Stitching on a Sunday

I'm making wonderful progress on my Auntie Green's Garden. I'm still so happy with it and could have been finished the left border except for the fact that the fabric I had chosen for the very last flower was very much a wrong choice!

Here is how it looked yesterday up on the design wall....

I enjoyed my stitching this morning, I think because I like doing this type of flower.....

I was also able to pick a few fabrics for the right-side border, so I hope to make good progress on that in the next couple of weeks.

A project that has to get done soon is fabric bowls for the microwave. These will be stocking stuffers for Christmas. The pattern is so simple, what could go wrong? Well. my first attempt doesn't look anything like the picture on the pattern.....

Sometimes it doesn't pay to hurry!!

I had a quilt on the longarm this week that sure put me in the Christmas spirit......

The pattern is called Fair Isle and the quilt will be featured in Quilt Junction for their Christmas Open House later this week. Love it!

I feel so indecisive today. I have decided to celebrate Christmas in  "minimal" way. I don't know why I don't have it in me to do all the regular decorating. I'm still looking forward to putting on the huge dinner, so that's ok.

I've bought a cute little EASY tree...

It literally took less than 5 minutes to put up! The picture isn't the best, but in real life it's all lime green and glittery. Cute!

But now I'm totally re-thinking it! I think I'll miss putting the beloved ornaments up. I also miss having a real tree, which we haven't had in about 5 years. Oh well, change is okay, right?

Have a visit with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today.

Busy times

It's Friday already!

 Like I've said before, this time of year is super-busy for us longarmers. This morning I have a few people coming and going with drop-offs and pick-ups. When this happens, I hesitate to work on the longarm since I won't hear the door-bell.

So....I took a bit of time this morning while waiting to do a bit of sewing!

As many of us know, today is the start of Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Allietare. It's always good to get some of each clue's sewing done before the next clue comes out. But before I can allow myself to get at it, I really had to finish up what has been lurking on the design wall much too long. It's a Christmas present for my son and his wife and I at least want the top done....and now it is!.....

Hopefully, it will get quilted in time for Christmas, but it will have to wait til all my other longarm obligations are done. If it doesn't, then there will be plenty of time between Christmas and New Year's!

This quilt was my first time using the Quick Curve ruler. It was a slick process and I'll probably use it again, but you can really tell I'm a novice! I tried pinning the rows together, but, honestly, I had better results without them.

Of course, it did make things easier since I had my lovely stiletto that was made for me by a good friend!...

Still, how can I get perfection like this....

....and in the very same seam, get this.....

Hmm, I'm just glad this is a learning quilt....and I'll ask my son to not let people look too closely!!!

As for Allietare? I am just going to make half of the quilt, due to time constraints, and this if fine since we are a family who likes to curl up on the couch with a quilt!

Also, to save time, I am using a "constant" fabric as my background.

This morning's clue was to make a pile of 1-1/2" HST from backgrounds and the grey fabric. I just wanted to see how many I could get out of a WOF....for me it's 29, not bad!

I was going to use Thangles for this clue, but I figured I would try to commit to Bonnie's preferred method of using the Easy Angle ruler...

It worked out pretty good, but I did find I get better results if I feed the units thru' the machine "tip" end first. When I feed them thru' the other way, I tend to get a bit "off" at the pointy tip. I'm going to blame my feed dogs!

As for the pressing of the HST's, I've never followed Bonnie's suggestion of leaving the chain of
units connected. I don't know what's going on with me today, but again I figured I'd give Bonnie's way a try.....

....and, what do you know, she's right again, it was a time-saver!

I haven't checked the size of them yet, hopefully they are close to 1.5"!

Here is a peek at what's on the frame today. It's an absolutely stunning quilt called FairIsle....because it has the look of a Fair Isle sweater! This needs to get done pronto so it can make it to Quilt Junction in time for their  Christmas Open House next week as the featured quilt.

Have a great day!

P.S. (added Nov.30) I'm going to attempt to link this post to Bonnie's Linky party today, so visit her at  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/11/mystery-monday-link-up-allietare-part-1.html to see how everyone else is doing on this first clue!

It's a Purple day

Today I'm experiencing what I think is Sciatica pain. Not a good thing any day, but has me a bit panicky since a lot of my day today and the days of the next three weeks involves standing.

As any of my longarm friends can attest to, these next three weeks leading up to Christmas require careful planning. Almost any quilt that will be done now will be one that someone needs as a Christmas present.

So, what to do? Push through it, or take it easy for a day?

As I am pondering the fabric for my daily heart applique for my Day in the Life/Quilty365 I am wondering what colour could represent a bit of pain. I've decided on purple, even though I do love purple!

I really don't mean for aches and pains to be a part of my blog postings, I guess today it's just not good timing for this!!!

Especially when I have this facing me at the ironing board.....

....fabrics that need pressing for the beginning of Allietare tomorrow......woohoo!!!! I can hardly wait til tomorrow to see what the start of this mystery is with Bonnie at Quiltville.

Even though it was difficult sitting in my applique chair this morning, I did stitch a couple of "off the block" flowers for Auntie Green's Garden. It was nice to work on something other than green leaves and stems for a change! I do like the simple work of stems and leaves.....but I think that's ALL I've done for the last two weeks. Oh, except for my wee hearts!

Have a great day!