Early morning serenity, a "To Do List", and 52 Finishes

All is calm and quiet this morning. A quart of blueberries picked,

 a batch of laundry finished.  I love these cooler temperatures which energize me and make me want to sew and sew.

I am progressing on my 52 finishes.  Two more rows for the blooming 9 patch.  

Two more borders for the "Lazy Sunday", a Bonnie Hunter scrap pattern found in her book, and in Quiltmaker magazine last year.  

All of the blocks completed for the "Bricks and Stepping Stones" top, another Bonnie Hunter pattern found on her blog and website under the free patterns tab.  

Two rows were completed as "leaders and enders" between piecing the last rows of "Lazy Sunday". 

Oh, did I mention that I enlarged "Lazy Sunday"?  Those who know me are saying, of course she did.  The math challenge called to me when I was cutting the pieces last summer in the hotel room in Martinsville, Virginia.  I think I told you THAT story, didn't I?

Well on to other matters of the day.  Block of the Month patterns for NBQA to finish.  Invites to the January Quilters Retreat to send out ( did you see the tab for the retreat at the top of the page?).  And more blueberries to pick at mom's house.

Have a great day!

Lazy Sunday on the Design Bed on May First

Lazy Sunday on the Design Bed!

But the bigger question is where will we sleep tonight?

Lazy Sunday peeking out from underneath.

I put batting down to serve as a "design wall" of sorts when I began to lay out the blocks. I just forgot that I had enlarged the quilt by two rows!  So the panic to finish the two end rows before the middle and my usual webbing of a quilt top now begins!

Where will we sleep tonight???

Happy May Day everyone!

One Month Later... And My "New" Sewing Space

I have not posted for 32 days, a little over a month.  There are many family issues which have been and are continuing to be draining.  So much so that the moments to sew are few and far between.  I do have numerous opportunities to hand sew but rare opportunities for machine sewing.  I thought today with the few moments I have at home, that I would re-enter the blogging world and bring you up to date on the UFO progress!

In my "new sewing space", created to provide opportunity for found moments for sewing, there are the following...

2 more blocks for "Lazy Sunday" left to do.

Numerous blocks for "Easy Street #2" needing to be finished.

Many pieces of several steps to sew on "Celtic Solstice", but I am caught up with the cutting for each step 1 to 4.

 

Working on cutting Step 5 now.

 

Since this is predominantly where I have been able to sew in those found moments, I am pleased with the progress of each project.  Thank you to Bonnie Hunter for providing patterns that fit into this new "found moments for sewing" lifestyle I currently am experiencing!

Life will continue to be crazy in the weeks ahead.  But I can trust that I will continue to be handed short segments of time to spend in my new sewing space. Life can be trying sometimes, but it also can be good.

Happy New Year to All!

Seasons on the Deck - 11/27/13 Style

  It is a dreary, rainy day on this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.  Preparations for tomorrow's family meal have begun on the island, but there is always time to take in the view from the deck.

The rain is falling and the wind is blowing, but I am snug and warm inside.

Sewing has taken a temporary backseat but much was accomplished last weekend at the annual retreat in Troy, New Hampshire at East Hill Farm.  Several UFO's bit the dust!

  

A quilt top was completed.

 

A tablerunner was quilted.

 

Another top was completed.  It still needs borders.

 

Another top completed but needing borders.

 

And finally, a completed top WITH borders

 (although they do not show in this picture since they were applied a bit later the next day).

It is hard to believe that three mornings ago I had finished breakfast and was sewing Block B of "Lazy Sunday" by this time.  It was a wonderful weekend and fun to remember on this dreary, rainy morning. 

I am thankful that I had that time to sew with wonderful quilty friends.  I am thankful for the time to reflect this morning.  Life is good.  I am thankful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Design Challenges

Or did you actually read the directions, Louise?

I have been working on  "Lazy Sunday " a Bonnie Hunter, four part Mystery Quilt featured in the four past issues of Quiltmaker magazine this year.  The sewing has been rolling along and progressing to the point of actually assembling the blocks (see this post for the first block assembly ). The other day I decided to work on the parallelograms that will make up the last border.

188 neatly sewn and nicely pressed purple parallelograms ready to be trimmed.

Nice huh?

Until you actually read the directions!

Half need to go one way and half need to go the other way according to the directions.  All of mine go one way - to the right!

Now comes the design decision.  

Leave them be and let them march around the quilt, all facing the same way.  (Oh, did I mention that I have already sewn the seam for the little triangles that will be cut off each corner?)

Or, do I un-sew half of the parrallelograms in order to have them march the opposite way? ( oh, did I mention that I enlarged the quilt so that I increased the number of parallelograms to accommodate the new size and was hoping my math was correct?)

Or, do I do something different?  Such as, let half march to the middle and then add a piece of background for them other half of the border?

Or, make new parallelograms (oh, did I mention that I have very little left of the purple fabric, only four pieces left of the original 18+ fabrics? I suppose I could go shopping but some of those original fabrics came from deep, deep in the stash circa 1980)

Or what?

Decisions, decisions.

If you have an idea, please leave a comment to let me know your idea.  There is a copy
of latest issue of "Quiltmaker's Quilts from 100 Blocks" for the winner who will be chosen randomly from those who comment.  The decision does not have to be made today, so you have until the 15th of October to comment in order to win.

Thanks for your help!

Update!!!!
I decided to make the needed parallelograms.  I cut some new pieces from my left over purples and took apart some of the ones going the wrong way.  This update comes to you in January and the needed parallelograms are about have finished!

8 Left to Sew

When I started to make "Lazy Sunday" (a Bonnie Hunter 4 part  Mystery Quilt which was presented in four of this year's issues of Quiltmaker Magazine) I did not really comprehend the finished size of the quilt as it was presented in the magazine.

Somewhere along the line, (in a hotel room in Martinsville Virginia actually, and that is another story!) when I began to cut everything out, I decided to increase the size of this quilt.

Increasing the size increases the number of blocks, which increases the number of pieces to sew to make the units to make the blocks!

So long story short, eight more block X's to make.

 

I will finish all 32 Block X's, instead of the 24 called for in the pattern, hopefully, by the end of today.

By the way, I have already increased and pieced the units for the borders and all of the unit 11's (was 92 in the pattern but now is 128 for the increased size).

Only the unit 6, 7, 8, and 9's are left to do.  I have been sewing these as Leaders and Enders today, so I have made a good dent in them.

But increasing the quilt size increases the numbers here also.  I am hoping to finish these units by the end of this week.  That will leave Block Y and Block Z to piece.

I have targeted the end of October as the completion date for this quilt top. I am hoping to push this project through and make my self-imposed deadline.

Why the pressure you ask?

Bonnie Hunter is introducing this year's Mystery Quilt about then.  I want to be ready to devote my time to that new quilt!

Time is a wastin'.... Back to piecing 8 more blocks!  

Sunday Morning Piecing on "Lazy Sunday"

The title of this post says it all!

Amidst the craziness that has been my life lately, I have found the best way to retain my sanity is to schedule in some sewing time each day.

Today, the need for sewing and the need for something not too mentally taxing resulted in my sewing the parallelograms for "Lazy Sunday".

I sewed until the bobbin ran out

.

Now on to other Sunday things.

What's on your Sunday agenda?