Catching up a little

I have completed all the blocks for Deck-Ade-Halls and hope to find some time to review the finishing video and get the whole thing pieced together this weekend.  Wishful thinking probably.  Oh well, we shall see.  Here are all the blocks if I got all my pictures together.  Besides finishing this quilt I have been working on a couple of other quilts.  I am doing a charm quilt with around 250 5" charms using Starflakes and Glitter by Free Spirit.  I am close to a finish on the charm top, which may mean I will have to finish it before I put the Deck-Ade-Halls together.  I need a clone.  I ordered a Honeysweet jelly roll by Fig Tree to do the Rolling Stone Fig Tree pattern from Craftsy plus I ordered Fig Tree cream fabric from MSQC for the background.  I really want to start on this next, but we will see where my whims lead me next.

I think I got them all.

Charms - I have added more charms since this picture.

I also made these cards for our department co-workers lunches for Sept.

Ornament block for Deck-Ade-Halls

This was a nice weekend for many reasons.  I got a fair amount of time to sew the next block of Deck-Ade-Halls (ornaments), got some outside work done on the yard and picked peaches.  Plus, we took a long drive to Marysville and ate at The Wagon Wheel--hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and a roll.  I also started The Secret Garden with Belle fabrics by Amy Butler.  It is a disappearing nine patch.

Featherweight

I decided to get my Featherweight out today as my working machine for the weekend.  It has been a long while since I have sewn with it, but with a little manual help and my DH it hums like a dream.  It is surprising how you forget the little threading details like threading from right to left and how tricky the bobbin is.  Anyway, I am about sew the ornaments block from Deck-Ade-Hall.  I have a quarter of and inch foot for the Featherweight which is really accurate, I think.

Merry Merry Snowmen

Patience----
I am so excited, because I got the whole BOM of 10 blocks for the Merry Merry Snowmen from UPS last night.  I have been wanting this quilt with the red and tan fabrics ever since it I first saw it on the Bunny Hill site.  Most of their patterns are just gorgeous, and make you feel like a kid again.  I don't think I will start on it until next year, as I just have too many projects in different stages right now and this one will definitely be time consuming.  Still, I can hardly wait to begin--I just have to leave it be for now.  It is stored in it's own bin, so I can look at it longingly whenever I get the urge to look at the pattern and beautiful fabric.

11/9/01 Teaching the basics

I sent this to Carol Elmore, who eventually did a hand piecing project with Lemoyne Star block.

Gay,
How about on Dec. 6 & 7 I do the hand stuff and then on Nov. 16th I'll come as either a consultant or I could talk about something you think of in the meantime. Maybe after you've done a week or so of class you could give me an idea of what they might need to learn or need more work on. I'll just wait to hear from you next week. Carol

11/09/01
Anything you would want to demonstrate would be fine. Here is my basic plan for the class. I will try and demonstrate as many aspects of quilting that they will encounter. My first block is the Martha Washington block. As this is rather simple (squares and triangles), we will discuss the problems of triangles and some of the different methods of doing them. Also I will talk about scant quarter of an inch, and basic sewing of the block. Each step will depend on their understanding of the concepts. If they are having difficulties, I will put more depth into it. If this goes well, I plan to go to applique and talk about 3 methods of accomplishing this. I have given most of them a straw needle for practice. I will probably use a Sunbonnet Sue for this block. Again, advancement will be determined by understanding. Next I plan to go to paperpiecing. For this I will talk about the machine settings, removable tape, 1/4 and 1/8" rulers, silk pins, and show how to do it. After this I don't have any specifics, so if you want to do a day of some process, great! Most of them have picked 12 blocks from the 7 or so Donna Wilder books that I have. They could mix and match different types to get a feel for different things. They will work on these on there own, since everyone has different work speeds. I think what I want to accomplish with these classes is just basics.

11-8-2001 Original list of blocks

Message from Julie:
Here is the list in alpha order so far...this is just for us to see who wants to do the same thing and for Gay to be able to classify patterns by difficulty. Gay has the books at her desk if you would like to select your 12. Just email me with your selections and I will update the list.

Amish Star
Barn
Basket
Birds in Flight
Bowtie
Crazy Quilt
Crowns
Dahlia
Dresden Plate
Drunkard's Path
English Garden Pillow
Grandmother's
Hex Sign
Martha Washington's Star
Milky Way
Nine Patch Flowers
Oak Leaf
Pineapple
Rose of Sharon
Stained Glass
Sue
Traditional Rose
Tulips
Whig Rose
Wreath

All the blocks came from 7 Donna Wilder books I had ordered from PBS.  Donna was a great teacher with easy to follow methods of instruction.  We didn't make all of these blocks, but many of them.

These are some mentioned.

11/14/01 Scholarly Stitchers log

Most of the 6 1/2 centers for Martha are finished or in the works.  The outside ring of Martha is cut with the Companion Angle and the Scrapmaster rulers.  The larger background angle is cut with the Companion at the 3 1/2" mark.  The stars that are formed by sewing the long side of the smaller triangle to the larger triangle are cut from the Scrapmaster at 3 7/8".  You will need four larger triangles and 8 smaller triangles.  Alice has the preliminaries for the Crown.  For those who are also working on the Crown, this is the recap.  I am making mine out of 2 colors, the book has three.  The four corner 4 patches are made from 2 2 1/2" strips sewn together with a quarter of an inch (1 background strip and another fabric--you will need two sets if using 3 colors each using the background fabric).  The triangles are made from 4 4 1/2" squares, sew all the way around one background fabric and the triangle fabric that will form part of the crown (right sides together).  We will finish these tomorrow.  The Crown block is a 9 patch, so each part of the nine sections of 4 patches and 4 triangles has to be 4 1/2" to compete a 12 1/2" block (the 9 comes with the 4 1/2 square in the center).  Try and get as much done as possible, so we can get these two blocks in a pile waiting for the end result.
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