Design Wall Monday - RRCB Done - completely done - it was a colorful weekend

RRCB is done, completely done and on the guest bed.   I want to make some pillow shams, but that wasn't on the agenda for this weekend.  I think an off white bed skirt would be better as well.

After I finished RRCB and she just came out of the drier I was all cuddled up with her watching a movie with my husband.  I was beaming with pride when I felt something poking me, and I mean really poking me, like sharp, like a pin.  And wouldn't you know it, I sewed a pin in the quilt!!  And where was they pin?? Yep, the HSTs!! I don't know why but it was a pin that parallel to the seam rather than perpendicular and I must have ironed the fabric right over it.  All that quilting and I never saw it.  After about 20 minutes and the help of my trusty point on the seam ripper I was able to wiggle it out between two stitches.  I'm so glad I found it rather than a guest!!  And I'm so happy I was able to get the pin out with out ripping out any seams.  Those silk pins are really sharp!  Someone left a comment saying that's why you sleep with a quilt before it gets used by others to make sure they have sweet dreams and to get all the pins out.

I was also working on something a bit more colorful, a little baby boy quilt.  This is my first french braid quilt.  I'm going to make one in batiks this year, on my list of things to do.  I got my CV (Amanda)  back from the shop on Monday.  Work week was busy so Amanda and I got reacquainted this weekend.   I was in the sewing room all weekend long.  Family members stoppes by every once in a while.  This quilt was definitely a family design affair, two daughters and husband all gave design input.  I think it turned out nice.  Just need to get the backing and quilt it.  21 more days until the baby gets here so I have a little time.

While I was looking for some white fabric I found these little cuties in my stash.  They must 5 years old.  There were 11 of them. Ya, 11?? what's up with that?  Well I also found some more of the same fabric so I can make a few more.  I think it will make a wonderful quilt for project linus.

So it was a very bright weekend.  Amanda is working like a charm.  I have the patterns ready to go as well,  I'll be sending out email to those that said they would like some.  I've got the list.   I also have a few books that I'm ready to part with and hoping they can find a good home as well.

Design Wall Monday - RRCB half way quilted and true lovers knot

Wow, once I finish the quilting on RRCB, I think I'll take a break from the quilting and get back to some piecing.  I sure I wish I had my CV back - I miss Amanda.  RRCB is one big quilt to do on the sewing machine and CV has a little more room than my Bernina.  But I have the patient of a two year old and couldn't wait any longer!  I'm doing the same pattern in all the blocks.  As I do this I keep thinking, there's got to be an easier way!!  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  It's not in the budget to send it out and pay for it to be quilted so that's not an option.

Here's the pattern that I'm using for all the blocks.  I originally had a more difficult pattern, but as large as this is wanted to go with something a more simple. I marked the hugs and kisses quilt and wasn't up for marking 50+blocks on this quilt.  Those that didn't like taking the paper off the string blocks will definitely not like this methods of quilting!!  Lots of paper to remove.  But if you leave it on while the rest is being quilted, the paper almost falls right off, well almost.   I have all the string blocks quilted and the border. Once the border was quilted I cut off the excess and that helped a little, but no matter what, it's a big quilt!

I also got a few of the blocks together for the True Lovers Knot quilt.  I made a slight design change.  I didn't like the gold going around the blocks entirely (caused it to have a double yellow strip through the middle horizontally and vertically) so I left out a couple of strips and really like it.  What do you think?  Leave it as is or put back the strips as in the original design?   I'm going to stop asking my daughter what she thinks about my progress, (she's the one who has named Hugs and Kisses the "Chase" quilt as it reminds her of the bank emblem).  She said this one reminded her of the Emperor's New Grove or Hercules - oh my it's suppose to be a wedding quilt! Well, lets see how it looks when I add the alternate color blocks. My trip to Korea was postponed at the last minute so I was able to get a little more done that I anticipated.  Ok back to quilting.

I was also going through some patterns that I know I'll never do again.  I hate to through them out.  Is anyone interested in patterns that are used?  I'd gladly send them to you if you will use them.  I hate that they are just sitting in my closet.

Now that is one big quilt!! RRCB top done - YIPPEE!!!

wow, that is really one big quilt!!  And I'm thinking about adding one more cheddar border on the last edge - but we'll see!!  I think the yellow will border the dark border so it doesn't just kinda fall off.

I have to wait for quilting until Amanda gets out of the shop, but I have a few things to get me going.  So not bad for my first mystery ever!!

The reds in the border are a bit brighter than what the picture shows, they sparkle a little bit through out.  The greens in the border are a bit dark and would go lighter if I had to do it over again, but I like it as is too.

My first finish of 2011 and design wall Monday

Well Motorola gave us Monday 1/3 off rather than New Years' Eve, so guess what I did today....yep I sewed.

I have my first finish of the year.  Ok, so it was an easy one, a baby blanket but a finish none the less right?  I'm pleased with this.  This my first EQ quilt that transformed from bits and bytes into a tangible quilt!

And that's not all!!   I also had some fun with string blocks, working on my son-in-laws quilt.  I'm really liking it so far. After the pastels on the baby blanket (normally I like bright fun colors for baby quilts, but that was  a nice change of pace) and the more traditional RRCB (scrappy traditional piecing) it was good to get back to something a bit more modern and out of the ordinary.  Still have a bit to go, but like the progress so far.  I'm trying to see how I can work the Y-seams into the border....I still have a few rows to go and then at least 3 borders.  I have fallen in love with string blocks. (yes I see the one block that is not in the correct position, but they aren't sewn together so I'll make sure I fix that for the final design)

And that's not all.....I put all the blocks together for RRCB.  I have the picture below but have not sewn the center together yet.  I want to wait and see what the border looks like.  I may make two quilts, one with the pieced blocks and one with the string blocks., it's still growing on me and not sure which way I'll go.   As is, it's one big quilt!

Ahh, why can't all Monday's be like this???

A little bit of sewing to start the New Year right!

I tried sewing a little on New Year's Eve, but I think I was just too rushed.  I kept sewing things together wrong in my attempt to get as much sewing into 2010 as possible.  But I didn't want to make a record for tearing seams out either so I gave up.  Got to do a little bit today and made much better progress.  I've been working on putting the blocks together for RRCB part 7.    I like how it's turning out so far.  One of daughters said "it's a very vibrant quilt", hmmmm.   I was surprised a bit by how "vibrant" it is, but I like it.   I think I'll finish this one for my brother for Christmas.  I also did a little work on some string blocks for my son in laws red, black and white quilt.  I just really like the black and white.  Can't wait to get this one done.  I hope it turns out as good as I have it pictured in my mind!!

RRCB Part 6 - Done!!!

Oh I so wanted to get this part done before going back to work tomorrow and I did!!  My sister left early in the morning so I had no helper today and I felt it!!  That was a lot of sewing, ironing and snipping today.  And I'm now ready to go back to work tomorrow.

RRCB Part 5 - should I change the constant color?

I finally finished all my Christmas sewing and started on the 600 HSTs for RRCB.  I have about 100 sewed and ironed.  I have a deep red, med to dark blues and green as my colors.  I was torn between a brown and gold for the constant and chose the gold to brighten things up.  But my neutrals (the few I have left) are on the darker tan side.  Do you think the Gold will work?  I'm worried there isn't enough contrast between the neutrals and constant to really stand out.  Should I switch to the brown for constant?  

RRCB Part 4 - and easy one!!

All done with this part.  I have no idea how this is going to look.   This is my first mystery, is this how they all are?  It's just killing me!!  Can't wait to see how it turns out.  And what about that constant color?  We haven't even used that yet.  Where do you suppose that will go?  I hope there aren't too many more requirements for neutrals, cuz I'm just about here....

RRCB Part 3

Well this one is going to take a while!  I've got 10 blocks done, 50 to go.  Turns out that I'm not that big on neutrals.  Had a hard time finding things and not as large of a variety as I would like. But I did finally get to use the chicken wire fabric that has been in my stash for a very long time!  So what do you think? Too dark?  I tried to limit the number of white on white fabrics but think I might throw a few more in the mix.  This is the first time I'm doing this type of block so not really sure what to expect.  My red, blue and green are are fairly dark so there will be a lot of contrast with these.  Oh and I cut way too many strips.  I'll be looking for another project in 2011 that needs these types of strips.  I think I cut enough for more like 160 blocks.  I just couldn't stop!!

One more day of sewing then back to reality

One more day of vacation then back to the real world.  Lots of things accomplished this week - baby quilt (oh that wasn't part of the plan, but very pleased with the outcome), Snowman collector quilt - all button hole stitching completed on all blocks, pillow cases for great nieces and nephews (Justin's is hard to read but hey he's only 3, he can't read yet ;).  And the design wall got redone and I absolutely love it!!   Before I just had batting hanging on the wall, nicely trimmed of course.  But it was not a strong batting and was starting to sag.  I saw a posting from someone on Quiltville board regarding insulation foam and wrapping that with batting.  So my husband had a nice afternoon project and I absolutely love it!! I love that it's so easy to use pins.  I love my machine embroidery and the stabilizer doesn't always stick as nicely as I would like to the batting, but now it's so easy to pin things to it.  Oh and I  finished clue to of RRCB, ya...can't wait to see how that's going to turn out.  I love scrappy quilts.  Tomorrow, I need to start on some of the machine quilting, a few projects are starting to stack up.  They are all laid out nicely in the guest bedroom.  We have guests coming in 2 weeks....must do quilting tomorrow.  Oh, it's just so much fun to do smaller projects and see some quick results.

Another productive sewing weekend

How long can this last?  Two great sewing weekends in a row!  I finished step one for Bonnie's RRCB mystery quilt.  This is my first mystery quilt and the very excited about it.  I just can't wait for step 2.

I have been playing with EQ7, I've created dozens of quilts on the computer, now to make one real!  Starting with a baby quilt (I love making baby quilts) and the embroidery has started.  I'm using the left over blues from the snowman collector quilt for a baby boy quilt.  While the embroidery is going I'll be working on my snowman collector quilt.  I have all the blocks cut and fused, now just need to add the button hole stitching.  Lots to do while I wait for clue number 2.

Oh and I have the week off so there will be plenty of sewing this week!