August WOOFA project Done!

Yes!  My vintage quilt repair is finished!  As many of you already know the story of this quilt.....the very first quilt I ever attempted somewhere around the year 1973 or 1974 didn't go well......I had to send it to my Mom to bail me out....I think all I sent her were the blocks I had finished and some I hadn't finished and she gave me back a completed quilt.  Over the years all the old cotton batting had clumped together (the quilting had been done with the tie method) so I pulled it all out and the quilt lay in my UFO pile for years waiting to be reborn.............until NOW!

I was able to salvage a lot, not all ) of Mama's hand stitching on the edges when I did the repair......I used a low-loft cotton/poly blend to fill it then did a meandering FMQ all over except for the stars..........which I tied last of all in the center with a yellow yarn....

Thanks to the lovely Cheryll for hosting WOOFA to help us all work on our UFO's!  Please click below to see other finishes for this month's WOOFA challenge!

CLICK HERE

2 more LTG blocks done and a really FAST way to make HSTs!

I finished the Trip around the World block yesterday and the HST #2 block today........moving right along.....3 more days til I have to put it away to start working on the T-Shirt quilt for WOOFA September......or at least work on both......lol.........

Here is the Trip around the World block..........

and the HST #2 block...

(looks like my corners are clipped on the top row but they aren't....they just got cropped with my photo editing....lol)

....I didn't really plan on having the Raggedy Ann scraps I had become a theme but why not?  Raggedy Ann seems appropriate for a Long Time Gone theme, right?

Here is where the 2 new blocks I made fit in this section of the quilt...........next I'll do some churn dash and flying geese blocks to put to the left of the HST #2 and other sections of the quilt............

I just realized that because I made the quarter cabins on my embroidery machine at 5x5 and the pattern calls for 6x6 blocks I will need to make one more block to fit at the top of the quarter cabins......no problem.....I'll do that today!  (Today's quote at the bottom is appropriate here.....)

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NOW..........a fast way to make HSTs....4 at one time!

Yesterday I was browsing the web for images of the HST blocks  others had made for LTG and I came across someone showing how to make 4 HST's at one time.........I couldn't believe how EASY this is.......this is the way I will make HSTs from now on.....

So there is a formula:  Whatever size you want your HST's to be, you divide that number by .64 and whatever the resulting number is...that's the size square you will start with....I wanted to make 2 and a half inch HSTs:

2.5/.64 =3.90625

 so you round up........it is better to make it a little larger and then trim to the size you want...

Put one square over the other with right sides together and sew a scant quarter inch seam all the way around.....

Now take your ruler and rotary cutter and cut exactly from corner to corner..........

and that's it!  You now have 4 perfect HSTs!!!

I've been sewing for years and I never saw this before.......obviously there is a seamstress out there that is also good at math and geometry who figured this out for us!....

Maybe some of you have already been making HSTs this way but for those who haven't.....try it......wow!  It's amazing!

Long Time Gone Progress

Yesterday I was so proud of finishing my WOOFA project for August early so I rewarded myself by completing a few more blocks for Long Time Gone before I start my WOOFA project for September.................
I made the 4 quarter cabins which will be placed as you see below, next to 3 of the crosses of the UK blocks and 4 of the pineapple blocks.  The quilt calls for sashing and checkerboard fillers in between sections..........

I also made 9 courthouse steps blocks, which go in various locations of the quilt.........these 3 will be placed next to 9 of the pineapple blocks and the other 3 crosses of the UK, like so....(notice more of the checkerboard filler and sashing)

here are the other 2 courthouse step blocks.........I realized too late that I had placed the center patch with Raggedy Ann and Andy in the wrong direction so I will probably try to remedy that today............. 

Today I will work on some HST blocks and an Around the World Block and some Churn Dash blocks to add to the sections.............
Here is an image of the quilt from the book cover.....

Obsession has taken hold.....

I don't know how it happened......my sister, Irene, from Hilachas tried to get me involved in making the "Long Time Gone? quilt several years ago and even gave me a copy of the book, which I "filed" away in my "someday" bin........so a couple of weeks ago when I decided to re-organize my sewing room I came across the book and suddenly I was hooked!  I even found a photo I had downloaded last year when I was searching for sampler quilts that turned out to be a variation of LTG..........wouldn't ya know?

So you all know I have been working on pineapple blocks, which are part of the LTG.......16 of them!  I finished the pineapples and decided to do the LTG in sections.  One of the pineapple sections had 3 of the 6 "Crosses of the U.K." so my next obsession was getting those done...........these 3 will go above the 9 pineapple blocks and below the churn dash blocks so I will set them aside. 

the other three have already been stitched to the 4-section piece of pineapples...........

I am using the rust color as my over-all background color.  The pattern calls for checkerboard pieces which are used as fillers.........

here is the 9-piece pineapple section which will go below the 3 crosses of the U.K. which I had set aside earlier

and these 3 pineapples will go into another section

....So now I am at a stopping point on this and I have noted that August is more than half over so I have a commitment (to myself) to finish the repair on the Vintage Quilt so that's what I'm going to do starting tomorrow...........(Scarlet O'Hara assured me that "tomorrow is another day" and this plan will work).........

I mentioned my Sis earlier and I am happy to say that she has recently joined WOOFA after I told her what a good group it is and how motivating......she has listed her projects and, among them, is a "Dear Jane" quilt that she has almost finished (started back in 2011).  If you get a chance.....check out her blog at HILACHAS

All Done with Gnome Village........Sewing time again.......

 Mrs. Gnome stated in no uncertain terms that she had no plans to move in to the Mulberry tree unless Mr. Gnome installed a dormer window where she could grow flowers and watch the birds.......

Mr. Gnome knows..."Happy Wife, Happy Life" so up went the window and if you look close you can see a big smile on Mrs. Gnome's face.......

I threw out the fishing hole that had the resin that wouldn't harden and made a new lake, complete with fish and ducks.....one of the fisherman has a catch which that little dog is waiting for!

Mr. Gnome was so happy that he hired some more help for the Pumpkin Patch, bought them a new tool shed, and they even planted a cornfield on the other side of the fishing hole....where there are some bunnies wondering if corn is any good to eat......

and here is a photo of the whole village from a distance

oops............almost forgot the "rest area and turtle play zone" under the big mushroom....

............hmmmm....wonder if they need lights there at night?.......well I will contemplate that from the sewing room...........onward......

Long Time Gone.....more pineapples....more gnomes....less WOOFA....

 Ok so I guess I'm officially on a new tangent....I am really stoked about this new UFO Long Time Gone Quilt....I found another pineapple block pattern which I thought was really different from the first one and also a lot faster to make on my embroidery machine:

The new one (on the left) has a really large center patch set on point and over all,  I like this pattern better than the first pattern (on the right).   But I don't like that all the points on the patch are cut off....

Even so, I think it looks more "pineappley" (is that a word?) 

Or I could use an Alice in Wonderland word, "muchier"

...the new block as pineapples go is muchier than the other one......( I am definitely digressing here.....)

ok... since I didn't like the cut-off points,  I edited both patterns in my embroidery software, then merged the parts on each that I liked, and came up with a 3rd pattern which I will use for the rest of the blocks.......(It's the block in the middle and definitely muchier and pineappleier than the others)

I have also been working on my gnome garden in the back yard....I moved the Gnomes into my mulberry tree because they said they had been commuting too far everyday to come to work at the barn.....lol

Now all they have to do is walk a little ways to get to work.....

...my sweet SIL, Kathy, bought them a tractor to help with their pumpkin crop......

....and everyone knows that all work and no play makes for unhappy gnomes so I am working on a fishing/swimming hole for them.....I used an old acrylic water kit I had for making "fake water" in floral containers and even though it has been more than 24 hours it still hasn't set completely.  (Kathy painted the watermelon slice for my yard too! She used a slice from a pine tree)

  I used clear caulk sealer and otherwise the same material to make the river and it's been dry for awhile now...I may have to start at square one with the swimming hole if it doesn't set soon because I have a real turtle that I don't want getting stuck, so for now, it is out of his reach.

 

.....and I have to admit that here it is nearly the middle of the month and I am working on new projects instead of WOOFA projects but I'm not worried, because I have said I will have the vintage quilt repair finished by end of August and I will!  (I am just waiting for "the last minute" because I do best during that time.....lol...)

Hello?? You are supposed to be FINISHING UFO's, not starting them......and some nice Birthday Gifts!

While I was organizing my sewing room a couple of weeks ago I came across a pattern for  the "Long Time Gone" quilt.....Gosh what a beautiful sampler quilt it is........so I may have started making some of the 5x5 pineapple blocks......

ok, ok.....I admit it.....I definitely started making the pineapple blocks....the pattern directions say you can make them with regular piecing or with paper piecing but I decided since there are 16 of them to do that I would try one of the machine embroidery in-the-hoop patterns and it works quite well...........

Here are the first 2 I've made in the hoop....you definitely have to stay with the machine since it is a "turn and fold" pattern.  I got smart after the first one and turned the iron-on stabilizer face up on the second one and ironed down as many of the pieces as possible so the presser foot wouldn't hang up on any of them....

I'm working on the 3rd one now.....and then I will get back to my vintage quilt which is on my WOOFA list to finish this month.....(I really am great with deadlines.....lol)

I celebrated my birthday this month and got some wonderful gifts........my Sister, Irene, gave these to me early because we wouldn't see each other on my BD:

Love the 2 new pincushions for my collection and a wonderful new tote bag plus this gorgeous trivet....what a pretty pattern, don't you think? The tote was full of lots of stuff but I wanted to show you the stuff she made for me....

My Sis Barbara gave me this fabulous fabric...

(yes I really DO need more fabric....lol) ....plus Barb is making me a surprise, she says.....I love celebrating my birthday for more than 1 day!!

And look at this gorgeous wall hanging my Sis, Lynette, sent me....she knows how I love all things Wizard of Oz so she appliqued some beautiful Munchkinland Flowers together with the poor Wicked Witch of the East who got trampled by Dorothy's house....

.....the yellow brick road is there....Kansas in sepia on the sides, and I believe I see the flying monkeys in the sky up there too....(I have a great imagination)   

Lynette mounted the piece into a canvas panel which framed perfectly!  

And I made a label for the quilt we all worked on at Mom's house and mailed it to Irene at Mom's address so she can sew it onto the quilt when she sews the binding on........Thank you, Mary Ann, for reminding me that we should do this..........