Catching Up

... My Week ...

Turner Lodge at Loucon

... snowbound at a quilting retreat.  Read about the weather here.


So what's a girl to do?

Get crackin', that's what.  Actually I had some pretty ambitious plans:

1.  Gone Fishin' - quilt and bind
2.  Athena's Puzzle - lay out and assemble (maybe make more blocks!)
3.  One Fabric Wonder - cut and experiment
4.  Strips and Curves - complete this 12-yr-old UFO

Gone Fishin'

5.  Exploding Pineapple - resurect 40's version

I had finished Gone Fishin' the week before.  2 yds out

So my first order of business at the retreat was to sandwich and quilt it.  I got it pinned only to discover I didn't have an appropriate color of thread.  Yes, I could have borrowed some, but I wasn't too keen on working on this without my big table for support, so it went back in the box.


Next up was Athena's Puzzle.  This is one of those Someday Projects that should have been quick and easy but morphed into piles of strips and mounds of blocks that I couldn't make work together.  In the end I had enough for THREE quilts!

Athena

I assembled the blocks with the least contrast into one quilt.  I had to skimp on the side setting triangles but it is together and binding made.  Still considering a border to help stabilize the edges but I'm counting it done for now.  3.5 yds out

The remaining two quilts will go on my design wall tomorrow, assuming I can get down to my car and retrieve them, to audition setting triangle fabrics.

On Tuesday I took a break from UFOs to do a test project from my new book, Wonderful 1 Fabric Quilts by Kay Nickols, a Christmas gift from Son-2, et al.  I love the concept of using a single border-type print to create a really dynamic quilt.  I had seen some examples done in a class last fall and have been itching to try it.  Of the three fabrics I took with me, this red seemed the most appropriate for the technique.  I only had enough to do a table runner, but it was enough to make me want to do more!  .25 yd out

The cool thing is I made this on my recently refurbished Featherweight, the machine I learned to sew on.  Thanks to a friend who offered to clean it for my birthday, but ended up reworking some of the electrical parts.  Now it's also my Christmas present and maybe next year's birthday, too!

After that quick project it was time to break out the dinosaur, a 12-year-old project from the book Strips and Curves by Louisa Smith.  I was determined I would finish it in some fashion before the week was out.

S&C Pieces and Parts

I decided to cut the remaining strata with the templates that accompany the book and see what I could come up with.

I labored over my options, occasionally asking for opinions from the group, but mostly they just stayed out of my way and let me mull, and mull, and mull ..... I finally settled on a 4x4 setting that I was comfortable with, though not as dynamic as I had originally set my heart on.  There are individual elements that excite me, but what excites me most is it's done!!!  2 yds out

A River Runs Through It

The last day I finished making random blocks with the S&C remnants, then broke out an Exploding Pineapple in 40s fabrics that desperately needs some solids to calm it down.  I got some pieces cut but little sewing done and no pictures.  That will go in the queue for the coming week as it will be a class sample for the class I am scheduled to teach at Fall Quilt Camp.  I want to be able to show it as an example in the class brochure when it is posted on Peg Bingham's website.

Due to the weather we were never able to make our usual trips to Whittle's or the shop in Leitchfield.  Probably just as well.  But, I belatedly received four Christmas FQs from last year's secret sister to add a yard for the year.

Weekly Stash Report - Feb 22, 2015
     In last week:                     1.0 yards
     Out last two weeks:          8.0 yards
     In year to Date:               1.75 yards
     Out Year-to-Date:           20.0 yards
     Net Used 2014               18.25 yards

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.