Perspective

I enjoyed the 365 Challenge in January. In February, my progress was stalled by another quilt which needed to be Free Motion quilted. I knew if I changed the foot on the sewing machine, that the FMQ foot wouldn't go back on fast enough for me to finish the quilt before the end of the month. See this post for more clarification.  Now that the regular sewing foot is on, my daily dose of 3 inches blocks may resume. Yeah!

In perspective, January saw me playing with these little cuties.

The 31 blocks required 371 pieces. Oh yes, the girl is keeping track as I think this is really a once-in-a-life-time kind of quilt. Wouldn't you agree?

February started on the right foot for the first four days.

Then it landed on the FMQ foot! I was able to assemble a few blocks more today.

I now have 7 made for February and so many more to do before I can catch up... if ever I catch up!!



Now, let's look at another perspective please. The back!!

Yes, the ugly back.

Here's block 2 and 3 in the second picture from the top. They have 42 (right) and 37 (left) pieces.  But they are so cute ... from the front!

Let's have another look at them, on the wall ...

accompagnied by the RSC2016 block (24 pieces) and the Westering Women block (33 pieces) which finish at 12 inches. It puts things in a different perspective, wouldn't you say?

Let's see how many pieces the 365 Challenge has required so far, shall we?

In January, like I've said, I have sewn  371 pieces.

For those of you who are up to date with the 365 Challenge, I'll tell you this:

Congrats! 

You have sewn  469 pieces for February. If you have made the block called Four Queens (which has 101 pieces) you have a grant total of 941 pieces for January and February. Like I said: Congrats!! 






Another perspective :

Winter has been harsh and they are coming out of the woods. No matter what you drive, mooses are big animals. This amazing picture comes from Pinterest and I thought it explains so much. So please drive slowly, be on the lookout for them and you'll be able to spare a life or two; its and yours!  Have a great week everyone.



Until next time ...

;^)

Linking with Monday Making at Love, Laugh, Quilt


Linking with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday. 

The Mutation of a Quilt

The plan to finish a yellow and gray quilt, a UFO since 2013, has been everything and nothing like a plan.

Found on Hyacinth Quilt Designs,  the "Garden Fence" quilt flipped my plan of that day. 

from Pinterest made by Cindy (Hyacinth Quilt Designs)

I immediately started to play with my yellows and grays. It didn't took long for my poor little stash to run on empty, so some orange and charcoal fabrics were invited in. Then the unfinished quilt (more like blocks) was tucked away in a drawer for a long while. Some time last September, (in 2015) I brought it out into the light with the firm intention of finishing it. 

Little did I know this quilt had a few surprises for me along the way. It almost looked like a vendetta. 

 I did blog about adding a few more blocks.

 

 

Wasn't happy with it. Should I add sashing? Borders?

Cut it up and added a wide slice of fabric with gray wordings on white.  

 Yea, that's better. 

My Garden Fence is finally finished!! Yeah!!!  Or is it?

I found it too long and narrow.  I still wasn't happy with it.

So .... the first row was removed.  

Then the quilt decided it wanted some flowers. 

-Flowers? 

-Yes, hexie flowers like the other quilt full of hexies in the basement.
-Oh! you saw that! 
-Yes, and I want to be beautiful too. 
- Darn! 


So hexagon flowers were made ...  

 
 Then the flowers wanted to be puffy. 
-Puffy flowers? 
-Yes, very puffy.
-What the baloney is this? 

... still I added some batting under the hexie flowers.

 Then one flower wanted to be peeking from behind the sashing.   -Peeking? 
-Yes like this. 

-No.
-Pretty please. 
-NO! 

Needless to say time was flying by and we were well into November and the quilt was still not finished. But I thought I could still finish it before year end. So I started to machine quilt it. Stitched in the ditch all around the white sashing was the first thing I did. Then I practiced my free motion quilting with simple leaves and eventually graduated to the quilt. 

Then some hexagon flowers started to bloom in the center squares ... 

 

... leaves were growing every which way in between the blocks ...

... oodles of threads to bury ...

Then, MORE flowers sprouted amongst the words ...

Daisies and Daffodils

This one looks better on the doodle pad than the FMQ but whatever. If you can't make it out, here's the original drawing.

So much easier with a pencil lol. 

 Little flowers and hearts for the corners. 







Now what to do with the row of blocks that I removed from the quilt? Will it be used on the back of the quilt? 

-No. I don't want to be hidden behind a quilt! I want to be independant and have MY own glory.
-Oh! Bother!

So all the machine quilting, free motion quilting started over again. And of course, more threads to bury. :^(

This quilt mutated into a wallhanging and a table runner. It will brighten my kitchen (as soon as I purchase a pole to hang it lol). It hasn't been washed yet either but I couldn't wait to share it with you. ;^)

For these pictures, the boys gave me a hand and held it up. It looks so good ... 

I am soooo pleased with it but, GOSH!! that was a difficult birth!! 

I call it "Secret Garden". 
I promise to take more pictures during the daytime. I'm sure it will sing much brighter notes in the sunlight.  :^)


I am done!  I have finished it before the month end. So happy. I can link with One Monthly Goal because Oh. My. God. I. am. done!!


Now, where's my bottle ? I need to celebrate lol. 




Until next time ....


;^)



Joining Sarah for "Can I get a whoop whoop?"  (Confessions of a Fabric Addict) as this is a happy dance moment for me. 

Joining Zenia for "Whoomp! There it is." for the first time. What a lovely place. Come and check it out. 





 

Sew slow tidying

For Slow Sunday Stitching, I am tidying up some loose ends. Literally!

It does involve threads and ...

a needle. 

It is a slow process made by hand.

So I hope it counts as slow "stitching" because this is what I have to do today whenever I find a  free moment. There's a gazillion of these threats to pull in so I'll still do this during tv time this evening.


Until next time ...

;^)

Joining Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Brown Peace and Plenty of Brown - RSC, Going West and Reuse

What?  Brown Peace?  you ask.

I tried really, reeeaaalllllllly hard to find some decent brown for "Peace and Plenty" block. The problem is (or should I say problems are?) the background fabrics.

I auditioned ...

homespun that friend Pink gave me ...  No!

coffee cups ...

No!

I love dots ...

 Not !
How about sometime like ...

What? It's even not from the same century! No, no, no, no! It has to be fun or lively or just a solid brown. 

But I don't have a solid brown!! How about ...

Paw prints? That is a fun one.

Nope. 


(Siiiiggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) Ok I give up.

I am leaving!!




I am leaving ...




for the West!    :^D  ...

with Barbara Brackman in a quilt-along called "Westering Women". The first block proposed by Barbara is "Indenpendence Square". These are the fabrics I have picked for this block.

I swear I had those picked before Angela showed Vicky's beautiful hand-died fabrics on her blog. Life is funny sometime. (It looks like Napolitan Ice Cream to me, lol.)

Anywho! Here's my block.

Now I have to wait an ENTIRE month before I can work on that quilt. Sigh again!

So, to keep my sewing machine well fed, I worked on this.

a basket!! :^D

And a zippered pouch! :^D

all in brown! (with a touch of purple as I had none with pink in it.)

The zipper for the pouch came from an old bag I had. The zipper went around three sides and had lost a "hook" (is that what its called in English?) and kept coming undone. So I took the bag apart and shorten the zipper with the dress fabric. (Sorry, forgot to take pictures as I was sewing it.)

I think the corners turned out not too bad for a first try. I am happy with this one. I used up some older fabric inside and outside for the pouch. Yeah! It will hold the crayons I use to mark quilts as the other bag is not up for that job anymore lol.

Here's the bag that got its zipper removed. Didn't take a picture of the before but the above picture gives you an idea of what it looked like in the beginning. I sew a bias tape all around so it can still be used.

Only the lid will be thrown out. I like that.   :^D

Group photo!So this was my week in the sewing room.

Okay, your turn now.



                               

Linking up with Angela for Rainbow Scrap Challenge with more brown inspiration and plenty of Ohs and Ahs!








Until next time ...

;^)