Linky Party Tuesday....

Good morning!  It's beautiful here today....almost 50 deg., and of course we're back on the road soon for some appointments in Northern Virginia, but I'm hooking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River for Linky Party Tuesday.

Here are a few of the things that were on my design wall this weekend:

I've got eleven blocks done for the "Sew Red for Women" year-long "sampler" quilt.  Just waiting for block 12 to be released.  I substituted one block (3rd down on the left) for one of the published blocks, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Connie supplied a great tutorial for that, so I  shamelessly stole it.  Of course, I'll have some shifting around to do to get the best layout, but I must admit, working with these reds, pinks, and white always cheers me up.  I found this fabric to use for sashing at Patchwork Plus the other day:

Pink and red polka dots.  What's not to love?

I got a few more Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks done.  I think I'm aiming for 20; I have 12 finished:

I can see that I'm going to have to swap out a few blocks; that one in the middle top is just too dark compared to everything else.  Sigh....even scrappy has to have some order for me.

I've finished the longest (middle) row of Easy Street; only 3 rows to finish.  This is starting to look achievable, but I still have some assembly to do.....maybe I'll be able to take a photo by the weekend.

Our son and DIL want a "cherry blossom" themed wall hanging for their guest bedroom.  Since they have finally found a house, I decided to get back to work on this.  I have a sashiko panel done, and an idea that involves 3-dimensional cherry blossoms.  This week I played with my "Kanzashi 5-petal flower maker."  Here's the result:

This was just fun to do.  I'm not real big on "gadgets", but this will probably give me what I want.  I tried to do 5-pointed origami flowers, but they weren't working for me.  Don't you love the subtle shade gradiations in that fabric?  I have no idea where I got it, but I have enough to do 5 or 6 flowers.  This project is still definitely a "work in progress", but it's fun to be creative, get out of the box, and just do some designing on my own.

Have a great day today.  Kathy

W.I.P. Wednesday - Work in Progress

There's a little bit of "frozen rain" falling around here; and it's still so dark I think I forgot to go to bed, but since I've been up since 5:30, I thought I'd share what I've been working on this week.  I'm hooking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work-in-Progress Wednesday.

I got my "Stacked" quilt finished yesterday; handed it off to Guy about noon; and he had it quilted by 3:00.  It still needs to be trimmed; I found a pretty pastel multi-batik in my stash, so that's going to be the binding.
I love the random leaf pattern he used in the quilting:

Here's an idea of what the whole quilt looks like....yes, I was too lazy to put it up on the wall:

I got sucked into the current "Scrappy Trip Around the World" block mania.  So now I guess I've got another UFO started:

I'm trying to keep a black square of some print or other going through the middle of each block....we'll see how this works out.  I must admit, it's easy to get hooked.  This is the tub of fabrics I'm working from.....all 2 1/2-inch strips:

I started working on the "Sew Red for Women" blocks again.  I've made 7 of the 11 that have been published so far.  The January block (number 12) got postponed for a while.....I took it as a sign that I have time to get the other 4 done so I will be caught up.  I think these will look just right for a February Valentine's quilt, don't you?

And, of course, "Easy Street" keeps calling me.  Can you believe that the makings for 23 15-inch blocks all fit in this bin:

OK, time for juice and a piece of toast.  I'm off to play piano accompaniment for Stonewall High School's production of "Side by Side by Sondheim"....three more morning rehearsals and performances Friday and Saturday.......it's been a busy week.  Stay safe out there,

Kathy

Saturday Sewing!....Some Catching Up to Do

Well,  I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted on my blog.  That's what working on a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt can do for you.  I'll avoid filling you in on all the drama in between, and just give you a peek at where I am so far.

I kept up very well with all the weekly "assignments", so when we got to the last two clues, it was easy to start piecing blocks and setting blocks together.  I've been working slowly, but am happy to report that the time I took to trim and press has paid off.  The blocks are going together pretty well.

I've got a little over one-third of this pieced now.  I'm just being a bit of a tortoise on this one.  It may be called "Easy Street" but at over 2,000 pieces, I figure I can just take my time.

I did get a chance to haul out my batiks a week or so ago.  On my shopping trip with Nancy in December, I had a moment of weakness and bought some gorgeous Island Batiks in pastels.  I found a nice Weeks Ringle pattern in the Modern Quilts magazine, "Stacked", which lent itself wonderfully to these pieces:

Weeks recommends pressing seams open, which is not something I usually do.  The first row kept giving me fits.  If I pressed with my regular iron, it kept catching on the adjacent seams and twisting them.  I used my little Clover iron, but it just doesn't always generate enough heat to give a firm line.  Then I grabbed my "presser ham".  I bought one of these about a year ago, to help me shape corners and curves in purses and bags.  It worked beautifully:

The seam to be pressed stays in the center of the "ham", and the adjacent seams fall away to the side.  Here's what a pressed row looks like:

The next three rows were easy to press pretty quickly.  Just a hint you might want to try.

Well, I've got a few more things "in the loop" but haven't gotten any photos yet.  It feels good to get "back on track" with my sewing after the hoopla of Christmas and a bit of a cold I had this week.  Have a great weekend....time to go watch a little football!

Kathy