll have to make at least 2 more so it will look fabulous, perhaps mix in one green petal to look like a leaf. August 1^st 2012

Look what Olivia can do…she is in such a hurry! She’ll be driving by next year! August 1^st 2012 she’s almost 9 months old!

Quilt with a View flower # 1, there will be 2 and they’ll both be different…you may have noticed the green background…these will be on either side of a sidewalk leading from the front door of the house on a lawn…I know what I want it to look like…lets hope it gets close! Block pattern from 300 paper pieced quilt block patterns by Carol Doak this is block # 103 this block is 2.5 inches square complete August 1^st 2012

Shamus so shaggy I can’t see his eyes any more…Hair cut on Saturday! August 1^st 2012

Look what greeted me this morning when I put Shamus out…a wee family of spiders hatched in the entryway…think I’ll leave the outside door open for a bit so they can find their way outside…they’re so tiny I don’t want to try to move them by hand…smaller than pin heads! August 2^nd 2012

sew many tiny houses

So many tiny houses quilt contemplation…have you noticed I make an awful lot of house quilts…hmmmm…subconsciously want a house?!?

OK a decision has been made…well…basically made…I have 31 house patterns of assorted sizes larges will be 12 inches square complete, the smallest is 2.5 X 2.5 inches complete…SO this will be quite interesting adding sashing here and there to get this monstrosity to work…not to mention this will take quite a while to accomplish since all the houses will be pieced by hand…some look relatively easy others have more pieces than I care to count at the moment…BUT the decision on the color(s) has been reached by kinda popular vote…allot of people like purple andpink so 15 houses will be pink and 15 will be purple, the biggest house (or the bellybutton of the quilt) will bepink and purple, all the houses with windows will have blue windows (for all the blue voters) and assorted shades of doors and roofs (the door and roof will both be from the same color family), green grass (dur) where present and all will have shades of night skies

Note: sad little graphic…this is one of the house patterns…all the houses do NOT look the same…in fact some are not houses…there’s a tent, a mushroom abode, a castle, a couple dog houses, a few bird houses and one rather odd mobile home trailer of my own devices …but you get the picture… frappe’d August 1^st 2012…completed…HA!!! Some day and I will celebrate when that happens!

Quilt with a View in the works

A Quilt with a View: three fabulous paper pieced trees from 300 paper pieced quilt block patterns by Carol Doak block # 044 four inches square finished July 27^th 2012

Back of one of the trees for the QWAV art quilt before I removed the paper July 27^th 2012

A Quilt with a View: the House with a heart block from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. Block # 117 enlarged on copier to 10 inches square.  Finished July 28^th 2012

A Quilt with a View: Here comes the Sun block from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. ‘Sun’ = block # 169 (I know it really doesn’t look like a sun, but I think it does the hint of rays quite nicely) 7.5 inches square. I think it will give the impression of the sun in the finished quilt. July 29^th 2012

A Quilt with a View block layout thus far…wow…my carpet is UGLY…think this looks pretty neato so far! All paper pieced blocks from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. July 29^th 2012

quilt with a view

yesterday I posted wee paper pieced trees, this is what they will be going into

Quilt With A View contemplation: mostly paper pieced blocks of assorted sizes smallest being 3 inches finished.  All paper pieced blocks from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. House = block # 117 enlarged on copier to 10 inches square, Trees X 3 = block # 044 four inches square, Bird houses = block # 054 (one 4 inches square one elongated to 6X4), Flowers in pots X2 =  block # 103 three inches square, ‘Sun’ = block # 169 (I know it really doesn’t look like a sun, but I think it does the hint of rays quite nicely) 7.5 inches square. The 3D mini quilt which will be attached at the top only will probably something of the postage stamp variety with iron on batting so it hangs rather flat yet floppy…I’ll probably appliqué a wee cat or dog behind it because I can.  The rainbow will be made of left over strips from other quilts, stripes going the way indicated, vertical rather than horizontal; I should be able to get an entire rainbow’s worth of color in then. I’m thinking perhaps I’ll put 2 layers of batting under the rainbow so it can almost be Trapunto but not really…all fabrics used will be mostly batik except the rainbow and the mini quilt. The green grass will actually be fabric that looks like grass with clovers in it.  The blue sky will be assorted shades of blue, teal, sky colored batik. The quilt’s outer border will be brown/hopefully wood grain to look like a window sill. So when it’s all done I can have a quilt with a view at work since I don’t have access to an outside view. Haven’t decided if there will be prairie points or not yet… As of 7/24/2012 I have 2 trees done…this may take a while!

finally some quilt making!

Kris’ heart WIP and completion for my All Who Dwell in my Heart Quilt J made this one out of all flowers forher fabulous gardens…I finished the paper piecing at Quilt till ya Wilt at Heavenly Patchwork in Waconiahttp://www.heavenlypatchworkquiltshop.com Pattern is free and can be found at:http://www.paperpanache.com/free/guestpats/aheart.htm I blew it up a bit on the copier…paper pieced by hand…that’s how I roll…I added the ribbons by machine and hand embroidered Kris and her adorable daughters Emma and Ella. Completed April 31^st 2012…about 8.2 inches square.

Paper pieced heart WIP for my All Who Dwell in my Heart Quilt…this one is Cass and her grunions Sully and Zoe…used a bit of black Minky for the heart then there’s corduroy and there will be another chunk of textured black too…I met Cass when she was 3 and Tabitha was 1 ½ years old…Cass a frass has always been a cutie patootie…greatest memory when she was little was a LONG walk with my now X, Cass, her mom, her little sister Robyn and my kids…the X thought it would be cool to carry Cass on his shoulders…thankfully it was a super hot day so when she wet her pants he thought he was just sweaty…giggle…thanks for making a really fun day Cass! You did what I think we all wanted to! Massive LOL…started at Quilt till ya Wilt at Heavenly Patchwork in Waconiahttp://www.heavenlypatchworkquiltshop.com Pattern is free and can be found at:http://www.paperpanache.com/free/guestpats/aheart.htm I blew it up a bit on the copier…

3-30-12

Sock monkey blocks laid out…this will be a monstrous quilt if I add the border I have cut and ready to go…contemplation…3-31-12

Sock Monkey BABY quilt top complete…yup changed my mind once again…there are babies being born this year one of which could probably use this…so I’m going to add red with yellow bananas prairie points to it and quilt it by machine…perhaps add some hand work to the big blocks…currently it’s about 55 inches square giver or take…4-1-12

WEEKEND OF BUSY

Quilt I whipped up for Oliver’s preschool teacher Natalie who will be having a baby girl soon.  Bunch of 6.5 squares sewn together to make a 42” X 48” lovie, machine quilted with a

Tie Dye backing (I did the dying) finished up with multicolored prairie points. 11-7-10

Shamus extreme eye close up…I was trying to capture his incredibly long eyelashes…they’re like 2 inches long…freakish! 11-7-10

7 little paper pieced pine tree Yule ornaments…sigh…I don’t think I’ll make it to the 10 I was trying to accomplish… L 11-6-10

my WIP (work in process) blocks…I hang them behind the sewing machine so their always glaring at me to COMPLETE a project…eventually… There are the crazy paper pieced heart blocks for my ‘Those Who Dwell in my Heart’ Quilt…a group of swap blocks and blocks I’ve made that turn out larger than 12.5 square…some paper pieced blocks that are waiting for a quilt to live in, some signature blocks for the massive blocks when they grow into quilts and Halloween swap blocks…have 2 so far…this quilt may take a while to accomplish… 11-8-10