I Said Never Again!

 And yet here I am starting another Bonnie Hunter mystery ..

I think her colors spoke to me, or maybe I'm just looking for a sewing diversion.

The foot pedal has been ordered but I was notified it is currently on back-order from their supplier.  So I stitch on...

Nearing the Finish Line

I spent most of my sewing time on Tuesday making the corner blocks for Shadow of the Bear and I was whipped so I took yesterday off.  I finished the last few strips this morning.

Now I'm ready to square everything up and put the blocks together. I'm debating about a border and how big, if I decide to add one.  

I had hoped to have a quilt top by the end of today, but I decided to make headway on Quilt Two with the remaining SotB blocks.  

Well, I seemed to be thwarted at every turn--not enough of a certain fabric, lost pieces, wrong fabric on the outside corners of a checkerboard block...

Who could do anything with that mess?  Do you ever have projects/days like that?

I Made a Block!

And started yet another quilt!

I'm trying so hard to wrap up some WIPs, but my foot pedal situation (see earlier post) is slowing me down.  Time to make a call for a replacement.

Friday I did manage to finish a fourth Shadow of the Bear (SotB) block for the center of my abbreviated version.  The foot pedal operates so sporadically, sometimes fast, sometimes stitch-by-stitch.  Add to that it's a complicated block, I'm just glad I got it done.  (sorry, the angle of the photo distorts it a bit ... it's really square)

Now all I have to do is make the corner blocks -- I already have a plan -- and then add borders.  I still need to make one more shadow block for the second quilt I am working on.

Serendipity:  A Smores friend brought me Trudie Hughes' book that has the original SotB quilt and I discovered there is also a pattern for a small quilt which is exactly what I have planned!

Yesterday our new Creative Hands group at church had their second monthly gathering and I spent my time turning the binding on a smallish wall hanging.  It's a moldy-oldy and I will be so thrilled to have it finished.  I'll take a picture when it's done.

I received a Connecting Threads order of precut strips in solid colors this week so today I sewed 2-1/2" squares to some strips and made 9-patches. I don't know yet how I will set them.  It will be a small quilt.

The Encore Azaleas are going crazy in the garden below my window.

And my Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus is starting to bloom.

Retreating with the S'mores and More

If you're new to my blog, let me explain that the S'mores are a group of my quilting besties who decided back in the early 2000s that we wanted to eat some more, laugh some more, and quilt some more -- hence the name.  We've been retreating at least once if not more times a year ever since.  

This week is our Fall retreat at Loucon, a Methodist retreat and training center near Louisville, Kentucky.  Because of my mobility issues, I didn't think it was wise to attend but, since most of them live in other parts of Tennessee and Indiana, I really longed to see them again.  So DH drove the 4 hours to take me to Mecca.  I took them a cauldron of my world-famous chili -- and a good time was had by all!

It was SO nice to see everyone and be inspired by their creativity.  I didn't take any photos, so I'm going to steal some that Kim has been taking.

Lisa's ginormous log cabins ..

Ruth's T-shirt quilt:

Sharon was turning out 3-Yard Quilts:

Donna's WIP:

Peggy's After Dan:

Kim's WIP

I sure miss these girls!

Help! I Killed My Machine!

Actually, just the foot pedal.  I broke it yesterday where it fastens to the machine.  Thankfully I have a second lightweight travel machine.  But I much prefer sewing on the big workhorse.  I had a vision as I lay in bed last night that perhaps the foot pedal on the little machine would fit on my favorite.  And it did!  Well, kinda.  I can only press it a little way to make the machine go at a normal speed; otherwise it ... just ... creeps ... along ...

About my current projects:  I think I have come up with two good plans for the bear paw shadow blocks and I've begun planning a new Geese Migration quilt.  But first, I need a design wall.  Ta-Da!

I decided to use the brighter/bolder of the scrappy-background shadow blocks in a variation of Shadow of the Bear to balance with the brighter/bolder scrappy uneven log cabin blocks.  Progress so far:

I need to make one more shadow block for the center.  And the arrangement of the ULCs may need adjusting.  I'm also working on a block design for the corners that will use some of the bear paw blocks I made for border that I may or may not do.  As is, the top will be 40x60".

I have a plan for the remaining shadow blocks, but I need to make at least one more to make my scheme work.  Stay tuned...

Funny Thing

When I recently asked for suggestions for what to do with tons of 2-1/2" squares, Jan/Colorful Fabriholic suggested a pattern by Cynthia Brunz - Geese Migration - which I now realize is exactly why I cut those squares in March 2018!

I loved making that design and it is certainly worth reprising.  Thank you, Jan, for tweaking my memory.!

Project Updates

First, thanks for all the suggestions for what to do with my plethora of Asian squares.  Lot of good ideas.  Stay tuned to see what happens with all those squares.

I had planned to go with a down-sized version of the Shadow of the Bear quilt so continued making eight uneven log cabin (ULC) blocks with the larger dark side in the same style that I had made the eight larger light side ones -- using 1-1/2" strips.  I laid them out on the "design bed" -- note to Ace Assistant, we need to hang the design wall SOON -- and felt they really overpowered the delicate shadow blocks.  

SO, I thought about using the 13 shadow blocks in a quilt on their own, alternating the blocks with plain squares, and try to find a way to use the ULC blocks without having to make ANY MORE (can you sense I'm kinda tired of that process).

Then I looked at the photo I had taken on the bed ...

It ain't half bad!  But what would I do with the other five shadow blocks?  And Heaven help me if I have to make any more ULC blocks.

Tomorrow I will try the shadow blocks with an alternate fabric (if I can find one) and let you know what I decide.

Looking for Ideas

I have a question for my readers:  At some point in time I cut the majority of my Asian fabrics into 2-1/2" squares.  I'm talking hundreds!  Once again, I have no notes about why I did this or what I had planned.  

I'm looking for project ideas.  I have them grouped by color, many shades within each color but enough I might be able to do a color progression.  Also thinking about "flagging" them onto light 2-1/2" strips for potential 4-patches (or 9-patches).  But what then?

HELP!

Sloggin' Through Logs

There are not many blocks that I despise making as much as log cabin blocks.  Yes, they add a traditional look to a quilt.  Yes, they are great stash-busters.  But for me they are a boring pain to make. Not to mention difficult for me to make square.  However, I soldiered on with the uneven log cabins in Shadow of the Bear yesterday.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't have the pattern/instructions for the quilt I started in 2022, yet I have decided to make the quilt, if only an abbreviated version.  All I have is one page, a page that shows log cabin blocks.

You can see that to make the uneven log cabin blocks it uses a combination of 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" width strips.  So I began to make blocks with the dark strips in the wider dimension since I already had 14 blocks made with the larger light area.  But look at how I made those blocks two years ago:

At first I thought I could/should mix the two together, but the newly made blocks just look clunky with the others.

While cogitating on what to do, I noticed that page of instructions specifies only 8 blocks of each yet, by my count, I need at least 14 of each!  If I make the quilt smaller, I could get away with fewer ULC blocks so I will make at least enough of the alternate blocks to finish the center section.  

At least, that is today's plan ...

Getting the Lead Out

I sewed something!

I decided this would be the week I get back to sewing.  The new space in the bedroom is almost complete though I keep thinking of things for DH to bring up, like a rotary cutter or the machine extension table.  (Try telling a non-sewer what to look for in a 7-Y-O sewing "studio"!)

So I pulled a project box out of the 40+ UFO boxes in the cubes.  It was labeled "Bear Paw" and, indeed, the contents had 20+ finished bear paw blocks (some others cut, not stitched) ... but no pattern, no notes on the intended plan. 😏😕  When I recognized my collection of Asian fabrics in them, I had a vision of the classroom where I was making them -- Quilt Camp at Cedar Lakes in 2022.  The class was Shadow of the Bear, but what happened to the rest of the project ?

I found a picture on Pinterest of a finished quilt:

I also learned from the internet that the quilt pattern can be found in Log Cabin Quartet by Trudie Hughes; however, I don't have that book.  The quilt is lovely, but quite large by my standards (73" x 93")  so I think my plan was to take the three elements -- bear paws, shadows, and log cabins --  and develop a separate plan for each of them.  Indeed, I found project boxes labeled "Shadow of the Bear" 

and "Uneven Log Cabins."

There was photocopy of a pattern page in this box, but the directions differ from what I had already done (as well as what it appears past makers have done).  I made two sample blocks by the photocopied page today (no photo available) and was not happy.  So it looks like tomorrow will be spent making a dozen uneven log cabin blocks ...

Stay Tuned!