Mystery Block 4 or "How To Save Time"

I've started putting together the 4th month Mystery Block of Heart's Desire by Esther.  I had just finished some paper piecing in my Ode to the 30's block  which is very similar to what I was doing in this block.  Only in the basket I was doing it one time, not 8 times.  So I started doing it the same way as before drawing every piece out.  And then I read Esther's instructions.  What a dunce!  Of course.  Perforated the paper without thread on my machine and I have them done all at once.  So I finished it that way anyways.  Always read all your instructions before starting a project or a recipe.  You don't know how much better things might be for you.

Drawing them out.  Oh what a waste of time and effort

 Now I didn't use freezer paper, so I couldn't adhere the paper to the fabric. I sewed one seam to the paper to attach it and then did the fold back method the rest of the time.  I did use a pin here and there to hold the long strip straight.  Folding back does save a lot of time when it comes to removing the paper.  And you don't have to think of little bits in the seams.

The sewn seam next to the paper.

 It all came together well.

 And after a few hours over a couple of days, I was all done with them.

Next I made the corner squares, as I hadn't done them earlier.  I knew now exactly what fabrics I wanted to use on them.  I like the blue against the gold.

 All 4 of them now ready to applique.

I've been  tracing my applique shapes to my Floiriani.  I decided to trace onto the non-fusable side of the paper, and then realized everything would be backwards.  That might be okay, except I wanted to do it right, so I started tracing again, everything 4 times.  So why didn't I just trace once and put 4 layers on top of each other?  Maybe that wouldn't be so exacting.  Maybe I like to spend a lot of time cutting.
That is the point where I will leave you.  I won't be able to work more on this for a few days.  Plus I need to buy more green for my leaves.  I do have my stem and thorn fabric.
And this time I'm not making bias strips for stems.  I'm tracing the templattes for them.  I'll see how that goes.

 

I'm posting this on Esther's WOW blog.  She is a full 17 hours ahead of us.  That's almost a full day.  It's interesting to think she is having Wednesday while we (in the US) are almost a day behind.

My Newest Knitting Project.

Here it is.

 What does it look like?

 

Does it look like this?

Badlands

 Or this?

Mima Mounds,  Littlerock, WA

These mounds are just a few miles from us.  Don't they seem like something out of the ordinary?

 No one really knows how they came about.

I think of them as I've been knitting this project.

Sheri's Quilt

This one is lovely batiks.  I like the way it looks.   The colors are great.  I quilted twirls and flames over it.

Ode to the 30's April Block

This is the one I missed because I was in Maui.  But I got it done now.  The basket is paper piecing which is good practice for me.  It's not something I do much, but it's exactly what I'll be doing on Esther's Heart's Desire blocks next.  So I'll have lots of good practice.  I just cut triangles out a littler larger that the required one

For the applique I used my Floiriani Stitch n Wash.  I love how that works.  It makes my applique look so smooth.

Pam's Springtime Tablerunner

It's very cute. Getting ready for next Spring and Easter.

 I did feathers, flowers and twirls on it.  And some McTavishing - sort of - on the ends with the bunnies.  It was pretty fun and quick.

Sunbonnet Sue Shams Continued

In the last post concerning these shams, I was fusing the flowers onto the background.

That has been done and then I stitched them all down.  It's raw edge applique with stitching near the edge of the flowers and leaves.

I then cut all the pieces of the Sue's having ironed all the fabrics first on the fusable.  I then laid them on the release paper.  The paper is what I pulled off of  a big sheet of fabric after fusing.  It works great for laying things out properly.  See the girls ironed on to the fusable.

Here I'm building the picket fence on the release paper.  It's just like building a real fence, only not the muscle power.  I then peeled it off the paper and ironed it onto my project.

 

 Here she is all coming together.

 Oh, but I forgot about the borders.  So I didn't have enough backing or batting for them.  So I'm double siding the borders and fitting batting in them.  That kind of wore me out.  Thinking about my dumb mistake and how to solve the problem.  But it's working out.  I'm just doing some wavy quilting on the borders that should hold it together.

I'm linking this to Esther's WIP Wed.  Check it out to see what others are doing.

Sunbonnet Sue Bakes

This is the last square.  I hope Pam sends me a picture when the whole quilt is put together.  I think it's going to look lovely.

Here is my older one.

 Here is Eloise directing the choir while her dad plays the piano.

 Is this the choir?

New Sailboat Quilt Design

A friend of mine just had a baby and I'm going to make him a quilt.  I did a train quilt quite a few years ago for their older son.  I decided to do a sailboat quilt for this new son.  After all, his grandpa owns a boat.

I made a rendition in EQ5, but I'm not super proficient with the program.  I get around in it enough to get an idea laid out and then be able to have measurements.  So this doesn't look professional.

The blank line on top will be all those same squares on the bottom.  I'm using fabrics from my stash that will work and buying from my local stores also.  I am still working on getting them all together.  But I  think it will be cute.  I will also get his name and birthdate embroidered on it.

Here is his brother's quilt.  He is (I think) 7 and still has it folded up on his bed.

2 More Quilts of Carol's

This first one is a T-shirt quilt. The shirts are Olympia's Capitol Lakefair.

 This one is an older piece that never got backed and  quilted, but it did seem to have some wear or use.  It's a pretty 9 patch.

 I did loops and twirls on it.

Car Coat and Beret

It's taken me a while to finish this one.  I ran out of yarn for the beret and had to order more.  And I had button problems.  I bought 4 of 2 different kinds to see which would work best.  But I needed 6.  And later going back to the store, they didn't have any more.  But they were going to order and would let me know when they got them in.  But I never heard back from them. 

 On a trip to Joanne's I looked and found these.  It took a couple of months to get this all done.

On this very, nice, warm day Karen came by with her mom and sister.  Lightbulb went off in my head.  Maybe she fits the sweater and I can get pics.  She fit it nicely. She didn't even mind that it was pretty warm out.

This sweater is made from Shine Sport which is a cotton/modul beech fiber  blend yarn.  I don't know what that means.  It is a very soft yarn, but has a little of a plasticy feel to it that I don't like.  I wanted to give it a try, but I think I'll stick to more other cotton for most my cotton knitting.  I do like cotton for children because of the easy care and wear.

She's looking at the chickens in this one and doesn't want to get too close.

Ravelry link

So that you know.  Sometimes the easiest way to get your child in my pics is just to stop by.

I'll Give You This Popsicle for the Sweater

That's what this young man told me when he posed for me with this sweater on.  It amazed me that Matt would like it so much he would want it. I told him it was for sale.  Right then his friend walked in with popsicle, so that's when the trade idea came up.

 This is a vest that is a Sirdar pattern.  I have really enjoyed knitting these patterns.  They are easy to read and you know they work well.  No funny things to them.

 

 The yarn is KnitPicks Comfy Sport which is a nice soft cotton.  Always great to use at a great price.

His sister thinks she was in every pic.  That's what she wanted.  But I managed to place her so I could just get Matt when I wanted.  But I did let Kaylee be in one pic.

Link to Ravelry

Link to Etsy

Zoe's New Cardigan

Her grandma ordered it for her.  And when she came to pick it up, she brought Zoe so that I could get some pics of her in it.

It's knitted with a cotton worsted weight yarn.  It makes the knitting go quickly.

 It's the same pattern that I used before in a smaller size.  It's the plum one on this post.

 A close-up of the flowers

 The backside full of cables also.  This was a pretty fun sweater to knit.  Because of the cables, it keeps your interest.  It's a little big for her, so it'll last a while.

 Goodbye

 The Ravelry link.
The Etsy Link.

Our Guild Raffle Quilt

This is one I just finished quilting.  Our guild is raffling this one to make money to support the work the guild does. We will be having a quilt show early next year and picking the winner then.  It was paper pieced using batiks.  It is quite a bright colored quilt.

 I did feathers on the borders.

 This is the flower.

And Eloise is learning how to read.  Aunt Naomi is helping her.

Blue Jeans Quilt

I've been commissioned to make a quilt out of blue jeans.  Bonnie gave me a box of jeans and we discussed design and size and now I'm going for it.  She will get a backing and I will do some kind of quilting on it to hold it together.

Cutting took a little time.  I wanted to get the pockets on right and different brands of jeans have different cuts.  Here they are laid out in strips.

I like the pocket with the little leather name patch.

 I am trying to keep these hammer hangers also.

 They are now all sewn into strips.  The side seams will be interesting.  At least my daughters have a more industrial machine if I need to use it to go through all the thicknesses.