March summary, April OMG, and something completely unplanned

The Whatchagot Box came on Wednesday.  The Block Swappers hosted the swap. Each participant sent a box of "what ya got" to her assigned recipient. I sent a box to Corinne in Washington and got this box from Suzanne in California.  What a wonderful assortment!

I didn't count what I sent or received in the swap for the monthly stash totals. I didn't bust very much!
Fabric added in March: 55-1/8, $344 
Fabric used in March: 13-3/4
YTD added: 91-1/8, $390.50
YTD used: 49-1/2





I went to an estate sale yesterday (Thursday) and got these four pieces,7-1/2 yds, for $4.00.




It's time to declare my OMG -- One Monthly Goal -- for April.
I am going to make two tote bags. They will be presented to my P.E.O. committee members at the state convention in June. (That's the same committee and the same event for which I made "Stars in Her Crown," which is chronicled in this post .)   This is the pattern I think I will use. (P.E.O.'s flower is the marguerite, or daisy.)  I know I could have figured out the design without buying the pattern, but this will save me time. And knowing that I paid full price for a pattern (very rare for me) should spur me to actually make it.



Here is the "completely unplanned" project.  I bought two yards of gray-on-gray on one of my several trips to Joann's in March. I started making four-at-a-time flying geese.  I''m using squares from the annual Baseball Swap. Those are 6-1/2". I'm trimming them to 6-1/4" and cutting the gray squares 3-3/8". The finished geese are 2.5 x 5 so each block is 10 x 10.  At this point I plan to make 30 blocks and make, hmm, 2"? sashing. (Not sure about that yet.)

March OMG: finished!

My One Monthly Goal for March was to make the blocks for the New York Beauty quilt. Not only did I make the blocks, but I have also assembled the quilt.

Here is the evolution of  "Stars in Her Crown."

The first group of fabric

The pattern.

  (Designer Wendy Sheppard used a collection by Christina Graf.)

The first blocks. 

More fabric (this includes some for NYB and some just because)

More blocks. See the difference in the colorway?

Back to the design wall

I asked online quilting friends for advice about the borders. "Orange inner, dark outer," was the consensus

I had to buy more of both of the border fabrics. 

I attached the inner border.  I attached the two side borders. The dark-ish blue fabric bothered me a lot.
I got out the seam ripper and removed the side borders.
I made four 6" NYB blocks for the corners.
There was just enough turquoise to make the four borders.
I appliqued eight stars (for "stars in her crown").
Hooray! 

See what other OMG quiltmakers have accomplished this month at Red Letter Quilts

DWM: finally, some finishes + NYB (still)

The flu, or whatever it is, stuck around all week. I was able to run errands but I skipped P.E.O. on Monday evening and the library system board on Friday morning. Both meetings required more driving than I was up to. I went to the Maundy Thursday service (soup/bread supper followed by communion) though my husband felt too rotten to go.

Rather than coffee hour after Easter service we had a light breakfast before. My contribution was a bundt cake that included mashed bananas (which I had in the freezer).   Easter dinner was roast lamb, asparagus, and rice pilaf, with the banana bundt cake for dessert.  [My bundt pan is avocado green, which gives you an idea of how long I've had it.]

I managed to get to the third week of March without writing anything in the "fabric used" column of my running tally. In contrast the "fabric acquired" column is lengthy. I was determined to get something done!

I picked up Scrappy Pinwheels from Barb. She's a guild member with a new long-arm business. Her Gammill is set up on her sunporch that overlooks one of the many small lakes in this area.  She did a splendid job on the quilt -- you can see the detail in the second photo.

Scrappy Pinwheels is the AAUW spring raffle quilt.

I picked up that one and took two other flimsies to Barb.  On the way home I stopped at Quilt Play  and, yes, I bought fabric.








I can boast of almost-three finishes this week!

Here's a corner of Dancing Nines. The quilting turned out pretty well!

I used leftover units from Scrappy Pinwheels on the back.

The second finish and the almost-finish are two HeartStrings flimsies made by guild members for our 2016 charity project. I said that I would quilt five of the guild's HS tops.  #3 is all done. #4 is quilted but not bound.  Here's a picture of the pieced backs.

And, FINALLY -- New York Beauty.  I sewed blocks together. I took them apart. I rearranged and rearranged again.  I asked for advice about the borders. More people said, "Orange inner, dark outer." That required another fabric purchase.  (Such a hardship.)

I plan to get NYB assembled this week. For sure.

See what other quiltmakers are working on
Monday Making
Oh, Scrap!
 Design Wall Monday

DWM: crocuses and NYB

I came down with the flu last week, even though I got a flu shot last fall.  I assume I picked up the bug on the flight back from Dallas since none of the other Magpies reported getting sick.  I was able to get out to vote on Tuesday and to pick up the monthly Top Box assortment on Wednesday.  I picked up my sewing machine, which I'd taken in for an overdue cleaning, and I bought fabric for my current project (read on!).  But I begged off other obligations so as not to overextend or infect anyone else, though I kindly shared the malady with my husband.
Here are my nine entries for the March Block Lotto. These 6" flowers are called violets, but I think they could be crocuses.

The crocuses are blooming in our garden right now.













Mid-week I thought I was ready to assemble the New York Beauty blocks for "Stars in Her Crown."

When I looked at them on the design wall they seemed fine. When I thought about them, my mind's eye saw the darkest fabrics.

I took some blocks apart. I bought quarter-yards of lights: turquoise, yellow-green, gray (Hobby Lobby and Joann's). I made more arcs.  Here's the design wall this morning.

 The cutting table was a lot more cluttered earlier in the day.











There's always a leaders-and-enders project. These D/L/D and L/D/L 9-patches are made from 1.5" postage stamps.

I'm linking up with
 Scrap Happy Saturday
 Oh, Scrap!
 Monday Making
 Design Wall Monday

DWM: TexFest 2016

The Magpies' biennial in-person meet up was this past week.

The 'Pies met in the late 1990's on the Usenet newsgroup Rec.Crafts.Textiles.Quilting. We created the Magpies so that we could chatter off-topic to our hearts' content. We've added some members and we've lost some. We've celebrated milestones: weddings, births (children and grandchildren), birthdays, graduations. We've had deaths of spouses and parents (and a Magpie, too).   Our first in-person meetup was in Ruidoso, NM, in 1999. We've had subsequent gatherings in Madison, NJ; Kansas City; Vancouver; Lowell, MA;   Las Cruces, NM ; Chicago ; Santa Clara, CA;   Perth, Australia; and, this year, Dallas, Texas.

We "gathered" on Wednesday evening:  from Maine, Massachusetts, British Columbia (2), Western Australia (2), Nebraska, Virginia,  Missouri, Texas (4), and Illinois.  One of the other Illinois 'Pies could not come because she had a devastating house fire Monday. We missed her!

On Thursday we went to the Fort Worth Stock Yards. We arrived in time for the morning cattle drive. The guide for the two-hour walking tour was excellent.

Treadle bases for a display cabinet

Online livestock auction 

We spent Friday at the Dallas Quilt Show.  There were many beautiful and creative quilts on display.

Quilt historian Gerald Roy had a special exhibit of 35 19th and early 20th century quilts from his collection.

This log cabin was stunning. The logs are about 1/2" finished.  If you stand at the far right and look across the quilt the dark bands appear blue. If you stand at the far left they appear purple.

African-American Double Wedding Ring

Friday evening a group of us went back to the stock yards--specifically, to the Coliseum--to see the rodeo! The Friday and Saturday night rodeos are the longest-running sanctioned rodeo events.

On Saturday morning Stevens' niece Lyn, who lives in suburban Dallas, came to the hotel to join me for breakfast. I hadn't seen her for quite a few years and we had a nice visit.
  Later that morning some Magpies stayed at the hotel to chat and sew and craft.  I joined the group who went to the Montgomery Street Antiques Mall in Fort Worth -- 51,000 square feet!   I bought a 13-piece tea set (table mat, napkins, coasters)--hemstitched linen with embroidered daisies, a lustre ware sugar bowl, and a vintage (1946) sewing book.

Inside Quilt Country 

We ended the day at Quilt Country in Lewisville.  Magpie MJ, who was definitely the hostess with the the mostest, works at QC.  Her coworkers had an after-hours potluck dinner for us at the shop.  Food and fellowship amidst fabric -- an ideal combination.

 I was glad I brought the larger suitcase because I took a lot more home than I brought.

s 

Here's the Magpie swag, the favors we traded among ourselves. (The cowboy boot mug rugs I made were a big hit.)






What with dealers at the quilt show, a stop at a Fort Worth quilt shop, and then Quilt Country -- such temptation!   I got FQs for my New York Beauty project, some alphabet and number prints, and a few others that I could not resist.  Total:  17 yards.   I also got two patterns.  Here's the entire haul.

My flight today (Sunday) went without a hitch and I pulled into the driveway at 5:30.  TexFest was an unqualified success -- and now we can chat about where we'll meet for our 20th anniversary in 2018!

I'm linking up with
 Oh Scrap!
 Monday Making
 Design Wall Monday

DWM: NYB progress

The little poinsettias I bought for table decor in early December are still blooming. (There's some irony in that these $2.50 plants have lasted so long whereas a big, showy poinsettia would likely have shed all its leaves weeks ago.)  And now the crocuses are coming up in the flowerbeds.

The first week of the month is always busy.  There's the chamber of commerce  board (Thursday lunch) and the Coalition for Healthy Communities board (Friday breakfast). An AAUW committee now has a first-Tuesday conference call.  Of course Rotary is every Thursday (breakfast).

I was the program coordinator for the Zion Woman's Club luncheon on Tuesday.  "Lake County Women's Firsts" was presented by representatives of the Lake County Women's Coalition.  From the 19th century (first female attorney, school teacher, Underground Railroad conductress, hospital founder) to the 20th (first woman to vote (more here), coroner, Great Lakes Naval Base commander) and more -- an impressive roster!

NLCQG, the quilt guild, met Wednesday evening.  The speaker notified us a month ago that she could not attend (she is very ill) so we decided to try a DVD from Superior Threads.  We were given another woman's stash (the third in a year). The board decided to sell it to guild members for $2/yd.  The fabric was brought in sorted and measured.  Everyone wanted to go shopping and we never did show the DVD!  

The LCWC annual  Women's History Month  brunch was Saturday.  This year women in public service and government were honored.  The keynote speaker was Illinois' own Jane Addams, portrayed by Annette Baldwin.

On March 1 I posted my OMG . I want to make a New York Beauty quilt as the backdrop for my committee's display at the P.E.O. Illinois convention in June. (I will explain why in a future post.)  I have never made NYB and had trepidation about curved piecing (and a little less trepidation about the paper piecing).  Wendy Sheppard's instructions in her pattern Sausalito make the block much less intimidating.

At this point I want to make 36 blocks.  The colorway is evolving -- I thought I'd stick with the rich dark blue prints with green and gray, but the quilt isn't due until June and the final version may be much brighter. The bottom line is that I *love* making these blocks!

On Wednesday I leave for Dallas.  It's time for the Magpies' biennial in-person meetup!  We'll spend a day at the Dallas quilt show and the rest of the time touring, chatting, eating . . . and maybe even sewing.

 I'm linking up with other quiltmakers for
Design Wall Monday
Oh, Scrap!
Monday Making

February stash report, Leap Day finish, and March OMG

Stash report, February 
In:  32 yards, $41
Out: 17-1/8
YTD
In:  36 yards, $46.50
Out: 35-3/4

The large February influx was 20 yards (4 5-yard pieces) from Lillian's legacy (no cost other than washing and ironing).  I didn't count all of Lillian's fabric when I brought it home when it came because I knew I'd donate most of it to the guild. After I used a lot of it making Care Bags I figured it was time to either officially acquire it or actually pass it along. 

Yesterday evening I made a second tote bag using another Pine Burr block.   

I bought 3-3/4 yards (long quarters) at the quilt shop  .  It is the basis for my March OMG.  Specifically, my goal is to make the blocks for this pattern by Wendy Sheppard. ( You can get it here.)

I've never made a NYB but I have a specific purpose for this one.  Wish me luck! 

Here is the link to OMG March to see what other participants plan to accomplish.