Row by Row progress

Really haven't made progress on the Row by Row since I finished up the started rows.  Took a little rest and started using some calicos that a friend have given me.  I still used a row though in this new quilt.  The top is almost done and hope to get it done tomorrow at bee.  Meanwhile, here's the results so far.  This has been fun to do.

I'm half way through completing the rows for the chevrons.  Hope to get it done tonight if I can stay awake as bee is tomorrow and I don't want to take it down until all the diagonal rows are sewn up.  Half way through doing that.

Retreat time

Spent the last 4 days on retreat with my Bee friends.  We had a great time, the 8 of us, however, 3 had to leave a day early due to other commitments.  Quite a sight to see them pack all 3 into 1 SUV along with all their sewing machines and fabric bags, etc.  It was quite quiet (hey, when do you ever get to see those two words together!) after they left as they were the talkers in our bee. We really missed them.

While there, I was able to make it down to Granbury to visit Houston St. Mercantile for a little bit, mainly to pick up their row and license plate but also to pick up some fabric to finish up a couple of the rows already started.  As for my quilting, finished up 4 more rows for the Row by Row and added the final borders to the spring quilt so here's the results.

  Now to get the back together so it can be quilted.

The rows used so far were from  Kaleidoscope Quilt Shop, Whitesboro; Lone Star House of Quilts, Arlington; Not Your Mama's Quilt Store, Plano (don't you just love the splash blocks, so fun!); Peggy's Quilt Studio, Pantego, (added some extra fish here); and Sew So Easy, Saginaw;  plus the block pattern from the row by Quilting Mayhem, Snohomish, WA.  Note, these were done with my own fabric choices so that the whole group coordinates.  I won't be sewing the blocks and rows together until I've completed all the rows so this placement may not be my final placement.

I have enjoyed doing the different techniques these rows have required.  It really has rejuvenated my quilting desire so that I'm eager to do more. I would say that so far, most of the rows have required some experience with piecing as the directions have been minimal.  The easiest so far is doing the applique (both Not Your Mama's Quilt Store and Peggy's Quilt Studio used applique as did part of the row from  Passtime.  

 It's been awhile since doing any applique so asked my bee what was the best iron-on to use now for applique.  They  recommended using Trans-Web as it's easy to use, doesn't gum up needles and allows you to re-position an applique if necessary.  Of course, all the applique needs to be machine sewn around the edges to keep it there more permanently.

The other 3 rows will be from Passtime Fabrics, Gainesville; Quilter's Dream, Colleyville; and Quilt Country, Lewisville.

Spring Quilt Progress Report 2

Finally, got all the sashing in the quilt so now it's ready for me to cut the border.

Had hoped to do that today but had to get the car washed and tomorrow need to get it cleaned on the inside.  If I can get that done in the early morning,  I might just get to putting the borders on it.  They will not be pieced, just bars of a fabric I picked up along with the rest of the fabric in the quilt.  Right now the quilt is 48" wide and about 50 inches long.  Not sure how wide the borders are going to be but it's a wide print so they may be 8" on each side.  Will bind it in brown once it's layered, backed and quilted.

Forgot to add; there was only 1 yard of fabric for the sashing so there's a lot of piecing going on in the sashing but I made it! with about a 4x8 inch piece left over.  I was sweating it there for awhile.

Sunday will be reserved for attending a memorial service for Sandy Wroe, one of my bee members who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May.  Such an insidious cancer since it stays hidden until it's in the late stages of cancer.   She died this past Sunday.  We all miss her.

and back to Row by Row.  Still haven't started on a single row but am also still collecting row patterns.  Last weekend (July18), was down in Arlington, TX for a weekend car show and decided to spend a few hours visiting 4 shops there. Two in Arlington and two in Pantego, TX, all within 2 miles of each other.
so I picked up the rows for:

1. Lone Star Quilts
2. Quilt Among Friends
3. Peggy's Quilt Studio
4. Sew Fabricated

It really is time to lay out the rows and decide which ones to make for my first RbyR quilt.

The Spring Quilt progress report

The spring quilt is coming along.  Have two rows completed but run out of fabric for the green sashing by just a small amount.  I have enough to do all the blocks I want EXCEPT for the green sashing on one of them and the very last bit of green sashing at the bottom row.
Here's what I have together so far:

I have two choices to make, 1 call the shop I bought the fabric from and see if they have any left at all and have them mail it to me, or delete one of the center bluebonnet  rows.  I have decided to just do it one row at a time so that is what I'm working on today.

btw, the pattern is a take-off of one from a video that I watched put out by the Missouri Star Company.  I didn't use the 10inch squares as in the video but 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch cuts from fabric I had on hand.  I may be adding embellishments when the top is done.  Haven't decided on that yet though.

Meanwhile, Have been visiting shops in the area since the Row by Row Experience 2015 started in June.
Have collected license plates and row patterns from each of them.  Here's my list:

1. Quilter's Dream  (this is where my bee meets)
2. Richland Sewing Center
3. Sew It Up (please check store days and hours as I didn't!)
4. Suddenly Sewing  
5. Must Love Fabrics
6. Pass Time Fabrics
7. Sew So Easy
8. Kaleidoscope Quilt Shop
9. Minding My P's & Q's
10. Material Girl Quilt Shop

Is that all?  no, There's more.  Wanted some more rows so this past Saturday, visited 5 more shops since I was in North Dallas for a club meeting.  Planned to only visit 3 but when I went to #1 on the next list, they told me about 2 more that were on my route, all on Coit Ave.  Thank you, The Fabric Affair!

1. The Fabric Affair
2. Sew Let's Quilt It (a wanted block with a west Texas theme)
3. The Best of Bernina Plano
4. Not Your Mama's Quilt Store  (love this row)
5. Quilt Country

A side note.  Both The Fabric Affair and Suddenly Sewing are owned by two brothers whom I had worked with at JoAnn Fabrics 20 years ago.  They were young at the time, me, not so.  Glad to see them owning and running their own stores.

Now, those are not the only quilt stores I'm getting rows from.  Have my daughter and son both visiting a couple of quilt stores in WA state.  Have already received the row for one of them with the other on it's way, so that makes 17 in all.
and Next November, when the quilt stores can sell their rows via the mail, if they want to, there is one more row I plan to get unless I can get someone to visit Seattle to pick it up for me.

I vowed though to not work on any Row by Row's until I have the spring quilt top finished.  Oh my, building up my unfinished projects again!  Better get to work on my spring quilt.  and I think I better take some of my ufo's to my next bee retreat.

Spring is here! with another project started.

A lot has happened this past month.  Still working on the Jacob's Ladder project.  However, also have done some quilt fabric shopping and am excited by my latest color additions to the stash.  So let me tell you about part of last weekend.  Spent Saturday and Sunday in Granbury, Tx and only visited one shop:  Houston Mercantile Fabrics on the Square  in Granbury.  "On the Square" means the original center of town which was built around the Hood County Court House.  There are shops and parking on all 4 side streets around  the court house.

Texas Courthouses are a hobby in itself with well over 200 old style Courthouses built from the 1880's to the 1920's  to find in the 254 counties.  of those over 200 courthouses, 63 have been restored to their former self.

I digressed from today's blog subject:

Here's the 5 fabrics I found that I couldn't resist.  Started out with the bottom one and added the other 4 as their colors all went together.

Have already started the first project which is almost finished.  Just covering some rectangular frames with each of the fabrics for a wall decor item.  

Next project with the fabrics will be an illusion quilt with "floating" blocks of color.  Above is the sample:  Already have two of the fabric cuts made.  Now to cut the strips and start putting it together. 

 The colors so remind me of the spring we are having now.  

Since the middle of April, we've been getting much needed rain.  Enough so that the lake behind our place has replenished itself after 3 years of drought and has even flooded over into nearby fields and our back acre. We had been getting worried about enough water to keep the fish alive.  Not so now.  I've never seen our land as saturated with water as it is now and the rain keeps coming.  Of course, we've only been here 8 1/2 years so haven't seen a lot of the local, rural weather.

All the trees in the county and the surrounding counties have turned a deep, dark, rich green which I have never seen them do in the past and the fields are full of lush greens.  Such a variety of greens.  Since the trees are greening up at different rates depending on type, they make some beautiful contrasts.

 The wildflowers are plentiful with many sprouting up where I had never noticed them in the past.  I've even found several species I hadn't noticed before in my own fields.  I think this spring is what is making me excited about doing this project with these fabrics.

Of course, all my time wasn't spent in 1 shop as we were there to watch a play and also eat!  Just can't get away from that daily habit.

My Jacob's Ladder Project part #10

Worked on the first quilt again.  Got all the blocks taken apart. Now in the process of rearranging.  Started putting them on the wall.  Realized that I needed a few more blocks (or so I thought).  Wasn't hard to put together two more blocks so ended up with this arrangement

After getting them all sorted out, realized that I had a 6x7 arrangement.  I had planned a 6x6!  Guess I had too much fun putting them all together on the wall.  Now I'm not sure what I'll do.  Either take out 7 blocks and get some of the blocks out of there that just don't seem to fit or leave it as is.

I've been taking pics of different arrangements and moving blocks around as it is.  I also found that somehow, 3 blocks are identical.  Don't know how I ended up with 3 identicals but don't remember what I was doing exactly, 2 1/2 years ago when I started this whole thing.  There are a couple of floral blocks that also don't fit well in the quilt.  so, that makes 4 blocks that I can easily remove.  Just need to decide which other 3 I don't really need.  Might make the flow of light to dark easier to manage.

Here it is with 6 removed (didn't need to remove 7 - got to get my math right)

Catification Progress

The first phase of the catification project in the living room is complete.  Just one more thing to do to the TV cabinet area and that phase will be done.  The two boys use the new "steps" easily now.  The climbing pole has been turned around and that helped them get up and down even better.  I've also been leaving treats on the steps which they enjoy finding.  Gypsum seems to get the most but Butch is in there trying, too.  Rainey has tried out the steps a couple of times but she's not making any habit right now of going up them. Goldie hasn't even been interested.

 
A couple of portraits of Gypsum and Butch since these steps have lent themselves to making decent photos of them.

This last photo is the goal.  The place that Gypsum and Butch .... and Rainey ... and Goldie like to get up and away from the floor and sleep in peace.  There is room for 4 up there.  Both beds will hold 2 but there are not 4 cats in this house that will sleep together, just 3.  It's rare for Goldie to sleep with both of her kids at the same time but Rainey definitely likes to sleep alone.  It also appears that Scooter will be like Rainey in that regard.

The last part of this catification project will be the down side on the other end of the cabinet.  That's the one that Rainey needs.  I have started clearing away the clutter on the end table but still have to find a spot for the flashlights and the picture frame. Maybe I'll have to get the turkey closet emptied out.