It’s a new year

So its 2022 and I havent posted for 6 years. I'm wondering if I should be starting a new blog or just add on to this one. I guess since it's easier to add on to this one that's what I will do. I feel like 2020 is starting all over again. I feel like I'm in lockdown again because of this latest omicron/ post holiday surge. The news is full of how transmissable it is. Meanwhile the CDC has basicly said that its OK to go out if your're still recovering as long as you wear a mask. There is so much conflicting info out there that I don't know what to believe or how I should be protecting myself or if it's really even necessary. Life was getting better. I had my Tuesday quilting group that met in person, I had a twice a month quilting group in person , I had 2 in person quilting guilds. Now some of these have been canceled and some are up in the air. They may be held but should I go? The riskiest thing I do is see my childern and grandchildren. They are out in the world with school and work and socializing with family and friends. I feel like seeing the grands is an acceptable risk because life without them is just not living. I'm keeping busy. I am still fine tuning my "22 in 22" quilting goal list. I really have more than 22 things I want to do but when I look at the projects I want to finish or start I'm realizing how much time some of them are going to take. I guess that's why it's a good idea to write things down so you have a clear idea of what you need to do. I joined The Quilt Show this year. It's entertaining and full of helpful info. The only thing is it encourages chasing "squirels", you know every time you see a new pattern or technique you want to start it. I'm really working on no new starts unless I plan on working on it from start to finish and it is making headdway on my reduce your stash plan. Last year I did really great with that. I had 24 finishes. I bought very little fabric but was gifted with about 115 yards of fabric for free. I could NOT turn that down. After all, I do use it and it will save me lots of money and keep me busy for years. So while life still feels restricted I am keeping my spirits up and taking care of myself. I'mm keeping a postive outlook. Now off to quilting my Lucy Boston POTC quilt then a little decluttering.

Some more quilt pictures

My Stash

My ruler folded stash, or as much as I can fit in the camera, anyway. I have a very small space but I'm working on getting it neat and organized. That's the plan anyway...LOL

Art Quilts

Not sure what to do next with these. I want more layers. I want them to be more like a collage. Maybe some paint or ink or beads... we'll see.

Scrap Quilt

Started this one in January. It's a split 16 patch. NO strip piecing on this, it was all individual patches. I used 2 1/2 inch squares. The blocks are 9 inches.

Celtic Solstice

Quilt Show

Block Swaps Update

I'm still having a great time swapping quilt blocks. Every time I join a swap I learn something new. Here is a picture of the blocks I received in the Civil War fabrics Ohio star block swap.




Here is a picture of the Puss in Boots blocks I received:




I'm working on three other swaps, a "scrap happy" swap on Quilting Around the World a mini nine patch swap for block_swappers and a nine inch nine patch for the same site.


There are many good reasons to join a block swap.
Reason one is to try a new color scheme. I tried a new color scheme for the Puss in Boots swap. I had all those colors but never would have combined them myself.

Reason two is to find out more about your stash. In the Scrap Happy swap I learned that my stash was lacking in very dark colors. Next time I shop I will be adding some dark colors to help make my quilts "sing".

Reason three is to try a new block pattern. In the Scrap Happy swap I made a block I've never made before. It's just a simple double four patch, it's a classic, but I'd never used it before.

Reason four is to increase your productivity. Those deadlines really get you sewing.I find that having a deadline makes me more productive. I know that without these block swaps I wouldn't have made as many blocks as I have. When I finish these five swaps I will have enough blocks made to put together 5 new quilts. How's that for productivity!

Reason five is to help you "raise the bar" on your accuracy. I always want to send in my best work so I'm a little bit more careful and accurate when I make blocks to swap. That's a good thing because I know sometimes I get a little sloppy than I'm not happy with the way my quilts turn out.

Can you tell I highly recommend swapping quilt blocks? Head on over to some of my favorite forums and join a swap today, you'll be glad you did.
Quilting Around the World
Block_Swappers
MailBlocks
About.com Quilting

If anyone knows of other block swap sites please leave me a comment.
Also I'd love to hear about your quilt swapping adventures so leave a comment, I'm sure we're all interested in what you have to say.

Free Live Workshop

Marney from Artella is giving a free live workshop on this Thursday, February 26, called The Complete Idealist's Guide to Growing a Creative Business: 37 Ways to Really Make an Artsy Living.

I'm going to be leaving my quilt guild meeting early so I can join in. Click on the link to sign up. If you haven't checked out her web site you really should. Artellaland is a great place to visit for crafters, writers and artists.

One World One Heart Winner!!

I'm a lucky winner on not one, but two blog giveaways at the One World One Heart blog event.
I've won a paper-mache item from GreenishLady. Follow the link to see a photo of my prize. I really can't wait which one I get. I'm glad I don't have to choose, I don't know which one I'd pick.
My other prize is another mystery from Palm Coast Art It is a mystery packet of beads and a handmade bezel. I'm sure I will love them. Check out her Etsy shop here: palmcoastart.
This blog event was great fun. Maybe next year I will have my own givaway.

If you missed the givaway this year you can still see the list of participants . I'm still checking out the blogs I didn't get to visit during the givaway, you should too.

One World One Heart

Just want to let everyone know about the givaways at http://oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/
I'm not participating, I just found out about it but maybe I'll try it next year. Of course I'll have to update my blog a lot more often!!

Quilt Block Swap Frenzy!!

I'm swapping like crazy!! Here are the Puss in the Corner swap blocks I did for QATW.

This is the color scheme that "Bookworm", the swap hostess asked us to use: earthy reds, warm browns, and golden creams and tans.
I haven't used this color scheme before. It's beautiful and I had all the colors in my stash already, so I guess they're colors I like. I just needed a little nudge to combine them. I love when I find a swap that teaches me something.

I'm also working on 2 more swaps. These swaps are on Blockswappers, a subgroup of the Stashbusters group that I've belonged to since 2002. The first is a mini nine patch swap. The blocks finish 3 inches. I don't know what I'm going to do with them but they're so cute I couldn't resist. Any suggestions?

I signed up for 4 sets of 10 and I have one set done and the other 3 sewn into strip sets. I'm hoping to get those finished today. If I do I think I'll sign up for a few more sets, like maybe 6......that would give me 100 swapped blocks and the 5 extra from each set that I make. I'm using up some of my fat quarters and if I cut 5 dark 1 1/2 inch strips and 4 light 1 1/2 inch strips I get 15 3 1/2 inch nine patches. Here's a picture of my progress so far:


I'v also signed up for 2 sets of 9 inch nine patch blocks. That will give me 20 swapped blocks and about 8 that I've made for myself. For some of the blocks I used the "leftovers" from the fat quarters I cut my mini 9 patches from so I have a lot of different blocks.


I found that 2 FQ'a will make six 9 inch 9 patches and 5 dark and 4 light 3 1/2 inch strips cut from the width of the fabric will make 12 blocks. Ten to swap and two to keep.

This swap isn't due until May but these blocks are so easy and I was in the mood for some simple piecing yesterday that both sets will be finished today. So far I'm the only one who's signed up for this swap. I hope as the due date gets closer more people will sign up. It would stink to have all my blocks made and have the swap canceled.

Any one else interested? in joining? Go to Blockswappers and sign up. Here's a picture of some of these blocks:

Now what other swaps can I join................

Community Quilt Projects

I'm working on making quilts to donate to the Woman's Shelter in the town I work in. Each year at Christmas time my office "adopts" the people in the shelter. We take up a collection of money and gifts. This year there were 12 children between the ages 3 months and 16 years old in the shelter along with thier mothers. That's more people than ever. I felt awful.

Can you imagine having no home? I cannot imagine how stressful that must be for a Mom. I donated what I could but really felt it wasn't enough.

My quilting guild, the Bayside Quilters, has a community quilt program. I usually have a goal of donating 3 quilts a year to this program. I didn't meet my goal last year because I was busy selling, buying, moving and fixing up my new house. I'm thinking that this year instead of donating to the guild I will use my time and stash to donate quilts to the Woman's shelter.

There are a couple of problems with that. One is that I can't make a quilt for just a couple of the kids, it's all or nothing. The second is I won't know until just before Christmas how many kids or what thier ages are. The third problem is TIME. The fourth problem is MONEY for the batting.

I think the biggest problem is going to be the time. I could make and quilt 12 60" by 60" quilts in 12 months IF I had my quilting machine set up. But I don't and I don't think I will be getting it set up any time soon. I don't have space in the house, not unless I set it up in the dining room and that would be really ugly. The whole first floor is an open floor plan and quilting machines are just not attractive.

I bought this house with the intention of using the building out back as my sewing studio. It will be PERFECT! Isn't it beautiful?? Can't you picture me walking out there in the morning with my dog and my cat to spend the day listening to music, sewing and eating chocolate??

But, my son and his family have come to live with me and they need the studio to store thier household belongings. My son is in the construction business and he has no work. He's exploring other avenues of work but has not found anything yet. The storage unit they are currently using costs $240.00 a month,..... way to much money!!


I can quilt on my home machine, but it takes so long and it puts so much stress on my home machines and my body that I really don't like to.


So I'm setting myself a goal of making 2 quilt tops a month for now and I will worry later about finding the money for the batting and how I will get them all quilted.
Anyway, we'll see what I can do.

I've already made some progress. I have a couple of tops made so far. I have two done and three that need borders. I might just make the YBR a little bigger and not put a border on it. I'm having a hard time finding the right colors for borders and I don't want to go out and buy any fabric. I just can't afford it. I'm thinking of using simple patterns that will look good without borders. Any suggestions anyone?

Quilt Block Swap

I decided I have the time to start swapping again. I was very pleased to find that the caliber of swaps has been very much improved since the last time I've done any swapping. One of the reasons I stopped swapping quilt blocks is because the only block people seemed to be swapping was large nine patches with muslin. BORING!!!


I posted a message to stashbusters asking for help finding block swaps. Here are the sites that were suggested:
Quilting Around the World
Blockswappers
Mailblocks
About.com Quilting Forum
The Ohio star blocks in the picture are the blocks I made for a swap on QATW. I love the civil war fabrics and have a nice collection of them. I'll take a picture of the blocks I received and post them soon. They're all beautiful. I can't wait to make a quilt with them.
I have another swap from QATW ready to mail. Another picture I will have to take and post later. I forgot to take a photo before I packaged them.

I really love the challenge of block swapping. I always do my best work for swaps and it carries over to my personal projects. Sometimes I get a little sloppy and say about mismatched seams and missing points, "That's good enough". I don't do that for swaps so I get into a better habit of being precise in my piecing.

I find that having a due date makes me more productive. And I love using new color schemes, other people think of color combinations that I wouldn't and I learn a lot that way.
I highly recommend getting involved in quilt block swaps, you'll learn something and have fun doing it.

Dining Room Remodel complete

It's been a long time since I've posted anything about my new house. I guess I've been so busy getting things done that I haven't had time to share my progress.

When I moved in this room , like the rest of the house, needed paint and new flooring. It had the same dirty mauvy/rose colored rug (YUK) as the rest of the downstairs. When I pulled it up in the dining room I discovered that there were two more layers of flooring underneath. I was discouraged and worried that I'd find a subfloor, not hardwood under those layers.

But you know me, ever the optomist, I decided that I would pull up the vinyal floor and the particleboard subfloor and uncover a beautiful hardwood floor. My family wasn't so sure, but I was convinced (mostly) that I was right.

I got an estimate from the first floor re-finisher which included $500 for removing the 2 layers of flooring from the dining room. He said it would be really hard to do and take him the better part of a day. I thought he was right about it being hard work, but $500? I wasn't so sure about that. So I grabbed the floor tool that my brother insisted I buy, (I didn't want to buy it, it was $30) and got to work. Well, I was right, it wasn't a $500 job. If I could do it with just a little bit of help from a friend with a power saw for the edges near the heater, I figure it was more like a $100 job. Anyway it took me 2 evenings and a morning, plus a trip to the dump and I saved myself $500.

When the second floor re-finisher came his estimate was lower and he was going to do more than the first guy, so I went with him. I'm going to remember that for the future, always get more than one estimate. So it took about 4 days to have the floors refinished and it was inconvienent for my sons because they couldn't walk on the floors most of those 4 days. I went and stayed at a friends house. I don't like being inconvienenced. LOL

I was pleased with the way the floors came out, they are the original floors so do show some wear, but they're clean and shiny and easy to keep that way so I really can't ask for more.

Dad painted the room, and it came out great. My daughter-in-law arranged the furniture and the few knick-knacs I have, I made the centerpiece for the table.

I love the way the room turned out.