URGENT! STOLEN QUILTS!!!!!

I just saw on my Facebook feed that Nancy Rink's studio had been broken into for the second time in TWO days.  This time they took 16 of her quilts.  She's rightfully upset, furious, and frustrated.  When I think of all the time, talent and fabric it took to make 16 quilts....and then you know the police are probably going to treat them like "blankets" and not make them a priority.

Grrr....

So thankfully we have mass social media.  Spread the word!  And here's a link so you can see the quilts.  Please, post this on your Twitter, Instgram, Facebook, Blog...whatever media you have available, let's get the word out and help Nancy get her quilts back!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/07/urgent-nancy-rinks-stolen-quilts.html

Block Nine -- The Rambler

This is an easy block with easy applique - the kind of block that is a lot of fun to make and a great opportunity to play with colors.  It is a good idea to read through all the directions first before starting -- which is really great advice with most things in life, not just quilting.  The flying geese are a little funky, but they are a lot of fun.  Flying geese are one of my favorite quilt blocks.  And that's saying a lot considering I've made Judy Neimyer's Glacier Star with the extensions and that has a gazillion flying geese in it. 

Accurate cutting is always a plus with any quilt block.  Measure twice and cut once.  And even though I've quilted almost 30 years, I still mark my diagonals on my squares...

There aren't too many bias edges in this block, and since you're making multiples sections for the block, this is a perfect block for chain stitching.  Just be sure to sew all the blocks on one side of the rectangles first and press.  Then sew on the other side.

When you're joining the flying geese together, be sure to use that "Magic X" we've talked about in the past to keep all the beaks on your geese.

This block goes together quick and easy

The stripes on the diagonal was a deliberate choice.  To me, stripes set on the diagonal represent movement -- whether it's to draw the viewer's attention to another part of the quilt or to indicate movement within the block.

And this block, the Rambler, is all about movement and change.  One thing's for sure, life brings change.  Sometimes that change is from heartbeat to heartbeat and at other times it's slower than molasses in January.  Sometimes it comes with breath-claiming swiftness and at other times it can't come quickly enough.  Sometimes it seems as straight forward as those flying geese and at other times it can take you down at the knees and swerve you off in another direction - like the diagonal stripes. 

One thing about life -- it brings changes.  That's a reality check you can take to the bank.  It's how you react to it that can either make you or break you.  Learn to bend...learn to swerve.  Learn to duck and cover, if nothing else!

In other news, I've finished two more rows of Dear Jane!

Sam approves...

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Color Check...

It's time to check your colors...

I know we've done this one time before, but we're getting ready to start construction on the eighth block of this quilt!  Can you believe it?  We're over half way through with the small blocks!  I sincerely hope you're working on the setting triangles, because they are coming up fast!

When you're at about a halfway point in a sampler quilt such as this, it's a good idea to lay your blocks out in the order they appear in the quilt.  There will be gaps, obviously, but this will give you a good idea of how you're quilt is going to look....

 

You can see the obvious gaps, but this can give you a pretty clear idea of how the colors are working (nor aren't working) together.

 

This helps you pick out the fabric for the next block, The Rambler.  I know I need to keep using some corals, throw in a couple of blues, and go back to my golds.  I am using some of the first fabrics I picked out for this quilt in the eighth block.

 

 

You may notice that Sam, my gray cat, is in the first picture.  He's an only fur child now.  My yellow cat, Garfield (both of these kitties were featured in my non-quilty blog about shingles and house wrens), passed away from old age two weeks ago.

 

I've lost two fur children in the space of six months.  Loving these sweet critters is easy.  Letting go of them is hard.  I've kept Sam inside for the past several weeks.  He and Garfield were inseparable pals and I don't want Sam getting lonely.  So he stays close and I feed him lots of cat treats. 

 

I made a promise to myself that as my pets cross that Rainbow Bridge, I'm not going to replace them.  I'm 52 and I'm at the point in life where I want to travel freely and not have to worry about them.  But I miss Scooter and Garf tremendously.  They left paw prints on my heart.  So we will see how well I keep this promise.

 

Love and Stitches...

 

Sherri 

 

 

 

 

Hearth and Home -- Block 8

Happy Post Fourth of July!

I didn't post last week (duh), not because of the holiday.   I wasn't on the beach somewhere drinking margaritas and looking for my lost shaker of salt. 

Nope.  Had nothing to do with that.

My laptop decided to fry the hard drive.

I was working at my "real" job when one of those nasty pop-ups popped up.  I could hear this random guy talking about investment banking, but couldn't find the pop-up to pop him out.  By the time I did close it, it had unloaded a nasty virus that over a period of four days completely fried my hard drive. 

The good news is I had really great back up via Carbonite.  All of my accounting software is backed up twice, so it was fine.  And I didn't lose any of my quilting patterns or lessons. 

The bad news is I had to buy a new laptop.

So between that and a family reunion last week, the blog just didn't happen.  I owe you folks another blog and will get on that soon.  But today I want to talk to you about the eighth block of At Piece with Time -- Hearth and Home. 

This block is my favorite so far.  It's a simple put-together without an inordinate amount of exposed bias seams (which you should be comfortable handling by now).  This block is really simple. Just make sure you follow the standard quilting rules -- keep your seams a consistent quarter inch, measure twice before you cut, and lay the block out before you put it together.  The pressing directions are great for this block so be sure to follow them.

Quick.  Easy.  Simple.



It's the applique that's a little more complicated. 

This block has the bird's nest in the center.  Be careful to center your nest accurately. For some reason, this gave me issues.  You may fly through this part without a hitch, but for whatever reason, I had problems with this part.  If you've already appliqued the nest on your setting triangles, that will put you one step ahead on this block.  The nest on the triangles is larger, but you know that there are gentle curves on this nest.

However, this nest is much smaller that the one on the setting triangles.

Teeny, tiny nest ....

With teenier, tinier eggs....

Again, Kristen Steiner and Diane Fankenberger do a wonderful job in giving us numbered layouts.  Follow that layout carefully.  If you do that and take your time, you'll do fine with this teeny, tiny nest. 

Remember, it's all about the journey...not necessarily the destination. 

Love and Stitches,
Sherri