Round 2 and stash busting and preparing for Ecuador ...

Round 2 of the Medallion Sew-along allows me to stash bust all this patriotic type fabrics that I have accumulated. Will have to also dig around for other less focused to go with it.

Finished with the first step of Round 2:

The second step:

Then on to the final step: decided to add a bit of color, albeit muted, but is definitely a bit different from what is being used to date. 

On Sept. 24 we are leaving for Ecuador for 3-1/2 months. I will be volunteering in a women's clinic, I hope, but nothing is definite until I arrive and interview. There is a Women's & Children's home associated with the group as well and I might end up here. Hopefully it will be as an educator/clinician. So what does this have to do with my love for quilting and needlework? Well ...

Along with this is the decision as to what projects to take with me as I won't have a sewing machine. That means I will be doing hand sewing and appliqué: I have a quilt that is a lot of appliqué that I would like to get started with.

Merry Merry Snowmen

 With this in mind, I pulled out the first 2 blocks.

Block 1: 

The instructions are a bit weird, but I start off cutting a bunch of small squares and even smaller ones to make into squares:
Oh what fun -

Then on to appliqué the first of what appears to be many of the same. I am using the freezer paper method of pattern making. The first is a snowman that will eventually use doll clothes buttons for eyes and an embroidered carrot nose. Sew appliquéd square to the previously made square.

 oh oh, I can see that my tiny stitches aren't tiny or uniform enough for this project. Take care Shirley!

Now to put together the background for the rest of the appliqué: I will leave the actual appliqué for when we are in Ecuador. The only instructions for this part is a picture and then a diagram with the dimensions....

Man these blocks are so much bigger than I had anticipated ...My pink cutting board is 12"x18". As you can see, the single block (1/8) is much bigger. 

All the fabric pieces end up leaving me with at least an inch of leftover - am thinking they might end up being enough to make a child's strip quilt. Anyways, will sew them all together and then see how much yardage I end up with.

Block 2:

This one has an amazing amount of appliqué:

Simple strip and block piecing for the background:  Again, look at the size difference. The good thing about this is that the appliquéd pieces are also big.

Block 3;

Do I or don't I go on and piece the third background to take with me? If it is a straight strip and square piecing then I will but if there is an appliqué block to do before, then probably not. Am not sure if I have enough time.

Oops ... another corner snowman to appliqué before piecing. So I guess not ....

Virtual Retreat ...

A virtual retreat for quilters? And just what this might be? This weekend I joined the Stashbusters Virtual Retreat and found out. You set aside some time on a specified weekend and quilt. Because so many members are unable to get away to regular retreats, they started a virtual one. You do your own thing, blog about it, and then send a message to the group letting them know what was and is being done. Simple ...

I decided that I was going to try and accomplish two things:
1. get the middle block done for the Medallion Sew-Along,
2. try and at least finish the flimsy of a UFO that I found that dates way back to before 2005.

The Sew-Along is being blogged on it's own page  at:  http://2busyhands.blogspot.com/p/medallion-quilt-sew-a.html
It will be a donation quilt to the military group. Here I will use the cross-stitch square that I did some time ago in the center of the quilt and then, who knows - that is the mystery.

As with any stay-at-home project life tends to get in the way and so it has happened here as well. Danny was a quilting widower today as he went hiking by himself. I had some dehydrating to set up - check; housework - check; laundry - check; and class work - check; oh and sew in between all of these things. I decided to do a sew-work-sew-class-sew-work-sew-class and so on until all the chores were completed and then it would be just sew.

So here it is, now 7pm, and what have I accomplished? Got all the chores done and rice cooking for dinner; The middle part of the Medallion block done;

 On to Round 2 ...

All the flying geese done for the UFO, put into strips, and the sandwich being basted.

 "Roundtrip, Homeward Bound"

Why do I have 2 strips too many or 2 strips too few????? Just re-read the instructions and I did it right! I guess to make it work out evenly you end up with extra and that is why there is instructions for a pillow case as well with the exact number of left-over geese. Not for me - will put them into a baby quilt. I have a small piece of brilliant pink fleece that I can piece together with the left overs from "Roundtrip, Homeward Bound".

And now it is time to put things away as we are traveling again in the morning.

What does one do with little time ...

Surfing the Internet when we finally get online:

Found this tip online for dealing with metallic threads at http://aussiekiltedquilter.blogspot.com/ This deals with my Miss Betsy, my Janome 6600P. As I had already ordered some metallic threads will have to try this. My metallics always break at the most inopportune time.

Set up the indoors sewing room (table in the front of the RV :) ):

 Last night I finished up my panel Challenge with the online quilting group. What fun I had with this project and as I have already presented it for DD's birthday as an "unfinished" gift, it is good to get it finished only 4 weeks after the fact.

I FMQ the waves on the background and had quite a bit of trouble with it. Getting started, I was having a lot of trouble at the beginning of the stithing. The feed-dogs were down but it felt like they were catching on something. Suddenly with a pop, it came free and the stitching went well I stopped in one area and went to begin another area. Went online and found a posting on the Janome blog for the exact same thing. Tried what they said to do first: cleaned everything even though I had already cleaned before starting on the project. Then I tried the next thing suggested: i.e. change out the plate (luckily I had already received this with one of the extra accu-feed feet that I had ordered earlier). This worked. Yeah!!!!! Now I have to do some more work on getting the correct tension. I could not seem to get it right, no matter what I tried. Will do more work on that.

I put attached a hanging sleeve and then bound it. For the label I took a photo of her surfing and copied it onto cotton fabric after making it 50% transparent. Wrote on this with the printer. Thank you Adobe Photoshop. 

All I have left to do is get to town and buy some washers for weights.

Start another project:

In between all of this I took an afternoon and  started another flimsy - this one for our bed. Our bedroom is somewhat blah and I am limited in what I can do with it. For now I am keeping the old curtains and backboard as it is the original fabric for our RV. Want to keep it as original as possible for the time being (at least until we decide whether or not to buy a new one).  It is called "Spicey Spiral"

and I chose bright pinks and toned down teals for the colors. [photo]The pinks will brighten it up a bit and the teals will fit right in with the original colors. Now if I can figure out how to make a couple of throw pillows as well, I will be set.

Got half way through the sewing : and, yikes, I realized that I had missed one of the strips. So here I go, had to make another complete strata to cut one set of strips. Will have to think of something else to make with the remaining strata. 

Completed the flimsy. Now to back it. Of course, the piece of fabric that I was going to use out of my stash just is not long enough: Wide enough yes. So back into the bag it goes as I order a piece of fabric from Amazon. Will wait for the next mail pick-up to finish it off.

Send DH to storage unit for a specific UFO and he brings back a whole bag:

In this bag was the recently finished quilt to send to Panama. But beneath it I found 2 pieces of fleece for backings and a whole new project that I started to cut out and then put away. Probably because we left to go somewhere in the coach and I had to "lighten the load" so to speak. This project was from around 2005 I believe. So it is my next "go for it".

I will make the strips in a quilt-as-I-go onto the fleece that I bought for it. No batting except flannel. Shouldn't take toooooo long LOL famous last words!

Join an online Medallion Quilt stitch-along:

Decided to do a military "Thank You"quilt with this. Pulled out the bag of fabrics that I had accumulated for one and am ready to go. Stay tuned for this one as I sew along with [insert blog site] ...

Make plans for another overseas trip; apply for another Peace Corps assignment; and start an online Master's program, taking a class every 10 weeks. Do I have a lot of time left over? I better have as there is touristing to do, weight to be lost, books to be read, and bicycle riding to be done.

Have a great week everyone.

Back in the groove ...

Miss Betsy is up and running and with a pile of UFOs it is none too soon either. There is also the call of the "wild", those UFO's and projects yet started but fabrics bought. The ideas are running rampantly, like a raging spring-time river.

A wall-hanger for a birthday present:
~I started with a panel of Oceania in blue and coordinating fabrics: A whimsical sea-life oriented panel. To me the blue indicated water.

From here I roughly cut out the panel of the mermaid. Then I trapunto'd the panel to bring out the features that I wanted using matching metallic threads to give the illusion of underwater. Trimming to the desired size, I wanted the outer border to be the navy blue to which I planned on attached a striped blue fabric border ...

close up of some of the hand quilting

 Adding on the borders I decided I liked her better on point than as a square.

 Now on to FMQing the water currents. The question here is whether or not I use another metallic or simply a variegated thread taking in the various colors. Decisions, decisions. And too, what kind of binding would this need - dark or medium, turquoise or blue? Hopefully finished this weekend, providing I can find the necessary weights for the bottom.

A second UFO in the process:
~ Stashed away in  plastic bag was a basinet sized baby quilt of pinned flannel and fleece that I had initially made for a donation quilt to be ready when needed. I used up stash that I already had in-house. Then, while in Panama this last month a need was discovered within an indigenous family. I offered.
   Plastic bag intact, out came the small quilt.

First I had to make it bigger but only from what I had in the bag. I was not in a place where I could buy more "good" quality flannel. I took apart the binding and "quilted as I went" additional width and length to it. Ended up with a cacophony of color but yet, quite fun.
   Then on to the quilting of the pinned panel. This should be fun as I have since learned (this being my first actual attempted self-quilted-as-you-go) that you also have to do the actual quilting within the borders LOL. 
   Now for the binding. I don't have enough of one color left in the bag. Searching for more in the stash that is readily available. ah hah! A totally different color but why not! Hopefully the already cut strips are big enough to do machine binding. We shall see...
The finished product, ready to be mailed to Panama and a cold deserving toddler.  

And then lastly, a third UFO in the works: My Santa stocking needs to quilted. It is pinned to the lining and backing but that is as far as it has gotten. Ne need for a photo again as it hasn't changed any.

My DGD and I went to pick out some colors for her quilt. She had no clue as to what she wanted and I had no clue as to what colors she wanted. So I took her to a basic fabric establishment (no names here) and asked her to pick out what she thought would be good matching colors in her favorite colors according to the list: Light to dark, coordinating. Well, this is what I ended up with, 1/3 of a yard each:

  this shows the white on white...

Now to put them together into the squares to see how they work out. And where, you ask, is my suggested color ways? We shall see how these colors work first.

Lastly there is an inner calling for some needlework but this is currently falling by the way side. Think I will try and get Father Frost finished which only needs the beard finished and the beads placed. Miss Chrissy Cleo really needs to be finished and off to the finishers. We shall see how time goes over the next 6 weeks or so. Have another class starting on the 31st so that will also take up some time.

But for now, I am off to la la land - this heat wears me out!

busy hands, little work

Little, well maybe not so little work, I have been very busy just not posting, nor doing much needlework, quilting, or anything of that nature.

So what have I been doing? Well let's see: a trip to Canada to see my nephew graduate from university; back to the Appalachian Trail; off the AT; visited Ashville, NC; visited Blue Ridge, GA; back into the RV where we visited Little Rock, AR; then on to Panama; and now in Costa Rica; all the while I have started back to school online to obtain my MSN. Oh yes, I applied for a volunteer gig as a Nurse Practitioner in Somiland for this fall and also for another Peace Corps gig for next year. Phew!!!!! and here it is only the middle of July.

Father Frost: I am all done but the beard and the beads. I am not looking forward to the beard and as of today, it sits by my chair, waiting to be finished.

I got my pillow for the bed back when we returned to Texas. Sure adds some color to the light mint green of the covers and the pillows.

 Then I finished up a donation quilt called "Will you be my friend?" I will wrap a teddy bear in it for a friend...

 and add some washable markers to color the hearts or leaves, which ever they call them.

I treated the b&w fabric so that it can be colored and then washed out for multiple colorings. This was actually an experiment in this technique as I have some different b&w fabrics to make into donation quilts but I had to be sure it would work first.

Canada: I went from gorgeous sunny warm weather to snow and cold.

Apart from the amazing accomplishment of my nephew,

we traveled by motorhome into Saskatchewan where he was going to school. We stopped at a history museum and I found my new hummer:

We just thought things were bigger in Texas - How about an Ukrainian Egg and cowboy coffee.

Georgia: While visiting with friends we became reacquainted with Elliott. He opened his heart to us and then we left. The morning that we left he wouldn't say good morning, nor would he talk to us.Boy can he pout!

 He wouldn't look at us as we left.

 Then we finally got back in the coach. Seems like we had been gone for ever.

We parked on the river right in the middle of Little Rock, AR

We saw an immensely large statue of Christ We have seen one in Rio, Montana, Colombia, and now the Ozarks.

While in Ashville, NC I found a cute little knitting shop that sported the window theme of Star Wars (it was owned and operated by a young man in a kilt). Needles = light sabers...Darth Vader = black stocking doll...ObeeOneKinobi = stocking monkey

Here I bought 1200m of lace weight silk in a variegated pink to blue. I plan on hitting a lacey scarf to wear with jeans in the winter. And believe me, if things work out the way I would like them to, I will have lots of time to finish it.

Then on to Panama where we attended a 50 years of Peace Corps reunion. What fun. Our balcony overlooked the start of the Panama Canal giving us a constant view of shipping - drags, no cruise ships however. 

Met old friends:

 Surprise, Bob was on our bus!

 Diana

 Our "daughter" and her moms

 Danny, Shirley, Katie, Bob

 going over the Bridge of the Americas

We saw a fiesta parade for John the Baptist, the patron saint for Chitre from our balcony

And then headed over to Volcán our old stomping grounds. Here I attended an exhibition in Boquette by the quilting group that we started. What a proud day to see how far they have come.

 They got real creative with the local Ngöbe dress using cute children's cotton prints.

 This is how they normally look. Two of the women in the quilting group who are doing very well.

 This is but a sample of what was exhibited, and still there was even more to replace the sold items.

As one can see, not much done in the way of crafting but I have sure have had a great time with all of this "work".