Cupcakes 'n Daisies

Monday, July 8, 2013

More Not JC and Something New

Eleven Not Jubilee Celebration blocks are all pieced.

My blocks finish at 7 1/2 inches and the block pattern is Sister's Choice. Most Sister's Choice blocks don't have background fabric in that center square along each edge, but I liked this look better so that's what I went with.

I don't think that grey and maroon block on the left is going to make the cut.

The blocks in the pattern are called Anvil blocks and finish at 9 inches.

This top finishes at 91" x 108". I've yet to decide what size to make my version, but I'm pretty confident it won't be that big.

I got something new for my sewing room last week. I've been looking for a bulletin board/cork board for my sewing room for ages, but could never find the right size or the right look. I stumbled across this magnetic board in a gift shop and love it, love it more than a cork board I think.

There are all kinds of cute magnets that you can buy for the board, plus, post-its stick to the metal surface just fine. I have all sorts of lists and reminders, but they are in a basket and I don't look through that basket very often. Now it's nice to have a few things that I want to think about out where they remind me to think about them.

This board is 16 inches square and is made by Demdaco.

And now, on a totally different and humiliating subject, someone was directed to an offensive site from a link on my blog, the link to Diana's Coastal Lily quilt. I'm not sure how something like that could happen, but if it happened to you I am so sorry. I don't even allow advertising on my blog, you can imagine how embarrassed I am that something like that happened on my blog. I have removed the link and won't be linking to any other blogs for a while. I'm not sure if my blog has a virus or what. I did read online that some blog readers, when read from an iPad, are directing folks to offensive sites from links. I don't subscribe to any of the blog readers and am not all that familiar with the process. At any rate, you will not be getting any links from this blog so the coast is clear. I run a "G" rated blog, don't even get close to "PG" and will never be "X" rated. And again, I am so sorry if you were mistakenly directed to an offending site.

The day after

How was your 4th of July? Ours was pretty much perfect, the weather was wonderful, a huge improvement over last year when we broke our all time temperature high with 101 degrees. It was sunny, cool, and pleasant here. I started the day with a walk, watched the local 4 mile race around town, went to a movie, grilled, and watched fireworks. I would say I made the most of my day, PLUS I even had time to sew a little.

Two more itsy bitsy teenie weenie basket blocks are done. I've cut all my background fabric for the remaining 26 blocks and am thinking that maybe I'll make two every other day, instead of one every day.

I also made one more Not Jubilee Celebration block, yip, I think I like this block a lot better than the one in the pattern, I'll be sticking with it.

Diane sewed along with me while I was working on Coastal Lily and just finished up her top. She added an outer border to all 4 sides which I think you'll like. Diane selected bright colored fabric for her version which was a big change of pace for her, just like it was for me.

Enjoy your weekend,

Happy 4th of July

I got my red, white, and blue out last weekend.

One Star Two Star,Red Star Blue Star took Bounce's place in the living room. (LQ#51)

My little patriotic table topper is on the kitchen table.

And Victory Garden is on the red couch in the sunroom. I love Victory Garden by Jo Morton, but my favorite thing about that quilt is the bunting quilt design in that border, very festive, very 4th of July. (LQ#42)

I've been busy and am stuck on two itty bitty basket blocks, but my goal is to make two of them today to get caught up. They're red, white and blue, a perfect little 4th of July project.

Once I wrapped up Coastal Lily, then jumped to Dulcinea, then reworked my Blogger Girl BOM, it was time to start on something new. But I had been so busy wrapping up those last three projects I hadn't really given any thought as to what to start next.

I've had kit from the Country Sampler for Jubilee Celebration by Bonnie Blue Quilts for ages, I figured this was as good as time as any to whip it up. I've got the pattern, got the fabric, everything I need for a quick start and easy project.

Right off the bat I swapped out all the block fabric. I've got to stop buying kits, I'm always changing everything out. For now I am sticking with the sashing and border fabric provided, that's something I guess.

I'm also changing the block, I like this block better.

For now, this project has a new name, "Jubilee Celebration" is now, "Not Jubilee Celebration".

I hope you have a safe, relaxing and fun day, that's my plan!

Are you up for a challenge?

Sheryl at Temecula Quilt Co is hosting a "Little" Summer Sewing challenge. Here's the scoop, for the month of July, piece one little basket block a day, and at the end of the month, Sheryl will provide 2 settings for your blocks to make "a darling little summer quilt".

Here are my two blocks, I'm right on schedule.

These blocks finish at 2 inches, aren't they just the cutest things ever?

The details and the pattern, created by Marsha McCloskey, are available here.

Here's a peek at all the pieces and parts. Those hst units are 1inch square. If you go with a print for your background fabric make sure it's small. Mine is from The Cotton Club by Paula Barnes for Marcus Brothers.

The block instructions call to trim the points. Luckily for me I have a tool that makes that very easy,

Judy Martin's Point Trimmer. I don't know why I own this trimmer, I don't even remember buying it, but I'm glad I have it now, it does a great job of trimming off those points perfectly.

The instructions also call to trim the seams down to 1/8" from 1/4".

It really makes working with these little pieces so much easier to reduce any bulk as you go.

I know it's hard to get an idea of the size of these blocks, so I"m going to try and give you one.

Is it bigger than my mini churn dash blocks?

No, it's not bigger than my mini churn Dash blocks!

Is it bigger than Coopers paw?

No, it's not bigger than Cooper's paw!

Is it bigger than a saltine?

Yes, these itty bitty basket blocks are bigger than a saltine!

Don't you want to spend the month of July making basket blocks that are smaller than Cooper's paw but larger than a saltine? Who wouldn't?

Blogger Girls BOM, It's a Wrap!

As soon as I finished up my month 6 blocks for Monique's Blogger Girl BOM sew-along, I started working on my setting. That was back in May, because I needed to have my blocks done for the block reveal on June 1st.

I made my blocks half as big as the pattern, they finish at 6 inches. Since my blocks were so small, Monique's block setting didn't really work with my little blocks, so I decided to come up with something else.

And decided on this.

So at this point, this project is just 26" x 26", and I wanted it to be a little bigger, so I added another border.

I thought I would add some bigger squares, to get a better look as some of the prints in those fabrics. My pieced blocks were small and it made it hard to really see the pretty design in this fabric.

The whole time I was working on this project I knew one thing for sure, the red polka-dot print from Sweetwater's Hometown was going to be my outer border.

So I added the border, took a picture, then put it up, one less thing on my To Do List, and something I didn't have to think about again until it was time for the parade.

But I did think about it, even though the quilt was hanging in the closet, that red polka-dot border bothered me, I would look at that picture and wonder what was wrong, was the red too bold, the border too wide? Even though I was considering this project done, it was still driving me crazy.

So I finally asked a friend what she thought of the border and she told me it was a matter of scale, that the dot print was too big for the small pieced center. That was it, I couldn't put my finger on the problem myself, but as soon as I read that explanation I agreed, that was the problem. So that gave me this weekend to come up with Plan B.

At first I thought maybe adding some white to the dots would help. And tried this.

But it didn't really help, the dots are still too big, even surrounded by white.

So then I decided to add a plain white outer border, and I like it. I've never put a plain white outer border on a project so it's a nice change of pace. I guess I could use that polka-dot fabric for the binding, but I'm so over it I think I'll go with a yellow print instead.