Happy Birthday Baby Sister

 Another use for these great clips.  I usually use them for binding but I have used them for pinning, keeping pieces together and so much more.  Here I am weaving fabric tubes to make a basket for a wall quilt.

 The quilt directions did not make a basket that could hold anything so I reconfigured this one so that it can actually hold things.  Maybe cards or receipts or kitchen tools.

 I did a little free motion quilting and a little ditch stitching and this quilt is ready to be a birthday present for my sister.

I did make a label by using my home made light box and traced over the lettering that I had printed from my computer.  This year I am working on my UFO's.  This falls into this category because I bought the pattern decades ago.  Now I feel I have not wasted that purchase.  I got some curtain hardware and some of those hooks that can be removed without marring the wall. I rolled it up and  tied it with a fabric scrap.  I hope she likes it.  I had fun making it.  The leaves are much more pronounced that I had anticipated.  The blue/green fabrics look more blue than green but I still like the result.  On to my next. project.  I am getting a stitchery project ready to go because I have jury duty and I want to be prepared to have a portable project on which to work.

April block with Baked Pear/Peacherine Goat Cheese Salad

 I grabbed 3 different greens from my scrap box.  The nice thing about pulling from the scrap box is that the cutting is done or almost done.  I made the flying geese units out of the darkest green, the rectangles were out of the lightest green and I used a medium green with a little flower in the 4 patches. I added a fat quarter  for the backing and binding and another scrap of green for the hanging sleeve.  I here is the April block.

In the spirit of this month's blog hop that I have been following, I added a recipe.  Here is a Baked Pear/Peacharine salad I made for lunch for my mother and I.

My mother had spent a week at my sister's in PA and came home with a collection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

Step 1.  Melt some butter in the microwave. Toss walnuts seeds in the butter, scoop out with slotted spoon then toss the pumpkin seeds in the butter. Roast walnuts and pumpkin seeds in 450 degree oven for 5-7 minutes.  I drizzled some honey on the walnuts and added some bacon crumbs to the pumpkin seeds, then popped it back in the oven for another couple of minutes. Set aside.

Step 2.  While the toasting was happening I halved and pitted a peacherine (something I had never heard of before), a red pear  and and an avocado.  I sliced the avocado and slivered some fresh ginger and put the pieces in the cavity of the fruit.  I drizzled some onion flavored olive oil which was  spicy hot on the fruit.  I filled the cavity with some goat cheese and sprinkled it with thyme. Pop the cheese filled fruit in the oven for 20 minutes.

Step 3.  While the fruit was baking I put some baby romaine in a bowl, added some chopped green pepper, small cauliflower pieces, dried cherry infused cranberries, chopped celery, chopped honey walnuts, and bacon crumbed pumpkin seeds.  I drizzled some honey ginger flavored balsamic vinegar over the lot and tossed.

Step 4.  The fruit had a couple more minutes to go.  When I looked in the fridge, there were some hard boiled eggs.  I decided to make a deviled egg.  I halved the egg and to the smashed yolk I added some of those bacon crumbs, a smidgen of honey mustard, and some of that honey-ginger balsamic.  It looked a little dry so i added a little sweet relish and filled the eggs.

Step 5.  I divided the  tossed greens in 2 dishes topped them with the fruit from the oven, the sliced avocado. and the deviled egg.  I topped the cheese with  whole walnuts that I had set aside.

To me the red pear was better than the peacherine.  With the random slivers of ginger, you sometimes tasted the ginger and sometimes not.  I quite liked that all bites were not the same.  It was a good lunch.  Everything was done in less than a half and hour.

February Block

 I used my scraps to make this block.  Really love the block lock ruler and how it slides down the seam so that you do not have to turn your block to trim it.

The inside border comes from a scrap.  I had to cut it on a diagonal to be able to get pieces long enough.  The border blocks a just 1.5 inch square so there was some stretch there as well.  The block has a ripple to it, but I like it just fine.  I especially like the fact that I was able to use up those 2 inch blocks from my scrap box to make it.  I am going to skip ahead to April because it needs to use the same fabric that I used for the embroidery to make the blocks.  I need to do that before I lose track of the fabric.

Kathy Schmitz Calendar Blocks

 I am contemplating what quilting to do on the Kathy Schmitz calendar blocks.  I am using the blue print as the back so I first have to select thread.  I recently read a blurb from Superior about monopoly and BottomLine thread.  I know that the monopoly has a sheen that one can find objectionable while BottomLine comes in many colors that can blend when you do not want the stitching to show up.  I had a Masterpiece blue  and a BottomLine blue that I potentially would use.  I was having tension issues when I was piecing with a combo of Masterpiece and Bottom line to create the block so I decided to use a beige BottomLine on the top and a blue in the bottom.

 I think the combo worked very well.

 I stitched using the number 37 foot and the feed dogs engaged.  I stitched around the snowman, next to the running stitches on the clock, around the house and the large bird.  On to another month.

While I wait for thread.....

I am waiting for my thread to arrive from Superior to finish the quilting on the Blooms for Julie project so I decided to work on another OMG.  I have now finished all the clues for Gyleen Fitzgerald's  pattern that I created as a part of the Bricks, Cobblestone and Pebbles QAL.  This makes a square quilt.  I plan to extend it somehow to a rectangle.  This was built from my scrap box so I have plenty of other squares.  I just need to wait for a design idea to hit me over the head.

Running out of thread

Oh, no no no!!  Looks like I do not have enough thread to make my OMG.  I have ordered some more, but it is doubtful that it will arrive in time to meet my goal.  I have one more long side plus a corner left to stitch.  I think I will work the corners into the center of the last side.  I can at least start working on the binding whilst I wait for my thread to arrive.

One Corner Done- Three to Go

25% of the Big Stitch is done.  I like how the grey looks on the back as well as the front.  Neutral colors are your friend.  It is very hot outside.  Quilting today is a WARM prospect, but I am continuing and looking forward to the temperature falling when the sun goes down.  I like both sides of this quilt equally well.  Even though both sides could be used face up, I do not consider this truly a two sided quilt.  In order for it to be a true two sided quilt, I think the quilting has to be related to both sides.... otherwise any quilt is a two sided quilt.  

Oops I did it again: Big Stitch Revisited

I basted the other 3 sides of the quilt with Vanish Lite and I decided that they were all a quarter inch seams and this first one was very uneven.  I decided I could use the practice so I unstitched what I had done so far and basted that seam again.

I forgot to show another piece of essential equipment: the top of the lobster pot.

 I marked an arc with tape so they would be more or less uniform.

And then I scored the quilt with my hera marker.  Back to Big Stitching.  Maybe this will speed up when I get the hang of it.

Big Stitch: First Steps

 Tools for center quilting:  Leather roller foot #55, Roxannes Quilter's Choice pencil and medium Kurumi.

 I traced around the Kurumi with a white pencil and stitched over the line with the roller foot.  Then it was on to the new adventure:  Big Stitching.

 Tools for Big Stitching:  Hera marker ( I started with Roxanne's Quilter's Choice silver Pencil but I switched after I flummoxed my first markings), number 7 embroidery needle, needle puller on my thumb, snippers, Fons and Porter's pin cushion, leather thimble for my underneath finger, hoop and 12 wt. grey Sew Sassy.

 When I get to the applique pieces I rock my needle so that it does not pierce the applique but still catches the fabric and batting from the backside.

 I basted the top edged of the quilt using Vanish Lite so that I could tell where the edge of the back is from the front side.  My hope is that I can line up my binding on that line and use it for a guide for my big stitch.

 The grey Sew Sassy does not stand out as much as I thought it would.  The project directions calls for stitching around all the applique before doing the curved stitching...but that was assuming you fused the appliqued,  I needle turned mine so I think I will not do that.  I may add some embroidery.  Who knows?  Hmmmm...That's a decision for later.

Phase Two Quilt As Desired: July OMG

I have finished quilting over the Vanish Lite around the little grey squares.  Using the roller foot allows one to take advantage of the feed dogs while quilting to achieve stitching that is quite even.  I chose to set my stitch length to 3.  I also decided to use the Fantastico #5001 knowing that I would see the gold show up on the top.  Here is my stitching so far.  My July OMG goal will be to finish quilting this quilt.  I have the embellishment of the swirls and the big stitch quilting in the borders yet to go.  I do not have my hoop with me at the moment.  Oops.  I hope I have enough Fantastico left to accomplish this goal.  Otherwise It will be another month that I did not meet my goal.  I am a Superior Thread Club member so I get free shipping as long as it comes with my club order.  If I need more, it will have to wait until my club order arrives. I may not get it in time to meet my goal.  DUN..dun...DUN..dun..DUN..dun...Oh the suspense.  Back to my bobbin quilting.  I need to figure out whether I want to mark my embellishments or if I will free motion....Hmmmm....The great lesson of this quilt is to learn that Quilt as Desired is so much fun!!!

I think this 12 wt Sew Sassy really puffed up nicely.  I think I still have space to embellish around this.  

Here is the first embellished motif.  I stitched using my leather roller foot after I marked with my Bohin pencil with a white lead using Kurumi to trace around.  I like the result so I will continue this process.  If I run out of the gold Fantastico, maybe I will just switch to a red one.