The garden is growing.....

I've got all the churn dash blocks done and most of the kaleidoscope blocks (except for the ones on the outer edges because I need to pick up some yardage of the print I want to use).
It's coming together!

I have most of them stitched together in rows - just need to finish the edge blocks so I can sew the rows together!

don't sew when tired........

I really should know not to sew when I'm tired - especially with a design/template I haven't done before.  I'm working on a kaleidoscope quilt - using the pattern ''English Garden'' from the ''Kaleidoscope The Smart Way'' with the ''Smart Plate'' template.  This quilt was my inspiration.  This pattern uses kaleidoscope blocks with alternating churn dash blocks.  You have to finish all the churn dash blocks before working on the kaleidoscope blocks so you know your layout..... anyhow, this is what happens when you don't pay attention:

 on the left: the wrong way!  On the right, correcto-mundo!  These are done from pinwheel blocks (4 HST blocks), but I think if I had to do it all over again, I'd make the pinwheel blocks from this method (only reverse), so the prints aren't on the bias.
The hubs is working today, and I have nothing to do but surf and SEW!  Hopefully I'll get all the blocks done for this today! ::crossing fingers::

t-shirt press

not long ago, I decided to get a t-shirt press.....  I have been making custom shirts and using a domestic iron just was hit-and-miss if they stayed ironed on.  I found a used press for a very reasonable price and it is awesome!  The t-shirt transfers are more 'melted' into the shirts and they definitely look professional now!

I found another use for the t-shirt press though - pressing quilt blocks!  It makes them SO flat and nice!  Here is a pic to show - on the left are pressed blocks and on the right are ironed blocks.

The press goes all the way up to 400*F (but I have it set at 375*F as that is what I do my shirts at).  Here is a block that is ironed and ready to be pressed:

and here it is right after being pressed for 10 seconds:

amazing difference huh?!!!  My press has a 9x12 surface, so I will be limited in the size of blocks I can press, but I think this will be nice when time comes to baste and quilt :)

fabric - it is an addiction......

I was picking up this fabric the other day - simply because it was on sale and I liked it.  Reason enough, right?  Well, my niece was working the cutting counter that day - and she mentioned how she liked that group of fabrics.  Hmm.  And she's getting married early next summer.  Double hmmm.    Me thinks I know a reason for this fabric now!  Tee hee :)

And, I am finally ready to cut the ''quilt kit'' I am making my mom for Christmas.  She has been admiring the quilt  'wrapped in red' from Piece N Quilt's pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting (we talked about the quilt several times when the magazine first came out) - but she mentioned to me that she didn't ''think she was up to cutting that much fabric anymore''.   So, I decided that my Christmas gift to her would be the pre-cut fabric for this quilt!

so, I gathered a bunch of red prints and a couple white prints, and hopefully this will get me all the pieces she needs to make the quilt.  I'll leave the border up to her though :)

My handsome young man.....

I can't believe my 'baby' is a senior!  Next year, I'll have two in college.  UGH.

today the senior pics were due for the annual.  We got these taken last night.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, LOL.

stack and whack!

this one is coming along nicely....

I actually have the top fully assembled for this project - I will share a pic when it's fully quilted though :)  I think I'm going to do some straight line quilting on this one :)

97 hexagon flowers

My stack of hexagons has grown to 97 flowers.  If you have not seen I'm a Ginger Monkey's Hexy MF, you need to check it out.  This is very similar to how I hope to finish my hexagon quilt and hers is such an inspiration!
My stack of 97 flowers:

The flowers I've finished in the last week:

Love my Pezzy prints!  (and FMF!)

 Tonight is hubby's company Christmas party and it's freezing rain out!  The last 3 years in a row, it's snowed on us during the party - hopefully it will be snow this year too and not an ice storm!

66 flowers....

I actually have 71 done now, but 5 aren't pressed and in this pic :)  It's evident from the pic that I need more yellows, dark blues, and pinks/purples!  Plenty of reds and light blue/aqua for sure.  Guess you can tell my favorite colors!

I'm thinking when I assemble them, I might make them flow from one color to the next....... hopefully I can make that happen w/o it looking like a rainbow.....

And below is a pic of the star flower paper pieced.  I think I will NOT do this though, it wasn't fun to piece at all.  I'm gonna have to figure out something similar and machine piece it me thinks!

hexagon calculator

Since I've been getting a lot of hexie flowers sewn together, I have been wondering when I'm going to get close to enough for a full size quilt.  Today, I finally found something SUPER helpful for a hexagon quilt!  Check out CD Designs - they have a hexagon quilt calculator!  I punched in for a 70x70 quilt with 1'' hexagons - and got that I'll need 1877 hexagons.  I divided that by 7 (number of hexies in a flower) and so that means I'll need 268 hexie flowers (give or take a few) to make a decent sized quilt.  I think that's totally do-able, so I'm going to stick with the idea of no background/path on these flowers :)  I have an idea for another EPP project (after I finish this one, will be able to use some leftovers) that I will use a background on, so I want this one to be different. (Plus, I have a GFG hand-pieced vintage quilt top off to be quilted that has a 'path', so want it to be different from that one too.)
I didn't take a new pic, here's previous pics of some of my hexies :)

design wall monday - more hexagon flowers

I'm getting quite a pile of these little guys - and I am very much considering appliquing them onto a solid backing in a random fashion instead of sewing them together like I've had them in pics.  Still deciding.  I think I'd need about 300 flowers for a full size quilt - maybe only 150 if I used a background fabric..... hmmm.......

speaking of scrappy trips......

Those block lotto blocks on my last post reminded me of this UFO I started a while back with this tutorial.......  I found honey buns on clearance at my LQS for less than $10...... I got 3 (I think they are Mill House Inn?  Fig Tree anyhow....).  Honey Buns for a whole quilt?...... what was I thinking?  I'll still get back to it someday, but WOW, those blocks are TINY.  The measure in at 6 1/2'' where the same block made with jelly roll strips measures in at 12 1/2'', LOL.    It takes FOUR honey bun blocks to equal ONE jelly roll block.  Ya, I think even with 3 honey buns, it will be a small quilt.  Craziness I tell ya!

Here is one of my UFO boxes with strip sets made up, some pre-cut - and two honey buns not even opened yet.  I think that when I DO finish this one, I'll have to buy some coordinating Fig Tree material for a LARGE border! LOL

November block lotto

Well, I decided to join in on the 'block lotto' - so here are my entries for the month of November!  (with my argyle quilt peeking out from the background!)

wordless WIP Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

Winner winner chicken dinner!

And the winner for the made-by-me jelly roll (picked by random.org) is:  #30 chicken mommy
I have emailed you chicken mommy - all I need is an address and I'll get that jelly roll in the mail to you this week :)

#30

chicken mommy said...

I love how the ghastlies are hiding in the center of all those triangles. Ghastly gorgeous creations.

The Ghastlies are HERE!

OH Ghastlie....

If you have this thing for Ghastlies

and they have tied you in a knot

and you wish you could get them out of your mind

than this may be a thought.

We heard her plea for a cure

Mdm Samm was pos/it/ively sure

that we could stitch the nights away

in hopes that we MAY----

( all 54 of us)  

BUT....

The side effects are Ghastlie

there is no mistaking too.

if you don't run this very minute

YOU too will catch the FLU...

We suspected all along 

this was her master plan

she did not want to be alone,

 with all - YOU Ghastlie FANS...

I have been just DIEING to show you my Ghastlie project!  Now I feel a bit goulish after so many wonderful Ghastlie projects have been shown!   Mine shadows in comparison!

Behold, the Ghastlie quilt!

When I first saw this quilt pattern at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure, I knew I had to make one similar!  I changed it up a little bit, leaving out the pink stars (I'm not a pink kinda girl!) and doing mitered corners on the border print.  The print was really difficult to piece together, and I ended up leaving it off the top since it's a directional quilt and that would be under the pillows anyhow.

For the quilting, I used my walking foot to first lay out a grid for the spiderwebs.  Then, I did each block individually and FMQ'd the interlocking webs.  I went in a spiral so I could keep the stops and overlapping stitches to a minimum.  I did use Hobb's poly-down batting in black, which I'm not sure if I like or not.  It did make it a bit more difficult to quilt compared to the usual Warm & White that I'm used to!  But, the quilt does feel really warm and fluffy because of it!  The backing is solid black, so I chose to do all the quilting in black.  Except the border - I was going to use green thread for the border with black in the binding, but I couldn't get my tension quite right - so ended up using clear in the top and black bobbin.  It worked out well, and I just did a random stipple in the border.  I have added this one to my Etsy shop.

I also got a great idea for using up my scraps from this quilt into another Halloween quilt when I saw this project on Moda Bake Shop.

I cut into all my purples and oranges in my stash, and some blacks and grays too.  I cut WAY too much and ended up with enough for 3 quilts!  One ''jelly roll'' I put in my Etsy shop, but one I saved for today!  One lucky winner will win this 'jelly roll' today.

Just leave a comment to be entered to win!  I will also be drawing a second name to give to Madame Samm Ghastlie at Sew I Quilt for the blog hop winner!

Good luck everybody!

And don't forget to visit the rest of the blogs in today's hop!

ON Monday October 31st
Day 6

Mrs. Toyna Ghastlie
Mrs Tiramisue Ghastlie

Mrs. Angela Ghastlie

Mrs Pauline Ghastlie

Mrs. Karin Ghastlie  (that's me!)

Mrs Barb Ghastlie

EDITED TO ADD:
I had another Ghastlie finish - a quilt 'flimsy' finish.  I had so hoped to complete this quilt by today, but it was not to be.  I followed the Moda Bake Shop pattern, but made it bigger (it finished at 80x85).  I found the perfect mottled green that goes with the green print leftovers that I fussy cut for the equilateral triangles between the webs.

I am hoping that sometime this week I will get around to basting it so I can quilt it.  It can still be a Ghastlie November, right?  They are at the dinner table, maybe it's for Thanksgiving?! LOL :)