Border Mania ~ Skinny Vines

And so it begins…. Border # 2 of Friends of Baltimore has begun 2/13/2020.  I have traced the pattern onto the the border fabric using my handy dandy little light box.  I am so thrilled to have discovered this awesome tool.  It simplifies the process unbelievably. I do have to give credit to my great-nephew Preston.  He received a toy light box for Christmas and I happened to see it and thought, “what if” and it worked.  Woohooo.

 

Tracing pattern finished, I started making the circles for the border of the R5 fabric and decided to go ahead and make them for all 3 borders.  I am toying with the idea of just going ahead and finishing all the borders before I get back to the individual blocks.  That thought led me to also making a gazillion skinny bias strips of the G-5 & G-4 used in the borders.  Wow 2 days to make the circles  and another 2 days to make the skinny bias strips.  Done is good.  I’m ready.

As mentioned before I am planning on using black and gray fabrics for all the vases and urns in the borders and corner blocks.  This is my interpretation on the 2nd border urn.  I like it. I’m hoping using blue for the HST framing the blocks these black and gray fabrics will pull the colors together for a pleasing look.   I prep and sew, prep and sew.  After I have sewn these pieces down and will need to make more little circles.  This time purple.  I can say one thing Sue Garman sure liked circles.  Her patterns are full of them.  This is my third Sue Garman pattern to make.  I’m becoming an experienced circle maker.

Have a great day.

Sissy Malone

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Keeping My Mojo Going

I have decided to add a little mix to my applique world.  I have a tendency to develop tunnel vision while working on a project.  So I have added a couple of machine pieced projects just to give me a bit of instant satisfaction. I have focused solely on FOB for a little over a year and I fear I am losing some of my mojo.   Yesterday I worked on getting caught up on the Moda Blockheads 3 sew along.  I finished blocks 3 & 4 and made them as 6″ versions.  Hoping to have fun designing the final layout with a variety of sizes.

I took liberty in adding my personal touch to block 4.  I changed the bird offered to what I hope passes for a chickadee.  I lived in Minnesota for 25 years and fell in love with these little guys.  My mother-in-law called them Tweety Birds.  The birdhouse is also reversed due to me putting the freezer paper in the copier backwards.  So I just went with it.

The next block is the Saturday Sampler Aboriginal sew along.

Hopeful of getting a good start today on Patches of Blue by Edyta Sitar sew along for what I’m calling a Winter Solstice Quilt. This is being made as a gift.  I will be working on the 3rd installment for that project.  It’s all blues and creams.  I will be making 12 star blocks for this installment.

Okay, big slap to the forehead.  Here I was cutting little squares of fabric and sewing away on these cute little stars and all of a sudden I got that funny feeling that something wasn’t right.  I stopped and counted and OMG  I only cut out pieces for 6 stars.  That’s a real kick in the pants.  Back to the cutting table it is for me.

With that little detour, I’m calling it.   Discouraged but not defeated.  🙂  As soon as I get 6 more little stars made, I get to start on my 2nd border for my Friends of Baltimore quilt.  This is what happens when you operate from a list.  If I don’t I would not have any discipline at all and would be bouncing  all over the place and never getting a quilt top to completion.  I know, I’ve been there, done that.  Lists are my salvation.

Happy Stitches All

Sissy Malone