There's no Crying in Quilting---Right?

        Oh my gosh! All I can think right now is my favorite quote from "League of their Own"--"there's no crying in baseball". I had two days off this week and was off today. I spent all my quilting time working on a Row By Row block from Bear Paw Quilts in Coeur d'Alene. I just can't believe how many mistakes I made. I made the stupid tree trunks 3 times! I tore out as many seams as I sewed and made more stupid mistakes than I care to remember. When I'd get frustrated I'd do a little on something else just to get my mind straightened out. I wear a t-shirt every weekend that says "A bad day of quilting is better than a good day at work". I think today I would rather have been at work!.
         Then to top it off I set up the big table to layer a couple quilts.I managed to get the backs made in the midst of the chaos. I got out the giant roll of batting and spent a hot hour bent over the table pinning one of the quilts. As I put in the last row of pins I realized I had put the wrong top on that back!!! I wanted to cry, I really did. I just took out every pin and now I have to start over! Three days of quilting and all I have to show for it is one Row! I'm not going to show it here till the whole project is done because I am kind of excited about my plan.
       I will show my cute little block I made at Runamuck Quilters. It is a technique we learned called Sketch Stitch Applique. I'm going to use this block as the label on the quilt I attempted to layer today. It's the same colors. Well, I want to put the picture of the block I made but for some reason I can't get it off my phone. Boo hoo..black cloud again!! Just took me forever to get this picture--I had to get out the digital camera and find the cord and download...Can I just start this day over!!!  (Do you think I just used enough exclamation points in one blog?)

Sketch stitch block

Spokane Shop Hop #2 is in the books

      My friend Susie Long and I had a fun day of quilt shop hopping in Spokane! Last year's was such fun we had to do it again. A couple shops have closed and one has moved and another has opened up so we hit different parts of Spokane this time. We even tried out a new chicken place and explored the Hobby Lobby. We also wandered around the north side looking for a shop that had moved and came across an accident involving a deer. So sad. It was just sitting there in the road looking around.
      The first thing you have to do when you do a shop hop is to have a list. Then you have to accept that the list is a joke and just go with the flow. This was my list: Row by Row patterns, Moda fabric to finish my jellyroll quilts from Christmas, and 2 jellyrolls. Actually I did pretty well. I came home with 7 patterns which are giving me anxiety about doing them. I got 2 jellyrolls which I have already used and wish I had bought more. I took a picture of a quilt in a shop which I made with one jellyroll and want to do again in a different color scheme. I also found Tweety eyes fabric which made me so happy! I had just used up my last little piece of it and I love it so much in kids' quilts.
      You know you had a fun day of shopping when you get home and you feel like a kid the day after Christmas! So many new toys!
       I can't wait for next year. Sherri says she's in and I'm holding her to it!

     

A Row By Row--something to aspire to!

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We each bought a roll of Aunt Grace scraps to add to the stash.

Delicious

Tweety!

Thanks Susie for the pictures! Love ya!

The Quilter Bucket List--#1 is crossed off!

       Holy crap! I can't believe I never posted that last one. Oh well, I got a few pictures taken and added today so off it goes into the internet cloud. So today you lucky readers get two posts.
       It is now officially spring in New England. Driving around I failed to see a single snow pile so I think we can say now the winter from hell is finally over.
        I am happy to say I am no longer such a "lonequilter". I joined a local quilt guild called Runamuck Modern Quilt Guild. Runamuck Modern Quilt Guild Blog They are coming up on their 1st anniversary and I have enjoyed the 2 meetings and socials I have attended. I really am not a "modern quilter" but they are open minded so I was welcomed anyway (ha ha). Last week's social gave me a new catch phrase. "It's the canary's fault". One woman new to quilting was trying to put together the block of the month and it was quite frankly a disaster. At one point she stood up and was so exasperated and she blurted out "it's the canary's fault!" Apparently the canary was loose in her sewing room and was distracting. (For the record, she never did complete the block--just too many canaries I guess).
         The last week and a half I tackled the project on the top of my "Quilting Bucket List." It is a very large two sided Ocean Waves/Apple Core Charm quilt that I made before Emma was born. The black squares in the middle of the Ocean Waves needed hand quilting. I had machine quilted the  whole thing, quilted the border, quilted a lot of squares and setting triangles and put on the binding and then slept under it in its half finished state for a long time. I pulled it out for one of Emma's friends to sleep under and decided to try to finish it. I had quit before because I did not have enough light. But I discovered that if I sit in the chair in front of the windows in Emma's room during a sunny day I can see!!  Then I realized that the overhead light is good enough to see also. Who knew? All I did in my spare time for a week and a half was sit and hand quilt and watch "Top Chef". One episode of "Top Chef" = 1 block. In my mind all these years I had the number 8 in my mind as the number of squares I had to do.  WRONG! It was more like 28 including a couple setting triangles I had missed. It just went on forever! When I started what I hoped was the last square I realized I was almost out of thread and needles.. Luckily for me it WAS the last square and I had about 12" of thread and 2 unbent needles left over! I realized it had been close to 20 years since I hand quilted and it came right back to me like riding a bike. Yay, #1 on the bucket list is crossed off!

     

I'm back and promise to not let so much time pass between posts

My 5  1/2" novelty
stash

        I'm not much of a blogger, am I? I really have been quilting since Thanksgiving, I really have. Of course, a few Christmas presents had to take priority. I made cute Yo-Men ornaments (snowmen made of yo-yo's), which I forgot to photograph. I made Emma 2 pair of Adventure Time pajama pants. OK, I really can't make Christmas an excuse for not blogging--I really didn't do that much.
       My fall obsession has been to organize all my fabric. My totes were out of control. The novelty fabric tote was piled about 10" above the lid and had to be dealt with! So I decided to cut 5 1/2" strips out of each piece and stack them up for future projects. It is a thing of beauty! Then I tackled each tote one fabric at a time. I cut a piece off each fabric to make into a tumbler charm quilt. I have managed to get all the tumblers cut and have started piecing them together. I do love charm quilts.I also separated out each piece that was a yard or more because it is so frustrating to have to dig for a border or backing fabric.
      Of course after I did all this sorting and organizing it was time to sew again. So far I have made 4 crib quilts using my novelty strips. I was also inspired today by a quilt on Facebook so I know what my next novelty quilt will be.
      My most time consuming project has been the Triple 4-patch quilts. There is something relaxing to me about combining different fabrics. I have completed one top using the red to purple color scheme.I have also made a lot of extra blocks for another top. AND I decided to do the same pattern in greens. I am searching for a purple floral/green leaf print for the border. (If anyone finds something like this, please message me). After Rose gave me that box of fabric, I had lots of new fabrics to add to the collection so I am still sewing 4-patches whenever I just need to play with fabrics.
      Also, on Thanksgiving, Cindy introduced me to the Divided 9-patch. I've made 2 different tops using this technique. The first one I did was using a jellyroll I got for Christmas. I probably would never have bought these fabrics, but I sure am glad I got them for a gift! The roll had the same fabric in 2 color ways so I split it up into 2 different quilts with different patterns.

Divided 9-patch jelly roll

     The other Divided 9-patch was with my beloved novelty prints. I cut a 5 1/2" square off each strip, made nine patches and now I have enough blocks for several crib quilts. Easy!
     Today I was browsing Facebook again and saw an idea on 24blocks.com using jelly rolls again. So I grabbed the rest of the jellyrolls and have almost finished the blocks. I'm calling this my "Whiplash" quilt because I was watching "Whiplash" while I made it.

"Whiplash" jelly roll

     My daughter gets credit for my movie watching obsession lately. I used to work in a video store and loved to see all the movies and make my Oscar predictions. But who can afford to go to the movies, especially when there is so much fabric to buy? She turned me on to two websites for watching TV shows and movies and I am happy to share. One is http://www.cokeandpopcorn.ch/index.php which is great for binge watching TV shows. The one I use for some TV but mostly movies is http://www.primewire.ag. I have been binge watching Supernatural, American Horror Story Freak Show, Big Bang Theory, and currently am obsessed with Pretty Little Liars. But I am also catching up on all the big movies. So far I've enjoyed every one I've seen. I just set up my laptop in front of me and sew away!
       Now that Emma is at school again, I have my "command center" back so I have been quilting a couple crib quilts. Naturally, things don't go smoothly. I wrote a post once about threads and my favorite machine quilting thread is YLI Basting and Bobbin thread. I had bought it before on Amazon but it is not on there any more. So I searched and found some and ordered it and when it came it turns out it is not white, but natural color. So back to the internet where I finally found white and now I am waiting for it to come. I guess the natural will come in handy for the colored quilts. It sure won't go to waste!
      Anyway, that is what I've been up to the last couple months. I promise not to let so much time pass between posts!