On my design wall 1 6 13

I tried earlier to post a picture of my design wall, but blogger wouldn't let me upload a picture :(

But, now I can upload :) Here are my 100 Clue 2 blocks for Celtic Solstice and 16 that I made with the wrong color in the center ...

 

Now I'm setting CS aside again and working on Project Quilting ... so you should see some other things appearing here on the blog this week ... if I remember to take pictures ;)

 

Check out other design walls at Patchwork Times

What I've been working on ...

I am plugging away on Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery ... I'm behind, but plodding! I have all of my neutral background triangle in a square units pieced and am half done with my other pieces. As you can see, I am NOT using Bonnie's colors! I'm doing mine in patriotic colors so I can cut down on some of my stash in those areas ..

 I am almost finished with my challenge for my quilt guild. I made placemats out of the fabrics using the Lil' Twister ruler. I just have to bind the last two and we can use them :)

AND I made some ornaments for an ornament swap. I read and re-read the rules and am not sure if we were supposed to make ornaments for this swap or if it is OK to purchase some.  Since I didn't know (and I didn't want to go shopping in the cold!) I made ornaments. Here they are ready to package up and get into the mail tomorrow. This was the first time I used Hot Fix Crystals 

... pretty nifty!

Design Wall Monday - after the storm :)

I was on a mini Quilt retreat over the weekend :) a lot was accomplished! On Friday I completed 80 blocks (no picture of that many today) and pulled out a long neglected UFO.  In 2006, when attended AQS Paducah, I took a class with Kimberly Einmo - Keuenhof Tulips. 

 

I had 2 1/2 blocks complete at the end of the class and put it away, never to see the light of day, until this past weekend. I now have SIX complete blocks and three ready to machine applique! I'm still loving the choices made for this quilt (who doesn't love batiks?). I might even finish this in time to get it hung up in the Spring (better not bury it again, eh?)

I finished up the Tie Quilt by sewing the buttons on over the weekend. There are shirt buttons in each of the cornerstones.

 

 

I took all the labels off the ties and put them on the back of the quilt, adding in some four patches from the shirt fabrics and my own label ...

 On Saturday, some wintery weather moved in ... visibility was low as seen in these pictures taken while riding from a quilt show to lunch:

 

 Thankfully, it cleared up by Sunday morning (picture off the porch of the retreat destination):

My drive home was uneventful *WHEW!*

For more inspiration in the form of quilter's design walls, check out Patchwork Times.

Design Wall - Veteran's Day

 I'd like to wish you all a blessed Veteran's Day!

Here is my Army Guy, I will be going out to eat with my him later today(after he sings at a couple Veteran's Day ceremonies with his Barbershop group). He will be a cheap date as there are lots of places with free meals for veterans :)

I have more tie blocks up on the wall :) AND all of the blocks are finished! (there are 24 all together, they just aren't all up on my small wall) Now to get the sashing and corner blocks cut so I can get the top sewn together.

I'm still working on my quilting plan. It will not be as complicated as the last one I did, but still needs to be appropriate :)

My goal is to have this done before the weekend of the 23rd ... Thanksgiving at the latest.

I also have a start on my Iron Quilter Challenge ... I have four 4" blocks completed ... and 8 more arcs finished (not up on the wall). If I could only find the other charm pack, I could pop a few more of these NYB blocks out!

What is on your design wall? Check out more at Patchwork Times ...

Design Wall Monday with ties

I've been plugging away on the tie quilt ... I have 1/3 of the blocks sewn. The other two thirds have the fan arcs pinned down, just waiting for the center to be ironed and put on. All the ties and shirts were from the same person :)

For more design wall inspiration check out Patchwork Times!

Shopping and Crafting last weekend

I spent a long weekend in the Chicago area, shopping with family on my mom's side :) We do this every year and have a ball! Some years we shop in other places, but we usually end up back on the north side of Chicago. Gurnee Mills Mall is a favorite for the group!

I spent most of my (limited) funds ... imagine that!

This year I was in charge of the craft. Yes, we craft on Saturday evening, in the midst of all our shopping. We made small feather/bottle style trees :)

First we painted the bases with various colors and used some stickers to mask off letters or shapes on our blocks.

 And while we waited for the paint to dry, we built the trees by twisting the wires

  To finish up, we hot glued the trees into the blocks. Some took the white paint and put snow on their branches. All of them are unique, and everyone was pleased with the results.

 

Some years the crafts aren't quite as successful ... we spent a lot of time reminiscing about one that caused LOTS of laughter a few years back :)

At least I didn't bleed on the quilt

I have been working on the "Izaak's Castle" quilt today :) Loaded on the frame, started quilting and things were going smoothly ...

Which means it was time for something to go wrong *sigh*

I ran the needle through my finger ... breaking the needle ... making holes in the quilt with the broken needle ... making it necessary to rip out a block segment and sew a new one in (thankfully I had extra ones left over from miscounting) ...

Can you see the gaping hole in the loose piece? I'll have to find some way to cover up the matching hole in the backing fabric *sigh*

While running up the stairs for assistance with bandaging my finger, my only thought was, "I hope I don't have to retime the machine!" And, I didn't.

So, two things to be thankful for, I didn't bleed on the quilt and I didn't have to retime the machine :) I'll try to focus on those things while I find typing to be awkward and my finger continues throbbing.