BOM Rehab #6

Good Thing I Cheated!

I was disappointed last weekend when I only got four of the Chronicles BOM border blocks done.  I really wanted to get twelve done so that one side of blocks would be complete.  So during last week I worked on the remaining eight blocks for the first side so that when the weekend came I could start, on schedule, the blocks for the second side.  And I did get the eight blocks done so now sixteen blocks are finished.

However, the weekend turned into an unplanned bust for quilting.  My DH is a UPS driver and will be eligible for retirement in four years and his union rep announced that they were holding retirement seminars in the coming weeks.  He called to reserve two spots in one scheduled for May 12 in Elmsford, NY and when the union rep called back, he told us there was also a session being held this past Saturday in Farmingdale, Long Island so we opted to attend that one instead.  Calling home after it was over, our son told us my MIL had called---she was in town for a wedding and wanted to come by to visit on Sunday!  We had planned to do our monthly warehouse club shopping that day so had to switch and do that on Saturday instead (fortunately we saw a Costco in the area where the seminar was held so dropped in before heading home). Needless to say with company coming that also meant some straightening up and meal planning and after hosting Sunday, I was too pooped to pop, uh, sew.  

So thank goodness I did cheat or I'd be a lot further behind!  But now a new challenge:  I will be attending the Northern Star Quilter's Guild Show in Somers, NY this coming weekend (click on the guild name for the show announcement and the word "show" for the schedule of events).  The good news is that Bonnie Hunter is their featured guest speaker!  I love Bonnie and she will be giving two different lectures, one on each day of the show so I will be attending both days.  The bad news is that means there will probably be no quilting this weekend either!  So this week will have to be another cheater week:  the plan is to try to get 32 blocks made this week to finish up the blocks for sides two and three to stay on schedule.  I'm hoping to make up the triangle sheets today and eight blocks a day for the rest of the week.  Then next week I can focus on putting all the center blocks together for the top,  finish the last side of blocks that weekend and complete the top the week after.  It's a good thing that FOCUS is my word of the year!

Hope your BOM Rehab plans went a little more smoothly than mine.  For the rest of you:  have some BOMs but are not participating in Sinta's BOM Rehab?  Why not?!  Click over to her blog and see what every one is catching up on.  I promise you'll be inspired to get them done!

Design Wall Monday 4/30/12

I was supposed to link last week and did a post and then forgot to link!  You can see that post here.  As for last week, another row of arcs are done!

Only two more rows to go and then I can start putting the rows together and work on the borders.

Also I noticed that the applique in the dark brown center was not oriented the way I had originally planned: 

I debated whether I could live with it but found it a little jarring even among all the busyness surrounding it so decided to go ahead, remove the arcs already attached and reposition them.

There, that's better!

To see what everyone else worked on this week, click over to Judy's Patchwork Times blog.  There is always exciting projects happening in the quilt world!

Design Wall...uh, Tuesday

I had prepped this for Judy's Design Wall Monday linky and then forgot to post it! Oh, well a Tuesday post in the wilderness it will have to be!

There was almost a DWR Crisis last week! It was supposed to be an easy week with only three centers in the current row to add arcs to.  But a full blown crisis was anticipated when I went to do the second center and thought I only had four arcs left! 

At that point I had one more center to do for the week and (correcting the information I reported in my Design Wall post last Monday) I still had three more rows still to do after this week's blocks were done.

A while back, I had added a gold melon to some arcs and then decided not to use them for the row I was working on at the time.  For balance, I had decided that arc/melon set should go at the bottom of the quilt and added it to one of the green centers down there.  However, based on the sequence of fabrics I have used so far for the red connecting corners, it now looks like I put the the wrong set on that last row.  The good news was they were just what I needed for the row I was working on so the new plan was to take that arc set off the green center and use it on the last center and then make up one more set of arcs to finish this row.

Except when I went to check the project fabric stash I found these:

Arcs, beautiful, already made arcs!  Thank goodness!  I still took the arc/melon set off the green center and used it in the current row.  And although the balance of the melons used in the top will not be exactly what I would have liked in this area, it is what it is and what it is will have to be.  More importantly, I now don't have to make more arcs or push the estimate up of when I will finish this top.  I do expect to run out of the red connecting corners shortly but have no problem with cutting more of those as I work on this during the week. When all was said and done, here's where I was:

Whew!  Crisis averted!

BOM Rehab #5

a.k.a. A Slow Rehab Week

It was a slow weekend at Rehab this week.  Partially because I restarted an old WIP/UFO allowing me to finally join the String Thing Along.  It is a project that I am sewing with my sons so it took time away from Rehab during what was already a busy weekend with a lot of errands to run.

The plan had been to prepare enough triangle sheets to finish twelve blocks--the number I needed to add to the four made last week to complete the border blocks for one side of the Chronicles BOM.  I did get the sheets and triangles made but after running errands, I only had time to get four blocks done.

So this week's output looks a lot like last week's.  With another four blocks added to the four from last week, half of a side is done and I have a stack of HSTs and squares ready to complete the rest!

The Rehabbers have a lot of great projects going on so check out what everyone is catching up on over at Sinta's Pink Pincushion blog.  Who knows, you may see a project that you want to restart or take on!

Bonnie Hunter at the Northern Star Quilt Guild Show May 5 & 6, 2012

Just found out that Bonnie Hunter will be lecturing and giving a workshop  at the Northern Star Quilt Guild Show that will be held on Saturday May 5 and Sunday May 6, 2012 in Somers, NY!!!!

The workshop is on Monday, May 7th on her "Jared Takes A Wife" Quilt.   It is already full (darn!) however, there is also a wait list.  Bonnie will be giving lectures on both show days at 11 AM on her "Scrap Savers System" on Saturday and on her "Scraps and Shirttales" books and methods on Sunday.  There will also be a lecture on Saturday by Tom Hennes who is the Founder and Chief Designer of Thinc Design, the design group that did the "Infinite Variety" red and white quilts show with the American Museum of Folk Art last year.   

You can view the the show schedule here and the vendors here.

I am excited to attend this year.  I have long wanted to see Bonnie in person but she is usually too far away for me to go.  The last (and first) time I attended this show was in 2009.  I got to meet a quilter I knew from blogging (Renee from Quilted Artistry) and saw a great presentation by Susan Cleveland. 

This one should be a fun event so I hope to see you there!

Finally Catching Up on Another UFO and Joining The String Thing Along (The Short Version)

I finally did it!  I had planned since last summer to put my sons back to work sewing up strings for the Denim Blue Lagoon Blocks.

 This project was on my original "PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge" list last year.   And I made plans again and again to work on it but was never able to meet my deadlines.  Then at the start of the year I saw the String Thing (Quilt) Along announced and I thought "now's the time".   But up to now, I've been too busy sewing other projects to clear enough work space to enable me work with my boys.  However, I've been a little better organized lately and then a timely cable service outage this week (which meant no after school TV, internet or phone) has helped to make my dreams come true!  Wednesday afternoon, I was finally able to get my youngest son to resume sewing some strips for me so I could cut them into the 60 degree triangle units I need for the blocks and cut diamonds out of the old and outgrown jeans I've collected until we have enough blocks for two twin size tops.

The pattern I am using is from Fons & Porter and theirs was originally made up in batiks. When I started this back in 2009, I wanted to make heavy winter quilts for my sons so decided to use up scrap strings and denim from their outgrown jeans.

For the full story see the post at the String Thing Along here.  I am excited to be trying to get yet another WIP/UFO to the finish line!

BOM Rehab #4

As noted in my last post, I've had to switch my Rehab allegiance from Wool back to the Civil War...Civil War Chronicles that is!  And when it comes to this project it can only mean one thing---HSTs to inifinity and beyond!  This project has consistently called for a lot of HSTs and the border blocks are no exception.  Sixty-eight blocks with ten 1-1/2" finished HSTs in each block.  Do the math and you guessed it, over 600 HSTs to be made!  My saving grace throughout this project has been to make them with triangle sheets.  As I've noted before, I use Quilt-Pro's "Triangle Magic" software but you can also use Brenda Henning's "Triangulations" software as well.

I've printed out most of the sheets already (two got crumpled coming through in the printer and have to be re-done).  For the whole border, I have a total of 33 sheets to sew up: 24 letter size in the red/cream color combo and 9 legal size in red/brown combo. The page size printed was chosen based on how many squares print on a page and what would yield the closest amount to what was needed without having too many extra or short.  With so many to do, I've decided to just attach a few sheets at a time to fabric for sewing up.  I also have to cut 2" squares to complete the block and did a stack to get me started and will cut more as I go along.

I started by sewing up one sheet of each and that yielded four finished blocks and leftover HSTs in the dark combo ready to be added to future blocks.  Needless to say I've got a couple of weekends of work ahead of me before this gets done.  I also still need to start putting all the center blocks together to form the center of the top.  This project is also on my UFO  List for Judy's Patchwork Times Challenge but that pick will be for the quilting only.

Want to see how everyone else is recovering from BOM overload?  Click back over to Sinta's Pink Pincushion blog so we can all share our BOM joys (finished blocks!) and misery (how many more do I have to go??)!

Design Wall Monday 4/16/12

DWR Update

I didn't get to post an update of the blocks finished last week since there was so much going on.  That week was an easy week with only three centers to work on.  That was then:

This past week was a whole 'nother story both for quilting and for life.  I thought the week would be easy due to it being Spring Break for my sons and with my DH on vacation.  Instead it was a week of sickness (just a cold and not me but still...), car repairs and company.  Despite all the unexpected issues, the quilt work must go on (for the sake of my sanity).  So at week's end, this is where I am now:

Whoo, hoo, only three more rows of arcs to add on before I can start putting the rows together!  And this week will be another easy week of only three centers to do (and everyone back to school and work).  The final borders of this will be straight so there are half centers to be added in around the edges before the final border will be put on and that also will have applique applied to it.  I am still estimating it will be June before the top is finished but at least it's still on schedule.

To see all the other the projects that people are working on, click back over to Judy's Patchwork Times blog and take a gander at all the lovely craftiness that goes on in the quilt world every week!

BOM Rehab #3

The latest block for the wool Heart and Home BOM was finished early for this week.  It was a simple one and I was able to make it up on Friday.

But now it looks like I'll be breaking off from that BOM for a little while to go back to working on another:  the Civil War Chronicles BOM.  When last I worked on it I had finished all the blocks up to the last month.

When I received the last kit in December, it was missing one fabric.  That was a big issue at the time because:

1. The fabric manufacturer was going to have to reprint the fabric to supply the BOM vendor with the fabric for the kit.
2. The earliest estimate of its arrival was February.
3. The missing fabric was the most important one for the blocks that had to be done and there were sixty-eight to make to complete the last border of the top!

Needless to say it has been a nail biting period.  Until now that is.  The fabric came in on Saturday.  Happy Dance!

The fabric that just came in is on the left, the rest of the kit sent in December is on the right.

Since I had originally wanted this top done by the end of last year, I am going to go back to working on it for next week's Rehab report (and probably for a few weeks after that too).

See what everyone else is Happy Dancing about this week by clicking on over to Sinta's to take a look!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program For This Special Announcement....

The Chronciles red fabric has finally arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like I've got something new to work on for the BOM Rehab!

This is a Segueway...

 ...and no, not the scooter type!

I made this block for Brenda of the String Thing Along.  She asked on this post for donation to go towards a charity quilt so these blocks will be on their way to Canada(!) tomorrow.  There is also hope that the finished quilt might convince a non-quilter of the beauty of string quilts---oh, that it will be true!  Then we can bring yet another person over to the quilty side!

For me though, it's a warm-up.  I had big hopes that I would have already been participating in the String Thing Along as I have a big, overdue project (do I have any other kind?) that uses strings.  Fortunately, my day is coming real soon.  Stay tuned......

* * * * * * * * * *

Edited to add:  See the finished quilt that was donated here!

BOM Rehab #2

Here is block 2 of the Heart & Home BOM and Sinta's BOM Rehab:

I am loving working in wool.  I have two more wool projects set up with fabrics and threads that I hope to get made up before month's end for spring decorating.  More for the list!

UFO Challenge Update

The bad news:  I am now 0 for 3 in terms of finishing UFOs.  The good news is that while nothing is finished everything moved up a notch this month:

January UFO (#5):

Of the two wall hangings that make up that UFO project, the Safari Stars, the one that was already a top did get basted.

February UFO (#1):

Once I realized the the DWR would take longer than expected, I've committed to weekly work on it.  So as of Friday I did get a third row of arcs done so now am here:

March UFO (# 8):
The Colorblocks quilt also got layered this month.

While I am a bit disappointed that I didn't get it quilted, there is more good news because the new UFO for April is #10 and that for me is:  Brrr! Park!

As you can see this one is already layered (and has been for three years) and now will need a good pressing before quilting!  For me, this means that April will be a very quilty month---all quilt stitching almost all the time.  I say almost because I will still be working on the DWR arcs and I have been working on my Heart & Home Wool BOM blocks for Sinta's BOM Rehab Challenge also on weekly (actually weekend) basis so stitching will take place for that as well (and I will post about that later today when the Linky is up).  Quilt stitching  is the one thing I need to gain more confidence in so it is good that this will be the focus this month.

Hope you got a lot done this month.  If not, let's watch our UFOs bloom into finished quilts this spring!