Bits and pieces of the DD Mystery!

Good morning! I have emerged from the work-fog into the light! Yahoo! I have FOUR days off in a row. Above is my first block of the cutest BOM, you just have to check it out! Go to http://www.alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com/. This is the January block. The February block is also ready for download. Just cute, cute, cute!!! Of course, I need to press it well. The blocks are 8.5 inches square.





This is my progress on the DD Mystery quilt by Bonnie from Quiltville. Lots of fun little pieces, and I as you can see used different colors than she, because that is what I had in the stash. I am loving this! I still need to trim more of the squares, maybe I can get around to that today.

This is my most recent pie, just a memory now. YUM! My mom's recipe, which I personally think is the very best. Apple...mmmm....

This was how high the pie was full off apples before it was baked, and of course they all cooked down. Speaking of food (one of my favorite subjects)....I am on a new course in life! I know, I know, you have heard it before, but I have been eating healthy for 8 days! I was counting in hours, but now am up to days...and I have lost (drum-roll please)....5 pounds! Yeah for me! I may be able to fit into that mother of the groom dress after all! I cut out sugar. I am hopelessly addicted to sweet things and sugar, and after the pie was gone...that was it ladies!!!! Hope I can keep it up! NO! I am keeping it up!!!

*************************************************************************************

I am also working on the hand-quilting of my scrappy quilt from last post. That is the most pleasure, just fun, fun , fun!!!!

************************************************************************************

Gratitude's: Fabric, friends, hand-quilting, renewed health, and of course my precious family.

*************************************************************************************

Work: I have not been forced to work a night shift yet...we shall see!!! Stubborn old lady, aren't I???

Hee!!

Julie

Everything but the kitchen sink!

Good afternoon! What do I mean, everything but the kitchen sink?? Well, there are antique, vintage, batic, reproduction, 1930's, and about every other fabric I have in this little quilt above. I have been playing with the blocks inspired by Bonnie of Quiltville's site. This is what I came up with. Each piece of fabric, except the corners, started as a 2 inch strip. I have been saving everything left over from other projects, and putting them into the appropriate drawers, like 1.5 inch, 2 inch, 2.5 inch strips. Honestly, I didn't know exactly what I was saving all those little pieces for...and NOW I think I am just in love with scrap quilts!! I get it now! I love the block, the secondary nine-patch pattern, the motion diagonally across the quilt, and the ziggy-zaggy border. All from scraps, lots of which would have been thrown away by some of my quilting friends.

My ziggy zaggy border. Looks like rick-rack to me!!

The whole thing, sandwiched and ready for quilting. Hand quilting for this one.

I got sidetracked again with this one, when I had aimed to work on the DD mystery quilt. I guess that is the way of it, I kind of like being pulled this was and that! Days off are precious and few, so I have to be a bit choosy about what to do, and balance taking care of the home and hubby and family. I am so pleased with this little top! So there is my quilty news of the week. I am wondering if anyone is interested in started a row by row quilt, using some of the 2.5 inch strips/squares?? I would like to make one this year! And it would be fun to have company along the journey...

************************************Nursing***********************************

I feel a bit burned out right now. Not about the patients, not about the families, I just love them so much. There is a big uproar at work,, with the manager mandating that the day shift work night shift to help cover. Not even a matter of asking, really; if there is not enough staff we will have to work nights. For this morning glory kind of girl who falls asleep at 9:30 at night, it would be pretty dangerous for me to handle a full load of critical patients while I am half asleep. We all feel pretty much like pieces of meat, just tossed about at will. We shall see what happens.

I am going to add just a little bit about my nursing to my blog posts, so feel free to skip this if you are not interested.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Julie

JulieK

I have been working loads of hours before the holiday, then Christmas happened, then back to work...and at last I had three blessed days where I could just relax and sew! Above, I put the borders on this little primitive wall hanging above, it will be hand quilted. Not so crooked as it seems while laying on the "design floor".

I got the borders on the scrappy Bargello! This is from a year ago...at last it is in one piece. All the fabric is out of the stash, no new fabric. I love looking at all the fabrics, it is a pretty good representation of what fabrics I have.

Above is the whole thing...I like it! It is square and flat.

I really like this little Christmas angel, I just hate to put her away, so she will stay out for a while. Just ignore the wrong date on the photos, I will have to figure out how to change it!

Above is Bonnie's mystery quilt, step one. I had one piece of cheddar to choose from and it was not enough, but I had a large piece of pink. So my cheddar is pink! I love it...hope it turns out as well as Bonnie's quilt.

Strings? Of course you do not see any, it must be a figment of your imagination. A little quilt made up of leftover 9 patches, ready to have the binding hand sewn down (and all those threads clipped!)

I don't do everything that Bonnie does (couldn't prove it by this post, though...) Anyway! She made some blocks recently, and they intrigued me. Above are some blocks I made strictly out of the two inch strip box. I love these so much, something is very satisfying about using little pieces and making something new.

A little baby quilt...for a girl of course. Machine quilting is done and it just needs the binding sewn down. For a co-worker at work. I have 2 more to do! The baby quilts are just killing me, we have so many girls pregnant or trying to be soon.

Thank you for sharing your work with me, I love to look at it all. Lots of pictures this time for me, and I am so glad to have gotten some quilty time...

Have a wonderful day!!

JulieK

Joyful and triumphant!!

I love that old Christmas hymn, Oh Come, All Ye Faithful...most of you know the words. But today! Those words apply to the fact that the little miniature nine-patch is done, well, in one piece anyhow! I just posted this afternoon, but I just had to share this picture too. The quilt is 18 inches by 24 inches. Each little piece is 1/2 inch square. I am astonished that I did this. The piecing is not perfect, but I gave it my very best effort. Lots of seams! The border took most of the fabric, which was surprising, but just as much fabric is in seam allowances as shows on the front. A big thanks to Libby for letting me make a version of her very special quilt. Thanks for letting me share this little distraction with you!

JulieK

A funny... :)

This was funny...I was driving in an area where big signs were posted, "Lock your car! Hide valuables!" So....I put all my fat quarters I had just purchased in the glove box and locked them in. I thought about that later...Hee!! You can see what I think is valuable! I got these for $1.00 each at my local quilt shop, a huge sale is underway. Pretty!!

This is how far I have gotten on the miniature quilt. Each little section of the border measures 1/2 inch. It is very labor intensive! I could have made two full sized tops in the time that it has taken me to make a reasonably accurate miniature. I have learned so much, though. Don't stretch the pieces! Cut and sew very accurately. The 1/4 inch seam allowance is a key, and trim the seams to smaller than that, almost to 1/8Th inch. It is shaping up....

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Remember to hide your valuables!!

JulieK

Little bitty distractions...

This is my current distraction, along with Bonnie's new mystery quilt. The above nine patch finishes at (gulp) 1.5 inches. The picture looks warped, but the blocks are so cute and nice and square. I put in the pen so you could see the unfinished size. The nine patches go into this quilt below. I saw it on Libby's blog, at http://www.simplylibby.blogspot.com/. I asked her permission to try to make the quilt in miniature and she said yes, so away I went!!

These are the blocks that are made from the nine patches. They are 4 1/2 inches square, and that is pretty little for me, and I have learned lots attempting to make this little bitty distraction! I am just going to put 12 blocks in the quilt, Libby's has 16, and a little different border. This has been so fun!! The fabric is a navy stars fabric that has been in the stash for years and years...time for it to come out and play!

Hope each of you has a wonderful day!!

Julie

Happy New Year!!

My wish for each of you is a most wonderful New Year, full of joy, love, promise and fun! Happy New Year!!!

You may recognize the little quilt in the above picture, made of leftover triangles. You know...I had an epiphany! The binding just never would lay flat, so on a whim I whacked it off! And started again. I put a SINGLE binding instead of the bulky double binding, and it looks just so much better! I am so much happier with it. I learned something, and how fun is that? :)

Hope to get to know each of you more in the coming year.

Goodnight, I have to work tomarrow!!

JulieK