Prepare to Be Amazed!

Ok fellow sewing buddies, prepare to be amazed as to what I just discovered!  Quilt-as-you-go Dear Jane blocks!  Yippee!  I've been kicking around this idea as I'm making my Dear Jane quilt and then I saw a blogger on Pinterest with directions on this awesome idea.

First, square up your blocks.

Quilt block, then square off.

Make two sets of strips the height of the block for sashing.  Front sashing is one inch and the back is 1 3/4 inches.  Fold and press the 1 3/4 inch strip wrong sides together.

 Place one inch strip right sides together on front.  The back strip is placed raw edges out, folded side in.  Sew 1/4 inch seam.

 I forgot to take a picture on adding the second block.  Sew the second block right sides together to the front strip only.

The back strip then gets hand sewed down.

First row front:

First row back:

 Then sew the rows together using the same method.

 It's better to sew the strips down before you sew row together.  I was too excited to see how it works.  

Now bind as usual.  Isn't it just an awesome idea?  I'm going to do this on my Dear Jane quilt.  I think I might use different backing blocks so it'll look like a patchwork quilt on the back.  I simply love it!

 Oh Lisa, I hope you are proud of me!  

It's Been a While

It's been a while since I last posted because I really didn't think I had much to share.  I have absolutely no plans on going anywhere for the next two weeks so I am taking this opportunity to organize, (ha), and focus.

First, look at my twinkly lights!  

I don't have any Christmas decorations up but yesterday I put little twinkly lights up in the kitchen.  I turned them on at dusk and when I came back into the kitchen an hour or so later - ohhhhh, I felt a little nostalgic.  My dear sewing friends, please don't judge my curtain.  I take it down during the day. I'll get to making a neat one soon.

My amaryllis' are springing to life!

I bought a second one because the first one didn't seem to be doing anything and then viola!  I swear, they grow about two inches a day!  I love, love, love the anticipation.

My kitchen gets a lot of sunlight.  I wish it were big enough to have a kitchen table in there so I can spend my time in glorious sunlight.  

Look - my geraniums from the summer have little buds!  Yes, I'm excited that I may have little red geranium flowers in December.

Isabelle is watching over them.  Actually, she chomps on my begonia blossoms so I'm hoping she will leave these alone.  I bought some catnip yesterday.  I'll make a couple of catnip sachets for my girls to roll in.

It is beginning to look like this new year will bring new creative challenges for me.  I never was much of a knitter, but all of a sudden, I feel like knitting.  I went to the library and took out a bunch of books and this one so far is my favorite:

I love the simple, straight out directions of different stitches.  I've decided to try out each and everyone of them, (yeah, sure), by making sampler blocks.  Oh sometimes I just wonder about my enthusiasm.  Who knows.  It may be a long winter so there is a chance I may just do it!  We'll see...

I do have a couple so far.

Just the fact I'm happy knitting surprises me so I'm already ahead of the game.  

My scrappy rug is coming along slowly.

I also learned to make project bags.  I don't like the colors, but I like the idea. I bought more screen from a local hardware store, (black of course).  A guy had to go in the basement to get it.  What I like about these is there is really no set size. 

So I'm off.  I'm going to clean up my sewing room.  Pick out my next projects, organize and put them in a proper place for easy access.  Whew, tired already.  I need a cup of coffee.  

This is the view from my sewing table.  

It may overlook the parking lot, but it's a window, (I only have two - oh, and a slider door).  Still, I'll take it.  I so a couple of teeny tiny snow flakes floating around.

Ok, two more photos.  I guess I'm in a photo sharing mood.  I'm procrastinating.  I do this sometimes.  I bet no one else out there knows what I'm talking about.  Anyway, this is a squirrel eating from my squirrel-proof bird feeder:

One more picture of my neato plants in my kitchen:

Ok, I'm out-of-here.  Time to get serious.  Oh yeah, and have fun!

Thanks for looking!

Getting there...

I spent the day today working on my kaleidoscope quilt.  The components of the wedges are put together.  No matter how careful I was, my wedges aren't all uniform.  One or two will have trouble with the 1/4 inch seam.  This is why I prefer wonky stuff.  I'm not very good at being precise.  This is what I have so far, the wedges aren't sew together yet.

The middle star is from my first attempt, which of course, I didn't like.  It does look pretty good here though.  I think I need to step away for awhile.  My normal self would just put it together haphazardly and maybe not finish it.  I'm determined to not let this happen.  I want to like it.  I'm thinking maybe the outer edges should be yellow instead of blue to lighten it up a bit.  Or black... More thinking...

Tomorrow I'm taking a locker hooking class.  It's sort of a weaving with strips of fabric.  It'll be a good break.

I haven't even looked at my Dear Jane blocks!  Oh no!  Maybe this week at open sew.

Thanks for looking and listening to me whine.