To Do Tuesday

Last Week:

1. Table runners? Maybe? √
2. Continue to bond with Squish √
3. Keep making blocks for my RR 2022 /
4. Prep the last obligation quilt /

I did it!! I finished one of those table runners I have been trying to quilt since December!! This one is for Squish’s wall in her room. We are trying to get the nursery done for when she moves in there to sleep. Bonding with Squish is EASY! My RR blocks are a must right now as I have 16 more to make for the 3rd round. And I have 1/2 of the customer quilt done. I am doing FMQ and a little ruler work. Going to put a panto in the large floral blocks just to mix it up. 

This Week:

1. RR Blocks-FINISH Round 3!!
2. Appliqué quilt-as close to finished as I can
3. Keep loving on Squish
4. Try to get back to Recovery
5. Try to get some heart appliqués cut for the table runners for the girls

I’ve got a lot more blocks to make!! I will work on those while at sewing today.

Recovery has taken a hit due to hip pain. I backed off on the Yoga but will try to add it back. I know the 2nd hip will need replacing in the future, I’m just trying to hold off on it. Once it gets half as bad as the 1st one was I am scheduling surgery. I let the first one go too long, the “pinch” started in my early 30’s, not knowing that it needed replacing. I was told it was a back issue. When I tore the labrum it was excruciating pain for 5 months and numerous Dr visits until they listened to me that it was my HIP! And then 2 months more to surgery. I wonder how I functioned so long with it. So, I am just riding the bike and watching the calories, and doing breathing exercises each night. But I need to get back to targeting the shoulders and neck, too much holding my head at an angle to watch a sleepy baby in my arms! LOL. But so worth it!

2022 Round Robin Week 2 Diamonds

Here we are, another week into the 2022 Round Robin Challenge. How’s your design coming along? Be sure to visit all the designers to see how they interpreted this week’s prompt, Diamonds! Emily is this week’s hostess and gives us a look into her design choice.

Now, to explain my round I need to back up to my original center block.

The first iteration of my block used Square in Square pieces, which are kind of a diamond shape, but not really. The placement of colors was off for me, so I went back to the drawing board. And when I did, I rethought the future rounds in my design. I really didn’t want to do a round of diamonds. So, why not mix up the center block to include a diamond shape in it? Perfect. So my Diamonds were already revealed the first week!

And wow, what a difference it made! I also changed the placement of colors to really distinguish those red pieces that created another Diamond like image. I love it. So, how do you make a diamond in a rectangle? Follow along and find out.

I am fortunate to have the wonderful program Electric Quilt 8 for all my quilt design needs. The program lets you create the block and then gives you an option for templates, rotary cutting, or foundation paper piecing to make the block. I just printed out the template because I only needed to cut 4 pieces.

If you need to make more look into these options: Triangle Rec rulers, scroll down for the tutorial; Diamond Rects, check out the video tutorial; or foundation pieced papers can be used to create them.

The most important tip is: cut your 2 background pieces with WRONG SIDES TOGETHER! That way you will have the mirror imaged corners. Do not ask how many times I have forgotten to do this kind of thing in the past. LOL!

And as you saw last week, my block currently looks like this:

Just waiting for the next round, which still needs 16 more blocks made! 😱

Now off you go to create your diamonds. I can’t wait to see how your project is coming along!

• Anja-Curves
• Emily-Diamonds
• Roseanne & Sue-?
• Wendy-?
• Gail-?
• Me-?

Sunday Report

Sewing Stats
Fabric In: +.50
Fabric Out: -.31
Net Fabric: +.19
Fabric YTD: +1.90
Spending YTD: $92.03

In: I went to my monthly “Quilt Therapy” session and just picked up some FQs and a little quilt hanger. For some reason I am drawn to deep gold tones, and love them with navy!

Out: Worked on my RR blocks for a future round, so no show of that sewing. But I did start FMQ’ing the customer top. I am going in between the appliqué motifs with a flower kind go design. I thought I would do a Crosshatch around it all, but that was just too much trying to match lines up and being interrupted by the appliqué pieces. This one was a bugger to get layered, the top is very wavy, so trying to smooth that all in to the quilting.

Knitting Stats
Last Week: 53,816 yards/280 skeins
Yarn In: 0 yards/0 skeins
Yarn Out: 0 yards/0 skeins
Ending Stash: 53,816 yards/280 skeins
Spending YTD: $0

In: Nothing

Out: Nothing

Knitting just isn’t high on the list right now. This week was full of 4 days watching Squish, so by the time she left I wasn’t worth much of anything. Still trying to get used to the 5:30 AM wake up so I can meet Diva to get baby to bring her home. We do end up going back to sleep, but the lack of a good chunk of deep sleep is catching up with me.

To Do Tuesday

Last Week:

1. TABLE RUNNERS!!! MUST DO! X
2. Prep new runners, yes, this too! X
3. Work on Recovery /
4. Knit while away from home Wed-Thurs /
5. Folded Case for friend √
6. Guild BOM √

Gah! Still no quilting on those runners. And no prep on the new ones I want to have done for Valentine’s for the girls. Slacked a little on the recovery this week, my hip has been pinching, so I am trying to nurse that along and re-evaluate how much hip stretching I should be doing with the un-replaced hip. I don’t want to further the need for surgery if I can wait. I did knit, but doesn’t look any different right now. However I did get some things done!!! And I have been sewing blocks for future rounds on my Round Robin, but I can’t show them!

Next Week:

1. Table runners? Maybe? Any of them! 
2. Continue to bond with Squish, she is now coming here each day while Diva is back at work
3. Keep making blocks for my RR 2022, which is going to take a boat load of blocks with subsequent rounds. I am planning it to be a picnic quilt for ScientistGirl
4. Prep the last obligation quilt, it’s appliquéd and it’s BIG! 

I know time will be limited now that Squish is here, but that’s OK, I am all in with being her care giver. Even to the point I needed to add something to the house to help with that care! 

The 3rd photo above is her all snuggled while I rocked her, nothing better!!! And the next is my attempt to amuse her while I showered. It worked! But then when I moved the play mat out to the ottoman someone decided it was his time to play! LOL

Linking with Texas Quilt Gal

2022 Round Robin Week 1 Curves

For this round I chose Dunkard’s Path for my curves. I took a class recently and really enjoyed the process. The only templates I had were for a 6″ block, so I needed to do some refiguring.

The issue with the pieces of the DP is, the curves are not equal. You can not cut them with the same arc, it must be 2 different sizes for the quarter-circle-circumference to match when you sew the pieces together. To make a 4.5″ finished DP block, I need to cut 1 charm square with an 8″ quarter circle arc, and the contrast piece with a 9″ quarter circle arc.

The blue piece will use the top Concave piece and the gold will use the convex piece when sewn together. Using this knowledge I pieced this wall hanging for Squish’s room.

When I saw Anja had chosen Curves for this week’s round, there was never a doubt what I would use. All I needed to do was cut my pieces to make a 4″ finished block, sew them together, and see how much of a coping strip I would need around my center block. To make the 4″ blocks I used an 8″ for the convex piece and 7″ for concave one.

My center block was 8.5″ unfinished and my DP blocks would be 12.5″ along the side seam, so I knew I needed to add a 2.5″ border around my center block. 8.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 13.5″ and then I take away the seams allowance on both sides, -1″ total, for a total of 12.5″. Perfect! If in doubt, add more, it can always be trimmed off.

The trick to sewing these curves is creases at the quarter marks. And working those sections by a little wiggling. If the photos aren’t enough to help you, catch *this video I made of the process. Sorry it’s B&W, I can’t figure out why it does that when I upload it to my computer from QuickTime.

This project is going to be a scrappy project, I am trying very hard to not dictate which fabrics go together. I am going for contrast more than matching. And so far I am loving it!!!

My only issue is the lower left side where the coping strip fabric meets the convex curve of the DP block. It’s the same fabric! Oh well, it’s what it is, and overall it won’t hurt the finish.

Now, hop around the loop and check out how the other designer’s interpreted the Curves prompt.

• Anja
• Emily
• Roseanne & Sue
• Wendy
• Gail

*Yes, I mislabeled the curves!! I said I didn’t know for sure, and I obviously didn’t! LOL