New year, new rainbow

 Hi everyone! How's 2024 in your corner of the world? I'll tell you about ours at the end of this post, but so far it's been a real trip. Over the holiday I did almost no sewing! Can you believe it? I just needed the break from everything so much. My brain needed a massive rest. It was lovely, and now I'm back to my regularly scheduled life. Classes don't start for a bit yet, but the getting ready is definitely in full swing. 

For the rainbow scrap challenge this year I've decided on. . . Drunkard's Path blocks! Giant ones, too. Take a look:

In December, AccuQuilt had a 'buy one, get one' sale on their cutting dies. This was huge, because those things are really pricey and I generally can't afford them, so I treated myself to two new dies. One that I got was the 7-inch finished Drunkard's Path block. It's a departure for me, that's true, but it makes the cutting so, so much easier and means that my blocks will actually turn out.

In comparison to the blocks that I usually make, these blocks are enormous. This makes the curves so much easier to sew, too. As a bonus, I figure that by the time I make 80 or 90 of these I'll be an expert at piecing curves.

I'm pretty cleaned out of dark green, but I do have some bright greens, and I think they made lovely blocks. Each cut makes two blocks in opposite colors, and I did manage to find a piece of dark green that works. You need those darks for good color balance, you know.

Trying to be artsy! Failing!

So that's one RSC project begun! I have another one in mind and I may join in on some of Angela's tiny blocks, too. We'll see.

Here's why 2024 so far has been a trip and a half:

Our brand new roof leaked, and those are the industrial dryers that are drying out the wood rafters after everything on the roof got fixed again. They've been here a week.They are seriously loud and are making me crazy but are doing the job. I don't care so much about the drywall in the ceiling, but I can't even think about the damage to the wood floor without choking up. The insurance guys said they'll make us 'whole,' but gosh, what a way to get there!

Okay, we're keeping a good thought, right? Nothing to do but break out the rainbows and get stitching!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC24 (can you believe it?)

Back to the machines

Hi everyone!  Long time no see!  I don't know what happened, but I didn't sew a stitch for about 10 days.  Just didn't feel like it. (Not exactly true--I actually hemmed and mended some clothes. The horror!) That ever happen to you?  Pretty sure everyone has a spell like that once in a while.  How do you get interested again?

Here's what got me going again:

Yep, I started making a bunch of Drunkard's Path blocks from my leftover hand-dyed fabrics.  I started putting together the Grandma's top and I finally found a border that I thought would go really well with it.  Here's a sneak peek of the border:

The border is 3 blocks wide, but until I put this up on the wall I forgot that I needed to cut some full squares.  I guess I'd better do that before I get too far along.  I need 76 of these babies, so it might be a bit before they're finished.  They're fun to make, though, and you can't say the border won't be colorful.

And what is that?

I'm not sure, but I *know* that can't be squares and strips for neutral 4-patches, because I am not making Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. Nope. No.  Besides, I really hate making 4-patches, so you know I'm really not doing it, right?

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  One really fun thing that I got to do over the holiday was meet up with Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts.

Preeti (left) and me at breakfast.

It was so fun!  We had breakfast together and it was as if we had known each other forever.  She brought some show and tell and her quilts were even prettier in person.  And look what she brought me:

A zipper bag of my very own, filled with fun fabric just right for a grandson quilt! Plus some great-smelling sandalwood soap! It was so generous and kind, and I love it.  I'll be keeping my colored pencils in it, and there's some extra room for a little pad of paper too, so I can take it along in the car.  Thank you so much, Preeti!

I also got a chance to meet up with Nancy of PugMom Quilts, and her lovely husband Mike.

Don't we look like fun people?

It was so great of them to take time from their family vacation to stop by and see us, and I hope we get to do it again soon.  This is the best part of blogging--getting to meet people who are as obsessed as I am with fabric and the fun things you can make out of it.  I got to see some of Nancys great quilts, too, along with some works in progress.  We had a great time together!

Finally, thanks to everyone who has participated in the Gratitude Sale so far.  At this point, there's been about $250 donated to the three charities, including some donations I made on behalf of others.  Yay!  I decided to keep it open until the end of the year, so there's still time to head over and take a look.  

Hope you all are having a great week.  Now that I'm getting my mojo back, I'm ready to sew up a storm.  But I am *not* making 4-patches.  Nope.  Really.

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, Oh Scrap! and soscrappy for RSC16!

Playing with blocks

Holy cow, it's December.

Anyone else feel a little panicky about that? Just me? Oookay.

So, we are stuck in the deep freeze again. The hubs and I visited our daughter on the East Coast for Thanksgiving, which was fabulous, and then got home to the single digits. Welcome home! It's sunny, though, so it's not all bad. As long as it stays sunny, I'll be okay. No promises for when it snows again.

I have been playing with a few things in the sewing room. Really trying hard not to stress out over any project, so I've done a little bit on a lot of projects. Take a look!

The first 16-inch section of the wintry/frozen Drunkard's Path quilt (which really needs a name if anyone has a suggestion):

Gosh, this will be pretty. I decided to keep the Fairy Frost. And it has my favorite sewing feature--very little matching! (Yes, I see that one block is pressed wrong. I promise it isn't stitched wrong.) For anyone who's interested, the pink and green one went to the quilter this past week. Those last few pieces went together okay. I promise not to make the same mistake again.

(Also, does anyone know anything about the specialty machine foot for piecing curved blocks without pins? I just want to know if it works, because it's kind of pricey. It would be worth it to make this faster, but only if it actually works. Thanks!)

More progress on the winter quilt from Cindy at Quilt Doodle Doodles:

Another tree! I thought this would finish the center row, but I actually messed up and made the same tree twice. Oops. There are three trees, each slightly different, but I lost track of which ones I had already made.

The mistake will be really easy to fix, or maybe I'll just leave it. We'll see how motivated I am. The rest of the quilt is rows of repeated patterns, so I'm not sure which one I feel like making next. I guess we'll find out next time I feel like sewing on this. (Buy the patterns HERE or HERE.)

Okay, I know I said that I was waiting to make Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, but I was feeling left out after doing the last several mysteries, so I made a couple of blocks for the first step:

They're just so colorful, I couldn't resist! I made ten of these blocks and that's all I am making for now. I figure that this way I can play along without stress and have a start on the quilt if I want to make the whole thing. Worst case, I have potholders or a small table topper. Plus, the colorful blocks really brighten the place up, and who doesn't need that in the winter?

For the rest of the week, I plan to work like crazy on finishing the RSC14 triangle quilt. It really wants to be finished! It's been nagging at me all day. "Put down those curvy blocks and come work on me! I have nice straight seams!"

I may be a little tired right now.

Anyway, hope everyone has a really good and productive week! If it warms up a little, we will be putting our Christmas lights up this week, and I have definitely started shopping. I am starting to get a little holiday spirit!

Linking to Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social. Happy sewing!

Across the Drunkard's Path

Hi folks! We are still in a deep freeze here, and I know a lot of you are too. It feels like January, not November! Maybe a really early winter means a really early spring? A little optimism can't hurt, especially if it gets us through the winter.

I thought for sure I would have a finished Drunkard's Path quilt to show today. Instead, I have an almost finished Drunkard's Path quilt:

Check out the snow behind the fence!

Funny story about this quilt. See the lovely pink print that is the background for these blocks? That fabric was left over from the backing of another quilt. I thought there would be just enough for 9 blocks plus a narrow border. I was so confident that I cut the border before I finished the blocks.

What was I thinking? Because you know what happened--I had enough for 8 1/2 blocks. I need 4 more of the large pieces to finish the last block. I'm going to have to eke them out by joining some scrap pieces together and then cutting the template. Yeah, I feel stupid.

Even with all that, I think it looks great!  I love the colors and I'm happy with the layout. I plan to grind out those last pieces whatever it takes and then have it quilted so I'll get it back for a nice shot of spring in January. It's been so cold and gross here already that I know we'll really need it by then.

I discovered while making these that I really like the Drunkard's Path pattern. Yep, making another one. Jo, who has been reading along {waving--hi Jo!}, was kind enough to send me a few alternate layouts for Drunkard's Path quilts. There are literally dozens of ways to put these blocks together, especially if you use different colors. I chose this one for my next project:

Doesn't that look like fun? This is what the Frozen fabrics are for. I pasted them up on the "design wall" to see what it would look like in real fabric:

I am not sure about that purple Fairy Frost, but otherwise I like it! The Fairy Frost is not so bad in person, but it looks pretty lousy in this picture. I'll think about replacing it. I'll probably only make a quilt with 5 of the purple medallions because otherwise it will be gigantic. These templates make 4 inch finished blocks, after all.

That's it from the sewing room this week! Hope everyone stays warm this weekend. It's a good time to hand-stitch some binding so you can wrap up in the quilt at the same time. Just saying.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along. Be sure to stop by!

Deep freeze

Well, friends, what has happened to fall? I would swear it was here just a minute ago. Instead the temperatures are in the single digits--with wind! Good thing I have some quilts laying around here, or we'd all be Popsicles.

In addition to getting my chattering teeth under control, I have been working on the rainbow triangle quilt diligently. Okay, only semi-diligently, but I am making progress:

Indoor picture! Too cold for outside!

Did you ever have a situation where you "forgot" how to do something that you've known how to do forever? That seems to be a theme with this quilt. First, I was working on making some more blocks to fill out the quilt center when I discovered (halfway through a block) that I had used the wrong size triangle paper. So now I have three lovely 4 1/2 inch 9-patches instead of 6 inch ones.

Adorable! And an inch and a half too small.

Then I kind of had a brain freeze about the sashing. For some reason, I kept getting the pieces mixed up and at one point ended up having to make Y-seams to add in the setting triangles. What? I Knew THAT was wrong! I finally went back to the way I almost always do the sashing-- block by block. I hate having to sew on long, skinny strips.

I think that somehow I started putting the sashing on the wrong sides of the blocks so that they wouldn't fit easily with the others and that messed everything else up. I have it straightened out now, though!

So, now I'm looking at possible border fabrics. These are my current choices:

Hmmm. I don't think I like any of them with the sashing. Any of them would have worked with a white sashing, but the black and white has me thrown. The stripes are definitely out, but they might make a nice binding. If I had enough of the black and white fabric I would just use that and be "modern," but I'm almost out. I may have to use a black, but I'm afraid that would be too heavy. I guess the ending will be a surprise--even to me!

I also did a bunch of cutting for a new quilt. Check it out:

I think you can guess what this will be! (The file name for this picture is "frozen parts." Ha! It certainly fits today!) I'm almost done with the pink and green Drunkard's Path (come back Friday to see) and want to start a new one. They are addictive!

That's it from here in the frozen north. Everybody stay warm! Happy sewing!

Linking to Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social, and also the awesome Angela at soscrappy for RSC14.

(Bonus blogging tip: when scheduling a post, make sure you click "am" and not "pm" for the time! Sorry to be late!)

Pink and green

Hi all! It's Friday again! I am happy that this week is over and soooo looking forward to relaxing this weekend. Maybe I will even sleep 8 hours at one stretch. I hear some people do that on a regular basis, but I don't think I've ever met any of them.

It happens that both of today's quilts are pink and green. I guess it was a theme. Take a look at this one:

Yes! Celtic Solstice is now all finished, quilted, AND bound!

I could not be happier. It turned out well! This is not exactly how I originally envisioned the colors coming together, but they turned out okay! The back is a print I got on at a super-sale price and it works well with this quilt:

It started raining right after I took these pictures, so they came out a little gray. The colors are brighter in person. Really, really happy this is done! I plan to wrap up in it tonight to watch TV, maybe along with a nice mug of hot chocolate.

On another note, here is the current state of the Drunkard's Path quilt. Mr. AQ has pronounced this one "kinda girly." Okay, note for next year: try to lay off the pink and green. Thanks honey, you've been very helpful.

Yeah, not as much progress as I had hoped. I have everything cut, but I've had little time this week to put the blocks together. Also, I'm wondering about borders. I think that Drunkard's Path quilts generally have no borders or else very narrow borders because the block pattern is the star of this quilt. Trying to think ahead about what I might use for a border.

Both of these have been bright spots in otherwise drab days this week. The forecast for this weekend calls for "light snow showers," so I plan to clean out the machines, change rotary cutter blades, and do other boring things. Then maybe I'll get to sew some more Drunkard's Path blocks. After a nap, of course!

Here's to everyone having a great weekend with lots of sleep and lots of sewing! It's chilly, so be sure to grab a quilt to wrap up in!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along. Be sure to stop by!

Boo!

Hey ho, it's Halloween!  Which also means that it's the last day of October and November starts tomorrow. November! How did this happen? For our part of the country, the first of November opens the betting for when the first snow will fall. Let's hope it's not tonight, because it's pretty cold. Be sure to put those costumes on over a coat, kids!

This week, I finished the Halloween wall quilt, just in time for all the little goblins we expect to ring our doorbell tonight:

I swear that bottom edge is really straight!

This is much bigger than it looked in the magazine. It's about 32 by 16. I seem to have this condition where I'll look at the measurements for a pattern and still have no real concept of how big the project really is. In my mind this should have turned out about half this size. 32 by 16? Tiny. 60 by 80? Should fit a king, right?

No real problem, though, because they're very cute! I added the tabs to make it hang better in my house. Here is the very festive back:

Really, what else would I have used that fabric for? It's perfect here! And you can see behind it that we still have leaves on the maple tree. More raking in our future!

The only other thing I really worked on this week were some new Drunkard's Path blocks:

Gosh, I like this green so much better! And surprise--those pink corners make a very nice secondary pattern when they're together. The thing I like best about these blocks is that the print becomes the "neutral." I think I get stuck on the idea of using white all the time and forget that other fabrics can make very nice quilts too.

I'm really enjoying making these blocks. I never knew they were so easy or else I would have made them years ago! Really, they're each only two pieces. The curved seam takes a little getting used to, but otherwise they go together really quickly. And there are so many cool patterns! I already know that I want to make a second one using a different layout.  I have some turquoise, which I think will make some very nice blocks. Maybe I'll start on those next week. (So much for not getting carried away.)

Everybody have a great weekend! Tonight I'll be guarding the candy bowl and answering the door, then it's more library time for me on Saturday.

Gosh, I hope we have enough!

Hope you get to do something fun. It's cold, so we should all stay inside and sew!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along. Be sure to stop by!

Decisions, decisions

Well, hi there, folks! Hope you all had a great few days. I have hardly sewn a stitch! It was 70 degrees this weekend, so of course we finished up our work outside while dodging political phone calls. It was massive amounts of no fun, even though the weather was nice. Then I spent a long, long time in the library, which was productive in other ways. But I do have some sewing things planned for this week!

First, here is the Halloween hanging, all set up and ready to quilt:

Hey, if it's done by Halloween, it counts!

I laid out the blocks for RSC14, just to see how many more of each block I'll need. Here are the 9-patches:

Yes, that's the brown ruler print hanging off the edge there. Not to worry, I'm sure it will fit in just fine. I think I need 8 more blocks to finish this. I'd like to have the blocks be 5 across, with 4 in the alternate rows. I'm also thinking that I'll use the extra triangles I have to make 4 blocks that I'll put in the center. I'll probably use just a solid white for the sashing because there are so many scrap white-on-whites in here. I have a black and white print for the setting triangles, and I think I might want a multicolored polka dot fabric for the border. I could change my mind on that one, though.

And then here are the Odd Fellows:

Yeah, not the best picture, but it was so dark out when I was taking pictures at 5 pm. It just didn't work to hang them on the fence. Darned planetary tilt! And it's really hard to take pictures of big blocks!

Anyway, I seem to be missing a green. I'll have to look for that one. I decided not to make the brown block. Just not my thing. I could change my mind on that, too, though.  I think I need at least 5 more, because I want it to be at least 5 by 5. Odd Fellow's quilts are usually set without sashing for the secondary patterns to emerge, but I think I want a very small sashing to separate these blocks because the colors sometimes clash and don't really allow for those secondary patterns. It would also mean no matching, which is always good.

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the Drunkard's Path blocks. I think we all agree on the Wedding Ring layout, but I have to change the fabric. That green is just not working for me. Instead I have these:

This will be a much, much better green. The other was just too light. I essentially had two medium fabrics, which made for a really boring quilt. The only real goal I have for this week is to make some blocks and get this quilt going. If I have time, I'll also quilt up some of those projects I have basted.

Finally, because this post was full of boring pictures, enjoy this lovely fall picture from our front yard:

It was beautiful, but all those leaves are on the ground now. Ah, well.

Hope everyone gets some productive sewing time this week! Linking to Linky Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social, and also the awesome Angela at soscrappy for RSC14.

Finally finished Friday

Hi all! So, I had visions of getting a lot of quilting done this week while I was also busy doing actual work that people pay me to do. Guess how that worked out. Yeah. I must have been delusional or something. But I did finish up at least a few things that I can show you, so it was not a complete failure.

First of all, the Fiesta Pinwheels quilt (from June, for heaven's sake) is finally all quilted and bound!

Love it! This quilt comes pre-certified as cuddly. True story: I trimmed the quilt on the table (because who can crawl around on the floor anymore?), measured it, and left it folded on the sofa while I went up to make the binding. I came down to get it to sew the binding on, only to find that Mr. AQ was already using it.

Our conversation went something like this:

ME: Didn't you notice that the edges weren't finished yet?

HIM: Yeah, I wondered about that.

ME: Well, give it here and I'll go finish it and then you can have it back.
HIM: Can it wait until this inning is over?

Really.

Anyway, I really like how it turned out, and it now lives in our otherwise tastefully decorated family room. And I love the pictures from the park! Never took one there before, but you can bet I'll do it again. One guy gave me a funny look, but who cares? He's probably not a quilter or else he'd totally get it!

Another thing that I did was make up some more Drunkard's Path blocks and try out some layouts. I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but there are so many options! (Marti Michell has a very helpful page with many layouts HERE.) Here is one very traditional option:

(Ignore the wrinkles--they all need to be pressed!)

A very cute option, which would have been absolutely fine if I hadn't tried switching the colors:

I like this better! This actually looks like a path through a garden or something. I would have started stitching these into blocks if I hadn't also found this layout:

Fabulous! So now I have no idea what to do. I want a traditional layout, which both of these are; I just can't decide which one fits the fabric better. Anyone with an opinion, help me out! Of course, I could make two quilts. . .which would be me getting carried away again. Thank goodness I don't have enough of this fabric for two quilts, or we all know what would happen!

And, last but absolutely not least, I got confused for a little bit about this month's colors for RSC14. For some reason I was thinking "brown AND black" and not "brown OR black." So I have these three more 9-patch blocks:

Oh, well--the more the merrier, I guess! Not sure that brown ruler fabric was a good choice, but it seems okay. We'll see when it's time to lay out the quilt, which is coming soon.

Everybody have a great weekend. I will be trying to make my way through the pile of things that need to be quilted up. The sewing room is getting to be too crowded with all of those unquilted projects laying around!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along, and SoScrappy. Be sure to stop by and wave hello to everyone!

Goals are nice

Hi folks! Well, we put a lot of the garden to bed for the year this past weekend, so now it's time for me to put some quilty projects to bed too. Here is what I'll be working on for a little while this week amidst all the stress and general mayhem. I have a very hard deadline for something very important this Friday, so I may not get to everything, but its always good to have goals.

First, I want to finish (and quilt up!) the Halloween paper-pieced project. I think it would be nice to have it actually finished in October, don't you? Here is it's current state:

It needs the remaining details and then quilting. By the way, if you're considering making this, the fabric amounts listed in the pattern are greatly exaggerated. For example, the pattern called for 3/8 yard of the green, but I only used a 3 inch strip, so plan accordingly. While I was piecing this, I had to tape some sections together because they were too big to print in one piece. I used a tip from Bonnie Hunter and used "paper bandaids"

These are just labels used instead of tape. They worked great! I sewed right through them and they were easy to rip when I removed the paper.

I've also been cutting out a bunch more Drunkard's Path blocks.

I decided to keep the original green. I want to start putting some blocks together this week so I can see what they look like together. While I'm thinking of it, does anyone have a good use for the leftover "bites" that get cut out of the squares? They seem like such a waste, but they're an odd shape. Maybe I'll just stitch some of them together into circles. I hate wasting fabric!

 I also have a small pile of things to be quilted, so it's time to get a move on!

Okay, it looks like a small pile, but believe me, that will take me a while.

I also have two quilts that are all quilted and sitting here waiting for binding.

Pretty backings, aren't they? Wait until you see the quilts!

That looks like a pretty ambitious list for me for the week, so we'll see how far I can get!  

Linking to Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social. Happy sewing, everyone!

One final note: I had to disable anonymous comments on the blog because of a very persistent spammer. If you want to say something but don't want to register, go ahead and email me: academicquilter AT gmail DOT com. Thanks for understanding, friends!

Small victories

Well, I don't know how your week has been, but it has been a very stressful week here, with large amounts of rain and gloom. This was compounded by almost 48 hours without Internet, phone, or TV. I know. It was like living in 1990 all over again, without the cheesy sitcoms. This affected several homes near us as well, so we weren't alone. It took a while but three different utility crews finally fixed it, including our totally fried cable box.

I did finish a few things this week. First up is the black/gray Odd Fellow's block:

Happy dance! I think he looks great. And I'm really hoping that either November or December is a black and white fabric month. I have ideas--and scraps!

I also made up those snowflake blocks into a small table topper, about 30 by 30:

I went with a monochrome look, which I think worked. Also, I decided not to rip and restitch the blocks after all. I figure after I quilt it and wash it I can touch up the seams with a marker if they still show, as Julie and Lorna both suggested. And if some thread shows, oh well. I'll find a way to live with it.

And I made up two test Drunkard's Path blocks:

I'm not sure I like that green. It's richer in person, but it's a bit pale. I may have to make a few more with different greens. Or pink! Pink would be nice too.

I also found this very useful book on modern Drunkard's Path quilts:

I think I'll be making a traditional layout, but this is a very nice book if you are like me and like to look at pretty things. It also has some useful ideas for piecing and color choices and such.

Finally, this is where I am with the paper-pieced Halloween project:

All the sections are pieced, but they need to be joined and there are a number of details which have to be added in, like fangs on the tiny vampire. Proof that big pieces do not necessarily mean fast and easy. I might get to do some more work on it this weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are pulling out the annuals this weekend, since they are mostly dead now, and maybe dividing some perennials too. Oh boy. Can you feel the excitement? We may even get in the last lawn-cutting of the year. Now that's a cause for celebration!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and SoScrappy. Be sure to stop by!