July's Schnibbles Project

I heard that there would be a  month where those participating in AYOS would each choose a Schnibbles pattern of their choice and was excited when I learned that was the plan for this month.  I chose to make a table runner using Miss Rosie's Little Red thinking a could 'whip' this out fairly quickly -- AGAIN the month got away from me!  While I felt my usual self-imposed frantic rush to complete this project, it did come together in record time.  The blocks in this pattern reminded me of pumpkins so it only seemed natural to turn to my stash of fall colors. I can't make up my mind what type of sashing I wanted to use so I've decided to set it aside and hopefully get back to it before it gets tossed into the UFO box.

April's Schnibble Project

April's AYOS pattern is called Summer Days. 

I seem to be particularly drawn to teal & burgundy fabrics lately.  I was able to find most of these jems in my stash but decided I needed something to make them 'pop out' so I raided my CC's stash and found a gold fabric that had teal & burgundy in its pattern.  Perfect!

I've never attempted flying geese blocks and I made it much harder than I needed to.  Essentially I cut fabric three times before I actually got the right combination.   First I reversed my fabric layout cutting into small squares the fabric I needed for the larger squares.  Next I used the wrong size large squares.  After puzzling over my wacky blocks I finally figured it out.   Guess that comes from working fast and furious late at night at the end of the month. 

Once I corrected all my mistakes, it didn't take long to put these blocks together thanks to a tutorial from Poplun on Flying Geese.

I quilted the top by stitching in the ditch in each of the blocks using my new 'stitch in the ditch' presser foot. (I didn't know such a thing existed until I peeked in the promo sewing bag I got with my new machine!) It made it so easy.  On the sashing I stitched a simple pattern  from a wonderful book:  Quilting Dot to Dot Patterns for Today's Machine Quilter by Cheryle Barnes.



You can check out  the book at  American Quilter's Society or Golden Threads

What would I do differently next time? 

• Not use a pencil to transfer the quilting pattern to the quilting paper (I know better than that!)
• Invest in a Quilter's Assistant Proportional Scale and maybe even a flying geese template
• Not wait until the last week of the month

 Be sure to stop by Pink Pincushion and A Quilting Life to see April's Quilt Parade for AYOS!

April is not going to be my most productive month.

Broken sewing machine / broken computer.  What's next . . . oh don't even want to have that thought!
Sewing machine update:   sadly more than TLC is needed - it's terminal. So began the on-line search for a replacement until the desk top started acting up . . . some times it works and some times it doesn't.  aaaarrrrrgh!
 
When I shared the sad news about my machine with my hubby, he said  "Well get whatever you want."  Did I hear correctly?  And Joanne's was having a sale on sewing machines.  That was all the encouragement I needed.  After 'sleeping-on-it' for a couple of days, I decided to go a little crazy . . . well a little crazy for me. 

Here is my new Viking Tribute 140

We're still getting acquainted but I am sooo happy with this machine.

Oh and the computer:  needs a new hard drive.  New one on the way and until it arrives, using a very slooooow computer we bought for our son when he was still in high school.

Good bye to March



My Sailors:  Sean, Dan, John & Ethan
This picture was a request from a very proud Dad.
The little sailor - wearing his Grandpa Ted's boyhood outfit.

I'm told that the older you get the faster time passes.  I must be getting older because the month of March flew by and April is half gone.

We started the month of March with the 'sort of ' suprise visit from our son . . . the tall sailor in the middle.  Following in his older brother and dad's footsteps, he enlisted in the Navy last May.  He is serving as a Cermonial Guardsman stationed in Washington, DC.  This was his first visit home since enlisting.

. . . And the 'sort of ' surprise, it's a game my boys play called "Can we pull one over on Mom?" For the record, they rarely succeed!  They don't believe that not much slips by me or that  in a previous life I was either a spy or trained with the FBI <wink>

I 'just wuv' this picture- it brings on a smile every time I see it.

March's Schnibbles Project

March's project was from Miss Rosie's Bibelot pattern.  This pattern reminds me of Hawaiian shirts.  So I chose a tropical theme most likely influenced by my March trip to southern California  where I enjoyed some warmer weather and a backyard barbeque at my brother's home. I chose some Batik fabric and decided on using the pattern to make some placemats.  I made sure I bought enough material to make some matching napkins.

I set up two stations in my sewing room;  a cutting station and a pressing station.  I lowered my ironing board to a height just a little lower than my sewing table & positioned it just to the left of my sewing table.  I found that a little starch, my Omnigrid Foldaway Portable Cutting & Pressing station, and my Omnigrid ruler made for quick and accurate assembly of these blocks. 

Sadly my sewing machine is in need of some TLC.  I'm not sure what is wrong with it but the light is pulsating.  Sewing at night to a strobe light is hard on the eyes.

 

If you are interested in seeing what others have done with this pattern, check out the parade of quilts on A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion

January Schnibbles Project

Before it is time to post March's Another Year of Schnibbles project, I thought I'd post a picture of January's  project. 

The pattern is called Full House. I used some of a charm pack from Moda's Making New Friends along with a little of my stash and embroidered the phrase All Hearts Come Home for Christmas.  My inspiration for this project was awaiting news that my youngest son's leave had been approved.  This was his first Christmas away from home and I was hoping to having a 'full house' to celebrate a belated Christmas.  I thought I was making this as a Christmas gift, but I'm not sure I'll be able to part with it!

February's Schnibbles Project

One of the goals I set for myself this year was to advance my quilting skills.  I've sewn since high school  so I know a little about sewing clothes, curtains and such.  I've always been intrigued with fabrics and design and how they come together as quilts. When my daughter, who I now think of as my quilting companion, started quilting, it wasn't long before I found myself hooked.

Four years later with many half finished quilting projects, I decided I needed to be more adventuresome and acquire some new skills.  That's when my "QC" introduced me to Another Year of Schnibbles.  When I mentioned that I thought it would be a good idea to keep a journal of what I accomplish this year, this blog became an unexpected part of those new skills . . . Thank you Shelley for having the patience to teach an old dog some new tricks!

For February's project, Miss Rosie's  "I.S.T.H." pattern,  I used scraps from the first quilt I made in 2008 to make this patriotic wall hanging.  I love these colors together.  The very best part about this project was that I was able to go to my stash instead of my usual trip to the fabric store.

You can't see it very well from this picture but underneath Freedom I embroidered the phrase the Cost is Always High.

So a couple of things I learned while doing this project is that I need to work on my cutting skills  . . .  I'm not such a straight cutter and triangles really aren't that scary.   

To see what others have done with this pattern, check out the parade of quilts on A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion