SBS Block Due 10/25

A10 - Bachelor's Puzzle

Today S, T & I went to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo here in Kansas City. It was the first time I attended the event since it moved up to the KCI-Expo Center.

They had some great quilt and garment displays and of course vendors. I nearly made it out without buying anything.

The very first booth got me -- although I made it through the entire show and circled back to make my purchase.

It was the Bo-Nash booth with the Bo-Nash Bonding Agent. Apparently it can be used to baste quilts instead of the quilt basting spray. It also came with a tube of vinyl/leather repair, so I'm going to try and fix my car seats. I'll let you know how it works after I use it.

SBS Block Due 10/11

H7 - Odd Fellow's Chain

73 tiny pieces. The half square triangle units finish at 3/4". Originally I planned to paper piece this block, but this evening I realized I could use my Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers. All in all, the block went together quite well, it just took 'forever'.

SBS Block Due 10/4

L3 - 54-40 Or Fight

This block has a template for the background triangle, but I'm not a big template fan when there are other options. Quilt In A Day has a set of Triangle in a Square rulers which I use, but since this a a six inch block, they were too big.

Then I remembered. I have a set of Tri-Rec Tools. I don't know when I picked these up or why, but they worked great for this block.

A Week Without Quilting!

Who knew that a missing ruler could cause a week without sewing? I finally found my missing Easy Angle Ruler in a pile of papers. Apparently when I was clearing (note, not cleaing) my desk it got grabbed up and put on the shelf.

But truth be told, I'm not sure much sewing would have occured this week anyway. Earlier in the week I was working on the finishing instructions for the smaller Kansas Spirit quilt and I've been cleaning the house.

Today and tommorow I'm hosting a couple of my quilting buddies and we are going to sew all weekend. I've got Taco Soup in the crock pot for lunch, and the chicken is marinating in the refrigerator. I've talked my husband into grilling it tonight by making an Italian Wedding Cake to snack on.

Now to pick something from my list to work on this weekend.

What Cleaning Does

I did not set out to clean. However, I received a "ton" of fabric cast offs which needed to be put up. There is still more in the basement waiting to be washed.

When we redid my sewing studio/office, I made the decision that if it didn't fit on the two sets of shelves, I had to find another home for it -- whatever it is. A few weeks ago I looked through all of my quilting magazines and donated a 12" stack. You can't tell by looking my shelves, because I gathered up the magazines that were scattered through out the house.

The fabric is a bit tougher. But, since I've made significatant progress on my DWR, it moved out of the bin it's in and into one of my project bins. I also pulled out the extra fabric from a couple of other quilt tops recently finished and either put it away or dumped it on my table to be cut up into scraps. That's the pile on the right in the picture below.



The pile on the left if what I found when I cleared my cutting table off. I've midplaced my small EZ Angle Ruler. I misplaced the large EZ Angle Ruler at the begining of the year. I didn't even know I had one let alone two, plus the Companion Angle Ruler until I started working on Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush. Now I can't find either!

I guess I keep digging.

SBS Block Due 8/16

B-7 Swamp Patch

For this block I used the Companion Angle ruler and 1 1/2" strips instead of cutting squares into triangles. I'm not sure how long I've had this ruler, but I know until I needed it for one of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt I never used it.

Now to file under 'clearing the counter' is this orphan block:



About a year ago a group I quilted with made a quilt to auction off for charity. I think the kits were from a shop hop quilt from a few years earlier. Given that I had a limited amount of fabric - and no way to get more - I started to make a sample block. Once I saw that I wasn't going to have trouble with the block I made the 'real' block and tossed the sample block into the scrap box. Back when I was working on my scraps I found the pieces and pulled it out. It's been sitting on my sewing table for the past 6 - 8 weeks. Last night I decided to finish it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but for now it's in my orphan block drawer.

Also finished in the last couple of days are a couple of Mini Bow Tie blocks from Quilterscache.com for the birthday block swap. Sorry no pictures, because the birthday ladies occasionally read my blog.