February block

February block for the Saturday Sampler. I picked the wrong fabric at one point so I had to use my ooops kit.  I also managed to cut the dark blue points wrong so I had to hit the oooops kit again!

June block

The latest block for the Saturday Sampler.  I find that if I don't make the blocks immediately, I get too busy and end up doing it the night before!

Two more blocks

I'm really loving the colors for this BOM.  These are the May and April blocks.  My sewing time has been limited-I'm looking forward to a long weekend for Memorial Day.  I'll actually be off for five days due to the last day of school and graduation.  I'm hoping that I will get plenty of rest and lots of sewing time.

Goals for 2019

I can't believe Christmas break is over and I'm headed to work again on Monday!  After reading about Jo's completed BOM, I decided to start my list anew. 

1. PA Dutch-needs sashing and borders
2. Chocolatier-needs blocks
3. Cool Yule-needs sashing and borders
4. Ramona's baskets (civil war): one block left then assemble and make the borders
5. Ramona's baskets (30's): need to make three blocks, then assemble and add borders
6. Shelby's graduation quilt/goose chase-this one is the one that has really slowed me down

One the plus side, in December I found out that I am anemic and that's why I'm exhausted all of the time.  I started taking iron so I am hopeful that will help with my energy level and I'll be able to sew when I get home in the evenings. Plus the new Saturday Ramona started today!

The fabrics are batiks which I normally don't care for.  In fact, I was going to use civil war repros but I really like how this one looks, so I bought the batik block.

I need to make of list of things I completed this year.  That will make me feel better!

Chocolatier update

 I like to keep myself motivated and realized I haven't touched this project in ages!  I got sidetracked by my nephew's eagle quilt-or maybe it was the Ramonas.  Anyway I made these blocks in February and never posted them.  I also cut out more blocks and they've been sitting on my cutting table ever since!  I need to just knock them out so I can finish this darn BOM. So to encourage myself I've made another checkoff jpg to keep me going.

Love me some 30s!

I just love me some Thirties!  This brown print with the little girl ironing is one of my very favorite fabrics ever!

Each month I make one block out of the Civil War repros that come with the BOM and then another with my thirties.

They are going to be so sweet together when I finish the BOM.

The Basket BOM

 This is a better picture of the Basket BOM quilt plus a picture of my completed Ramonas crossed out. Only four to go!

BOMing along

Two more blocks from the Chocolatier Quilt.  These feel so tiny after making all of the PA Dutch blocks.  I did remake the pinwheel block as the center was about an eighth of an inch off.  It was really bugging me.

I also bought a new pressing stick at the Saturday sampler at my LQS.  This one is only nine inches instead of my 18 inch one.  It's easier to use on this small blocks.

I've already started on the next set of blocks.  And my unfortuate Arrowhead block is going to be remade-again!  This is what it looked like before:

Keeping on. . .

These are the four blocks for the corners of the Chocolatier quilt.  I had trouble getting the tip of the flying geese to line up properly with the four patch HSTs.  I ended up pressing the seams open on the four patch and stitching about seven stitches over the intersections of the seams and then checking to see if they lined up properly.  I had to do it over and over to get it right but it was worth it.  I think they look pretty good.

This is the first block from Month #3.  The kit included only strips of fabric so I didn't think I could use my Fit to Be Geese rulers. So I tried to make a flying goose (?) using the instructions in the pattern.  Nope.  Not even close.  So I finagled the fabric to use my FTBG ruler and made my flying geese properly.  I don't like how the intersection of the block is a little off-about an eighth off.  So I ripped the seam out and will redo it tonight or this weekend.  I had hoped to sew it last night (just one seam!) but we had a pack meeting and Red had a math worksheet he was struggling with.

on the other BOM. . .

So now I'm working on BOM #2.  This one isn't nearly as old-this is from 2017!  I blithely made one block and then (as usual) I got stuck on the next one.

I don't remember the name of this one but it was fairly easy to sew.

This block is the arrowhead.  I had a tough time (obviously) with this one.  I still didn't get it right but decided to move on.  My sister recommended I try to make the block with some other fabric just to check it out.  The base for the arrowhead is 2 x 2.5 inches.  I bet I am sewing it together with the wrong orientation.  I hope I can try it out tonight but I have a cub scout committee meeting.  I started on the corner blocks this weekend and finished one.  I'll try to take some pics tonight.

Back at work

I'm back at work today and the boyos are back at school.  It was downright chilly though.  I couldn't believe the size of these icicles.  This is very unusual for us.

I kept slogging away at my blocks yesterday and I am happy to say that I completed all of the blocks for this BOM. This was my penultimate block called Journey's end.  I had to re-stitch one of the corner triangle sets repeatedly though.  I just couldn't get it right.  It's still not perfect but it will do. 

And this cottage block.  I had thought it would be the most difficult block and I was right.  Part of it was that I wasn't very accurate in my cutting back in the day and part of it was that the top of the cottage and the chimneys didn't fit together properly.  It took a lot of trimming, resewing, trimming, resewing to get it looking like this.  I'm really proud and happy that I finished all of the blocks.  Below is a really bad cell phone picture of all the blocks. Next up I need to do the sashing which is such a snoozer!

Unexpectedly

So we have another day off!  It is literally freezing outside with leftover ice from yesterday so the schools called it off for another day.  In actuality it is a beautiful, if cold, day with clear blue skies and bright sun.  My toes are freezing in my slippers!

So I have two blocks left to make. The little house was already cut out.  I'll have to double check and make sure it was cut out correctly before I sew.  And last night before calling it quits I cut out block number twelve!  I would like to finish these two blocks today.  I really want to do a quick quilt kit but I should at least do the sashing before moving on.  Otherwise I risk this being an UFO for even  longer!

an icy day off. . .

So the boyos' schools were closed and mine was too-so we had an unexpected day off.  I kept on sewing blocks. I started with the one from yesterday. I made the mistake of leaving too many pieces on my cutting table and had a few bad moments when my math looked off.  Then I realized that I had the wrong pieces in my hands and shoved them into the bag of extra fabric.  Happily I finished the block.  And took a photo to send my sister.  Hmmmmmm.


Something looked off.  I never noticed it!

So a quick correction was in order. ;-)

Then I moved to the next block.  I had fun trying the pieces in different ways.  Any of these three would make a great block.

And this one is called Crossroads.  I actually reversed the red and blue colors when I first made it-and it spiraled the wrong way. So I cut it out again and made it properly.  

Jo's 2018 BOM Challenge

Jo at Jo's Country Junction is hosting a BOM Challenge.  It's not a new one but rather you're supposed to pull out an old BOM you've had hanging around and knock it out.  I know that I have at least two.  The Pennsylvania Dutch one from 2009 and the Chocolatier from last year.  I'm starting with the PA Dutch because it's my oldest one.

So PA Dutch.  I thought I had made three blocks but it turns out I had completed four!  So that was a nice surprise right off the bat. 

Then I pulled out my patterns and realized that I had cut several blocks  (five I think) out already!  I was pretty excited then.  I became less so as I realized that I was not very good at cutting nine years ago-I cut a lot of pieces incorrectly (to small usually or I didn't follow the directions properly) so it took a little doing to figure out how to get started.

First block:

This one I had cut the setting triangles incorrectly and the four patches were too large.  So some trimming and new triangles were required.  I really like this block.

Second block: This block was pretty easy.  I just had to make sure I followed the directions.

Third block: this was a little bit more trouble.  I had cut the small blue squares too small and didn't realize it until I tried to sew the central block together.  I also found the setting triangles a little dodgey to sew.  Still I'm proud of it!

Block Four: This block I totally cut wrong.  So I had to do a ton of math.  Like two and a half hours of math, sampling and unsewing.  Will try to finish this block on Tuesday.

What I did on my vacation

The first thing I did on my vacation was to finish the Happy Campers quilt top. DH really likes it. I didn't realize that it would be so big-it fits on my queen sized bed. Now to purchase and make the backing!
Then I started on my Pennsylvania Dutch BOM. I hadn't finished a single block for this BOM and I was about to get Block #9! I cut out all the blocks that I had received and finished these four. I'm about halfway through another block but I got stuck-may just move on to another one. I got Block #9 in the mail Thursday so I went ahead and cut that one out too. That's the one I'm stuck on and it looks so easy! I can't get my four patch squares to come out to the right size. I may re-make all of them a little larger and just cut them down. I also spent a lot of time with my kids-took Red to swim lessons and Tig ran a fever for three days so he stayed home with me. Also had a pedicure with Magpie and my mom. Then we spent the weekend camping and swimming. It was great.

Overthinking.

So I finally started to work on my Pa Dutch BOM. I started with this block: Sorry for the small pic but I clipped it out a jpg. I cannot get my points on the pinwheels to match nicely. It is driving me crazy. I made one pinwheel and sewed it to the other squares. Then I made another one and ripped it out.

And ripped a hole in it.

Am I over thinking this?

My first BOM

Well, it's November. Where's my BOM?? I'm impatiently waiting for my first BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop. They said that it was so popular they are giving everyone in the BOM a gift certificate to the shop! Which is super cool as I need to buy the backing for this quilt and one for my DH.

Then, this morning, I couldn't find my confirmation for the BOM. Did I sign up? One email later confirmed that I had indeed signed up and that the first BOM should be out no later than Monday! I wonder which block we will start with? I hope it isn't the top left one. That looks involved. Actually a lot of those blocks look involved. Curses! What did I sign up for? Ah, well. It will all be worth it. And I really love that dear little house block.