Making Progress

Progess at last! This weekend I quilted the jellyroll QOV. Since the back is a lovely red I got bold and quilted it with red thread in an all over stars and loops. Not very imaginative or creative quilting. But, it's done. Once I get this one bound I'll send it off to Alycia with the Disappearing 9-patch from a couple months ago.

Yes indeed folks, that last picture is the often mentioned Blooming 9-Patch. Unfortunately, it turned out so big with the additional rows that I don't need to put on the last, dark blue border. I also don't have a spot big enough to lay it out to get a good picture.

Next up to be quilted is the Disappearing 9-Patch for the guest bedroom. That and the B9P are both UFO's for Finn's UFO challenge. But, just getting the piecing completed is a HUGE step in my book!

Autumn Like No Others

It's not often that we get such glorious colors here in the Pacific Northwest. Usually our rainy, overcast weather keeps the nights too warm. But, October was dry and clear allowing the nights to get nice and cold -- just what the leaves needed. In the 20 years that I've lived here, this is the most colorful Autumn. It has definitely been equal to those of my youth spent living in the Hudson Valley.

Alas, rain and wind are expected for the next few days so the leaves will all be gone soon. Naturally, we were thinking about doing another VW campout. I guess it's not a WetWestie campout without rain!

Check out the jumbo mushroom growing in the backyard! I'll have to go get a ruler to really show just how big it is! But seriously, it is at least 6" or more across! Thank goodness Arlo doesn't like mushrooms. At least I don't have to walk the lawn smooshing all the little, brown ones that Miss Sneakers used to eat!

On a quilty note, the Blooming 9-Patch is FINALLY completed! That's 2 UFO's down, one to go. I'm counting flimsies as completed at this point. I am going to try to make a concerted effort to get them quilted before 12/31 but, we'll see.....pictures to come....it's just so darn BIG!

Note to Self...

....next time you're missing one row, look on the floor, under the ironing board. Explanation, I diligently worked on my Blooming 9-Patch this weekend only to find a row missing on Sunday afternoon. This after spending a good portion of Friday completing the other "missing" rows, sigh.

Thankfully, when I went down to work on the quilt this evening I found the missing row when I plugged in the iron! Oh Happy Day!

And now, as of 10:00 pm this evening, I can happily report that the top is complete. I'll lay it out on the bed tomorrow to determine if it needs a small, outer border of the last, dark blue fabric.

Oh yeah, the picture shows the only 3 leftover pieces I had. I was so not looking forward to having to make the rest of those blocks for that row!

Happy quilting!

Monday, Monday....

Contrary to popular belief, no, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. I can't believe it's been 15 days since my last post. And what do I have to show for myself you say? Well, not a whole heckuva lot!

While looking through my stash for some other fabric, I ran across this piece. That's all that was left. Exactly enough to make Purl Bee's "Un-Paper Bag". Actually, it's slightly smaller due to the size of my leftover piece of fabric. But, it's just about right to hold my library books.

I've also been working, not so feverishly on trying to finish my next UFO, the Blooming 9-Patch. I'm down to the last round of color. Only it appears that I'm missing a few rows from previous colors. Once the thing got too big for my design wall I seem to have left out a few of the rows. So now I'm trying to figure out just what's missing and get those made. I think it's only a matter of about 2-3 rows, 4 colors back. Because this is on point and I'm enlarging it from the original, I seem to have "lost my way". I finally went and made it up in EQ6 so I have a printout to help me figure out what's missing. I HATE it when I do that! It probably doesn't help that it's been sitting around as a UFO for more than a year.

Meanwhile, I spent a couple days at Innovations a couple weeks ago. This is the second year that I've taken classes at this show. I wasn't impressed. First of all, there were almost NO vendors. I was looking for some specific rulers to use with my HQ16. Secondly, there weren't that many "big name" teachers. The classes I took didn't impress me at all. Only one of the three would I even recommend, Lisa Coker. She is one, very talented machine quilter and teaches a very enjoyable class. I don't think I'll be taking any classes there next year.

Well, I've dragged my feet long enough today. I guess I'd better go downstairs and tackle that Bloomin' 9-Patch. It will never get done if I stay up here in front of the computer....

P.S. Arrrgggghhhhh, for some reason, Blogger does not want to keep the line breaks between the paragraphs today.

The Other Side

Last weekend we took Dad over to Chelan to see my brother's house. He's lived in Chelan for almost 3 years now and this was the first time Dad had been over there. This is the view from the hill, above Highway 97 (the road in the middle of the picture.) All the green between the highway and the river, the Columbia, are orchards and vineyards. All the brown is the natural landscape. Two thirds of Washington look like this, or similar. Visiting the east side of the mountains sure makes me appreciate the rain and green of this side. The contrast of the two sides of the cascades is pretty amazing.


I'll never forget the first time I ever went east of the mountains. We left at 0'dark hundred so I promptly fell asleep. When I woke up, somewhere in the middle of the state, I thought we had transported to the desert southwest! I'll take the rain and temperate climate of Western Washington any day over the brown, arid climate of the rest of the state.


On the quilting side of life, I've been working on my QB Christmas Challenge. It's been stalled for over a month now. After deciding on and rejecting numerous options, I think I might have settled on a finish. We'll see...I think only time will tell on this project.


That same restlessness has affected my UFO finishing for Finn's challenge. I pulled out the Blooming 9-Patch and managed to sort all the long rows. I even cut a few strips for the next round. But, I just can't seem to get excited about it. Instead, the pile of Christmas fabrics started calling to me. I had originally purchased the gold background for use in a Christmas quilt. Originally I thought I was going to do something from one of the Nickel Quilt books. But, I've changed my mind. The same pieces of the block, just rearranged differently, make up either one of these settings. I'm leaning towards the first setting. But, the more I look at them, the more I realize that I don't like the gold. I think I'll do the background in neutrals, whites and off-whites. What do you think?