Double D Done!

Despite Brownie's best efforts to block my work late last night I put the final stitches into my double delight binding! My Dh has decided this one should also hang in the living room because it "goes" with the red white and blue quilt. Say what?! What-ever...as long as he likes them....This was my first time using the cheddar/gold with the purple and green. Love this combination with the shirting fabrics. The double delight was a mystery quilt on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site. What is truly amazing is I started and finished this quilt in the same calendar year! (A first I may add!)
I am going to give myself a binding break for the next couple of days. My hands are acting up a bit so I think a clean the sewing room or play in fabric day is called for.....

Bound to Bind

How did this happen...I am sooo far behind in binding quilts it is making me crazy! Two boxes from Bonnie, one from , and two quilts from the LQS did make a dent in my top pile but now has my binding shelf overflowing....Granted binding is my least favorite part of quilting (followed closely by putting on the sleeve...) I guess my heart is in starting projects not finishing. That said I now am at an all time bottleneck and spent the weekend scrounging through the fabric piles for binding that I so diligently made when I finished the quiltop (never located), fabric to make bindings for each of the quilttops (successful for all but one) and making a quick trip to the fabric store for some plain red (to make my Dh happy for his Red, White and Blue...note how his quilt is the most work....just another High Maintenance Moment.)

The cats are not helping...the moment a quilt appears Brownie claims it as her own. Decoys don't work either (I tried putting an old quit on the recliner for her to lay on - only lasted eight stitches...maybe that is a new way of telling time "cat stitches" equate to about 10 seconds vs a normal stitch which is only 4-5....I digress....)

I am trying to get the heavy stuff done this week. For heavy stuff read getting the binding stitched down by machine so only the hand work is left. I may have surgery next week so this will let me have lots of ready work at standby that doesn't take lots of concentration.
So what makes up this pile of misery.....First is the Log Cabin King which need less than one side stitched down, a sleeve and the label - this one is very, very close. Next is my DH's Red, White and Blue which has the binding made...now if I could distract Brownie this would have a chance of being finished. My Double Delight is quilted...I love this quilt...I have cut the binding strips. The 30's trip around the world is becoming a favorite and will use up some small pieces of 30's fabrics I have left over for a strippy binding. The MS blues is very fun and will have a dark blue border using three fabrics. Vintage Teddington/English Rose is a sampler quilt and will have a striped brown and pink binding. Crumbly ChurnDash is ready and will use binding crumbs - re leftovers from the other 8 quilts.

I will post photos of a few of these tomorrow...

I am acually glad I have a lot to keep me busy. I am usually a bit of a news hound and leave CNN/Fox/MSNBC (pretty nondescriminate in my news...there are only a few commentators I refuse to have on the TV.) The last few days however I have only watched tennis and old movies...I can't handle another Michael Jackson report. Sorry...I liked his music but please....

MS Awareness 2

For those of you new to my blog we are in the midst of MS Awareness One-week-late...there is a give-away for comments and for the most useful tip to make quilting/sewing/crafting easier for someone with disabilities (or lazy folks...whichever....)

Who gets MS: It can be anyone however if you are a female of Northern European descent living North of the Equator you have a greater chance. It usually shows up between 20 and 50 though can start earlier or later. It is not thought to be hereditary.

My Take on this: For once I am sooo typical. My family is of Irish descent. I am female. I lived in New England most of my life. My first episode (though not diagnosed until 4 years later) was when I was 38. And, no one else in my large (I mentioned I was of Irish descent right) large family has ever been diagnosed with MS. As I often joke, I wade in the shallow end of our family gene pool....

I took the photo above at my quilt guild last week. Since it is March and my family is of Irish descent I was thinking of making a green quilt. There were several at this meeting. I may stick with making an Irish chain. The quilt photo at the top is an antique Irish chain (circa 1860's) from my collection that has bits of green in it (including a a great appliqued border....) Mine will be a bit less dramatic!
I've also put the first border on my DD....I may even have a finish photo tomorrow!

An Opinion

One thing you can always be sure of in blog-world is opinions. (not to be confused with Bloggo-world where you attempt to sell Senate seats...but I digress)

My Double delight has again become a double dilemma (does that make it a Double squared dilemma, a double double dilemma or a double dilemma times two....duhhh, that is not the question....) The issue/dilemma is border choice.

I started this quilt with a bag of fabric I had put aside years ago for another project. In the bag was three yards of the purple leaf and three yards of the beige. In my mind these would be the inner and outer borders. Now, not so sure. So these are my options...

A. The original...purple leaves with beige
B. Purple leaves with pieced green inner border

C. Gold (grapes?) with pieced green inner border

D. What are you thinking girl...dig deeper into your stash

E. Support your President and get thee to a local quilt store

Oh, dear...on another topic. I made a couple of wonky stars to send off to Australia to make quilts for the victims of the fires. Now I have to go and find the blog that I read yesterday that had the address - yikes. You would think I would have made a link to it or something...noooo. There seems to be so many bad things happening. I had to turn off the news this morning for a bit and just play with the cats for a bit.

If I don't post tomorrow...Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Here are some postcards that I started about 4 years ago...I may have one finished tonight for my husband and maybe not. Do you think he would notice if I didn't get the edges finished?! The photo on the top of this posting is of some logcabin blocks I made last year. Didn't like them enough to make more (they measure 14x14...what was I thinking?!) but today I dug them out and am putting together a Valentine's day bag...a bit too cute but it is tough not to make a valentine's day thing-y not cute!

Double delight getting closer....

Ohhhh so close to being done! I just have to square up my double delight and put on the borders...this quilt is fun. Once the blocks are done the rest goes together pretty quickly. I used enough fabrics that there was no problem with it becoming too match-y. I love the purples in this quilt!

And hold on....

Another quilt top finished! This ended up being small enough that I could get the borders on. I went with two greens on the border and used up some scraps in the corner pinwheels. Now I just need a name for this one.

I actually had something to show when I went to my local guild this morning. One of our members did a presentation on Crazy quilting. She does nice work. I particularly like the one she is working on right now...all creams and blacks. She coffee dyed the lace for this one. she also put on each of those little pearls by hand...hence the name crazy quilt!

So this is a quilt top in January and one in February! Keep up this pace and I could be going for a personal finish-it record this year.

Mid week catch-up

You wouldn't know it by my posts but I have been getting a lot of sewing done! (maybe that is why I haven't been on the computer?)

Anyway, I have put the borders on my blue and white quilt. Are you a borders quilter? I have tried to make quilts without borders but in the end regress and slap one on...just feels more finished to me. Anyway, this is one I did not plan on putting a border on but did mainly because it needed to be about 8 inches longer.
I also pieced a backing for it...I know a little bit of red creapt in! It is on the back so it doesn't really count. I like putting good feeling fabrics on the back of my quilt. I am always check the sale bins at the LQS...I am less concerned with the color then the "hand" of the fabric. I backed a quilt for my Mom with Liberty fabric...that was back when I was working and a bit crazy....

My Double Delight is soooo close to being finished! Only two more strips to put together...if I could just keep Goldie and Brownie away from it for a day it would be done. As it is I have to keep rearranging the blocks every time I leave the room! Incentive to get my design wall up in my sewing room and to stop using the bed...or should that read "their" bed!

Also on the sewing machine...some twist blocks from Bonnie's Superbowl Challenge. Totally by accident I started putting together some 2-1/2 inch strips as leaders and enders. This quilt goes together really fast. Which is good since my favorite nurse from the clinic is leaving in two weeks so she can stay home and take care of her sick Mom and I wanted to finish a quilt for her...she is always talking about taking up quilting.

On the nurse/clinic front...things are a bit scarey. I dont' want to go into it too much but lets just say they have pulled me off of all my meds (yes, even those great pain ones that let me sleep or the ones the let me keep going on bad MS days.) Going infor more tests this afternoon. A big yuck....maybe I will stop at Borders on the way home and get myself a treat...

The Double Delight Delema

Or should I call this the continuing caper of the curious cat....those of you visited last year while I worked on Carolina Crossroads will remember I had a similar conundrum - missing blocks.

I am fairly sure I know who the culprit is...she doesn't even attempt to look innocent but no amount of begging will get the location of her current fabric stash out of her.

The problem is I started out using only one brown fabric for the triangles. I thought it would give some continuity to all the scrappie-ness of the greens, shirtings and purples. I spent an afternoon cutting a large baggie with all the brown needed. I had only made about 6-7 blocks when the baggie disappeared. I have looked everywhere. It was last seen on the coffee table in our familyroom on top of the finished blocks.

So I am tired of looking and since our new president has limited me to the Army Field Manual it is doubtful my "little terrorist" will be giving up any information anytime soon. (I found the missing Carolina Crossroad 9-patches under the sofa in the livingroom and behind a radiator when we moved last year...there were also several buttons, two spools of thread and many 2 inch fabric strips) So onto plan B...scrappy all over! I pulled a couple of browns from the stash and recut the triangles. You know of course this means I will find the originals tonight...I also found some blue courthouse step blocks I thought I had lost. They were wrapped up in some flanned I had used as a design board. I put the blocks together last night and will put on a simple border today. I think I was making this for my sister but don't remember anymore...how do you call someone and ask, "about three years ago did I promise to make you a blue and white quilt?" And before you say anything...I know this isn't really blue and white! I have problems limiting color in my quilts. You should see my red, white and blue that ended up with green, yellow and pink in it!