Crazy Busy Times Around Here

Yeah, I know I have been conspicuously absent from my blog for about a week. Sorry about that! It seems that I am not the juggler that I thought I was. My DH's computer is in the shop, so he's using my laptop a lot more than I counted on when I offered it. That laptop, though, is the one I usually blog from, so I'm limited.

Want more excuses? I've got 'em! The OUC school year has begun! I am teaching 3 classes, which required me to get 3 syllabi ready. That required the laptop again, so when I did get access to it, the top priority was school, not blogging.

Excuses, excuses! Maybe, but it's also just life. So we roll with it.

I have been working in the quilting room. Still Eventide. But I have advanced to this step in the directions:

Assembling!! Yay! It makes me happy to see it coming together. It is so, so busy! But with Roman Holiday fabric, who cares?? It is totally scrumptious! The pattern is by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

Even though these are just blocks laid out on the bed, I now have them sewn together, I have the red hourglass blocks attached to each vertical side, as well as the outer side borders. I will have an up-to-date picture tomorrow. All that is left is to attach the remaining border which will go all the way around. It is made of 58 rectangles -- measuring 3.5- by 6.5-inches. I have not cut these out yet, so this step could be awhile.

I have been sewing with Sharon P. more regularly lately. We are both doing quilts with our stash of Roman Holiday fabric. Hers is also a Miss Rosie pattern - Three Coins, if you are familiar with her work. After bemoaning how slowly we get our projects finished, we made a goal together of having our quilt tops done by September first. Sharon has reached her goal!! Because it is so pretty, I'm giving you 4 pictures at which to gaze longingly. (You can thank me later.)

Sigh. It was such a bugger to make - those star blocks were killers! But isn't the end result fantastic? It motivates me to get going on finishing my Eventide by the September 1 deadline.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

A Spontaneous Rendevous

I had the most fun Saturday afternoon and evening, and it was totally unplanned and spontaneous. I'd been texting with Sharon P. and  after a couple of exchanges, I asked her if she was free for the evening. After a bit, I get the message that she was! Yippee!

She got here about 5 or so, and we headed off to a free event sponsored by the Greenfield Historical Society called a Cemetery Stroll. Several Society members had researched some of the long-deceased resting in our cemetery, created a booklet of those deceased, and guests could stroll through the cemetery, looking at the stones and following along with the history outlined in the booklet. It was a very enjoyable event, and the weather was perfect for a stroll.

Our main event of the evening, though, was getting to sew together! She has been missing in action for several months, as I outlined in this post from a few weeks ago. I thought she would dive right in to that Three Coins project that she'd been working on, but she took out her new Charm packs of Lario by 3 Sisters/Moda, and made a bunch of 4-patch blocks.

Aren't these beautiful? We ogled them for a long time. They are all gorgeous - the entire line is one I'd like to have - in mass quantities!

Sharon's plan is to set these together with a large setting square, or perhaps a HST, or even an hourglass block. Many options, and there's no need to decide soon.

After completing these 4-patches, she opened the Three Coins tub and tried to figure out where she'd left off. The block is so involved with so many pieces; it was like trying to solve a puzzle. She did figure it out, and finished up 2 more blocks! She had 8 done, now has 10, and only needs 6 more to finish this step in the quilt's construction.

I worked on sewing together a quilt top while Sharon was here. I'd had my HST quilt laid out on the guest bed, and it was ready to go.

This picture is of the blocks prior to connecting. I have it laid out at 9 blocks by 11 blocks. After sewing them all together, I realized that it was too narrow, so I have enough cut out for adding 2 more rows, making it 11x11 blocks. I worked on them a bit Sunday, and need to get back to them. They go together so fast, I should be able to have the top done in no time. Then I will have to think about the borders I will put on. I am so very pleased with this quilt and am anxious to count it as a finished top.

So, our evening of sewing ended as the clock was nearing midnight! Sharon was so excited to get a chance to sew. She said she felt like it was Christmas! I hope we can carve out another sewing session in a week or two. I'd missed it as much as she had!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sharon's Progress

It has been awhile since I updated you on Sharon's progress on the Three Coins quilt she is making with the wonderful Roman Holiday fabric. Click here to read about her beginning this quilt.

We had been sewing together every Monday, but we are now offering up every-other-Monday to go to Sherrie's to sew for Frienzie projects. I think the wedding quilt is just about done.

So, when a gal can only work on a project twice a month, she finds that she doesn't make very quick progress. Before the commitment to Frienzies, Sharon had finished all the setting blocks, leaving 16 stars to be made. She has 8 completed stars as of this past Monday.

They are real "buggers" - pieces cut at 16ths of an inch kind of buggers. My count has 45 pieces in each block, so it is quite the complicated star. But oh, so worth it!

Tomorrow, I will share the picture of my finished pseudo-toile quilt. I have had the nastiest head cold, and haven't been as diligent with the borders as I should.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Just Regular Stuff

Nothing too impressive coming out of the sewing room lately. At least from my end of things. Sharon has something VERY impressive hot off her sewing machine.

We sewed here on Monday and her goal was to make a star. Sounds easy enough, but when you see the complexity of THE star, you will see how it could become a one-day goal.

To review, she is using her Roman Holiday fabric in a kit she bought for the Miss Rosie Quilt Co. pattern called Three Coins. Here is the pattern.

 

 

And it is also in this book, Spice of Life Quilts. Be careful, though, the direction differ, as do the yardage amounts. Haven't quite figured out why that would be.

Anyway, here is the star, all 45 pieces of it. Isn't it a beauty? It would have to be to make it worth dealing with 45 pieces!

Sharon doubled her expectations by getting two of the stars completed. It was not without some gnashing of teeth and reaching for the seam ripper, either. There were some snafus along the way. But the finished product looks fantastic, and making 14 more of these beauties will be smooth sailing. (Always think positive!)

The "regular stuff" was from my end of the sewing room. I machine quilted another baby quilt. I had been putting it off until I got my own machine back from repair. I am such a novice at machine quilting, I didn't want to increase my wariness by using a machine that was new to me!

I now have added the binding and will be hand-stitching it down this week - probably later today.

There was some fun, too. The most enjoyable part of the quilting process - for me, anyway - is coming up with fabric for a new quilt. I happened up on a nice off-white and blue piece in my stash and my brain went immediately to a quilt I'd been longing to make for ages. Here, take a look.

The fabric on top was my "inspiration" and the two under will be what the pattern calls "navy" and "light blue."

And here is said pattern, called Toile; I am using a "close, but not quite" fabric instead of true toile.

 

It is from this book, an oldie but a goodie, called Quilt-Lovers Favorites, vol. 3. I have lots of sticky notes plastered into this book along with 3 other volumes on my shelf. I am excited to come up with these stash pieces for this quilt.

 

It is not on my 2013 goals list, but it will likely be added. I reallly want to make it, and it looks so easy: plain toile block, hourglass block, 9-patch block. How simple!! And setting triangles, but I am getting pretty good at those anymore, so that doesn't intimidate me at all.

 

Well, off to work on some binding.

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Roman Holiday Fabric

Yes, that is definitely a blast from the past. This wonderful fabric has been out for about 10 years, maybe more. Finding it is impossible, too. Everyone loved it, apparently, from the absolute absence of it online.

The most beautiful of all fabrics of all times, this red with white swirling leaves. Absolutely heavenly!

Roman Holiday by 3 Sister/Moda captured my fancy when I first saw it in a particular shop in Columbus. I bought a fat quarter bundle, so I had a little bit of each fabric in the line. My quilting girlfriends were soon swooning over it, and more than one of them began building their own stash of Roman Holiday. The gorgeous red in the picture above is Sharon P.'s 2-yard cut. A precious commodity!

I have Roman Holiday on my mind lately because Sharon is beginning a project using her RH fabric. She began cutting it out here at my house last week.

Sharon's Roman Holiday stash

Her project is a kit she bought ages ago using this wonderful fabric. We have talked for ages that we really need to use our Roman Holiday fabric because it's too pretty to keep in a plastic tub in the closet. So she is beginning Three Coins by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

Here are some of the blocks Sharon had constructed by the end of our day. Take in the sights; they are wonderful.

Because she was"playing" in her Roman Holiday, I was longing to "play" in mine. So I pulled it out. This is where you insert the image of a quilter "petting" her fabric. Yeah, that is what I was doing.

On the bottom red is Sharon's big cut; layered on top of that are some of the pieces from my stash. I have managed to find a few pieces, but never have I located any more of that wonderful red.

This is my fat quarter pack. I love it, sigh.

You know what I wish?? I wish Moda would re-release this line. In my opinion, there would be a tremendous demand, and countless appreciative quilters!

What is your all-time favorite line of fabric?

Happy Quilting, Friends!