making gray frames......

Last fall, 12 of us made 2 blocks for an exchange. They all have the same gray background and a solid.

We exchanged them in December.

January was spent setting these.

I had 7 strips of gray fabric. Each was 2 1/2 by the width of fabric. I found this frame in the book

Setting Solutions by Sharyn Craig

In the book it is for a finished 6 inch block. I had to do some math...

One strip made one frame with a little left over.

Each block would have its own gray frame and I went on a gray fabric shopping spree,

buying some here and there.

There will be another gray quilt in my future, I now have a ton of gray!

At first I was going to do a 4x6 layout. I changed my mind and made one more block so it could be  5x5. The background is different WOW fabrics. Some repeat, some don't. The block finishes at 14 1/2. They haven't been sewn together yet.

I started sewing Tula Pink blocks from the book 100 Modern quilt blocks.

They are pretty easy to make.

They are made with cherrywood fabrics. I'm pretty much following the colors from the book. If the block has a big chunk of print fabric, I am inserting these shoo fly blocks instead.

I am not in love yet, But I am thinking that by the end, as a group, they will all look awesome!

I snapped this the other day at school. I love all these circles! It would be a cool quilt.

the chickens are free....

The mystery is almost a top. It lost its checkered sashing and it will get a plain border.

After I did this I worried and seconded guessed myself.

Did I tone it down too much?

Maybe I shouldn't have done that....

to late, it is done.

But!

(this is the part that makes my heart sing)

I did find a place to use the checkered sashing.

In 2008 I made 16 chickens.

The pattern had them sewn together, but I wanted something more.

I never knew what that was though.

So they sat in a drawer for a long time waiting.

I absolutely fell in love when I put them with the orphaned checkered sashing strips.

The chickens will finally be free!

I have 16 chickens that need to be squared up to 12 1/2 inches.

I'll use black for the cornerstones.

It is a match made in heaven.

This months Block Lotto blocks are pretty cool.

I made 6 of them.

School started back up Monday. We got out early because of snow.

Then, there was a late start on Tuesday morning and today it is brutally cold,

so there is no school.

And I am sewing while I have the chance!

block lotto inspired.....and finished!

It isn't next year yet, but here I am. I need to get these two quilts posted before I forget again.

 I always wanted to get a better picture, You know the kind of picture where the quilt doesn't have feet. And maybe, no shadow of my head. 

I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?

Patterns for the birds and hearts....

(bird block click here)

(heart block click here)

The other quilt was part of the Polka Dot Challenge with the Blue Earth Quilters.

We bought a packet of dotted fabric and made something with it.

Anything we wanted.

I played block lotto by myself and made star-crossed blocks.

(star crossed blocks click here)

It became a pink quilt because I had some large chunks of pink here, at home, ready to use, without going shopping. I gave it to Crispy to use on his couch, in his apartment, in Ames. It had left without a proper photo. He brought it back over Christmas so I could take its picture.

Okay, now I will say it again....

see you next year!

December things....

The mystery has taken up a whole lot of sewing time. I am almost caught up. I need to put together my brown and white checks or step 3 of the The Grand Illusion Mystery!

The April blocks from Block Lotto were finished into a quilt and gifted to my brother-in-law for Christmas. He had some of these blocks ending up in his mailbox.

I won the X blocks in November and wouldn't you know....

Some of them ended up in his mailbox too!

Big O's will be added to the X's. Only not these. They are for the drawing this month at Lotto. I will make more for this quilt. 

Eventually.

These are part of the Blue Earth Valley Quilters block exchange. 

We met at the library in Blue Earth for the exchange, but one person wasn't there....so I am two blocks short. I will get them soon.

I have no idea what these will become.

I only know this quilt needs to be done by August.

It is nearly January! See you next year!

one more post for November.....

I started making Santa postcards. I painted paper to use and ran out of beard paper. That is why there are some floating pig noses on the two cards. They are his face painted on there, waiting for me to come back and work on them. 

These coasters are made with 4x4 tiles and 6 pack beer containers. You cut them up to fit and glue them to the tiles with mod podge. Then spray it with acrylic sealer. I should have saved them for Christmas presents. But they have been snapped up and are now living elsewhere.

There was a surprise snow day on Wednesday. I took this when it was 4 inches, I think we ended up with 8 inches.

So.....

The binding went on this t-shirt quilt. It took forever to come back from the quilters. I told Amanda it would be done before it got REALLY REALLY cold. I forgot to measure it. It's really long and about that wide (hold your arms out)

This is the park uptown next to the grocery store. I looked so pretty with all the snow.

USUALLY tractor joe leaves for Wisconsin to go deer hunting with my brother-in-law. He would have been gone, but with all the snow, he waited until Thanksgiving morning to leave.

So he was home on Wednesday.

I was busy sewing some new star blocks for a quilt. I was in my own little world. The TV was off and the blinds were all open. Lots of natural light coming in.

Well in walks tractor joe. He did a trial run with the snow and decided not to leave after all. 

On goes the TV and the blinds are pulled shut.

I squawked about this.

And continued to sew.

Heavy sigh....I messed up sewing on one of the blocks when the room got dark and noisy. I couldn't even go back and fix it. I had already trimmed off the triangles. 

I really need to pay attention.

Another example.

I started the Bonnie Hunter Mystery yesterday. Clue one had you cutting strips for HST''s.

NO WHERE does it say to sew the strips together.

But that is exactly what I did.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Two options, no, three....

make something else with them

pick the strips apart

or

proceed as if nothing was wrong and pick out seams later.

I decided to pick out the seams later. At least half are just a small little area that seems like nothing. I do have a few units done!

With them like this, I want to have black and white nine patches in there.

But who knows what it will be, it's a mystery!

Now back to picking out seams.

little by little makes a lot......

I won these last summer at Block Lotto. 

I received one black background block. That one gave me the idea to do a layout this way. I made more black blocks. I am short two yet. They are cut and ready to sew and should be done later today. The setting triangles will be plain black around the edge.

So far I am loving this. I am thinking it will be a wedding gift...but I keep changing my mind. I also would love to keep it!

I was also sewing these together. They are this months block at

Block Lotto!

They were simple enough to put together and made the limit of 9.

There is a block exchange at the Blue Earth Valley Quilt Guild.

There are 12 of us. The guidelines are...

(the word "rule" is too harsh for them)

make 2 different 7 1/2 finished blocks using the same gray background and a solid color.

Any block we wanted.

We each picked our color. I used lavender. The choices were getting pretty slim by the time I chose a color to use. 

The exchange group is also making the raffle quilt for the 2016 MN Quilt Guild Show.

I think it will be in St. Cloud that year.

Then is was 13 blocks to make instead of 12.

It seemed to take forever to get the top block done 13 times,

My choice for the second block went super simple.

I am looking forward to the group exchange. Right now it is set for January, but if everyone is finished earlier, we will exchange sooner.

I can't wait to see all the blocks together. 

girls weekend......

Last summer Jane (my sister) and Max (my cousin) thought it would be a really fun to go to Winterset, Iowa. So much to see there!

Karen and I said we would go too.

Last weekend we made the road trip.

Planners in the front seat, tag alongs in the back seat.

We saw all the bridges, John Waynes birthplace, Fon's & Porter quilt shop, a local winery, and ate at the Northside Cafe and other stuff!

Along the road to Roseman Bridge. Characters from the movie, 

The Bridges of Madison County.

The quilt shop. It is small, but we all found one thing to buy.

Window decor for a yarn shop. Maybe it should have been Robert still waiting for Fancesca to get herself out of her truck and join him as he headed out of town in the movie.

Every bridge had a geocache (or two) nearby. I did not always find it, but was sure to look.

This is my kind of cache. Nice and big.

 It is hidden at the History Museum in Adel, Iowa.

I love my geocaching app. When we stopped, 

I would open it and hit...

"find nearby caches"

Now, this weekend I will stay home and sew!