Tips and Tutorial linky party

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Summer. I'm hoping that with some cooler weather and fires being put out (hopefully they will be soon!), that I'll get back more into quilting and blogging.

Lea Anne, from Podunk Pretties , has a fun new linky party, with prizes! Tips and tutorials, big or small, old or new.

So I thought I'd start off with my most popular post of all,  The Lone Star Tutorial. Click on the link and it will take you right to my post.



The Lone star is one of my favorite blocks. These stars are just so neat and can be made in a variety of different color variations. Having only a few colors and making the block small, or having lots of colors and making it really big.

Pressing your seams and keeping your strips nice and straight is really important, as you are dealing with the bias edges, which often like to stretch.

I hope my tutorial is helpful to you. Thank you Lea Anne, for a fun linky party.

 

WIP Wednesday, on Thursday..

Hello Everyone,

I've made a bit of progress on my disappearing 9patch project this week.

Here's most of my 9 patches, all trimmed and cut in half both horizontal and vertical (as that's what makes them 'disappear' if you didn't know). I love the swirly yellow (Sunkissed by Sweetwater) paired with the almost-solids.

And here are half of my flying geese... sigh~ only half, as I calculated wrong when first cutting them out. I love the gray check (Sunkissed by Sweetwater) mixed with the almost-solids, too.

When I was first cutting this project out, I calculated 4 geese per block. But I am supposed to use 8 geese per block!! And then, I decided I needed this quilt a bit bigger, so have to make 5 more blocks, which means another 20 geese on top of the 80 more I have to do. BLAH!

Buuuuttt, as much as I hate the trimming, don't these blocks all look fantastic! Trimmed and squared up just right :) and that makes the piecing together go much easier too, of course. So it's well worth it.... maybe by next week I can actually start putting the blocks together ;)

Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Lorna, thanks Lorna!

It's August... already

Time is just zipping by, don't you agree?

Hello Everyone, I just can't believe how quickly time is going. It's been a mix of HOT weather, and warm weather with cool nights. The thermometer keeps going up and down. Which is better than sticking at HOT, which is usual for us in Summer time.

And because of the heat (and smoke from fires, not close by thankfully), I just haven't been working much on my 9patch project. I have been working thru the trimming of my geese. And am happy to say, they are all trimmed now :)

Then I still have to cut trim and cut the 9patches so they are 'disappearing'.

But mostly, I've been getting my fabrics organized into bins :) And organizing my sewing room.

I have bins that hold fabric from about 1/2 yrd to 2 yrds.

I have some that  hold from maybe 1/8 yrd pieces to 1/2 yrd.

Some that  have WIP's and scraps in them.

And some have fat quarter bundles, charm packs, panels, things of that nature. Then I have one big one that has some backing pieces, or pieces over 2 yrds, and some batting.

I'm finally getting things organized, cause my sewing table is done :) :)

My 20yr old son (I can't believe he will be 21 in a week!!!!)  made this for me. Isn't it beautiful??

It still needs a shelf where those two bins are sitting, but other than that, it's just perfect.

It has a  nice drawer and LOTS of space for quilting and cutting!

And, the sewing machine comes out easily, so that I can use my table to sandwhich/baste my quilt tops :) I've tried basting on the floor (arthritic hips don't like that), I've tried using my cutting table (but it didn't move out from the wall so that was hard), I've tried using my bed (that sort of worked), I've even tried using a wall! But all of those spaces had issues, so I am hoping that now that I have this table (that easily moves out from the wall), I can finally start getting some of my lovely tops quilted.

I still need to make a design wall, I have the space for it, just haven't done it. And I still need to move the boy's books (this room used to be their bedroom) out of it and put my sewing books in it. And then my space will be all done and maybe I can just enjoy the quilting. When the weather cooperates that is ;) LOL

Have a great day all.