Short post for today - we have satellite internet and we lost it for most of the afternoon and evening. Too much snow was sticking to the dish. I think I need to get out there and put some wax on it so the snow will slide off better. We got a little over 5" plus some mix in the middle of the day. It seems to have finally stopped now which is a wonderful thing.
The most wonderful thing about it stopping is that my guild meets tomorrow night. If the snow continued, schools would be closed and then our meeting would be cancelled. That would be very sad because it is our annual party - there will be lots of yummy finger food and fun and show and tell. It is a wonderful meeting and it would be shame to miss it. If I don't blog tomorrow, it will be because I had too much fun at the party and was exhausted when I got home. Take care all - see you again soon. Today I worked on my guild's 2018 BOM. The 12 monthly offerings will include 20 different star blocks. The information needed for various projects for using the blocks will be provided in Month 1. I will be making charity quilts out of extra or practice blocks donated by guild members. Part of the BOM offering is videos for piecing each of the blocks. Today I finished taking the video for the second block. I still need to edit both it and the first video. The kick off will be at the January guild meeting on Wednesday, January 10th. The first month has only 1 block - the New England Star. Here it is: I will post my 'real' New England Star after I share it at the guild meeting.
See you tomorrow - I hope to have a mystery quilt top to share then. As promised here is my snow report. It started snowing a little before noon and went until midnight. A full 12 hours of snow. We got a total of 4" of snow. It looked beautiful falling. I love how the woods look with the fall leaves covered. The mountains are still green in Vermont on the west side of the Connecticut River. The best sight was the blue sky that finally peeked through the clouds towards the end of the day. I have another piecing project to share tomorrow - see you then.
deb-tuckers-studio-180-design.myshopify.com/The promised snow is here. It started snowing before noon and is predicted to continue until midnight. We were supposed to get somewhere in the 1"-3" inches but now the total will be in the 4"-7" range instead. The last I looked about half an hour ago showed about 2-1/2" so far. We live at the end of a road. The town hasn't plowed yet but they did come and spread some sand. We don't need or expect to go anywhere before Tuesday so that's fine with us. The weather was the perfect excuse to stay at my sewing machine except to cook dinner. Dinner was a delicious beef stew and biscuits. This is the perfect meal for a snowy and cold day. I can't share everything that I was working on today. Gifts need to stay secret until they are opened. Just know that I was using the most beautiful deep shade of peach thread. There is one project I can share with you though. I teased you with pictures earlier this week. Today I finished the top. The pattern is called Mandala and was designed by Running With Scissors Quilters for Studio 180 Design. I love how it turned out. Don't you? It went together quickly and easily with the use of the Tucker Trimmer I and V Block tools from Studio 180 Designs. The pattern is at the printers. When they are in, I will add them to my store. I can already envision this in red and green for the holiday season. Doesn't it have the look of a marvelous tree ornament?
It is my hope that my guild will select this pattern for a workshop in 2018. Or maybe the one I started working on today. Or maybe .... I love the Studio 180 Design tools. They make all of the patterns so much easier to assemble. Stop by tomorrow to see the beauty of fresh snow from New Hampshire. Take care until then. The best laid plans of mice and men. Enough said. Due to a misunderstanding today, my husband treated me to date night. That doesn't happen often. When I came down form sewing, the table was set, dinner was started, we cleared the table and started working on a jigsaw puzzle. It was amazing.
That means the pictures I meant to take and share are just figments of my imagination. At least I know what I will blog about tomorrow. We are supposed to get some snow tomorrow night so I plan to have some neat fresh pictures for you on Sunday. You can be sure that I will be inside quilting away while its cold though. See you tomorrow. I forgot to post yesterday but I'm not dropping the ball completely. I'll be back later today with another post. The habit of blogging isn't fully formed yet but it is getting there.
See you later! Yesterday I promised to share the table topper that I am working on. I am not big on hand work but this is the third English paper piecing (EPP) project I have worked on. For those of you that don't know, let me tell you a little about EPP. In EPP, you use heavy paper or light cardboard papers that are the shape of each piece. You cut fabric larger than the shape by about 3/8" on each side. Then you fold the fabric over the edges of the shape and baste them in place. If you use thin enough paper, you can even baste the paper to the fabric. The edges of two adjacent pieces are aligned with the right sides together. Then the edges are stitched together. That's a very general and rough description. As most that know me can tell you, I am not a huge fan of hand work so why do I do EPP? It is portable and I love the geometric designs. Here is a picture of the first EPP project I did. I plan to hand quilt this which I haven't done before. One of these days I'll start that process. Flower Table Runner was designed by Cindy McCoy and published as a Block of the Month in the September 2015 through January 2016 issues of The Quilt Pattern Magazine (TQPM). I haven't finished the second EPP project I started yet. I will go back to working on it after I finish the one I'm working on now. The reason is that this is another BOM by Cindy McCoy in TQPM. Starting in April 2017, this 9 part BOM finished up in this month's issue and I've tried to keep up every month. I've been doing fairly well. I finished up the November installment today and have the last part about one third done. So now for the big reveal. Here is Splatter! through Part 7. Part 8 (November) and this month are another round which will be white and navy. Maybe next Wednesday night I will be able to post a picture of the top finished. See you tomorrow!
Today I had a chance to sew for a bit. With the cutting done last night for the new Studio 180 Design pattern, the piecing is going very quickly. The various half-square triangle units ended up perfect after trimming them to size with the Tucker Trimmer I. While the V Block tool made two different sizes easy to piece and precise to boot. I still have some units to finish but I did have enough time to finish Block 1. I think the stained glass look in the focus fabric will really shine when this quilt is complete.
Tomorrow is my day to visit friends and do some hand piecing. I'll share a picture tomorrow of the lovely table topper that I am working on. Until then, take care. Yesterday I finished a Christmas gift. Today I decided that it will be going to a different relative. The gift turned out to be a better fit for someone other than the person I planned. Well, as they say, it's all well that ends well and I still have a gift crossed off the list - just not the one I planned. Today I got the instructions for a new Studio 180 Design pattern. I fell in love at once. So I hunted through my stash and found some fabric that is perfect for it. So I dropped everything else on my list of to-do's and cut the fabric for this new project. I am hoping to start the piecing later today. If all goes as planned, I'll have pictures to share tomorrow of the units in this wonderful quilt.
Today I worked on a Christmas gift. I don't want to give away the surprise so no more details on that. I thought today I'd share a little bit about where I live. It used to be the Tampa Bay area of Florida. In 2013, I retired from full-time work and my husband and I retired to southwestern New Hampshire. For most this would seem to be backwards but it was the perfect decision for us. Here is one reason why: Have you ever seen anything so adorable? It turns out that baby porcupines are the cutest thing. This one visited our yard regularly back in July. That is an apple core in its tiny paws. Here is another reason: Just last week we got this picture on one of our game cameras. That long white creature with the shining eye is a short-tailed weasel. The fur of the winter white phase is called ermine. Their coat turns white as the days shortened in fall and becomes brown again in spring. We never saw these in Florida. One last example to show why we love our home in the woods is two game camera video montages. The first video is from August. Now watch this montage from November. I just love it here! Where else could I have just a beautiful baby kitty?
Until tomorrow, take care all. |
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