Saturday, September 29, 2018

More Wonky Stars

I just realized that I never posted the second two large stars.  Oops, I don't have a picture of those two yet, so we will save those for another day. 

Meanwhile, I have six of the smaller stars that measure roughly 6 1/2" square.  Here is a photo of them placed haphazardly on my sewing table.
Six smaller blocks - and the "parts dept." in the background.

Yes, there they are - strings and all. Ha ha.  I don't worry about cleaning them up and getting them ironed really neatly until later in the process.

I did sit down and figure out a layout in Electric Quilt.  I had to choose a star block and then replicate one fourth of it to make the bigger star blocks fit in the grid.
Stand-in stars used in the layout.  Mine will be wonky and scrappy. 
Now I have twenty-six more small star blocks to make for this quilt top.  However, tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I came into this world, so I am taking the rest of today and tomorrow off. The only "have to do" is my daily Spanish lesson.

Oh, yes, I baked my cake this morning. It isn't much to look at, but it smells like heaven. I made a peanut butter sheet cake and poured a boiled peanut butter icing over it in the pan.  Of course, I had to sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on it too.  Ha ha. Fortunately it will be shared with lots of family so I won't wreck my blood sugar readings too badly.

Have  a great weekend, I declare it a holiday! Que tengas un buen fin de semana.





Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Wonky Stars - Uh Mine are Wonkier

Yes, I can even mess up a wonky star!  Ha ha.  I watched a tutorial on Tuesday.  Then Wednesday night I decided to try it. Of course I upsized it to make things go faster.  But my mind changed the method without my permission.  (Or is it that my memory is faulty?)  Regardless, my first two stars are different than what A Left-Handed Quilter showed.  Her star was based on the tutorial by Jenny of Missouri Star Quilts.

Oh well, I will make two more that hopefully will be somewhat like these two and then switch to smaller stars and the correct method -or not depending on my ability to follow directions on a given day.

You may notice that they are not even like each other.  The second one is closer to Jenny Doan's version. 
At this point my plan is to make the other two similar to these, then make smaller ones to alternate with solid background blocks.  The four will be "super novas" in my galaxy quilt. 
Seriously, they are wonky stars so can you really mess them up if your final block is some type of star?


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Blogger Tip

My last post caused a friend, Rhonda, to ask "how do you add the words to your photos?"  (I am sure she asked more elegantly than that, but you get the gist.)

So let me show you how to do it. I just told Rhonda and she figured it out.  But some folks are far more visual learners.

Test Photo
So once you add the photo - click on it once. You will see a pop-up that looks like this:

You can change the size of the photo here but what we are looking for is the "Add Caption" -Click on it.
See the words "Add Caption" ???? That is where you type your caption.  Usually you can just start typing after you click on the pop-up and it will go there automatically. (sometimes we click again without meaning too and we have to highlight that to type over it.) On my computer and blogger set-up that is blue when it is "active" - ready to type over.

After adding the caption you need to click BELOW it to add more of your normal text. I put a "type here" note on the photo below so you can see where to click.
I hope this helps you.   I am a bit of a computer nerd/geek so it never occurs to me that I do things that others didn't "just find."
If you see something 'computer geeky' in one of my posts and you want to know how I did it, please ask.
 Mama said "If you don't ask you may never get the answer!"  
Have a great week.
P.S.  a Special Thank You to Rhonda for asking.

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

What?!?! The Middle Section:Pieced!

How many of you have decided that I forgot all about the "Coins Quilt?" In that post, I said, "I will not be rushing through this quilt as I am slowing down a bit on sewing and weaving so I can work on TWO other things. "  Ha ha.  I am definitely not rushing on this one. That post was in July and it is now late September.  The first "third" of the quilt was completed and posted about - but since then lots of time has been taken up by the Spanish, ukulele and flexibility classes that I am taking. 
However,  the second "third" of the quilt top is now sewn.  My lovely rather precise layout has fallen by the wayside.  If you are wondering, I am fine with that. In fact, it is a happy thing. Since the gray fabric was in short supply, the option to step back and be creative with the design was the perfect choice.
Here is the center section. First laying on the floor:
Yes this is a bit blurry
Since that was a bit blurry, I had a friend hold it up and got a more direct shot of it.
You can see my Babylock machine in the background.
Another change that I realized I would need to make is in the strips I will join it with. The original plan was to use gray against the two gray strips on this piece.  The problem that suddenly became clear to me is that the black borders would have two thin gray strips running through the top and bottom borders. Instead, I will use black joining strips that will connect the top and bottom borders on either side of this section. It will give a contrast pop to the design - at least that is the story I am telling and I am sticking to it.
This quilt could possibly get finished this year. (said the optimist.)
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Squishy Mail!!!! And a bit more


I got a nice squishy package in the mail. I am not sure I am supposed to say who sent it, so I will see if she speaks up.
In the package was a pattern that looks interesting but challenging. I am not sure if I will try it or pass it on to someone in the quilt guild.

But these fabrics that were in the package are just yummy.  I believe they are from Island Batiks - the Season's Shades line.  There are a number of 9" squares as well as some larger "yardage" pieces.  Just look how luscious these are:

I am looking at these and thinking how nicely they will play with some hand dyed fabrics that I have.  Surely there can be some quilting/sewing time in my future.  I am sure it will fit in with the Spanish classes, exercise classes and ukulele lessons.  Yeah, sure.....LOL.
Did I mention that I need to make soap also?  Thank goodness my canning is mostly finished for the year.

Just for grins, here are a couple more possibilities with the "Garlic Knot"
Plus & Square with Black background

Plus & Square on point - black background
Blocks in two colors






































I really like the on point setting using two colors of blocks. It seems to have a lot of added "kick" to it.  Plus getting the block orientation is less difficult because of the two colors.  I may have to make this one----someday in the future. Or maybe you would like to make it and show me.  Any takers?  I looking at you Barb N! heehee
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

More Design Fun

My brain clearly kicked into play gear while working with the Garlic Knot block in Electric Quilt 7. I love being able to recolor a quilt in the design stages. I also  love being able to try alternate settings.

Debbie mentioned that an on-point setting could be done.  Needless to say that sent me right back to EQ7 for more play time.
On point?
The on-point setting gives it more of a diamond shaped feeling.  I like it.

But I also had to play with coloration  on the layout I showed yesterday.  So perhaps a nice rainbow version would be good.




































I really like this, but then I thought what if..... the background fabric were black instead of the mottled tan???


I wonder what else I will discover with this block.

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

A Little Design Inspiration

Reading blogs often leads to inspiration - or a condition that I call "I want to try that."  But sometimes I look at a design and the "what if" muse kicks me.
Yesterday my friend, Debbie, posted about a table topper that she made with some leftover Garlic Knot blocks.    She had made a larger quilt with this block that I had seen also.
Somehow, seeing the smaller one caused the "what if" to kick in.
SO ---- what if you laid out those blocks differently?
Here is a representation of the table topper that I created in Electric Quilt.
As you can see the secondary pattern created by the light background blocks is an irregular shape. That prompted me to put the block in EQ and play with layouts. Here is the final result that made me happy.
It creates a completely different effect that is like an interesting lattice.  Of course using different colors could change that completely. Hmmm.....maybe I need to play in EQ a bit more.


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Monday, September 10, 2018

A Win!

Hi folks, have you missed me?  Life has been both busy and fun.  I am working diligently on my Spanish classes and on learning the Ukulele. 

Today I signed up for an online ukulele course that I have been considering for several days.  There are many courses out there, so picking one is difficult. I decided on this one based on what I saw of the free classes on the site.  Many of the learning sites don't let you see anything except and advertisement for the classes.  The Ukulele Way has several classes that you can see with a free membership. (I am not getting compensated for this - but I thought some of you might want to know.) I really like the teacher's method and style of teaching.  Plus there is a community message board so the students can "chat."

Now about that win...
Vicki Welsh, my favorite fabric dyer, had a Farewell to Summer giveaway on her blog. It ran  for a week.  I entered every single day - because there wasn't a single day that the prize didn't make me go "Ooooh, I love that!"  I was lucky enough to win the prize from Day 2 - Autumn Colors.   The link will let you see her photo.  I spread it out a bit more and not nearly as neatly for this photo.
The center piece is a gradient (and there are two of them!) A couple of mottled solid pieces she describes as "bolt ends" (aka - no large enough for her online shop) and a couple that I think are "waste fabrics." The "waste fabrics" are fabric pieces used to catch excess dye when doing gradients.  She doesn't sell them, so winning them is a GREAT prize. These are so pretty and inspiring. 
Now I will ask you to give me "ideas" for what to do with them. (Don't even suggest sending them to you! ha ha.)

On the "Spanish Lesson" front:  I stopped in a Mexican Grocery store last Friday to shop - because they have foods that are not commonly found where I shop.  I got some tuna - the prickly pear fruit - not the fish.  (borrowed picture - the ones I got were deeper in color) It is an interesting fruit.
Image result for prickly pear fruit

But anyway,  when I checked out, I spoke to the clerk in Spanish and she grinned and answered in Spanish.  I told her that I was studying Spanish. "Yo estudio español. Yo hablo pequeño y malo."  She replied that my pronunciation was very good.  Since she said it in Spanish, I didn't trust my ears and asked her to repeat it. She repeated it in English.  I have to say that made my day.
Besides doing a one-on-one class with an American friend who has studied Spanish for years, I am also doing Duolingo on the computer.  The "double whammy" seems to really be helping me retain more of what I learn.
So now you know that while you will see less of me at times, I am doing well and I am not sitting idle as life passes me by.  And those of you who blog, I am still reading your blogs even if I don't manage to comment each time.
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. However at this time Blogger is not notifying me of comments. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.