Inspiration

Inspiration comes from so many places.  I will freely admit that I get a lot of inspiration from seeing what other talented quilters are making and sharing in blogland.  You frequently fan my smoldering embers to flame, and I thank you SO much for taking the time to share what you are doing.

 

I am also inspired by books.  I have several of the Kaffe Fassett books, including this one.  His artistry is always such a happy-maker to me.  Have you ever looked at something and liked it so much that your heart actually hurt?  It happens to me a lot.

 

You can see that I was inspired by the cover photo in the book above.  I did look at the pattern, but as soon as I read "paper piecing" my eyes glazed over and I closed the book and started making it up as I went along.  I'm bad about that.

 

As usual, I don't know what I'm doing, just muddling along and having a good time.  Sewing is frequently therapy for me, as I know it is for some of you. 

 

Fortunately I do have helpers to advise me.  (My friend thinks they are just waiting for me to leave the room so they can rearrange what I've done so far.  She may be right!)

 

A little glimpse of what's going on out in the back yard.

This came inside with me to sit on the kitchen windowsill.  I need all the inspiration I can get to wash dishes!

 

This is a look at the shower in the hospital where Miss Ru was recently a patient.  (Yes, thank God!!! she is back home.)  I just thought this was such a neat idea.  The bench in the shower folds flat to the wall when not in use.

And then here it is, all secure and ready for a safe and secure shower.  I wish I could put one of these in my Mom's house!

 

It is such a pleasant day here - cool, but not cold and so far quiet except for the birds I can hear singing outside my sewing room window and the occasional murmuring of the chickens in their pen.

 

I hope you have a wonderful, productive and happy weekend!

 

Hugs and kisses,

So, I Started Out

I've been playing around a little with the boxed squares.   I was going to use all batiks, but then my eyes fell upon a quilt in Karen Snyder's book Fat Quarter Fun in which she alternated the blocks with a lighter constant.  I decided to use red as the constant and started sewing blocks together.

Then I thought, What if I add a border of Kaffe Fassett fabric?

Then other possibilities occurred to me.  Who knows where it all will end?

What I do know is that I have a lot more strips cut and that it will be interesting to see where it all goes. 

 

Yes, I'm muddling again, but it's good therapy.

 

I hope you're finding something therapeutic to do, too.

 

 

 

(Bruno is always therapeutic for me.)

 

Hugs and kisses,

I did a little sewing on the 1929 Singer Model 66 that I bought back in September.  Oh, it is a gem!  I paid a whopping $6 for it at shopgoodwill.com, plus $31.24 shipping.  I still think I got a good deal.  Ah, online shopping, got to love it! 

Mr. Muddling enjoys playing around with these old machines almost as much as I enjoy sewing on them.  He got it cleaned and lubricated and it is a happy machine again.

 

 

I very much wanted to finish the little baby quilt, but first I had to get the colorwash blocks off the design wall.  My sewing space is extremely small, and every time I passed by - more of the colorwash blocks fell on the floor.  Grrrr.....  Let's just say there was some unintentional rearranging of the blocks.

 

I decided I'd better get them sewn together soon if I didn't want to have to redo the whole thing, but my heart wasn't really in it.  Then I had the brilliant idea that I could take each vertical row down in order - top block on the top and bottom block on the bottom and number the rows, then pin each with a safety pin.

Now the sewn and unsewn rows are safely waiting for me.  

 

 

And........the baby quilt is now finished!   Yippee!!  It finished at 42 inches square, so should be perfect for a newborn.

 

 

The backing is this sweet pink with white alphabet letters,

 

 

and the binding is a pink stripe.

 

Finishes are GOOD!!!!

 

It's been rainy and gray here so far this week, but I don't mind.  I remember all too well how dry it was last summer, and I'm hoping we won't have that again this year.

 

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Spring Showers

We've been having some lovely Spring showers and the growing things are loving it!

There have also been showers of peach blossoms, leaving tiny little downy peaches on the tree.

The dogs, of course, have been busy exploring and enjoying everything they see.  You may also notice that Bruno is wise enough to rest, too.

 

I've been keeping busy as well.  I was playing around with some of my leftover blocks the other night and had the idea of mashing a lot of them together to make a cover for Miss Janome.  You may remember she's been a bit miffed that I made a cover for one of the Singer 99's.  So now she has her very own.  Not a masterpiece by any means, but it gets the job done!

 

Speaking of getting the job done, this little tool I picked up at Quilt Festival a couple of years ago is just wonderful for holding down all those seams that try to get tangled up as they go under the presser foot.  I just carefully hold the point of it on the edge that is going opposite to the flow and it holds it safely in place until the presser foot has passed over it.   Love that!

 

Also loving this quilt top I finished tonight.  It's Bonnie Hunter's free pattern, Boxy Stars.  I had a good time with this one, it's easy and fast! It is a baby quilt, and the top measures 46 inches square.  I toyed with the idea of trying to get it finished tonight, but no.  Not happening.  The backing is ready, but I still have to get the batting to size, not to mention clearing out the quilting frame area.  Later.

 

Miss Ru had to go back in the hospital on Monday.  Seems her last stay did not quite get rid of the pneumonia, so another trip.  She is much improved, but still not sure when she'll be coming back home.  On the plus side, I've gotten some crocheting done while visiting with her. 

 

I do hope you're having a wonderful weekend and that things are going well with you.  'Cause you know I love you!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Sunday in Muddle-Land

As you can see, some of us have literally worn ourselves out from all the hard work.  Or maybe Bruno and Lady just got tired from watching me work. 

 

You can see the colorwash I've been working on on the design wall behind them.

I've since moved it to a different design wall and put it in the dining room where I have room to back up far enough to get the "big picture".  This is it after lots of re-do's.  I think I'm finished, but odds are good that I'll go back and fiddle with it some more.  It's hard to leave it alone.  I wanted to make a much bigger one this time around, and it is a little bigger, but not much.  It's a very time-consuming project - lots of cutting, lots of arranging, lots of re-arranging.  Looking at the picture now, I can already see some pieces that need to be moved.  See, I told you!

 

I have this Boxy Stars, a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter on the design wall in the sewing room now.  Mr. Muddling's co-worker has a granddaughter due soon and the daughter wanted pink and purple.  I'm still working on this one.

 

I haven't forgotten the Boxed Squares I started cutting for last week.  I just got sidetracked.  What can I say? 

 

Isn't it good that we can work on the things that interest us?  I am especially fortunate to have a big enough fabric stash to indulge in several quilts at once.  I like that!

 

I hope you are indulging in things that please you, too!

 

Hugs and kisses,