Working Away!

I've been working away at my framed Ohio Star blocks and all 20 are now done!  WooHoo!

And I finished another little project, a new cape for my granddaughter.  Hope she likes this one.  It's a little shorter than the first one I made.

Time

I don't know how the time gets away from me.  I can't believe I went so long again without posting.

I did discover that I could use my Easy Angle to recut my triangles and boy did that make it easier to get my flying geese blocks done!

See how much extra fabric there was?  It was a pain to try and figure out where I should line up my wings.  But once I cut them all, just needed to get the triangles even with the side and bottom and sew away.  I now have all of my Ohio Stars blocks done and am working at framing them like this:

No Reply

I had a visitor to my blog who really liked my Four Patch Plaid quilt. 

She really wanted to know where she could find the pattern.  I got ready to send her a reply and I see that she has a no reply email.  So I just wanted to let her know that it was from the book "Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.  

I follow Pat's blog and she just announced that Martingale Publishing released a new, but not really new, book.  It's called "Big Book Of Nickel Quilts"  which combines "Nickel Quilts" and "More Nickel Quilts" into one book.  I have both books, but this would be so great for someone who doesn't have her books.

So Greta, this is for you.  Happy Quilting!

Feels Like A Lost Week

It feels like a lost week.  On Monday I had a wonderful day off.  Back to work on Tuesday.  But Tuesday evening, I was sooo tired.  Went to bed early, like 7:00pm early and slept until my alarm went off on Wednesday.  But I was running a fever so ended up calling in sick.  I then slept until 11:00 am.  I never sleep that late.  I didn't get anything done, quiltwise, on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Thursday I did a very little and same with Friday.  One block in those 2 days.

The original version had the star framed in white, but looking at the pattern, that was just a little too much white for me.  Since I have lots of strips leftover, I'm using them for the frame.  So far I'm liking it.  I know, what can you tell from just one block?

One Step Done

One step is done, 30 double nine-patch blocks are complete!

I even cleaned out the bag of scraps from making the little nine-patches.  Added the bits to the string bin and have a bag of 1.5 inch strips and a little bin 1.5 inch blocks.  (1.5 inch is the smallest I currently go.  The rest of the scraps are added to the dog bed bag.)

I Love Progress!

I love progress!  I have 23 of my 30 double nine-patch blocks done.  Yea!  I did come up with a little system for doing more than one at a time.  I used my leader/ender block as a demarcation between the blocks.  I have each block at a different stage so I don't get confused.  (And I can get confused fast when trying to work with multiples.)  Here is a picture:

See the blue block?  That is the block from Celtic Solstice.  I have 50 of those done now!  Whoohoo!  It does take me a while to make one block because, as I've said before, I am a pinner.

Tomorrow school has been called off as it's going to be really cold.  I get an extra day to sew!

Oops!

Oops!  Two at a time doesn't work.

Not only did I sew it, I ironed it and trimmed it.  Didn't notice a thing until I came up short of wings to use.

Decision

I made a decision.  I know which UFO I'm going to start with.  Kitchen Sink.  I love 1930's repro fabrics as they remind me of my grandmother.  She made so many quilt from scraps and from feed sacks.

I made all these little nine-patch blocks at a Retreat last summer.  And now they are ready to be made into bigger nine-patch blocks.

Just so you know, I haven't given up on Celtic Solstice, I'm going to be sewing on it as a leader and ender.  Love that you can make another quilt while working on your main project.

The Orange Triangles Are Done!

So, I have all of the orange triangles done!  And I have 60 more pairs of blue wings to cut for the neutral triangles.

Not much of a picture, but the triangles on top are the ones still waiting for their wings.  Love the feel of progress!

The Last Step Of Celtic Solstice

Bonnie just revealed her last step of Celtic Solstice.  And I am still on Step 1.  But I love the quilt!  I have 60 of the 140 orange Tri Recs triangles done.  And I'm very happy with that.  I'm slow and steady at sewing when it comes to all those pieces.  I do have all of the white/cream triangles cut out, just need the blue edges to go with them.

At first I think I was kind of overwhelmed by the number of triangles needed.  Plus working and Christmas.  But with the break from work, I'm feeling I can handle it.  Just have to not think about all the pieces that need to be done.  Just think about the section I'm working on now.  And for me, that means NOT thinking about all the white/cream triangles yet.  No, I'm not whining.  I'm explaining how I go about handling large projects.  Split them into groups of 10 and only think about getting at least 10 done a day.  If it's more get done, that's a blessing!

How do you handle large projects?