Sunday, January 13, 2013

Something New

Now that my family, friends and some wonderful followers are familiar with this blog, I'm going to ask you to try out something new.  bonnieweighsin.wordpress.com

Let me know what you think............. (it is in early, early status.)

Updated 1/14/13
Well, I am definitely switching over to wordpress - so please find me at bonnieweighsin.wordpress.com.  Thank you.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

TA DA ! ! !

The pieces that I cut out on Thursday are now a quilt! 

hankypankyflimsy

The pattern is Hanky Panky (by Darlene Zimmerman & Rachel Shelburne).  It is small – crib size – 42 X 42.  The fabric is from a free kit I got years ago and never made the quilt.  This was an easy quilt and used 9 fat quarters, plus the background and small inner border. 

I also made the backing and binding so that some day when I decide to quilt it, I’m all ready.

HP binding

While the laundry finished up this afternoon, I took a break from cutting out another quilt and did some hand work on my hexagon project.

red hexagons

Finally, tonight, I spent an hour watching TV and doing a little more stitching on my Quaker piece.

quaker11213

It has been a good day for me.  What about you?

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Friday, January 11, 2013

Fooling around on Friday

Today was errand day, so I raced around…….

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to the Post Office, Office Depot, JoAnn’s, the cleaners, Walgreen’s, the bank, the grocery store, my niece’s office to pick up a quilt,  and the UPS store.

Then I stopped by my friend Liz’s house to show her some pictures and to see all the projects she has been working on lately.  We chatted and chatted and chatted.  I stayed much too long, but enjoyed my visit very much.

No sewing or stitching today Sleepy smile.  I’m going to bed early to read.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Another “At Home” day…

This morning, right beside my breakfast table, was this beautiful flower on my Christmas cactus.  What a lovely way to start the day.

Cactus

The puzzle fabric is the backing for my Riley Blake fabric quilt (Pieces of Hope).  It is all ready to send off to the long-arm quilter.

pieces backing

Then I got the binding and backing ready for the quilt that my niece and I are making together.

k. binding

With these things crossed off my list, it was time to choose another item from my long, long, long, UFO list.  Nothing appealed to me – except – starting a new project.  So I cut out the pieces I need for a pattern titled Hanky Panky.

hankypanky cuts

Tired of standing at the cutting table for several hours, I decided to have a simple supper.  In my cupboard was a package of Asia noodles.  The picture on the package looks pretty good.  It depicts a bowl overflowing with yummy looking noodles.  In reality, as you can see, the sad looking noodles only fill about a fourth of the bowl.   Taste?  Passable.  Will I buy this again?   No.

asia noodles

And here is my progress tonight on the stitched Quaker.

quaker 011013

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

There is always tomorrow…..

There were 20 items on my To Do list today and nine of them got crossed off.  That means that I will not make out a new list tomorrow, but just continue working on today’s list.

A good portion of the day was taken up with desk work – going through piles of mail, answering emails, writing notes, getting things ready for mailing, and making decisions.  Ugh.  Four more of those kinds of items are on my list for tomorrow.

I did take the time today to put the new border on my Riley Blake fabric quilt. (I need to come up with a name for this quilt.)  The dots were not to my liking, so I picked out a nice green that matches the fabric perfectly.

green border

And I am using the dot fabric as my binding.

polkadot binding

The binding has a lot of joins as the fabric was in a fat quarter grouping.  There were no long pieces.  The backing will get done tomorrow.

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Tonight I relaxed again in my red chair and did some stitching.

quaker1913

I’m thoroughly enjoying stitching this piece, and using the overdyed thread.  I am not following the color suggestions and instead have chosen to do the entire piece in red and green.  It looks Christmasy and that is exactly what I want.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A little stitching…

Today, Tuesday, is my day to work at church.  It was a busy day with lots to do, so I was tired when I got home.  After a quick supper of soup, I relaxed in my comfy red chair and did a little stitching.

quaker1813

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Happy Dance time

Yes, I am doing a Happy Dance that the sweater is finally DONE.  I sewed it all together today and steam blocked it.  Two pictures follow – one of the sweater that is arranged well enough that you cannot see the many, many mistakes.  However, the color is not right.  So the other picture shows the color better.  Neither picture is the true color as it is more a deep royal blue.

sweater done

sweater true color

My niece came over tonight for supper and an evening of planning and discussing quilt projects.  What fun to share this quilting passion with her! 

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sunday–a day of rest….

Church, reading, catching up on blog reading,

and Downton Abbey.

Downton Abbey

Sunday – a day of rest.

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Teasers…

My day was spent working on my January Artist’s Trading cards which I cannot show, but will tease you with a picture of the backs.

Jan ATC

Also got my January postcards done, but again I cannot show the front side…..

Jan PC

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Brenda, who does such beautiful counted cross-stitch work.  She inspired me to begin a small  “Quaker”.

quaker

Yes, that is the front side!

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Postcards

After a busy morning at my desk, lunch with a friend, and an afternoon of running errands, I spent the rest of the day working on my January Artist’s Trading Cards.  All the components are made and I just have to assemble them.  No pictures allowed.  So instead here are pictures of last month’s postcard exchange.

Lou Ann’s ………….

LA PC

Penny’s …………………..

PM PC

Mine ……………..

my pc

What a great exchange!  I’m lucky to have these postcard friends.

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Done and Done

It is all sewn together………the Quilt Smart bow tie quilt top.

bow tie top

It is all sewn together……………Block #1 of Comfort and Joy

Block #1 Done

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

So it begins…

After working at church today, I came home tired and had to push myself to get involved in a project.  I first worked on a piece of drawing artwork for my January Artist’s Trading Card idea – a nice sitting-at-the-desk task.

But the world of sewing was calling to me and I went downstairs to the Quilt Studio to look at the instructions for the Comfort & Joy quilt project.  My niece is going to do it also and I kind of want to be one step ahead of her in case she has questions.  Once she does her first bit of applique, I know she will take off and far surpass me, but for now I want to be prepared to help her.  Reading the instructions was just not enough…….I needed to begin…….and so I did.  Here are some of the components of Block #1.

block1

I’m taking all the fabric from my scrap bins.  It will be colorful.  As I pick out each fabric, they are filled with memories of other quilts, people and sewing times.  One fabric is leftover from a quilt challenge with my sister and the fabric was purchased by my brother.  Both my brother and my sister are now gone, so this scrap of fabric is extra special to me. 

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Good Start to 2013

While watching the Rose Bowl parade this morning, I finished the collar on my knitted sweater.  Now I just have to sew it all together and block it.

sweater collar

All the Christmas quilts were removed from beds, walls, tables, etc. and returned to storage in the basement.  As I put away the few Christmas decorations I heard a faint cry.  It was from the Snow People.  They did not want to go back in their plastic container.  “Another whole year in that plastic bin?  No Bonnie.  Please let us hang around upstairs for the next few months.”  So I relented and they are now enjoying the action in my kitchen since I placed them on the table by my back door.  (They sure look happy.)

snow people

It was time then to get out a UFO and get to some sewing.  I pulled out the Quilt Smart Bow Tie quilt that I started last year (or the year before???) and put away because I was discouraged at the less than perfect matching of seams.  I’m putting “perfect Bonnie” on the back burner and trying very hard to enjoy the sewing process and the wonderful fabric.  I got all the blocks sewn into rows and will sew the rows together later this week.

bowtie rows

My niece reminded me of two quilt projects I had not included on my lists from yesterday so in order to prevent that from happening again next year, I am going to keep a Quilt Journal.  Now I just need to remember to write in it every day.

quilt journal

 

The other day I received my Comfort & Joy pattern in the mail.  It shows two different versions and has very detailed instructions.  I think it will be so much fun to work on this quilt.  It reminds me of the Wear Warm Clothes quilt by Country Threads that I did years ago.

C & J pattern

Tonight I shall enjoy some time in my comfy chair, watching a little TV, and unsewing the borders on my Riley Blake fabric quilt.

unsew

This day has been a good beginning to 2013.

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