Design Wall Monday - Week 21, 2015

On my design wall...still..just..this:

Tiddly Winks

With no further progress.

It's been paperwork, lots of rest and laziness relaxation, every day chores, and just other distractions keeping me from sewing.  I played with organizing my flannels - hadn't touched them in so long, I forgot what I had, so they got to see the light of day and breathe some fresh air while getting refolded and re-organized before going back into their bin in the nether reaches of the guest bedroom closet.  Yeah, they don't fit in my stash closet, hehe.

I have only a little over a month before I return north, and then a week and a half after that is quilt camp so before I leave, I need to plan what I'm going to take to work on.  I have a couple of projects still in the works, one that I started while at camp last year. 

There's this one (above), Subtle Charm.  This is the only block I finished at camp last summer.  All the pieces are cut and ready to be sewn.  I think it will travel with me.

And there's this one...the one I had SO much trouble with that I just packed it away to not be dealt with until my brain could focus better.  And I've determined that if it still comes out wrong, I'll just trim each block to a consistent square and be done with it! I may be 'twisted' to take this one along.

Sister's Choice still needs to be sewn together.  May have to determine the layout beforehand, but it could be a good traveling companion too.

Tumbler could use some more work, as could Pyramids.  And I need to do something with all those Bowties, and Spools I've made as leaders and enders.  Scrap O' Nine Tales still sits as finished blocks.  Lots I could work on, whether here at home or away at quilt camp.

I have so few projects remaining to be pieced unless I start something new.  I'm thinking maybe I could use quilt camp to practice some free motion quilting.  I have far too many quilts that need to be quilted, I almost hate to start anything new.  I could pre-layer some muslin and scrap batting pieces to practice on.

Let's go see what shows up on others' design walls at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday, Spacing Out

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  

Part of the day, I spent pulling scrap strips for the binding for Tiddly-Winks.  I'm a long way from quilting it, but I like to get the easy parts done when I can.  The binding is sewn together; various lengths of many different colored fabrics.

It looks like just a pile of strips, but the strips are sewn together for the binding.

From the beginning of the project I had a fabric chosen for the backing.  It doesn't at all 'match' the front of the quilt, unless you think round shapes of the planets as being the same as the round shapes of the Tiddly-Winks.  Some of them are the same size as you can can see by the 2.5" square ruler placed on the fabric for scale.

Space / planet fabric.  I originally used this in my son's Stack 'N' Whack quilt, oh so many years ago and have plenty leftover for the backing.  From the pieces remaining, I may even be able to get away with a single seam to make it work.

My daughter said Thane will love having planets on the back of his quilt.

Tiddly-Winks flimsy.  It measures 42.5" x 54".  Perfect size for a four-year old.

Check out Patchwork Times to see what Judy and others have on their Design Walls.

Stash Report Week 19, 2015

Yippee!! I have a wee bit to count as 'used' this week.  That makes me happy.

I finished piecing my grandson Thane's quilt, and the fabric used (based on the amount called for in the pattern) was 3.25 yards plus the amount for the dots scattered across it which equal about another .15 yard, so my total used is 3.4 yards.

Tiddly-Winks hanging over the stair railing.

Used This Week: 3.4 yards
Used Year to Date:  11.4 yards  
Added This Week:  0 yards
Added Year to Date: 46.69 yards  
Net Used / Added for 2015: 35.29 yards

Linking @ Patchwork Times
Head over and see how others are doing.

Design Wall Monday

As promised yesterday, I'm posting about the quilt I'm making for my grandson Thane.  

While I was browsing through my myriad of quilt books and patterns, I came across this one and immediately knew it was 'the one'.  The pattern is from Nancy J. Smith's & Lynda S. Mulligan's book P.S. I Love You Two!  The pattern title is "Tiddly-Winks".  

This image is from the book.  I would have liked to have had some of that checkerboard print in my stash, but I didn't and I wasn't going out shopping, so chose what I did have, including the solid black and solid white.

Three quilt size options are given, I'm making the crib size, which will be a good size to snuggle up in on the sofa, or lay upon on the floor.

In my stash, along with the black and the white, I found an interesting black and white geometric. I also picked through my drawer of squares that I pre-cut to find the colorful circles needed.  I will machine, raw-edge applique them...the instructions only said to applique, so this method is my choice :)

I scouted around and finally found the lid of a medicine bottle that was the right size of circle I needed and drew on the back of each square before trimming them.

All trimmed, not bad.

The first block is a very basic pinwheel.   I deviated from the instructions and made my initial squares 1/8" larger, then drew a line, sewed the 1/4" on either side, then cut down the middle.  I figured with as much trouble as I've had in the past with half-square triangles cut before stitching, that I'd stitch and then cut them...so much better.

The first couple been made into blocks, and eventually trimmed to the size needed.  Not all of my stitching was precise, especially in getting those center points perfectly aligned, and I also made the 'mistake' of choosing lighter weight fabric with the white, so when I trimmed them, a few blade edges are such that they won't be perfect points, but this is a gift, hopefully to be USED and loved on and a nearly five-year old boy will not be pointing out the flaws!

I love the geometric prints 3-D effect and the Xs and windmill blades that appear.  The Xs make wonderful kisses for my grandson, and the windmills tend to repeat the block theme.  These are parts of a 9-patch block.  A two block quilt, what could be easier?

And on my design wall, the layout of the blocks.  It does look a bit plain being black and white and as a flat 2-D photo.

But adding the tiddly winks livens it up quite a bit.  The binding will be pulled from my scrap bins too, using a bunch of colors as with the Tiddly Winks in short uneven lengths so that will add a little more color too.

Now, if you're still with me after all these pictures, the reason "Tiddly Winks" struck me as the quilt to make for him is this.  When I was up north last July, my daughter, son-in-law and Thane were on vacation to visit my daughter's dad in Washington, and they took a couple days to drive over and visit me in the town where my dad lives.  As you may recall, I'd seen my daughter shortly after my mom passed when she flew to Portland to drive home with me so that I wouldn't have to do the drive alone.  Because only she had flown in, I hadn't seen the other two since Thanksgiving of 2000 just a couple months after Thane had been born.

In the ensuing years, he'd become a little boy with good manners, a vocabulary large enough to carry on real conversations, and just an absolutely delightful young lad.  One night at my dad's, we looked in the closet where I knew my mom had kept some games and there was Tiddly Winks.  So we played Tiddly Winks for quite awhile.  He picked up on how to play it quite well, but as is the case with many youngsters, eventually grew bored and decided to make up his own game with the plastic chips, so we had little discs flying all over the place.  It was a lot of fun, and a memory I will have forever...I hope he does too, and this quilt will encourage him to retain that memory.

Linking up at Patchwork Times where I'll check back later to see what y'all have going on as I need to take Nick to school this morning so I can have the car to meet a friend for coffee.  It will be nice to get out and have some gal friend face time.

Stash Report Week 18, 2015

Nothing in, nothing out.  

With the birth of my granddaughter, Aurora, I decided it was high time to get busy on those "baby" quilts.  Quilts is pluralized because my grandson, Thane, has yet to have Grams make his...and he is going to be five in September.  And because he's now older, I won't make the I Spy quilt that I originally planned (mostly mentally) and have instead found a pattern for one that's a bit bolder and has a special meaning.  Here's a sneak peak, but I'll post more tomorrow for Design Wall Monday:

Black & white trimmed dog ears....not to be confused with Dalmation dogs :)

And of course, something else black and white insists on keeping me company:

Raven, aka Chubs, this is a pretty good picture of my big crossed-eye fur ball.  She likes that spot because there's a lamp behind her right next to that yellow container, and it's warm.  Warm is good when you're fat & sassy.

Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date:  8 yards  
Added This Week:  0 yards
Added Year to Date: 46.69 yards  
Net Used / Added for 2015: 38.69 yards

Linking @ Patchwork Times