Civil War Crossings

I haven't been slacking off over the past couple of days - I've been busy piecing away ... and here's where I'm up to:

I made up a test block for the Civil War Crossings project, and because I was super happy with it, I got busy and cut out all the rest of the pieces ...

... and got busy chain piecing. Shouldn't be long now before all 16 blocks are put together. I'm really enjoying this project - and working with 12 inch blocks after the NI blocks feels like working with bed sheets! xox

Yet more Civil War Quilt blocks ...

Friday evening and Saturday (inbetween mountains of laundry) I got busy with a few more of my Civil War Quilt blocks:

Here is my version of Block 3 - Seven Sisters. I'm not sure if I'll make this one again before I finally put the quilt top together - I altered the shape of the stars to make them easier to needle turn. I've been struggling with needle turn applique since I got acrylic nails for the first time in December. I just can't seem to grip things as well - and either I'll get used to the acrylics or at some point I'll give them up. For now I love them though :-) so this block will have to do!

And here is Block 9 - Birds in the Air. Super easy to put together even with the final bias edge seam. I may fiddle with that seam intersection in the middle there ... it's a little out :-)

And lastly, Block 11 - London Square. Another easy one despite the bias edges. I now only have two blocks to catch up on, Block 13, and Block 16 which was put on line yesterday.

I have also been debating what project I'd like to work on next, and since I've seen my friend Linda's Civil War Crossings top made up recently, I decided that's what I'll work on next.

Linda and I were coveting this project at the very same time a little while ago - I had my finger hovering over the 'purchase' button at Hancocks of Paducah, and talked to Linda on the phone, and she was debating over it too. I had it delivered to Linda's house, and I don't remember if it was my 2008 or my 2010 visit to the US when I picked it up, but regardless it's been sitting in my stash for too long! I'm going to enjoy this one, I just know it!

More Civil War Quilt blocks ...

Yay! Slowly slowly I'm catching up on these wonderful Civil War Quilt blocks. But I still haven't finished Block 3. Yes, it's THAT block. I'll get to it - honest!

Anyway ... here's Block 10 - Lincoln's Platform. Making up a 3 grid block in an 8 inch size requires some tricky cutting ... you know, working with 16ths of an inch and stuff, but this one has come out the right size. Happy days!

And here's Block 15 - Fort Sumter. I made myself choose some of my darker fabrics for this one, and it's kind of cute.

I'll be interested to see how all these blocks look together in the end. The trick will be picking the perfect sashing strips and cornerstones I'm thinking.

And further to my last post, I've tallied the comments, used a random number generator, and the commenter to receive my 'reject block' is Subee Sews. If you'd like to email me privately with your address details, I'll send a squishy your way.

I'm heading into the sewing room now - I hope to get an hour of stitching time in before I head to bed. TTYL :-)

Bits and Pieces

Monday is one of my days off work, and I really got some quality sewing time today. Yesterday I spent some time tidying up the sewing room, so it felt great to work in such a clean space :-)

First up I put together another of the Civil War Quilts blocks I'd not yet made. This one is Block 12 - Louisiana. I've noticed I seem to be selecting a lot of mid range fabrics in these blocks - something I hope I've remedied with the block I'm working on right now.

And then I played around with some things I've wanted to do for a while ... I made some of the string blocks for Bonnie's Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt. It's on my to do list :-) And then with some if the tiny pieces left over from my NI quilt, I made some 4" Log Cabin blocks. There are a great many more of these in my future I hope :-)

And just for fun, I lightly quilted and bound one of my reject blocks from my NI quilt. It's block 8 - one of the blocks that has the 1/2" finished HST's. I thought just for fun I'd give it away if anyone is interested - it'd make a cute mug mat. If you'd like it, just send me a comment. If I get a few comments, I'll use a random number generator to select someone. How fun! :-)

**Thank you for your comments - Subee Sews' name has been drawn to receive my reject block :-)**

Dear Jane - L9

Here's something I haven't done in a while - I made a DJ block!

This one is L9 - Walter's Place. These blocks even seem tiny compared to the NI blocks, but at least they don't generally have so many pieces.

While this was fun, I'm not sure that I'll get back into making this second DJ full swing. If I can make a block every so often, at least I know this quilt will get made eventually. Right now I'm a little indecisive, and don't really know what I want to work on!?!

A little sewing ... and a couple of dishes ...

I haven't done much stitching this week, but I have managed to put one block together:

This is Block 14 - Fox and Geese, from the Civil War Quilts project. I'm really quite behind with these darling blocks, but if I at least make two blocks per week for the next few weeks, I'll be able to catch up fairly painlessly. Sometimes the fabric selection is a good deal harder than actually putting the block together!

And here's a little something that arrived today:

I'm determined to have a full set of Masons Vista dishes to use this year for Christmas - and slowly but surely I'm finding pieces to add. These are the 20 10 (oops - typo) inch dinner plates. Of course, I could get a whole set yesterday if I wanted to pay 'full tote odds' but I'm only choosing to buy pieces when they're at reasonably inexpensive prices ... and so far so good. They're just so pretty, and I'm hooked!

Two finishes, a redo and a gift :-)

This weekend past was so entirely wonderful - I was able to get so much done! I had two finishes - the binding on the Kaffe fabric quilt, I also finished the binding on four spiderweb placemats that are intended as a gift. (And I made an entirely new one to take to the shop)

I was feeling very inspired - I think this makes four finishes for the year so far!

On Sunday I picked up a project from this time last year. While I stayed with Linda at Donna's house (prior to heading to Paducah), we had a sewing day together, and I started working on some Paducah Nine Patch blocks. They're from Pat Speth's Nickel Quilts book. I didn't get many made, and the ones I did make had such bad seam intersections, so when I got home I took them apart.

Finally I've put them back together again, and I'm really thrilled with how they look now. These blocks are from Linda's 5" squares and scraps - how fun to be able to play in someone else's stash. She and Donna are always so very generous sharing with me :-)

I was feeling so energised after getting so much fun sewing done, that I decided to get into my closet and have a big clothes sort and purge. I've donated two garbage bags of clothes to charity, and even though I tossed five pairs of shoes last week, the old shoes in the closet should start feeling nervous :-) This is going to be a great week, I can feel it!

And the final picture for today is a gift sent to my by my Grandmother.

Grandma and Grandpa have been moved into an assisted living facility, and as part of the paring down process she sent this dinner set down to me. I had already received the tea set part of the service and you can see it here. It's a Susie Cooper design from the 20's or 30's - from when she worked at Grays. I've learned that the design is called 'Floral' and from what I can tell, it's not all that common these days. I've only ever seen one saucer appear on ebay. I will treasure these lovely pieces - thank you Grandma! xox

What shall I finish?

Now that I've finished the top of my Nearly Insane quilt, I thought it would be a great time over the next month to work on a few projects that are laying around unfinished. First up, I've quilted and bound my Kaffe fabric quilt.

All that is left is to stitch the binding down on the reverse side, and then it's all done. I have my wonderful friend Linda to thank for the gift of this kit while I was staying with her last year in the US. Can you see the cute fabric that I selected for the back peeking out there. It was one of the fabrics I thought may become a border - but I'm glad I didn't choose it in the end :-)

And here is the latest item from what has become one of my new addictions:

I'm entirely hooked on Masons Vista pink dinnerware, and when I saw this piece, I just had to snap it up. It's a cheese wedge, and it arrived here safely all the way from the UK. Amazing!

I have the house to myself for the weekend, so I foresee some late nights, some sleep ins, and plenty of stitching time. Bring it on!