Sunday Circles and Checkin

I know it is Monday, but ending the week with Sunday for the Sunday check-in means I have to sew before posting my results for the week.

This week, I have been cutting and sewing the sashing for On Ringo Lake. To keep things interesting, I have also been making some circles. The pictures turned out blurry, but they will still give you a good enough idea of what they look like, and I'd rather spend my time sewing than taking more pictures.

Block 222

 

This one was a collage of random scraps. It looks like the letter T to me, but it wasn't planned.

 

Block 223

My sister gave me a ruler that cuts circles. This is my first attempt at using it. I used a large blade and did it pretty quickly.

Block 224

This one makes me think of an African pot.

Block 225

This uses scraps that were gifted to me, exactly as sewn. Looks like an Easter basket to me.

Block 226

This one also uses presewn scraps that were gifted to me. I was thinking this might look like a heart, but it looks like Mickey Mouse!

Block 227

 

A leftover nine patch from On Ringo Lake. Whenever possible, I made a few extra blocks when it was convenient.

 

Block 228, 229, 230, 231

 

This uses the rest of the strip set that was used for the center strip of the nine patch. It gets four numbers because it is four times the size of a regular block. It was sewn improv, and then needle turned on the background. The center is a yo-yo.

 

 Block 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237

 

I showed you this one already last time, but it didn't have numbers because it wasn't sewn onto a background yet.  It is an odd size so it will be a challenge to figure out where and how to fit it into the quilt, but it gets six numbers because it looks like it will take the space of six blocks. I trimmed it after I took the picture.  I chose a random number for the stitch (17). I think I chose the same random number for another block that  reminded me of a baseball.

  15 Minutes to Stitch

 

This week was a blur so I am not sure I sewed every day, but I'm sure I made up for any missing days throughout the week.

I have made 37 circles in the 56 days of this year. Not perfect, but not too bad.

All Blocked Up

Normally, a blockage is a bad thing. But all the whooping and hollering you heard here on the High Road is not a cause for alarm, but a celebration!

All of the blocks for On Ringo Lake are finished! I know!  I had to count them twice just to be sure!

Now onward march to the sashing and setting triangles!

Linked to:
Let's Bee Social

15 Minute Challenge Feb 18

This week, I worked on basting around the crazy quilt blocks so that I wouldn't put beads too close to the seam allowance.

Most of my sewing time, however, was spent on the On Ringo Lake blocks. They look the same as they did the last time I showed you, so I won't show you again now. I don't want you to spend all your money renting the galloping horse when you can just wait until the finished quilt top.  I have more full blocks done, and have a few more blocks to finish. Then I need to sew the sashing pieces.

I did spend some quality time with the seam ripper this week.  (Not the one in the picture, obviously. It is the only seam ripper photo I have taken and labeled as such.) I use the seam ripper for blocks that aren't quality seams (bunching, not properly lined up, seam allowance too small, not going the right way), but I don't use them for points that aren't sharp or don't match exactly. I do want this quilt to be finished in my lifetime and I am choosing not to look for perfection for this bed sized quilt. It is a bed quilt and I don't want those sharp points to hurt me while I am sleeping.

Don't worry, this was a normal amount of correcting mistakes for this big quilt with lots of pieces. I didn't make any major mistakes. I  normally correct as I go, but I was trying to show progress, so I set aside the errors. I didn't want to make new blocks when the corrections were so simple, so I had to fix them as a bunch.

I did this spreadsheet early in the week, anticipating my perfection. It takes some concentration to figure out how to tally these, since each month has a different number of days and start on different days.

This week, I missed Monday and Tuesday but I made up for it. There will hopefully be one more week of "perfection" before the downhill slide.

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch

Crazy Quilt Stitching

On Ringo Lake continues to make progress. It is a great procrastination tool.  Want to work on something else? Do something with Ringo Lake first.  It makes me more productive, since I am getting twice as much stuff done as I would have otherwise.

I didn't want to bring down another project that had lots of supplies, but quilting doesn't mix well with piecing, since the machine needs different settings for both.  I decided to keep doing hand work since I enjoyed doing that so much with the fabric book. This is my first ever crazy quilt block.

This quilt was started in 2009 or maybe before and it got stalled because I was trying to follow the rules, without even knowing what they were. Must piece the rest of the blocks before embellishing any. Must not add beads or other bulky things until after blocks have been joined together.  I had six of the nine blocks pieced and just a little bit of embellishment. This picture above shows how I found the block before I started working on it. The library book is for inspiration.

Since then, I have been collecting beads and trim to add to the quilt. Seriously, anytime there was any bead or ribbon sale, I bought something to add to this quilt. If it was orange or shiny, it went in this box. And if it isn't orange or shiny, it is still needed for contrast. The box was brimming over with embellishment supplies.  I have enough to make many quilts. These blocks are only 8 inches!

I decided it was time to work on this quilt so I could use some of these supplies, and be able to do handwork without guilt. I feel virtuous being able to work on such an old WIP!

This is my favorite section. I'm not done with the block yet. The bottom left side and the top right need a little something. In future blocks, I will be more careful with adding beads so close to the edge. This block might require some hand piecing to avoid crushing the beads.

Please give me ideas about what else to stitch.  This is only block one of nine and I already feel like I am stretching.

15 Minutes to Stitch

Here is my progress on the 15 Minutes to Stitch .

I did not stitch on Monday, because I didn't want people to be jealous of my perfection. But because I stitched so much the rest of the week, I had to go back and retroactively take credit for it anyway.

I have been really happy with keeping up with stitching (almost) every day. Reporting it makes me more accountable.  I have been working hard at making sure I stitch every day because I know that when the busy season comes, I won't be able to stitch at all, so I need to keep the current stats high to balance.  My guess is that last year, I probably would have been at 50% and hopefully this year, I will end above 60%. I am going to aim for above 70% though. Aim high!

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch 
Slow Sunday Stitching 
Let's Bee Social 
Off The Wall Friday

Valentine Art Quilt Swap

I joined an art quilt swap on Stitching Fabrics, Papers and More Facebook group, and this is the gorgeous quilt I received. I will show you the quilt I sent later when I know she has received it.

One of the advantages of swapping is to find new techniques and ways of making things I had not known was possible. As I have been watching people make their journals and other art, the different layers people use constantly amaze me, and this quilt has an extraordinary number of layers.

It starts off with a paper base.  I'm not sure if it is two sided paper or if it has been painted. It may be two layers because there is stitching around the edges, but if it is two pieces of paper, they were glued well together.

The next layer is this beautiful brown burlap. And over the burlap is a red piece of fabric. This has also been stitched down.

There are so many embellishments added, and they work so well together. The flower petals have been layered with the bead center and the beautiful white pieces that make the flower, the little butterfly.  Underneath them are pretty hearts made out of rose paper.

Below the flower is corrugated paper, lace, gears, and more hearts made out of rose paper.

 On the right side are more embellishments with the fibers and the flowers and bead trim.
Larger bead trim is used to hang the quilt.

And as if that wasn't enough, look at the pretty buttons used to pretty up the back!

I am really happy to get this gorgeous art quilt. Thank you Debby!

On Ringo Lake Progress

It is time to link up to Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's final link up for the On Ringo Lake mystery. I've been busy making parts and pieces to make this quilt in its designed size. This picture probably doesn't look like a lot of progress, especially when compared to so many finished quilt tops, or even finished quilts.  I put all my neat stacks (who am I kidding?  piles) of blocks and parts and pieces into one pile so you could see the progress.

• There are four blocks that are finished with the corners attached. My quilt, it has four corners.
• All of the nine patch blocks are done and they are all attached to two sets of two flying geese.
• The nine patch rows also have one other row sewed on them. (There are a few blocks that have two rows and therefore are completed blocks, but not very many)
• I am working on making the blocks for the other rows to finish that last row. That chaos on top of the stack is today's flying hearts that will soon become flying geese.
• I am also working on making the sashing blocks.

Even though I am not finished, I am happy with my progress, because while I have been making this quilt, I've made good progress on a bunch of other projects too.

Thank you for visiting. While you are here, feel free to stick around and scroll down or click to see my French Mints Mini Fabric Book, the Adinkra quilt finish with African fabrics, my very first snippet ribbon, and my progress on my very unique circle a day quilt. I've had a lot of fun playing with fabric this winter.

Linked to:
Quiltville Quips and Snips Final On Ringo Lake Link-Up!

Reveal: French Mints Mini Fabric Book and 15 Minute Challenge Update

I have finished the French Mints Mini Fabric Book, so I thought I would show you the rest of the pages. I've still been able to sew every day this year. The handwork makes it easier to meet the challenge.

This is a swan, which is more serene than a duck, but if you think it is a duck, I'm okay with that.

Since it is close to Valentine's Day, I decided to go ahead with the love and romance theme to go with the picture on the tin.

I left the back cover plain. I also left the tin pretty plain too, besides the lace wrapped around the side. I am only showing you the individual pages I hadn't shown you before, to save your bandwidth. I did show you all the two page spreads though, since they changed a little bit as I joined the pages together.

I am still on track for sewing every day this year. I decided to show January as the monthly instead of February so January could be completely documented. Next week, I will use February in the monthly column.

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5 
Sew Stitch Snap